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  Elliot agreed, but he really didn’t feel like thinking about it. He turned and buried his face in Danny’s lap. “Can we not today? I just want to hang out here with you and watch a movie and chill. We have a long week in the studio coming up.”

  “Sorry, babe. It just makes me mad. I want everyone to see what I see, what the guys see.”

  “I know, and I love you for it. Let’s just watch a movie.”

  THREE weeks later, Static went onstage to perform for the Iris Foundation, raising money for children with leukemia. It was something they’d all wanted to do, a good way to use their notoriety rather than the countless bad ways they’d dealt with on a regular basis.

  There was a huge difference between a concert hall filled with celebrities and socialites and their typical room of screaming fans. They came onstage to polite applause instead of shouts and whistles, and quite a few of them clearly didn’t know any of their songs. Danny didn’t care. It was like the beginning, back when they were touring the radio stations and most of the country had never heard of them. It was an opportunity for them to impress a new audience. Danny knew they had it in them.

  It was also a chance for him to be onstage with Elliot again—the way it was supposed to be. Sure, they didn’t have their typical audience of girls who’d giggle every time one of them flirted with another member, but that didn’t stop any of the boys. Reece and Webb and even Tate, who’d loosened up quite a bit since the Band Camp days, joked around onstage and put their arms around each other. Danny and Elliot flirted when they sang up-tempo songs, and stared their way through the two ballads.

  It was perfect.

  “WE’RE here live on the red carpet with Static who generously took part in this concert to benefit The Iris Foundation. That was a great performance, guys!”

  “Thanks,” Danny answered. The others nodded and smiled.

  “Can any of you remind me what tonight’s proceeds will go toward?”

  Webb took that one. “The Iris Foundation funds research to help end childhood leukemia and other cancers. Tonight, though, was about the families, about the children who are faced with the realities of cancer every day. The money raised will go toward home care, paying medical bills for families who can’t, food, even housing. The things these children and their families need immediately, not ten years down the line.”

  The rest of the boys nodded. Their interviewer cleared his throat. Danny could almost see him thinking, “Okay, enough depressing shit. Move on.”

  “How was it performing again?”

  “It just felt really good to get back onstage,” Reece said with an enthusiastic smile. “Although the crowd was quite a bit different than our usual sort.”

  Everyone chuckled at that. Danny didn’t really think it was funny, but he’d learned the art of the social laugh years before he was ever in Static.

  “A lot of things have changed since you boys returned. Danny, you’re single now?”

  Danny nodded. He didn’t want to nod. He wasn’t single. He didn’t want people to think that anymore. Something had happened to him while he and Elliot weren’t together. It probably had to do with that awful yawning black void he’d felt in him when he thought he’d lost Elliot for good. It had scared any last drop of hesitancy out of him. Elliot was his. He’d do anything to make sure that never changed.

  “And Tate, you’ve recently moved in with your girlfriend?”

  “Yeah, but I’d prefer not to talk about it.” Tate smiled like the sweet guy he was to take any edge off his words.

  “Reece, Webb—you two are single too?” Reece and Webb nodded. Nausea roared in Danny’s belly. He knew what was coming next.

  The interviewer chuckled and elbowed Elliot. “We know you’re single. You’ve managed to prowl your way through half the female population of Los Angeles and maybe a few other cities when you’re out on tour. Any tips for the less fortunate gentlemen out there?” He leered at Elliot.

  Danny watched Elliot flounder uncomfortably. It hurt so bad, having to stand there while his poor boyfriend refused to defend himself. “It’s not really like that,” Elliot mumbled. He added a shy smile, but it was obvious his smile wasn’t comfortable.

  “Then give us the scoop, El.” Danny wanted to strangle the jackass. El? He didn’t get to call him that. Anger, acid-hot and huge bubbled around in him. Danny didn’t think he’d ever been so angry.

  Keep talking, douche wad….

