CHAPTER 3 ALEXIS
The performance goes well after that. I feel at home on this stage only because he’s there for me, making sure I’m comfortable and cared for, and it’s more than I can say for my father or Brooks, who are likely still in that room yelling at Gregory.
They don’t know about Gregory’s hand in helping me—or maybe they do and that’s why my father so badly wanted to fire him.
I dread the end of this gig if only because now I’m going to have to really face the music as my father waits back there for the answers I have yet to give him.
It’s been nice being in this dream world for the last nine days, but my time is obviously up.
“That was incredible, Lex,” Danny murmurs into my hair after the show ends as I walk off the stage and straight into his arms. “You are incredible. That was…Jesus. I don’t even have words. Your talent is so fucking raw, and listening to you sing those songs was just…” He shakes his head a little, clearly at a loss. “It was fantastic. Stunning. Every second of it.”
I’m much taller with the extra six inch heels, but he still towers over me. He bends down and presses his lips to mine, and I don’t know if I’ve ever felt more cared for in my entire life.
He’s here.
My dad isn’t.
Brooks isn’t.
But it’s time to face them.
I grab Danny’s hand as we make our way back to the dressing room.
Sure enough, my father is sitting on the couch and Brooks is perched in a chair. Gregory is nowhere to be found.
“Where’s Gregory?” I demand as I walk into the room.
My father stands, and his eyes meet mine. He hasn’t gotten any less angry since I left the room over two hours ago. “He’s been excused for the evening.”
“You have no right or authority to do that.” I snarl a little at him as I say the words.
“If you’ll excuse us, I need to talk to my daughter,” he says to Danny.
I clutch him more tightly to me. “He stays.”
He purses his lips a beat, and then he grits out between a clenched jaw, “Fine.” He heaves in a heavy breath. “Let’s start at the beginning then, shall we?”
I clear my throat. “Let’s start with how this Christmas special just went. Are you really not going to say a word about it? Oh, right. Because you sat in here and waited for it to end instead of watching me and supporting me from the side of the stage the way Danny did for me.”
“Is that what this is about? You want me to baby you after twelve years in the business? Are you kidding me right now?” my father demands. He doesn’t wait for a response. “Tell me why you ran out on the wedding.”
“Because I love Danny and I couldn’t marry someone else I don’t love. It’s really as simple as that.” I fold my arms across my chest.
“You have fucked everything up,” my father says, and suddenly I see a desperation in his eyes that I hadn’t noticed before.
Meanwhile, Brooks sits silently in the chair scrolling his laptop, almost as if he isn’t paying any attention to this scene at all.
Maybe he isn’t.
Or maybe there’s something else going on here that I can’t even begin to understand.
“What have I fucked up?” I ask, throwing his own words back at him, which makes him flinch. “The wedding to Brooks? Okay, you’re right. I did mess that one up pretty good. But asking me to do it at all was pretty messed up, too.”
“You have a contract to abide by,” he reminds me.
“No.” I shake my head, my word calm and simple in the quiet room.
“What do you mean no?” he shouts at me.
“I mean…no. I’m an adult who is capable of making my own decisions.” I stand firmly at my words.
“I’ve given you freedom and liberties you don’t even realize, my dear. And if that’s the ground you’re going to take, we go to the contract.”
“I’m sorry, Dad, but nowhere in the contract does it say I have to marry who you say I have to marry. I may not have memorized every detail, but of that I am certain.” I purse my lips as I await his reply.
“The contract says you do not in fact have any such power to make decisions that affect your career without first consulting with your agent.”
“Who I marry has nothing to do with my career. Or it didn’t, until you made it that way with Brooks,” I argue.
Danny slides in beside me, standing close enough that I can feel him without him actually touching me.
“I married Danny,” I whisper, and my dad’s head whips to mine as his eyes light on fire.
Brooks lifts to a stand but remains silent.
“You what?” my father demands.
“I married Danny,” I repeat. I hold up my ring finger with the gorgeous infinity band on it and his name tattooed along the side.
My father’s jaw drops, and there’s something deeply satisfying about shocking him in this way. “You will get it annulled.”
“No, I will not.” I slide my arm around Danny, and he throws his arm around my shoulder, drawing me close into his side.
“Then I will ruin him and everything dear to him,” my father says.
“I love your daughter very much, sir, and I will do whatever I can to support her and her brand, which I know is incredibly important to her. But I will not stand by and take your threats,” Danny says, his voice firm in this small room, and I don’t know if I’ve ever loved him more.
I tighten my arm around him in solidarity.
My father stares between the two of us for a few beats. “You’ll both live to regret this. I guarantee you that.”
He takes those words and storms out of the room. Brooks gives me some sort of look that I can’t quite decode.
My eyes meet Danny’s.
I don’t know what’s coming next, but I do know that at least I’ll have this man by my side through it all.