Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Daphne
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped several times for Travis to sign autographs and take pictures with fans who recognized him. He’d wanted to order food at the speakeasy, but after learning about the book, we went straight to the dismal shop instead, so I knew he was hungry.
Not once did I see him roll his eyes or sigh in frustration when someone recognized him. Did the man not get hangry? Either that or he had an infinite amount of patience with his fans.
Although I didn’t get the answers I sought tonight, I didn’t feel quite so alone anymore, either.
And that was worth a lot. Being able to share everything with Travis had lifted a huge weight from my shoulders, and it wasn’t just because he was carrying my beach bag with that heavy-ass spell book inside.
I hadn’t liked keeping this secret from him.
“I read in the Daily Epigraph that you’re filming a reality dating show here,” said a red-haired woman rather excitedly, her gaze bouncing between us.
She had a cardigan draped over her arm and a black t-shirt that said Touch Your Dark Side on Darkaway Island.
“Are you guys on a one-on-one or something?”
Travis shifted the beach bag to his other shoulder and started to answer, but another woman piped in, cutting him off. A glittery cat-ear headband sat atop her head, making me wonder if she was some sort of feline shifter or if she just liked the look.
“Why would you do a dating show?” She gave him the once-over as if he were a tasty morsel. “I can’t imagine you’d have trouble finding dates.”
Travis didn’t seem to notice. “It’s a favor to my sister. Good publicity for the island and Darkaway Island Ranch, which my family owns.”
“I read about that place in the guidebook,” whispered a third woman as she elbowed a fourth woman. “Cookouts, cowboys and Drake Valentino. I’m all in.”
Travis started to tell them he spent little time there, but the women seemed more interested in taking selfies with him than listening to what he had to say.
I frowned, watching these interactions. It had to be frustrating for him to be treated like a commodity like this.
Which made me wonder how he’d gotten into acting. He sure was a natural.
One resourceful fan even had him hold up a blank piece of paper so she could use the photo at their gender-reveal party. “If it’s a boy, we’re naming him Drake,” she said.
“Good luck,” he told her. I wasn’t sure if he meant good luck with the birth or good luck raising a kid whose namesake was a man-whore.
During one particularly long interaction, I popped over to Dark Tarts and bought several handheld chicken pot pies made with fresh herbs and vegetables.
“Thank you,” he said as we continued down the cobblestone street a few minutes later. He took an enormous bite, covering his mouth while he chewed. “How did you know that Cluck You is one of my favorites?”
I shrugged. “Lucky guess.”
We snacked on our delicious hand pies and headed down a set of twisty, winding stairs toward the marina. From this vantage point, we could see the Ferris wheel in the distance and some of the boardwalk.
“How did you get into acting anyway?” I asked, wiping some crumbs from my chin.
“Purely by accident,” he replied. “As you know, we get a lot of tourists here. One summer, I was home from college, working at a pizza joint in town and trying to stay out of my dad’s orbit, when I met the casting director for Secret Shadows, who was on vacation with her family.
She encouraged me to audition, said I was perfect for a new character they were casting, and the rest is history. ”
“Drake Valentino’s origin story.”
That made him laugh. I liked the sound of it and how it made me feel all melty inside.
“Even though Drake can be a total asshole,” I told him, “you really are a fantastic actor.”
He laughed again. “I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or not.”
“It is.” I hip-bumped him. “Hey, thanks for going to bat for me back there with Dr. Eisenhorn. I really appreciate it.”
He turned to me with a hand on his heart as if I’d committed a moral sin. “The Third.”
I snorted out a laugh so hard I had to grab his arm, his very muscular arm, to keep from toppling over. “That guy was something else,” I said, swiping at my eyes and hoping my mascara hadn’t run.
“Yeah, a total asshole.”
“And his dismal shop with all those cobwebs.” I shivered. “I kept looking around, expecting to see a giant spider crawling around the corner.”
I suddenly had a horrifying thought and gripped his arm again, nearly knocking the Cluck You out of his hand. “You don’t have giant spider shifters here, do you? Please tell me there is no such thing. And don’t lie to me either.”
Who knew what sorts of monsters existed here? While it had been manageable so far, I drew the line at big-ass sentient spiders.
He chuckled. “No giant spiders.”
“Okay, phew.” My heart rate slowed to something manageable again. Letting go of his arm, I side-eyed my beach bag. “So, how far off is Monsterval again?” I couldn’t remember what the poster at Unholy Grounds said.
The amusement on his face disappeared. “It’s seven weeks away. The festival falls on the same weekend as the White Wolf Moon.”
I turned away, took another bite and did the calculations.
That was a month after the end of the contest and the end of my free vacation.
I didn’t exactly have the money to cover that sort of expense on my own.
And although Travis and I were really hitting it off, I didn’t want to make any assumptions that I would be the contest winner.
Speaking of dismal, I was reminded of my track record in accurately predicting a man’s intentions.
A few large yachts bobbed out in the harbor, their lights glittering on the dark water, while others were moored at the docks. At the end of one of them, people and various creatures were boarding a shiny black and red pirate ship. Probably a booze cruise.
“It must be amazing to call this place home,” I said, changing the subject and wiping a few flaky crumbs from my face.
I wasn’t sure if he’d heard me—or if he wasn’t going to answer—until he finally said in a low, gruff tone, “This place hasn’t felt like home in a very long time.”
One of the women boarding the pirate ship got her heel stuck in the dock boards, and a large brown bear was trying to help. Not having any success, the bear changed into his human form and used his opposable thumbs to wrestle it free.
I turned my attention back to Travis. It was hard not to get marginally distracted around here. Everything was so spectacularly strange and wondrous. “But you grew up on the island.”
“Growing up in a pack is...complicated. Particularly with an Alpha like my father.” His dark brows converged, and I got the sense that he was recalling something specific. “This is his home, his place. There was never any room here for me.”
A boulder lodged in my throat, making it almost painful to swallow.
I wanted to put my arms around him to ease the memories of his childhood trauma but wasn’t sure if that would help or not.
I knew nothing about actual werewolf families or politics except what I’d read in paranormal romance books, and those were fictional.
“But I thought your father passed away,” I breathed.
“He did.”
Recalling how his touch had comforted me several times today, I rubbed his shoulder anyway, hoping it would help and show how much I cared.
“Who’s the Alpha now?” I asked.
He exhaled slowly and leaned into me, but his gaze remained far off and glassy. “That would be me.”