  “How many of those conquests really happened and how much of it was pure rumor?” Elliot seriously looked like he was about to pass out. His tactic of staying quiet and not complaining only worked so far.

  “Ummm….” Elliot’s face had gone bright red.

  “C’mon. Man-to-man. You can tell me,” the reporter prodded. “How ’bout Georgia Dixon. She’s a hottie, isn’t she? I heard you spent a few weekends at her place.” He elbowed Elliot again. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

  Danny was done.

  Fuck it. Fuck it all.

  “None of them have been true,” Danny mumbled.

  “What?” The reporter flipped back to Danny, mic in hand.

  “I said none of the rumors are true,” Danny repeated slowly and clearly. And just because he was tired of all the shit they’d been through, all the rumors, all the hurt, he went for it. “Elliot’s with me.”

  Danny smiled at the camera, and then he leaned over, across Reece, and cupped his hand around Elliot’s neck. He drew Elliot in for a slow, tender kiss—nothing too deep, just intimate and soft and clearly not a first kiss. Elliot’s lips froze in shock for a moment, but then he returned the kiss, bringing his hand up to tangle in Danny’s hair.

  The flashes of the press cameras went wild, like an angry swarm of carnivorous fireflies out to take little chunks of them piece by piece until there wasn’t anything left to take. Danny was done letting them eat him alive. He was done letting them gnaw on Elliot one bloody bite at a time. Danny kept his eyes closed, but he could still feel the lights burning against the side of his face. He may have just incited yet another feeding frenzy. At least it was their feeding frenzy for once.

  When he pulled back from the kiss that would most likely turn his entire life inside out, Danny slowly started to register just how much he’d dragged his bandmates into so very publicly. He started to apologize before he saw three huge smiles. Reece clapped a hand on his shoulder then traded places with him so he could stand by Elliot for once. Webb gave him a huge thumbs-up, Tate just grinned silently. Elliot looked shell-shocked but stared at him with a slow-growing, lovey smile.

  Holy shit.

  “Well, fellas, that was quite a show. What was that all about?” The interviewer asked. Danny was sure the guy had a name, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was he’d done it. They’d done it. With so many cameras on live television, their management couldn’t make this disappear. They were out.

  “I think we’re done making comments. Thanks for coming out tonight to support The Iris Foundation,” Danny said with a brilliant smile. He slid his hand into Elliot’s, weaved their fingers together, and waved with his free hand to the crowd. They walked side by side behind Reece the rest of the way to their car.

  “I DON’T think I have to tell you two what this meeting is about.” Sasha strode into his office where Danny and Elliot had been waiting in the chairs they’d sat in so many times before—when they first got chosen, when they’d gotten their contracts, when the whole mess with hiding who they were first started. “In fact, I don’t think I have much to say at all. Bottom line. You’ve caused too much trouble to the label. It’s cost a lot of time and money to build the right image for this band, and you undermine us constantly. The team has come to the conclusion that it’s best to replace you in Static. Both of you. It shouldn’t be hard. Pretty boys with nice voices would line up ten deep to take either of your places.”

  “Bu—”

  “Nobody wants a big media circus—at least not a bigger one than you’ve already started.
If you go quietly, Blue Horizon won’t sue.”

  Sasha went on to describe the process of replacing them and the release Blue Horizon would make to the press as soon as they’d found suitable replacements. Danny and Elliot were to keep their mouths shut. At the moment, that wasn’t difficult. They sat in shock for a long time Danny suddenly stood and slammed his palms down on Sasha’s desk.

  “Bullshit you’re getting rid of us. This is California. I’m pretty sure you can’t fire someone for being gay.”

  “Well, I’m pretty sure breach of contract will hold up in any court of law,” Sasha countered. Danny blanched and Elliot reached out to put a hand on the small of his back. He wanted to stand up for them, but he had no idea what to even say. “Like I said, I don’t want a media circus, and it would only affect the three remaining members of Static negatively. I’ll have our legal team contact you about the terms of your contract’s severance.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Elliot whispered. He knew Sasha was serious. It was over. “Can’t you at least let Danny stay? I’m the one who was pushing—”

  “We’re done here.” Sasha gestured toward the door. “Please show yourselves out.”

