Page 12 of Nothing Special X: The Last Stand

Moisture pricked at the corner of his eyes.

All this torment because he won, because he dared to be vocal, visible, and proud of being a gay man.

Before his last movie skyrocketed and swept the academy, he hadn’t even needed a full-time, personal bodyguard.

“Xander, let’s go.” Carla Kline—his publicist—urged from beside him, her eyes ever-glued to her phone. He wasn’t sure she’d ever looked at him. He didn’t know if her irises were blue, brown, green…or red.

He’d been so zoned out he hadn’t noticed her.

“After you get changed, I need you to make a quick stop at the gate and sign a few autographs. Awards season isn’t over yet, babe. We still have a lot of appearances to make.”

Engaging with the public was the last thing he wanted to do.

“I have plans to go to the hospital to visit Devyn before I go ho—”

“Fifteen, twenty minutes tops,” she stressed. “Photos, signatures, done.”

He glanced around, calculating the distance to his trailer—it was too far. He’d be an easy target.

No, no, no. I can’t—

“I’ll walk with you to your trailer.”

The voice came from behind him.

Warm and deep.

Xander closed his eyes.

For the first time all day, his chest loosened a small fraction, and he exhaled.

HOS. Short for ‘Head of security’ for Studio 8.

That wasn’t what he called him. In Xander’s mind, he called him Cassidy, because he loved his name.

He stood there, strong and tall in black jeans, a fitted dark shirt stretched across his chest, and a black denim jacket despite the heat to hide the bulge of his holster.

No badge. No markings announcing security. Just imposing presence.

People shifted around him instinctively, making space for his size.

Xander remembered the fury in Cassidy’s voice the night of the attack as he tore into the security team for fucking up. His literal words before he fired all sixteen of them.

Now he was calm, controlled…confident.

Xander eased closer to Cassidy, putting something solid and unmovable between him and everything else.

“You don’t have to look around,” Cassidy said quietly. “I see everything.”

Xander let out a small, embarrassed chuckle.

They reached his trailer, but he didn’t walk up the stairs.

Cassidy briefly placed his big hand at the small of his back and inched him to the side. He stepped past him and entered first.

He moved quickly, leaving no corner unchecked before he came back out.

“You’re good,” he said. The metal stairs groaned under his weight until Cassidy was standing back in front of him.