Chapter 19
An odd dose of fear cycled through Nash as he and Ellie said goodbye to Wyatt and Wade.
For the most part, the visit had gone much better than he expected.
He wasn't sure what had softened Wyatt so much, but something definitely had, and Nash was grateful for it. He only hoped that he, too, could soften his heart in time to fully accept Wyatt’s olive branch.
The thing was, as monumental as Wyatt’s news might be, Nash couldn’t focus on it for long, not with Ellie’s strange, disconcerting reaction to Wade’s question.
“Nice to meet you, Ellie,” Wyatt said after walking them to the door. “And you,” he said with a slap to Nash’s back, “when are you coming back?”
“Since Ellie has two days before production starts, I’m going to stay at the hotel with her the first two nights.”
“Separate beds,” Ellie inserted.
Nash grinned. “Separate rooms, even. The suite’s massive.”
Ellie gave Nash’s arm a squeeze. “He doesn’t know it, but he’s about to pull an all-nighter rehearsing with me.”
Wyatt pulled a cringe face. “Sounds rough.”
Wade did the same. “Yeah, man. If you need someone to take your place…”
Nash only shook his head and grinned. “You guys are full of it today.”
“Nah,” Wade said. “We’re just happy to have family out here. And Ellie,” he added, resting a hand on her shoulder and leveling a serious look at her. “Just so you know, Nash cries at night if he loses his woobie. You’ve been warned.”
Nash chuckled along, but inwardly, all he could think about was getting Ellie alone.
Not because he wanted to get fresh with her, either.
He wanted to know why she’d stiffened when Wade asked about obsessed fans.
Nash assumed it had to come along with the territory, sure, but he hadn’t actually considered that it’d been an issue for her.
Had a bad memory flashed to the surface, causing her to grow quiet and tense?
Was it possible she was dealing with something even now?
Nash wasn’t positive he’d read her right, but if he were to place a bet either way, he’d say Ellie seemed downright afraid in those moments. He just didn't know why.
It had felt odd to bring it up around his brothers, so Nash bided his time and tried to focus on Ellie's excitement over the news of Wade and Wyatt moving back home, something she started talking about the moment they stepped out of their apartment.
"Wow, can you believe they’re moving back so soon?” she asked as they followed her bodyguard Bronson down the hallway toward the elevator. “Who can blame them, though? They've lived on a beautiful ranch their whole lives. An apartment in a big city like this probably doesn’t measure up.”
Nash continued to nod, worrying that his mind was drifting further and further from the conversation. He didn't want to be rude, but he had something to address, and it seemed that they weren’t going to get a lot of alone time with Bronson around.
Ellie might be used to having an escort outside of her Wild Buck’s excursion, but this was all new to Nash. Of course, if Ellie truly was afraid, if somebody was actually threatening her, Nash was very glad she had a bodyguard.
He stayed quiet as the elevator lowered them into the parking garage, where they waited for Bronson to get the car—a large SUV with tinted windows.
"If I wasn't here, would you just be walking to the car with him or what?” Nash asked after Bronson walked away. “He wouldn't leave you standing here by yourself, would he?"
"No, of course not. He's giving me more leisure because you're with me." She sounded agitated by his question, but Nash was getting a little agitated himself.
"Hey, I want to talk to you about—”
"I really have to study tonight, Nash,” she interrupted.
“I'm honestly way behind, and I wasn’t kidding about the all-nighter. Do you mind if I start going over the story details with you on the way home? I’ll get you up to speed on everything that happened up to the start of the first scene we’re going to film, which actually takes place in the middle of the movie when Trigger’s hair is long.
It’s short at the beginning and end, so we’ll film those parts last after he cuts it. ”
Nash was already nodding. Of course, he was happy to help.
And the fact was, Ellie had spent an awful lot of time with him during her stay at Wild Buck’s, and not much of it had been spent role-playing.
Typically, once she received a script, Ellie said she closed herself off from distractions and spent weeks devouring the script and nothing more.
“I’m all yours tonight, Ms. Ellie,” he said, “use me however you’d like.”
Ellie bumped him with her shoulder. “Thank you.” At once, she dove into the story behind the film, telling him all about Melody and her past. She told him about Trigger, the male lead, and the roadblocks that held each of them back.
The gruff granddad would be played by one of Uncle Lloyd’s favorite actors; she’d added nonchalantly, which only made Nash shake his head at how very different Ellie’s life really was compared to his.
Still, he couldn't help but think Ellie was avoiding something, which meant, in essence, that she had something to hide. Already, it was putting distance between them. And with production starting in just two days, there was sure to be even more distance.
Bronson pulled up with the SUV, and Nash was quick to get to Ellie's door. Once he’d circled around the vehicle and climbed into the backseat with her, Ellie reached for his hand and gave it a kiss.
“Thanks for coming out here with me. It means a lot. I can’t wait to introduce you to everyone on set.
