I feel completely safe on the streets of Aster Valley, especially under the watchful eye of the Rockley County Sheriff’s Department.”
As soon as we were off the air, I let out a whoosh of air. I was exhausted from lack of sleep, nerves, and trying to keep smiling while everyone seemed to want to dig a salacious story out of me.
Nolan patted me on the back. “Good job, buddy. I like the humble citizen routine. Very Chip Clover. Works perfectly with your reputation. Keep it up.”
I wanted to ask him if he was really going to step up security, but I didn’t trust myself not to get into an argument if his answer was yes. Instead, I thanked him and headed for my trailer. Logan and Crystobell were there waiting for me, and Kix was on the phone a few yards away.
“You all set?” Crys asked with a big smile. “Nolan looked happy after the interview. It must have gone well.”
I nodded. “I think so. Listen… are you doing your own stunts in the avalanche scene?” I already knew she wasn’t doing her own climbing in the one climbing scene she had, so I was curious if the “authenticity” bit Nolan had hyped only referred to me.
She laughed her famous throaty chuckle. “Are you kidding? Darien would kill me.”
Darien VanNyke was her agent, but there’d been rumors for at least a year that they also lived together as a couple. They supposedly kept it quiet to maintain her “available” image as a sexy single woman, but anyone in the industry who’d ever seen the two of them together knew she was about as single as a handcuff.
I glanced at Logan. “And you?”
“I do all my own fighting stunts,” he said. “But that avalanche shit is no joke. I’m not interested in being anywhere near the pyrotechnics. My cousin lost two of his fingers shooting off fireworks when he was a kid. No, thanks.”
Kix ended the call and strode over to us. “If I had the chance to do it, I’d jump on it in a heartbeat. Think of all the ass you could get.”
Logan huffed and shook my shoulder. “As if this pretty boy has trouble getting ass back home in WeHo. Not sure he needs his gonads blown off to get whatever dick he wants.”
Kix laughed. “Point taken. Maybe you should back out of it, Finn. No point in risking this face.”
He reached out to pinch my cheek, but I batted his hand away. I was this close to canceling my plans and returning to my chalet to hide under the covers until my courage returned. But Kix’s next words changed my mind.
“I wonder if we’ll run into the sheriff and that deputy up at the Roadhouse again tonight. Surely they’ll be there having congratulatory drinks, too. Finn can buy them a round in thanks for not getting his nards blown off last night.”
The fear in my gut turned to more normal nerves at the thought I might get to see the sexy sheriff again at the bar.
“Can everyone stop referring to my nuts, please?” I muttered, turning to head to the parking area.
There was only one person I wanted thinking about my balls tonight, and god willing, he’d be at the bar.
He wasn’t.
After we’d been there an hour and I’d had to spend most of that hour fending off pushy fans, I overheard a server telling the bartender he wouldn’t be able to rely on the sheriff’s help closing the bar tonight.
“Penny told me he’s down to Denver tonight for personal reasons and won’t be back until late tomorrow.”
After that, my brain went on a fantasy spree thinking up all the ridiculous reasons Declan would have to go to Denver. Did it have something to do with the bacon lady on the other end of the line yesterday? The woman he called honey?
It was none of my business. Obviously. But the realization I wouldn’t see him was enough for me to be done for the night.
“I’m headed back to the chalet,” I finally told Kix and the others. “I’m beat, and I don’t have the energy to pretend to be pleasant for our fans. Sorry.”
They let me go without a fuss, probably because I hadn’t been nearly as open and talkative as they’d hoped when they’d invited me out, and they understood how hard it was to be “on” when you didn’t feel up to it.
I made it back to the chalet without incident and made another attempt