“Felix, I’m sure you knew,” Leo said, the look on his face making it abundantly clear that he was not amused by Felix’s continued presence on the far side of the room. “And what are you doing all the way over there?”
Felix considered saying he was giving the bandmates space, because even though he worked for them—ran them, more like—he wasn’t really part of Star Shadow. Not really. He might be Leo’s little brother, and until lately, Max’s best friend, but he was still only their PA. He didn’t go onstage with them. He’d never been followed by a crowd of teenage—and now older—girls, desperate for an autograph or a selfie.
“I’m comfortable over here,” Felix claimed instead.
Leo’s gaze narrowed. He knew that was bullshit, and Felix fully expected to get called on it later. Except maybe not, because Leo was also going to try to convince Felix to not go to Fiji. And Leo, while hardly being the finest negotiator on the planet, wasn’t dumb. He needed Felix’s cooperation.
But then Leo didn’t know everything. If he did, he’d already have known, despite Felix’s own reluctance, that there was no way he was ever going to let Max go through the surgery or the recovery by himself.
Max stood. “I’m tired,” he said. “I think I’m gonna get a ride home.”
“Really? You’re leaving now?” Leo asked.
“Maybe I could use this break more than I realized,” Max said, and Felix realized that he sounded just as tired as he’d claimed he was. “Good thing that you’re all gonna be super busy and I get to chill on my couch.”
“It’s your turn,” Leo said dryly.
“We have worked our asses off,” Diego said quietly, as he returned from the kitchen. “First the reunion tour. Then the new album, then another tour. It’s been a lot. We’ve earned this break, however we want to spend it.”
“Yeah,” Max agreed.
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Benji asked, reaching out and hugging him. “We’re worried about you.”
“It’s really not that big of a deal, I promise. I’m going to be fine. I’ll send some updates to the group chat after the surgery.”
“Good, you’d better,” Leo chimed in.
After hugging him, and then Diego and Benji, and finally Caleb, Max disappeared. He hadn’t given Felix much of a goodbye except a casual wave from the other side of the living room. Felix told himself he deserved Max’s cold shoulder, even though he smarted from the snub. How could you be mad at someone for giving you space when you’d given them space first?
They all heard the door close behind Max.
Leo waited approximately point five seconds before he pounced.
“What is going on with you guys?” he demanded.
Felix shrugged. “Sometimes you grow apart. It’s not a big deal.”
“Yeah,” Diego added, “usually you’re joined at the hip.”
“Maybe,” Felix bit off, “because the rest of you are permanently joined into two pairs.”
Leo looked a little guilty about that. So did Diego and Benji and Caleb, for that matter.
“Sorry,” Felix said, feeling his own wave of guilt. “It’s not your fault. I’m happy you’re happy, really I am.” And he was, he just wanted a goddamn piece of it for himself.
“Will you . . .” Leo started to ask, and Felix rolled his eyes.
“Yes,” he said. “I’ll do it.”
Everyone’s eyes swiveled in his direction
“What?” Felix said defensively, holding up his hands. “We’re friends! He should’ve asked me in the first place.”
“We know,” Diego said softly. “But I think I know why you hadn’t offered.”
“Yeah,” Benji added.
It stung that everyone knew. They all knew, and they all pitied him, but Felix shook it off.
“It’ll be fine,” Felix said briskly, even though it probably wouldn’t be.
“If you say so,” Leo said dubiously.
———
Benji and Diego left a few minutes later, claiming just like Max that they were tired. But Felix could see from the way Benji’s hand was pressing on Diego’s back that they weren’t going to go sleep when they got home. Bed maybe, but not sleep.
The issue of what to do about Max resolved, Felix drifted into the kitchen, reaching into the small refrigerator that Leo had had built underneath the island counter. That was where any beer that they had—usually a handful of bottles—stayed separate from the main fridge. Felix had never personally seen Caleb be even outwardly tempted by alcohol. Usually it was the complete opposite: he couldn’t stand to even be around it, because of the aversion therapy that had finally allowed him to achieve sobriety.
It had been a long day, though, and even the vague thought of nursing Max already had Felix on edge. He popped the top off the bottle and took a long drink.
He wasn’t sure how long he’d been in the kitchen, leaning against the edge of the island as he scrolled through his phone, when his brother came in.
“I was going to say that’s everyone gone for the night, but you’re still here,” Leo said, taking in Felix’s deliberately relaxed posture and the bottle of mostly drunk beer at his elbow.
“I can go if you and Caleb were going to have wild monkey sex in the kitchen,” Felix said.
“No, thanks, we’re good. We’re old enough to have learned the hard way that wild monkey sex is definitely better in a bed,” Leo observed dryly. He reached over and took a sip of what was left of Felix’s beer. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” Felix said shortly, even though he wasn’t. How was he going to survive such close quarters for possibly weeks on end with someone he wanted as badly as Max—someone who didn’t want him that way, at all?
“You don’t sound fine.” Leo slid onto one of the barstools on the other side of the island. His blue eyes, muted in the dim light of the kitchen, were kinder than Felix expected.
“Do you even know what a knee surgery means? It’s a solid week of needing someone right there, probably day and night. And then lots of recovery time after.” Felix had read only a handful of articles, but they all seemed to say the same thing: he was going to need to stay with Max, not just check in on him once a day.
It was going to be heaven, wrapped up in a hellish package.
“We can always hire him a nurse,” Leo said, tapping his fingers on the granite countertop. “You know money isn’t an object.”
“Max would hate that. There’s a reason he didn’t hire one in the first place. He . . . you know he struggles with trust. Especially in the last year or so.”
Celebrity was funny like that; you made enough money to hire all the people in the world to protect you, but it seemed that finding people you could trust was a nearly impossible task. There was a reason why Felix was still working for his brother and his band. Leo couldn’t trust anyone else to take care of them, not the way Felix did. Not without selling them out.
“I know.” Leo sighed. “But I mean it, I know . . . Well, I don’t know, but I can imagine that you’re not really wanting to spend every single moment for a couple of weeks pressed up close to him.”