Betsy and Dara grinned slyly at me, very unusual I might add, as I came over.
“What’s up, girls?” I asked.
Dara slid over to my side, her long mane of hair traveling with her. “I see you and Jason are coming in together.”
“Yeah,” I said, unsure what she was getting at. “We ran into each other this morning. We went to breakfast.”
The two exchanged glances.
“Breakfast, huh?” Betsy popped her sculpted, blonde eyebrows up once.
“Yes…” What was up with these two? They were acting a little more peculiar than usual.
Dara quickly cleared up the confusion. “And word around the set is you’ve both been spending quite a bit of time ‘getting to know’ each other after rehearsal. Are you leaving us in the dark about something, Lacey?”
I placed my hands on my hips, insulted that not only were people talking about me behind my back, but also these two whom I considered friends thought I was cheating on Drake. “I hoped you’d be better about not listening to idle gossip, ladies. Not that I have to explain myself, but Jason and I have been working on my vocal range after rehearsal.”
“‘Vocal range,’ huh?” Betsy eyed me.
I scoffed at what she was insinuating. “You girls know I’m with Drake.”
“Yeah, and we also know you’re really missing him these days, and well, it’s Jason Harrison.”
My jaw clenched, a retort tickling at my tongue, but I was kept from it when Jason said my name. He approached, and the ladies and I stood casually, hiding the fact that he was just the subject of our conversation.
“Hi, ladies,” he said, more so to Betsy and Dara. I’m assuming since he’d seen me this morning.
They appreciated the recognition with a giggled, “Hi, Jason.”
I rolled my eyes.
Jason turned my way. “Lacey, I forgot to mention this morning that I had some of those Japanese dramas we discussed shipped in. They arrived last night, and I was wondering if you wanted to watch them. Might be a nice break after a long day of practice.”
And boy did I appreciate that. That was really nice of him to do so, and I was excited about seeing some. Perhaps it might relieve some stress. “Yeah. Sounds great. Tonight, okay? How about seven o’ clock at my apartment?”
“Better than okay. I’ll see you there.” Backing away, he graced the girls with one of his dashing smiles. “Ladies,” he said.
“Jason,” they said, twinkles in their eyes.
He left us alone, and though the two had annoyed me with their earlier insinuations, Jason and I discussed them coming as well. “Do you girls have anything to do tonight?”
They both frowned. “You just made plans with Jason,” Dara said.
“Correct, and now I’m asking you both if you have plans so you can join us. We discussed watching them with a group of us when he brought them up. I told him I thought you girls would like to.”
“It didn’t really sound like we were invited a moment ago, Lacey.”
Betsy gave me what I could only define as the eye after she said that, and the look had me wanting to very much un-invite her. I thought we were past this thing with Jason and me. “I made myself pretty crystal clear it wasn’t like that with us. So are you coming or not?”
“Okay. Okay. We don’t want to start anything.” Dara raised her hands in defense. “We’ll come.”
After the matter was settled, we broke apart and headed to the front of the stage. Madame Duvall called us all over to begin today’s rehearsal. As I waited for Madame to speak, Sophie handed me my covered mug.
“Your herbal tea, Lacey,” she said, giving me a knowing smile. She’d finally regarded me by my first name without being told. I winked at her, and she and Kevin, Jason’s assistant, exited stage right. Jason settled for a bottled water this morning.
“Attention, everyone! Before we get started, I have a special announcement,” Madame Duvall said.
There was a man standing next to her today, older with a thick, white beard. I’d actually seen him poking around the last couple of practices, but he was never introduced to us. I wondered who he was.
“You’ve all worked so hard, and I’m confident that the new shows will be even more successful than our original run,” Madame continued. “Someone else who feels this way is one of the show’s benefactors. Everyone, I’d like you to meet Monsieur Beaumont.” She gestured to the man beside her, and we all quickly applauded. What an honor to meet him. She placed her hand on his shoulder. “Monsieur Beaumont has been discreetly viewing your rehearsals from afar and has been very impressed with what you all have done. Especially our Lady Gwendoline and new Prince Phillip.”
Everyone’s gazes settled on me as well as Jason who stood right ahead of me. My face blazed. I guess those extra practices were paying off. Maybe our benefactor was here to reward us all with some praise.
“In fact, Monsieur Beaumont is so impressed he would like our show to go on tour.”
My eyes went wide. Tour?
The stage chattered, the volume quickly rising with excitement, and it took Madame Duvall at least a full minute to calm everyone down before she continued. “Yes, you heard me right. A twenty city international tour starting after our Paris show concludes. Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the UK…”
Her words were lost on me after that because the only person I could think about in that moment was Drake.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Lacey
I stared at my phone on the kitchen counter, restlessly stirring a pot of cabbage. The spices had been mixed into the pot long ago, but I couldn’t manage to stop stirring. Subconsciously, I made all of Drake’s favorite soul food dishes. I’d prepared cooked cabbage, ham, and cornbread like he was here to eat it. Like making the dishes would soften the blow of what I found out today. Madame Duvall’s announcement literally knocked the wind out of me and even caused me to struggle through rehearsal today. I missed easy marks and notes I should have been able to hit in my sleep since I’d been practicing them so hard. By the end of the day, I was sure our benefactor had been rethinking his decision to send us on tour with me at the lead. Now, I stared at my blank phone, my thoughts racing on what I should say to the man I loved.
