by Anne Eliot
“Robin, you’re coming to the concert. You’re going to marry me.”
I laugh again. “Sure. No problem. Great idea. You’re hilarious.” I lean in laughing more, “How about we set the wedding date now?” I drop my voice to a whisper as his brows shoot up in surprise, “right between your flight to Tokyo next month, and my appointment with the judge back in North Carolina. We can so get hitched. Are you mental?”
He shakes his head. “I’m serious. Tonight.”
“Sure. Tonight.” I laugh, my eyes finding the curves in his lips again. “But first…now that we’re officially engaged we should kiss one more time before the police come to take me away,” I whisper, shaking my head at him, suddenly feeling reckless at the way he’s joking with me, I plant one last kiss on his beautiful face. As though I’ve surprised him he jumps a little, but then probably because he wants to push away the realities I just brought in to the conversation as much as I do, he kisses me back.
This time the kiss is not gentle, it’s searing and intense, and I’ve got lightning bolts shooting all the way to my toes.
He tries to pull away after a long moment, but as he pulls back I clutch his shoulders, feeling slightly desperate and pull my lips away from his just far enough to say, “Wait. Don’t you understand that if we stop kissing the whole world will come crashing in, so…how about we don’t stop? Please. I’m afraid of living in any other space beyond this one that we’ve created. Please…one more second of beautiful fantasy? I feel safe here.”
“Damn, Robin…” he sighs out, “How can I say ‘no’ to you?” He pushes his lips back onto mine.
My arms go up around his neck and this time, his kiss for me is so sweet and gentle I’ve melted. He takes the lead and pushes me back until I’m half lying under him on the bench. I relish the weight of his body over mine and trail my fingers back into his thick black waves, and I sigh into his lips, straining upwards to kiss him, straining upwards so I can move my body as close to his as I possibly can, amazed at the heat that’s un-coiling in my lower belly, bewildered by the sparkles forming behind my eyes.
“Robin.” He pulls back again, groaning roughly against my lips and sits up, pulling me up with him. “We need to stop, because we’re being photographed. Filmed, actually. Okay?”
“Photographed?” Horrified, I glance around the garden. “Why did you kiss me like that if you knew someone was watching?”
“You kissed me like that. I think.” He shakes his head as though he can’t clear it. “I was only kissing back. And…because…shit…it’s all part of the plan, but of course I think I may have just messed it up.”
“Plan…oh yeah the plan. What is the plan?”
I’m feeling slightly dizzy, and my eyes are still trying to focus as Royce stands, glancing around the garden just how I was a moment ago. “Maybe I can talk the photographer out of that last part where I took it too far,” He says. “Since we’re paying him a ton he might just…hang on.” Royce is off and running so fast toward the bushes at the back of the garden that I feel instant cold against my whole body, and somewhere far, far away, my heart has stopped as I struggle to sit up.
“Robert. I didn’t mean for you to see so much.” Royce is shouting at some guy who seems positioned at the back fence near where the trash cans are. “Can you delete the last five minutes of footage. Please.”
“Not a chance,” the guy is calling back.
“Promise you won’t air it, then?”
“Dude. I can’t promise that.”
“Oh. God.” I shake my head, working to clear it. When I finally get my bearings, I note that Mrs. Felix, Gregory, Angel, Mrs. Perino, my little brother, one of the publicsts, and a whole slew of people in suits, people who must be Guarderobe’s lawyers, are fighting for space just inside the back door, and staring at the commotion. I can only hope they appeared after Royce shouted and ran away from me, because, if not, well I’m going to die from what they may have just seen.
My face goes even hotter and I stand, reaching to check my hair. But when my fingers get caught in the tangled and crumpled veil that’s part of the stupid princess-bride outfit I’d all but forgotten I was wearing, I get even more embarrassed.
I quickly scan Angel’s scowling face, then Sage’s murderous expression, and then take in Mrs. Felix’s very worried and slightly disappointed frown, and decide—yeah, they saw. They saw everything.
“Oh God,” I mutter again, pressing my hand against my kiss-swollen lips.
