“Let’s get another few hours sleep.” He stands and reaches for me. “Maybe get you cleaned up,” he says to the carpet, shy now that the moment has passed.
I follow him to my feet and plant a kiss on him as quickly as I can.
“Bee?”
He grunts.
“I have to go to LA, the label isn’t going to let up about an appearance.”
“I know.” His arm tightens around me as we walk back to the bedroom.
“Go with me?”
His deep breaths pause then restart.“Ok.”
We climb into bed after the world’s fastest wipe down and I snuggle as close to him as I can get, tangling our legs and kissing him softly until we fall asleep half-way to the next kiss.
Chapter 20 – Baylor
Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise – The Avett Brothers
“Didyouthink,foreven a moment, that you might have wanted to let me in on this?”
The guy, Cas’s agent or whatever, Vernon, isn’t exactly yelling at Cas, but he’s saying everything in a tone that gives the impression he wishes he was yelling. Reminds me of my mom Rita.
Cas is lounging in a suite at The Easton, some kind of home away from home in West Hollywood.
“You have never, not once, Vern, asked to know about my love life.”
“Because you don’t have one!” Vern says, his voice finally getting off center. “You don’t even get caught with your pants down in a bathroom!”
“I’ve been photographed. You didn’t seem to mind when it was some Insta-gay like Gray. Maybe you helped set that up?”
Vern gives Cas an affronted look. “You know I didn’t. And what I mean is that you and some fifteen minute of fame pretty boy is a much different thing than you and Steven Hale!”
“Baylor Mann.”
“Not to the world,” Vern corrects, shooting me an apologetic look, to which I just throw my hands up. I’m staying out of this conversation. Vern looks like he is practicing some sort of specialized breathing technique.
“Cas. You know that anyone you start seeing makes news. It makes news even when it is made up. This is you and your long-time co-writer. Your long-time songwriter you are doing an album with. An album that is connected to your first ever big box-office role.”
“And?”
“And, you are lucky the studio didn’t try to force this on you two. Two attractive men, with that kind of backstory? Do you know the kind of attention this will get? Hell, you might have a hard time getting people to believe it isn’t a publicity angle by the studio.”
“I don’t want us being used to promote anything.”
“And I don’t want global warming. Good Luck.” Vernon finally stops pacing and seems to sort out the words he wants to use. “All I am trying to say is that this is big news. A head’s up would have been nice, and yes, you should expect the studio to want to use this.”
“The studio should already know. Hell, Bee’s been on set more than a little and we don’t always act like just friends in front of other people.”Cas opens his mouth, but just because I have been sitting back doesn’t mean I haven’t been listening.
“What would you have said?” I ask Vernon. “If Cas had told you? What would have been your advice on this?”
Vernon nods through my questions. “That’s just it. I would have said to do exactly this. Go to something high-profile together. Be seen together. Make no statements. Don’t confirm, don’t deny, don’t explain. It’s your only shot to keep it private.”
“Check, check, and check,” Cas says, “unless us attending the premier of this movie isn’t high-profile enough. There’s the after-party too.”
I laugh, because the premiere we are attending tonight is for a movie out of the same studio Cas is working with on the River Phoenix biopic and is going to be huge. It’s the final installment in a sweeping fantasy epic that has won awards and broken box-office and streaming records.
