The Book
Bodyguard Adam Freeman draws what everyone else thinks is the short straw at the convention for a procedural cop show - as bodyguard to TV actor Logan Brady. Or as the Internet has labelled him, Logan 'Sex God' Brady.
Logan is taking part in a convention at a London Hotel for his show 'Night Cop' and someone is threatening his life.
Adam gets more than he bargained for when his client combines coming out of the closet with them both trying to stay alive.
"....Body Guard to a Sex God by Rj. Scott is crazy good. Not only are the main characters strongly written, so are the sub characters. The writing makes it very easy for the readers to feel what the characters are feeling. This is a fun whodunit lite read that will keep you guessing until the very end. Just when you figure it out, the game changes...."
Bodyguard Inc. Series
Book 1 - Bodyguard to a Sex God
Book 2 - The Ex Factor
Book 3 - Max and the Prince (WIP)
Buy Links - eBook
Love Lane Books | Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | ARE | B & N | Kobo | Smashwords | iTunes
Buy Links - Print Book
Amazon US | Amazon UK
Reviews
Hearts On Fire Reviews - 4/5 - "....I liked the idea of a crazed killer at a soap opera convention and the mix of both humor and seriousness that Ms Scott injected into it. Both Adam and Logan are strong and likeable characters. The story revolves primarily around Adam and Logan but there are some very good secondary characters such as Stacia and Robert. I felt the sexual tension and emotional bond between the two men to be the driving force behind this particular story. ... There are a couple of plot twists and turns in the last half of the book that kept the pace of the story moving and kept me flipping pages to the much deserved HEA...."
MM Goodbook Reviews - 4/5
- "....I loved this story for its storyline, characters and smooth
flowing plot, R.J. Scott brings the characters to life giving you
insight into not only both main characters, but also into some of the
supporting characters like Stacia and Robert, she even gives the stalker
a spine tingling personality. Adam and Logan do have a wonderful
connection between them, and their attraction is tempered with the
realities of their situations, they are a hot couple and they do
actually take time before consummating their relationship…(mainly
because of circumstances), but there are enough scenes between Adam and
Logan to whet your appetite ... I have to recommend this to those of you
who love falling for the bodyguard, or falling for the TV star, a great
storyline, hot sex, psycho stalkers, wonderful characters and a very
happy wonderful ending...."
UK Gay Romance - 5/5 - "....Body Guard to a Sex God by Rj. Scott is crazy good. Not only are the main characters strongly written, so are the sub characters. The writing makes it very easy for the readers to feel what the characters are feeling. This is a fun whodunit lite read that will keep you guessing until the very end. Just when you figure it out, the game changes...."
Mrs Condit & Friends Read Books - 4.5/5 - ".....There are plenty of plot twists to keep you guessing to the very end, including one I didn’t see coming. I don’t want to give anything away so I’ll leave it there and wrap up by saying that I can’t wait to see more in this series...."
Rainbow Book Reviews - "....Besides the main theme, there's a lot going on in this mystery-love story, including “when one door closes another opens”; "truthfulness is the best policy", and "love will always find a way"; and more. Each sub-plot is interesting in its own right and they are all tied up nicely in a satisfactory conclusion. I'd recommend this book to everyone who enjoys a fast-paced, intriguing love story with a very happy ending. Thanks, RJ, for an enjoyable, hot romance with more than one twist...."
Prism Book Alliance - 4.25/5 - "....This seemed a really fast read and I couldn’t put it down until I had finished. It’s a real page turner that will keep your attention up to the end as working out who is the stalker is not easy as it appears, everyone is stalking him! The attraction between the two men is red hot and as much as Adam tries to remain professional he is drawn to Logan who has never had a proper relationship before. Logan is sensitive and compassionate with a small group of trusted friends who just needs a keeper and he wants desperately for that person to be Adam.
This author always gives us hot MC’s that it is very easy to fall in love for and this one was no different. Despite closets, knives, hospital trips, stalkers and living on different continents these two men fall fast and hard and seem determined to prove that insta-love exists. Now I will wait patiently to see if Ross will finally have his eyes opened!! Roll on Book 2...."
