Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Sophia
After an uneventful night at a hotel right off the interstate, we head into Chicago. This day trip adds an extra twenty-four hours onto the adventure, but seeing how excited Rex is to see his son, Trevor, I’m glad we’re doing it.
“When did you last get to visit with Trevor?” I ask as Penn expertly steers us in the late rush hour traffic.
“Almost a year ago,” Rex admits with a sad smile. “He’s here getting his master’s degree. When he was home for the holidays, I had to be on set. I flew out a day before he flew in. So, I’m glad we can take a day here.”
“What about your other kids?” I ask as I lean my head against the headrest and look at Rex. He’s very handsome. And I’ve enjoyed his witty sense of humor. He’s very down to earth, which I didn’t expect from him.
“Jess is in her gap year. She’s traveling and deciding what she wants in life. And Harry is a sophomore at Princeton,” he says, this time his smile is a happy one.
“Are you close with them?” I question.
“I am. It took a long time, but my ex, Linda, and I worked out a visiting schedule that let the kids stay in London most of the year. Thank God for modern technology and my ability to travel to see them as much as possible,” he answers.
I nod. “It helps when you get along with your ex,” I state, knowing that feeling all too well.
“You get on with…Mark?” he asks, trying to remember my ex-husband’s name.
“I do. It does help.” I feel Tate watching me and I glance back at him. He’s in the way back.
“He seemed like a nice guy,” Tate interjects.
I nod again. “He is. We just…wanted different things in life and it didn’t work out.”
I watch as Tate frowns a little and then opens his mouth and closes it. I’m about to tell him to “spit it out,” when Penn speaks.
“We’re almost there. I really want to go up to the top of that building,” Penn declares as he points to the famous skyscraper.
“I think it’s called the Willis Tower now,” Tate adds. “I’ve always wanted to go up there too…you know, ever since watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off .”
There are some murmurs of agreement. My eyes track up the building and I feel the color leave my face.
“That’s a hard pass for me,” I mutter as I look back down at street level to distract myself from even contemplating what being up there would feel like because I know…death. Fine, that’s a little exaggeration, but not much. Climbing those boulders earlier was about as high as I’m willing to go.
“Yeah, I’d rather not. I want to go see that bean thing and walk along the water,” Jordan says.
Penn glances in the rearview mirror at us. “Tate, you down for joining me?”
Tate looks over at me before answering. “Uh, sure.”
“Coolio. Let’s see…oh, there’s the hotel,” he declares as he pulls up to a swanky-looking hotel and parks the car. A valet appears out of nowhere and does a double take but says nothing as he hands Penn the receipt for the car.
“You want to join me for a walk?” Jordan asks me as we walk toward reception. I see Tate look over at him from the corner of my vision.
“Sure,” I reply, glancing at Tate who quickly looks away as if uninterested in the conversation. “Let me just drop my stuff in my room.”
We get checked in. Tate has refused to let me pay for anything on this trip, and when I see the costs of a room here, I suddenly don’t feel bad about that. We ride up in the elevator to the eighth floor. I’m a little surprised that we didn’t get some sort of penthouse suite, but I suppose if they all want to fly under the radar, maybe getting normal rooms helps with that…maybe.
As I walk down the corridor, I feel Tate’s eyes on me. I find my room number and am unlocking the door when Tate stops at the next door and does the same. When I enter the room, I look around. There’s a closet, bathroom, basic king-sized bed, and another door. I frown and unlock it. There’s another door. It’s then that I realize Tate is on the other side of that door.
“Tate?” I say loudly.
The other door opens and we’re standing face to face…or my face to his chest because this man is tall, and I am most definitely not. And every time we stand by each other, I’m reminded of this.
“Sorry, all they had left were adjoining rooms,” he explains with a shrug.
“Oh, uh, that’s fine. We can just keep the doors closed,” I say, and I swear a look of disappointment crosses his face.
