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“No worries. It was unlocked.”
“Do you have stuff to bring in?” I asked, figuring they wouldn’t be staying with Kingsley and Aspen’s mom because of who he was dating. And I wasn’t sure King had told their mother yet. So many secrets this year. It almost felt like a real family.
“We got a hotel,” King said softly.
“You what?” Ma asked, coming into the entryway, wooden spoon still in hand. Sometimes I wondered if she faked her hearing loss.
“We got a hotel. I didn’t want to impose,” Kingsley said. He didn’t have the same responsibility towards Ma as Aspen did, even if she loved him like a child, but I understood. He’d lived at home. “It’s just easier. We will be here bright and early every morning, I promise.”
“You just want privacy to fuck your boyfriend. I see how it is.” Ma put her nose in the air and walked back into the kitchen.
Alister’s mouth hung open.
Aspen laughed, hugging his brother. “Good to see you.”
“How was it?” King asked when we settled around the dining room table, eating the sandwiches while Ma cooked.
“Really good,” Aspen replied.
“I’m shocked, but you two seem to be getting along better, so I believe it. What changed?” King glanced between us.
“Royal, I need you to come in here now,” Ma called from the other room.
Aspen and I exchanged a glance, but I had no idea what she wanted. Maybe to harp on me more about getting married.
“Bring the rest of the guys and hurry up,” she added as I pushed back from the table.
We moved into the kitchen to find Ma pointing at some afternoon talk show with Arthur Gold speaking to the host.
“It is really sad. I try to be nice to everyone, and I’ve been such a big fan of theirs since I was a teenager. Meeting them just ruined it.”
“Can you go into more about why meeting them ruined it?” The host had her dialed-up concerned face on.
Arthur adjusted his seat. “I don’t know how much I want to talk about it in public because I don’t want it to become a thing or for them to get canceled…but basically we got into an altercation.” Arthur turned toward the camera, giving puppy dog eyes.
“That motherfucker.”
“You can’t leave it like that. You have to tell the story.”
Arthur acted coy and shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just so sad. I don’t know that I’ve even fully processed what happened. I think Royal hates me because I’m gay, and when he saw Aspen flirting with me, he lost it.” He had a full-on acting moment, dropping his eyes to his lap, playing it up for the crowd. “I think he has deep bigotry and homophobia he needs to work on. It’s really sad to see someone who is so talented be violent in public, and more so someone who is openly bisexual like Aspen, and who is a huge icon and role model for so many of our youth right now. He is great at promoting fluidity of sexuality and breaking gender norms in clothes and costumes on stage. So many of our queer youth look up to him, and for Aspen to support Royal…” He shrugged and shook his head, playing up the sadness. “I’m so disappointed in him, and I wanted to like him. I hope he realizes how that tarnishes everything he’s doing.”
“That motherfucking liar.” Had I not worked on my anger management, I’d already be on a flight to the studio to kill him on live television. I took a couple of deep breaths.
“What the fuck? Why is he going on about this now?” Kingsley asked turning to Royal.“What did you say to him?”
“I hit him more than Royal did, and he’s making it seem like it was all Royal.”Aspen jumped to my defense but it didn’t look like King was buying it.
“Why were either of you punching a guy you both know is loud about calling people out?” Kingsley burned with rage. Maybe he needed Black Diamond.
“He was talking shit about you, and Royal hit him, and I finished the job. It had nothing to fucking do with Royal being homophobic.” Aspen quickly played defense, and I hated that was where we were at. That I’d acted stupid enough on tour for this to be believable.
“You need to stop defending me.” Kingsley sighed, then looked at us. “Was Arthur hitting on you?”
Aspen shrugged, then nodded. “Maybe.”
Kingsley rounded on me. “Was that what pissed you off in the first place?” His tone was visceral and accusatory.
“He’s trying to capitalize off my goddamn popularity,” Aspen said through his teeth. “Stop trying to turn this on Royal.”