Paranormal Romance Guild - 5/5 - "....Not only was this a beautiful story about two great men, it is also a mystery as to who the stalker after Logan is. The mystery element in this story made it so interesting, guessing who it is. Is it someone Logan knows? Is it a fan? Is it someone he works with? There is explicit M/M sex, so this is a book for mature audiences. Can't wait to read book two...."
Guilty Indulgence - 4/5 - "....This was a great first book in a series. I like a book that has that first strong attraction and then builds off the chemistry between the two MC's. They want each other but are both hesitant for different reasons. This book does a good job of establishing the world and introduces us to secondary characters that will keep me coming back for more...."
Because Two Men are better than one - 4/5 - "....The main characters were wonderful and quite open about their feelings which was refreshing. There is not a lot of angst between the characters but they are definitely affected by a number of issues including Logan’s closeted sexuality and Adam’s desire to remain professional. The secondary characters were interesting (please give us a story about Ross and Kyle) and the drama was just enough. With a good pace, lot’s happening and likable characters, it’s a page turner and this book definitely set the scene for a great series!..."
The Blogger Girls - "....RJ Scott has a way with character and world building that I’ve always enjoyed; and her stories are always such an immensely pleasurable non-guilty moment for me. I think this series is no exception, and many of her fans will be thrilled with these alpha bodyguards and their love interests, and I, for one, can’t wait for the book three.
Overall Impression: I really liked it...."
UK Gay Romance - 5/5 - "....Body Guard to a Sex God by Rj. Scott is crazy good. Not only are the main characters strongly written, so are the sub characters. The writing makes it very easy for the readers to feel what the characters are feeling. This is a fun whodunit lite read that will keep you guessing until the very end. Just when you figure it out, the game changes...."
Mrs Condit & Friends Read Books - 4.5/5 - ".....There are plenty of plot twists to keep you guessing to the very end, including one I didn’t see coming. I don’t want to give anything away so I’ll leave it there and wrap up by saying that I can’t wait to see more in this series...."
Rainbow Book Reviews - "....Besides the main theme, there's a lot going on in this mystery-love story, including “when one door closes another opens”; "truthfulness is the best policy", and "love will always find a way"; and more. Each sub-plot is interesting in its own right and they are all tied up nicely in a satisfactory conclusion. I'd recommend this book to everyone who enjoys a fast-paced, intriguing love story with a very happy ending. Thanks, RJ, for an enjoyable, hot romance with more than one twist...."
Click to enlarge |
Prism Book Alliance - 4.25/5 - "....This seemed a really fast read and I couldn’t put it down until I had finished. It’s a real page turner that will keep your attention up to the end as working out who is the stalker is not easy as it appears, everyone is stalking him! The attraction between the two men is red hot and as much as Adam tries to remain professional he is drawn to Logan who has never had a proper relationship before. Logan is sensitive and compassionate with a small group of trusted friends who just needs a keeper and he wants desperately for that person to be Adam.
This author always gives us hot MC’s that it is very easy to fall in love for and this one was no different. Despite closets, knives, hospital trips, stalkers and living on different continents these two men fall fast and hard and seem determined to prove that insta-love exists. Now I will wait patiently to see if Ross will finally have his eyes opened!! Roll on Book 2...."
Paranormal Romance Guild - 5/5 - "....Not only was this a beautiful story about two great men, it is also a mystery as to who the stalker after Logan is. The mystery element in this story made it so interesting, guessing who it is. Is it someone Logan knows? Is it a fan? Is it someone he works with? There is explicit M/M sex, so this is a book for mature audiences. Can't wait to read book two...."
Guilty Indulgence - 4/5 - "....This was a great first book in a series. I like a book that has that first strong attraction and then builds off the chemistry between the two MC's. They want each other but are both hesitant for different reasons. This book does a good job of establishing the world and introduces us to secondary characters that will keep me coming back for more...."
Because Two Men are better than one - 4/5 - "....The main characters were wonderful and quite open about their feelings which was refreshing. There is not a lot of angst between the characters but they are definitely affected by a number of issues including Logan’s closeted sexuality and Adam’s desire to remain professional. The secondary characters were interesting (please give us a story about Ross and Kyle) and the drama was just enough. With a good pace, lot’s happening and likable characters, it’s a page turner and this book definitely set the scene for a great series!..."