Royce is shouting over the fence again, “Robert. Come on, you bastard! You’ll be sorry if you air that. I will sue you until your family is forced to live in a cardboard box. Come on.”
“No you won’t. You love my family,” a voice tinged with glee replies. “But I’ll be sure to mention your high level of distress in the article I’m about to write. I’ll be so rich after I leak this story, I’ll be able to hire your lawyers, Royce. You two love-birds have made my year.” His voice turns pleading. “Give me the exclusive. Let me come to the concert. Please. Tell me the story behind the photos that went viral, and I’ll make you all look so good. Is the whole band here? I knew it. Don’t you have a concert in less than an hour? But instead you’re here wearing a suit jacket. Why? Come on, your grandmother told me this was going to be the biggest night in Guarderobe’s history. From what I’ve seen, and from the photos I took, it looks like you just got down on your knees and asked a girl to marry you! I heard her saying, I will. I also heard her say something about setting a wedding date. I’ve got that bit where you asked her to marry you on video. Once I enhance the sound, I’ll have every steamy sigh and moan from that kissing on the bench that just went down, too. Just tell me who your girlfriend is. Give me her name and I’ll delete what you want deleted?”
Royce growls like he’s a grizzly bear and heaves himself half way up the six-foot fence at the back of the garden. “Come on. Dude. Wait! Don’t run. Let me see the footage you got. I’ll pay twice as much as what anyone else is paying. Or better yet, name your price.”
“You pay me off and I’ll never be famous,” The sound of the photographer’s voice is fading. “Talk to your grandmother. Mrs. Felix said I could keep any of the shots. The Entertainer Magazine editor said he’d make me a full-time staff member if I could land a good Guarderobe story. And this is one good story. Please. I’m begging you, Royce. Let me have an interview with you and your new…. fiancée.”
I put my head into my hands.
Fiancée? Is that what this guy thinks? I suppose it’s a better assumption than being a paid prostitute. Maybe they’re just spin-doctoring the story. Maybe that’s why he wanted me to kiss him.
Once the guy is gone, Royce comes back smiling. “That couldn’t have gone better.”
Before I can say anything, Angel slides out the back door and does a sweep to be sure there are no other photographers lurking in the bushes. When he gives this strange thumbs-up, Adam, Vere, Hunter, Mrs. Perino, Mrs. Felix, Angel, Gregory and my own brother pour into the yard along with the others.
Vere and Hunter are grinning ear to ear.
Gregory looks slightly murderous, while Adam looks like he’s half horrified but also half about to laugh as he adjusts the handle on the baby’s car seat.
“Obviously, I’ve called off Eve’s arrival here. She’s going to meet us at the stadium now,” Adam says.
“Did you hear that guy?” I ask. “He thinks Royce and I are engaged—”
I can’t finish because my brother Sage is about to lose his mind as his gaze settles on his idol. “Dude. Royce Devlin. Holy-wow. Such an honor to finally m-meet you. Oh, my-God-this-is awesome.” He’s almost shouting. “Does anyone have a camera I can borrow? So-cool of you to come to my sister’s birthday party. So cool!”
“Good to meet you also, little dude, but the camera will have to wait until after the concert,” Royce says, but when he notices Sage’s shoulders drooping, he adds, “Don’t worry little man, you’re coming with us to the sh
ow.”
“I am? We are? Robin told you I wanted to go?” Sage’s smile goes double wide.
Hunter smiles. “We sort of just assumed.”
“Oh my—ahh! Thank you. Thank you…but…Royce.” When Sage turns to Royce, his smile slips some. “I saw you kissing my sister—and so, like, this means you two are in love or something, right? Like she’s your girlfriend? If not, then I’ll have to kill you, which would be really difficult for me to do, because that would ruin the invitation to the concert. And, considering I’m such a big fan and all, it would also make me really sad.”
Everyone laughs.
“Nice to meet you, Sage. Finally.” Royce laughs again.
I beg Royce with my eyes not to answer the kid, but when he stares down at my brother and says calmly and quietly, “You won’t have to kill me, dude. I do love your sister, and I think I’ve been in love with her since the day we first met.”
