Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Derek
Janie looks downright terrified as she moves a tray of fruit a millimeter to the left with shaking fingers.
I’ve never seen her dressed down like this—she’s in a t-shirt and jean shorts, her hair pulled into a lumpy ponytail and no makeup in sight—and guilt swirls in my gut when I notice how stiff she is.
I should have had this conversation with her last night instead of forcing her to fret all night. She’s probably wondering if she’s going to have a job ten minutes from now. I’m wondering that too, if I’m being honest.
“Thanks,” I say.
Startled, she stands up straight and stares at me with wide eyes. “Um. You’re welcome. Clothes.” As her eyes focus behind me, she points to the pile she left on one of the chairs.
I follow her gaze to Donovan coming out of the bedroom, and I can practically see Janie’s thought process when she looks from Donovan to me and back again.
Jumping to all sorts of conclusions, which is likely how we got into this mess in the first place.
How Donovan ended up in the spotlight in the worst way.
My frustration returns in a flash, overwhelming my logical side. “First things first,” I say firmly and point at Janie. “Say one more word about Donovan to anyone, and you’re done. Got it?”
“Be nice,” Donovan reminds me in an undertone. Her hand brushes my arm as she reaches for the clothes and disappears back into the bedroom, closing the door behind her.
I am being nice. There are a lot worse things I wanted to say just then, but I kept my threat civil.
I can give Janie the benefit of the doubt, but I won’t take any chances when it comes to Donovan.
No matter how strong she pretends to be, it’s clear she’s nervous.
I’m not sure she’s as ready to face her past as she says she is.
Donovan can absolutely handle being in the public eye, but if she can avoid it for longer, maybe even indefinitely, that’s a far better scenario.
Janie swallows and wraps a hand around her upper arm. “Derek.” That’s all she says, guilt written all over her face. She’s never looked this small before, and she’s lacking the confidence I’ve always liked about her.
Sighing, I run my hand through my hair. “Just tell me why you did it,” I say as calmly as I can.
Tears pool in her eyes, but she doesn’t say anything.
The suite door opens again, and Hunter steps inside, pausing when he sees me standing in the middle of the room.
His eyes jump from me to Janie. For a second, I wonder if he’s going to move to her side because his eyebrows pull together in worry at the sight of her.
But he doesn’t move, remaining just inside the room with his hands tucked behind his back.
I’m not sure if he’s here to protect me or Janie, but either way I’m glad he’s here. Maybe he’ll be able to fill in the blanks if Janie doesn’t find her voice.
“Janie,” I say, a little stronger. “I need to know. Why?”
“I didn’t mean to,” she whimpers, and her tears spill over. “At first, I thought I was just helping your mom. She said your last assistant gave her updates because you were too busy to talk but she wanted to make sure you were okay. I didn’t know you were…that you didn’t…”
Exhaling, I fold my arms. “You didn’t know I cut her out of my life.” That one’s my fault, and I curse myself again for being so tight-lipped about my family. “You said ‘at first,’” I say, needing her to keep talking before my anger toward my mother overwhelms my thoughts. “What changed?”
She wipes her cheek and sniffles, refusing to look at me now.
One of her legs starts bouncing as she says, “Something that I told her showed up in a Hot Scoop article. I thought maybe it was a coincidence, but then it happened again.” Peeking up at me, she takes one look at my face and pales.
“I swear I didn’t know she was giving stuff to Hot Scoop before that. ”
Realizing my jaw is clenched tight, I force myself to relax.
Donovan returns a moment later, wearing a white t-shirt with Delicate Arch printed on the front and a pair of khaki shorts with hems that sit high on her tan thighs.
Even though it looks like Janie raided the hotel gift shop, the outfit highlights Donovan’s strong body and soft curves in a way that makes my heart pound harder in my chest.
Donovan comes to my side and takes my hand, and her warm touch supersedes my frustration, leaving me calmer than I was. “Are you being nice?” she asks, twisting her lips into a smirk.
Unable to stop myself, I lean down and kiss her, hoping that conveys my gratitude for her willingness to stand by me. “Not as nice as I could be,” I admit, then turn back to Janie. “I’m sorry. I’m not angry with you—I’m trying not to be, anyway. Do you want to sit down? Hunter, you too.”
