Page 753 of End Game

We just weren't there yet.

Apparently, yet is Tuesday.

“What changed,” Ronan continues, “is that people now have enough disconnected information to start assembling it themselves. Dex's music work increased his visibility. The wedding gave them Micah. The old photos gave them the rest of us.”

Griffin leans back in his chair. “So what's the choice?”

“We do nothing,” Ronan says. “Dex confirms his marriage and leaves everything else unanswered. Or we confirm the basic structure ourselves.”

Dex shifts beside Micah.

“I can pull back.”

Every person at the table looks at him.

He lifts his hands.

“I'm saying I can. The Signal Saints thing hasn't even fully released yet. I don't have to do more of the video stuff. If Austin asks me to guest somewhere or do another behind-the-scenes thing, I can say no. Grave Intentions is enough.”

“No,” Micah says immediately.

Dex looks at him.

Griffin shakes his head. “Absolutely not.”

Ronan's voice is quieter, but just as firm. “Your career is not the variable we adjust.”

I lean forward.

“You do not get to make yourself smaller because people noticed the rest of us exist.”

Dex's expression changes just enough to hurt.

Because he meant it.

Not dramatically.

He would actually do it.

He would step backward if he thought it kept the rest of us from being uncomfortable.

Micah's hand closes around his wrist.

“You don't have to lose something to keep us,” he says.

Dex looks at him for a long second.

Then nods.

“Okay.”

Ronan lets the silence sit before continuing.

“My concern isn't people knowing we're polyamorous.”

“That sounds almost progressive of you,” Dex says.

Ronan gives him a look.