Chapter Eighteen
“Our next guest needs no introduction. He’s been making headlines lately, but you know him as the author of the bestselling Marshall Kane Mystery series. Smart, witty, and very easy on the eyes, please welcome Asher Dare!”
The cheers and applause from the audience thundered through the set of Wake Up, Dallas as Asher was ushered out onto the stage.
Smiling and waving, he did his damnedest to squash down any lingering nerves as he crossed to where Meredith Tripoli waited with her arms outstretched near a couple of cream-colored chairs.
She greeted him with a friendly hug, which he had to practically bend himself in half to receive, and a chaste kiss to the cheek that made him chuckle.
Watching her show on television, he had never appreciated just how tiny she actually was.
The top of her head barely reached the middle of his chest, despite the six inches of added height her silver stilettos gave her.
A long-sleeved, fitted dress in her signature color of crimson molded to her diminutive frame, accentuating what few curves she had.
The color itself was so bright and bold, Asher had a hard time looking at her directly.
Or maybe that was just her natural radiance .
“Asher Dare, everyone!” Still standing in the center of the stage, she held both hands out toward him like a gameshow model displaying the grand prize.
The audience erupted into another round of applause while Asher was directed into one of the half-moon chairs.
Taking the seat opposite him, Meredith brushed her raven locks back from her face and crossed one slender leg over the other.
Since he couldn’t hope to capture the same grace, Asher just leaned back against the stiff cushions and stretched his own legs out in front of him, the picture of ease.
“Asher, thank you for being here with us today.” Her gaze met his, her dark eyes intense and assessing.
“Thank you for having me.”
“Now, you know that your parents are backstage, and we’re going to bring them back out here in a minute. Right now, though, I want to talk about you.” She glanced out at the crowd with a coy smile, then back to Asher. “Let’s jump right into it, shall we?”
An appreciate murmur went through the audience at Asher’s nod.
“So, it recently came out that you are, in fact, gay. Can you talk a little about what that has been like?”
It was one of the questions Talon had anticipated, and therefore, one they had practiced in the conference room.
At the time, Asher had thought the whole thing was ridiculous.
He’d even argued that it would have been better for his answers to be spontaneous rather than rehearsed.
Now that he was there with hundreds of faces eagerly awaiting his answer, he was glad for the preparation.
“As you know, it wasn’t my choice to make that information public.” He wanted to be very clear about that. “I’m not ashamed that people know. I’ve never exactly hidden it.”
“But it was an invasion of privacy,” Meredith interjected with a sympathetic nod. “A violation.”
Asher bobbed his head. “Yes, that’s exactly it. It wasn’t my choice, and I wasn’t prepared for the chaos it caused.”
“Naturally, that must have felt pretty overwhelming.” There was genuine sincerity in her tone, but then again, that was her job. “You said it created a lot of chaos in your life? How have things changed for you since then?”
Asher shrugged. “I’ve always been a private person, so it’s uncomfortable seeing my face splashed across the covers of magazines and news articles.
Otherwise, I guess it hasn’t really changed anything.
” He let out a self-deprecating chuckle.
“I mean, it didn’t change who I am. I’ve always been gay. Just, now, people know.”
“Well said,” Meredith praised as the audience clapped enthusiastically. “You could have ignored all the attention. You could have denied the rumors. Why did you make the decision to come out now? ”
“Like I said, I’m not ashamed. Lying was never an option.” The audience applauded once again. Asher smiled. “Now that I have someone special in my life, I couldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be fair to him.”
Meredith’s eyes slid sideways to the front row of the audience as her lips curled up on one side. “You’re referring, of course, to Cameron Stone.”
He followed her gaze to where Cameron sat perched on the edge of his seat, and his smile stretched even wider. “Yes, that’s who I mean.”
“And he’s here with you today?”
She knew perfectly well he was, but Asher played along. “He is.” He inclined his head toward Cameron. “Say hello, sweetheart.”
Cameron blushed to the tips of his ears and down his neck into the collar of his white button-down when the cameras panned toward him. He looked like he wanted a hole to open up in his seat and swallow him, but he grinned tightly and lifted his hand to give a little wave to the crowd.
