“Yeah, but they’ll get over it.” Smirking, I run my hand through his thick hair in a poor attempt to smooth it away from his face. He needs a haircut, and as much as I like the beard, it could use a close trim if he’s going to step back into Hollywood. He looks right for the wilderness, but he’s a bit scruffy for the spotlight. “I’ll be by your side the whole time,” I tell him when I feel the tension in his shoulders. He’s genuinely terrified to face his friends after staying away for so long. “As long as you promise to stay by me while I go up against my own demons in LA.”
He winces, closing his eyes again. “I would never make you face that alone, but—”
“Then it’s settled.”
“Donovan.” Frowning, he opens his eyes again and lets me see the pain he’s feeling. “I’ve been away too long. I don’t…” He shakes his head. “I know I need to go back, but I’m terrified.”
With my heart aching for him, I pull him close and hold him tight. “You’re coming up on your rock, Derek, and you know what you need to do.”
Wrapping his arms around me, he takes a slow and deliberate breath. “High side,” he says airily.
“Exactly. Gotowardthe hard thing and trust the current to get you through. Besides, you have me now. I’ll get you through this rapid safely.”
“With an expert in my boat, how could I fail?”
“Even if you do fail,” I tell him, “it’s okay. There are spare oars, rescue ropes, and other boats entirely. You’re not alone anymore.”
He relaxes and pulls away, a tear slipping from his eyes. “You’re right. About everything. I may not be perfect, but you are always right, Donovan Tate. I’ll be better about remembering that going forward.”
“Good.” I lick my lips as silence builds between us, and though Derek’s gaze drops to my mouth with interest, I figure he’s spent enough time avoiding his friends. “So, we’re going to Los Angeles?”
He sighs. “Yeah.”
“To talk to your friends about why you disappeared?”
His lips quirk up in the smallest of smiles. “Yep.”
“Anything else while we’re at it?”
“Yes, actually.”
“Oh?” I frown. “And what might that be?” If he says anything about getting me in touch with a casting agent or something, I’ll rescind my offer to go with him. Maybe.
Though Derek’s smile grows wide, there’s still a healthy dose of reluctance in it. I brace myself for his suggestion to put myself out there again, but what he actually says is so far from what I imagined that it doesn’t make any sense.
“It’s time for me to meet my step dad.”
Chapter Forty
Derek
“Isitjustme,or is this the most anticlimactic moment ever?”
Laughing at Donovan’s entirely serious question, I slip my hand into hers as we walk across a sparse parking lot toward a nondescript two-story building in Pasadena. I have to agree with her that the location is pretty underwhelming, but that does nothing to calm the nerves growing stronger in my chest, making my heart pound harder with each step.
“What were you expecting?” I ask, hoping to keep my thoughts from running wild. I have no idea what to expect inside that building, but this visit was inevitable as soon as Hank’s PI friend reached out to me a few weeks ago with the final piece of information I needed. Which means I’ve had a few weeks to overthink this encounter and imagine every way things could go wrong.
When we reach the unmarked glass doors at the front of the building, Donovan pauses and looks up, like she’s hoping to see through one of the upper windows. “I don’t know. Giant columns, billowing black smoke, fiery torches on either side of a gate made from human skulls?”
Snorting, I bend down and kiss her temple. “Seriously?”
“This isHollywood Hot Scoop’s headquarters!” she says, waving her arm toward the building. “You’d think it would look more evil. And it’s not my fault that being back in California has thrown me back to my teen years. If this were one of my movies, the scene I just described is exactly what we would be facing right now.”
Honestly, I’d rather have her scenario than the reality in front of me.
“What if she’s in there?” I ask, then wince. I sound like the uncertain seventeen-year-old who just got told his mother wants to meet him for dinner.
“Then I’ll finally get a chance to give her a piece of my mind,” Donovan says without hesitation. She narrows her eyes at the doors. “In fact, Ihopeshe’s here. I need her to know that I’m not the weakling I pretended to be in Moab and that she can’t scare me off with a few words on a screen.”