Hunter’s mouth falls open, and he and Janie share a quick look full of surprise, like neither of them expected this conversation to end in anything but their dismissal.
I groan. “Come on, guys. I know I’m a lot, but have I ever been mean?” When neither of my employees reacts, I throw my hand up in exasperation and tug Donovan to the couch with me. If not answers, at least I’ll get some breakfast.
“I…” Janie slowly sinks onto a chair and gapes at me as I take a bite of bacon. “I thought you would be mad at me once you knew everything.”
“I’m not happy. And technically I still don’t know everything,” I point out. “What happened after you realized my mom was tied to Hot Scoop?”
Janie takes a shaky breath. “I told her that I wouldn’t be giving her any more updates and that she would have to watch interviews like everyone else if she wanted to know how you’re doing.”
Donovan whistles low, echoing my surprise. “I’m guessing she didn’t take that well,” she says, popping a raspberry into her mouth.
Janie shakes her head. “No. Which only made me sure that I made the right choice.” Wincing, she tentatively meets my gaze and mumbles, “She’s kind of awful, Derek.”
I choke out a laugh. “Yeah, she is.” It’s more validating than I expected to have someone agree with me on that. But I’m getting the sense this isn’t the end of my assistant’s dealings with my mom. “What did she do, Janie? You didn’t stop sending her things, so did she pay you? Threaten you?”
“No.” She hunches her shoulders, and her voice gets so quiet that I barely hear her when she says, “She threatened Liam.”
A sort of buzzing sound fills my ears, making it difficult to think straight. “Liam?” I repeat. I can’t comprehend the idea of anyone looking at the golden retriever in human form and wanting to hurt him. “How?”
Janie tucks her hands between her knees and shrugs. “Hot Scoop was going to do everything they could to ruin Liam’s career if they didn’t have something new to say about you. So I told them about one of your dates with Bonnie, and they went easy on Liam in exchange.”
I curse, thinking about all the tabloid crap Liam and Kasey had to deal with when they first got together. “That was going easy on him?”
Janie nods. “Your mom sent me one of the stories they would have posted if I didn’t cooperate. It was so bad, Derek.”
“And with Bonnie?” I ask, afraid to get an answer.
“Same thing,” Janie confirms. She’s relaxing now, probably because I don’t have anger rolling off me in waves, even if it’s boiling just beneath the surface. “As long as I gave your mom little facts about you, Hot Scoop held back.”
That doesn’t make any sense, especially if Janie didn’t give Hot Scoop anything truly interesting. Leveraging my friends is a bold move, but Liam and Bonnie were both able to counter the attacks from Hot Scoop and come out the other side for the better.
“Cole?” I ask instead of the question I really want an answer to. What is my mother’s plan? I’m not sure I want to know.
Looking completely miserable as she slumps in her seat, Janie shrugs again and stares at the food on the coffee table.
“She likes him the least. Probably because you’ve known him the longest. I don’t think anything I did helped when they were going after him.
And with Princess Freya—Queen Freya,” she amends with a quick glance at me.
“I think your mom wanted you to be with her, and then Elliot…”
I curse and rub my jaw as I think about the stories Hot Scoop posted about Elliot. It was the first time the tabloid didn’t treat me as a paragon, and it messed with my head. “Elliot is as much her son as I am,” I mutter. “But Hot Scoop wasn’t kind to Freya.”
Janie shakes her head, whether in agreement or because she doesn’t have a response, I’m not sure.
Sighing, I lean back in my seat and try to process all of this new information.
Donovan’s still holding my hand, and she seems to sense my growing frustration because she squeezes my fingers and leans into me, offering silent support.
I don’t know my best course of action, and a large part of me would rather go back into the bedroom where my only worry was taking things slow with Donovan until we can figure out what the future might look like.
That moment of waking up and seeing her beside me made me feel like I had the sun inside me, warm and bright.
But I can’t focus on a future with Donovan because there’s one very large obstacle in my way. One I need to remove as quickly as I can so I don’t waste any of my limited time with the woman next to me. I’m supposed to be flying back to LA this afternoon.
I turn back to Janie, meeting her wary gaze with my own. “Why didn’t you tell me?” There’s more pain in that question than I’d like, but I’m tired of masking. Tired of hiding the fact that I’m human, that I have feelings, that I’m far from perfect.