Wicked Harmony

Chapter 37 | Sin

Chapter 37

Sin

I guess Jules must feel guilty about what happened on our girl’s day out. The next morning, she’s at our suite horrifically early with her laptop in hand and a plan.

“There are photographs of you with each of the band members published online. Pictured in a way that makes it clear you are involved in separate relationships with each of them. And everyone knows they’re due to perform here in a couple of days. Plus, after yesterday, they know you’re also here in Meridian City,” she says.

Pulling my hair up into a messy bun, I eye her overly bright eyes and the way she’s talking too fast as she pours a cup of coffee from the carafe Iri sets in front of us. Dorian and Cal haven’t emerged yet. But Micah is here, looking gloriously rumpled and confused as he takes in the impromptu meeting while I’m dressed only in one of Iri’s t-shirts and my underwear.

“Right,” I reply.

“So it’s pretty obvious that you’re here with them. People are driving themselves crazy speculating about it, about whether the band realizes that you’re with them all or if you’re sneaking around behind their backs.”

Yeah, I’ve seen enough comments calling me a whore to know people assume I’m some groupie moving from bed to bed.

“They think I’m some femme fatale, cuckolding the guys. ”

She nods, glugging more coffee with a shaking hand, and I frown at her in concern.

“Exactly. I think we need to get out there and make a statement. Make it clear that you’re in a committed relationship with all four members of the band and they’re all aware of that. The label might not like it, but it’s better than their alternative, which is to pay you off and send you on your way.”

“Why wouldn’t the label like it?” Micah asks sleepily, frowning down at me. He then pulls me to my feet and takes my place on the sofa, immediately reseating me in his lap with his arms wrapped tightly around me.

Jules waves her hand dismissively. “They like to act like you’re all young, free and single. Stallions just looking for the right fan to break the lock on your hearts or whatever. It’s a marketing gimmick.”

“Well, I don’t think any of us give a shit about that,” he mutters. “Do they not understand we’re done after this tour? We’re settling down to raise chickens and farm the land, or something.”

She nods. “Even when you’re done touring, they’ll want people to still be buying your back catalog. You’re not just going to fade into the ether, you know.”

“Shame,” he murmurs against my neck and I squeeze his hand.

“The band has interviews lined up already today. My thinking is that we should have you join them, control the narrative that way. Most of the interviews are for online channels and maybe a couple of podcasts. The content should be out there by tomorrow and within the week, it should mean that the frenzy surrounding your relationships will calm down.”

I cock my head to one side, leaning into Micah’s hard chest. “Huh. How come you didn’t mention any of this yesterday?”

It’s not like we didn’t spend most of the day together. Jules’ cheeks actually pinken, and she takes another swig of coffee .

People have been spreading toxic shit about me for over forty-eight hours at this point and I don’t know what the initial plan was—to ignore it all and hope I don’t receive too many death threats?

“Yeah, I’m a dick,” Jules replies with a sigh. “I know it. You know it. I had other things I was focused on and that meant this slipped by the wayside. Still, Sin, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do the interviews. I really think this would be the best option for everyone.”

Iri drops onto the sofa beside me, squeezing my thigh with one massive, dusky red hand. I rest my own, much smaller hand, on top of his and he shoots me a crooked grin.

“If you do this and put yourself out there, it’ll be your name and face out in the open forever.” He meets my eyes and I know he’s thinking about our conversation from last night.

I’ll be pretty much leaving my calling card for the Herald and anyone else who might want to find me.

Good.

“Let them see me,” I say to Iri.

I want to be a piece of low-hanging fruit for the Herald. To lure him out of his hiding place. Then, when he gets close enough, we trap him.

“I might suck at being interviewed,” I add, turning my attention back to Julia in time to see her eyes light up.

“You can’t be worse than Cal.” She chuckles. “He looks like he wants to murder every interviewer and only ever responds in grunts or monosyllables. The others aren’t much better. Like Micah when he’s overwhelmed or Dorian when he’s in a mood, or—”

“Yes, Julia?” Iri purrs. “Anything to add about me?”

