Locked (PresLocke Series Book 2) (2 page)

“Should you answer your phone first?” Dylan asked over the insistent ringing of my cell, and when he finally took a seat, I went to the back bedroom to grab my phone. Ten missed calls already, from both Roger and Martina, along with more than a handful of texts. As I stood there staring at the screen, I had an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. A little over a year earlier, there’d been the same frenzy, the same phone calls, the same feeling of despair. Only that time there hadn’t been pictures. Shayne’s matchmaker boss from hell had leaked my secret to the press, but before things had gotten too out of hand, Shayne had covered for me and things had slowly died down.
 

As I headed back to the main room and caught sight of the stunning man sitting on the couch worrying his hand through his brown hair, I realized too that I had been alone the last time.

“Dylan…” I said as I went to his side and took a seat. He angled his face so he was staring at me, and I couldn’t stop myself from reaching out and drawing a finger down his jaw.
 

“Please, don’t worry about me. God,” he said, shaking his head. “You have enough to worry about.”

My lips pulled into a thin line at his words, because while he was right, and I had a million and one things to worry about, my brain and thoughts kept zeroing in on him—and wasn’t that an eye-opening moment, to realize that Dylan was my number one concern here.

I cleared my throat and reached for one of his hands. When he entwined his fingers in mine, I realized how his were shaking, and wanted to ease him somehow. But that was going to be difficult considering my own were trembling.
 

“Okay, so,” I said, and then sighed. “We have to work out what we’re going to do next. What
you
want to do next.”
 

“Me?” Dylan said, his eyes widening. Then he squeezed my fingers and gingerly let go. As he stood and started to pace in front of me, I could see the wheels turning in Dylan’s head. His face closed off, his expression became unreadable, and then he stopped and looked down at me, and I had a feeling whatever he was about to say was going to cut me straight to the core.

“Ace…look, I’ll say whatever you want me to say. Or nothing at all, if that’s the case. I can hide in this room until everyone leaves. Whatever. But the way I see it, if you leave here by yourself and deny it, then for a while this would have to end. Maybe forever—”

“No,” I said, getting to my feet. That was the one thing I was sure I
didn’t
want. “That’s not going to happen.” I placed one of my hands over the ones he was twisting in front of himself, and shook my head. “
This
, what’s happening between us, is not ending. Not unless you want it to.”

Dylan chewed his lip as he held my hand in almost a death grip. “I…I…”

“I know this is a lot to take in. Shit, I haven’t even taken it all in. But if you want this, if you want me, then I’m ready to walk out that door with your hand in mine and tell the world to fuck off.” And as soon as those words were out of my mouth, I knew they were the right ones. When it came to Dylan, there wasn’t a choice to make. It’d been made from the first day I saw him, and if he was willing do this, to stick by me and weather whatever came our way, then it didn’t matter what anyone else had to say. He, and my decision, was non-negotiable.

* * *

MY MOUTH FELL open.
Holy shit
, I hadn’t been expecting that at all, and when the phone on the couch began to ring again, I asked, “What about your team? Won’t they have an opinion on that?”

“I’m sure they’ll have many opinions, but the only one that matters right now is yours.”

“You can’t be serious. But all those people—”

“Don’t mean a fucking thing right now.” Something in Ace’s tone told me he was dead serious, and I clamped my mouth shut. Then he continued, his voice softer this time. “This is going to be a nightmare. I’m not about to sugarcoat it and tell you otherwise. If you stay with me, you’ll be followed. Everywhere. Your picture will
be
everywhere, and not the hot billboard or magazine ads, either. They’ll catch you at the grocery store. Getting gas. Leaving my house. Leaving yours. Hell, there will probably be helicopters over my neighborhood for the foreseeable future, and I need to know…”

As he trailed off, his gaze dropped to the floor, and I reached for his face and brought his mouth to mine, needing to reassure him that I wasn’t going anywhere. And when I pulled back, I whispered against his lips, “At least then we won’t have to hide…”

Ace’s brilliant blue eyes met mine, and he seemed to search for something. “But when you realize what being with me now entails, you might want to.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head firmly. “Don’t try to scare me off.”

