Page 64 of Please, Stay

“The director asked that you come to Australia early,” he said with his words rushing out all at once.

“He asked?” That director wasn’t known for “asking” nicely. Screaming and yelling was more like it. Demanding like a hungry toddler. Grayson would’ve refused to work with the man except for his legal commitment.

“Well, he said you’re in breach of contract by personal actions jeopardizing the film. I told you this would happen, even with us trying to do damage control.”

Grayson focused on the giant oak tree swaying in the wind in front of the diner. His jaw tightened, and his teeth ground together. Control it. Didn’t Trevor just say don’t kill the messenger? It wasn’t Trevor’s fault. But he was paid to handle this.

“Andwhichpersonal action would that be?”

“The picture of you roughing up that guy in the coffee shop.”

Grayson let out a low growl. “Do you want to know the truth?” Did he want to tell him the truth? Not really, but he didn’t want to go to Australia any sooner than necessary. Cameron knew the truth, so it was only a matter of time before it made its way through Addie back to Trevor.

“No,” Trevor said without any inflection in his voice. “At this point, it doesn’t matter. The press had a field day with that fiasco. They’ve sent people out all over Georgia searching for you. All the news outlets are either determined to find out who the mystery woman is, or they are convinced that you’ve lost your mind. Either way, it’s only a matter of time before they find you.”

And if they find him in Statem, they’d link Juliana to the whole thing. Then her dad would get involved, and it’d ruin everything with Eliza and Carrie. His fame could destroy their future. Damn it. He’d been selfish to even come here in the first place.

“One thing I do want to know, though. Addie talked to Cameron. This thing between you and Juliana is serious, isn’t it?”

Grayson’s eyes trailed down the street to the end. TheDispatch’s lower level lights were the only lights on in Statem this time of night. She was in there.

“Yes.”

“You seem different.”

Because he wasn’t the same man leaving Statem. “How soon does the director want me to leave?”

“He wants you on the next flight that leaves tomorrow.”

“Christmas Eve?” Since when had he started to care about Christmas? He wanted to belong somewhere, with Juliana and her family, if only for one day.

“Man, I tried to tell him that. He said that some of the film investors were shocked by the pictures.”

Grayson paced the room. He didn’t have a couple of days with Juliana. Only tonight. Tomorrow, if he could see her on Christmas Eve before the last flight left.

“This world is backward. I’m in an action film. My character is an assassin. I end up torturing someone with a fish hook and a coat hanger at one point in the script. And some soft-bellied investors are worried that I threw a guy against a wall because he forced himself on a woman.Mywoman.”

He took Trevor’s silence as disagreement. If Trevor thought it was okay to walk away or try to have a conversation with a man like Lawrence Spencer—

“Dude, you really should have told me the whole story. The publicist would have spun it, so you were the hero. By just sweeping it under the rug, we’ve let the tabloids make their own stories. You know the deal. The more drama, the better for them.”

“I’m sorry if I didn’t feel like dragging Juliana’s name into the press.”

“I get it—"

“No, you don’t,” Grayson said.

Trevor had never been this far in with a woman before.

Grayson wanted to pound into something. Ram his hand into the wall and release his frustration. The director held him under contract. A legal, binding contract.

“Do you want me to book your flight out for tomorrow?”

“No. I want you to call the director and tell him I’m not leaving until Sunday. As planned.”

“Grayson?”

“Just do it, Trevor. Call me back once you talk to him.” He tapped End on the phone. How was this happening? He had a shot at being with a family he’d grown to care about for Christmas for the first time in his entire life, and now his career would ruin it. A feeling of panic grabbed him. He’d already settled in his mind leaving Juliana on Sunday, satisfied he could convince her to let him pay for her flight to Australia in a few months for a visit, but missing Saturday tore him up worse than he’d expected.

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