I jumped, nearly dropping my wooden spoon, when the phone rang and the screen lit up. I let out a sign of relief, seeing Dara’s name on the front. After rubbing my hands on a kitchen towel, I answered it.
“Hey, girl. Are you and Betsy on your way?” One good thing about accidentally making all this food was at least I had something to feed the girls and Jason tonight.
“Sorry, Lacey, but I don’t think we can.”
Narrowing my eyebrows, I hoisted myself onto a barstool at the kitchen counter. “Why? Is everything okay?”
“No, actually. Betsy’s sick. Bent over the toilet and everything. Since I’m her roommate, I think I should stay and take care of her.”
“But she seemed fine earlier today.” Heck, better than fine. She was all over that stage rocking it. She made my poor performance even that more noticeable.
There was silence for a moment. “It came on really suddenly.”
“It isn’t something serious, is it?” God, I hoped not. True, she had an understudy, but sickness traveled like wildfire in our group since we worked so closely together.
“I don’t think so. She thinks it was something she ate.”
“All right. Well, tell her to get better.”
“I will. You and Jason have fun tonight.”
She clicked off quickly, and I was left staring at the phone. I guess since it was in my hand I should call someone with it. Someone like… my boyfriend. But what would I say? How would he react? I knew exactly what he would say. That I had to take this opportunity. That’s just how Drake was. He always thought about me first. But was I ready to make a decision yet? Ready or not, I had to at least tell him. He deserved that.
I dialed and the sickness rose in my stomach when I placed
the phone to my ear. It went straight to voicemail, and I stared at the phone in confusion. Why was his phone off? I tried again.
Same thing.
My heart drummed at the possibility he turned it off on purpose. That maybe he didn’t want to talk to me. I had been telling him I couldn’t talk through text messages since I was so tired every evening… I shook my head. Drake wasn’t petty like that. His phone must have been dead or something. He never turned it off.
Settling on that, I finished preparing dinner. I guess Jason and I had a lot to eat. He arrived at my door not long after with a bottle of wine in one hand and DVDs in the other.
“Good evening, Lacey,” he said, presenting the items to me.
He was dressed more casually this evening in jeans and a v-neck t-shirt, but his twill scarf and complementing messenger hat dressed the outfit up. This guy sure was fashion forward. I couldn’t get Drake to wear a scarf if his life depended on it. He was definitely a t-shirt and jeans only kind of guy.
I greeted him, accepting the gifts, then directed him to the kitchen. He didn’t expect me to cook, and if I was being honest, neither did I, but I was glad I had. He said everything looked and smelled great, taking a seat on a barstool. He watched as I opened my high kitchen cabinet for two wine glasses.
“You look wonderful this evening, Lacey,” he said from behind me.
I dipped my head, gazing down at my cutoff jeans and simple blouse. Hell, I’d even worn my white fuzzy slippers to the door. I chuckled, grabbing the glasses. I placed them on the counter. “Thank you for being nice, but we both know only one of us actually tried this evening.”
This made him laugh. “Fashion is in the eye of the beholder. I actually saw those very slippers recently at a fashion show in Marseille. So you, Lacey, are already ahead of the curve.”
He went to fashion shows? He really was fashion forward.
“Only two glasses?” he asked, watching as I filled his.
I topped his off and didn’t bother with mine, sealing off the bottle. Wine only made me sleepy, and I wanted to be alert for the DVDs. “Yeah. The girls aren’t coming. Betsy is sick and Dara is taking care of her.”
“Oh. I hope it’s nothing serious.” He took a drink from his glass.
I pulled a can of Coke from the fridge. “They think it might be food poisoning. Hopefully, the case isn’t too bad.” Popping open the top, I poured my soda into my wine glass. “I think I’ll pass on the wine. I want to be wide-awake for your shows. What did you bring?”
“A romantic comedy.” He pointed to one on the counter. “And a crime thriller.” He pointed to the other.
We exchanged glances. “Crime thriller,” we surprisingly said together.
He set up the show while I got plates of food ready for us. I placed his on the living room coffee table. Propping my foot underneath my leg, I munched my food on the sofa.
He sat beside me with the remote. “How are you feeling? I know you were dizzy earlier today.”
“Yeah. That was super weird. I think you were right, and it was because I hadn’t eaten. I feel fine.”
He nodded, clicking through the menu.
Watching him, I realized I wanted his advice on something. I didn’t get to pull him aside earlier today, and now that we were alone, I could. I also considered us friends and I didn’t think he would mind me asking.
I placed my fork down. “How do you feel about the tour? You know, the one production proposed today.”
He got the television show out of the main menu and paused when the first image appeared on the screen. Lowering the remote, he looked at me. “To be honest, it will be a stretch with my schedule. I should be able to work something out with my manger, though. You?”
