by Max Hudson
“Are you kidnapping me?” Nothing about any of this felt real.
The man looked down at me and I saw his huge bright blue, almost white eyes blink down at me in confusion.
“What’s going on?” I demanded.
“I’ve got you.” His voice seemed to rumble through me.
I stopped moving. His smile. His short-sleeved flannel. His missing front tooth where the other teeth had been pushed in to make up for the lack. He was strange but I got the overwhelming impression that he was trying to help me.
“Hello again Mr. Daughtry.”
I glanced back up at the vaguely familiar voice. From the giant’s head I finally noticed the other pair of legs and arms and then the face attached to them. After a moment, the bright red hair stood out in my memory.
“You’re the girl from last week, with the business card?”
She nodded. “Funny running into you again.”
“Are you behind this? I gestured to the fact that I was still being carried.
“In a way? I was going to try and talk with you again but I hadn’t expected the crowd to attack you like that.”
That was an understatement. Most of my fans were great. But there were always some who wanted to get too close…
“My friend here saw your predicament and decided to help you out. He’s very nice.”
“What’s both of your names?” I asked wearily. I was certain now these two weren’t going to harm me. The redhead wanted to sign me after all.
“I’m Bunny from Crabapple records and he’s Nate from...I guess he can introduce himself once we finally get to where we’re going.”
“Where are we going?” I glanced around. I didn’t see anyone following us anymore but we were still moving like there was a set destination in mind.
Her lips twisted and she squinted. “I don’t know and I don’t know if asking him right now is a good idea. I don’t want to block his vision.”
“Excuse me where are you taking us?”
He didn’t even look down.
“He’s deaf.”
I looked back at her and felt heat rush to my cheeks. I had no idea why I was so embarrassed. Maybe I felt bad for assuming?
“It’s fine. Just when we get there, wherever that is, make sure he can see your lips. He can read them fine.”
Her head disappeared from my view again and I supposed we were both just there for the ride.
***
Finally it looked like we were exiting the maze of alleyways the man—Nate, was taking us down. He abruptly stopped right at the edge right before we would have headed back out into the light and into the street.
“Oh!” He exclaimed.
Suddenly I was back on my own two feet. I looked up at him as Bunny scrambled down his back also.
He glanced away nervously. “I should have let you guys down earlier. I was just running on adrenaline. I’m sorry.”
Bunny got his attention. “You’re good dude. But are you okay?”
I watched the heavy rise and fall of his chest and the sweat slip down his forehead. He had to be some kind of superhero to carry two adults like that for so long while sprinting.
“I’m fine,” he insisted but drooped forward. “But maybe I should go sit down and have a gallon of water.”
I made sure he was looking my way before carefully saying, “Is there somewhere we can go so you can sit?”
He blinked as if he didn’t remember I was there. “Yes. I’m Nate Lockes by the way and that’s Bunny.”
“I already introduced myself,” Bunny added.
“Were you conducting a business deal while I carried both of you?” He asked slightly offended but not as surprised as I would have thought he would be.
“I wouldn’t call it that,” Bunny said in a voice that didn’t convince me. By the look on Nate’s face, it didn’t convince him either.
“Anyway,” Nate said through quick breaths. “My apartment. I took us to my apartment.”
Bunny leaned out of the alley and looked around. “Wow. I didn’t even realize we were so close by.”
“So, we’ll be fine,” Nate insisted directly at me.
I was confused but then I realized. “Are you telling me to leave?”
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Nate asked. “Popstar...stuff?”
“I don’t feel safe out in the open yet. Can I stay at your apartment until my bodyguards get here? I still have to call them and let them know I’m okay. They might have called the police or something.”
“Of course you can stay! Sorry I just assumed you wouldn’t want to stay with the guys who carried you off.” He smiled with his teeth on full display. “Follow me and try to stay behind me as much as possible.”
We carefully snuck into an unassuming apartment building and headed up to an older apartment that looked lived in. The white paint covered some exposed brick walls. There were five different remotes on the coffee table and about four cups of coffee in various places either half drunk or mostly drunk. It wasn’t messy, it was just comfortable.
I watched Bunny and Nate grab some glasses and a pitcher of water and settle around the coffee table, swiping the remotes to the side and sitting on the ground rather than on the perfectly acceptable couch right behind them.
I leaned up against the wall. It was something Lane Daughtry popstar would do. But I hadn’t been able to even begin my act around these two. It would be useless to pretend to be some edgy badass when Nate had carried me around half of Seattle.
I pulled out my cell phone and dialed my manager. I watched as Bunny and Nate rapidly talked in sign language back and forth. I knew nothing about the language so I didn’t even try to follow it.
“Lane!” Mr. Smart said before I even let it ring once.
“Hey Rupert,” I said, trying to sound casual. He knew the truth about my personality but I still wanted to keep up my act in front of him. I wanted to at the very least pretend I hadn’t been shaken up by today’s events.
“You’re all right?”
“Yeah. I found some help. No one followed me.” I glanced over at Nate. He was taking a long sip of water and I watched a trickle slip past the corner of his mouth that he quickly swept up with the tip of his tongue.