“Right…I should go and meet Penn. He was getting us tickets or whatever you have to get to go to the top of that building. You sure you don’t want to go?”
I shake my head vehemently. “Nope.”
I watch as Tate presses his lips together, but the twitching corners are a dead giveaway that he desperately wants to laugh at me.
“Laugh it up, buttercup. It is not funny . I hate heights,” I say as I narrow my eyes at him.
He puts his hands up in defense. “OK, OK. I’ll see you later…at dinner?”
“Sure,” I reply as I shut the door and head downstairs to meet Jordan.
“How far is this bean thing?” I ask him as we begin to walk. He’s wearing a ball cap and sunglasses, which I suppose is some sort of celebrity disguise.
“Not far. Maybe like a mile,” he guesses as we turn the block.
“Can I ask you a question?”
He turns toward me and nods. I consider my words carefully. I don’t want to come off like I’m secretly crushing on Tate, a man I met a mere three days ago.
“Do you really think Tate and Lacey can work it out?” I ask and then bite my lower lip before quickly releasing it because that seems like weird body language. Shit, why am I overthinking this?
Jordan’s quiet for a beat and I wonder if he’s considering what to say because I don’t really know Tate. I’m an outsider still, and I get that. But I feel like I’ve known these men for years after just forty-eight hours. We’ve laughed, teased each other, and shared so many life stories in the nearly one thousand miles we’ve covered so far. I silently ponder if they feel the same way about me or if this is all one-sided. Like how I felt being held in Tate’s arms yesterday when I fell. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel something. I wanted to stay there all day. I know I shouldn’t feel that way. Maybe I just need to date more or maybe it was the whole I got rescued by a movie star thing?
“I don’t know,” Jordan finally responds. “It’s complicated. Tate wants things that she doesn’t. But they were so good together. I don’t get why she didn’t try to make it work. I can’t imagine leaving Alisha without trying.”
I smile at the way he talks about his wife. “You guys seem very happy,” I interject as we walk by a bakery, and I smell the coffee and pastries.
Jordan grins. “You smell that?”
I nod and he pulls me by the arm inside the shop. When we have fancy lattes in hand along with donuts, we continue on our walk.
“Does that whole Clark Kent thing actually work for you guys?” I ask him with a raised eyebrow. We managed to get coffee without anyone coming up to us, but a few people did double takes.
He shrugs. “Outside of LA, it works a lot better. People aren’t always expecting to see me somewhere else. But every once in a while, I get spotted.”
“Is it…scary?” I ask, trying to figure out what it would be like to be swarmed by a bunch of random strangers.
He purses his lips as he considers my question. “At first it was…uncomfortable. But now, I’m used to it. Most of us typically have security with us, so that helps.”
I frown. I hadn’t even thought about that.
“Why don’t you have that now?” I ask, looking around us and wondering if I should be nervous because we are out here in the wilds of middle America with no bodyguards.
“Well, Tate clearly went off the grid, so that explains his decision. The three of us wanted to be low-key as well. Trust me when I say, I’ve had several not-so-pleasant conversations with both my agent and my head of security. Neither of them is pleased with my disappearing act,” he admits.
“Are we…safe?” I ask, the words spilling from my lips before I have time to think about them.
He stuffs the last bite of donut in his mouth and gives my shoulder a friendly squeeze. “Don’t worry, all four of us have been through some pretty intense training both for films and for personal reasons. We won’t let anything happen to you,” he assures me.
“No, I mean…thank you…but I was talking about you four. Should I be worried for you?” I question as I look around us again as if I’m going to see random people running at us like ninjas.
He laughs. “Yeah. We’re fine. We’ll just keep a low profile.”
We walk another block in silence, both of us sipping our coffees and people-watching. Jordan has this older-brother vibe. I feel like I could talk to him about anything, and it’s sort of refreshing.
“Is it hard for you and Alisha? Being famous?” I ask because I’m truly interested.
“Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes I wish I could whisk her away from all the madness. Protect her, you know?” he confesses.