Quiet giggles and loud “awws” swept through the audience. If Cameron blushed any harder, he was going to have a stroke.
“Oh, goodness,” Meredith said, pretending to fan herself. “You two make a lovely couple.” Tilting her head back, she called a little louder, “Aren’t they just the sweetest? ”
The reaction was immediate, and Asher ducked his head as the cheers and shouts in the studio reached deafening levels. It hadn’t escaped his notice that there were more men in the audience than usual, or that many of them didn’t seem to be there with wives or girlfriends.
Asher couldn’t stop smiling.
When the noise died away, Meredith turned back to him and leaned forward, her expression becoming sober, intense.
“I want to get serious for just a minute. Mitchell Faraday.” The studio quieted instantly, everyone holding their collective breaths.
“The trial made national headlines, and the details were just heartbreaking. Would you mind telling us a little bit about that time in your life?”
Asher tensed, but it wasn’t anything he hadn’t expected. It was largely the point of the interview after all, and he knew he’d have to talk about it at some point. Even with all the preparation, though, reopening old wounds wasn’t easy.
“I was living on the streets in New York City when I met Mitchell.”
“You were just a teenager, correct?”
Asher dipped his head. “I was sixteen at the time, but I’d been on my own for a couple of years before I met him.
” Stick to the facts. Don’t share too much.
Talon’s words played in the back on his mind on repeat.
“Mitchell fed me, gave me a place to stay. For a kid with nothing, it was like a dream come true. At least, it was at first. ”
“But it didn’t last.”
It was a statement, not a question, but Asher shook his head anyway. “It didn’t last.”
“Did you ever think about leaving? About contacting your parents and going home?”
He was relieved she hadn’t wanted more painful details about those years of his life, but talking about his parents wasn’t any easier. “Not even once.”
“Why is that, Asher?”
He coughed to clear the knot that had formed in his throat, then pitched his voice very carefully. “Because no matter how bad things got, what I had left behind wasn’t any better.”
Reaching across the short distance, Meredith squeezed his arm, her smile kind and her eyes a little glossy.
“Thank you.” Visibly shaking herself, she sat up straight and turned to look directly into the camera.
“Okay, folks, we’re going to take a little break, but we’ll be right back with more from Asher Dare, so stick around. ”
Asher released a long breath through his nose and slumped down in his seat.
So far, it wasn’t as bad as he’d feared, but that had also been the easiest part of the interview.
Once they brought his parents out onto the stage with him, the next twenty or so minutes would be tense at best and an unequivocal disaster at worst.
As if she had plucked the thought right from his mind, Meredith leaned closer to him, speaking slightly below a regular, conversational volume.
“They’re going to bring your parents out now before we come back from break.
Once we’re back, I’ll say a few words, introduce everyone again, then we’ll pick up where we left off with another round of questions. ”
He didn’t know why she was telling him this, but he nodded that he understood.
“Don’t be nervous.”
“I’m not,” he lied.
Her smile said she didn’t believe him. “If you get stuck, look down like you’re overcome with emotion, and I’ll get things moving in the right direction.”
Asher didn’t think it would come to that, but he dipped his head again and thanked her for the advice.
A couple of stagehands hustled toward them, bringing two identical chairs to place on the other side of Meredith and across from Asher.
No sooner had they disappeared behind the curtains again than a young woman wearing a headset and carrying a clipboard led Suzanne and Lawrence Derringer out onto the stage.
Asher tensed when his mother pinned him with her small, hazel eyes. Trying to remember what Talon had told him, he remained seated and turned his head, pretending to be very interested in the lights and baubles on a nearby Christmas tree.
Whoever had decorated the stage really had done a wonderful job.
Lengths of pine garland and holly draped over the faux fireplace behind where he sat.
A large wreath with shimmering ribbons hung in the center of the mantle.
The four Christmas trees that dotted the set had been beautifully and expertly decorated in golds and silvers with splashes of red and green.
But even the thousands of tiny lights that twinkled like stars weren’t enough to distract him.