My knees threaten to buckle.
How could he lie so easily like that? Oh. Wait. I know how. That’s what these people do. And he said there would be lies, right?
Bigger lies than we’ve ever told.
“If that’s the case, then it’s okay. It’s totally okay.” Sage beams at his idol. “Aside from making me want to puke, it looked really romantic with all the candles going. My sister loves romance.”
“Good to know.” Royce is smiling so wide his eyes are crinkled deep in this way I’ve never registered before.
“Aw,” Vere calls out. “Your little brother is so cute.”
Sage whispers, “If I call Vere Roth cute back, do you think Hunter Kennedy will pound me for flirting with his girl?”
“Timing, dude,” Royce answers. “It’s all about timing, and this is not the time.”
“Aw. But thank you, Sage.” Vere colors, grinning happily.
Sage turns to me again. “Is this why you never let me go with you to the penthouse? Is it because you didn’t want me to see you’d fallen in love with Royce Devlin?”
“Mhhm,” is all I’ve got. There’s no way I’ll ever speak or breathe again.
“But now that it’s official—well—that’s why we came over, to settle some things,” Royce says, sounding all stiff. “To…finally meet you, Sage of course. That was part of it, and to take both of you to our concert like Adam said—among other things— but there’s details of which we still need to discuss. You okay with that, dude?”
“Oh my God. Yes. Hell yes! And so great to meet you. So happy you came to Robin’s birthday,” Sage leaps on me with a hug. “Way to make everything up to me, Robin! You’re the best sister in the world.”
“You and I—we’re going to have to talk some first,” Royce says directly to Sage as I push the kid off of me. “About Robin, and about your dad, and how you’ve run away. Cool? Can we do that?”
Sage looks doubtfully at me, scanning my face to make sure it’s okay that the secret is out. “Yeah. Cool. Anytime.”
“No time like the present. Is now okay with you?”
Sage flushes and nods. “Now is fine.”
Royce puts his arm around Sage’s shoulders and walks him over to the far side of the yard. After a few moments, my brother shouts, “Hell yes. Dude. Hell yes. This is amazing. Robin, he’s giving me his guitar after the show! Can you believe it? Signed by everyone.”
“I can’t believe any of this,” I say cryptically as I roll my eyes meeting Mrs. Felix’s approving gaze, and then taking in the smiles on everyone’s faces.
How could they all be acting so calm? And how could Royce so easily pretend that he and Sage are best buds—just like that?
But then, fine, I take stock of myself. I’m also just standing here in the garden, wearing a stupid veil and acting like everything is all cool, just how they are acting.
Royce’s words and the agreement I’d just made minutes ago ping pong through my head:
Lies. Lies bigger than we’ve ever told. Even lies to Sage…
But…I can’t tell these kinds of lies, can I?
Like how in the world can I explain to Sage that I was simply making out with the lead singer from his favorite band for any other reason besides love? Our dad gave Sage and I both the same talk. Love is expected in the equation if you behave how I was behaving. I can’t burst his bubble. I don’t think my brother even knows what lust means, and I’m not about to try to explain any of that to him anytime soon.
“While Sage is over there, can someone please explain what is happening,” I mutter.
Hunter puts his arm around Vere’s shoulders and says, “We’ve got to beat the news media with our own bigger announcements that will prove you’re not a prostitute and that we didn’t have a whole bunch of other prostitutes hanging around. Otherwise, this whole new press blast that’s about to hit is going to cost us millions of dollars.”
“Our own announcements?” I ask. “What could we possibly announce? Oh, God. I’m so embarrassed. Will someone explain to me why you hired a photographer to sit in the bushes and ask Royce to kiss me? Royce said that kiss was part of the plan. That everything went perfectly. What does he mean?”
Gregory’s face goes grim. “Because, if we don’t get this plan exactly right in the next hour, it’s going to cost you your brother and it’s going to cost us our jobs. For real.”
Royce returns with Sage, but Sage has overheard, so his wide smile disappears as quickly as it came. “You mean they could take me away from you, Robin? For kissing your boyfriend?”