The Blogger Girls - "....RJ Scott has a way with character and world building that I’ve always enjoyed; and her stories are always such an immensely pleasurable non-guilty moment for me. I think this series is no exception, and many of her fans will be thrilled with these alpha bodyguards and their love interests, and I, for one, can’t wait for the book three.
Overall Impression: I really liked it...."
Excerpt - Chapters 1 & 2
Chapter 1
“Hey, Blondie.”
Adam
Freeman showed the office manager his middle finger at the familiar and
detested nickname and then crossed to the coffee machine. He was tired
and just this side of irritable and Ross Jackson knew exactly which
buttons to press to wind Adam up big time. Adam hoped the middle finger
would be enough to get Ross to shut up, but no such luck.
“That
kind of morning, eh?” Ross offered with a laugh. He sidled up to Adam
and bumped shoulders, causing Adam to curse under his breath when hot
coffee splashed his hand. “It’s only gonna get worse.”
Adam
needed this coffee. He lived on the opposite side of London from
Bodyguards Inc., and the traffic on the motorway had been murder, even
this early in the morning. He couldn’t fault the premises—a converted
barn on the land of the manor house Kyle Monroe had inherited six years
ago. But he could definitely fault having to battle every commuter in
the city just to get his briefing.
“How
can anything be worse than an hour stuck on the M25?” Adam asked wryly.
Then he really wished he hadn’t. Sitting down behind his immaculately
tidy desk, Ross leaned back in his chair with his long legs in front of
him and his hands behind his head. He was the picture of nonchalance yet
had an air of knowing something that Adam didn’t.
“The M25 is nothing on this. We had a call-in,” Ross said. “You’re up on a Pretty Boy job.”
Adam
closed his eyes and cursed. His absolute worst contracts involved being
in charge of what Bodyguards Inc. labeled—off the record—as Pretty
Boys. Actors, singers, and in a worst-case scenario, reality TV stars.
Every one of them paid well, but dealing with celebrities who had more
money than sense all because they epitomized ‘star’ was his idea of
hell. The last job—Jesus—that X-Factor runner-up who demanded Adam call
him ‘sir’. He'd kept dropping Simon Cowell’s name like he personally
knew the guy. In addition, he was arrogant, narcissistic, and had the IQ
of a snail. Adam was well out of that particular job.
“Not only that,” Ross continued, “but it’s a science-fiction fantasy convention gig.”
“Convention?
Like Trekkies?” Adam couldn’t believe that he’d timed his life so
poorly that he was going to be surrounded by people wearing fake ears
and speaking Klingon.
“No, like vampires and stuff.”
Adam cursed and Ross just grinned. Bastard. “Is it too late to take some sick days?” Adam said.
“Are
you sick, Adam?” The new voice belonged to Kyle, boss and owner of
Bodyguards Inc. His drawling American accent was so damn sexy and for a
second Adam allowed himself to stare. Adam was fascinated by Kyle’s
accent, and hell, he’d let Kyle charm him using just his voice, and
maybe his large hands, any day he wanted. Pity the owner of Bodyguards
Inc.—or BI as Kyle called it—was so gone on Ross, despite the fact his
personal assistant remained oblivious to that fact.
“No. I’m not sick,” Adam said. No point in lying. Kyle could spot a lie a mile off.
“I
have a job for you. I’m guessing Ross already gave you the heads-up?
Star of an American TV series over here for a convention in London. He’s
been receiving threats, had a near-miss with a car trying to run him
down, and also had some objects left in his trailer on set.”
“Objects?”
Kyle
peered at the list. “Antique knives on two separate occasions, four
deliveries of red roses with thorns intact, and one dildo.”
“So
it’s a sex thing then?” Adam wasn’t surprised. Actors weren’t renowned
for high moral standards. The guy involved probably slept with everyone
and had encountered someone just slightly mentally unhinged. Still, that
didn’t make terrorizing the man okay so Adam concentrated on the rest
of the briefing.
