Page 96 of Beyond the Spotlight Discreet Version
After fifteen minutes of skating, and Addy’s third fall, I decide we’ve skated enough.
When we get back to set, it’s time for lunch. Reynold’s assistant has our meals ready for us at a table. I chose a chicken Caesar wrap and chips. Addy got a hamburger and fries, just like her father, except the man has a bottomless stomach and he ate two burgers and fries, then stole some of Addy’s fries too.
“Do you want to come over for dinner tonight?” Reynold asks Mylan, who joins us to eat. Mylan had been coming over on nights they’d get done filming early. Just so he didn’t have to spend time by himself in the hotel room.
“Can’t. Got an AA meeting.” He holds up his hand the moment Reynold’s mouth pops open. “I’m fine. I’m going to the meetingbecauseI’m fine. This is just part of my recovery. I go to meetings back in L.A. too. Here I attend one once a week, sometimes twice. I don’t have an urge to drink, and I haven’t in a very long time, but it’s the first time Lana isn’t here with me, by my side every day. So, I go to the meetings to talk about it with the group. I talk abouteverythingI’m experiencing through my sobriety. Plus, you two inviting me over for dinner and keeping me company helps more than you know.”
“That’s good to hear, Mylan,” Reynold says, slapping his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “And you’re welcome anytime.”
The boys do their adorable handshake—the one Reynold told me they made up as teens—before Mylan stands.
“Time for hair and makeup.”
We say goodbye and once Mylan’s gone, Reynold sighs and pulls me in for a kiss on the cheek. “Did you two have fun exploring today?”
“Oh!” I grab my phone. “I forgot to send you the pictures and videos.”
He scans through them the moment they come through to his phone. I watch over his shoulder, smiling at the video of us being silly on the carousel. People watch on from outside of the glass that encases the ride, oblivious to who we are.
Except...
I swipe his phone out of his hand and replay the video, fast-forwarding to the part that caught my eye.
“What is it?”
In one shot, I spot a man wearing a hat and sunglasses staring directly at us. Every pass of the carousel, he’s there, standing still except for his head, which moves as we pass by on the ride. I go through the other pictures and videos and he’s in the background of a lot of them.
Watching.
He looks familiar, but I can’t place him.
“You’re scowling at the phone,” Reynold says, concern in his voice.
I zoom in on the man and turn it around to show him. “Is this one of the extra bodyguards you hired that you hide from me and think I don’t know about, but I know about?”
I’ve only seen them once when Lana pointed them out to me, but I can’t remember what they look like.
Reynold’s eyes widen slightly then he grins, not even feeling bad about having the overprotection. He takes the phone and squints at the image.
“No. That’s not Larson or Melanie.” He gives the phone back to me. “Why? What’s wrong?”
Panic slips into his voice, but I don’t want to worry him. At the same time...
“He’s in a lot of these photos. I feel like I’ve seen him before.”
He’s not the man stalking Lana because, one, she’s not with me and, two, it’s a different guy. This man is sickly pale and has shoulder-length, dark red hair. He’s also stick thin where Lana’s stalker had shorter black hair and was built but not bulky.
Reynold selects all the videos and pictures from today and types out a message before sending them to my protection team.
He tells them to keep an eye out for the man.
“Don’t worry,” he says, pulling me close to kiss my temple. “This is why I hired more protection for you two. I expected some people would form a sick obsession once we went public. He must have just started following you around because the bodyguards would have spotted him by now.”
I relax at his reassuring words, but my stomach stays sour. This is the part of Rey’s life that I’m not a fan of. Will it get worse? Can I handle it if it does?
Chapter 23 - Savannah
Thenextmonthanda half passes quickly. It’s Friday and yesterday was Reynold’s last day of filming. He has a meeting with his manager this afternoon, but he’s free for the rest of the night. He wants to take me and Addy out to dinner and a Broadway show.
