Bill didn’t say a word about whatever he must have heard from down the hall while he finished closing up the bar though. Instead, he winced. “Hate to tell you this, but when I shut off all the lights up front, I noticed there are several young adults in the parking lot. Maybe about a dozen with three cars. They’re surrounding your car.”
Fuck. “Shit.”
“Yeah. Didn’t figure that would make you too pleased. I didn’t mean to pry into your business, but I heard a little about your problems today from Liz. Seems like you could use an escape route.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. “Why don’t you leave your car out front and take mine from the back. Hopefully, you can drive away without being hounded by the crazed fans.”
Tuck stared at the man, speechless. He also realized he couldn’t possibly come back here again. And that thought stabbed him in the chest. “I’m so sorry I brought this to your establishment. I shouldn’t have taken this kind of risk. I didn’t realize things would get so out of hand, or I wouldn’t have asked you to hire me. I never imagined having some social media fans who tracked me and followed me everywhere.”
“No harm done, Son.” Bill frowned. “I’m not worried about a few kids in the parking lot. They probably want autographs.”
Damn, he was being nice about this. He should be furious. Tuck cleared his throat. “I’ll see if I can find a buddy to fill my place here, someone with enough experience to continue investigating your problem.”
Bill frowned again. “Why would you do that? You’ll catch the guy. I have every confidence in you.”
“It’s not that, sir. I just don’t want to draw unwanted attention to your bar. It was thoughtless of me.”
Bill’s face changed and he chuckled. “Tucker, there is no such thing as unwanted attention in a bar—except maybe a drug dealer. If your celebrity status brings in more customers, I call that a win. Don’t you dare quit.” He shoved off the door frame. “Take my car. See you tomorrow.” And then he walked away.
Tuck was still staring at the empty doorway as he heard the man’s footsteps on the stairs leading to the above apartment.
Jodi was suddenly behind him. She set her hands on his hips and pressed her body against his back. The warmth of her breath through his shirt was comforting. “He’s right. We need you here. Fifteen days. You got this.”
Fifteen days seemed like an eternity. And then Tuck had a thought. Hell, if even half of the rumors running around were true, maybe this thing would be over long before two weeks.
Chapter 10
“You have got to be kidding me,” Tuck exclaimed the next morning as he paced the floor of his small apartment.
Katia was sitting on the sofa with a smug look on her face.
Maria Hortez, the director for Cold Feet, was sitting in an armchair. She had her legs crossed and was leaning back as casually as if they were discussing where to go to dinner. Maria shrugged. “There’s no actual proof.”
Katia crossed her arms. “That’s right. Just because I went to visit two friends from the set yesterday doesn’t mean I’m sleeping with them. God, Tuck. I can’t believe you think so little of me. We just got married.”
Tuck stared at Katia, blinking a few times. The woman was driving him mad. Did she not realize the cameras weren’t currently running? She didn’t have to bat her eyes and put on a performance for Maria.
“She’s got a point, Tuck,” Maria stated. “She made friends. That’s not a crime.”
Maria was a fool.
Tuck groaned and spun around to get a cup of coffee. It was too early in the morning for this nonsense. When he’d finally gotten back to the apartment last night, he’d listened to six messages on his phone. Three were from Maria. One was from the executive producer, Joanne Rossi, one was from the nursing home where his mom lived, and one was from Dave, the associate director.
The gist he got from all the messages from the studio was that he needed to be up in less than four hours to have this little meeting before the show would resume broadcasting. Even though the live feed was technically twenty-four seven, in reality, there was nothing to see from the living room and kitchen while both Tuck and Katia were in the bedroom at night. It was easy enough to freeze the screen on the empty apartment to have a meeting at this odd hour. Afterward, Katia and Tuck would return to the bedroom and the cameras would resume running to catch them presumptively emerging for the first time that day.
“What about you?” Katia asked, her voice hoity.
“What about me?” He narrowed his gaze at her.
“Maybe you’re just feeling guilty because the truth is you’re the one cheating. How am I supposed to know where you go for two hours twice a week?”
It took all his strength not to scream. “Well, Katia,” he drawled. “Who do you think I’m fucking at the nursing home? Now that the entire world knows about my private life, don’t pretend you don’t know too.” He shifted his gaze to Maria. “If you want me to continue filming this, I need you to provide protection for the nursing home, by the way. They can’t be expected to cover the added expense of having increased security out front.” He knew he was almost overstepping his bounds, and there was a chance Maria would laugh at him and tell him to fuck off.
She surprised him, however. “Done. I’ll have someone over there this morning.”
He lifted both brows, shocked. “Good.” Apparently the show was making far more money than they expected.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Katia whined. “You have a secret girlfriend who works there or something?”
Now he wanted to throttle her.
“Katia, that’s enough,” Maria barked. “You’re being petty.”
Katia shrugged nonchalantly. “What about that