“The
network has decided he needs tracking from airport to hotel, through
the convention, and out the other side to the airplane home with a
handover after one week in the US. This Friday through ten days to a
Monday. Good money. You want it?”
Adam
considered his options here. If he could just push past the memories of
past contracts with similar clients he would be fine. It crossed his
mind that perhaps he should ask if there were anything else that he
could do instead.
“No
chance of a nice industrial threat job? Or maybe I could work the desk
for a week?” The joke fell flat as Ross narrowed his eyes at the
question. No one went near the desk. That was Ross’s domain and no one
else’s.
Kyle
shook his head. “Sorry, dude. This is the only new thing on the BI
books today. Well, not exactly the only one, but Ed and Lorna both
turned Pretty Boy down. So yeah, it’s mostly your decision. If you want
it, say so, otherwise I’ll tell his management team no.” Kyle waited
patiently for an answer, all serious and businesslike.
“Why
did no one else want the job?” Adam asked, suspicious of what he’d just
heard. Kyle opened his mouth and then shut it again. Evidently the
other close protection agents’ reasons wouldn’t be good ones. Ross dived
in to help.
“Lorna
just got off a case and she’s recuperating, as you well know,” Ross
explained. Like that explained why she wouldn’t take on one of her
favorite kinds of cases.
“I
just got off a case as well,” Adam protested. A case involving an
idiot, two guns, a case full of whisky, and a week of driving all over
the bloody country. Not a good one at all.
“Yes,” Ross said dryly, “but you weren’t shot at, Adam, and she was.”
“Flimsy
excuse. Bullet didn’t actually hit her,” Adam pointed out with a laugh.
Gallows humor always worked best in these situations. He liked Lorna a
lot; the feisty redhead was fun and damn good at her job. No one wanted
to see her shot. Well, apart from her ex who had been served with a
restraining order. “What about Ed?” He knew he was clutching at straws.
Ed had seniority at BI, having been with Kyle since it started six years
ago.
“Ed
said, and I quote, ‘I can’t deal with screaming fans.’” Ross shrugged.
“You know he’s far too old and grumpy to deal with screaming women.”
“He’s the same age as me,” Kyle observed. He sounded affronted and Adam hid a smile.
“See?
Old,” Ross joked. Adam watched the byplay with interest. His boss was
so head over heels with Ross and Adam wondered how Ross could fail to
see the hurt in Kyle’s eyes at the comment. Kyle was thirty-five or as
near as, and Ross was only twenty-five… still, age was an irrelevant
thing in Adam’s eyes. Ross was losing out; Kyle was a good man.
“I’ll
take the job,” Adam said, just to break the tension. Yes, he would do
this. That was his job. He could manage ten days. Kyle tore his stare
away from Ross and held out the folder with the information Adam would
need. Taking the folder was implicit agreement that he would accept the
job.
Kyle
disappeared into his office and slammed the door shut behind him. His
hurt followed him like a cloud. Ross didn’t even look up from his desk.
“Why do you do that?” Adam asked.
“Do what?” Ross responded. The question was accompanied by a distracted frown.
“Go on at Kyle about his age all the time.”
Ross
huffed. “It’s only a joke. He doesn’t care. Anyway, the other computer
is all yours.” Evidently the discussion was over. Ross buried himself in
other work, leaving Adam to get on with what he needed to do.
There
was always a strictly professional brief in the folders that Ross
created and Kyle handed out. However, a good Google search often
highlighted elements in the case that would be useful. Adam had four
days until the client's plane landed at London Heathrow so he opened to
file to build the foundation for the assignment.
Even
he couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows when he saw the guy he was
being assigned to look after. Logan Brady was some high-class Pretty Boy
material. Twenty-nine. Brunet. Actor. Those were the basics. Adam
peered at the photo; he wasn’t sure if it was just the print resolution
but Logan’s eyes were really stunning and an incredibly bright blue. His
hair had a soft curl to it and was in one of those short, tousled cuts.
He wasn’t smiling in the photo. He had that typical shot used for
publicity where he was staring moodily at something just off-camera.
There was red around his mouth so Adam scratched at the photo. Nope. It
wasn’t coming off the photo. Reading the label explained a lot. ‘Night
Cop - Vampire, Cop. Brother, Lover. Killer, Hero. Isaac.’.