“I can have a car and a security detail there in five minutes, give me the address.”
I rattled off what Nate told me earlier almost robotically as I stared ahead at Nate.
“Good work today,” Mr. Smart said and hung up with a clatter on the other line.
I slowly lowered my phone and slipped it back in my pocket.
Nate glanced over at me. “Did you call off your search party?” His lips were still damp.
“Uh.” I felt my brain spilling out of my ears. “Yeah.”
“That’s good. I promise you won’t have to deal with Bunny or me ever again, right Bunny?”
Bunny looked at him and nodded but when she looked at me, I felt like she had shot an arrow directly into my spine. She flicked her eyes over at Nate and then back at me her smile growing.
It was like she could see my every thought, especially the picture of Nate licking the side of his mouth to catch that droplet of water currently running over and over again. Was I supposed to not have an instant attraction to the burly man who rescued me like I was some kind of damsel in distress? He carried me in his arms for God’s sake! But he was convinced I was never going to see him again; that this meeting was a bizarre, but his one and only, brush with fame. And I knew I could never make it work with anyone and keep my bad boy image alive.
I shoved my hands in my jean pockets and frowned. “It was nice meeting you both but let’s not do this again,” Lane Daughtry popstar said and pushed off from the wall ready to leave.
I could tell that Bunny didn’t believe either of us.
Chapter Five
Lane
The next morning, I had breakfast delivered to my apartment. It was just a bagel, a side of cream cheese, and a latte so I could h
ave gone down to the cafe across the street myself and grabbed it but...I couldn’t bring myself to go outside. I wanted the whole interview fiasco to clear up before I even tried to walk around. I wanted this vacation to be about resting as well as getting to know the city I had technically lived in for three years. But now I was too restless and nervous to go out or sit down and relax.
Over my meager breakfast I checked through social media on my phone. I refused to make any more public appearances for the time being but my manager argued I had to at least keep up with social media if I wouldn’t let his PR team have access to it. He provided me with a selection of pictures of me that hadn’t been released from various photo shoots so I could act like I was traveling the world instead of hiding in my dark breakfast nook.
That morning was the first time I checked my profile since the incident. I winced at the number of notifications I had waiting for me. Thousands of pictures with me tagged in them of the front of the little restaurant whose waitstaff’s day I’d ruined just by being there. I wish I could find out who had leaked the details of the interview. It had to be someone who worked at my label since it was so last minute. Mr. Smart promised me he’d do an investigation.
As I scrolled through the pictures that basically showed the same thing just at different angles, I began to see a new worrying trend.
It was a blurry picture of me in Nate’s arms. The picture didn’t catch his face, only showed his back and was focused mostly on me. There weren’t alternate angles and no one had said Nate’s name so at least his identity was safe. But the picture was reposted over and over again, everyone theorizing about the man who pulled me away from the “fake fans”. Of course there was a hashtag about it; #whosavedlane.
Nate didn’t seem like the kind of person who would try to use this situation for his own gain. Maybe I was projecting onto the fact that I liked the way he looked and someone l liked couldn’t be that bad. Or maybe it was more that someone who would put himself in harm’s way for someone he’d never met.
Of course, I thought bitterly, he could have done it just because I was famous.
But he never asked for anything after, no reward, no backstage pass, he didn’t even try to convince me to sign with Crabapple records. When my car arrived and I was leaving without another word, he offered to walk me down. I said no. I was trying to preserve what was left of my standoffish image.
No, that man didn’t save me because I was rich and successful. Bunny was right. He was just nice.
I sighed and turned my phone off without posting anything. Hopefully it would all blow over and people would forget about him. I was sure my PR department was running in circles trying to make the idea of me being picked up like a lost kitten somehow fit my badass persona. They could probably cover that up too.
***
They couldn’t cover it up. At first, I thought they had figured out the perfect solution: they called him a bodyguard and left it at that. It wasn’t strange that a bodyguard would have pulled me out of there. But my fans were dedicated and had already latched onto the idea of this savior. They compared photos of all my appearances and performances and saw that all of my regular bodyguards were accounted for and Nate was very obviously not in uniform. Of course, these could all be explained away because he’s a new hire and we had hidden security. But there were many eyewitnesses that said, but couldn’t confirm, that they saw another person on his shoulders and the conspiracy grew.
“If anyone asks you about him?” My manager paced back and forth in front of my couch.
“He was a security guard,” I said in a monotone.
“Good,” Mr. Smart breathed the word out of his nose. “Don’t mention anything about it. Don’t respond to anything.”
“Do you think not addressing it will make them stop talking about it?” I asked skeptically.
“Of course not.” Mr. Smart chuckled and shook his head. “We don’t want them to Lane. This is the best thing to happen to us.”
“It is.” I tried to keep the question out of my words.
“More people are talking about you than ever before. We’ve been trending off and on for the past week. Who knew they’d be so worked up about one fuzzy picture? We could have staged one years ago.”
“Right.” I sounded more confident that I felt.
“You don’t know who that man was do you?” Mr. Smart asked.
“I asked for his name but we didn’t exchange numbers.” For some reason I didn’t want to tell Mr. Smart all about him.
