Chapter Four

Laura

"Have you seen the news?" Roni shouts as soon as I step into her office.

I grimace and rub my ears. Jeez. She's loud. "Um, no?"

"It's everywhere!" she cries, her curly red hair bouncing in frustration as she bends her head over her keyboard and starts clicking away. "Celebrity Teatime was the first to run it, but everyone has it now. They're making a huge deal about it. My phone has been ringing all morning. I finally turned the damn thing off."

Oh no.

My stomach sinks, dismay filling me. They found out about Kaiden.

He's going to flip out. We've spent every waking moment together for the last few weeks, but we haven't told anyone we're together. I want to shout it from the rooftops. I'm not sure how he feels about it, though.

He's already been through so much. He almost died as a little boy and spent his childhood watching the world pass him by. And then finally got to live his dream only to have it ripped away. The day he told me what really happened to him, I cried. He carried the truth in silence to protect his friend from jail. Only for people in this town to then treat him as if he's somehow less than because of the scars he carries. They have no idea how selfless he truly is or how amazing. He's been through hell and back. They could never understand the sacrifices he's made or the kind of man he is because they will never be that genuinely good.

I don't want to put him through a public spectacle…and once people find out we're together, there will be no way of stopping that. People pay way too much attention to who dates who in Hollywood. I worry that the fact that he's been out of the limelight for so long will only add fuel to the fire.

Apparently, it already has.

I don't want to hide him, however. I'm so in love with him. I think I fell our very first night together. He's the best man I've ever met. He may be gruff and grumpy, but beneath that, he's kind, gentle, loving, and so damn good to me. No one has ever treated me like he does. When he touches me, I feel like I'm a priceless work of art, someone worthy of devotion. When he kisses me, the entire world disappears. And when he's inside me, I breathe for him.

I want the world to know how I feel about him. I want them to know that he's the man I chose. But I don't think he wants them to know. Not because he's ashamed of me. But because he thinks I'm too good for him. It kills me that he feels that way. But after everything he's endured, I can't ask him to give up his privacy. It wouldn't be fair of me when my life is so public.

Except I may not have a choice now. Somehow, someone found out about us.

"How bad is it?" I whisper, dropping heavily into a chair across from my publicist. My stomach churns, and nausea climbs up my throat. All morning, my stomach has been unsettled. Maybe my body just knew something terrible was coming.

"Hollywood's shining star, Laura Groves, is MIA. Could it be because she's got a secret?" Roni reads from whatever website she's pulled up on her screen. "Rumor has it that our favorite curvy darling isn't as happy with her body as we've all been told. Sources close to the young starlet say she's vanished from the scene because she's recovering from an unspecified weight-related procedure. It looks like someone will be debuting a brand-new body just in time for the New Year!"

"What?" I shout, immediately jumping to my feet. My face blanches, white-hot anger rushing through me. "That isn't true!"

"Of course it isn't," Roni scoffs, a look of disgust crossing her face. "I doubt they even have a source. It's a slow news day, so they're just fabricating a story out of the fact that you've missed a few holiday parties and charity events."

"I've been busy," I mutter.

"Bullshit. You're in love."

"I…"

She spears me with a stern look. "I know you, Laura. You have stars in your eyes."

My cheeks heat, and I shift my gaze away from hers, glancing at the awards hanging behind her desk. Hollywood loves giving out awards. We have them for everything. She's won a lot of them over the years. She's good at her job. Too good, maybe. I can't get anything past her.

"Who is he?"

"No comment."

"I see." She sighs heavily. "So you'd rather let them run with this story than give up his identity."

"I…" My stomach churns uneasily. I expel a slow, heavy breath. "The last thing I want is the whole world talking about my weight again. I'm sick and tired of my body being a subject of discussion. But things are…complicated."

"Uncomplicate them." She stands from her desk and crosses to me, her heels clicking on the floor. She slips her hands into mine, concern stamped across her lined face. "I'm asking as your friend, not your publicist."

"I'm seeing Kaiden Huxley." I don't have to say anything further. Roni knows everyone in this town, and she's diabolically smart. She's one of the first people I talked to when I wanted information about him.

"Oh." Her hazel eyes widen. "Oh."

"I'm so damn in love with him." I laugh softly, tears in my eyes.

"What do you want to do, honey?" she asks, leaving the ball in my court. This is why I love Roni. She may be diabolical, but she's always on my side. She believes in people and never feeds her clients to the wolves. She wouldn't feed Kaiden to the wolves either. When we talked a few weeks ago, she had nothing but good things to say about him.

"What can I do?" I ask helplessly. I've advocated for body positivity and loving yourself since I came to Hollywood. If they're claiming I'm in hiding because I had weight-loss surgery, people will rip me to shreds no matter what I do. Even if I show up with the same body I've always had, the paparazzi will edit the photos to make me look thinner, claim I'm wearing a fat suit, or make any other number of outlandish claims to support their false narrative to keep the story going. Gossip is a vicious cycle that feeds itself. And the only losers are the ones caught in the eye of the storm.

If I tell the truth and admit that I've been MIA because I've been spending time with the love of my life, maybe I sway hearts and minds. But I do it at the expense of Kaiden's privacy. I force him into a position he didn't ask to be in. The gossip becomes about him. Maybe they're kinder to him this time, or perhaps they say the same cruel, heartless things they did last time, as if he's fair game because he chose to go into a career in stunt work knowing the risks.

I can't let that happen. I won't let that happen. If they want to spread lies about me, then fine. They can say what they want. But I won't let them talk badly about the man I love.

"Let them run with it," I say, my decision made. "I'll post a few pictures on my social media to mitigate the damage, but leave Kaiden out of it."

Roni wraps me up in a warm hug, squeezing me tight. "We'll figure out a way to fix this, honey. Just leave it up to your agent and me."

"Okay," I mumble, unsure how they plan to do that. It's almost Christmas. There's not a lot going on in Hollywood right now aside from parties. And God only knows how reporters will spin it if I dive back into the fray and attend any of those. They'll claim I went straight from surgery to the party circuit…and that's the last thing I need right now.