  Danny and Elliot stood and walked silently to the door of Sasha’s office, through the halls of the building, and out into the bright early winter sun. “Did that really happen?” Elliot asked. He was waiting for tears, for acceptance. All he felt was numbing shock. “It went so quickly, there wasn’t even a fight.”

  Danny was quiet all the way to the car. He unlocked it, and they slid in without a word. “I guess it could’ve been a lot worse.”

  Still, it all felt so final. And so fast.

  TWENTY minutes later, they trailed into their house, still shell-shocked but somehow, well, not shocked at the same time. They’d talked about it a little on the way home, in short sentences and mumbled words. Neither of them had expected anything better from Sasha. They’d hoped but not expected. At least he wasn’t going to ruin the careers of the other three guys as well.

  “Now what?” Danny asked. He flopped onto his side of the bed. Elliot did the same and rolled over to curl his body around Danny’s.

  “I don’t know. College maybe? We should probably find a cheaper place.”

  Danny gave Elliot a small smile. “I meant what now, like right now.”

  “Oh.” Elliot smiled. “We’ve gotta tell the guys for sure. I don’t want them to hear it in a meeting. It has to come from us.”

  “They’re not gonna like it.”

  Elliot agreed. “I know. That’s part of the reason we have to prepare them. I don’t want Reece’s first reaction to come in some boardroom filled with suits. It won’t be pretty.”

  “Do you honestly think Sasha can do this? Like, legally?”

  “Do you honestly want to find out?”

  Sasha had made it very clear. They were easily replaceable. It had been done in pop groups lots of times. After some initial confusion, nobody ever seemed to mind, or even remember, he’d said. Elliot wasn’t so sure he was right. He knew of three people who would disagree.

  “Wanna get this over with? Call the boys?” he asked Danny.

  “No. But yes. They deserve to know.”

  “ARE you fucking kidding me?” was Reece’s reaction, shouted at the top of his lungs into the phone the second he heard the news. “I’m getting in the car. Don’t leave your house.”

  Tate and Webb didn’t react any better. Soon there were three cars headed their way, three enraged bandmates, and a potential mess brewing even worse than the one they’d just left.

  The three of them stomped in, ready to take on whatever dragons they needed to in defense of Danny and Elliot. Fierce hugs did a lot to make Elliot feel better. So did the fact that their bandmates couldn’t see doing any of this without them.

  “I’m gonna call Sasha,” Tate growled. “This is fucked and it’s stupid. How can he not see that?”

  “Yeah, how’s he planning on spinning this? You two come out and suddenly you’re not in the band anymore? That timing is just a bit too convenient. Even he has to see that.”

  “He did.” Elliot sighed. “Both of us ‘made the choice to quit’ because the pressure and the attention from the public had gotten too intense after our little scene. That’s what he’s gonna say.”

  “Does anyone else know?”

  Elliot shook his head. “Not yet. I know he’s going to run some blind auditions to replace us, but this is going to stay quiet until he has everything set up. We weren’t even supposed to tell you guys.”

  “Weren’t supposed to tell us? Is he fucking out of his mind? You’re our best friends. We were supposed to be in the studio tomorrow. What did he think was gonna happen when you two didn’t show up?”

  Danny snorted. “Freak food poisoning?”

  “This isn’t funny, Danny,” Tate admonished. “Sasha has to be stopped.”

  “Men like him are never stopped,” Danny said quietly. “All you can hope for is to stay out of their line of fire until you’re a safe distance away from them. El and I are lucky, really. He promised not to press charges if we walked away quietly.”

  “Press fucking charges? He just fired you because you’re gay. That’s not even, like, legal, is it?”

  “No. He fired us because we were in breach of contract. And because of that contract, he can do whatever he wants. Guys, don’t fight this. I don’t want you to get in trouble too.”