I practically swoon. God, what would it be like to have a man want to protect me like that? I guess Tate’s rescue at the park is a little glimpse of that. I shake my head to clear my mind of inappropriate thoughts about my new friend.
“Do you guys only live in LA?” I question.
“Right now, we do. I’ve been wanting to get a permanent place somewhere else. Somewhere we can just be us,” he explains as we approach a trash can. He holds out his hand and takes my empty cup, tossing them both away.
“Why don’t you?”
“I haven’t decided where. Alisha wants to move to Nashville. I want completely out of the limelight, like maybe near Denver or New England,” he replies as we turn a final corner, and the famous bean comes into view.
“You should take her on a trip to the places you like and then decide together,” I suggest.
“It’s hard to get away together,” he explains as we approach our destination.
“Make it a priority. She’ll appreciate it,” I advise.
He smiles and nods. “You give good advice, M.”
I like it when they call me “M.” It makes me feel like I have a place in their inner circle. I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be in a group of friends. Mark and I had so many friends, but they were couples and it got weird after we divorced. I still see some of them, but it’s not like before. So many things changed after we separated. I feel like my insecurities multiplied tenfold. It’s hard doing things alone. Lex comes out with me sometimes, but she doesn’t live close to me. And Anissa, well, that woman is always traveling or off doing some crazy new activity.
My attention turns back to the giant sculpture in front of us.
“Shall we take an obligatory selfie?” I ask as I look at it.
“Sure, but no posting until after we’re home,” he warns.
“Fair enough,” I agree as I pull out my phone and click a picture of us.
I see a few people looking our way and Jordan ushers me in a different direction than we came.
“Let’s go find the water,” he suggests as we walk. When we’re back on our way, he speaks again. “Thanks for being so good to Tate. He’s been going through a lot.”
Frowning, I turn to look at Jordan, but he keeps his eyes straight ahead.
“Is he…alright?” I ask out of complete concern for this man who just showed up and began weaseling his way into my heart.
Jordan makes a so-so motion with his hand. “He found some shit out about what that asshole Warren did to a fellow actress, but he hasn’t shared it all with us, or at least I feel like he hasn’t. And on top of that, the breakup with Lacey has been really hard on him. Basically, he feels responsible for not protecting his friend and he is gutted about Lacey.”
“W-what happened with Warren?” I ask, almost afraid to find out.
This time Jordan does look at me. I see his jaw clench and I know whatever it is…it’s not good.
“He assaulted an actress. She was Tate’s co-star and she wants it kept under wraps. She’s afraid it will kill her career. We’re trying to talk her into going public. Anyhow, Warren made a snide comment and Tate lost his shit. Tate hasn’t told us everything, but that’s the general gist of what went down last week,” he says, his jaw still tight.
I swallow hard. “Damn. That’s awful.”
“Yeah, Tate called his doctor to come take a look at her afterward. It was a whole thing. Tate’s a really good guy, but…I think you see that in him,” he states, still watching me.
“He is a good guy,” I say and then quickly add, “I’m excited to work with him on the film project.”
I can see Jordan raise an eyebrow, giving me a look that says he doesn’t quite know what to make of my comment.
“He likes you,” Jordan states and I stop walking.
“What?”
Jordan stops and turns back to me. “I know we’re all on team Tacey as the media calls them, but…he’s different with you. I’ve never seen him be so…himself before around a woman anyhow. You’re good for him.”
Whoa! No, he just means as friends. I am reading way too much into this statement.
“Well, I’m really glad that I have four awesome new friends,” I say so fast the words run together. And then I start walking again. “Hey, there’s the art museum. We should go have our own Ferris Bueller moment.”
I take Jordan’s hand and pull him across the street, hoping to end this mortifying conversation. Focus, Sophia, focus! We are on a mission, and nothing is going to happen between you and Tate. And you certainly don’t want Jordan to know you have a big, fat crush on Tate. Stop living in your romance author brain.