Outsider (36 page)

After
they did quite a bit of walking around a lake, enjoying the nature of the area,
Trey drew her to a halt before a giant fountain. The wide and perfectly round
pool surrounded a bronze angel perched upon the top of several tiered layers.
The sound of trickling water soothed Reagan, until she noticed Trey wasn’t
enjoying the scenery. He was staring at her with an unreadable expression.
She’d have thought he looked nervous, but Trey was never nervous about
anything. Reagan studied him, trying to gauge his emotions, only to notice that
they were being surrounded by reporters with cameras. And not just the point
and click kind either. She’d seen a few of them here and there as they’d
enjoyed their day, but this was a mob. Where had they all come from?

Trey
decided that that moment was the perfect time to kiss her, but she was too
anxious to enjoy it. He then sank his hand into his pocket and produced the
ring Eric had given him earlier that day. Only it wasn’t a cock ring. It was a
diamond.

Confused,
she blinked up at him. Her gaze stayed on him when he dropped to one knee.

“Reagan,
you complete me as no woman has ever completed me. I love you now and will love
you when I draw my last breath.” He smiled up at her with happiness shining in
his gorgeous green eyes. “Will you marry me?”

Trey
waited for Reagan’s response. Seconds seemed like hours.

Say
yes
, he thought,
hoping to sway her decision telepathically.
Say yes
.

She
pulled her gaze from his to take in all the reporters surrounding them—reporters
who seemed as anxious to hear her answer as Trey was—and then stared into his
eyes again. It had never occurred to him that she might say no. Maybe she
thought the only reason he was asking her was to change the public’s focus from
a negative to a positive one. But she should know him well enough to realize he
didn’t do anything he didn’t want to do.

“Yes?”
she said, and the word was far more a question than an answer. Good enough for
him. They’d sort out her hesitation later, when there wasn’t a huge crowd of
onlookers.

He
slid the engagement ring onto her finger. She examined it as if confused by
what it signified. A little more enthusiasm on her part would have been
appreciated.

“Wait,”
she said, shaking her head slightly and blinking hard. “Did you just ask me to
marry you?”

“I
did.”

“Oh.”

Oh?

“Oh!”
Her face lit up with delight, and she dropped to the ground, her body colliding
with his. As her arms tightened around his neck, he lost his balance and they
tumbled onto the red brick pavers covering the ground. He laughed as she kissed
him repeatedly, each smooch punctuated by the word yes.

There
were so many camera flashes going off that he had to close his eyes or risk
permanent blindness. People he didn’t know were clapping and cheering.

Reagan
eventually buried her face in his neck, and he shifted a hand to the back of
her head, fingers sliding between locks of her silky hair. He kissed her tenderly
on the forehead and said, “You had me worried for a minute there.”

“You
should be worried,” she whispered close to his ear. “Because I’m going to kill
you.”

She
shifted, pushing up on both arms to suspend her body over his. A gleam shot
from her eyes. He couldn’t tell if it was murderous or a gleam of pure joy. He
could tell that her knee was uncomfortably close to his balls.

“Let’s
get married in June!” she said.

“Next
year?”

“Next
month.”

The
smile disappeared from his face as a murmur of excitement raced through the
crowd of reporters and spectators.

“That
soon?”

“Why
not?”

He
saw the challenge in her eyes. Was she trying to get back at him by putting him
on the spot the way he’d put her on the spot with that marriage proposal? She
probably expected him to refuse.

“That
doesn’t give us much time to plan,” he said, widening his smile, “but yeah,
let’s do it. Let’s get married before we go to Europe next month.”

Her
smile wavered slightly, and she collapsed on top of him, hugging him as if she’d
never let him go. Or maybe she was just practicing her strangling technique.

Having
obtained their scoop—two of them, actually—the reporters began to disperse.
Trey had intentionally invited legitimate reporters, not the paparazzi, hoping
that having the news of their engagement and wedding—
wedding
!—in a
reputable magazine like
People
or
Us
or
Rolling Stone
would silence the tabloids permanently or at least make readers question the
legitimacy of their articles.

Reagan
released him, and he lumbered to his feet, reaching for her hand to help her
up. Her new ring caught the light as she placed her hand in his. The rock was
gorgeous. Rebekah and Eric had done an excellent job choosing something
outlandishly large and expensive. Which was fine. He wanted Reagan to have the
best. He wondered if Ethan would wear a diamond. Doubtful. Trey would present
something more masculine to Ethan when he asked him to marry him. Of course,
Trey would have to go against his instincts and ask Ethan a bit more privately
than the way he’d asked Reagan. Unfortunately, he didn’t think there was a way
he could legally marry them both, no matter how much his heart and soul yearned
for that level of commitment.

“I
can’t believe you did that,” Reagan said as they meandered through the thinning
crowd, accepting congratulations and handshakes and pats on the back.

“I’m
just glad you’re so behind the idea that you want to make it official in a few
weeks. Sed is getting married on that first Saturday we’re off. We’ll have to
schedule our wedding for the following weekend. I wouldn’t want to steal their
thunder. Jessica would skin me alive.”

“She’ll
have to get in line,” Reagan murmured.

“Hey,”
Trey said, “I was prepared for a long engagement. You’re the one who can’t wait
to make this official.”

“You
were supposed to baulk at the idea.”

“Why?
I really do want to marry you.”

She
looked up at him, squinting at him in the sunlight. “You do?”

“I
wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”

“What
about E—” She pressed her lips together and looked around to see if anyone was
listening. No reporters were trailing them for the first time that day. “What
about Ethan?” she whispered.

“I
want to marry him too,” Trey said.

