Page 56 of Not Your Golden Boy

Nikky froze in the middle of lifting his empty suitcase from the bottom of the wardrobe to put on the bed. “Wait, what?”

Harry’s face pinched, and he rubbed a hand over it, as if he were physically trying to dispel whatever he was thinking. “Maybe it’s best if you stay here after all,” he said. “At least until you’re finished recording your album.”

An electric haze of fear washed over Nikky as he stood still, staring at his lover.

It was the phone call. It had to be the phone call. Someone had said something that had spooked Harry somehow.

“Who—” Before the word could form itself into a question, old fear tangled Nikky’s tongue. What if Harry didn’t want him asking questions? What if he was offended by someone meddling in his business? What if pushing things meant Harry pushed him away and broke up with him?

And what if he lay down and rolled over, like he had time and time again throughout his life? What if his inability to stand up for himself meant he lost the best thing that had happened in his life, better even than Cooked?

With more courage than anyone could imagine, except maybe Harry himself, he asked, “Who called you out there?”

Harry tensed, his jaw clenching hard. He stared at Nikky like he was debating whether to answer. Then he blew out a breath, took a step back, and said, “It’s not important.”

The flickering flame of courage in Nikky’s gut threatened to go out. He couldn’t let it. Not over something this important. “I think it is important,” he said, gaining strength as he went. “Whoever it was, they said something that changed your mind about, well, about me.”

“Nobody could ever change my mind about you, princess.” Harry tried to smile and reached out to rest a hand on Nikky’s cheek.

Surprising himself, Nikky pulled away. “But it was someone,” he said. “Someone who said something that made you second-guess me moving in with you.” He heard how those words sounded and quickly added, “Temporarily,” looking down.

“It’s not that,” Harry said, exasperated. “It’s—” He stopped, rippling with frustration.

“Who called you?” Nikky asked again. The more he stood up for himself, the easier it was.

Harry growled quietly, like he was fighting some sort of internal battle, and rubbed the back of his neck. “It really doesn’t matter,” he said. “Let’s just finish packing up your things.”

Instead of going back to doing exactly that, Nikky gaped at Harry. “Three seconds ago, you thought I should stay here, and now we’re packing my things again?”

“It’s really not a big deal,” Harry sighed and reached for the suitcase where Nikky had dropped it, put it on the bed, and unzipped the lid.

Nikky didn’t know what to think or do. “It is a big deal if it has you acting like this a split-second after everything was so good between us.”

He’d felt on top of the world just fifteen minutes before, and now he felt like the weight of that world might crush him again. Harry would never do that to him on his own, and there were a limited number of people who could do that to begin with.

“It was Holberg, wasn’t it,” he said, staring as Harry packed his things.

“No, it wasn’t,” Harry said, seemingly annoyed. Harry was talented in so many ways, but not at acting.

“Who else could it have been?” he asked, then huffed out a breath and moved restlessly to dispel the frantic energy building within him. “Why aren’t you telling me anything?”

“Because I care about you, okay?” Harry snapped, standing straight. “I love you.”

The words knocked the air out of Nikky’s lungs and made him dizzy.

“Shit.” Harry lowered his head and dropped his shoulders. “I didn’t mean it to come out like that.” He still looked down.

“Did you mean it to come out at all?” Nikky asked, feeling like he might shatter.

Harry glanced up at him. “Yes,” he said, face completely serious. “I did. But not in the middle of an argument.”

Nikky had no idea what to say. Knowing Harry loved him should have made him feel as golden as everyone believed he was, but the admission that they were having their first fight withered something inside him.

The only thing he could think to do in the moment was to concentrate on packing. He took a few things out of the wardrobe and put them in the suitcase as Harry did the same, then he headed into the bathroom to collect his toiletries, all without saying a word or continuing the conversation, or rather, the argument.

They finished packing up all his things, then Harry carried the suitcase as they left the room and headed out of the suite.

“There’s a door that lets out behind the hotel that celebrities sometimes leave from, if you want to sneak out,” he said glumly as they made their way in the elevator down to the ground floor.