Marcus, Chase, and Jace all nodded.
“But we knew everyone in the apartment,” Maddox said. “We trust everyone in that apartment. Who would go toher. Valerie Boyd is a leech and an opportunist.”
“For them to choose her,” Jace said, “they really want the story out.”
“Why?” Marcus asked. “Why would they want to out him?”
“Were they pissed about the NDA?”
I tipped my head. “Maybe they don’t know what an NDA is?”
Chase snorted. “Really? In our crowd? You have people who sleep with a blank NDA under their pillows to keep news from getting out. They knew exactly what they were doing when they broke it and went to her.”
“Particularly toher,” Marcus said. “She’s the worst. She makes TMZ look like angels. So that’s actually another clue. They knew who she was. They know her reputation among celebrities and how she’s a gossip monger. If they wanted to be nice, they would have gone to someone else.”
“Great, so it’s a malicious attack, by someone who was in that apartment when it happened,” I said.
“This is an attack on you, too, Uri,” Noah said, leaning forward. “If they out him, they out you.” He held up his hand to stave me off. “I know you’re out, it’s not secret you’re gay. But that doesn’t mean they get to broadcast your relationship across the internet.”
“And subtly, that’s also an attack on the rest of us, as well,” Jace said. “Can we sit here and say that we all trust everyone who was there that morning?”
I twisted my lip. “No. Because while I know all of you really well, I don’t know UDLR or Robot Servant as well. I can’t imagine anyone in UDLR giving up Austin. They’ve known for years that he was, and even helped him with a beard for a few years. They’re all too loyal to each other.”
“None of us would do it,” Chase said. “We’re all—mostly all—gay and we know that shit don’t fly.”
“That leaves Robot Servant,” Noah said.
“It leaves a few of them,” Marcus replied. “Maddox is one of us, he wouldn’t. Ora is gay and he’s better—”
“Ora’s gay?” Jace asked.
“So gay,” Chase said. “And so in denial. Anyway, Ora wouldn’t do it because his gut would never allow him. And Holland wouldn’t talk.”
“Who’s left?” I asked.
“Rand…” Chase said, and was greeted with a chorus of negatives andno ways. “…and Grig.”
A look passed around the room.
I leaned forward. “What do we know about Grig?”
“He’s the drummer,” Marcus said. “He’s…”
The ums and hmms were quiet as we tried to come up with something we knew about the guy.
“Nothing,” Jace said, finally. “We know nothing about him. At all. He barely spoke that day, he didn’t want to share his space with anyone, and he left as quickly and quietly as possible.”
“But if he wanted to out people,” Noah said, “why Austin and Uriah? Why not you and Nelson.”
It was fun to watch Jace flush embarrassed at that.
Jace cleared his throat. “Maybe he did. And no one caught on.”
Chase and Noah grabbed their tablets and started searching through the internet. I didn’t want this to be true—Maddox depended on each of his bandmates and this was going to piss him off to no end.
It was pissingmeoff to no end. That was the whole reason I wasn’t with Austin. He wasn’t ready and I respected his wish. What would ever make someone think they could do that? How dare that shit try to out my boyfriend before he was—
I cringed. Had I really just called Austin my boyfriend? Even in the privacy of my own head, that wasn’t good. I was too attached to him. He told me not to wait for him, but…how could I not wait? I wanted the whole package. I want to know what it was like to have him over me and in me in every way.
