Page 174 of Studs Up
“Fuck no,” we said together.
Alice and Frank blinked.
“No one comes to the cabin,” Holden said sternly. “We can do the interview. But if you want to do pictures, pick somewhere else.”
“It would really-”
“We said no,” I cut her off. She snapped her mouth shut and glared.
“If you don’t cooperate-,” the rep from the league started.
“I would be very careful what you say next,” Allen said cooly. The rep snapped his mouth closed, too. Allen was worth every penny I was paying him just for that.
“Fine.” It was Alice’s turn to relent. “We’ll find somewhere else.”
“What’s next,” Allen prompted.
“For the photo shoot,” Frank said. “We’ll need some nice pictures of the two of you together.”
“You have to be kidding,” I rolled my head. “I will barely put up with promo shit.”
“A photoshoot is negotiable,” Holden said.
“The fuck it is,” I snapped. Holden gave me the look. The look that said I was making this difficult for him and to cut it out. I relented. I always would.
“I’ll consider it.”
He squeezed my hand and rewarded me with a smile. Fuck, if I had to dress up in some fancy shit, I’d never actually actually wear and give them a fake version of our love, so be it. But I will absolutely refuse to give them the real thing. That was nonnegotiable.
I squeezed back. He smiled like I was a toddler that had done a good job. He would be paying for that later. I wasn’t actually going to take him up on his offer for road head, but now I was. He must have read my mind because he shivered.
After that, there was a battle between our agents and the rest of the reps about statements to be released and what narrative they wanted to tell.
We let Allen take the lead and sat back, watching the chaos we’d caused. When it was over, I took Holden’s hand and dragged him out. I was done with that place. We saw Goldstone on the way out. Allen positioned himself between us and him, I was both irritated and grateful. I didn’t like him encroaching on my duties to protect Holden, but honestly, I didn’t have it in me to keep my cool with that asshole.
No one said a word in the elevator, and Holden shifted uncomfortably. He opened his mouth and closed it several times, unsure what to say.
When we got to the parking garage, Allen spoke first.
“Well,” he slid his hands into his pockets. “That was unique.”
“Allen, I can’t believe you came.”
“Of course I did.”His smile was warm and affectionate.
“I thought you never wanted to see me again.”
Allen took a breath and let it out slowly.
“The way things ended was rough. I get it now. But at the time, it hurt that you were in love with someone else and dumped me.”
Holden raised an eyebrow.
“I wasn’t in love with anyone else,” he defended himself.
“I know more about Nolan Reed’s career than anyone has a right to. It took me a few months to figure it out.”
Holden flushed. I grinned smug as fuck knowing how long he had been obsessed with me.
