Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 109038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
I hear the sound of the front door of the suite opening.
I lock my phone instantly, dropping it face-down onto the table as Chase walks in.
CHAPTER 26
CHASE
“Busiest shift of my life,” I tell Logan as I enter the room, already thumbing the buttons at the front of my shirt to slide it off. “I heard a group of women talking about your shoot, by the way. The whole table loved it.”
I walk over to where Logan is sitting on the couch and lean over to kiss him.
I pull back and look down at him, noticing something different in his expression.
“I’m so glad you’re finally here,” he tells me. “Can we turn off our phones and computers for the night and just… exist?”
“I haven’t even been able to check my phone since my break. I need to get back to a couple of texts—”
“No texts,” Logan says, and after I pull off my shirt, he squeezes my hip. “They’ll still be there tomorrow, won’t they?”
I hum, sitting down next to him on the couch. “Fine. You’re right. Come here.”
I drag him over my lap on the long end of the couch, just wanting to feel his body against mine in every possible way. My whole body still feels lit from within, like I’ve accessed some new level of existence.
“How are you?” Logan asks me.
“I’m good. Really good, actually. I can’t remember the last time I felt so much possibility for my future. Maybe I’ve never felt that way. When I started getting serious about my art, I felt hope, and I was proud of it. But… it was nothing like this.”
Logan’s expression seems far away. He’s gazing out toward the windows instead of turning to look at me.
“Be careful trying to get too much validation from the rest of the world, Chase. They can flip on a dime.”
“I know, I know.”
“I’m serious,” Logan says, finally turning toward me. He leans over, putting one hand onto my chest as he holds my gaze. “Don’t get caught up in any of it. Can you promise me you won’t?”
I frown at him. “Logan, are you okay?”
“Yes. No. I don’t fucking know.”
“That’s an obvious no,” I tell him. I sit up a little straighter, but I keep one arm around his waist as he leans forward on the sofa. “What’s going on? What happened while I was at work?”
He’s burying his head in his hands now.
“Chase, at this point, you know me better than almost anyone ever has. But there’s one thing I haven’t told you, because I don’t talk about it. I don’t tell anyone.”
Something shifts in my chest.
I bite the inside of my cheek.
“Should… I be worried?”
“No.”
I bring my palm to his back, rubbing over the soft fabric of his shirt. He’s in a simple grey cotton long-sleeve, and I watch the muscles in his back tense a little, then loosen as he exhales.
He turns and meets my eyes again.
“I had a childhood best friend who I spent all of my time with,” he tells me. “To say we were best friends even feels like an understatement. We were always together. It wasn’t ever just Logan, or just Daniel. It was Logan and Daniel. A unit. Inseparable.”
I nod, just rubbing his back as he speaks.
He swallows, his lashes flicking downward, then back up again.
“Daniel was the first man, and only man, I’d ever been with before you,” he reveals. “He was in the closet, and wanted it to stay that way, so no one else ever knew. We never fucked, and we never kissed. But… everything else. Anytime we spent a night together. Daniel and I were both certain that we were going to pursue acting, but he got cast in a role much, much quicker than I ever did. Right at the beginning of our twenties, he got on a show. Ironically, a show about gay men.”
“Wait,” I murmur softly. “It wasn’t Field of View, was it?”
Logan’s eyes dance over my face. “It was.”
“I watched that show. When I was a young teen, it was one of the only gay things that blew up and got kind of popular. I remember my friend making fun of me for watching something gay. I didn’t even get it. I had no idea I was bi yet, but the show just felt… interesting.”
Logan nods. “It was a good show.”
Something falls in my chest as I realize something dark.
I don’t speak a word of it, because I don’t want to assume.
But I remember hearing that one of the main actors from Field of View died. And now I’m dreading hearing the rest of Logan’s story.
“You may have been too young to have been hearing about these things, but Daniel didn’t react well to fame. The media started to dig into him. Lots of people speculated about his sexuality, but he kept it firmly secret. He had always struggled with depression, and some substance abuse, but I didn’t know about his cocaine use until it got to be a big, obvious problem.”