The words concerned Ethan, his naturally protective nature coming out, but he reminded himself to treat everything with a grain of salt when it came to Theo.
Did you point him out to Veronica? To event security?
No! No one believes me!
“Theo...” Ethan groaned. He typed, How do you expect anyone to help you if you don’t ask for their help?
I’m asking you for help right now! Fuck!
That sounded like the Theo he semi-knew. Ethan could imagine him cursing and muttering as no one met his expectations.
I’m no longer your agent, Ethan typed to him. If you feel this man is a genuine threat, inform Veronica. She WILL help you. If she refuses, contact me. Okay?
Ten seconds passed. Thirty. A minute stretched into five with no new text.
“Well?” Max prompted.
“I don’t know,” Ethan admitted, lowering his phone and accepting that Theo wasn’t going to respond. “If I knew him better, I could tell you if this is all one big PR stunt for him. But I couldn’t get a good bead on him while we were together. He never played it straight with anyone, least of all with me.”
“Try Veronica. See what she thinks of this.”
Ethan brought up her number and sent a message for her to contact him when she had a moment. Five minutes later his phone buzzed with her text.
Aren’t you supposed to be on vacation?
He smiled and typed back. Short vacation. We’ll be home this evening. I heard from Theo yesterday. He’s concerned about a stalker. Anything on your end?
No one has stood out. Did he give you a description?
Only that it’s a male.
As he typed his answer, he flashed back to the attacker at the airport, Freckles. The man had been Theo’s friend or co-hort. What if Theo was using the same man again for this new scenario? Ethan would recognize him, but Veronica wouldn’t and would believe he was a genuine threat.
Ethan puffed his cheeks and blew out the air. If Theo used Freckles again, it would be beyond ballsy. It’d be borderline delusional, perhaps suggesting that he suffered from mental issues.
Veronica took a few extra seconds to respond with, That narrows it down a lot but I haven’t noticed anyone suspicious.
Ethan was about to recommend that Veronica look up the airport video so she could familiarize herself with the fake attacker, when a new text came in from her.
Theo is an interesting fellow, btw.
No kidding.
I don’t think he’s in a relationship with that Loren person, Veronica wrote.
Ethan didn’t like reading that. If Theo and Loren had broken up for good, it would be further motive for Theo to make up situations in which he was endangered, hoping for Loren’s sympathy.
What makes you think they’re separated? he wrote back. They were having trouble while I was with him, but they hadn’t broken up.
I think Loren changed his number. Or blocked Theo. Theo went ballistic yesterday morning and tried to blow off a signing event to return to California. He and his agent got into a screaming match on the phone. Wasn’t pretty.
“Theo tried to leave Vegas,” Ethan related for Max. “He was probably going to try to see Loren, but his agent made him stay.”
“And I should care about this why?”
Ethan managed not to laugh at Max’s tone. “I’m getting to the bottom of this. Veronica and I are unraveling a mystery.”
“Thrilling.”
Max couldn’t have sounded any more disinterested, which was fair. Ethan didn’t care about Theo Smith’s love life, either, but he wanted to make sure it wasn’t tied into the man’s claim of being stalked by a dangerous fan.
How’s Theo now? he texted.
Angry. Petulant. He has dinner tonight with fans. He’s going to scare them if he keeps this mood.
Let us know if you run into issues. He may try to pull something weird tonight.
Weird is what I live for. Talk later. Say hi to the big guy for me.
“Veronica says hi.” Ethan put away his phone.
“Hello,” Max said blandly. “Have we confirmed that Theo was wasting your time yet again?”
“It’s not confirmed, no. But his last event is tonight and the contract ends along with it. That’s the window for Theo’s plan, if he has one, to play out.”
“Then all we can do is wait and see.”
Ethan nodded decisively. “Odds are, nothing happens.”
“I repeat: you are terrible at gambling.”
Ethan’s mind drifted as they continued to the airport. “Would you pull something like what Theo did if I’d appeared to lose interest?”
“Ethan—”
“This is a hypothetical, Max. Say I get fed up with the wedding drama and I said forget it, this is all too heavy for me. I’m moving to Chicago on my own. Do you think you’d do something drastic to change my mind?”
“From what you’ve told me, Theo’s relationship with Loren has been strained and questioned from the beginning. It’s no surprise that it’s falling apart now.”
“I agree, but you’re avoiding my question.”
The pinched line of Max’s lips showed how little he cared for the hypothetical, but Ethan knew he’d answer it only to satisfy Ethan’s curiosity.
“If the impossible occurred,” Max said, giving Ethan a look that said it was very much impossible, “I would exhaust my fortune to change your mind.”
Ethan smiled. “That’s roman—”
“That’s what you want to hear, yes?”
Ethan’s smile faded. “No, I want the truth. Or what you guess would be the truth.”
“I would let you go,” Max said quietly.
A chill rushed through Ethan that had nothing to do with the air conditioner. “You would?” he whispered.
“You’re a man who knows what you want and what you need. Assuming our parting wasn’t due to a misunderstanding, you would have left because you weren’t receiving what you needed from me. In that case, I would let you go. Because I love you too much to see you less than completely happy.”
“Max...” Ethan reached over for his hand. “Max, Max,” he murmured while pressing his lover’s hand against his own forehead. “You would actually do that. Even if it killed you, you would let me go because you love me.”
“Yes.”
Sometimes the depth of the feelings Ethan held for Max frightened him and awed him at the same time.
“I can’t say I’d do the same thing,” he said as he brought Max’s hand to his lips. “I’d probably become a complete psycho and stalk you day and night until you changed your mind.”
“No. You wouldn’t.” Max shifted his hand to caress Ethan’s cheek. “You would let me go, too, for the same reasons. That’s why you and I will never part.”
Ethan laughed nervously, filled with too much emotion. “This got unexpectedly heavy. I was aiming to see what kind of antics you’d be willing to do to win me back. Holding a boombox beneath my window, that sort of thing.”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to hire someone to pretend to attack me so I could confess my feelings to you on a tarmac,” Max said coolly.
“I think Theo really loves Loren, though.”