my chest feel tight. “I’m trying to get over it.”
“I know, and I appreciate that. I think I just needed to adjust my expectations too. It’s not fair of me to want the two of you to feel something for each other that you don’t feel,” he admits.
“No,” I agree. “But it is fair of you to expect that I can be mature enough to be around him without punching him in the nose.”
Bishop nods, biting his lip. “Do you think you can?”
“I do. When they get back from their weekend away, I think the four of us should have a movie night all together.”
“You mean it?” he asks, lighting up.
“I do.”
“Thank you, that means a lot.”
He kisses me again, and I’m happy to have to reheat dinner if he wants to do this a while longer. I wonder if it’s too soon to tell Bishop I’m in love with him, that I think I have been for years without ever realizing it.
Chapter 20
Riot
“Come on, hurry up, I want to see,” I urge, leaning against the wall beside the bathroom door.
“Don’t rush me,” Hudson calls back.
I huff impatiently, turning toward the tall mirror on the wall in the main part of the room to double check my own makeup. Trying to decide on my cosplay for this year was a task that took me months. This is my first year here as an author with my own booth and everything. I know most creators don’t cosplay, but I thought it would be fun to dress as one of my characters. The question was who I should come as. I finally settled on Banjiss, the alien badie from Titans.
The bathroom door inches open, and I eagerly turn to see Hudson’s costume. He stands shyly in the doorway, biting his bottom lip and looking entirely unsure of himself. It takes me a second to fully take in his costume—a steampunk style vest over a white button up with fluffy sleeves, a pair of tight, black pants, clunky boots, and a holster attached to his waist with a fake gun in it. It’s not until I get to his face to see a fake scar across his cheek that it clicks in my mind.
“Oh my god, are you Armand?” I ask, and Hudson’s cheeks pink.
“Is it too much?” he asks, glancing down at himself and then back at me with uncertainty.
“You dressed as one of my characters.” I wouldn’t have thought something as silly as that would fill my heart up so much, but emotion clogs my throat. I’ve never told any of my partners in the past about my books, so none of them have ever had the chance to support me or not, and I didn’t think I ever minded that. But to see Hudson standing there dressed as a character I created...it’s everything.
“Do you like it? Is this how you pictured his clothes when you described them in the book?”
I swallow around the lump in my throat and nod. “You look absolutely perfect.”
I cross the few feet between us and pull him into a kiss, careful not to get too much of my green face paint on him.
When we part, he looks at me, taking in my outfit for the first time and grinning. “Are you Banjiss?”
“Yup, what do you think?” I ask, stepping back so he can get the full effect.
“You look hot.” He runs his index finger along the leather harness that’s peeking out from under my half-open shirt. “Was I reading my own interpretation into things, or was there major sexual tension between Banjiss and Armand?”
“Big time. Writing that fight scene was like writing sex.”
“You don’t write sex,” Hudson says, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.
Busted.
“I may have a second pen name that I write gay alien erotica under,” I confess.
He gasps. “Oh my god, you’ve been holding out on me.”
I chuckle and kiss him again. “I don’t have paperbacks for them, but I can send ebooks to your Kindle.”
“This is the best day ever,” he declares.
“And we haven’t even gotten to the fun parts yet,” I tease. “Come on, we have to get moving.”
The con is crazier than I ever expected. I’ve been to several cons as a fan, but never to San Diego Comic Con. I thought I was prepared for the sheer number of people here, but for once in my life, my imagination failed me.
Hudson hangs out at my booth with me for most of the day, gushing with other fans about my books and