“For more than that,” I whisper, pushing back the automatic words that rose to my lips: Royce is not my boyfriend. Instead I say, “Sage, I didn’t tell you but…Joanie told me that some authorities are coming to take us back home. The police say I’m not authorized to have custody of you.”
“But now you’re eighteen. You said that would make it so you could get custody and make everything okay?” His brow crinkles. “Who’s coming? I thought we were considering staying with the Perinos. They’re our new family. Can these authorities take us away from them?”
“We researched that. For now, you wouldn’t be allowed to stay here, Sage,” Angel says quietly. “I have a strange past…and if you stayed here the news media would dig it all up and it would hurt Ana and Julia and my mom.”
“What? Why?” Sage asks. “Why does no one tell me things?”
Royce answers, “We’re all trying to protect you.”
“That’s what Robin said when we ran away, that she’s protecting me. But I’m sick of it. I don’t need that.” Sage crosses his arms. “Robin, are you saying that running away was all for nothing? That I’m about to go to foster care anyway?”
“No.” I straighten my shoulders. “We have a plan.” My eyes go to Royce, begging him to tell us what the plan is but Sage keeps talking.
“Royce Devlin asked my permission to marry you. He says if you agree it will absolutely protect us from being split up. Is that the plan you’re talking about?”
I look at Mrs. Felix, then to Gregory, then flush when my eyes meet Royce’s. “W-would that work?”
“Nothing’s certain, Robin.” Mrs. Felix shakes her head. “The final decision will be up to the courts, and we must follow due process, but if we all want out of this hired-prostitute gossip as quickly as possible it’s the only solution that can pull us all out of trouble.”
“And keep my Angel out of the press spotlight,” Mrs. Perino says, sounding so sad.
Gregory nods. “The lawyers can’t find any reason why it wouldn’t work. Not with my mother and I also offering to be Sage’s guardians. It can work.”
Sage leaps out from under my hug. “Can you believe it? Married to Royce Devlin. So cool.”
“No.” I gulp. “How could you all sacrifice yourselves for us like that?”
Royce’s worried frown softens into a small smile. “Always worrying about others before yourself.” He walks over and pulls my hands into his. He’s standing so close I have to look up into those beautiful eyes. “It�
��s not a sacrifice for any of us, but for you, Robin, it will be. It will save Guarderobe’s reputation as well as yours, but once you agree, you personally won’t have any freedom. You’ll be trapped with us inside that web I told you about, stuck on a schedule you didn’t ask for, stuck doing crap you never signed up for, and it’s one that will have endless inescapable days like today where your most intimate moments will be invaded and photographed by strangers. It’s like being on a glass train heading down a mountain. One with no breaks and with millions of people peering in as we zoom by.”
I blink up at him, then to Mrs. Felix and Sage. “The only thing that scares me in this whole world is that Sage might end up living somewhere without me, even for a day. If you all think this is the best route to keep us together. If you’re not joking that it will also help your band, and if you all promise, above all else, that it will save Angel and his mom from being catapulted back into the spotlight.” I point to Angel and Mrs. Perino. “Then I’ll do it. I’ll marry you Royce. If it really works, then I’ll forever spend the rest of my whole life making this up to you. I will.”
“Robin. That’s the point. If you marry me, you’ll have already made it up to me because you’ll have saved all of our jobs, our contracts, and our hearts from feeling guilty forever for ruining your life.” Royce says.
“Yeah. Because he loves you, Robin. He told me any boyfriend would do this and I agree,” Sage states, not at all understanding that Royce Devlin doesn’t love me at all. “Even if they’ve only been dating one week. He’s such a cool guy. Thank you for stepping up, Royce.”
Wondering if this is the right thing to agree to, I seek out Gregory’s calm, worried face to try to read what he’s thinking. He nods at me like he agrees with every crazy thing that just fell out of Sage’s mouth.
Then I lock eyes with Mrs. Felix again. She’s an international business woman, the grandmother who’s been around a long time, and a woman who would have my best interests at heart as well as a person I do trust.
