Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Red carpets made Sam anxious. They always had. The amount of people, the flashing lights from the cameras, all the photographers shouting for his attention. It was overwhelming. Then he had to answer the same questions over and over again with polished perfection, knowing any misstep would cause out of proportion headlines.
Daisy was, as predicted, a hit. The dog had an enviable natural poise and posed like an expert for the cameras.
Sam lost Lacey and Jenna pretty quickly in the organized chaos. One moment they were next to him talking to a journalist, Jenna chatting animatedly, Lacey playing the role of supportive, silent friend, and then they were gone.
He found them inside after he handed off Daisy to John Paul. Jenna was still talking with her hands, her drink threatening to slosh over the rim with every gesture, and Lacey stood next to her with an expression he recognized. The tight, almost pinched mask of pleasantness was the same one she wore whenever she had to talk to Mitch, except it was Jace Kieffer. Sam didn’t know why he was there, except to maybe try and get in with Grim, who was part of the small group.
“Working on your disappearing act?” Sam teased when he reached them, curling an arm around Lacey’s waist and kissing her cheek.
“Magic is my Plan B,” she joked, though her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes.
Was it the crowd? Was she worried people were looking at her? Sam wanted to tell her that everyone in the room was so self-absorbed they didn’t know she existed, but Jace Kieffer spoke before he could.
“I’m Jace Kieffer. It’s nice to finally meet you, Sam.”
Sam looked at the offered hand, but chose to keep his arm around Lacey instead of shaking it.
“I know who you are. Your name has been shoved in front of my face a lot recently.”
It was irritating how much the powers that be wanted them to work together. It made Sam dig his heels in and refuse at every turn. He’d been sent some samples of Jace’s work, and it was…not good. Soulless. Market-driven crap designed in a boardroom. Jace was a good-looking guy. In the right context, Sam might have even tried to sleep with him, but there was something about him that grated on Sam’s nerves.
“Well, I’d really like the opportunity to work with you?—”
“Does anyone know where the bathroom is in this place?” Jenna interrupted, looking around. She reminded Sam of a gold flamingo.
“I’ll help you find it,” Lacey offered, and linked her arm with Jenna’s. The two women walked away, leaving Sam with Grim and Jace.
“How do you know Lacey?” Jace asked once they were out of sight.
The back of Sam’s neck prickled. “How do you know Lacey?”
“We dated,” Jace said, “and I don’t mean to, like, get in your business or anything, but you should know that Lacey kind of…gets around. She’s a serial groupie.”
A memory surfaced in Sam’s mind, of the first walk he and Lacey had taken Daisy on. Was Jace the ex-boyfriend who’d recently broken into the music industry? The same one who’d bled her dry and left her hanging when he’d gotten his record deal? It would explain the look on Lacey’s face.
Sam had been too late to save Lacey’s reputation in Crane Cove from Mitch, but he could sure as shit save her from fucking Jace Kieffer.
Sam’s eyes narrowed and he took a step toward Jace, pitching his voice low so no one around them could hear. “If I ever hear you say another nasty thing about my wife again, I will end your career like that .” He snapped his fingers for emphasis. “If I get so much as a whiff of a rumor, you’re finished. I can and will find out. Do you understand me?”
“It’s not that serious?—”
Sam’s blood boiled, but his voice was ice cold. “Do. You. Understand. Me?”
Jace nodded rapidly. “Yes, yes. I understand. Very much understood.”
“Go away.”
Jace walked away quickly, vanishing in the crowd.
“I’m sorry, did you just say wife ?” Grim asked in disbelief.
Sam stretched his neck from side to side, and took some calming breaths to bring down his blood pressure. “I did.”
“ When ? And why wasn’t I invited?”
Sam shrugged. “About forty-five minutes ago? It was kind of a last-second thing. We didn’t send out invitations.”
A big, surprised smile stretched across Grim’s face. “Wow. I mean, this explains why this album is so fucking sappy by Sam Shoop standards, but damn. Congratulations. You weren’t trying to beat Adrienne down the aisle, were you?”
Sam frowned, confused. It was rare for anyone to utter the name of his ex-fiancée in front of him.
“Honestly? I don’t think about her anymore. What are you talking about?”
“She’s getting married on New Year’s Eve. You really didn’t know?”
Sam shook his head. “I try to spend as little time as possible on the internet.”
Grim chuckled. “You’re smarter than I am. You really don’t keep up with Adrienne?”
“I really don’t.”
“Good for you, man. But don’t be surprised if she shrieks down the internet when you announce your marriage.”
“Announce? I don’t think we were planning on announcing.”
Grim shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’d run it by Inger, though. Because she might want you to get in front of the story before it breaks.”
“What do you mean ‘before the story breaks’?”
“Journalists watch marriage filings like hawks, especially during these events when everyone is in town and making stupid choices—not that you made a stupid choice. I didn’t say that. Other people make stupid choices. Lacey seems really nice.”
Sam broke out in a cold sweat. It had never occurred to him that anyone with an internet connection and three working brain cells could look up his marriage. He wasn’t ashamed of Lacey, he could never be ashamed of Lacey, but he hated having people poke around in his business. Especially something that was so delicate.
How long would it take the world to find out? How long until Lacey’s life was dissected under a microscope? Could she handle that? Would he ever be able to convince her to stay if being with him meant having her life broadcast to the world?