“You
can’t marry both of us.”

“My
heart can.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it softly. “It already
has.”

She
blinked several times—forcing back tears, if he wasn’t mistaken.

“It’s
impossible to stay mad at you, Trey Mills. Do you know that?”

He
grinned. “Yep.”

*****

At
the arena, the backstage area was blissfully devoid of reporters. The women congregated
in Reagan’s dressing room to admire her new rock and sigh dreamily about her
surprise wedding proposal. Pleased with how the proposal had turned out, Trey
went to hang out with his band and the few VIP fans who were allowed backstage.
He really wanted to call Ethan, his parents, and the emperor of the freaking
universe to share the news of his good fortune. Everyone was in a celebratory
mood for the first time this week, and he was more than a little drunk by the
time they headed for the stage.

“Are
you sure about this?” Brian asked as they made their way down a crowded
corridor.

“Tonight
I’m playing live in Madison Square Garden next to Master Sinclair. I’m sure
everything is right in my world.”

“You
haven’t known her long,” Brian pointed out.

“How
long did you know Myrna before you knew she was the one you wanted to spend the
rest of your life with?”

Brian
scowled. “Less than a day. But that’s different.”

“How
so?”

“I’m
not gay.”

Wow,
that was pretty hurtful.

Trey
stopped walking and scowled at Brian. “You’re gay-
ish
.” Several people
turned to gawk at them. Had he said that really loudly? Shit. His voice tended
to carry when he’d had one too many beers. “Happy all the time!” Trey said to
cover his publicly inappropriate words, no matter how true they were. Brian was
closer to straight than Trey would ever be, but on the hetero-homo scale, Brian
wasn’t on the one hundred percent heterosexual end of the spectrum. Surely he
recognized that as much as Trey always had.

Eric
pushed Trey in the back to get him moving forward again.

“He’s
just sad that you won’t try to kiss him anymore,” Eric said. “The rest of us
are over the moon about it. You no longer reek of desperation.”

Trey
elbowed him in the arm.

“Hey!”
Eric said. “Don’t damage the goods.”

“Maybe
Jessica would like a double wedding.” Sed scratched at his jaw. “We basically
have the same guest list, and as much as I’m paying for that reception dinner . . .”

“Don’t
even mention it to her,” Trey said. “She deserves to be alone in the spotlight
on her wedding day. And I’m pretty sure my wedding is going to be a media
orgy.”

“I
don’t know,” Jace said, glancing around the corridor. “The paparazzi have all
disappeared. I think they’ve lost interest.”

“Is
that why you asked her?” Brian asked. “To get the paparazzi off her ass?”

“I
asked her because I love her.” Which was true. That getting the paparazzi off
her ass part was an added benefit. And their agreement not to publish pictures
of her losing her sheet in the lobby had clinched the deal for him.

“So
Ethan is okay with this?” Brian continued.

“He
doesn’t know yet.” Trey smiled. “But I’m sure he’ll be pleased.”

“Yeah,
your relationship is definitely strong enough for you to marry Reagan. That’s
why he left you both yesterday, am I right?”

Trey
had never seen Brian act so . . . so . . . jealous?
Was that really what this was? Or was he genuinely concerned that Trey marrying
Reagan was a mistake. “He’s coming back on Wednesday,” Trey informed him. “Why
do you care so much anyway?”

“Because
you always think with your heart and not with your head, Trey.”

“He
thinks with his little head regularly,” Eric said.

Sed
slapped Eric across the back of his head so Trey didn’t have to.

“Hey!”
Eric said. “Don’t damage the goods.”

“You
have goods in there?” Sed asked, eyeing his head skeptically.

“Is
she pregnant?” Jace asked, completely out of the blue.

“What?”
Trey stumbled over his feet when all four of his band members stared at him
expectantly.

“No,”
he said. “Of course not. Why would you ask that?”

“You
just seem in a bit of rush to get married,” Jace said. “I thought maybe she was
pregnant.”

“He
would make a good father,” Sed said. “Have you seen how he dotes on Malcolm?”

“Yeah,
but only because I can give him back,” Trey said. “What’s with you guys
tonight? If I wanted my balls busted about this, I’d call my mother.” Though he
was sure his mother would be happy for him. His mother was always delighted
when he was happy.

“You
haven’t told Gwen yet?” Brian asked, shaking his head as he slipped a guitar
strap over it and settled his signature black and white electric guitar into
place.

“It’s
on my to-do list.”

Jake
handed Trey the new orange guitar he’d bought a few days ago at a signing. He’d
barely broken it in, but he already loved it. Probably never as much as he’d loved
the yellow and black guitar he’d smashed onstage in a fit of frustration, but
its replacement was a solid instrument.

“Congratulations,”
the guitar tech said, giving Trey a one-armed bro-hug and slapping him on the
back.

Trey
ducked to avoid being poked in the eye by the pointed spikes of Jake’s mohawk
hairstyle.

“Thanks!
Good news travels fast,” Trey said.

“The
crew watched the whole thing on
Entertainment Tonight
. For a minute
there, I thought she was going to say no.”

He’d
had a similar fear.

“Who
could turn down Trey?” Eric asked, thudding him hard on the back.

The
cellphone in Trey’s pocket began to vibrate. Since he had a few minutes before
he had to be onstage, he pulled it out. His heart swelled at seeing Ethan’s
name on the display. Ethan had finally done it. He’d come out to his mother.
The barriers keeping the three of them apart were falling away.

Trey
accepted the call, but before he could get his congratulations past his lips, in
a cold hard voice Ethan said, “You asked her to marry you?”