Okay.
So Logan Brady played a guy called Isaac from one of these über-popular
vampires-are-cool shows crossed with some kind of police procedural
show. He was seriously nice eye candy. That part was going to be
extremely easy to handle for ten days.
Flicking
through the pack, Adam pulled out pictures of the girlfriend, a
blonde-haired green-eyed beauty who clung to Logan’s arm in the photos
like a limpet to a rock. Logan wasn’t smiling in any of the photos.
Whether paparazzi or studio shots, he appeared to use the patented
cool-vampire stare for all of them. To Adam’s eyes he just looked
permanently pissed off. But then the young girls liked that kind of
thing, he supposed.
A
quick search had many more pictures, both the same vampire character
and others going back maybe ten years to a fresh-faced Logan in some
kind of teenage high school show. Adam didn’t exactly have his finger on
the pulse of kids’ TV shows, nor did he watch anything with vampires in
it, to be fair. But hell, if the stars all looked like this guy, then
he may well change his mind. Seems vampires and pissed-off faces paid
well; pictures of Logan’s house showed a small place in LA up in the
hills, at least so the label to the photo said. There were paparazzi
shots of Logan in his garden, Logan eating out at dinner, Logan
swimming, Logan shopping. Jeez, Adam wouldn’t have been surprised to see
pictures of the actor taking a shit.
The
fact that the paparazzi had snapped so many photos of this TV star was
no surprise to Adam. Over three-quarters of BI cases were with people in
the public eye, actors, politicians, the British aristocracy, and so
many other high-profile people. Adam was never sure how they coped being
out there for everyone to see, but then, he guessed the money helped.
The
information on the hit-and-run was sketchy. The internet had nothing
apart from gossip and hearsay. Apparently a car had lost control and
crossed the street, glancing the wall and coming to a stop next to
Logan. Either the term ‘hit-and-run’ was not an appropriate one to use
on this occasion, or the journalists hadn’t gotten the full story. Adam
suspected the latter based on how the network now appeared to want to
wrap their star in cotton wool.
Ross
crossed over and placed sheets of paper next to the open folder. He
frowned. Gone was the man who called him Blondie. In his place was
serious-Ross with a focused look.
“Logan
Brady’s manager sent over copies of the notes Logan’s been receiving.
It’s not good. They’re all addressed to Isaac,” he said.
“The character he plays on the show,” Adam confirmed.
“Yeah.
There’s also more information on the alleged hit-and-run. Logan is one
lucky bastard that he wasn’t a human sandwich between two or three tons
of SUV and a solid brick wall.” He left without further discussion, and
curious, Adam rifled through the notes.
Words
jumped out at him from the different sheets of paper; love and hate and
all the emotions in between. Celebrities received threats all the time;
it was almost a way of life that once you were a ‘personality’ you
attracted the crazy out of the woodwork. The last case he’d worked on
for the Metropolitan Police had been a stalker case and the client said
she received threats just as often as she received proposals of
marriage.
These
notes were well written, the grammar was good, they were tidy, and Adam
filed away that information as possibly useful. As to the content,
there was nasty, vicious prose in one, wheedling love declarations in
another, all written in the same hand and signed with the initials IR.
Threats to kill Logan over some kind of relationship with an Annabelle?
Adam checked the file. Annabelle wasn’t the girlfriend. A hunch had him
checking the show listings. Annabelle was the heroine to Logan’s bad boy
on the show, played by an actress named Marissa.
So
the same guy that professed love for Logan in one letter demonstrated
an equally vicious hate in the next, all because Logan’s character had
kissed Annabelle in an episode. Great, so he was dealing with a total
nutjob then, an irrational person with severe pretend-life issues. The
car accident details Ross brought over were far more detailed than those
Adam found on the internet and he spent a while looking at photos. If
the car hadn’t hit a street lamp then Logan would have been seriously
hurt. The driver ran but what few witnesses there were had caught sight
of a woman—short, slim, with blonde hair to her waist—fleeing the scene.
There were no CCTV photos, either. Apparently whoever owned Logan’s
contract at the studio wanted a lid kept on things.
