Page 5 of Resist

I want to fucking swim.

My eyes land on Fox before I smile at Sarah. “Which clip is that?” I tease.

“Oh, come on now.” She laughs. “I think we can all admit we’ve watched it more than once, right?” The crowd agrees, and I smirk as I lean back into Fox. They aren’t the only ones. I won’t admit it, but I might have the edits saved on my phone. “We have to know, and it’s the question everyone has been asking . . . . Are you guys an item?”

She stares at us, and everyone goes quiet, but I let them wait it out. PR from the label said they want us to play this up, but we can’t answer confirm or deny since that will make people mad. They want to ship us, but they also want to make sure we are available and give them the illusion that we can be theirs, all the while still being loyal to each other. It’s tricky, and I’ll probably slip up, so I go with my instinct.

“Now, that would be telling, wouldn’t it?” I rest my hand on Fox’s thigh, and the crowd screams. My eyebrows rise at the reaction, and Fox spares me a tight look before grinning at thecrowd. His hand covers mine, playing into it, and I turn my hand over, interlacing our fingers before sliding them between our thighs on the sofa. He tries to tug his away, but I keep hold out of sight of the cameras while I wink at the crowd.

“Fox, marry me!” someone yells.

Our heads jerk around as everyone laughs. Fox smiles and blows a kiss. I pretend to catch it as I wag my finger at the crowd. “You can’t have him. He’s mine.”

It’s a joke, or it’s supposed to be, but when he glances at me, I realize I meant it.

No one can have him but me.

“So what’s next for Sanctuary?” Sarah asks when the audience dies down.

“World domination,” Dash says, making us all laugh.

“We want to continue to make music, and we’ve been very lucky that Pulse Entertainment sees that and has given us the chance,” Fox replies diplomatically, smiling with happiness. “We are just going with the flow at the moment. I think we are all still shocked by how fast everything has happened, and we know we wouldn’t be here without our fans and supporters, both new and old. We’ll honor and thank them the best way we can—with our music.”

“Fox is right.” I smile at him. That’s one thing we always agree on—our love for music. “Music is what brought us all together and always will. It’s our passion, our reason for never giving up, and that’s what we will continue to do—make music and steal hearts.”

“Well, I think we can all agree that’s exactly what we want!” Sarah exclaims.

The interview wraps up quickly after that. We play some games, take some pictures, and then thank the crowd, all while I hold Fox’s hand, refusing to let go despite him trying to pull away.

“Thank you!” I call once more, waving emphatically at the crowd. It might not be the image they want from us, but I don’t care. All these people came out to see and support us, and I’ll never forget that or the way I want to cry when I realize we are finally making our dream a reality.

I continue to hold Fox’s hand as we walk off stage, waving and eating up the attention, but as soon as we are out of the spotlight, he tugs his hand away, shooting me an annoyed look before he storms past Mabel and toward the dressing room. I watch him go, my chest hurting even though I smile and nod at Mabel’s praises, my eyes on his retreating form.

Yes, everything has changed since that night, and I’m not sure it’s for the better.

I finally feel like we are reaching our dreams, but I also feel like I’m losing him in the process.

FOUR

It shouldn’t surprise me that we are now being invited to parties we only saw online previously, but it does, especially when we pull up at a mansion overflowing with rock and roll legends, models, actors, and basically every “it” celebrity at the moment. We leave our run-down tour van as far away as we can and, still wearing the clothes from our interview, head toward the open doors, feeling very out of place—or at least I do. The others act like this is a normal thing for them, especially Ryker. When we step inside, Dash and Strike gape, almost giddy as they hurry away to talk to everyone and get drunk, leaving me alone with Ryker, which is somewhere I don’t want to be for once.

I’m not mad at him. I’m just unsure how to act. It was never a problem before, and if he flirted like that with me outside of the interview, I wouldn’t have cared, but something about it being for the cameras and the fans felt . . . wrong, like he was taking something special and monetizing it, and I don’t know if I liked it.

I liked the way it felt when he held my hand and the way he looked at me. I liked it too much, in fact, and maybe that’s why I’m on edge. For him, it was a PR move, but for me, it was real.

“What should we do first?” Ry asks, rubbing his hands together with an evil villain laugh, and despite my reservations, I can’t stay mad at him. It isn’t fair to take my emotions out on him, and it also isn’t his fault that I like him. He’s just doing what we all agreed on, which is helping make our dreams come true.

“How about a drink?” I suggest, slinging my arm around his shoulders to show we’re okay. The bright smile he aims my way as he leans into me makes me realize I worried my best friend, and that’s not okay. “Then we can make some rounds, shake some hands, all that shit.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Oh my gosh! You’re Sanctuary, right? Ryker and . . .” We both turn our heads up as a leggy blonde stops before us, teetering on her heels while clutching a glass of Champagne that is definitely not her first. She’s drop-dead gorgeous and knows it. I’m guessing she’s a model or an actress.

“Fox,” I say with a smile.

She grins widely at me before her gaze lands back on Ry like he’s her target, and I see a glint in her eye that tells me he is exactly that. “I’ve seen you guys everywhere online, but you are much better looking in person.”

“So are you. I’ve seen your work before, and you are even more beautiful in person,” Ryker flirts, offering her his usual charming grin—one he’s never aimed at me.

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