Somewhere Only We Know(21)

“I’ve got my legs,” I shouted without looking back, reaching the elevator.

“Yeah, you do.”

I almost tripped. The nerve!

“Problem, though. We’re about ten miles out of the city.”

I whipped my head around. “WHAT!”

Jack grinned. “Let’s get breakfast.”





CHAPTER FOURTEEN


JACK


Okay, so I was lying. We were smack-dab in the middle of the city. But “Fern” didn’t have to know that. I needed to buy time with her and I was using everything in my arsenal to do it. Persuasive charmer mode initiated.

As we walked down the stairs, I glanced over at her again. She had insisted on going back into my apartment to wash off her makeup. “Good GRAVY!” she had yelled when she saw her reflection. With her face freshly scrubbed, Lucky looked considerably younger. For a few seconds, I was able to forget that she was the biggest pop star in Asia.

She caught me looking at her as we went downstairs, and instinctively reached for her cap, slim fingers grazing the stiff brim. Her long hair fell around her face and she seemed to shrink into herself. I blinked. Suddenly, the larger-than-life feel of her diminished.

“Are you in town with your family or something?” I asked. This charade rested on my acting chops—and right now I had to act curious about her in the way that anyone would be about a stranger.

She hesitated before answering, “Uh, no. I’m here with my church choir.”

Good one. “For fun?”

“Work. We’re doing a few performances. Our choir is pretty famous. In the … church choir world.” Her voice trailed off, and I held back laughter.

“So, aren’t they going to wonder where you were all night?”

She chewed on her lower lip. “Yeah … which is why I need to go back early enough before they notice. Which is why I don’t want to go to breakfast with you.”

“You owe me, though.”

The most vicious scowl crossed her face. “We’ve already established I don’t have any money on me!”

Right. “You owe me your lovely company, then.”

She stopped on the stairs and leaned in close. Menacingly. “I don’t owe you my company, ever.”

Her reaction startled me. “Sorry. I was kidding.” It was a flash of the powerful superstar she was. My determination to make this story happen grew stronger with each step we took.

“Have better jokes,” she muttered as she continued down the stairs. Ouch. Maybe time to reel back some of this arrogant charmer bit.

“I want to keep hanging out, that’s all,” I said. It was the truth.

I was hoping the words would disarm her, enough to convince her to stay with me. I had no idea how much time I would have with her, but I knew that she had ditched her hotel last night for a reason. I only had to add to that reason, make it more enticing as the day went on.

It worked. She looked at me with pink cheeks. “Okay, fine. Why didn’t you say so?”

I smiled the rest of the walk down the stairs, and when we reached the ground floor, I opened the door into the small lobby. Harsh daylight washed over us, and Lucky’s head immediately tilted down, her hand reaching up to block her face.

How many times had I seen this pose? All the celebrities photographed in airports, grocery store parking lots, their own backyards? It always reeked of wary entitlement to me, like, “My livelihood depends on your attention but I also demand a level of privacy that is unrealistic.”

But being here, on this side, all I felt was Lucky’s wariness. Laced with fear. It made me wonder again about why she had left her hotel room last night.

I did a quick sweep of the lobby to make sure it was empty. “Wow, pretty dead around these parts,” I said loudly, stepping onto the tiled floors, my body casting a shadow over her.

She relaxed visibly, her shoulders dropping a millimeter and her face peeking out from behind her jacket sleeve. When she confirmed that it was indeed empty, she dropped her arm but still kept her head tilted down.

Realistically, I knew she could be recognized in Hong Kong. She was famous all over Asia. But it was a huge, bustling city, and she wasn’t in pop-star mode—in fact, she was almost unrecognizable without the makeup and pink hair. Too bad it was hard to hide the fact that she was a stone-cold fox.

“Jack!”

My body tensed at recognizing that voice. I saw Lucky freeze up next to me, and I reassured her with a small smile. “My landlady.”

Mrs. Liu walked toward us from the front entrance, a bamboo broom clutched in her tiny, gnarled fist. She was the size of a fifth grader, her rounded back hunched, her puff of white hair shellacked into place. Shrewd eyes set into a remarkably unlined face sized us up, coming to rapid conclusions. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Fern,” I said, subtly pushing her behind me, trying to place her in shadow. I didn’t think Mrs. Liu would recognize her, but she often surprised me. She was Harry Styles’s biggest fan, for one thing. “We’re leaving now, so byeeee.”

“Stop!” she called out before we could duck out the door. “No sleepover guests, remember?”

Oh my God. I glanced at Lucky, who was turning a deep shade of red.

“Mrs. Liu!”