There
was no indication that Adam had a bodyguard in the US, why did the
guy’s manager think that he would need one on his visit to the UK? The
probability that the perpetrator followed Adam from the US was slim.
Then he reached the last note in the list. A simple two sentence missive
that was written so tidily that it was a shock to read the actual
words:
“I’ll be at the convention in London. I can’t wait to meet the man who is the other half of me.”
Ah. That explained the need for a bodyguard then.
“Does he have a bodyguard in the US?”
“Some
kind of driver guy shadows him, but the network is getting serious and
have brought someone in for you to do a handover in LA.”
“And the cops? Do they have Logan Brady under surveillance?”
“No.
The agent said the cops felt it was nothing, not yet.” Adam knew where
the cops were coming from, each district had a glut of certain crimes,
and in LA it seemed maybe crimes against actors were the drug of choice.
He knew the feeling of saying to someone, “I’m sorry, but until there
is proof, until someone gets hurt, there is nothing we can do.” Still,
these notes were pretty damn specific in what they were saying. As to
hiring a bodyguard, BI often took on cases where the victims didn’t want
police involved so that was nothing new.
“Anyway,
no cops. Whoever pays Pretty Boy’s wages wants it kept low-key. A
vulnerable actor makes for a shit ‘heroic, in-your-face vampire cop’ and
the show is, and I quote, ‘coming up for renewal’.”
“A dead actor isn’t going to cut it much for renewal either,” Adam deadpanned.
“I
checked into the initials IR; the convention organizers are cooperating
but no one on their lists matches up with those initials. There are a
mix of UK, European, and US fans attending the convention. Not that we
can narrow it down, the letters came from the UK, tracked through to an
East London PO address in Greenwich so it could be anyone already here.
No addresses in the convention database match though. There are fourteen
hundred attendees; it’s a big pool of bodies, eighty-five percent of
them female.”
Adam
looked down at the letters. Despite the statistics offered to him it
would be foolish to accept at face value that a woman had written the
letters. There was also no evidence that whoever wrote them would desire
to drive a car straight at Logan. Nothing matched just yet and you
couldn’t just cut out an entire gender based on assumption.
Ross
continued, “Logan Brady is staying at the Upton Levington Manor Hotel.
It’s a suite with three bedrooms so you’re sleeping there. I booked it
through from tonight so whoever got the contract can get sorted.”
Adam
closed the folder and knocked it once on the desktop to align the
paper. A familiar buzz of excitement shot through him. Getting his teeth
into a job was always a good thing. Whatever the case was.
“Good
luck with your Pretty Boy, Blondie,” Ross called as Adam was leaving. A
middle finger up at his friend through the glass was a nice end to the
visit. He was still smiling when he reached his car over the fact he'd
managed to hide Ross's stapler again. When would the man ever learn to
leave the damned thing where Adam couldn’t see it?
Chapter 2
“You
know why having a bodyguard is a bad thing, Jimmy.” Logan slumped back
into the corner of the SUV seat and closed his eyes. How had it come to
this? The letters had started out like a million others he received.
Simple and to the point, they declared love and forever and very often
included lace panties or some other random piece of clothing. He’d had
wedding invites sent to him with his name next to the applicable girl or
boy; hell, he’d had notes claiming babies as his. Nothing quite as
disturbing as these letters, but then again, this person sending them
was probably a mental patient or something. Mostly harmless. That was
what he had to think otherwise he’d be jumping at his own shadow.
“Bodyguards
Inc. is the best, Logan, and they are very discreet. I’m forwarding the
mail to you with the details for the guy who is looking after you. He’s
the most suitable they have for you apparently. He’s done a lot of
these celebrity gigs. You have to know I’m paying a lot of money for the
best.”
“You’re
paying? Don’t you mean I’m paying?” Logan snapped. He immediately
regretted the tone in his voice. Unlike a lot of industry agents, Jimmy
was a good guy. “Sorry. I’m on edge.” Jimmy chose to ignore the quick
outburst; he was good at doing that.
“BI has a fine reputation. I know a guy who knows the brother of a cousin to the man who runs it.”
Logan
had to laugh. Jimmy knew everyone in one huge network of people.
