Daniel put his hands on his hips, and James knew that was never good. He wondered what he’d done wrong. “Let me guess… I’ve fixed the program.” He held up his hand. “Resurrected that awful dress and turned it into a thing of beauty.” He ticked those off his fingers. “Let’s not forget I’m here because you needed a date, and now what?” He shook his head. “Save the entire wedding so your sister doesn’t walk down the aisle to nowhere?”
James stepped closer. “I guess so…yeah.” He cocked his eyebrows.
“You know, there are limits to my SDQ powers.” James was coming to treasure that whip-smart look in Daniel’s eyes.
“SDQ, that’s a new one.”
“Super Drag Queen. Maybe I’ll embroider it on my shirt so you can remember it. Now, sewing I can do, and I’m incredibly organized, as I’m sure you know. But pulling an officiant out of my ass, well, that takes a miracle.” Daniel opened his bag. “Nope, not one in there.”
James smiled. “I knew you’d come up with something.”
Daniel smacked him lightly on the shoulder. “You really are an ass sometimes.”
“Yup. It takes one to know one.” James flashed a wide grin. “Come on. Let’s go inside and figure out how to resurrect a wedding. Or at least keep this one from going down the tubes.”
“James, it isn’t that bad.”
That stopped him in his tracks. “Now you’re the master of understatement. I have to tell my father that the minister at his church is a fraud, and since he’s on the board, he’s going to have to be the one to break it to the congregation.” James’s hands went to his hips. “What do you think is going to happen? Dad will tell them, and everyone in the church will be so grateful they’ll give him a ribbon and throw a party in his honor?”
Daniel snickered. “I suppose not. Though frustrated smart-ass is a good look for you.”
“I’m trying to be serious.” James just glared.
“Then you’re failing. I know what’s going to happen. I’ve seen it before, on one of my first jobs. One-third of the people will think the reverend was so great that the church should just overlook this little transgression. His pastoral skills or directorial skills are just perfect.” Daniel rolled his gorgeously blue-shadowed eyes, filled with mischief and sass. “One-third will want him booted out of there and would pay for the pleasure of kicking his sorry ass all the way down the main street of the city…or town, as the case may be, making sure he never pastors or directs in this town again.”
“I see… You’ve got a few issues.”
“Issues… Issues… Mack Silverton,” Daniel spat, like he tasted something awful, “was the damned director of my first big break…or he was supposed to be. He told everyone that he had tons of experience and knew everyone who was everyone. We were going to be on TV, and our careers were going to take off. All the hyperbole in spades.” At first James thought the agitation was put on, but Daniel’s eyes darkened, and James realized it was very real. “Turned out his mother paid someone to get him the job, and the entire thing was a disaster of epic proportions. Which brings us to the last third: they’ll jump the sinking ship like rats racing to fill the last lifeboat on the Titanic.”
He took Daniel into his arms, holding him tightly.
“I’m sorry that happened to you. I’d have joined you in kicking that guy’s ass down Halstead if it would have helped.” He inhaled slowly, excitement rising in seconds just from the proximity and from Daniel’s scent. Standing at the edge of the neighbor’s front lawn was so not the place to be popping wood, but Daniel just did that to him.
“I know you would,” Daniel said, and James held him just a little tighter, arms encircling his waist. “I don’t want to go in there.”
“Me either, but I think we have to tell my father. I promised him.” This was going to be a shit show of epic proportions, and there was little James could do to stop it. “I hate that my parents are going to be really hurt by this.”
Daniel sighed. “There’s going to be a whole hell of a lot of hurt to go around. We have to tell your parents eventually, and we have to make sure Reverend Asshole, the cause of all of this, feels as much of that hurt as possible.”
Amen to that.
Chapter Fourteen
“Do you want me to be with you when you talk to your father?” Daniel asked James once they had escaped to their room and the door was closed. He used the makeup mirror to check his makeup and his wig, then did a few touch-ups. James sat on the side of the bed, his gaze intense enough that Daniel felt him watching.