She shakes her head at him. “Nope. Nothing. You’re just great.” When Iri switches his attention to me, she mouths ‘not perfect’ over Iri’s shoulder and my grin widens .

“I’ll organize it so that you’ll all be on camera, but none of it will be live.” She taps away at her phone.

“And what about if they ask about the work Sin’s involved in? I’m guessing you want to keep the particulars to yourself,” Micah says to me.

“We can just say I’m tech support.”

“Yes, great.” Jules nods like a bobblehead doll. “You’re coworkers who fell in love. All those late nights backstage, working closely together. One thing led to another and you plowed. Now you’re in love. Perfect.” She continues making notes on her phone. “I’ll update the list of questions we’re approving to each of the channels and get out of your hair.”

A few minutes later, she drains the carafe of coffee and leaves as abruptly as she arrived.

“Are you sure about this, Sin?” Micah asks.

I blow out a breath and nod. “My face is already out there. So it’s not like I can fly under the radar forever. Jules is right, people are curious, and that’s only going to fuel more interest. At least this way, I might have fewer people calling me a dirty whore for fucking around on each of you.”

Although... I’ll still be a woman with my face on the internet, so I can’t imagine it’ll be all sunshine and roses from here.

“Plus, no more hiding, remember? I’m done with sticking my head in the sand and hoping all my problems melt away. I think it’s time we make a plan and you call your mom, Iri.”

IF I THOUGHT WATCHING the guys be interviewed was a strange experience, being alongside them is like having an out-of-body experience.

I sit in an uncomfortable chair at the front of the hotel conference suite, with Micah on one side and Dorian on the other. Cal’s at my back, as close as he can get without sitting me in his lap. And Iri is beside him, his fingers gently tracing patterns on the nape of my neck. Each one of them is touching me and it’s helping to bring my racing heart rate down.

Cal’s already assured me if the interviewers ask something we don’t like, the whole band will walk. Sure, it’ll give Jules a breakdown and piss off the label, but the guys are beyond caring at this point. They’re meeting their obligations by agreeing to be interviewed, but that’s it.

But I’m still nervous as hell. I’m used to being backstage, not jostled to the front like this, and I’m feeling the effects of people’s attention focusing on me.

It’s hot in this room. There are a bunch of fancy ring lights set up and I’m about to cook from all the male bodies pressing against me. I wipe my hands on my jeans and smile as the first interviewer takes a seat in front of us.

He’s someone I vaguely recognize. I must have seen his channel before when I’ve been mindlessly scrolling online at two am. Leaning forward in his chair, he clasps the hand of each of the guys, leaving me to last.

“Thanks for this. Last time you guys were on our channel, we doubled our subscribers overnight.”

“Because Dorian threatened to get naked,” Micah replies with a chuckle.

“Oh, yeah?” I turn to Dorian, who is practically horizontal in his seat, his legs splayed out and his hand resting on my thigh. “Naked, huh?”

“Naughty,” he purrs in my ear before adding loud enough for everyone to hear, “I threatened to take off my glasses to see if it’d do anything to the fine folks at home. Can’t quite remember why.”

“Jules nearly lost her mind,” Micah adds .

“But the only person who gets to see me naked is you, baby,” Dorian says.

I roll my eyes and nearly gag on the pet name, causing him to chuckle. He wraps his hand around my jaw and leans closer, pressing a soft kiss to my lips.

He murmurs into my ear, “You realize I’m sickeningly sincere, right?” Another brush of his lips, this time to my jaw, and I feel a whole body flush go right through me.

When I sit back in my seat, the interviewer is smirking and I realize the whole thing was probably caught on camera.

Oh well, I guess that’s as good a way as any of announcing our relationship, and I grin right back.

“So Sin, it seems like you’ve tamed the bad boys of rock.”

I don’t know what to say to that, considering it’s not actually a question. Thankfully, Micah jumps in.

“Not sure we’d ever call ourselves ‘bad boy’s, Cliff. But we’ve all fallen for her. I think we’re all counting our lucky stars that she agreed to work with us for this last tour. And we’re even luckier that we found someone who we’ve all been able to make a connection with.”

