Chapter Six
Myles
Well, fuck me.
When I’d found Hallstein clearly upset, I’d almost backed out and left him to…whatever he was going through. An instinct I didn’t understand had me stepping into the room and making my presence known. If he’d asked me to fuck off, I would’ve dropped his sandwich off and made myself scarce.
He hadn’t, though. Instead, he’d opened up and shared what were clearly his most intimate secrets.
About the accident, certainly, although a google search would’ve turned that up.
No, the big deal was the fact he’d been a cop for years and had never come out.
And, if my guess was accurate—and it likely was—that he’d never had a relationship.
At least a serious one. Because that would’ve risked discovery and, from the little he’d shared, that idea terrified him.
Before I could comfort him properly, though, Sally breezed into the room.
Hallstein pulled his hand back.
With reluctance, I let it go.
“We’re back in ten.” She eyed our half-eaten sandwiches.
Obligingly, we both dug in.
And ten minutes later, we were back on set, shooting another scene with Cole and Elouise. The actor worked so flawlessly that I could almost forget his injury.
He still took it easy, though. He wouldn’t be doing any of his own stunts for a while yet.
Our stunt coordinator, Donovan, was an inherently cautious guy. He understood Julie and Cole’s desire to do their own stunts, but he had to balance the probability of injury.
With Cole, while he recovered, those odds weren’t in his favor.
The scene ended and everyone moved into Montgomery’s bedroom where, naked and believing himself alone, he was going to awake to find Lyric visiting him.
And as much fun as that scene was going to be—Cole nearly naked and all that—the props were done and Coco had a handle on everything. I wasn’t needed. So I walked Hallstein to the studio door. “We have more tomorrow.”
“I know.”
“So I’ll see you then.”
“I know.”
“You know, we should probably exchange phone numbers.”
He cocked his eyebrow.
“Well, you know, in case anything comes up.”
“Mr. O’Malley has both my phone number and my boss’s. I’m certain I’ll get the message.”
“But, like, things might change. And I’d hate for you to waste your—”
He sighed. “I’ll give you my phone number. Then you can text me and I’ll have yours.”
I’d barely pulled out my phone before he rattled off a number. He ended with, “You should use a passcode instead of facial recognition. All the police have to do is hold your phone up and they’ll have access.”
I rolled my eyes. “I suspect I’d just give them the passcode. There’s nothing on my phone that’s incriminating. Truly, Hallsy, I’m a very boring person.”
“Harrumph.” Then, “I truly doubt that.”
Before I could respond, he was halfway across the parking lot. Unnecessarily, I watched as he placed the box on the hood, opened his back door, gently laid the box in, and then closed that door.
He gazed up to see me, his black hair taking on a shiny quality in the bright afternoon sunlight. Finally, he pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his coat pocket. He put them on and then got into his SUV.
Still, I remained rooted to the spot. I couldn’t reconcile everything that had happened in the past few hours.
And I obsessed about it the rest of my day, during my ride down the hill on the bus, and through to my arrival at my condo. The building was one of the oldest around, but I liked the seventies vibe. It also felt very sturdy.
As I waited for the elevator, my neighbor Dani joined me. “How’s it going?”
She sighed. “Mortimer’s grumpy.”
I laughed. Her rescue cat was always grumpy. “Well, mine…” I glanced around to see if anyone else was within hearing.
We were alone.
“My four are always in a bad mood. They don’t really like each other.”
The elevator arrived, and we stepped in.
She chose the top floor while I selected five.
I couldn’t afford anything higher. Really, I shouldn’t have been able to afford this one, but a distant aunt left me enough for a down payment.
I was grateful every day. Vaguely guilty I hadn’t known her, and therefore couldn’t have been nicer to her…
but still appreciative. My way to pay it forward was with cat rescues.
“Fluffy’s in a mood. Eight…so what can I do?
Jodhpur and Claud are both young and way too energetic. Luigi—”
“You have a fourth?” She might’ve hissed that.
We arrived at my floor.
“Do you want to come in?”
She held the door. “Luigi…?”
“Eight months old from an abusive household. Really skittish.”
“Then I’ll pass on coming in. Another time?”
“Yeah, that’d be great.” I loved Dani with her infectious smile and wicked sense of humor. I was so glad she and Liv were no longer together.
Impulsively, I leaned and pecked her cheek.
She giggled as she released the door.
By the time it closed, I was at my condo door. I unlocked and entered.
Three cats greeted me, each demanding attention.
No Luigi. I’d only had him a month, and he still didn’t trust me. That kind of abuse took a long time to overcome. We’d work on it together, though.