We can get a picture with Leon Row and send it to your uncle if you’d like. ”
“And I’ll get to meet your dad in person, too,” he added.
A flicker of something flashed over her face. “True, he’ll be there for the first day or two at least. But first,” she said, reaching for a nearby lever to lower the partition, “we should stop at a gas station on the way to the hotel. We’re going to need a lot of caffeine for tonight.”
It was a beautiful night to be on the rooftop of a high-rise hotel in Dallas, but Nash wasn’t taking in the view. Instead, he was rehearsing dramatic lines from an upcoming film that his girlfriend would star in with another man.
Strands of outdoor lighting lit the space directly above Ellie’s hotel suite, visible from the glass skylight beside the seating space.
The words swanky and posh had come to mind as he’d walked through the suite with her.
They had stocked up on caffeinated drinks as Ellie suggested—everything from canned, cold coffees to Red Bulls.
They’d nailed three full scenes leading up to this one—the final scene of the night. Nash had most of the lines memorized by now, which gave him just a taste of what it’d be like to work opposite the woman he’d fallen in love with.
"I'm begging you, Melody,” he said with an added country twang. “Don't go. Don't sign that blasted contract unless you want to sign away your entire life."
Ellie’s expression turned indignant. "This isn't fair, Trigger, and you know it. I've waited my whole life for this—”
“Waited your whole life?” he boomed in return.
Nash shook his head in disappointment as he took three slow strides toward her.
"Well, I’ve waited my whole life for this…
" At once, Nash grabbed Ellie by the hips and pulled her against him.
He knew they were only acting, but Nash planned to give this everything he had.
He pressed an urgent kiss to her lips, taking the moment as if it was his own.
When he pulled away at last, he brushed a thumb over her mouth, barely summoning his next line. "What about love, Melody? Haven't you waited your whole life for this?" Nash searched her face, stunned by the emotion he saw there.
"You know I have, Trigger. I’ve told you time and again."
"Then why? Why are you willing to risk what we have? You can do this without moving a thousand miles away."
Ellie shook her head. "You don’t understand. There are things that you just…" She pulled away and turned her back to him.
Nash reached for his script and found where they left off. "Things that I just what, Melody? That I don't know? Because you're hiding them from me?"
Whoa, how had he forgotten that line? It was so close to home that he could have written it himself.
Ellie shook her head. "Maybe I am.” At once, she spun around and glared at him with a heat so fierce it burned right through his chest. "Maybe I'm hiding the fact that I come from dirt.
You want to know why you haven't met my family?
Because I'm embarrassed, Trigger, that's why! I’m ashamed of where I come from, ashamed of the very people who raised me, and I've been fighting my whole life to get away.”
Her chin quivered as her gaze drifted to the distance.
“I'm glad you had a practically perfect upbringing with parents you can be proud of and a family that you can't bear to leave, but the truth…
if you really want to know, is that I can't wait to get as far away from my past as possible. And if you insist on being part of that past instead of my future…” She gulped, her expression hardening as her nostrils flared.
“Then I guess this is where our story ends. "
Nash stood there, shocked and dumbfounded and unable to speak.
Not that it mattered; this is right where the scene would end, meaning it was a wrap.
The next time Trigger would see Melody again, it’d be months later when the poor guy showed up in Nashville with an apology on his lips and a key to his new apartment in his hand.
Nash would be danged if he couldn’t feel the guy’s pain. His desperation to get the woman he loved to stay.
He felt inexplicably exposed in one sense while entirely awed at the same time.
Nash had witnessed Ellie in her element from the comfort of his home or seated with a box of popcorn in a theater before the silver screen.
Heck, he’d rehearsed lines with her too; he’d been doing so for weeks.
But never had he experienced the force of her talent the way he had right then.
He couldn't help but wonder if a small part of Ellie felt the way Melody did. Sure, Ellie wasn’t dying to start a new career.
In fact, she was putting an end to it. But could Ellie really let go of a talent like this?
He feared she’d want to go back to it eventually, that she may even leave him stranded if they ended up together at all.
Worse, though, was the second possibility: she could be intentionally deceiving him.
Sending him home with a nice, cushy check, thanking him for the side of romance while she continued to pursue a dream she never intended to let go of.
Perhaps that was the root of Ellie's fear. The fear he’d sensed during their conversation at the table. Maybe it had only looked like it stemmed from the conversation about a stalker. Perhaps it’d been there sooner, and he just hadn’t sensed it.
What if Ellie’s real fear was of hurting Nash? Something she knew she was destined to do?
Nash smeared a hand over his face. It was definitely time to get some shut-eye because he was losing touch. Either Nash was paranoid and totally wrong about his wild ideas, or he was intuitively sensing some sort of hidden truth.
Only time would tell what the case may be.
Sure, Melody and Trigger would get their happy ending; that’s how romance went.
But with him and Ellie—there was no guarantee. For now, Nash was already in too deep. For now, he was stuck waiting to see how their story would end.