Page 80 of Claim to Fame

Yvette smiled widely, the bright flash of it a perfect match for Jackson’s, and Ethan wondered what kind of heavy duty chemical whiteners were in Hollywood toothpaste.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Hannah. Jax has told me so much about you, I feel like I know you,” Yvette gushed, clasping Hannah’s free hand in hers.

“That’s so kind. You were wonderful in the Twiggy biopic,” Hannah said.

Yvette touched her long blonde hair with a self-deprecating chuckle. “You’re too sweet.”

Jackson slid his free arm around Hannah’s back, placing himself between the two women, and tilted his jaw towards a bank of photographers calling for a picture. Ethan stood firm on her other side, blinking against the bright lights. “You look good, Banana.” Something in Jackson’s tone shifted when he asked, “Are you? Good?”

“Really good. I promise,” she said.

Jackson exhaled happily, like he was relieved. “Good. Good.” He guided them down the carpet to the next cluster of photographers who snapped away.

“Jackson! Over here!” someone shouted. “How about one of you and Hannah alone?”

Jackson turned his megawatt grin towards Hannah. “What do you say?”

Ethan waited for the moment he’d be cast aside. This wasn’t his world. He didn’t belong on a red carpet.

Hannah’s hold on him tightened and she called back to the crowd, grinning, “I made him promise he wouldn’t leave my side tonight, so you’ll have to crop him out if you don’t want him in your shot.”

Ethan felt the moment the cameras’ attention swung his way, intrigue rolling through the crowd as they tried to puzzle out who he was that she would decline their request.

But he didn’t care about the cameras. He was only paying attention to Hannah, to the bright glow of joy on her face and the warmth in her eyes and the heat of her hand wrapped around his arm.

He dipped his head and pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder before he could think better of it, so lost in the balloon feeling he hardly noticed the frenzy the small gesture set off around them.

“Hannah! Has Jackson apologized for Bora Bora?” another voice called from the crowd.

Ethan felt Hannah stiffen at his side. “There was nothing to apologize for,” she replied through a wooden smile. He hated that smile and the way it replaced the genuine happiness he’d seen on her face mere moments before.

“We’re all friends here,” Jackson added.

“Hannah, what do you have to say about the reports you’ve been hiding out at an eating disorder clinic in the Berkshires?”

The color drained from Hannah’s face. “I—I—”

Ethan took a step towards the jackass with the snide smile who’d asked the question, but Hannah’s hold on him was firm.Stay close.

“You’re out of line, Johnny,” Jackson said, pinning the reporter with a glare that would have sent lesser men running. Maybe Jackson Hayes wasn’t so bad after all.

“But youwereat an eating disorder clinic in the Berkshires, no?” the jerk—Johnny, apparently—insisted.

“No,” Ethan said, whipping his head in the reporter’s direction. He wanted to memorize his face so the next time he saw the asshole, he could pummel him for embarrassing Hannah on her big night. “She was with me.”

“That’s enough, folks. We’ll see you inside,” Micah said, appearing from nowhere. He ushered Ethan and Hannah past the remaining reporters into the lobby of the theater. “Stay here,” he said. “Don’t move until the screening is about to start.”

“Where’s Lana?” Jackson shouted across the lobby. “I want Johnny Blue’s credentials revoked. Someone find me Lana!”

“Don’t,” Hannah said. “It’ll only provoke him.”

“He can’t just say shit like that,” Ethan said. “It’s none of his goddamn business.”

“I’m gonna go find Lana,” Jackson said, excusing himself and leading Yvette away, leaving Ethan and Hannah alone at the edge of the lobby.

"Baz has a great lawyer,” Ethan continued, adrenaline making him feel like his skin was on fire. “We’ll sue the shit out of Johnny Fuckface. He doesn’t get to put your personal business out there.”

“That’s exactly what he does.”

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