I shoot him a grateful look and squeeze his hand.

“Is that how the five of you met? While prepping for the tour?”

“Sin’s a master at what she does, and she’s been working hard to make this final tour one that’s going to be something for our fans to remember.”

“Because it’s your last one?” The interviewer presses, leaning forward in his chair.

“That and it’s gonna rock their socks off,” I reply with a grin. I feel like a real nerd as the words slip out, but then Cal and Dorian chuckle and any tension in me melts away.

“It’ll be the best damn night of our fans’ lives,” Iri adds, seamlessly adding to my answer like we orchestrated the whole thing .

Fuck, we’re cute.

Thankfully, that’s as far as the mushy stuff goes. The rest of the questions are pretty tame. It’s all the usual stuff about what’s going to make this tour different, the influences for their latest releases, plans beyond the tour. Yadda yadda yadda.

We’re done with the first interview within a half hour and then move on to the next one. They’re all pretty much the same and we rinse and repeat five times before taking a break to grab some lunch. The interviews are all taking place in one of the conference rooms of our hotel, so it’s easy enough to head back up to the suite to decompress for an hour before we get back to it.

Dorian and Cal barge into the bathroom while I’m refreshing my deodorant. And most of our break is then lost to the two of them, with Cal holding me up while Dorian buries his face between my legs before I then return the favor with the both of them.

I’m flushed and dressed in a whole new outfit by the time we stumble out on jelly legs. But as soon as we step into the suite’s living area, I pull to a halt. Iri’s scowling at his phone and Micah is in front of me, pulling me into a hug before I can ask what’s wrong.

It’s clear something has happened, as the air in the room is thick with tension.

I glance between them. “Is someone going to tell me what’s going on?”

“I guess you could say that the plan to get Orlog’s attention is working,” Iri replies.

“Okaay, that’s good, isn’t it?” I frown as Iri passes me his phone and my gut cramps as I see the familiar website already loaded.

“He’s made another video?” I ask through a suddenly dry throat.

Fuck. Of course he has.

Micah’s arms tighten around me.

“I’m guessing from your reaction, it’s about me? ”

“He’s showing a bunch of the headlines with your picture on and is linking them back to the old story about you being a lost member of his flock. He says that you’ve lost your way hanging out with delinquent, evil monsters.”

My chest burns with fury. It’s nothing I haven’t heard before, but directed at these four guys who are the best people I’ve ever known, it makes me want to throat punch him.

I take a deep breath and am calmer than expected when I reply, “I can’t say I’m surprised. He’s a publicity hound and this’ll give him attention.”

“Somehow, people have found his video. Jules is working with the PR team to squash the articles, but by tomorrow, people will know that Sinjin Murphy—the woman dating Orpheus Underground—used to be Saint Madison, the step-daughter of a cult leader.”

“Right.”

I’ve been outed.

My body goes kind of numb and I nod my head a bunch of times. I should have expected this.

Micah’s arms tighten around me, grounding me so I don’t get lost spiraling inside my head and slowly the numbness fades.

“I thought you’d be freaking out about this,” Micah says. “But you feel... calm.”

A few months back, this would have been my worst nightmare. The Herald knows exactly where I am and what I’m doing. But Micah’s right, it doesn’t feel like my world is ending.

Mostly because my horizons have shifted. I’m not alone anymore. I have the guys to support me, and that makes all the difference.

“The thing is,” I tell them, taking in their anxious expressions. “He’s greedy but he also has strong self-preservation instincts. He’ll know he can’t tell anyone the worst bits of what I did for him without outing himself as a fraud. People are just going to think I had a bit of a weird upbringing.”

Iri nods slowly, stepping closer until he’s cupping my cheek and searching my face for any hint of uncertainty. “So, we continue with the plan.”

“Yep. We’ve caught his attention already which means Step One is going swimmingly. Now all we need to do is make sure our locations are splashed all over the internet again somewhere he’s bound to approach you.”

“Except you won’t be alone,” Iri continues smoothly, like he’s plucking the thoughts directly from my head. “And he’ll have a delightful surprise about who’s with you.”