Among the Stars ✔️ [Completed] [book three]

Chapter 10

I briefly turn to him and return his sad smile. "You literally chose to wake up within the only half an hour I'd left the room that day." I chuckle softly. "How's Chris's Mom now?"

"Much better." Daniel nods. "She's out of hospital."

"That's brilliant. I still can't believe she left her Mom after she had a heart attack to fly all the way here to see you!" I shake my head. "But then when it happened, I suppose her Mom was being well looked after surrounded by her kids when you got shot."

"She shouldn't have come." Daniel says flatly.

"Daniel, you're her biggest client. She's known you since you were eighteen! Chris has three sons, but always says you feel like hers too." I beam at him before I indicate and turn into the underground car park at the agency's London offices.

As usual Daniel is treated like royalty when he is greeted by Chris's assistant, Ryan. We are escorted immediately through stark white corridors, adorned with black and white photographs of their clients. I pause briefly at Daniel's first head shot. "How old were you?" I gesture at the photograph.

"Bloody hell!" He laughs. "Eighteen, I think."

"You look so cute!" I exclaim regarding the boy in the photograph. Daniel is fresh faced with floppy dark hair. Only the eyes give him away. The eyes never change, no matter how much time passes.

"I used to hate being called cute." He laughs again. "Don't think anyone would call me cute now." He takes my hand and gently pulls me away from the photograph.

I grip his forearm with my other hand affectionately. "I don't know about that... I think you're pretty cute." I say quietly for just him to hear. In response, Daniel presses a soft kiss to my forehead.

Chris is waiting for us to enter the room and immediately engulfs Daniel in a warm hug. I let go of Daniel's hand so he can embrace her small frame properly.

"It's so fucking good to see you." She exclaims with watery eyes in her thick New York accent.

"You saw me two days ago." He replies lightheartedly.

"That was FaceTime, you ass." She scolds him like a mother before turning to me. "Lizzie, lovely to see you." She kisses both of my cheeks before gesturing for us to sit down on the other side of her glass desk. "Right... you two... we need to put our heads together and come up with a way to handle these blood sucking fuckers!"

I chuckle, still in awe of her straight talking ways.

"Can't we just stay out of the spotlight and wait for it to pass?" Daniel asks solemnly. "I've already pulled out of the next movie, so that buys us a month. It'll blow over."

Despite her petite frame, Chris slams her hands on the desk with authority making me jump. "Are you joking?" She shakes her head violently. "I'm inundated with emails, calls, texts, tweets! They are literally hanging out of my ass!"

"I'm so drained." Daniel says in a small voice.

"This shit is not going anywhere! You need a reality check, my boy! Let me spell it out for you... this isn't a normal Hollywood story!" Chris stands and takes a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. "I wish we could still smoke inside." She mutters to herself. "What has happened is like something out of a God damn movie! A stalker who was obsessed with you from childhood, public declarations of love, attempted murder... followed by a shoot out where you took a bullet for your girlfriend before the stalker was shot dead!" Chris returns to her seat heavily. "Honey, I'm sorry, but I love you, and I'm advising you that you cannot hide from this if you ever want to put it behind you."