“Did you meet his family?”
“Briefly. Since they’re spending their vacation in the hospital, I thought a visit from Drake Valentino might cheer them up.” I rubbed a hand on the back of my neck. “I know that must sound pretty egotistical.”
“You’re a celebrity,” she said. “I get it. Never discount the value of something that brings joy to someone, Travis. Something that takes their mind off the pain, if only for a while. You know, like good genre fiction.”
I raised an eyebrow. “A book?”
She squared her shoulders and stood a little taller as if she were readying herself for a fight. “You know—romance, horror, fantasy, science-fiction…. Oh sure, those books often get crapped on from high falutin’ skeptics, but there’s nothing better to whisk you away from reality than reading a page-turning novel.”
She was obviously very passionate about the subject. As an actor in a supernatural soap opera, I could relate. I was used togetting dogged by so-called critics too. But I liked what I did and it made people happy, so fuck the naysayers.
“Let me get this straight,” I said. “You’re comparing me to abook?”
“Consider that a compliment.” An impish smile played across her lips. “Although from what I gather, Drake Valentino is kind of an asshole.”
I scoffed. “Depends on your perspective.”
“He slept with someone while his fiancée was in a coma. That’s pretty dickish, Travis.”
Someone’s been binge-watching Secret Shadows in her hotel room.I smirked, secretly thrilled that she was stalking Drake Valentino.
“Well, she did try to run him down with her car,” I said. “That’s how she got into the accident in the first place.”
Daphne flipped her hair behind her shoulder, which made her sunglasses slide off her head. She gave a littleyelpand caught them before they hit the floor. I couldn’t help but smile—yet again—at her adorable awkwardness.
She put the sunglasses back on her head and scowled at me. “Sounds like he may have deserved it.”
“True, buttechnically hedidn’t cheat on her until after she tried to kill him. Not to give away any spoilers, but he’d been pining for his best friend’s little sister for a long time.”
“Affairs of the heart can be just as devastating as physical ones.” There was some venom in her voice, which made me wonder if she had some real-world experience with someone who cheated on her. Anger stirred inside me at the thought of anyone causing her pain.
When we got to Kiana’s room, the woman was happy, if not a little surprised to see us. Other than calls from Jada and Sarah, she hadn’t heard from any of the other contestants. Daphne offered to take a few pictures of me, Kiana and her mom, who had flown in as soon as she got the news about what hadhappened. I promised to check in with her again after her surgery.
Daphne acted as the photographer when we visited Elliott too, who was—I was glad to see—sitting up and talking. After signing a few autographs for his family and sharing some behind-the-scenes stuff aboutSecret Shadows, we said our goodbyes and left.
As soon as we stepped into the elevator again, Daphne burst out laughing. She’d clearly been holding it in.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
She grabbed the railing as if it might keep her from falling to the floor. “You know what you signed, don’t you?”
I looked at her, confused. I’d signed so many things I honestly didn’t remember.
Daphne wiped her eyes. “That plastic container Elliott’s grandma gave to you.”
“The water bottle?” The older woman had been looking around the room for something for me to sign and grabbed it from the windowsill next to Elliott’s bed. To be honest, I’d signed stranger things than that, so I hadn’t really thought much about it when she handed it to me.
“It wasn’t a water bottle, Travis. It was—” She erupted in more fits of laughter. “It was a portable urinal.”
“Awhat?!”
“You signed a freaking urinal!”
Now that I thought about it, the lid had been spout-shaped. With my wolf’s keen nose, however, I’d have detected the smell of pee if it had been used before.
But that didn’t stop me from raising my hands over my head like claws and pretending I was going to touch her with my urinal-infected fingers. She shrieked and spun out of my grip. I was just about to grab her when the elevator dinged. We stopped our childish antics as the doors opened onto the lobby filled with people.
Red-faced and out of breath, we rushed out, ignoring the stares.
