by L. J. Hamlin
“You aren’t as cute. Well, Donnie’s cute, but you…” Jamie raises an eyebrow and shakes her head. Jed scowls at her, but Donnie knows they’re just teasing each other. It’s something they always do.
Donnie’s still not sure he understands their relationship, how they could go from lovers, from being married, to being best friends, but it works for them.
“I’m staying out of this. If I say the girls’ PDA is cute, I’ll just sound like a perverted asshole,” Drew complains.
“I think it’s okay if you call it cute. Saying it’s hot would make you a bit creepy. Asking to join in would make you an asshole,” Brenton says thoughtfully.
“I think everyone should be allowed to kiss,” Donnie says, leaning against Jed’s side a little, pleased when Jed slides his arm around his shoulders, holding Donnie close.
“I agree. Just because y’all are single doesn’t mean you need to be bitter,” Jed jokes.
“I’m not single, actually, or bitter,” Jamie says, looking nervous.
“You’re not single?” Penny asks, surprised.
“Did you finally say yes to that producer who’s been asking you out?” Jed asks, sounding pleased.
“Yes, we’ve had a few dates. It’s going well,” Jamie says, and she blushes slightly, something Donnie doesn’t think he’s ever seen her do before. He can’t believe he used to think of her as an ice queen.
“That’s great, Jamie. He better be treating you like a queen, or he’ll have the whole band to answer to,” Donnie says firmly.
“He’s a good man,” Jamie smiles.
“Good, you deserve that,” Jed says softly.
“So, does that make me and Brenton the only single ones?” Drew asks.
“I’m not kissing you,” Brenton jokes.
“I have some single friends,” Kelly tells them.
“She loves matchmaking.” Donnie grins.
“I might take you up on that. Seeing all these happy couples has me thinking I should settle down,” Drew says thoughtfully.
“We are getting older,” Brenton says, and Donnie bites his lip to stop himself making an age joke. Jed must sense what Donnie was thinking anyway because he pinches Donnie’s arm.
“I didn’t say anything,” Donnie complains.
“I could tell you were thinking it. No one here is old,” Jed says. They’ve talked about their age gap before. Donnie doesn’t care about it, but he knows that Jed worries sometimes that he’s robbing the cradle. Donnie’s been very firm with Jed about it, making sure he doesn’t get stupid ideas about them not being able to be together because of their age.
“May-December relationships are in,” Kelly says. She’s several years younger than Penny, but as far as Donnie knows, it hasn’t caused them any problems.
“It’s how old you feel that matters,” Penny says.
Drew smirks. “Great, I’m twelve.”
“My mind says I’m twenty; my body doesn’t always agree.” Brenton sighs.
“Right, talking about dating, I have something to say,” Jed says.
Donnie takes Jed’s hand. They’d wanted to see everyone, but this was partly the reason for all of them meeting today, so they could talk about this.
“Nothing bad, I hope?” Jamie looks worried. Maybe they should have told her first, seeing as she’ll have to deal with it, but then, the whole band will have to deal with it in different ways. It makes sense to tell them all at once.
“Nothing bad,” Jed assures her.
“Umm…Jed and I, we’ve come to a decision. We’ve all been in the news a lot because of the stalking and kidnapping. And I know it’s sucked for everyone being asked questions all the time, but we’re probably going to get more attention again because we don’t want to hide our relationship anymore. We want to be open with everyone,” Donnie explains.
Things have been crazy: Twitter, internet articles, reporters. Asking about Peter, about Bert. Wanting to know why the stalking and threats weren’t made public, wanting to know what happened in the desert. They know that Peter died, and that Donnie shot him—someone in the police department leaked the news—but not the full details of what happened.
“Are you sure?” Jamie asks.
“People are already speculating about us. They did on Twitter when Donnie joined the band. We don’t want to lie all the time. I’m sick of walking down the street and not being able to hold Donnie’s hand. We have to be so careful, and I hate it,” Jed says firmly.
“We’d rather come out as a couple on our own terms, rather than have it happen by accident. Someone is bound to see something at some point. Someone will sell a story. We know you’ll all get hounded, and that sucks, but we don’t want to hide.” Donnie is in love with Jed. He’s been spending a lot of time with him since the kidnapping and shooting, and they’ve talked about this a lot. It’s time for them to be honest with the world.
“I think that’s sensible,” Penny says, her hand in Kelly’s, and Donnie doesn’t think it’ll be long before they decide to let the outside world know they’re dating, too.
“Better on your own terms,” Kelly agrees.
“Hell, it’ll be nice to be asked some new questions. I’ve been asked about Peter and Bert more times than I can count. I say go for it.” Brenton smiles.
“It’s part of being in Black Lace. We get asked annoying questions sometimes. We’ve always handled it before. I think we can handle being asked how long you two have been together,” Drew says firmly.
“I’m glad you guys are on board,” Jed smiles. Donnie knows he’d been worried that the band would be annoyed by the idea of being in the news again, the band in the spotlight for something other than their music again.
“Do you want me to set up an interview? Or do you have other plans?” Jamie asks.
“We’ll just bring it up the next time we have an interview. We don’t want to make a big deal about it,” Jed says.
Jamie smiles. “Hell, someone’s bound to ask if you’re single, Jed. They always do. And Donnie’s fans seem very interested in who he’s dating. There’ll be a lot of broken hearts.”
“I think this deserves a celebration. Should I get out the beer?” Brenton asks.
“I still can’t drink. Pain killers,” Donnie says with a grimace.
“You’ll make up for it once you’ve healed,” Kelly assures him.
They do end up getting out some beers and a few bottles of wine, and it’s nice, just all of them together. Donnie loves spending time with them all. He likes that Kelly’s comfortable hanging out with the band. It means Donnie gets to have all his favorite people together at once.
Donnie cuddles in to Jed’s side, getting his hair played with. It’s relaxing, and eventually Donnie falls asleep, surrounded by friends, in his lover’s arms.
Epilogue
Sitting in bed, Jed grabs his phone and does a google search for his own name. Because he’ll never learn his lesson about looking himself up on the internet. He finds an article tagged ‘are we surprised?’
Some factions of the rock world are in shock today after an interview in which Black Lace singer Jed Chance let the cat out of the bag that he was dating fellow band member, Donnie Small. It seems the pair have been dating for some time, and this reporter wonders if that was a factor in the mysterious shooting in the desert.
But the point is, are we surprised? This reporter, for one, is not. Who wouldn’t want to date a rock god like Jed Chance. Donnie is one lucky guy.
“Look, it says you’re lucky to have me.” Jed grins as Donnie walks out of the bathroom, finally off his crutches and out of his knee splint.
Donnie is wearing nothing but a towel, and Jed can see the scar on his knee. It always makes him feel a little guilty to see it. He comes to sit on the bed beside Jed, looking at Jed’s phone, and he snorts.
“You love it when they call you a rock god.” Donnie grins.
“I really do,” Jed says, putting an arm around Donnie and pulling him close, th
inking about what is underneath the towel.
“You know they’re right, though,” Donnie says as Jed puts his phone down so he can run both his hands over Donnie.
“They are?” Jed asks.
“Yeah, I am lucky to have you,” Donnie says before leaning in to kiss Jed.
“I’m lucky to have you, too,” Jed says, rolling Donnie beneath him, and he means it with all of his heart.
THE END
ABOUT L.J. HAMLIN
L.J. Hamlin is a chronically ill writer who likes to write to escape from the pain. She loves animals and the supernatural.
For more information, visit ljhamlin.com.
ABOUT JMS BOOKS LLC
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