Sunrise: Movie Star, Fake Relationship Romance (Chasing The Sun Duet Book 1)

by Kaci Rose

  I toss my phone on the bed, not wanting to even look at it anymore. What a mess.

  I head down to Lin's office. I need to get her on board with Wren's breakup plan. At the thought of breaking up, my heart clenches and dread fills me. I've never felt like this before. It has to be because of the media circus that will ensue after this, and Lin is too precious to be in the middle of that.

  I want to protect her and make sure she comes out of all this unscathed. I could do that if I was here, but that isn't an option, so I need to figure it out. Maybe I can hire some extra security for her around the inn and hire a PR rep to filter out the inquiries for the next little bit. Nothing permanent, just enough to help keep the media and crazy fans at bay.

  I will get Wren on it as soon as I get back to my room. Lin's office door is open, but I still knock on the doorframe to get her attention.

  "Hey." She looks up and gives me a forced smile.

  I sit on the couch in her office and just look at her. What will my days be like when I'm not seeing her every day? I'm going to miss her like crazy. No, I won't have time to miss her with this new role.

  I talked to Wren, and the studio loved the idea of me proposing—" I start.

  She doesn't let me finish before she cuts me off. "I will not be your fake fiancée or wife. I will not follow you out to Hollywood. We had a deal, Kade."

  I love the fire in her voice and her determination.

  "Goldie, let me finish. The studio loved it and offered me a role. Not just any role, but the role of a lifetime. Wren says we should use this leak in our breakup."

  I have to be imagining the stormy look in her eyes when I talk about our breakup. Or the hurt that flashes on her face as fast as it's gone.

  I shake my head. My eyes have to be playing tricks on me, so I continue. "Wren said we should say that you saw the article, and we sat down to talk. That you said with your life and the inn here and mine in Hollywood, we agreed we just didn't see it working out right now. Then I got this big role, and we decided to take a break and try to figure things out. This way, we can place the blame on this leaking out."

  Even as I say the words, it just feels wrong.

  "When do you leave?" She stands and turns her back to me to look out her office window.

  "Tomorrow morning," I tell her.

  "I see," she says, her voice cold.

  "Lin, what's wrong?" I ask. Does she not like the plan? Is she going to make this more difficult now?

  "It's stupid, but this was the plan all along, so it sounds fine," she says but doesn't turn back to me.

  I stand and cross the room, walking up behind her. Placing my hand on her hips, she takes a shaky breath and leans her back against my chest.

  "It just started to feel too real," she whispers as she watches the waves crash onto the sand on the beach ahead.

  "I know." It's all I can offer her. It did feel real, but this is what we agreed on.

  "I've worked my whole life for a role like this one," I tell her, and even to my own ears, it feels like a flimsy excuse, but it's true. How can I turn this down?

  I squeeze her hips. "I have you to thank for helping me get it." I try to cheer her up.

  "Oh well, you're welcome," she says sarcastically, and then her whole mood shifts. She turns and pulls away from me.

  "Listen, I need to go to Sunset. The guy is on his way to install Brynn's sales system. Have Wren email me anything I need to know. I don't plan to do any interviews other than Ned to boost the inn. Extra security is here. Keep the doors locked, and I will make sure there is coffee in the morning."

  She is already building the wall back up, and I hate it. I don't want to lose what we have, being able to talk to her and share with her.

  "Lin..." I try to reach for her, but she pulls away.

  "No, it's fine. Stupid me. Go back to Hollywood. I'm so happy for you, and I will be at the theater on opening day to see your movie. I'll be able to say hey, I kind of dated that guy. Maybe we can do dinner? But if I don't see you before you leave, have a safe flight and good luck on set." With that, she is out the door.

  In a daze, I head up to my room to start packing.

  What the hell just happened?

  Chapter 31

  Linly

  It's been a week since Kade left without even saying goodbye. I went back up to his room to have one last dinner with him, and he was already gone. He left me a note, saying he would stay at the airport hotel that night, and was sending some extra security to make sure fans didn't get too crazy and hired a PR firm to filter out interview questions and media requests.

  He thanked me for the last few weeks and said they were the best he's ever had and he's going to miss everyone. Brynn thinks saying goodbye would have been too hard. I think a leopard doesn't change his spots that fast.

  I glance up at Dale, who has his eyes on the door at the man who Kade hired. Dale doesn't trust him, and I can't say I blame him. He sticks out like a sore thumb here in town. All the people Kade brought in do. I like my security to blend in so guests don't really notice them, but these guys have a shirt that says security in big, bold letters on it. There is no hiding them.

