Page 55 of Not Your Golden Boy

seventeen

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Sometimes fans weren’t all bad. In fact, the group of young women and their gay bestie who approached him at the little park near his hotel ended up being fantastic.

“I’ve been listening to all the demos you’ve put up on YouTube,” Christopher, the guy, gushed, eyes worshipfully alight, but keeping his distance and not touching Nikky without permission. “I almost think your talent is wasted on acting and you should just be a singer.”

“Oh, thanks,” Nikky replied, beaming, his heart full for no reason at all.

But there was a reason. Being liked, let alone being adored, wasn’t something he was used to. At least not until Cooked changed his world. Fans could be way too much for his brain to process, but the small group of friends who had recognized him and with whom he’d had an actual conversation felt more like people who could be his friends, too, under other circumstances.

“I love music,” he told them, glancing back over his shoulder to where Harry was pacing on the other side of the bench, phone to his ear, having what looked like an incredibly intense conversation with someone. That was concerning, but he owed it to the friends to focus on them. “Figuring out how to balance music with acting has been a real challenge.”

“You’re not going to stop acting, are you?” one of the young women who’d said her name was Olivia asked, looking genuinely worried.

“Not anytime soon,” Nikky laughed. “I’ve got several jobs lined up, but I can’t talk about them.”

“I would never dream of asking,” Olivia said, smiling.

Her answer warmed Nikky in a way he hadn’t expected. For a change, he actually offered to sign things for them, and then to pose for selfies. Harry finished with his call, and although he remained grim-faced, he volunteered to take group shots of them all.

“I guess the rumors that you’re dating Harry Bayonne are true,” Christopher whispered to him as the friends were getting ready to go about their business.

Nikky blushed and stole a glance at Harry, who was taking a few selfies with the girls. “It’s early days,” he confessed with a bashful grin, “but yeah.”

“You go, girl,” Christopher said, shoulder-bumping him. “I don’t care how old he is, he’s hot.”

Nikky laughed. He laughed freely, like he was part of the friends group.

He hadn’t felt so accepted and included in ages, not since he and Drew had become friends on the set of Cooked. Maybe fans weren’t something to be terrified of after all.

“They were really nice,” he told Harry as the two of them walked on to the hotel and slipped inside its marbled and gilded lobby before anyone else could get ideas and delay him more. “They’re the kind of people I could hang out with.”

“Yeah, they seemed nice,” Harry said, clearly distracted and on edge.

Nikky’s smile faltered as they got into the elevator. They were alone as the mirrored box swooped up, making his stomach feel like it had been left behind. Or maybe that was the sudden change in Harry’s entire demeanor.

“Is everything okay?” he asked as the doors opened on the fifteenth floor and they stepped out. “Who was the phone call from?”

“It was nothing,” Harry said way too quickly, scanning the hallway, his shoulders bunched. “Just a work thing.”

Nikky wasn’t always the best judge of character, but growing up with crippling uncertainty that required him to know when the situation he was in was about to turn sour had left him with a radar for when people were lying.

Unfortunately for him, another skill he’d learned growing up was to keep his mouth shut when things were wrong so the impact of whatever was about to fall apart didn’t smash what little security he had to pieces.

They reached his room and he fished the key card from his pocket to unlock the door. “It shouldn’t take me long to pack up my things,” he said as he led Harry into the opulent suite Albion’s company was paying for. “Maybe it’s not very starlike, but I try to travel light. People think I dress fashionably when I’m out in public, but really, that’s my stylist picking out clothes for me. I left Kevin behind in L.A. for this trip because I don’t have any public appearances planned.”

He was babbling, but only because Harry wasn’t saying a thing. Harry wasn’t even looking at him. He stalked into the room, looking around as if he was CIA searching for cameras or bugs. His behavior set Nikky’s teeth on edge.

“Are you really sure everything is okay?” he asked, well aware of how weak his voice suddenly sounded as he headed into the suite’s bedroom.

Harry seemed to realize he was acting strangely. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he said, shaking his head and rubbing his forehead like he was chasing off a headache. “I’m just…worried about a few things.”

Nikky looked back at him as he went to the wardrobe in the bedroom to begin pulling his things out. “Anything I can help with?” He cursed the way his voice wavered slightly, but for him to actively seek to get involved in something upsetting, even though it affected someone he cared about, went against his nature to a degree that was terrifying.

Harry seemed to understand the effort. His tense look softened into a smile. “I’m okay, sweetheart,” he said, moving to the wardrobe and squeezing Nikky’s shoulder.

But then he looked into the wardrobe with an expression Nikky couldn’t read, and what felt like out of nowhere said, “Maybe this isn’t such a great idea.”