Page 24 of Hollywood Crush (West Wales Romance #2)

Tudor

I had read the blogs in the couple of days since the incident, though I was resolutely pretending I hadn’t. It was one thing to admit in my head that I may have misread a situation but it was another thing entirely to admit that outwardly.

“Are you alright love?” Mum asked for what must have been the twenty-second time that day.

“Fine,” I mumbled. I pulled a sheet off the bed that had been Daniel’s perhaps too dramatically and let the whole mattress fall to the floor.

The image was seared into my brain, a BBC News showbiz report with Daniel laying on the beach, blood trickling from his head and his foot at a horribly painful angle.

The fact that he had been in Patrick’s arms was immaterial now.

Whether or not they were in some kind of charade, I was glad that someone had been there for him in his time of need.

I had sent him one solitary text via Instagram to ask how he was feeling.

In amongst the thousands of well-wishes he’d had it could easily have gotten lost in the throng.

But it hadn’t. Daniel had read my text. And ignored it.

“Are you going to talk to me about it or just sulk? Because you’re certainly not fine and you’re definitely avoiding something.” Mam had taken the sheet from the floor and pushed the mattress back onto the bed as I thought.

“Nope. Not everything needs to be talked about,” I replied. If I could keep my feelings in, they need not bother anyone else. And perhaps in time I’d get over them. Yeah, right.

I had fucked up. I had walked away when Daniel needed a hand to hold most. And now I was staring at headlines that read Injury for Film Star - Star-Crossed Lover Holds Him Close.

The main story on most reputable news websites was the uncovering of how unsafe the set had been under Roland’s thumb.

It was a miracle no one had already been seriously injured, apparently, with how overworked the stunt doubles had been, how many explosives and stunts had been coordinated by underqualified technicians after their supervisors had been fired by an irate director.

I knew that was the main story, the main concern.

And yet I kept going back to the same old stories.

The ones on the seedier gossip sites that honed in on Patrick and Danny staring into each other’s eyes.

And though I knew the gossip sites were only out to get clicks and that I shouldn’t read them, I did.

I read every comment about how gorgeously in love the two of them looked, and how MidlandsMum82 had never seen a cuter couple in all her life.

It was my fault, and I was throughly miserable. Because however inadequate I had felt before, I felt doubly so now. When I was needed, it had been Patrick — gorgeous, rich, capable Patrick — who had stepped up to be there for Danny. And I hated both him and myself for it.

“Would you mind manning reception for the afternoon? Remember Beca and Glynis have invited me out,” Mam said once we’d left Daniel’s room.

“Can’t you ask Nadia?” I asked. I had been avoiding customer service for a couple of days as my temper couldn’t handle the diva demands we’d had from the actors and some of the higher ranking crew.

“You know Nadia doesn’t work all day, she’s still in school. And you do own this hotel, you know.”

“Yes. Sorry Mam.” I shook myself physically like it would somehow help me to get rid of the mood. It might have just made me look stupid but when Mum smiled in response I couldn’t help one side of my mouth lifting.

“Right. I’m off to get ready. Keep an ear out.” Mam handed me the pager that beeped whenever someone rang the reception bell .

I mooched around the downstairs of the hotel for a bit. It had gone quieter since filming had ended, with only actors and a skeleton crew in attendance whilst it was decided what would happen with production now they had lost their star actor and director.

I headed to the conservatory to water my plants, and was shocked to find it was already occupied.

Patrick sat in one of the folding chairs I had put out when I ate with Danny. I bristled automatically, but he gave me a faint smile and waved.

“It’s roasting in here, isn’t it?” he said.

“I guess.” I wasn’t in the mood to speak with him. I knew it was childish to hold it over him, but he felt like the root of all problems in my life. He was right though, the sun was shining high in the sky and making the conservatory feel more like a sauna.

I walked over to the ornate windows and opened a couple to let a breeze and perhaps some pollinating insects in, then took the watering can from its hook on the wall and filled it.

I studiously didn’t make eye contact with Patrick where he sat in the chair.

Any time I did risk a glance, he was looking over at me.

I watered the peppers directly behind him and he craned his neck backward to get a peek of exactly what I was doing.

“This place is beautiful,” he said.

“Lovely little village,” I replied. Well, it was more of a grunt.

“No, this .” Patrick stood up and gestured around. “ Your hotel. This little place. It should be in all the magazines. It should be on AirBnB’s hidden gems page. There should be websites clamouring to stay and review here.”

“Thank you,” I replied more politely. “It’s taken a lot of work. And a bit of money from the filming.”

“Well I for one am glad I came out here. And so is Daniel.”

“What?” I looked around frantically for a second like Danny might pop out of my cucumber plants.

Patrick laughed softly. “He’s in a specialist hospital in Manchester, as you didn’t think to find me or anyone else and ask.”

I felt a hot flush of shame run through me. I had avoided the cast and crew for the last couple of days specifically so the topic of Daniel wouldn’t be brought up.

“Doesn’t matter,” I replied. “He wouldn’t want me there.”

“Wouldn’t want you there? The last thing he said before he was completely anaesthetised was your name.”

Fuck. The little pinpricks of shame felt like a stab to the stomach now.

“Throughout our little fake relationship, every time he touched me, or looked at me, or talked to me, he would talk about you. What you’d done in here, or where you had taken him on a day trip, or that you had been down to watch filming.

It took me a stupidly long time to realise why but I honestly don’t think either of you have realised.

I don’t know how aware you are, or how aware he is that you two are obviously in love with each other. ”

“Doesn’t matter,” I said reflexively. Though the thought very much did matter to me.

“And I think if you’d both been honest with each other earlier on then we would have avoided all this crap.

I didn’t need the publicity from this relationship all that much, I just went along with what our management had suggested.

In hindsight, I wish we’d both been strong enough to tell them to shove it. ”

I looked at Patrick. The worlds that he and Danny inhabited still seemed unfathomable to me. How could he for a second think that all this was normal? Fake relationships, brand deals, so much money and power passing between a few people. The world they lived in was far too big for me.

“He’ll want to see you,” said Patrick.

“I don’t know about that.”

“Well, it was one of the last things he mentioned before going into hospital. And all he’s bloody talked about since.”

“He’s awake? He’s OK?” I asked.

“Well, not really awake per se. More drunk on painkillers and whatever fluids they’re so desperately pumping into him.

” Patrick smiled. “We’ve had to shut him up more than once when he started mentioning some unspeakable actions going on in the hotel gym.

I’d never have used the equipment if I’d known what it was being used for by others. ”

I felt my cheeks heat. “So what do I do? How do I make this right?”

Patrick stood up and held out a hand to me. “You drop everything and you go to him.”

And I did.