Wayne let out a heavy sigh. “Oh, lord. Why do I feel like you’re referring to something that already happened?”
I figured Wayne would find out eventually, considering he and Kai told each other everything. So I told him what I’d told Kai earlier that day.
“I cannot believe you lied to her about who your fiancée was.”
“I didn’t lie. I omitted.”
“Same thing.”
“Yeah, well, no one is supposed to know about the whole engagement thing, so keep it between us, okay?”
Wayne made a face. “Whatever. Fine. But what about tonight? She can’t go on like this.”
“Well, if she can’t, then her understudy, Madeline, will take over.” It was my best guess. No way would Jimmy let Claudette on with such short notice. “Kai will have her spot back when the doc releases her.”
“She’ll be devastated.”
“Madeline is her friend. She’ll be happy Madeline gets a chance to perform.” I tried to believe my own words, but the truth was, I had no clue what was going to happen if I didn’t get out on that stage tonight.
A groggy voice interrupted. “Over my dead body.”
Wayne let out a laugh and leaned over Kai. “You’re awake.”
“I am now. Were you two trying to plan my funeral too?”
I stepped forward beside Wayne and placed a hand on Kai’s leg. “How do you feel?”
She winced as she pulled herself up a bit. “Nothing a bag of B12 can’t fix. What time is it?”
I glanced at the wall clock and groaned inwardly. The time was five o’clock, which meant Kai still had two hours to get to the theater for the night’s performance. Something told me she was absolutely going to try to get there. “Just rest, Kai. The doc will be back to check on you soon. You hit that plank pretty hard.”
“I’m fine,” she insisted. “Where’s the doc?” She jiggled her arm where the IV was taped to her. “He can take these things out.”
Wayne shot me a look as though he was also second-guessing her state of health. “I’ll go tell the nurse you’re awake. Maybe they can speed up the process to discharge you.”
As soon as Wayne vanished out the door, I tuned to Kai with a stern look. “I’m glad you feel healthy enough to go out there, but maybe you should rest tonight. Let the doctor examine you further. Get some sleep, and feel better for tomorrow’s show. The weather hasn’t improved that much, which means the stage will get pretty rocky.”
I knew Kai had been angry with me earlier, but I hadn’t expected that anger to carry through until now. She glared back at me so hard that I felt lasers pin me in my chest.
“Sebastian, you of all people should understand that I’d rather be out there tonight. Besides, you’ll be out there. I’m not going to be stuck in this room by myself.”
“There’s no way I’m going out there tonight if you aren’t there. I’ll stay with you.”
Kai’s entire demeanor seemed to relax. “You will?”
I leaned in so that she could read my expression up close and personal. “I’m not going out on that stage without you.”
Kai blinked once, and I swear moisture was coating her eyes. “Really?”
My next breath was shakier than I’d anticipated. “Really. Now, please. Stay and get some rest.”
Footsteps approached behind us, and I turned to see the nurse poking her head in alongside Wayne’s.
“I hear someone woke up,” she said with a bright smile. “I’ve called the doctor, and he should be here shortly.”
Kai smiled back at her and nodded. “Thank you.”
The nurse walked away, and Wayne came forward with a curious look in his eyes. “So what’s the deal? We jailbreaking this joint, or are you going to stay?”
A tear slid down her eye as she looked back at me. “You promise you won’t regret it?”
“No regrets, Kai. Never, when it comes to you.”
She squeezed my hand and nodded. “Then okay. I’ll stay.”
After the doctor returned to assess her a short while later, he cleared her even though we’d both been ready to stay. However, he did order her to bedrest and said he would assess her one final time the next day to clear her to perform. So either way, Kai wouldn’t have been able to perform.
I helped her through the ship’s lower-deck corridor, up the elevator, and down the hall to my room. There, she rested in my arms for the majority of the night before stirring and waking us both up at two in the morning.
“What’s the matter, Kai?”
She stirred again. “Just thinking about stuff.”
“Stuff?” I scooted toward her and tightening my hold around her body. “Stuff with your dad?”
She shook her head. “No. Stuff with Claudette. And you. I can’t believe you proposed to her.”
Suddenly, I felt happy to give Kai the entire story. Then she’d know that what I had with Claudette didn’t compare to the way I felt for Kai.
“I never actually proposed to her.”
“What? But you said you two were engaged.”
I shrugged. “We talked about being together like we were engaged, and yes, we talked about getting married. We planned on buying her a ring after Angst and Grace took off on Broadway, but all it ever was, was talk.”
“I’m sorry, Sebastian, but you’re going to need to stop being so vague.”
“I’m trying to explain, but it isn’t easy to admit how dumb I was when I was younger. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for success. Dirk knew that, and he used it to his advantage. He was the puppet master behind everything. He encouraged me to pursue Claudette, to ensure she was locked in to play the role once we finally made it to Broadway. But I didn’t date her solely because of that. I genuinely liked her in the beginning. Though it never would have gone as far as it had if it weren’t for Dirk. I found myself in this hamster wheel, and once it started spinning, I couldn’t stop it.
“Next thing I knew, a year later, we’d made it to Broadway. Claudette had always hinted that she wanted more with me, and we’d made a silly promise to each other that, once we made it to Broadway, we’d get engaged.”
“And then what?” She pushed. “Where did it all go wrong?”
“One day, a month into our run, I felt ill and called out sick. Later that night, I ended up feeling better and decided to watch the show from the audience. When I went backstage to surprise Claudette, she wasn’t in her dressing room, so I checked mine. And there she was, fucking Dirk on my couch.” I was sickened by the visualization flashing through my mind.
She gasped and clasped a hand over her mouth. “They were in your dressing room?”
“Yup. That’s why I trashed it.”
Her jaw fell open. “That’s when you got the nickname Bash.”
“Yup.” I let out a laugh, feeling the irony of everything that had gone down. “And then they eloped a month later. But here’s the thing. A huge part of me was relieved. Here I was, twenty-six and about to marry a woman I barely knew and didn’t even love. I was more pissed at Dirk for pushing me into a relationship that he only ever wanted to steal.”