Halo frowned as though wondering why I was asking. “Oh, shit, sorry. The battery died literally five minutes after I got in the car. I hadn’t charged it all night, and then—”
“It’s okay,” I said, feeling slightly fucking ridiculous now. I hadn’t even thought of that.
“No, it’s not. I should’ve called you from my parents’.” Halo reached down and took my hand, and as I intertwined our fingers, he said, “You were worried about me.”
“I—”
“You were worried about me,” Halo said again, and this time leaned in to kiss the corner of my mouth. “That’s really sweet. But there was no need. Everything went…surprisingly well.”
“It did?”
Halo nodded. “It really did. I’ll tell you about it later. After.”
I nodded, understanding he wanted to keep this between us right now, and instead tugged on his hand, guiding Halo over to the rest of the guys so we could finally shut them all up and get down to business.
Nine
Halo
“WELL, WELL, WELL. If it isn’t our resident power couple,” Killian said, smirking as Viper and I took a seat on one of the couches.
“Fuck your face,” Viper said before placing his arm on the back of the couch behind me.
Killian turned his attention to me. “If you’re experiencing morning-after regret, or if you think Viper drugged you last night and forced your hand, you can tell us. We’ll take care of the bastard.”
As Jagger and Slade voiced their agreements, Viper groaned.
“Trust me, Angel’s more than fucking happy right where he is,” he said, dropping his arm down onto my shoulder.
“I’m sorry, is your name Halo?” Killian’s eyes swirled with mischief as he looked back at me. “If he’s holding you hostage and making you do something against your will, blink twice.”
I shook my head, chuckling. “I’m feeling pretty lucid, thanks for asking.”
Jagger leaned over toward Slade and said, “In case you don’t know, lucid means—”
“I know what it means.” Slade shoved Jagger back over to his side of the couch, but the look on Slade’s face told me that maybe he didn’t.
“Clear mind,” I said for his benefit, and Slade nodded. Then I said to Killian, “Ready to tackle whatever’s on the table when you are.”
“You sure about that?” Killian reached for the clipboard on the table beside him and clicked his pen. “’Cause I gotta say, it’s a laundry list.”
“You called us here for laundry?” Slade said, his forehead wrinkling.
Killian shot him a look and then checked his clipboard. “First up, congrats to the happy couple. We’re all hoping this is some ‘till death do you part’ shit in the making, otherwise it’s gonna be awkward as fuck later.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said. “No matter what. I know you’re all a little freaked out about how this affects the band, but just know that whatever happens with our personal lives, we won’t let it interfere with what we’ve got here with Fallen Angel.”
“Not you we’re worried about, my man,” Jagger said, all eyes falling to Viper.
Viper gave a lazy shrug. “I’m moody. Temperamental. An asshole on a good day, and you’ve put up with me so far. Not sure what you’re worried about now.”
Killian rolled his eyes and checked something off his clipboard. “Moving on. We know we’re cool with what’s happening with you two, but MGA? They fuckin’ freaked, man. I tried to do some damage control, but they weren’t happy about the scene you made or you guys peacin’ out early.”
“What do you want us to do about it?” Viper asked.
“I think the only thing we can do now is make sure the album release numbers are strong. The singles have kicked ass, so all signs point to the album doing the same, but…” Killian looked at where Slade and Jagger sat with worry written all over their faces. For a moment, I almost felt guilty, because what one of us did affected everyone, didn’t it? But I’d been truthful about what I said. Even if this thing with Viper went south—which it wouldn’t—we’d all worked too damn hard and come together too well to mess things up with the band.
There wasn’t an ounce of guilt on Viper’s face, though, as he dropped his arm from my shoulder and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “But what? You think a picture of me and Halo online is gonna change the minds of thousands of fans?”
“It might. Look, none of us want to think that could happen, but we can’t be naive about this. It was quite a statement you two made, and some people aren’t gonna like that.” Before Viper could protest, Killian put his hands up. “We’re all with you on this, okay? So don’t lash out at me. You knew this would happen, and now it has. We deal with whatever comes our way together, yeah?”
Viper gave a nod. “Yeah.”