Chapter Five
“Breath in, breath out.”
I stepped out of the car and took another deep breath. This was it, no backing out now.
Red carpet time.
I made my way down the green carpet that was laid out. The carpet was lined with greenery, keeping to the theme of last night, and most likely well into the award show.
Lights flashed, and I stopped and took the necessary photos.
Jemma guided me to where I needed to go, until the moment passed in a blur and we were inside.
She left me momentarily, working on finding out where we would be seated.
I looked around at the others in the industry, who were also dressed to the nines.
This time, no one had on a mask, and everyone was mingling in their small groups.
I looked from face to face, trying to find the one I had seen so briefly last night. I only saw people I didn’t know. Their voices were getting louder. My hand ran down the front of my dress, rubbing against my thigh, the friction not helping like it normally did.
“I’ve got someone to escort us.” I turned to Jemma as she popped back up by my side. She was pointing to a man who looked like a bodyguard and was gesturing to a side door close to us.
She started walking toward the man, but I was frozen. I could feel myself shutting down. This was a lot to take in all at once.
Jemma came back to my side, rummaged through her clutch, and pulled out my noise-cancelling earbuds. She didn’t hand them to me; instead, she leaned in and put them in for me. She signaled the man who was supposed to help us to our seats to give us a moment.
The noise wasn’t completely gone since it was quite loud in the hallway, but it dulled to the point where I could finally express my thoughts again.
I took a deep breath, mimicking what Jemma was doing in front of me until I felt my feet move, and Jemma led me to follow the man.
There wasn’t as much chaos in the main theatre area as most people hadn’t made their way to their seats yet.
The host of the awards had set us up toward the front of the stage, at a small table for just Jemma and me.
There would be a spotlight on me tonight, and there was no getting away from it.
Jemma motioned for me to take out one of my earbuds, and instantly, noise filled my ears again, but not as bad as before.
“I’m going to go scope a few things out and look for some drink alternatives.” We had water on the table, but knowing Jemma, she was searching for alcohol.
“Tea, please.” I rubbed my hands over my dress again, grateful for the lace fabric that was almost identical to the dress from last night.
Last night.
The mystery man ran through my thoughts, my fingers now making circles on my thigh.
He’d been forward, and while I was nervous at first being left alone with him, I had felt comfortable.
It wasn’t just his touch that calmed me, but he let me word vomit and out myself to him.
He also made it seem like it wasn’t a big deal.
When the crowd had died down after the announcement of my Hall of Fame entry, I searched for him, but he was nowhere to be found. I’d enlisted Jemma to assist, but she seemed to be in her own world and distant for the rest of the evening.
“You okay?” Jemma looked worried as she stood above me.
“I think so.” I looked around, looking at any face I could make out.
“Are you still trying to find him?” Jemma sat back down, moving her chair close to me. “Your supposed new muse?”
“Yes, and don’t act like this wasn’t the plan to help with this book. A man who, for once, is taller than me in heels is exactly the kind of muse I needed.” I gave her a knowing look, but I wasn’t going to hide that this man I’d spent barely thirty minutes with had a chokehold on my mind.
Jemma took a deep breath, looked up to the ceiling, and then back down to me.
“Look, I know very little,” she started. My head snapped to her, waiting to hear what she had to say. This is the most she’d given me since she found me on the dance floor last night. “And what I do know is just because of his family’s background. I mainly know his friend.”
She grabbed the water on the table and took a drink, then handed me my glass. I absentmindedly took sips, wanting her to tell me more.
“I should have gotten alcohol before I started this.”
“How do you know him and his friend?”
“I already said I don’t know much about him, but I’ve known his friend since I was in elementary school back in Tennessee. We grew apart in high school and didn’t really run in the same circles together.”
“Oh,” I took another sip of water. I knew about Jemma’s family and past, what little she’d spoken to me about them. She’d left Tennessee because she didn’t want to be in her family’s shadow, and nothing was left to keep her there.
