Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 96922 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96922 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“Well, they’re missing out on that sexy resonance of your voice, then.”
I appreciated everything Jace was doing, that he was listening. It was helping me find my bearings, sort my way through the madness of everything those photos and the headline had stirred up.
“Regardless, thank you for listening. I think I’m coherent enough to come up with a game plan now, figure out what the hell I’m going to do.”
“Are you considering what Hacksmore said? About signing on to do promo stuff with me?”
“Hell no. That much, I already know. But I need to get my thoughts sorted around all this and get things squared away with Elliott and Carter before I have any more discussions with Hacksmore. Then you and I will need to have a talk about this mess when I can think straight again.”
“I’ll be ready when you’re ready to talk.”
I offered a little scratch against Mac’s neck, glad that, like Jace, he’d been there for me during my mini breakdown.
Jace and I didn’t talk much more before I headed out. I was too busy trying to sort through my thoughts on everything that had happened. When I finally made it to the door to leave, Jace told me, “Just remember what you said about me being a good listener. I’m here if you need anything.”
“Thanks, man. And sorry again for any awkwardness with your family or friends.”
“Least of my worries.”
Like when he’d disregarded my concern about him being outed, I was shocked by how comfortable he was with himself. That seemed to be the least troubling thing on his mind, and there was something refreshing about that. It reminded me how few shits Jace gave about other people’s impressions of him, which I knew was one of the things that fascinated me most about him. Because I was from a world where that was the most important thing to people.
With his hand on my shoulder, he said, “You got this, man. Now come here.” He pulled me in for a much-needed hug.
I wasn’t the kind of guy who ever needed anyone to be there for me, but in that moment, I was glad Jace was.
When I returned to the hotel, I met up with Carter in my room, and we perused the media together, catching up on the delicious tea circulating about Jace and myself—the fresh Instagram star and the has-been child star.
“‘Lil’ Donnie Gibson All Grown Up,’ ‘How He Looks Today…and You’ll Never Guess Who He’s Dating,’ ‘Lil’ Donnie Gibson Has a Big New Hunk,’” Carter read the headlines he’d already saved on his computer, and kept on as I was similarly inundated with the glowing coverage about our secret tryst in the woods.
It was the best-case scenario, and it would have been easy to go along with Hacksmore’s plan to milk the coverage, but I knew this business—how quickly the tables could turn, how sharp the fall could be.
No, that wasn’t for me. But what about Jace?
I liked him, and I wanted to continue having fun with him, but now that everyone knew, could I even have that much? Could I endure the public’s gaze, live under scrutiny for something that had been so enjoyable in secret?
I knew what it was like to be lured into the spotlight by the promise of having all one’s dreams come true…to be so close that you felt the intensity of the heat. But what drew me now into the spotlight wasn’t dreams of stardom and fame. It was a man I grew increasingly drawn to with every passing day.
But I knew the consequences of getting too close to that spotlight.
One way or another, you got burned.
24
Jace
“Hey, Nance!” I called as I entered the house, heading through the hall into the kitchen.
“Hi, Jace!” Nance called back as she rounded the corner, all smiles, but I knew her well enough to sense her tension.
I hadn’t mentioned anything to her about the article Dax had shown me…or the many more I’d discovered after he’d left my place and I’d started googling myself. Based on how many of my friends had messaged me their support on my drive over, I had no doubt Nance and Keegan had already heard the news. After all, gossip spread through Fever Falls like a flame across gasoline.
But my fixation wasn’t with my own involvement in the news, but Dax’s. It was hard seeing him so worked up, and once I’d learned how it connected to his past, it was so much easier for me to understand why. His notoriety clearly reminded him of his shitty childhood, of being left by his mother who was off pursuing her self-destructive impulses. In different ways, we’d both been on our own when we were kids. I had been abandoned by parents I’d never known and lived at the shelter, and Dax had a mother who had been more consumed with nurturing her needs than caring for him.