Page 63 of The Star in Room 7

“I’m an idiot and forgot to charge my phone last night. Does yours have enough charge so I can steal my charger back for a bit?” They tilt their head. “Are you okay?”

“Uh, yes.”

“Hmm… You don’t look okay.”

I blink and force a smile. “No. I am. I just got a call from my agent. I… I should be excited.”

“But…?”

I shrug. “I dunno. I feel kind of numb.”

Puck sits on the floor near my feet and stares up at me. “Want to talk about it?”

I laugh softly.

“What?”

“I had an almost replica of this conversation with Nate last night. Only I was you.” I pinch my brows together. “Did that make sense?”

“Yes. Did he talk to you?”

This time, my smile is genuine. “Yes.”

“And did it help?”

“I think so, yes.”

“Then talking to me might help.” They grin, half-mooning their eyes.

“According to my agent, I’ve been offered a chance at auditioning for a leading role in a pretty major film. I don’t know more than that.”

“That sounds like a big deal.”

“It is. If the casting director has reached out to my agent, it means I’ve got a good chance of getting the role. As long as I don’t fuck up the audition.”

“But you’re not happy?”

“I… I should be, right? I think I am. It’s just… I’d pretty much convinced myself to give up acting.”

Puck blinks. “Why?”

“Because fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Even as a relative nobody, it got scary and overwhelming really fast.”

“But you have Nate now…”

I suck in a breath. “He can’t be with me every second of every day.”

“No, but he could assign a bodyguard to you.”

I gape at Puck. I hadn’t even realized they knew what Nate did for a living. “I can’t afford that.”

“I doubt you’d have to pay.”

I’m not sure what to say to that. That I’d want to pay? That playing and sleeping with Nate shouldn’t get me freebies? I keep my mouth shut.

“You should talk to Nate about it,” Puck says decisively.

“About a bodyguard?”