“Ryker and Beckett,” the names slipped from her lips. “Your man is Ryker.”
“And yours is Beckett,” I suggested, because it definitely seemed that way with how she was acting.
She stood quickly.
“Beckett is not my man.” She looked around as if he would appear at any moment. “I’m going to get our drinks.”
“Oh, come on! You need a big, beefy man in your life!” I laughed at her, but she left as quickly as she’d stood, and I was alone again.
I put my earbud back in and took in the surroundings.
The room wasn’t as decked out as last night, but there were hints of greenery lining the tables and stage.
I watched as people made their way into the main theatre, looking for their seats.
A few people whom I knew from the industry waved at me, but none made their way over.
I felt my phone buzz in my clutch.
A few messages had come in from my team, all wishing me good luck.
They were not ones for award shows. I had an entire team behind me working on League of Witches, and they were just as deserving of this award as I was.
They were always invited, and they always declined, all eight of them.
I think it was Ember who’d mentioned a few years ago that if they never had to go to an event, they would forfeit their Christmas bonus.
I laughed, thinking it was a joke, but then the rest of the team agreed.
They were an amazing group and loved being behind the scenes, but hated the spotlight as much as I did, and someone had to be the face for all of this.
So, here I was, sitting in a theatre alone, trying not to break down.
Even with my earbuds in, I could hear a rush of conversation had started in the theatre. I took a bud out, trying to hear what everyone was talking about.
“CovertRetriever is here tonight,” Jemma came up behind me with her drink and mine.
“Didn’t we already know this?” I asked, remembering our conversation when I’d gotten my invitation in the mail.
“Kind of.” She sat down next to me and leaned in. “It was a rumor before, but now it’s confirmed that they are in the building.”
Oh.
“Weren’t they supposed to be at the ball last night, too?”
“I think that was a fluke, or someone was trying to out them.”
CovertRetriever had been great at keeping their identity a secret, so it wouldn’t surprise me that fans or even people in the industry wanted to know who they were. Why keep yourself a secret for this long with this big of a presence unless there was something else behind the mask?
“Everyone seems a little too excited. What are they expecting? This person to just walk out onto the same floor we are on?”
“You never know.”
I gave Jemma a pointed look as she shrugged.
We both knew that was never going to happen.
CovertRetriever was good at keeping themselves alone and in a dark room, at least that’s what most of the video acceptances looked like.
A dark room with their mask on, a voice changer, and nothing more to give any indication of who they were.
“I wonder what would make them actually show up tonight?”
“I’m guessing you,” Jemma shrugged.
“Me?”
Why the fuck would anyone come to an award show because of me?
“Why not you? They play your games, you’re here tonight, and this whole thing is to honor you.”
“When you say it like that.”
“Exactly.”
I sank back into my chair. I knew my game had impacted the industry greatly, but there was something about the fact that CovertRetriever was here, meant something to me.
It also scared me that I was impacting someone’s life to where they chose to come to an event, despite their anonymity.
I rubbed my fingers together, trying to think of anything else besides being here.
But the only thing that popped into my head was what had been lingering in the back of my mind all day.
The masked man from last night.
Ryker.
I looked around the room again, trying to find him amongst the sea of faces. I tried to conjure up what memory I still had of his face, but couldn’t find it in those that were here so far.
“If he’s going to be here tonight, he’ll find you.” Jemma’s voice brought me out of the trance.
“You think?”
“Yes.” Jemma downed half of her glass as the lights started to dim. An indicator that the show was going to start soon.
“How can you be so sure?”
“One,” she started. “He knows exactly who you are, based on what you told me last night.”
I’d told her every single detail from the moment she’d left me.
“And number two?”
“Beckett is sitting at the table behind us.”
My head snapped over to where she was motioning. A man sat there in a grey suit but was alone. No one else was with them, but their table was set for the two, as ours had been. He picked up his hand and gave a little wave before I turned around.
My heart fluttered at the thought just as the theatre went dark and the host walked on stage.
I was going to get to see Ryker again.