“Dude, how bad was the sex?” Sebastian asks with a yawn, wearing a black silk smoking jacket, Hugh Hefner-style.
It is 4:00 p.m., and he’s obviously just gotten up. On a normal day, I might tease him about his lounge attire, but this isn’t a normal day.
“Our little Olivia flew the coop after spending the night with you.” He slaps me on the back. “That doesn’t bode well for your technique, my friend. I know someone you can hire. She teaches tantric sex and gives an advanced class on foreplay.”
“I don’t need a sex class,” I growl. “This is serious. I know the media has died down now that they think I’m dating Cassidy. But what if the paparazzi decide Olivia’s still a story? What if the fire investigator was wrong, and the fire wasn’t started by faulty wiring? What if the fan who sent her those letters is dangerous?”
“You’re being dramatic, Chase. The tabloids don’t care about her anymore. You made sure they’re too busy chasing Chassidy. And I doubt the fire investigator is wrong. Olivia is a full-grown adult and could leave, so she left. She wasn’t kidnapped and held in a house full of celebrities,” Emma says.
“Ha!” Sebastian says. “That would make an awesome script.”
“I saw her on her way out. She looked pretty upset,” Emma says.
“What did she say?” My stomach drops.
Emma shakes her head. “Nothing. Just said she was sorry she had to go, but it was for the best.”
Sebastian slaps his hand against the counter in triumph. “I told you. Bad sex.”
“It wasn’t bad!” I snarl.
“I knew it! You had sex!” Daisy cries, pointing an accusing finger at me.
“No! We didn’t. Not that.” I cross my arms over my chest. “This is none of your business.”
“Well, you made it our business when your little bedroom antics led to my friend bolting for the airport,” Daisy retorts.
“Dude, we’re not dumb,” Sebastian says. “She had a massive crush on you. Anyone could see it. If you didn’t bang her, then what happened? Did you turn her down? Shatter her dreams?”
“I didn’t turn her down.” I close my eyes. “Well, kind of. But I was trying to protect her.”
“Did you tell her the truth? Is that why she left?” Daisy chews her lip. “Was she mad? At both of us?”
“I told her, but that’s not why she left. She didn’t understand why it could never work between us.”
“Chase, you are a first-class idiot sometimes,” Daisy says. “You have this false belief that you have to protect people from being in your life. You don’t let anyone get close. Yes, you have a fucked-up life. Fame does that. Plenty of people are fighting all kinds of obstacles but still find love.”
“Hey, I’m famous, but I’m not fucked up,” Sebastian says.
“You are so fucked up,” Emma says. “But Daisy has a point.”
“I love you, Chase,” Daisy continues. “I’m so grateful to have you as a brother. But if it weren’t for the stalker, I wouldn’t be here with you because you wouldn’t let me be. You call me. You support me. But you keep me at arm’s length. You’re so afraid of what happened that summer happening again, but it won’t. I was young and hurting. You weren’t to blame. And neither was your fame.”
Guilt twists in my gut, churning up black memories of how unresponsive she’d been. Waiting in the hospital, not knowing if she’d survive. The pain of possibly losing someone else I dared to love.
“I was supposed to protect you that summer, be your safe haven, and you were trashed in public and almost died.”
“It. Is. Not. Your. Fault,” Daisy enunciates. “And you shouldn’t have kept me at a distance for so long because of it. Don’t you see? You’re doing the same thing to Olivia that you’ve been doing to me all these years.”
“Well, I hope not the exact same things.” Sebastian snickers.
“Shut it, Sebastian,” Daisy says, then turns back to me.
“You need to let the people who care about you make up their own minds about whether they want to be in your life,” Daisy says. “If you like Olivia like I think you do, let her decide. She’s not a child. And if she believes she can handle your fame and all that comes with it, let her have that choice.” She tilts her head. “Unless that’s just an excuse, and you don’t want to be with her. In which case, you’re even more idiotic than I thought.”
“Of course I want her,” I say. “But it’s not that easy. Look, maybe the fire wasn’t started by a stalker. This time. But those people are out there. What about that chick who broke into the cottage six months ago?”
“That was an isolated incident. We fired the security team.”
“It’s happened before. It’s going to happen again. I can’t count the number of times I’ve come back to a hotel room with a fan inside.”
“That’s what I call a perk,” Sebastian says.
I shoot him a dirty look. “What can I give her? She wants a normal life. I can’t do normal. This life would never work for her.”
“Did she tell you that?” Sebastian asks.
“She didn’t need to tell me. I can’t tear her apart like that. Even on a low-key day with bodyguards following us, we couldn’t have a peaceful afternoon. If she were different, I’d think about it. I’m not pretending I don’t have a lot to offer a girl who wants an A-list life. But that’s not Olivia. It wouldn’t make her happy.”
“So what do you want? It doesn’t seem like that A-list life is making you happy either,” Daisy retorts. “This is an intervention, Chase. This isn’t only about Olivia. It’s about how you want to live, because right now, it seems to me that you aren’t in control of anything.”
I shake my head. “If this were all ending with this last movie, it would be different. But it’s not. My life is going to be even crazier.” I snap my mouth shut. I haven’t told them about the offer yet. I just got it myself.
“Because you officially got the offer for Max Thunder?” Sebastian asks.
“How do you know about that?”
“Eh. We told you before. Privacy’s a myth.”
My eyes do a slow sweep of the room, and no one looks surprised.
“No one in the industry would turn it down,” I say, running my hand through my hair. “What would you do, Sebastian?” I’m asking Sebastian for advice. I’m truly at rock bottom.
Sebastian laughs. “I’d be on that role so fucking fast, everyone’s head would spin. I’d lock that shit up. But, dude, I’m not you. You gotta do what you want. Agents, fans, studios will tell us how we should run our business and careers, but it’s not their life. It’s ours.”
“You’ve never turned down a big role,” I scoff.
“The hell I haven’t,” Sebastian says. “No one believed I could get another job after I had my public meltdown at eighteen. Instead, I had the biggest offer of my career from a director who loved a wild child. I was a walking disaster, but the only thing Hollywood cared about was how much money I’d make for them, and the only thing fans cared about was what movie I’d do next. Something told me that if I did that movie, I’d end up dead. I walked away, checked myself in to rehab, and disappeared for a year. It was the best decision I ever made. Everyone wants what you can do for them. That’s why you have to figure out what you want and have the balls to make it happen, to hell with the industry and the rest of the world.”
I think about what Sebastian said. Taking the movie deal and becoming an even bigger star is a guarantee that I would become even more restricted, even more hunted, even more alone. The money and fame would push me farther away from friends and family. I’d be whisked from hotel to movie sets enclosed in cars and private jets, never having to interact with regular life.
“Much as I hate to say it, Sebastian’s right,” Ryder says. “You need to decide what you want. You’re smart and loaded. If you want the girl and she wants you, figure out a way to make it happen.”
“You’re scared.” Daisy’s words are an arrow, shooting straight and true. “You’re scared of loving someone and losing them. So you don’t let anyone get too close.”