Page 28 of Chase
He just gives me an upward nod.
I pull in a breath. “Good night.”
“Later.”
I get to the hall, and then the elevator. I check my phone and see that I actually am late, only by a couple of minutes.
When I get to the hotel lobby, I’m still completely wired. My shoes hit the marble floor as I cross the space, and for some reason I feel like I just committed some illicit crime.
I spot Emily sitting on a sofa near the front of the lobby. She glances up at me, waving.
“Car’s out back,” she says, looking at her phone. “First time I’ve ever seen you be late. Where’d you run off to?”
“Had to take a call. Went to the roof.”
She’s been my manager for a year, and my friend for longer. I’ve never lied to her until now.
I don’t know why I keep the truth to myself. She knows I’m not straight, but I find myself holding onto the idea of Chase.
It’s only three minutes past when we were supposed to meet the driver, but usually I’m ten minutes early to everything.
“Let’s head out.”
We step into the back alley behind the hotel. Far more barricades have been installed, and although people are waiting far off, no mob is able to come surround me now. A few rapid, bright flashes hit the corner of my eye and a gust of wind blows at me, ruffling my hair.
I reach for my sunglasses and shove them on quickly, heading toward the black car.
“Logan!” the photographers shout from behind a short fence, and I paint on a smile, raising a hand to wave at the paparazzi.
“It’s him!” I hear a girl’s voice call out, too.
My new life crashes over me again like a wave.
This is permanent.
Someone will always recognize me, everywhere I go. No matter what I’m doing… or what I just did.
So stupid.
Why did I take that risk?
I slide into the back leather seat of the black SUV, and Emily gets in on the other side. When the back doors finally shut, I’m back in a safe cocoon, but the adrenaline in my blood did tick up a little again.
“Okay. Dinner tonight is with Antonio Gallano. You’re in the running for his next movie already,” she tells me, tappingaway at her phone as the blue glow highlights her face. “Then press interviews tomorrow, and filming for a YouTube channel where they make you eat spicy ramen while answering questions aboutYard Line.”
“Got it.”
I leave my sunglasses on even behind the tinted windows in the car, well past midnight. When the driver pulls around to the front of the hotel I look up, gazing at the neon sign 20 stories higher, wondering if Chase is still up there.
My knees sting. My throat feels used. My fuckingchestaches.
But the pain is the good part.
Physical pain is a breeze compared to the feelings that just got kicked up inside me. It’s overwhelming. It hits me hard, now that I have a moment to relax in the back of the car. I just did something with a man for the first time since…
Since Daniel.
Since I was 19, exploring myself with a friend, and it felt like nothing could ever take that away.
