Page 46 of Discover Me
We hang up and I feel a little lighter, like sharing the burden made it more manageable. I'm still staring at my phone, rereading the bank balance that seems too good to be true, when I hear the front door slam open.
Kellan comes stalking in, his expression thunderous and his scent overwhelming. Sweet rum floods the apartment, so potent it makes my head spin. He moves with purpose, crossing the kitchen in quick strides. Without a word, he pulls out my chair from the table and leans down to kiss me.
The kiss is desperate and claiming, his lips hot against mine. His hands frame my face, holding me in place as he pours everything he can't say into the contact. I hum into the kiss, my good hand coming up to grip his shirt and anchor him closer.
When he finally pulls back, we're both breathing hard. "What's going on? Did something happen at practice?"
"The timetable has moved." Kellan's voice is rough, angry. "Some bullshit about Tom wanting us to break up next week instead of in three weeks. He says it fits better with the album narrative, the songs about heartbreak and moving on."
I tense, my grip tightening on his shirt. "Next week? That's only a few days away."
"I can't do it, Micah." Kellan's eyes are wild, desperate. "I can't pretend to break up with you and go back to my life like nothinghappened. This became real somewhere along the way and I don't know how to fake it ending."
"How do we get out of this?" My mind races, trying to find a solution that doesn't exist. "Is there anything in the contract that protects us? Any clause we can use?"
"I'm not sure how, but fuck..." Kellan pulls back slightly, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "Liam said I'm still in rut. That's why I left practice early. I need you, need to be close to you. But I also want to fix this mess before Tom makes it worse."
He crouches down beside my chair, bringing us to eye level. "I don't think I can lose you after next weekend. The thought of it makes me feel physically ill. Like something vital is being ripped away before I'm ready."
Guilt floods through me as I think about the money sitting in my account, money I've already spent paying off debts. Money that was supposed to last three weeks but now might only cover one. "We'll figure something out. There has to be a way to make it official, to turn this fake arrangement into something real that Tom can't touch."
"And we have to do the social media live tonight," Kellan continues, his expression pained. "Show everyone we're a couple, answer questions, sell the whole romantic story. Tom wants it done by seven."
"No one will believe this." I shake my head. "The timetable is too fast. We only met a few days ago. People aren't stupid."
"I wish that were the case." Kellan's laugh is bitter. "But I've never had a relationship last longer than a week. I used to post about them constantly, quick flings that burned hot and fast then fizzled out. So it's not out of the realm of possibility that I'd fall fast for someone. The fans will buy it because it fits my pattern."
The admission makes something in my chest ache. A week. That's all his relationships have ever lasted, these brief intense connections that couldn't sustain themselves. And now we're supposed to build something real in that same timeframe, somehow make it strong enough to survive Tom's manipulation.
"Okay." I take a breath, centering myself. "When do you want to do this live video?"
"Now." Kellan stands, pulling me up with him. "Get it over with so we can focus on figuring out the rest. And then I want to hold you as we go to sleep. Just exist together without the pressure of performance or expectations."
"Just sleep?" I raise an eyebrow, seeing the way his eyes darken at the suggestion.
Kellan laughs, the sound rough and wanting. "Maybe more. Depends on how the rut behaves and if you're up for it after the emotional exhaustion of tonight."
He leans in for a sweet kiss, softer than the desperate claiming from earlier. This one is about comfort, about connection beyond the physical. When he pulls back, he gestures toward the living room.
"Come on. Let's get this over with."
Kellan gets his laptop set up on the coffee table, angling it so the camera will capture both of us on the couch. He logs into his social media account and I watch the interface load, see the notification count in the thousands. His follower count is staggering, hundreds of thousands of people who care about his life and opinions.
"Ready?" Kellan looks at me, giving me one last chance to back out.
"As I'll ever be." I settle onto the couch beside him, close enough that our thighs touch.
Kellan starts the live stream and immediately comments start flooding in, scrolling too fast to read. The viewer count climbsrapidly, hundreds then thousands of people tuning in to see what Kellan Hayes has to say.
"Hey everyone!" Kellan's public persona slides into place, that charming bad boy smile that's become his trademark. "Thanks for joining me tonight. I wanted to introduce you all properly to someone important."
He gestures to me and I try not to look as nervous as I feel. "This is Micah. My boyfriend."
The comments explode with reactions. Heart emojis, crying emojis, people expressing shock and excitement. Questions flood in asking how we met, how long we've been together, what I do for work.
Kellan reads through some of the questions and I fall into step beside him, the interaction feeling surprisingly natural. We talk about meeting at the charity gala, how he saved my life after my fall. How we couldn't stop thinking about each other afterward. We keep it vague enough to be believable while hitting all the romantic beats Tom would want.
"I saw him that day and something just clicked," Kellan says, his arm sliding around my shoulders. "Couldn't get him out of my head no matter how hard I tried. And trust me, I tried. Thought it was just trauma bonding or whatever. But then we met again and it was like everything made sense."