“It’s not
me
I’m worried about.”

“Don’t worry about them either. So they’ll follow us. So they’ll post shit in the papers—”

“Untrue shit.”

“I can handle it. But can
you
?”

And that right there was the real question. Yeah, Ace had dealt with the price of fame for most of his adult life, but I knew what it could cost him to come out of hiding and show the world who he was…and whom he was with. Plus, being gay was still something he was coming to terms with. He’d only been out for a year, for God’s sake, and he’d never even been in a relationship before. I’d had three decades of living as a gay man, and I knew the kind of hate that could get thrown our way. And in his line of work? It could—and would—get brutal.

Ace sighed and rubbed a hand over his eyes, and when he looked back at me, there was a weariness there that I’d never seen before. As though he’d already lived out the way this thing was going to go. But there was determination there too, and it was in that moment that I knew there was no turning back.

Ace reached for my hand, and as he brushed over my knuckles with his thumb, he said, “If you’re with me, I think I could take on anything.”
 

“That’s the sweetest thing that’s ever come out of your mouth. Not something I’d have thought
the Ace Locke
would ever say,” I teased. Inside, though, his admission made every part of my body thrill.
 

“Hey, I can be sweet.”

“Yes, you were very sweet this morning. And last night,” I said, and planted kisses along his jaw, his nose, his forehead.
 

“Now if
that
gets out, it might ruin my reputation.”

“Or it might open up a whole new world to you. Ace Locke in romantic dramas. Ace Locke in quirky indies. Ace Locke in a Disney animation—”

“Okay, okay, let’s not get crazy. Ace Locke in action thrillers suits me just fine. At least for now.”

“Then the world will just have to get on board. Besides, who wouldn’t fucking love you?”

Ace quirked an eyebrow at me, and when I realized what my words had implied, my face went hot. That just made the small grin on his lips grow, and I rolled my eyes and shoved him away playfully before something
else
decided to come tumbling out of my mouth.

As Ace’s cell went off for the upteenth time, he said, “I should probably figure out a game plan with my team if you want to go get your stuff ready to go. Grand Canyon next time?”

“Next time,” I said, relieved there’d even be a next time, and as Ace sat on the couch and brought the phone to his ear, I gave him some privacy and went to the adjoining suite to grab the bag that had started this whole mess. If I hadn’t left the damn thing in there last night, I wouldn’t have opened the door, and then there’d be no half-naked paparazzi shots, no exit plans being made. But I couldn’t think about that. Refused to take the blame for the havoc they’d caused. Those assholes would’ve gotten a picture somehow, someway, no matter whether it was here in Vegas or sneaking around back in L.A.
 

At least that’s what I was trying to tell myself.

Heading back into Ace’s suite, I went behind the couch as to not distract from the heated conversation he was having, and as I did, I paused by the window and looked down. The crowd outside the hotel’s entrance had more than doubled in size, and it made my heart thump harder in my chest as I backed away.

Would
all
of those people follow us? At least we’d be going out the back private entrance, the same way we’d come to the hotel, but what happened when we got to the main road?
 

Yeah, okay, that’s not intimidating at all,
I thought, and headed toward the bedroom to pack our bags.
 

2

I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND

“I’M SO SORRY, Mr. Locke, and if there’s anything we can do—”

I slammed the door in the manager’s face, annoyed at the endless apologies he’d been making while standing in my suite’s doorway for the last ten minutes. The police had also come and taken our statements, but since nothing appeared to be missing—and the fucker had gotten away—there wasn’t anything they could do.
 

Is it too early for a damn drink?

“So? How’d it go?” Dylan asked as he headed into the main room with our packed bags and dumped them on the armchair. “Did you guys come up with a game plan?”

Before the unnecessary conversation with the head of Syn, I’d had a long, drawn-out powwow with Roger and Martina about what should or shouldn’t happen next. And since neither could seem to agree, as was always the case, I’d decided on my own damn plan.
 

