Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
The morning sun seemed brutally harsh as it blasted in through Riley’s windows and attacked her eyes.
Grabbing a pillow, she groaned as she covered her face.
It felt sort of like it used to when she’d wake up hungover, but she wasn’t the one who’d had too much to drink last night.
This time, she’d been the one trying to help someone avoid a disaster—to only mild success.
Rowan wasn’t hurt or worse. Neither was anyone else. So, that was a win.
But she’d still been unable to stop him from leaving the party, and he’d crashed that monstrously expensive car right into a tree.
And then, of course, paparazzi showed up. As they always do.
Grabbing her phone from the nightstand, she checked the time, saw that it was nearly ten, and then noticed she had an unexpected message.
Harrison.
They’d exchanged numbers the other day at Auntie Athena’s but hadn’t communicated since then. Now, he was asking if they could meet up for a few minutes this morning.
Huh.
What was that about?
She fired off a response, he answered quickly, and they exchanged a few messages over the next several minutes.
An hour later, after she’d gotten ready for the day and looked presentable, Harrison was on her front porch.
“Come on in,” she said. “Care if I make myself a smoothie?”
“Please. Don’t let me hold you up from doing anything.”
She led the way to the back of her house where the kitchen was.
“Nice place,” he said behind her.
“Thanks. I know it’s not spectacular. But I’m proud of it. Hey, look at this.”
She walked to the sliding patio door and jerked her head toward the backyard.
The sunlight was shimmering off the in-ground pool, and the water looked inviting.
“I didn’t want to buy a huge mansion. Can’t afford one anyway.
But the one thing I dreamed about as a kid was having a pool at my own house.
My grandpa would scrape up money to buy me a pool pass to the town aquatic center.
It was my favorite place in the world, and I dreamed about having my own one day with a diving board and everything. ” She smiled proudly. “Here I am.”
“That’s awesome!” Harrison said. “I’m happy for you. Your career is really taking off.”
She got in the cabinet, retrieved her blender, then placed the various ingredients on the granite island.
“Have a seat,” she said.
The actor eased his giant frame onto one of the stools opposite her and watched for a moment as she started combining everything.
“Thanks for having me over.”
“Is everything okay?”
“I was going to ask you that.”
She exhaled sharply, nodded, and said, “The incident with Rowan.” She threw a few strawberries into the blender, their fall softened by the Greek yogurt she’d already added. “How bad is it?”
“You really want to know?”
Riley nodded. “I’ve been staying away from it. Haven’t checked headlines. But I guess I need to know.”
Harrison pulled out his phone from the pocket of his jeans and tapped and swiped for a moment.
“The big gossip sites are running with it. Some influencers with big followings have made some videos about it, breaking down all that happened. Or at least, all they think happened. On legit news sources, if it’s mentioned at all, it’s way down the list.”
She peeled a banana and started breaking chunks off, adding them to the blender. “And what so-called details are they giving?”
“Oh, lots of theories. They’re careful in how they word everything, of course.”
“Sure,” she said. “They don’t want a lawsuit. Or two.”
“Right. But the gist of it is that Rowan was definitely drunk. You might have been. Y’all got into a fight and he ran, while you, and this is a quote from one of the influencers, desperately tried to catch up to him, worried your relationship was over and demanding to know who the other woman is.
” Harrison shook his head. “I’ve been around this town long enough to know better than to believe half of what I hear.
But they are tying it back to your past—”
“My DUI,” she said before firing up the blender.
Neither one of them spoke while the loud machine mixed the smoothie to the right consistency.
“Want any?” she asked as the blades were coming to a standstill.
“I’m good, but thanks.”
She poured her breakfast into a glass, took a drink, then said, “That crap is behind me.”
Harrison bobbed his head and leaned back a little, leveling a thoughtful gaze across the island at her.
“There’s no judgement. I had something similar back when I was just getting started.
Man, it’s embarrassing to think about now.
But I wasn’t in a good space. Didn’t know how to handle my rising fame.
And on top of that, I was living with the shame that I was a Little. ”
Riley arched her brows. “You?”
Harrison chortled. “I wasn’t always so comfortable with myself.
Now, if I had to choose between my Little life and my career?
Well, there’s no question which one I’d pick.
This was all before I met my wife and Mommy, Diana, and before I found Stryker and my other friends in Mountainville.
I was drinking too much. Driving too fast. Sort of had a live fast and die young mentality. Know what I mean?”
Riley took a few more sips of her smoothie as she thought about it.
Finally, she nodded. “I do know what you mean. When I came to town, I still hadn’t dealt with my grandpa’s death.
And I was a dirt-poor girl from small-town Arkansas who’d never had a taste of fame or a big city.
When I had both, I went a little crazy. But those days are long behind me.
That DUI might have been the best thing to ever happen to me.
I got into therapy. Worked on myself. I haven’t touched a drop in over two years.
” She held up her smoothie. “I much prefer this these days.”
Harrison grinned. “Respect.”
“Why, thank you.”
They smiled at one another for a few beats before Harrison said, “You’re not even in a relationship with Rowan, are you?”
She lowered the smoothie from her lips as she laughed. “Glad I hadn’t taken a drink. It might have come out my nose!” Wiping her mouth, she said, “I just met him last night.”
“Figured as much,” Harrison said. “A publicist trying to ship you two?”
“Agents.”
“Ah.”
Riley gulped down the rest of the smoothie, rinsed out the cup, then put it in the dishwasher.
“I think I need help.”
“I’m here for you.”
She flashed him a grin. “Thank you. But not about drinking or anything.”
He returned the smile. “I know. You said you’re sober and I believe you. I didn’t know one way or another coming over here. That’s why I wanted to chat with you. From one person who understands to another. But I still want to help however you need me to.”
Riley filled her lungs with air and held her breath for a moment before slowly releasing it.
Her hands were shaking. “It’s my agent. She wants me to be this bratty bad girl.
We’re in agreement that the DUI was the best thing to ever happen to me.
But for totally different reasons. Rita thinks it boosted my career and that I need to lean into it.
I think that’s disgusting and sets a horrible example.
Plus, who tries to profit off someone else’s addiction? ”
Harrison shook his head in distaste. “There are some real vultures out there. But it sounds like you need a new agent.”
Riley steeled herself. This was the part she hated to admit. It wasn’t that Harrison didn’t know her secret. Obviously, he was okay with the fact that she was a Little.
But saying this out loud terrified her. She’d trained herself not to even think about it.
It needed to be confronted, though.
“That’s just the thing. Harrison… she’s blackmailing me. She knows I’m a Little.” She sighed, closed her eyes, and then dropped the final bomb.
“And she has a picture.”