“Well make sure you keep it that way. We want this to stay something for them to theorize about. We can’t control the narrative if this gets out of control. And he’s been silent so far. Let’s keep it that way.”
“I wasn’t planning on it, Rupert,” I said and flipped my hair out of my eyes. I appeared nonchalant but, in my head, I saw the sweat running down his forehead as Nate’s muscular arms carried me close to his chest.
Rupert and his entourage left my apartment and I waited a very patient minute before searching for my favorite leather jacket. I tore through the pockets muttering “where is it” to myself. The business card was nowhere to be found. I had no way of contacting him other than going to his apartment which was too risky and too forward at the same time. I looked around my wardrobe thinking it may have fell out there. I turned over my bedroom looking for the card I had so carelessly folded in half never expecting to look at it again.
When I stopped and looked at the mess I made, I felt incredibly silly. I already knew why I couldn’t talk to Nate again. Even if my manager hadn’t told me not to, I didn’t want to drag someone else into my lifestyle, where I had to pretend to be someone else. Losing the business card was a sign from the universe that I should give up trying to ruin what I’d made for myself.
I slowly started putting my bedroom back together and let all thoughts of Nate go and let my mind go dull. It was the best way to cope with the stress. After putting so much effort into remaking my king-sized bed and reorganizing all the little pillows I had collected. I decided to lay on my couch and put on a movie I’d seen a hundred times.
I flopped down and shoved my face into the couch. “Why do I do this to myself?” I said, my voice muffled by the pillow.
My arm swung down off the side of the couch and my fingertips brushed up against something.
I lazily stretched for it. Once my fingers curled around the thick cardstock, I sat up straight. Maybe this was the sign from the universe that actually I should do what I want to for a change. It was my vacation after all.
I don’t even remember dialing her number. I was shaking with excitement.
“This is Bunny from Crabapple Records, nice to hear from you Mr. Daughtry.”
I frowned. “I haven’t even said anything yet. How’d you know it was me?”
“I had a feeling,” she said vaguely. “And you’re the only person I’ve been waiting to call.”
“I’m not calling to accept your contract. I like the one I’m in.”
“Sure you do.” Her voice was breezy and ten times more confident than when we were running, or more like being carried away. She was in control here and she knew it. There was no doubt she knew why I called too.
“I was hoping that you could give my number to your friend, Nate Lockes. I would like to thank him. On the condition that you both keep it a secret.”
“Keep what a secret? The fact that you aren’t some mysterious asshole? Or that my best friend is your fanbase’s biggest mystery?”
“You have a lot of dirt on me Bunny,” I said nervously.
“I’m not a monster. I’m not going to tell anyone anything.”
“Unless?” There was always an unless.
“Nothing else. I just won’t. I’m not trying to ruin you. I want you to join my label.”
“Oh.”
“But.”
There it was.
“If you somehow hurt Nate in any way…Let’s just say he’s the nice one in our friendshi
p.”
“I just want to thank him,” I insisted.
“Sure you do Mr. Daughtry.” She didn’t let me continue. “I’ll pass your number along and tell him what you said about “thanking” him.”
“Thank you, Bunny.”
“Sure.” With that, she hung up leaving me in suspense. It was up to Nate now. If he wanted to talk, we’d talk. But I could take rejection. I was looking for any sign that this wasn’t meant to work out and I could go back to my boring vacation without being haunted by his brief touches and looks.
I wasn’t sure why I thought I’d be able to manage forgetting someone like Nate Lockes.
Chapter Six
Nate
I felt my phone buzz several times in my work out shorts’ pockets as I put the weights I had been using back. Once again, I found myself giving up on the hobbies Bunny suggested to me and instead going to the gym just for something to do. This time it was model building which probably was a joke suggestion. I had terrible hand-eye coordination when it came to tiny wooden pieces and glue apparently. I grabbed a towel out of my bag and wiped off my face and hands before checking out my texts.
It was a string of texts from Bunny who preferred to type out her thoughts and send them one by one instead of just writing them all down in one longer message. They read in order: “You are popular now. Mr. Daughtry wants to thank you personally. Be careful you don’t let the internet know. I would hate for you to have to move to Alaska.”
I smiled and replied: “No one has mauled me in the streets yet.”
She sent me a few emoji with their tongues out and winking. “I’ll send you his number. You decide if you want to talk to him or not.”
I should have asked where she got his number from but I honestly didn’t want to know. It appeared in my messages shortly after, staring at me.
After my daring, as Bunny called it, or my stupid, as I called it, rescue, Lane had been very standoffish until he could finally escape from us. The next day I fell down an internet rabbit hole trying to learn a little more about him. Every interview I saw of him confirmed my first impression that he was a complete tool. I thought maybe that was just how he came across or he was edited to look that way because he seemed nice during the rescue. But then he refused my offer of showing him out and avoided all small talk while in my apartment. Maybe he was too shaken up by the event to be as bad as usual, I reasoned. I was still glad I was able to rescue him. No one deserved that kind of treatment. Also, I thought guilty, it was great to feel that rush of adrenaline I hadn’t felt since my last shift as a bouncer.