CHAPTER 10 DANNY
This feels bad.
Really bad.
I’m trying to respect that she wants to hide what we have from not just the world but specifically her father, and there is no way in hell Brooks isn’t going to run straight to him to let him know he caught us.
He doesn’t know what he caught, though, and I’m banking on that.
I don’t dare text her even though I want to let her know it’s okay. Instead, I wait it out.
And I will also do my part to ensure the world never makes the connection between us.
There’s a lounge where those of us with small parts in this movie get to chill between takes, and I head that direction since I know it’s where Kit will be.
We share all our scenes, so if I’m not on set right now, she isn’t, either. She’s chatting with Natasha Prince—the same reality TV star who filmed the Hush commercial with Alexis and me.
She stands when I walk in, and she gives me a hug.
“Good to see you,” she says, and I echo the same sentiment.
“You two know each other?” Kit asks.
“We met a few weeks ago on a commercial shoot,” Natasha says. The Hush NDA we signed was pretty strict, so better to keep it vague. She gives me a look that I’m a little confused about, but I take it to mean I shouldn’t ask how things are going with The Gamer.
“You two know each other?” I ask, nodding between the two of them.
“We were both associated with Netflix,” Kit says. “We were just catching up.” She smiles at me as if she’s ready to be done catching up with Natasha since I’m back.
“I was just going to grab some lunch if you’d like to join me,” I say against my better judgment.
I glance at Natasha by way of extending the invitation to her as well.
I can’t help but wonder how much she thinks she knows about me from our time in the Hush house.
I may have come off as rather standoffish to everyone except Alexis while we were there since my entire focus was on not spilling the beans about the woman I was falling for.
“I’d love to,” Kit says, and Natasha nods.
The three of us make our way toward the buffet tables set up for the cast and crew. They each make themselves a salad, and I grab a ham and cheese sandwich from the pile of subs.
We find a table and sit together, chatting about nothing, but at least I’m being seen with someone other than Alexis.
Alexis is right, though—the insider details about what happens on set won’t make their way public. It’s when we’re outside filming and the public can see us that pictures are snapped, which is why it was so smart of Gregory to drive her to my place rather than letting me do it.
But the secrets are getting harder to maintain, especially when her fiancé shows up unannounced.
The lines are getting blurry as the promises I made to myself about getting involved with a woman involved with someone else are broken. I keep telling myself she’s not really involved with him. She doesn’t love him.
But does it matter?
I’m not the guy who cares what other people think of me. I never have been.
But this is something else entirely. This is showing the entire world I think deception and cheating are okay, and that reflects back on me as a ballplayer, too. If I can do it in my personal life, it’s not much of a stretch to think I’d do it on the field.
And I would never do that. I play honorably. Always. And I try to live my life that way, too—without getting tangled up in the webs others seem to find themselves in.
Along came Alexis, blowing up everything I thought I always believed in. I can’t stay away. I won’t stay away. I hate the hiding. I hate how this is going to reflect on me. But I love her more than I care about any of that.
“What about you, Danny?” Kit asks. She sets her palm on my bicep, and I want to shake it off. It’s not her bicep to touch.
I suck in a breath as I realize I have no idea what she just asked me. I guess I was lost in my own thoughts. “I’m sorry. What?”
“How’s your lunch?” she repeats. She gives me a strange look.
I hold up my sandwich that I’ve nearly wolfed down at this point. “Fine. Yours?”
Kit and Natasha exchange a look. Fine, so they must’ve just been talking about how good or bad or mediocre their salad is, and I wasn’t paying a single bit of attention. They’ll think I’m a dumb jock who can’t hold a conversation.
Now that is something I couldn’t care less about.
“When’s your next call?” Natasha asks, and I force myself to be present in the conversation.
“Kit and I have another forty-five minutes,” I say.
“I have fifteen minutes until my next one,” she says.
We shoot the shit for a few more minutes, and then she heads back to set. I grab an energy drink, and Kit and I hang out.
“You want to go out somewhere tonight?” she asks.
I shrug. Since Brooks is in town, it appears my other plans have folded. “Sure. But I should tell you…I’m not the guy I used to be, Kit. I think you are gorgeous, and a year ago, I wouldn’t have hesitated. But tonight, this is just us going out as friends. It can’t be more than that.”
She twists her lips with a bit of disappointment. “Okay. But can we take photos pretending like it’s more than that? Because I have an ex who is a huge fan of the Heat, and I would love to rub our new friendship in his face.”
I laugh, and honestly…it’s not a bad idea. We give the press something to focus on, throw shade off any potential rumors about Alexis and me, and put on an act specifically for Brooks and Alexis’s father…and Kit’s ex. “Yeah. I think we can definitely do that.”
I’m not quite sure what I just agreed to, but I guess I’ll find out later tonight. I’m thankful she doesn’t ask me why I’m not interested, but I’m not sure I’ll get off so easily tonight.
And I don’t.
I don’t see Alexis for the rest of the day. She’s obviously being kept under tight watch now that Brooks is here, and I hate it. I still don’t dare to text her knowing he’s so close, and I’m not sure what else to do.
I hang around as long as humanly acceptable, but ultimately, I have to leave.
I have no other excuses left. And so when we’re done filming for the day, Kit and I grab an Uber over to Skip’s, the bar near the stadium where I always hang with Coop, Rush, and AJ, and it sort of feels like being home again.
I slide into my usual corner booth, and Kelly comes by and snags my usual order.
“You haven’t been around much lately, Danny,” she says.
“Been busy,” I say, which is definitely a total non-excuse.
“Rush and Coop haven’t, either, but AJ is in here almost every night.”
“Glad to see he’s keeping you open,” I say, offering a friendly smile as she scampers away to get our drinks.
The night feels pretty usual, but what’s not so usual about tonight is the fact that I’m here with a pseudo-celebrity, one that has a huge and rather rabid fanbase.
“How’d you like filming today?” I ask, trying to make conversation.
“I had a blast with you,” she says, leaning in a little closer—probably to give off whatever vibe she wants the rest of the world to perceive.
To be honest, I’m really, really tired of these games. When I took the route of baseball as the road I wanted to travel for the rest of my life, I didn’t really consider the celebrity side of it.
“I think the director liked me, and I’m hoping it leads to more opportunities,” she says. “What about you? How’d you get involved with this film?”
I lift a shoulder. “Long story.” It’s not, but I’m not going to get into it with Kit, a person I just met, at a bar where anybody could overhear us.
Kelly drops our drinks, and she has barely cleared the end of our table before another fan approaches Kit.
She’s asked for an autograph. And then she’s asked for a selfie.
And then more approach us. Most people don’t even really pay all that much attention to the dude sitting in the booth with her… at first.
But then I’m recognized, and it feels like all hell breaks loose.
Photo after photo is snapped, and Kit plays into it the entire time, leaning into me, flirting, and just generally putting on an act like we’re here together. People can read into it whatever they want, and that was the whole goal for her tonight, wasn’t it?
I don’t want anyone reading anything into any of it, but what other choice do I have? I’m doing this for Alexis—for us, to make sure her dad and Brooks aren’t sniffing around us.
The only problem is that in order to continue protecting her, I have no way of letting her know that whatever rumors make their way into the universe after this…none of it is true.
And the longer I sit here with Kit, the more concerned that makes me.