Page 43 of Behind the Scenes

Confused, she looked around like she’d missed some part of the conversation. “Why?”

“Don’t look back at him. Just act like we’re having fun.”

Hunter kept his distance behind them, not too far so he couldn’t protect her but far enough that she could speak with some privacy. For her part, Lauren seemed genuinely unhappy and hurt.

“I’m nursing a Charlie horse and I think all that fudge I ate today feels like it’s going to come up at any minute. If this is fun, I really don’t want to experience misery.”

“I know. I know. Just laugh like we’re having a good time and I promise you won’t have to go running unless you want to ever again.”

“Trust me. I don’t want to ever again. Okay, here goes.” Throwing her head back, Lauren laughed loudly. “That’s hysterical!”

Alexis nudged her in the arm as she looked back to see what Hunter was doing. “Go easy. I said good time, not you after three shots of tequila.”

They stopped at an intersection, and she glanced back again as Lauren asked, “Why are we pretending to have the time of our lives walking to the gym?”

The light turned green, and they started walking again. Leaning in, Alexis said, “Because I want to.”

She couldn’t explain why she wanted Hunter to think she didn’t need to have him around to be happy. It was stupid and probably meant nothing to him anyway, but she’d rather pretend not to think about him at all than give him any hint of the truth.

A truth she couldn’t really believe herself.

Twenty-five minutes later,the three of them reached the first gym on Lauren’s list, a place called Dynamics. Looking through the windows that made up the front of the building, Alexis joked, “This gym sounds like something L. Ron Hubbard would be part of.”

The manager, a man named Ricardo, rushed over to greet them as they walked through the door, instantly fawning over her and praising her for her acting work on his favorite film of hers. She smiled and dutifully nodded as she watched where Hunter walked away to.

“Miss Marchand, it is such an honor to have you here at Dynamics. When your assistant called earlier, I must say a chill ran up and down my spine at the thought that one of my favorite actresses would choose our gym to workout in,” the man said, smiling broadly like he’d just won the lottery.

“I’m sure you get many famous people in here,” Alexis said politely as she looked around to find Hunter.

“Well, if you come this way, I can show you the machines, the sauna, and all we have to offer.”

She followed him but continued to look for where Hunter could have gone off to. The place wasn’t that big that he needed to leave her side. What could he be doing?

Then she spied him talking to a female worker over near the tanning rooms. She couldn’t hear what he or she was saying, but the brunette with the perfect gym body and big boobs seemed to be having an awfully good time chatting with Hunter.

Jealous, even though she couldn’t put her finger on why, she cut off the manager of the gym in the middle of his pitch and said, “My assistant will contact you. Thank you.”

Turning on her heels, she walked outside without saying a word to Lauren or Hunter. Her stomach had twisted itself into a tight knot, and standing on the sidewalk, she tried to get a deep breath of fresh air into her lungs, hoping it would make her feel better.

She’d sworn she would never again feel jealous over a man after what Jackson had done to her. Never again would she let herself think she was less, but as she stared at Hunter talking to that woman and watched her touching his arm in that way flirtatious women did when they wanted to let a man know they wanted him, that old familiar jolt of pain from being jealous shot through her chest.

It embarrassed her to feel that way. He hadn’t given her any indication he thought of her as anything but the spoiled pain in the ass he’d been assigned to help. Yes, he’d treated her like an adult, but now as she thought about how he’d looked talking to that woman in there, she realized that he hadn’t looked that comfortable and happy at any time he’d spoken to her. It felt like when he treated her like a grown woman, he’d been patronizing her instead of respecting her. That brunette had gotten his respect even as a complete stranger to him, but as she replayed his defending her earlier, she knew he hadn’t given that same respect to her.

He’d handled her, just like everyone else in her world except Lauren did so she’d do exactly what they all wanted her to do, when they wanted her to do it.

While she stood there on the sidewalk punishing herself, a man approached her and excitedly said, “You’re Alexis Marchand! I’m a huge fan! Oh my God! You’re Alexis! Can I have your autograph?”

Caught off guard, she stammered out, “I…I don’t have a pen. I’m sorry.”

His face grew dark and he glowered at her. “Oh, come on. I’ll just ask someone for a pen and then you can sign my shirt. It will just take a minute.”

Unnerved at how close he was to her, she turned to walk back into the gym, but the man grabbed her arm and clamped his hand down on her wrist to stop her. Alexis looked down in horror at the man’s fingers pressing into her skin. Who was he? Was he her stalker? Why was he holding her arm so tightly?

“Let me go!” she cried as she tried to pull away from him. “Get off me!”

He began to say something about her not caring about her fans, but everything around her began to spin and she fell back toward the glass windows behind her. She didn’t know when Hunter appeared and got in between her and the man, but she heard him begin to yell at him.

“Hey, buddy! Let her go. She’s just stopping by the gym. Back away, man.”

---