One Night Only (Season 1: Deni's Story)

Chapter Twenty-Two

"The car was a write-off. He's somehow fine, and no one else was with him. Our tour is still starting on time last I heard, but I don't envy anyone trying to keep him under control on the road. I'll be staying away from him as much as possible."

"What a mess." This is the understatement of the century between yesterday's news and Bowie's latest antics. "Other than him, how do you feel about doing the shows?"

"Good, I guess?" Sawyer spreads his hands out, palms up. He sounds uncertain.

"Are you? I'm worried about you being out there."

"I know, but I'm as good as I can be right now." He's back to twisting his bracelet again, so I'm not convinced he's telling the truth. "The thing about my name being on the list is still just a rumor, and same with the report of other people working with Dallas, so I'm trying not to think about it. How are you doing with the news?"

"Better than yesterday," I say. "I had a panic attack when I heard, and Hunter had no idea what was going on or why."

"Hunter?" he asks.

"A new friend whose family owns the cottage next door to where I'm staying. He was with me when I heard the news on the radio."

"He didn't know why you were reacting to what you heard?" Sawyer gives me a funny look. "I probably don't need to say this, but please don't be friends with someone as self-absorbed and insensitive as Bowie. You don't need any more of that in your life."

"He isn't like that at all," I protest. "Hunter is great, honestly. You'd like him. He just doesn't know about that part of my life."

Now he looks truly perplexed. "He doesn't know what happened at your concert? I know Canada is technically another country, but what happened at The Domino made news headlines around the world."

"He doesn't know I'm Cayden Indigo," I explain. "No one here does. They know me as Deni, someone who's visiting the lake for the summer. It's kind of nice to have a normal life for a while and meet people who are interested in me for reasons that have nothing to do with my music."

"And exactly how interested is Hunter in you?" Sawyer's voice has a teasing lilt to it. He can read me like no one else, which is both a blessing and a curse.

"We're friends," I insist. And we are, even if I'm reading things into a letter that may or may not be there and am harboring a crush. Sawyer doesn't need to know these things at this stage.

"Uh huh." He seems suspicious. "Let me know if I should vet this Hunter guy for you. What's his last name?"

"There's no chance I'm letting you and Carter stalk him online to check him out for me. It isn't like that."

"Yet," he corrects me. "It isn't like that yet. But your face is red, and you seem a little defensive, which tells me everything you aren't saying."

"There's nothing to tell!" I yell at the screen.

"Yet." He grins at me. "For the record, if this is why you said you're well past your breakup with Bowie, then I'm all for it. Just promise me you'll tell Hunter about the other part of your life before your summer fling leaks to the tabloids."

I grit my teeth at his obvious glee when he says "summer fling." We need to clear a couple of things up.

"First, it isn't a fling—or it wouldn't be a fling, I mean. Nothing has even happened. Second, I'm in the middle of a forest at a lake in Canada. There's no way the paps are staked out here, so the risk of anything getting out to the tabloids, real or otherwise, is pretty low."

Sawyer's guffaw prompts me to want to say more in my defense. He holds up his hand to stop me from launching another tirade at him.

"Relax for a second and hear me out." I'm not thrilled about it, but I let him talk. "I know you don't have a phone, but I'm sure other people there do. It's Canada, not another galaxy. There's still a risk of someone taking a photo or video of you and it getting out to the world."

"There is, but there's much less risk of it happening when they don't know I'm Cayden Indigo," I point out. "I'm not wearing my wigs or stage makeup here and so far no one has recognized me."

"Deni." He steeples his fingers together. I can't tell if he's exasperated or just believes I'm hopeless. "I'm saying this with love, but you can't lie to save your life. Your cover may be safe for now, but ask yourself how long you can really keep it up for?"

"I'm not lying," I inform him. "I'm only omitting a few details that don't matter out here. Even my mom is on board with me flying under the radar and having a normal life for the summer."

"I'm sure she is, and I also want you to have that. But if you think Hunter knowing would wreck all of that and ruin your summer, it makes me wonder about him."

"I don't think that," I argue. "It isn't him. Celebrities don't dazzle him at all. In fact, he seems to detest the idea of famous people."

Sawyer snorts. "Okay, maybe I do like this guy. So what's the issue?"

"Other people. His sister is a superfan."

"Then I'm sure you'll have her approval to date her brother."

I ignore him and continue speaking. "I trust Hunter, but what if either of us slipped and his sister found out? Something she and her best friend said the other night makes me think they talk with other fans a lot. If anyone finds out I'm here, I could be in danger, especially if there are other people Dallas talked to about targeting me."

"I see your point with the news yesterday and what we don't know," he concedes. "Just promise me if this does go somewhere, or if Hunter is someone you think you'll still be friends with after you come home, that you'll tell him before someone else does. You deserve to be happy, and I don't want to see something bad happen."

"I'll tell him," I say. And I will, when the time is right. What I don't know at the moment, and what I can't promise Sawyer, is when that time might be.