Page 3 of A Little Christmas: Star
I turned around, heading the other way, hoping they didn’t see me. But then I heard my name being shouted.
Fuck.
I sped up, not running. That would make me the prey. Maybe they saw someone else and thought it was me. That had happened before when they had a tip. But the thing was, how would they have known I was coming? I didn’t even know.
It didn’t matter. All that did was getting away. I just needed to go into some building, pretend like I belonged, possibly borrow someone else’s jacket, and leave. I’d done this before. It was no big deal.
Except before, I wasn’t trying to get into a club where I dressed like a toddler and played with blocks. But they wouldn’t know that. For all they knew, I was going there to…visions of a St. Andrew’s cross or being tied in shibari knots flashed in my head. No. No matter what they thought, it was bad.
I turned into a business office building; I didn’t even know what kind. As long as I stayed low for an hour, I should be fine.
I ran across a parking lot and grabbed a door, yanked it open, and shut the door behind me.Please, let me stay here. I promise I’ll make up for it.
There was one person in the room and the second our eyes met, I recognized him. How could I ask for his help after all I’d done to him? I hadn’t been honest with him before. I hadn’t told him why I was slowly disappearing, and here I was about to ask him for a huge favor.
But this was Caelum. My Caelum. If I could trust anyone, it was him. It didn’t matter how many years had gone by. I could always trust him.
Chapter Three
Caelum
Was there anything more boring than the insurance business? Of course, it was rewarding to be able to provide people with coverage that came into play in the worst times in their lives, but on a day-to-day basis, it was mostly about paperwork and filling out forms. But owning the agency made it a good job that paid decently and allowed me to support the comfortable life I enjoyed, including a membership at Chained.
I had just sent my assistant to get us both a coffee before I fell asleep at my desk when my office door slammed open and a man came in and thrust it closed behind him before leaning against it. “Hide me.”
My lips moved, but no words came out. It was him. The one I’d thought I’d never see again outside of a TV or theater screen. My Christmas wish, my love. I moved to stand, ready to greet him, the thousand things I’d planned to say to him over the years washing over me. I’d gone through sadness, anger, loneliness, grief, acceptance. Might not be the order of emotions a professional would espouse, but it pretty well covered my journey to this point.
Except, I hadn’t counted on not being able to breathe. Freezing in place. Unsure I wasn’t facing a hallucination created from all of that pain.
“Caelum? Hide me!”
Star really did stand in front of me, and his panicked expression kicked me right out of stasis and into protective mode. “Come this way.” I guided him through a door half hidden by the window curtains and into my private bathroom. “Stay in here, and I’ll get rid of them.”
“But you don’t know who they are or why—”
“Doesn’t matter. Lock the door behind me.” I returned to my office and tugged the curtain all the way to the end of the rod. When the decorator hung the window coverings, I’d been out of town. Returning, I’d been annoyed by the extra-long rods, but today? I wanted to send them a thank-you. Nobody would even know there was a door there. Who knew I’d need a hidey-hole?
Exiting my office, I locked up and marched to the reception area. Most of my employees were either gone or out in the field seeing clients at this time of day, but the outer doors had been left unsecured. We had a strict policy that they were locked after regular business hours or anytime no one manned the reception desk. An intercom outside made it possible for a client with a late appointment or anyone else with business at that time to reach someone and gain entry.
The people swarming the parking lot bore no resemblance to someone with a legitimate reason to come in. And there were so many of them, moving rapidly toward the office. What on earth?
Someone screwed up in leaving the door unlocked—but if they hadn’t, Star might be outside pressing that button and being attacked by whoever he wanted me to hide him from. I used my key to make sure nobody else was going to join us and turned to find him standing behind me, staring wide-eyed out through the door.
“Thank you,” he said. “I thought they had me this time.”
I glanced outside again and then took him by the shoulder and guided him back into my private space. “I didn’t see any pitchforks or torches, so they aren’t angry villagers.”
“No, they work with cameras and microphones.” Star sank onto the sofa opposite my desk. “I don’t know how they found me. I just wanted to visit…that is, I wanted to go somewhere on my own for once, but you can see how well that went.”
Paparazzi, then. I should have known. “I was about to call 9-1-1, but I have a feeling you won’t want me to.”
“I would love to have every one of them hauled off and stuffed in a cell somewhere, but no, that would not be good for my career. My agent would kill me.”
Sitting next to him, I nodded. “Yeah, I suspected something like that. Does this happen every time you go out?”
“Depends. I’m filming here in town, and it’s kind of a big production, so there’s a lot of press as well. I shouldn’t have even tried to go out. I know better.” I hadn’t forgotten how expressive his face could be. It was likely one of the reasons he’d been so successful on both the big and small screen. I’d tried not to watch him, but of course hadn’t been able to resist, no matter how painful it was to rip the scab off the wound that never seemed to heal. “I should just stay in in the hotel and order food, but sometimes it gets too hard to be confined. To be a prisoner. I remember…when we…when we would just go out for a walk after dinner to the library or just around the block.”
“I remember, too.” My throat swelled with all the emotions that had been stuffed deep inside me since he left. So much. Sadness, anger, loneliness. Grief. The sweetness we’d shared so brief. I wanted him to succeed, to live his dreams, of course I did. But waking every day and rolling over in bed to find him not there shatteredmydreams. I gave myself a little shake. This was not about me. Star’s pain washed over me, sending anything I wanted to say back down inside. Or maybe away because just looking at him, having him here, breathing the same old cologne he’d worn back then, made me feel so much better. “You still shop at the CVS?”
