Yeah, right. The biggest decision she’d ever made in her life, but no need to get the jitters. “Let’s do this.”
He took her arm and led her out of the room and into the hallway. She focused on breathing in and out and not tripping in the completely indulgent heels she’d gotten for the occasion.
Eric eased her around the last corner and into the main area. Daniel smiled at her when he caught sight of her. If he shared her nerves, he didn’t show it. His suit, hair, and expression were as nonplussed as ever. In that moment, she’d never loved him more. This was the right decision.
Eric guided her to the edge of the stage, adeptly keeping her out of the way of the bustling crew and the cameras. “As soon as Daniel welcomes the audience back from commercial, he’ll call you up.”
“Right. Got it.”
“Good luck.” He patted her shoulder and then put his headset back on.
They cued Daniel, and he gave a smile to the camera that was the perfect mix of welcome and reverence for what he was about to discuss. The audience, when this pilot premiered, was going to be eating out of his hand. Women and gay men everywhere were going to want to comfort him—the handsome relationship doctor who was going to announce the dissolution of his engagement on national television. The man who was going to wish the woman who was leaving him all the best and assure everyone that they would stay the closest of friends.
The execs who’d freaked when Evan’s affair had hit the news were now drooling like men at a titty bar over the chance to launch the show with Daniel as the ultimate sympathetic hero. The no-such-thing-as-bad-press cliché had proven golden.
And thank God for that because she’d realized when she’d left Jace and Andre’s apartment that even without them in her life, she couldn’t go on playing a role for Daniel. The last few months had been like biting that Garden of Eden apple. No amount of antidepressants or denial were going to let her “un-feel” what she’d experienced with Jace and Andre. They’d tattooed themselves onto her bones, shifted everything inside her to the point where she’d never again be satisfied with “good enough.”
So even if she had to go through her life alone, at least she’d be authentic about it. Her mother and father had both died too young and continuing to live her own life on autopilot seemed the ultimate insult to the both of them.
Daniel had done decent damage control for her in the press, saying that they’d both figured out that they were better friends than lovers. Ha! If the public only knew how true that was. Daniel still didn’t feel comfortable coming out yet, but she hoped after he grew more secure with the show, he’d take that step as well.
“And now I’d like to welcome my best friend to join me, Ms. Evan Kennedy,” Daniel announced, dragging her from her thoughts.
She took one more deep breath, put on a nervous smile, and walked on stage to publicly break up with the boy she’d plan to marry.
THIRTY-TWO
Jace cracked open the beers and distributed them around the living room to Andre, Reid, and Grant. Then he handed Brynn a glass of wine. His friends had supposedly come over to celebrate Jace’s birthday, but somehow he’d ended up serving them. Lazy bastards.
“You don’t prefer wine, Grant?” Brynn asked. She had her legs draped over Reid’s lap and was looking downright mellow after two glasses of Chardonnay.
Grant took a pull off the beer and smiled. “I don’t trust these Neanderthals to have anything decent.”
“Well, maybe if you’d bring over some free bottles every once in a while, we would,” Andre said. “Your shit ain’t cheap.”
“And waste it on your untrained palates?” Grant said, somehow managing smug with that twangy accent of his. He looked to Brynn. “Darlin’, if you’d like some, I’ll package up a case next time you and Reid are at The Ranch and send you home with some.”
Reid rubbed circles at the base on Brynn’s spine, an unconscious possessive hold on his woman while she was in a room full of dominant men. Jace couldn’t help but feel hollow at the sight. His own hand filled with nothing but a cold beer bottle.
Two months. Evan had been gone two fucking months. It felt like a century.
He should’ve never let her walk. His instincts had been wrong. Once again.
Reid smiled. “Sounds good. I plan to take Brynn out there next weekend. She’s got a bit of a voyeuristic streak that we haven’t indulged in a while.”
Brynn gasped and smacked Reid on the chest. “Reid!”
Reid chuckled. “You’re in a room full of guys, who, except for Andre, have seen you naked and bound for me. You’ve been on your knees for Jace. I think we’re beyond pretending you’re Ms. Innocent.”
Her cheeks stained pink, and she took a dainty sip from her wine. “Well you could’ve at least left Andre with that illusion. Give me some shred of a chance to have someone think I’m a lady.”
Andre smiled. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve been on my knees for Jace, too.”
She tried to maintain her composure, but an indelicate snort escaped. Her gaze went between the two of them. “Damn, that’s hot.”
Jace grinned, the melancholy mood that seemed to chase him no matter where he was lately easing a bit. At least he had good friends. And Andre. Jace didn’t know how he would’ve made it through the last two months without him. Exploring the new relationship between them had been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise depressing reel of film. Though both he and Andre were all too aware, even in the heated moments, that there was a vital component missing. A sense of incompleteness neither could shake.
Reid rolled his eyes. “See. Dirty voyeur. And don’t get any ideas, sugar. I’m not sucking Jace’s dick no matter how much it would turn you on.”