Locating a bodyguard agency via a friend of a brother of a second cousin
twice-removed wouldn’t be a shock for a resourceful man like Jimmy.
“Anyway,”
Jimmy continued, “we also have the new bodyguard that will be in place
soon after you get back from the UK. Your English guy will be coming to
the States with you to do what they call a handover. I’m guessing
they’ll exchange notes.”
“Why can’t the US bodyguard start now and just go with me?”
“He’s
not contracted until the first of the month, and the network wants you
to have someone with local knowledge when you’re in England. This BI
company will be more than suitable. And don’t forget you have Mike
looking out for you up until then.”
“Great.”
Logan felt tired and just this close to cancelling the UK trip. If it
wasn’t for the fans he would be letting down then he may well have done
so by now.
“Stacia
wants to go with you. She’ll back you up. It won’t be any different
than any other trip for the show. Just play the happy boyfriend and let
her do her thing, and let the bodyguard do his as well.”
“I’m
not taking Stacia. I won’t put her in any kind of danger.” As it was he
had already begged off a dozen or so joint invites and begun to create a
little media space between him and Stacia. She would stay safe that
way.
“I don’t think the decision will be yours to make if she gets her way,” Jimmy pointed out.
“We
were talking…” Logan wasn’t sure how to word this. “Stacia and I that
is. She said Bryan isn’t doing so well with this whole
her-pretending-to-be-my-girlfriend thing. Says it’s holding her back and
that he loves her. Hell, he as good as proposed last weekend. Time has
come to end this with her.” Bryan was a good guy, an cop who adored
Stacia. He’d been damn patient for the last six months since he and
Stacia had met. They had to keep their relationship a secret just so
Stacia could keep making people believe she was with Logan.
Jimmy
sighed. “I know that. She called me as soon as he asked her. She’ll
cover you in London, but post-convention we probably need to find
someone else. Talk to her, Logan, find out how she wants to deal with
it. A discrete breakup with you in stages that we can filter to the
internet should take care of it.”
Anxiety
twisted inside Logan at the coming change in his ordered life. Stacia
had been his wingman for three years now. The blonde beauty was the
perfect foil for him and provided that brick wall between what he was
and what he let people see. They’d met through the show. Night Cop had
just entered its second season and she was brought on as a series baddie
for a few episodes. She was a close friend, knew all his secrets. And
he was a bankable commodity; her career had gone from strength to
strength since they’d ‘gotten together’. She’d just landed a recurring
role on a new comedy. Had to be a good thing for her; she deserved a
good career and a man who loved her.
“Matt
doesn’t have to hide,” Logan said. He couldn’t stop the sadness in his
tone. He wanted what actors like Matt Bomer had. A partner he could
really love, kids maybe someday, but still able to do what he loved—act.
Finding another woman to be his plus one in order to keep his cover to
the public at large was getting to be too much and he hated the lies.
“Then
you need to make a choice,” Jimmy said patiently. Logan could probably
quote word for word what his agent and closest friend was going to say.
“Your decision is easy. Be honest with yourself and with everyone else,
then deal with whatever happens next. You know whatever you decide,
there will always be work for you and I will have your back in anything
you choose to do.”
“I
know you will, J, and I love you for it, man. It’s just… I’m coming up
on thirty and I don’t have a clue what kind of roles will be out there
for me as I age, let alone if I came out of the closet. I’m not sure I’d
still get work as the ‘Sex God’ the tabloids keep labeling me as.”
“You
don’t need the money,” Jimmy pointed out. “You could do what you want
to do, go into directing, go back to school. Hell, Lo, you’ve been
acting since you were fourteen, in public and in private. Aren’t you
ready to be yourself now?”
“It’s not that easy. I can’t just decide to come out as gay.”
“You can. It’s very easy.”
“What
are you saying, Jimmy? That I should make a different decision? I’ve
been pretending for so long and hiding… and hell, what about Stacia?
She’ll be embarrassed, humiliated.”
Jimmy
chuckled. “This is Stacia we are talking about. She’s got balls of
steel and she just wants you happy. We can manage this in a million
ways. Call you bisexual, use the morals get-out clause in your contract.
