Page 34 of The Fake Divination Offense
“Orok Monroe!” A reporter shoves her way over, microphone out, a cameraman following. “And—” She checks her notes. “Alexo Warden?”
I set him down, my skin prickling with a combination of annoyance that she didn’t automatically know him—who couldnotknow him—and fury that he’s the center of so much attention. It isn’t safe, and I tuck him into my side but make sure to angle my body in front of him so I take the brunt of the focus.
The reporter gives a coy grin. “You two areadorable. Mr. Monroe, how are you feeling after your first time playing as a Hellhound?”
My brows go up, startled by her normal question. I expected something about me and Alexo, but I look out over the crowd, at my teammates, and I smile.
“Really good,” I say. And I mean it. “We played as a unit. Well, most of today’s win goes to Marlow Keel”—I wink, and the reporter laughs; Alexo, still tucked up against me, does, too—“but overall, I’m even more excited to see what we do this season.”
“And do you think you did your god proud tonight?”
Does my smile get too forced? Am I able to hide my discomfort before the reporter and her cameraman see? I don’t know—but I know Alexo feels me stiffen. I know my body jerks against him, muscles seizing. I know he looks up at the side of my face.
I smile for the reporter. “The whole team played their best.”
She pauses, expecting me to say more. Ishouldsay more. I’m repping Urzoth even more boldly than before, if only to keep Alexo in their good graces.
But I can’t get my jaw to open, and I keep my fake smile plastered to my face.
Eventually, the reporter pulls her mic back and clears her throat. “And you, Mr. Warden.” She turns to him. “How wasyourfirst experience performing?”
Alexo blushes. It makes his freckles pop, and I run my thumb up and down his side.
He shivers at the motion and leans into me a little more, so I feel every vibration of that shiver, every ripple of his body in a waythat has me suddenly glad I’m wearing a cup so the reporter won’t be getting a whole other type of headline story.
“I, um—” He glances up at me, dazed, before he seemingly hears the reporter’s question in a delayed rebound. Fuck, I get that.
Alexo steps toward her, a flash of determination, and he looks straight at the camera as he says, “It was great. I want everyone watching to—” A pause. A quick inhale of breath. “To remember to keep dancing, too.”
That’s… specific. A tagline he’s hoping to start? Did the publicists work that out with him?
The reporter’s head rocks in confusion before she grins. “Aw, so sweet! You really are abeauty.”
Alexo’s turn to be confused. “I—what?”
She laughs. “It’s one of the names people have for you two. One is Oroxo—your names, Orok and Alexo. But most are calling you Beauty and the Beast.”
Alexo frowns. “He’s not abeast.”
“Hey.” I nudge him. “Maybe I’m thebeauty.” There’s no way, but it gets him to give me an exasperated smile.
The reporter dives away when there’s a break in the hodgepodge near Marlow, and I use the opening to close in around Alexo again, creating a little pocket of semi-privacy in the midst of this very, very not-private place.
He looks up at me in another of those silent eye-locks and touches my jersey. Several layers of padding keep his hand from making contact with my skin, but I imagine there’s heat anyway, a heavy warmth.
This is doing nothing to help my uncomfortable cup situation, damn it.
“Was that okay?” he whispers, making it more lip reading than anything.
I smirk. “I’m really okay with being referred to as abeastif it means—”
“Not that.” He scowls. “Well, kind of that, but—I meant, was the… kiss… okay?” A blush overtakes his face, scarlet red, sopretty it aches. “We both agreed to it, but agreeing anddoingare two different things.”
I cup his face in my hands. My skin is getting tacky from the dried saltwater, but I run my thumbs over his jaw and the dustings of glitter on his cheeks.
“Any way you want to touch me is okay,” I tell him.
His head tips in my hands, sardonic. “Anyway? You didn’t sign that broad a margin of error, Mr. Monroe.”
