“Your meet and greet has been moved up. It will happen tonight at the Carlisle Ballroom at nine o’clock.” Dalton said as if doing Issac a huge favor.

Ink didn’t like it. This guy was a prick and made all of Markus’ protective urges come out roaring. There were two reasons that Ink had decided to pretend to be Issac’s boyfriend. The first was very professional. No one should know that he was there to bodyguard the young man. There were no leads yet, which meant that everyone was a suspect in Ink’s eyes. The best way to explain his appearance was to pretend to be a significant other. The other reason was just that he knew it would piss this sanctimonious agent right off.

“What happened to Saturday?” Issac rubbed at the tip of his nose absently.

As Markus watched, Dalton became colder, as if he didn’t like that Issac was asking questions.

“The manager of the venue called and said that they overbooked the location. It was either reschedule for tonight or wait for three months for another opening.” Dalton drawled the words in an upper-crust sort of way that left Ink wanting to smear dirt all over this guys sweater vest. How did Issac stand this guy? On the whole, Markus wasn’t a violent person. He did what he had to do to save people’s lives. But this snooty agent made him want to punch his lights out.

“Oh. Okay. Tonight it is.” Issac smiled wanly.

“I’ll pick you up at eight. I expect you to be ready.” Dalton sniffed as if he doubted Issac could be punctual.

Markus’s eyes narrowed again. This dick... “Oh, there’s no need for you to pick him up. I’ll take him to the meet and greet, right, Button?” Markus said, giving Issac a gentle hip check in the process.

“Mmh,” Issac said.

It was a very noncommittal sort of answer. Still, Ink decided to brand it as a ‘yes,’ so he smiled toothily at the prat in front of him and shooed the guy out of the door with a sweep of his hand.

Dalton glared daggers at Markus, before doing an about-face and leaving without another word.

Ink didn’t release Issac from his side until that jerk was long gone, and the door was shut and locked.

The vlogger tilted his head, his eyebrows wrinkled. “What was all that about?”

Markus scratched the tip of his chin before brushing his fingers through his beard. “If we’re going to catch the person who sent that box, it’s better for everyone to believe I’m just your boy toy.”

“But you’re straight,” Issac sputtered, his ears turning red. “Doesn’t this mess with your masculinity or something?”

“Where does it say that you can’t be masculine and gay? Straight guys don’t have a monopoly on testosterone and manliness.” He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow.

“But you’re straight,” Issac reiterated, his cheeks joining his ears in glowing brightly.

Was the little celebrity going somewhere with this line of argument? Markus snorted, “Yes, I am. But I have no issues pretending if it means that you’ll have another layer of protection. Just consider me undercover.”

Issac groaned and rubbed his face vigorously, his palms running up and down quickly before sweeping to the sides of his face. “Okay.” He said, still holding his cheeks. “Okay.”

The flustered guy made Markus want to laugh. He reminded Ink of Ash, a gay Asian man who was part of the SlideRuleGames family. He would get just as flustered when he was put in a situation that was foreign to him. They were both “Awkward small beans,” as Moose and company would say. It made Markus realize that the little vlogger would fit right in.

It took Ink a moment to realize that he was actually enjoying himself. In less than twenty-four hours, Markus had started to feel human again. Moose had been right. This was precisely what he needed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

What straight guy would ever want to pretend to be in a gay relationship?! But Markus just shrugged it off and acted like it was no big deal. This was going to be the end of Issac. The end!

He was living with a hot biker guy with muscles and tasty tattoos. Someone who shared a love for gaming with him. Someone who had no qualms hugging him or spending time with him. Someone who was straight!

Forget the stalker person. This. Was. Going. To. Kill. Him. RIP.

“So,” Markus rubbed his fingers over a tattoo of a nine-tailed fox that leaped along his abs, reminding Issac of the fact that he was still shirtless. Not that he needed reminding. “What should we do with all this time before we have to get to this meet and greet thing?”

Issac forced his gaze away from the inked fingers and what they were doing. His mind was swirling in a mix of fascination, confusion, and panic. Straight. Just remember that word, he told himself. Ice started grasping for ideas. Cooking? No, they’d just eaten. Chess? Oh yes, let’s show how big of a nerd you can be. Bed? Yes, good idea - NO! Bad Issac! Remember, Straight! Why did Markus have to pretend to be his boyfriend?! His poor brain was stuck in dirty mode.

“Ah! How about we play some Fantasy Tavern Online?” Issac blurted out in desperation. He secretly congratulated himself on coming up with a brilliant way to divert his attention from his despicable one-track mind.

Markus rolled his shoulders, a gleam entering his dark blue eyes. “That sounds great. I’ll get my laptop.”

As the man took the stairs two at a time, Issac collapsed against the entryway wall. Seriously... he wasn’t going to survive this. What did he get himself into?