Chapter 9
nine
. . .
Things couldn’t have gone better if Drew had written the script himself.
Sleuth was a blast to film. The deeper they got into the filming schedule, the more he enjoyed dressing in historical costume every day and speaking with a British accent.
He got along well with his costars, although Rachel Evans had her moments, and the director was fantastic to work with.
Everything he’d hoped would happen with his career and had dreamed of through years of working dubious projects and waiting tables was finally happening. He hadn’t set a time for his meeting with Simon Underhill yet, but that was coming soon, he could feel it.
All of that should have been at the forefront of his mind as he rode the wave of fame that was taking him places.
But in the two weeks since the night of the concert, the night of the drunken kiss, his first thoughts in the morning were about Lee, and his last ones before falling asleep were wondering when the two of them would be able to hang out again.
It was unsettling.
Drew had always liked people and formed strong attachments with his friends, but he couldn’t deny something different was going on with Lee.
“Okay, I’ve just got to the part where Othar puts the collar around Pulsivar’s neck,” he spoke into his phone during a long stretch of downtime on set, recording a WhatsApp message for Lee. “I don’t get why that means Wavern can locate him now.”
He sent the message, then went back to reading Lee’s book. He completely understood why Abby was so obsessed with them. Lee was a natural storyteller, and the books were sexy as fuck.
Lee replied almost right away. “It’s because the collar means Othar now controls all of Pulsivar’s magic, and he hasn’t figured out that Wavern wants Pulsivar yet.”
Drew smiled, not just at the explanation of the book, but because he liked hearing Lee’s voice. It was soft and intelligent, like wrapping up in a warm sweater and having a cup of tea on the couch.
Which was definitely something he shouldn’t have been thinking about another guy’s voice.
“This book does have a happy ending, doesn’t it?” he asked, smirking as if he were having the conversation with Lee face to face.
He could imagine exactly what Lee looked like when he replied with a laugh and, “You’ll just have to keep reading and see. That one is the first in a series, you know.”
“Come on,” Drew answered back right away. “Don’t mess with me like this. If these two don’t get together and make all sorts of half-dragon babies, I’ll never forgive you.”
Lee only replied with a long string of laughing emojis.
It was probably for the best, since Drew was called onto set and wouldn’t have been able to continue the conversation.
Lee and his sexy dragons stayed with him, in the back of his head, sparking away in his imagination, even while he was shooting the intense scene on the slate for the day.
Everything was going great, but nothing was going the way he’d thought it would.
He was having a blast hanging out with Lee.
They made a point to go out in public together a couple times a week so people could spot them and take pics.
Social media was full of candid shots of the two of them, captured by people who wanted to be in the thick of gossip and speculation about the two of them.
That part of the plan was moving along perfectly.
But it was the time he and Lee spent together out of the public eye that Drew was really coming to cherish.
They hung out at the apartment whenever they both had free time.
Lee’s schedule was flexible, so the time they spent together was usually at the end of filming days or when Drew had half a day off as scenes not involving him were shot.
Filming, especially on such a tight schedule, was intense, but he did still have time for his fake boyfriend.
Fake boyfriend. Drew didn’t even like to think the words anymore. They felt too volatile, too dangerous. Too…inadequate.
He liked Lee. He liked spending time with him. A lot.
That was all he wanted to think about for the time being.
As soon as they reached a pause in shooting, he wandered back to his chair and grabbed his phone, hoping Lee had left him another message.
There wasn’t anything more from Lee, but his phone had been busy while he’d been on set.
He had a missed call from Jessica and a voicemail telling him to call her, and a text from his agent asking for a call as well.
He called Jessica first.
“Sorry I missed your call,” he said as soon as she answered. “I was on set.”
“It looks like you were a bunch of other places, too,” she said, her voice tense and tired.
Drew sat heavily in his chair, already guessing where the conversation would go. “Do I need to ask what you mean by that?”
“There are pictures of you and Lee all over social media,” she snapped.
“Isn’t that the whole point?” he asked, frowning. It didn’t make sense for Jessica to get jealous now when the whole ruse was her idea.