You can take some time off, decide what you really want now. And, Lo,
remember…”
“What?”
“Thirty is a good age to change your life.”
Logan
ended the call and he switched to his email. The mail from Jimmy with
details of the bodyguard company was at the top of the list and he
clicked on the link to view the attached photo. His eyes widened when he
saw the cute blond in the photo. Well. Cute might just be the wrong
word. The man was looking stern, there was no smile, and Logan couldn’t
see the color of the man’s eyes or anything. But hell, the body and face
were fine.
At
least his bodyguard would provide him with some male eye candy to stare
at when he was surrounded by a million and one screaming fangirls. The
document described Logan as thirty-one, blond, brown eyes, five-ten,
ex-cop, specialist in hand-to-hand combat. Brown eyes, eh? Logan loved
brown eyes. And hell, with this guy he wouldn’t mind a little
hand-to-hand combat either.
They
arrived at the studio. The blacked-out windows combined with utilizing
the lesser-known back entrance to the studio meant he wasn’t spotted. He
loved his fans; without them he wouldn’t be where he was, and he
doubted Night Cop would have been renewed past season one. Now on season
five, he really considered himself fortunate for the show to have such a
loyal fanbase. It was only… some of the fans were really intense and
despite being six foot and more than capable of running quite fast, he
wasn’t beyond being scared when large groups of screaming girls—and
boys—got up in his space.
“Okay back there, Logan?”
Logan
nodded to his driver. Mike was one of the only people outside Jimmy who
knew the real Logan, and sitting in the back with scripts on the long
drive from home to here had meant several long conversations with the
burly driver. Jimmy had handpicked Mike and normally Mike would have
gone to the UK with him, but his daughter was having a baby. There was
no way Logan was taking the experience of being here for his daughter
away from Mike. She was already six days late and the hospital wouldn’t
let it go much further. If only she’d had it on time Mike would be going
with him, could be the brick wall between him and the fans. But on the
other hand, Mike wasn’t a trained bodyguard, he was just a big guy with a
soft heart.
“Just
organizing the trip to London,” he answered and waved his phone in
front of him. Mike nodded in the mirror. The SUV pulled in beside a
whole row of similar vehicles, and turning the engine off, the driver
turned in his seat.
“Did Jimmy find someone good?” Mike looked concerned.
Logan
recalled Adam Freeman’s details. Not the fact he was five ten with
brown eyes and blond hair but the stuff Mike would want to know, the
fact the guy was qualified to look after him.
“Adam
Freeman, British and a former cop, came over from some kind of special
department out of London, counterterrorism or something. He’s a
specialist in hand-to-hand combat and is good at his job apparently.”
“An English Jack Bauer.” Mike smirked.
For
a second a flash of his frequently used Jack Bauer fantasy slid into
Logan’s thoughts, but he ruthlessly pushed it to one side. “I wish.”
They
exchanged smiles. They’d done the whole ‘I wish I was going, sorry to
let you down’ chat and they didn’t need to say anything else. Logan
climbed down from the SUV.
“Later,”
he said. Mike sketched a wave goodbye and left to park. Logan strolled
through the maze of small buildings and onto lot five, exchanging hellos
with anyone he crossed paths with. The LA sun was starting to heat the
air and he shrugged off his jacket. Today was the final day of shooting
episode ten and it was outside work right on into the night. That was
what he needed, hard, physical fight scenes in the dark with fake rain.
Hell, at least it would make him forget the letters and the fact that
Jimmy was right. He had a meeting with the network in a couple of weeks
and he needed to take that time to consider his entire future. He owed
it to himself, he owed it to Stacia, and he owed it to the show.
Jimmy
would back whatever he decided. This kind of support was invaluable to
have from your agent. If Logan came out as gay or bi or whatever Jimmy
spun for him, then he could at least stop lying. He’d need to handle it
carefully. Stacia could be part of the fallout through no fault of her
own and he didn’t want her to be laughed at in any way.
“Logan,
makeup now; I have you with Teresa in twenty.” A harassed assistant
scurried over with a clipboard in hand. “We need the post-fight scars
and the tattoos and we need it for ten.”
And so it started.
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