  Tate’s jaw tightened mutinously. Webb looked at the floor. Reece, for once, was silent.

  “This is so fucked up,” Tate finally whispered.

  Danny Bright @DannyBoy94

  Hey @EPriceisRight !! Breakfast is ready sleepy head. Get up!

  Elliot Price @EPriceisRight

  @DannyBoy94 I’m not getting up until I smell coffee. Please <3

  Danny Bright @DannyBoy94

  @EPriceisRight Course, love. I’ll put on the coffee right now.

  Alyssa Jones @ILuvStatic

  @Dellyisreallove @Rateisgreat Eeeeekkk!! They’re so cute and romantic. I missed #Delly sooooo much.

  Cara D @Dellyisreallove

  @ILuvStatic @Rateisgreat Guyyyssss!!! <3 I can’t even with the cute! He called him LOVE. #Delly

  StaticFan#1 @Rateisgreat

  @Dellyisreallove @ILuvStatic They’re so cute!! I’m 100% dead over here. I can’t wait till they get to walk their first red carpet together!

  DANNY and Elliot tried to think about moving on. There were some positives. They still had each other. The boys still had Static. There were a lot of scary negatives too. The fans weren’t going to like it, and a lot of blame was about to come down on both of their shoulders. While they still could, they tried to make the girls who’d always supported them happy.

  Sasha held individual auditions and picked some possible candidates for Danny and Elliot’s replacements. Then he held a few group auditions to test the boys out with Reece, Tate, and Webb. At least he tried to.

  “We wouldn’t fucking sing,” Reece crowed later that night when he and the others had gathered at Danny and Elliot’s house again. Danny and Elliot had been looking at smaller places, ones closer to UCLA or maybe even UCSD, even though they talked about not wanting to leave the guys and move out of LA.

  “Wait. What?” Danny was horrified, but part of him wanted to laugh. Of course they wouldn’t. “Guys, we told you not to screw with your own careers. Go along with Sasha, and you could have another successful album, another tour. You could have it all.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Webb muttered. “Remember one for all, all for one? Was that bullshit?”

  “Of course not,” Elliot said. “Danny and I are still here for you. We’re still with you. We always will be. But you can’t beat Sasha. He’s got too much power.”

  “We couldn’t beat him in court, but we can beat him,” Tate said quietly. “He didn’t shut Static down completely because he has too much money sunk into the second album, right? Promotion
has been started, production is pretty much complete. Hell, it comes out in, what, like three weeks? That money is our ammunition. I don’t know what would have to happen before he’d cut his losses right before the album drops and walk away. It would have to be huge.”

  “No singers is pretty huge.”

  “But what if he had five singers again?” Webb asked with his eyebrows raised. “We made it very clear what our wishes were.”

  “Guys. He’s not going to bring us back. Can you imagine the kind of damage control he’d have to do on our images? That whole night would have to be erased somehow. I don’t think that’s even possible.”

  “Are there any more auditions?” Danny asked.

  “Yeah. He has two more guys coming in tomorrow. He slapped the ones today with a confidentiality agreement the size of my last birthday cake.” Webb snorted. “I don’t know what he thinks will be any different tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow you’ll sing. You’ll get in that room with the new guys and you’ll sing. El and I never wanted to be the ones responsible for your careers going down the drain. Do it for us.”

  “No,” Tate said. Sensible Tate, who’d worried from the beginning. His line had apparently been crossed. “We’ll do it with you or not at all. Sasha can’t put Static on tour with five new members. His choice will be to pull the whole thing or bring you back.”

  “Or sue the hell out of you guys. C’mon, don’t do this.”

  Elliot smiled. “I have to admit as crazy as it is, I love you for supporting us.”

  “Always. It’s not just that, though. Static isn’t Static without you two—not for us, and it wouldn’t be for the fans either. We’re gonna get you back. Watch.”

  “WHAT the hell did you guys do?” Elliot hissed. “Why are we here?”