“It is,” she answered with an exhausted sigh. “I just didn’t think you two would be all over each other in the pics.”
Drew frowned, wondering what she was talking about.
He and Lee had made the decision to go a few places where they would really be seen over the weekend.
The London Eye was one of those places, since he’d always wanted to see it, despite Lee’s implication it was a tourist trap.
The two of them had been photographed standing close together as they looked out over the spreading cityscape.
Sure, he’d had his arm around Lee’s waist, but that was hardly the two of them being all over each other.
Of course, he was sure the pic Jessica was talking about was the one where the wielder of the cell phone had snapped them just as he’d turned to grin at Lee and Lee had looked back at him. Even he had to admit that picture said a thousand words.
He’d spent far too much time staring at that picture, trying to avoid the words it was saying.
“Everything is fine,” Drew said, looking around to see if anyone from the crew was listening in. “Lee and I are friends. Simon Underhill still wants a meeting. Things are doing what they’re supposed to do.”
“Are you sure about that?” Jessica asked flatly.
“I am.” And because Drew knew why Jessica had really called, he asked, “How are you? How are things going with your shoot?”
“I’m exhausted,” she said, relief that he’d finally asked how she was doing heavy in her voice. “I’ve had four AM calls for the last week, and it’s really grinding me down. Plus, I’m not sure if the director likes me all that much. He keeps telling me what to do.”
“That’s a director’s job on set,” Drew said, grinning a little. Jessica always had been hard to direct. It was a good thing her acting instincts were strong. “You’re supposed to listen to him to make your performance better.”
“I know, I know,” she huffed. “But I didn’t go to acting school for nothing, you know.”
Drew laughed and spent the next five minutes alternately listening to her complain about the job she’d been so eager to get and coaching her through ways to make her experience better.
She really was a good person underneath all her fuss and immaturity, and Drew was convinced she would grow out of her moods and stubbornness one day if she really wanted the career she said she wanted.
He was a little relieved when she finally ended the call. Even if it had been nice to think and talk about something other than his own problems for a minute. The two of them were friends, but talking to Jessica didn’t feel the same as talking to Lee.
He was right back to talking about himself as soon as he called his agent.
“I’ve been seeing a lot of pics of you with Lee Cresswell online in the last week,” Avery said as soon as the hellos were done. “Anything you’d like to tell me?”
Drew felt like a kid with his hand caught in the candy jar. “Nothing I haven’t already explained,” he said. He’d come clean to Avery about his plans with Lee, and although he wasn’t really sure what Avery thought of the arrangement, she’d gone along with it.
“I’m fielding a lot of questions and requests from people who want you to make a definitive statement,” Avery went on. “Half a dozen media outlets have approached me about being the ones to officially break the news about your sexuality.”
A rush of anxiety swept through Drew. Talk about a topic he was uncomfortable with discussing. He was still grappling with the whole thing himself and alternately questioning and running away from the questions.
“I don’t want to dissect my sexuality in public,” he said, sending another look around the set to see whether anyone was listening. Sawyer had come to sit relatively near him, but he seemed engrossed in whatever was on his phone.
“Either way,” Avery went on. “You’re reaching a point where you’re going to have to say something about Lee, to protect him if nothing else.”
A whole new set of worries hit Drew. He knew Lee was getting a lot of attention because of him these days, but so far, Lee had said he could handle it. How much longer would that be true? The British tabloid press was notoriously persistent.
“I’ll talk to him about it and see what he thinks.”
From there, the conversation turned to more practical things, upcoming projects and offers that had come in. Drew was glad to focus on something other than his personal life for a bit.
But as always seemed to happen with things he was trying not to think about too hard, his personal life wouldn’t let him go.
“How are things going with Lee?”
The text came in from Abby while he was in the middle of filming another scene. She’d left the message an hour earlier, but that didn’t stop Drew from calling her as he headed back to wardrobe to change out of his costume at the end of the day.
“Do you just want to hear about my fake boyfriend or do you want to know how I’m doing, too?” he teased Abby as soon as she answered the call.