Page 25 of Beneath the Fame

“So…whatdid you have to talk to Mom and Dad about?” I asked, breaking the—somewhat—comfortable silence we’d fallen into at the tiny corner booth we were tucked in.

We were flanked by security, mine and his, on either side, and even though the server had recognized us immediately, she swore up and down that our “secret” was safe with her.

Probably not, but…it was fine either way.

It was just sushi—not exactly romantic and could easily be explained away. I wassoglad the change of clothes I’d brought for the day was just a little comfy athleisure set and nice sneakers—I was cute without looking like I was dressed to impress.

Somehow, that took a bit of pressure off the whole thing.

“Just Dad,” Alec chuckled, using his chopsticks to put a piece of pickled ginger in his mouth.

Why was that sexy?

“He wanted to talk to me about an idea I’d pitched him…kind of a scripted reality thing, here in Vegas,” he continued once he’d finished chewing. “I figured I’d give WAWG the first crack at it, since they’re the biggest show in town.”

I nodded. “Makes sense. You’d be one of the actors?”

“Head writer.”

“Oh,” I gushed. “I…didn’t know you wrote too. Did you take classes or something, or taught yourself?”

“A bit of both—once you’ve read hundreds of scripts, the pacing, formatting, even the storytelling to some degree, it kinda comes natural to you. It’s something I’ve thought about for a long time, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started feeling the need to…mix it up a little, you know?”

“Uh,yeah.” I laughed. “You kinda have to—otherwise, people will box you into being just one thing. Which can have benefits, for sure, but…then they start to close that box up, and thatone thingstarts feeling like a prison.”

Alec let out a dry chuckle, nodding as he draped an arm across the back of the booth. “I’m pretty familiar with that. Unfortunately.”

“That’s why you took theJuderole, right? So people can stop thinking you’re corny?”

He shrugged. “I’m sure people will thinkthat’scorny too.” He laughed. “It was more important to me for people to see that I have range—that’s how you get career longevity. I was getting caught up in the type-casting shit, and I knew I couldn’t letthatride.”

I giggled. “Aww. Always theperfectlove interest or wise hero, never the toxic triggerman,” I teased, cuffing him under the chin. “Until now, at least.”

He grabbed my hand, easily swallowing it with his. “What about you? I know you don’t always want to be the vixen, even though you look so damn good doing it.”

“Not at all.” I sighed, using my free hand to take a deep gulp from my water glass. “I have to be very careful with the next role I take—I love being Kami, since she’s notjustsexy, she’s a badass too. But even that can get old quickly and end up being another trap. I want to…I don’t know. Write and star in a fuzzy rom-com or something.”

A grin spread over his face. “You want to write too? Like, for TV?”

Damnit.

That…wasn’t a topic I really talked about yet, withanyone.Whenever I mentioned writing, people naturally assumed I was talking about music, which wasn’t incorrect. I was award-winning in that arena too, with hits I’d penned for myselfandothers, even in non-rap genres.

But writing music and writing scripts weren’t remotely the same things.

“I kinda…already started it…” I admitted, cringing as I waited for his response.

My face got hot when he leaned in, speaking right into my ear to say, “You know I’ma need you to slide any and all episodes in my inbox, right?”

“It’s not finished.”

“I don’t care.” He shrugged. “Finish it. That’s simple, right?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he started laughing, because webothknew—starting a writing project andfinishingit were on two completely different planes.

“It probably sucks,” I told him. “I have exactly zero experience—just a subscription to screenwriting software, a love for laughter, and a huge lexicon of movies in my head I’m trying my best not to copycat.”

“Shit, what else do you need?” He shrugged. “Your plot, story beats, all that…it’s all figured out?”

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