I glimpsed a look and as soon as I saw the 617 area code, I knew. I knew it was his dad calling.
“Whatever, if he wanted to wish me a Merry Christmas he would have called yesterday,” Kiegan muttered, pressing ignore and putting the phone down. I had just snuggled back into his chest, feeling the warm heat of his sleepy body against mine when the phone began to ring again.
“Seriously, what the hell,” Kiegan muttered, pressed ignore again, and then shut the phone off completely.
When we got up Kiegan turned his phone back on.
“Weird, I have ten missed calls from my dad. I better actually call him back,” he told me. I nodded, and went to the kitchen to get breakfast.
While I managed to cook bacon and eggs a lot more successfully than Kiegan’s attempt at pancakes the day before I turned on the TV. It was set to the news, and I watched as there was a story showing people going insane over boxing day sales out east, some heartwarming Christmas stories, then entertainment.
“And now, to entertainment.” I was half listening to the obviously gay man they cut to who would read out the entertainment news for the day.
“Now, here is something juicier than last night’s turkey dinner,” the guy drawled. “You know the Hunt family? Of course you do, everyone knows the Hunt family. Well, if yesterday was any indication, they are definitely keeping it in the family this Christmas.”
I dropped the spatula on the floor as I turned over to give the TV my full attention. The screen cut to photos taken of Kiegan and I at Duke’s yesterday morning. We were deep in conversation, and to my chagrin, I hadn’t noticed that my hand was resting on his.
“Holy shit,” I muttered under my breath.
“Now, does that look like just a brother and sister getting breakfast in Hawaii on Christmas?” the guy asked. “I mean, I know, I know, they’re not really blood relatives. Tina Hunt’s mother married new super celebrity Kiegan Hunt’s father Elton when they were teenagers, but still. I think this photo speaks for itself, especially since attempts to reach the apparent happy couple have gone unanswered.”
Just then Kiegan walked into the room.
“So. You know what my father wanted to talk about then.”
“That would have been a fun conversation.”
Kiegan shrugged.
“Well, it wasn’t a long one, at any rate.”
“What happened?”
“I got pissed and hung up on him.”
I would have laughed if it wasn’t so god dam insane. Hearing the bacon crackling behind me, I turned off the stove.
“Well, we’re going to deal with breakfast first, before anything else.”
“Works for me.”
Kiegan and I ate in silence, both of us caught up in our own thoughts. How had this happened? I hadn’t realized that my hand was on his when we were having breakfast. Was this really happening? What other news sites were reporting that Kiegan and I were in a taboo relationship? Oh God, I knew the answer to that. I knew it was all of them. They would all be reporting on it, they would all be wanting the scoop. I’d left my phone upstairs when I went to make breakfast, but I could only imagine it had a ton of messages waiting for me.
I knew going into this that there was a risk. I knew that it was possible Kiegan and I would be found out, and I knew that if it happened, there was a very real chance that I would be on the front page of gossip mags and websites as well. I just didn’t expect it to happen so fast.
“Are you ok with this?” Kiegan finally asked, his voice soft as he put his fork and knife down on his plate.
I nodded. “I will be. I think. It’s just a lot to take in at once.”
“I know. It sucks. It’s the downside of fame. If you want to call everything off, if you want to go back to just working for me, or even not working for me, that’s fine.”
I shook my head. “No. No, I’m not going to let some bottom feeders bully me into doing something I don’t want with their shitty reporting. But what do we do? Do we put out a statement? I feel like that’s part of my job, like I should know about it.”
“Yeah. We could do that. We can either deny it, or come straight out and be frank about it, and take the flack that comes with it.”
“What do you think we should do?”
“It depends. On how serious we are, I guess. If we deny it, well it’s a pretty plausible lie. But if our relationship continues, well it’s going to come out for sure at one point or another.”
“True.”
“And of course, not denying it has the added bonus that the family is going to be beyond pissed, especially with my Uncle Edward’s run for President.”
“Well that settles it. We’re not denying it.”
“Works for me.”
If it screwed over the Hunt family, well I was willing to take a little bit of a publishing shaming in exchange to see that. Especially if it screwed up Edward Hunt’s chances to be President.