  I sigh and get up to walk around the lobby. Something I've been doing for a while now. We start taking guests again next week and are already booked solid, and it's a few weeks before the season. A few people have called to book the Kade Markson room. Brynn suggested I rename the room, and I threw my fries at her. She laughed so hard I couldn't help but laugh too.

  It was what I needed to laugh out the tension and the heartbreak. Because for a fake relationship, this heartbreak feels very real. Every place around here holds a memory. Kade and I taking walks on the beach, or having sex in my bed, or working in the office, or eating dinner at the Sunset. Even time in town reminds me of him. I am so screwed.

  I debate heading off the island for a bit just to get a break from the memories before the inn is filled with guests, but I don't have the time to do it, and I know that.

  I'm so lost in thought, I don't realize someone else is in the lobby with me until Jessica speaks.

  "I can't believe you thought a man like Kade was with you for anything other than to boost his career. He used you to get that part. I knew he could never be with you for real." She huffs.

  Did she really come here to put me down? Old Linly would roll her eyes, walk away, and then have her escorted off the property by security and ban her from the grounds.

  New Linly is tired of her shit. Wrong place, wrong time, Jessica.

  "You know nothing. You are just pissed he wanted me and not you. You are angry he pushed you away when you tried to flirt right in front of me. He's not here to tell you himself how ugly he finds you inside and out, so you decide to come and make yourself feel better by being a bitch to me. Hope it makes you feel better because no one likes it or you. No. One," I bite out.

  "Kade could never love an ordinary girl like you. You are going nowhere, trapped in this tiny town. No man could love a girl like that. Why do you think Travis left?" She sneers.

  She is so lucky she is halfway across the room, or I'd have punched her in her face. Dale is smart enough to be at her side now, and I don't even get a word out before another voice fills the room.

  "I left because I panicked. I loved and still love Lin more than anything. I was too young to see what a blessing her parents’ leaving this inn to her was. This is the dream she and I had been talking about, and it was handed to her, and I was too stupid to see that then," Travis says and offers me a shy smile.

  When he turns back to Jessica, his face goes cold, and I see the old Travis who would protect me from anything. The one who stood up to the mean girl at school for me and Brynn, the one who punched Jeffery in the face when we were little and happily sat grounded the rest of the summer.

  "I suggest you take your bitchy attitude somewhere else. You talk about being stuck in this town? We all know why you never left, about the baby you gave up. Oh, wait, we weren
't supposed to talk about that, right? Linly could move to Hollywood and flourish but chooses to carry on her parents' legacy. What have you done with your life other than sleep with every single tourist who passes through, mooch off your parents, and drop out of college?" Travis hits her where it hurts.

  Small towns always have the gossip that is whispered about but never brought to the light of day. Jessica being pregnant at graduation and then visiting her grandma for the summer is one of them. Travis, though, never played by those rules, and right now, I'm glad he doesn't.

  "Dale, escort her out. Also, this is your one legal warning. Don't step foot on Sunrise or Sunset's property again, or we will have you arrested. I will be informing the sheriff and all the staff. You have exactly sixty seconds to get off the property." I nod to Dale, and he moves to take her arm, but she yanks it from him and makes a beeline for the front door without another word, thankfully.

  "Thank you, Travis," I say, turning to him.

  "Every word I said was true, Lin. I was scared and a coward. I was looking forward to nightclubbing with you, not having to be an adult overnight. I did it all wrong, and I would do anything for another chance."

  "Travis. I can't. Kade made me realize what we had wasn't love," I say, then the truth hits me like a ton of bricks.

  What I had with Travis wasn't love because what I felt with Kade was ten times stronger because I'm in love with Kade. It may have been a fake relationship, but it felt so real, and it doesn't make my feelings any less real. Lots of good that did me. It's hard to breathe, so I steadily make my way to the couch and sit down.

  "Well, can we at least be friends?" he asks. "I feel like friends is a good place to start."

  "I could always use more friends on my side," I say and don't bother adding that there is no place for us to go from there. He will figure it out. Even if there is no Kade in my future, I don't see a future with Travis either.

  "You ready for the season?" he asks, making small talk.

  "Season is three weeks away, but we have people checking in this weekend and are booked solid through Labor Day."

  "Thanks to Kade, huh?" Travis asks.

