Torn In Three | Malum, Muke, Mashton

Chapter Twenty-six

(Important a/n at the end. Enjoy)

-Michael's point of view-

Luke and I kissed infront of our audience. Kissed. Over time the band had kept our, or my, relationships quite well hidden. So to make a move like this out of the blue must have been a bit shocking to our fans to say the least.

The kiss lasted for what I counted to be three seconds, before I reluctantly pulled away and walked back towards my microphone. I looked out into the audience: every face in the crowd showed pure confusion, so I took that as I my chance to leave. "Thanks for coming tonight guys, bye."

I ran off stage, three boys following close behind me, and didn't stop until I was deep into the backstage halls of the venue. There was loud panting not too far behind me. It was clearly one of my band members. "Michael, what the fuck did you just do?"

"Heat of the moment thing, I don't know, Ash." I said between breaths. Calum and Luke ran towards us a few seconds after Ashton, panting even heavier.

"It was stupid. Because of you, everything that's been going on during the last few months may be exposed." Ashton said. He exercised more than the rest of us, so it was not surprising how fast he got his breath back. Now he was just fuming with anger.

I paused and finally let Ashton's words sink in. Fans now knew I was in a relationship with Luke, but what if somehow they found out I'm a cheat? I hadn't thought this through. "Look," I said, continuing to take heavy breaths, "it's only the three of us who know about the relationship thing. No one else needs to know, right?"

I watched as Ashton glanced towards Calum, looking hesitant. His mouth curved up into a smile and his eyes lit up, as if he suddenly had a brilliant idea. Pushing Luke away, he whispered into Calum's left ear. Calum then had the same facial expression as Ashton, who turned back to me. "You know, Michael," Calum said.

"What?" I asked, growing frustrated.

"Luke still has his right to humiliate you, since you chose him." Calum smiled deviously.

Luke looked shocked. "What are you saying I do?"

Ashton and Calum exchanged knowing glances. "We can discuss that when Michael's not around."

**

The next evening would have been like any other, had I not kissed Luke on stage. After that show, rumours had spread like wildfire. It was everywhere: social media, news articles, magazines. There were some people against it and some for it. Even conspiracy theories were floating around that it was an accident. The only good of this however, was that there was so much drama, no one stopped to even consider that there was anything between the rest of the band and me.

Hopefully it would stay that way.

Unfortunately for me we had another show that night; no one seemed reluctant to go, unlike the show after I was arrested, but I was still nervous. Nerves never usually got the best of me, but maybe it was purely because I had something else to worry about: Luke's plan of humiliation towards me.

"You've got five minutes before you go on stage." A member of security called out. I was sat alone in my dressing room, trying to piece myself together.

"Anxious?" Ashton's voice said from behind me.

"A bit."

"Baby," Ashton sarcastically pouted, "you've got nothing to worry about."

"As much as I appreciate what you just said, please fuck off." I snarled, not in the mood to deal with Ashton. Even if I did deserve it.

"Rude." Ashton said, "it would be a shame if everyone learnt about that little fact about you." I raised my eyebrow, urging Ashton to continue. "Or is that not the worst fact the world could know about you? Everyone really should know, considering you're not really anything more than that."

"No." I sat up, knowing exactly what Ashton was talking about.

"See you on stage, Michael."

Once Ashton walked out of the room, seconds suddenly turned into hours. The ability to pause time would have become very useful to me, had it existed. The clock finally read the dreaded hour, getting me out of my seat. I slowly walked towards the stage entrance, seeing the rest of my band grinning at me, and walked onto the stage.

Fans screamed our names. It was just like every other show - except that tiny sense of awkwardness floating around.

The performance went quite fast, until Calum started speaking. "Okay, as you guys may know, something happened on stage last night." The crowd screamed. "And on behalf of Luke and Ashton, I would just like to point out how much of a bad kisser Michael is."

The crowd screamed again, obviously not taking Calum's words seriously. Unlike me. "Thanks, Calum." I said.

"I agree, Cal. Everytime I made out with that boy, well, I had to refrain from making a disgusted face." Ashton said. Once again, the crowd looked confused as ever.

Luke nodded. "He's also really bad in bed. Everytime we had a threesome or foursome with the boy, it was us doing the work." Luke shook his head disappointedly, his eyes still bright as if his words meant nothing.

"Guys," I spoke, feeling a thousand pairs of eyes glaring at me.

"No, Michael," Ashton fake sobbed. "You've done enough."

I scoffed. "You're such a dick."

"Says the guy who cheated on his best friends." Ashton said it. He said it. My secret was exposed; there was no going back now.

The crowd gasped. If the situation weren't so serious, I would have laughed at the fact I felt like I was living a courthouse drama. "Take that back, Ashton." I spoke through gritted teeth.

"Why would I when it's true?"

I peered around my surroundings: Ashton sat behind his drums looking pleased with himself, Calum looked nonchalant and Luke slightly guilty. Despite the blinding light shining on the audience, I could feel judging eyes on me.

So I followed the only solution I thought was possible: I ran.

--
Hi guys so I have three important pieces of information for you. :)
1: The lovely booksforliam has started a translation of this story!! It's in Spanish so if you're interested, it's in my new reading list 'translations.'
2: Sadly this book is ending soon. I'm gonna miss this story so much, you guys are literally the best readers and I love receiving all of your comments.
But
3: I'm gonna start a new story :) I've planned most of it out, so it would really help if you let me know what you think of it. It's called 'Crown Jewels' and here's the blurb:
'Michael would never purposefully commit a crime. At least that's what he thought before he ended up successfully stealing the Crown Jewels. But what happens when his boyfriend Calum is wrongly accused of his crime? What's more important to him, his reputation, or the justice of the boy he loves?'
Okay so yeah please let me know what you think!! Update soon, bye x
-Celia