“I’m gonna say fuck ’em,” I said.

“Fuck ’em? Which means…what, exactly?”

“It means we’re already all over TNZ now, and since Martina doesn’t think at this point that we can deny, then there’s no point in hiding anymore. Is there?”

“I guess not.”

“So we’ll go out the front and let them get the shots they need.”

“Wait, what?”
 

“It’s either that or the alternative, and I’d rather the images that show up on the front of the rags not be the shots of us in our towels.”

Dylan stared at me and then shook his head as though he’d heard wrong. “So…you want us to leave here and go through all those people down there? Together?”

As I paced in front of the couch, it wasn’t lost on me that this had been the moment I’d been trying to avoid for so long. The fact that it was here now had a swirling mix of emotions flowing through me. Anger. Frustration. Resentment. Resignation. Sadness. But somewhere underneath all those things, I also felt the first taste of freedom, and that was what had solidified my decision.
 

“Yes,” I said. “If that’s okay with you, then I think what you said about facing them head-on with our middle fingers held high is the best option.”

Dylan let out a surprised laugh. “So literally go out there flipping off the press. Right. Good plan.”

“Okay, so maybe more your hand in mine, but the sentiment is the same.”

The amused expression on Dylan’s face dropped, and he looked down at his faded jeans and plain green t-shirt. Before he could say anything, I told him, “Don’t even think about changing.”

“But…I’m a hot fucking mess. I can’t go out there like this.”

Strolling over to him, I let my eyes rove down his body. “Pretty sure you’re just fucking hot.”

“I think I’d prefer the pictures of us in the towels.”

I fingered the hem of his shirt and then let my fingers slip underneath to feel the smooth, warm skin of his stomach. “You look perfect.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Probably.”

The side of Dylan’s mouth curved, and when one of his dimples appeared, I shook my head. “You have no idea just how magnetic you are, do you? They’re going to climb all over themselves for photographs of this face.”

“You’re slightly biased.”

“I thought that even before you were mine.” As the words left my mouth, I realized it was as close as I’d ever come to laying out just how strongly I’d felt for him. And it was something that wasn’t lost on Dylan, if the way his eyes darkened on me was any indication.

“You did, huh?”

“I did. On my birthday, actually. My first thought was that Russ was stupid for letting you out of his sight. My second was, some lucky fucker is going to make a pass at you before I get a chance.”

Dylan pressed his mouth to mine in a sweet kiss, and as his lips curved, he said, “They could’ve tried, but I was too busy thinking about the birthday boy.”

I traced the backs of my fingers down his cheek and asked once more, just to be sure, “Are you positive you want to do this?”

Dylan leaned into my caress and his eyes shuttered closed, his lashes thick and dark against his flawless skin. “No,” he whispered, and my heart just about stopped. Then he opened those gorgeous eyes and the expression there shocked me back to life. It was one full of apprehension, desire, and the same emotion I was feeling then—possession. “I’m not sure about any of this. But I am sure about you. I want you, Ace. And
you
come with all of this.”

I laid a kiss against his forehead and took a step back, trailing my fingers down his to take his hand in mine. “Okay, then let’s do this.”

Moving around him to grab our bags, I got two steps away when Dylan tugged on my hand and I looked back at him.

“I don’t have to, like…say anything, right?”

I laughed at that. “No. In fact, I think it would be best if neither of us said anything right now. The image of us hand in hand will be more effective than words anyhow. But you may want to put on your sunglasses.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see.”

* * *

I TOOK A nervous breath and shrugged my bag farther up my arm as Ace led us out of the elevator and into the private lobby that had apparently been cleared out for our departure. When it was clear Ace wasn’t stopping on his way out the door, Charles jogged up alongside us.

“May I have someone take your bags?” he said.

Ace didn’t spare him a glance. “I think you all have been helpful enough.”

“We’ll be comping your stay—”

“I fucking hope so,” Ace said with a disgusted snort.