  "Yeah, they want the ‘Kade Markson Experience' as Brynn calls it. She wants to market it as a real thing, but I'm not ready to do that just yet."

  "You and Kade really break up?" he asks.

  "Yeah, there is no way to make it work. Hollywood and Hummingbird Island are worlds apart, and I don't see how to close the gap. If we could have made it work, I'm not sure we would have, anyway. Our lives are totally different. I hate being in the spotlight, and he thrives off it."

  "I remember it being a huge battle to even get you to take a picture with me at prom." Travis smiles.

  "What about you, Travis? What’s going on with the SEC?" I ask, trying to change the subject.

  "I was talking with my lawyer, and it looks like the investigation on me led to them finding some bigger fish to fry, so they are going to slap me with a heavy fine, and I can't work with stocks or other people's money again," he says.

  "How big of a fine?"

  "Quarter of a million," he says as a light pink covers his cheeks.

  "Ouch, what are you going to do?" I ask.

  "Well, I have most of that saved up. I can pull from retirement to pay the rest. I'm going to help my parents out for the season as I figure out my next moves. Basically starting over, I guess. My dad wants to buy a second boat for the season, so he's going to have me run it."

  Travis's parents run the fresh seafood market in town. His dad owns a fishing boat and takes tourists out fishing in the summer while his mom works the market. They buy the seafood from the fishing boats that come in and sell it to the public and all the restaurants that come in.

  You wouldn't think with such a small island that there would be a large market for it, but many boats from the mainland go out and fish and come here just to sell because they get better prices here.

  My dad always said that is a fancy way of saying things out here cost more. It's true, they do, but that's what you get with a place like this. The tourists come, and they are happy to drop more money for the experience.

  "You always loved being on the water. I think it will be good for you," I tell him with a small smile.

  "You should come with me one day and take a break from the inn."

  "Ah, Travis, I haven't been on the water since they died, and I don't think I can go again. I ... I haven't even been swimming in the ocean," I admit. This is Travis, after all, and we were friends growing up before we started dating.

  "Oh, Lin, it's like riding a horse... okay, maybe not." He cringes.

  "It's okay. Maybe someday, but I don't see this summer being that day."

  We sit in silence for a moment more.

  "So, what do you plan to do now?" he asks.

  I know he means now that Kade is gone and the season is starting early.

  "I had a deal with Kade to use his name to boost sales here, so I guess that's my next move. I will be selling the Kade Markson experience this summer, and I get to be the front and center part of it."

  "Hired new security?" He nods toward the new guys.

  "Kade sent them in case fans got out of control. Also, sent a PR firm to handle the interview and media requests," I say.

  "He's paying for it?" he asks.

  "Yeah, why?"

  "Oh, Lin." Travis shakes his head and says nothing else as he stands. "I don't think your story with him ends here. Call me if you need help between now and when your seasonal crew gets here."

  With that, he leaves me with my mind racing. There is no future for Kade and me, no matter how much I want there to be. I'm not moving to Hollywood, and he isn't giving up his big role and everything that goes with it.

  There is no us anymore.

  Chapter 32

  Kade

  I hate everything about this movie. I hate the part. I hate the other actors. I find I am just hating LA in general.

  Acting gives me no pleasure anymore, and I'm actually dreading heading into the studio all day. The first part of this movie is being shot here in Hollywood, and we haven't even hit the on-locations parts, which will be filmed next month.

  I'm on my way home, and I can't stand sitting in this traffic. I miss being able to roll down the windows and enjoy the sea air in my face.

  Like I do every evening on my way home, I pull up the Sunrise and Sunset Inn's social media and see what the girls are posting. Both inns are booked, the PR rep I hired for them tells me.

  This weekend they had a Sunset bonfire, and they posted a photo together on the beach along with some guests. Mostly girls.

  The #TheKadeMarksonExperience is trending. Mostly girls visiting the inns and going to the places Lin and I visited. I notice a few of the more local ones like the cove and the Arch Bridge are missing. Somehow, that feels significant, like the most important parts she kept for just her and me.

  So many photos in that hashtag are Lin with guests who are happy to see her and talk to her. So, I get new photos of her daily. She looks so damn beautiful, but her smile isn't the same one she gave me. It's more forced. I know she hates being the center of attention, and my heart breaks for her, and I wish I was there to protect her from that.

  I get home, and Wren is there, and he doesn't look happy, so I'm instantly on guard.