I chewed on my lip ring backing. “I don’t know. I mean, what are they like? You said you’ve been on one, right?”
“Yes. Quite a few actually. I really enjoyed them. You get to meet many different people, see new places, and make new contacts. I told you that was how I was discovered. I owe a lot to Christine.”
He did say the tour he did with her was a launching point for his career. Now he was an international celebrity. Was I ready for that if it happened? Did I want that? I enjoyed my simple life. I enjoyed performing and practicing then coming home from a long day to be with Drake. To not be able to do that, living out of a suitcase and staying in a new place every night, sounded very, well, lonely. “How do you deal about that kind of lifestyle? Constantly moving and living on the road?”
“I’ve always been a wanderer. Working is like breathing to me. It makes me happy. I don’t think I could be anywhere for too long. That is just not the life I want for myself.”
“Don’t you miss your family, though? Your friends.”
“I do. Every day. But they understand that this is what I’ve always wanted for myself. My father once told me that when this life is no longer enjoyable for me, when it actually becomes work that I have to make myself do every day, then I’ll know something in my life has to change. I’m still waiting on that day.”
His father’s words sat with me as the J-Dramas started. This one actually didn’t have Jason in it. When I asked him about that, his response was embarrassment about seeing himself on the screen. It made me laugh that anything could make him feel that way, but then I thought about how Drake once recorded me on stage and tried to get me to watch the footage. I cringed the entire time.
As we watched, I quickly got into the show. This one turned out to be a crime thriller with a comedic spin. Everything was so over the top and dramatic, much like an American soap opera like Jason said. The show had me raving in hysterics at some of the funny parts, and my anxiety that had built throughout the day was going down because of it. Jason was really cool to hang out with and was really good about explaining the jokes that didn’t translate super well with the English subtitles. His phone rang in the middle of third episode we watched, and I had to pause it.
I frowned as I watched his face change during his brief conversation. He spoke in French so I couldn’t understand him, but he seemed agitated, pushing his hand through his long, dark hair.
Sighing, he put his phone away. “I’m sorry, Lacey, but I’m going to have to cut our evening short. It seems it was leaked to the press that I’m here preparing for a show. The scoop showed up on some online gossip site today. Rene wants to escort me back to my hotel so he and the rest of his team can incorporate some new security measures.”
The information had my mind spinning. I guess that was the life of a celebrity. I told him it was fine and walked him out to the front of my apartment complex. We stood on the steps outside the door. I gazed around, searching for Rene, but I didn’t seem him.
“Where is Rene?” I asked him.
He went down a step. “Oh, he’s here. I just asked him to be discreet this time. Wouldn’t want you chasing him away.” He winked.
I allowed myself to laugh at his joke. I was glad he was being so lighthearted about my fail this morning. “Thanks for coming over tonight, Jason. It really helped to not think about anything that had to do with the show for once.”
He grinned, showing off that deep dimple he had. “Anytime. I guess I owe Christine, yet again. It’s always nice to make a new friend.”
My heart warmed that he saw us that way, and I definitely felt the same about the close relationship we’d developed in such a short amount of time. He’d made the transition being here on my own easier, and I was extremely grateful for that.
A sudden rustle in the bushes summoned me to whip around, and I was met with one of the largest camera lens I had ever seen, causing me to yelp in surprise.
The man dressed in black behind the camera aimed it right at my face and snapped a picture that had so much flash, the light made me stumbled back. I fell from the step I was on and into Jason’s arms.
The man was joined by at least five others, and Jason and I were quickly surrounded. Shutters snapped, lights flashed, and words I couldn
’t understand were yelled at me in extremely quick French.
The phrases rattled on, never ending, and then out of nowhere, someone who spoke English shouted, “Who is she Jason? Are you two an item? How long have you both been seeing each other?”
I was blinded by another flash, and I covered my eyes.
“Miss, who are you? Tell us your name,” another pushed.
“I… I…” I tried.
Jason pulled me in close to his chest and blocked my face from them by placing his hand protectively on my head. He whispered in my ear. “Don’t say anything, Lacey.”
Our aggressors pushed at us, and suddenly, a large arm came out and shoved them back. I saw the red goatee and let out a sigh of relief. Rene was here. Finally.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Drake
I was getting ready for bed when I realized my phone was missing last night. I must have left it at Natalia’s, but I couldn’t really do anything about it until daylight. I thought about bugging Derrick to borrow his phone so I could call and tell Lacey the situation, but after the bullshit we got into, he was the last person I wanted to talk to. He came at me all the wrong way when discussing the time I was spending with Natalia and her friends, and I needed some distance from him. I decided to wait and call Lacey once I got my phone back. She had been pretty much ditching me every night with text messages anyway, so I didn’t think she’d notice I was out of a phone for a night.
Honestly, I was really getting tired of the current situation Lacey and I had with our phone calls. They were few and far between, and it was getting old. Quite frankly, it was feeling like she didn’t have time for me these days. I understood she had a job to do, but still. We were supposed to be a couple, and that required some effort on both our parts to keep this working while we were so far apart. I missed her, and I wanted to talk to her.
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