Page 110 of Wishing for La Luna
“Hi, Dane. It’s good to see you.” She intends to keep walking, like she doesn’t notice the way he’s staring at her.
He isn’t deterred. “Let me introduce you to my client, Giovanni Ortiz.”
“Gio,” the taller man says as he shakes her hand, but his gaze is on me.
Maeven extends her hand. “This is?—”
“Luna Santos,” Gio says and offers me his hand. It’s big and warm, like his smile, but his handshake is firm.
“Nice to meet you.” I look at Maeven, ready to get going.
“We will leave you to your walk,” Dane says.
“See you around.” Gio’s eyes are sparkling with unmistakable interest.
We keep walking, and Maeven looks back and chuckles. I follow her gaze, and both men are staring at us. I turn back and look at her, shrugging.
“I’m getting a call by the end of the day.”
I frown. “A call?”
“Yup. About you. Giovanni is going to ask for your number. Dane will be calling to try to secure it for him.”
“That’s weird AF,” I say, thinking about Rio asking for my number the first night we met.
“Welcome to the celeb world. Weird ain’t the word.”
“Dane is going to call about you. He wasbobitostaring at you,” I tease.
“Bobitois how he’s going to stay. I don’t shit where I eat, plus I already had one of his friends, and one thing about this girl is that I clean messes, I don’t make them. But back to you. What am I telling him?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I’m not ready for stuff like that.”
“Think about it.”
“I will, but I think you need to tell me what you wanted to talk about.”
She stops walking and faces me. “I’m only sharing this with you because I trust you and you are my friend. I don’t want it to blindside you. I’m putting Rio in another contractual situation.”
My stomach dips, and I squelch the urge to press my hand to it. I shake my head but clear my throat. “He’s dating someone.”
“No, Luna. He’s on tour right now and is doing a collaboration with another artist fromFichal Mundial. They want to push her more, and Rio is hot right now. He’s also on tour, and they want to keep the buzz on him. So, it’s a good opportunity for them to capitalize. It won’t be at the level the two of you had. It will just be pushing the song and doing promo.”
I see us at the Knicks game when we were both so unsure but almost kissed. “Are you going to coach them too?”
I can’t help the pain in my voice. Her face goes a little red. “Luna, no. It’s not like that.”
Are they going to kiss like we did in the stadium and the world faded around us?
“Listen to me,” she says, hooking a hand on my arm the way Sel does. “It’s not real. It’s never going to be like it is with you. It’s just a promotion tactic.”
We finish our walk with what feels like a storm cloud looming over me. I’m sad, hurt, and though it’s irrational…betrayed. It hasn’t been a full three weeks.
In the moment, I develop a new plan. I need to move on—and fast—because if I see him with someone else, it’s going to eat me up inside. When we pull up outside my house, I turn to her before I exit the car. “If Giovanni calls, give him my number.”
* * *
Rio
