Page 49 of The Wingman

“Hayden.” I run over and slap his shoulder, and he laughs again. “Shut up!”

“You don’t want to go. I understand.”

I make a strangled, choking noise, and he grins harder, eyes bright.

“I want to go!”

“Hmm.” He inspects my face. “I don’t know. You don’t seem into it.”

“I’m into it. I want to go. Please.” I lace my fingers together and smile up at him. “Pleeease take me to the party.”

“I knew I’d have to drag you out.” He sighs before givingme a quick grin and heading to his room. “Let me change, and I’ll meet you in the kitchen when you’re ready. We can get dinner first.”

I nod eagerly and race to get ready.

CHAPTER 23

DARCY

Closed for a private event,the sign on the restaurant in Gastown reads when we arrive for the cast party forThe Northern Sword.

“Name?” the guy at the door asks us, holding a clipboard.

“Hayden Owens and Darcy Andersen,” Hayden says with smooth confidence, like he does this all the time, and I take a mental note. Hayden nails rule number one: act confident and chill.

The guy takes our coats and gestures us inside, and I give Hayden a funny smile. “You put my name on the list already?”

“I had a feeling you’d say yes, and I wasn’t going to go without you.”

Inside, I spot three cast members immediately, along with a handful of other actors who don’t work on the show. And three musicians.

“There are a lot of famous people here,” I murmur to Hayden, my self-consciousness rising.

He puts his hand on my lower back like he can sense my trepidation. “Don’t worry,” he murmurs back in my ear, his breath tickling my neck. “I’m just a regular guy.”

A laugh slips out of me, and my self-consciousness eases. He dips down farther to catch my eye.

“I won’t leave your side, okay?”

Gratitude expands through me. “Okay.”

“Come on.” He nudges me toward the bar. “Let’s get a drink.”

Sometime later, after we’ve met a handful of the cast, Hayden and I sit near the downstairs bar, watching the partygoers.

“There’s Aurora.” I subtly point to the star of the series, who’s laughing with someone. She’s my favorite character, the practical, hardworking maid everyone underestimated. When she unlocks her secret powers, she’s unstoppable.

Nearby, the actor who plays Cadius, the Golden Prince, is surrounded by women and laughing loudly. Cadius is another of my favorite characters, but not until later in the series. That’s when he really starts to remind me of Hayden. At first, Cadius is the overconfident, spoiled prince who’s had everything handed to him. He has no clue how the real world works, no empathy, and no idea how privileged he is. He gets a rough wake-up call when he and Aurora go on the quest to find his kidnapped fiancée at the beginning of the first book.

He learns, though. He tries and he listens to Aurora, and he comes to care for commoners more than his ego or image. He makes sacrifices for people in his life, and he finds ways to be a better leader. He’s kind and compassionate, and he’d do anything for the people he loves. When Aurora is close to breaking, he makes jokes to cheer her up and tells her she can do anything. When her power surfaced and she unleashed it, he knew she could do it all along.

The actor who plays Cadius isn’t as handsome as Hayden,though, and when I read the books, it’s Hayden I picture on those fantastical adventures.

At the other bar, the actress who plays Queen Amethyst glances over at us, and an unhappy feeling twists in my stomach.

“Queen Amethyst is giving you the eyes.” I try to keep my tone casual as I sip my drink.

“Is she?” Hayden glances at my lips around the straw.

---