Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss(70)

“Follow me.”

As we got closer to the guys, I heard Donavan speaking in slow, measured sentences. He had his notebook out and was holding his phone up too, as if he was recording the conversation. “And do you feel others have helped you get to where you are today?”

“Absolutely. I wouldn’t be here without a long list of people.”

He was conducting the interview.

Donavan’s back was to me, so Grant saw me first. He smiled. “Lacey, Amanda, hey. Say hi for the recording.”

“Hi,” I said as we reached them. I tried to catch Donavan’s eye, but he was focusing all his energy on his notebook and phone.

“You look hot, Lacey,” Grant said, and Donavan’s jaw twitched.

“What are you guys doing?” I asked.

“Your tutor wants to know about acting. He’s going to write a piece for his high school paper.”

“I just have one more question,” Donavan said.

“Okay, shoot,” Grant said.

“How would you feel if I shared the following statement on my social media?” He cleared his throat. “‘Grant James, helped by many over the years, doesn’t believe in helping others. He watched from the sidelines as his costar’s reputation got trashed’?” Donavan’s face showed no emotion. He had asked the question in the same measured calmness he had asked the one before.

Grant’s face, on the other hand, became stone.

Amanda let out a startled cough and I just stared at Donavan. I couldn’t believe he was doing this, and doing it so well. I knew it must’ve been hard for him.

“That’s a great question,” Amanda said.

Grant crossed his arms over his chest. “What do you expect me to do? I’m not exactly in a good position to help anyone else.”

“You still have millions of loyal fans,” Donavan said. “A few nice posts about Lacey online would go a long way.”

“My publicist tells me exactly what and when to post.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Grant didn’t respond, meaning Donavan was right, Grant wasn’t told what to post. At least not all the time.

“Nobody tells me when or what to post either,” Donavan said. “So I guess I know what I’ll be posting today.”

“I’m sure you and your hundred followers will find a post about me shocking.”

“Between all my platforms, I have two hundred thousand followers,” Donavan said.

“What?” I asked in shock.

“I had a review go viral,” he said. “So most of my followers are very specific ones. Ones who would appreciate this new bit of information about Grant James.”

Amanda laughed a little next to me. “Let me guess. Can I guess?”

Grant looked at her. “Am I missing something?”

“‘Grant James Goes Down in Flames,’” she said.

Grant’s head whipped back to Donavan so fast that I was surprised he didn’t black out. “That was you?”

Donavan handed his phone to me as if he knew what was coming.

I stepped in front of him. “Don’t do anything stupid,” I said to Grant.

“Are you all blackmailing me?” he asked.

“Just giving you a little motivation to be a good person,” Donavan said. “I have a different, much better statement I’d rather share with my followers: ‘Grant James breathes the life into Lacey Barnes’s career and revives his own along with it.’ Together they are power.”

“You’d say that?” Grant asked. “To your mob of Grant James haters?”

“And I would actually mean it. I could throw in something about how Lacey said you were an excellent kisser too, if you’d like.”

I almost scoffed at that, because I said nothing of the sort, but I clamped my mouth shut. Donavan was seconds away from succeeding at this.

Amanda chimed in. “Can you imagine the praise you’ll get forever if you help launch a career? Lacey will do big things after this, mark my words. And it will be because of you.”

It was obvious that everyone in this group knew that the way to appeal to Grant’s mercy was through his ego. Except him, maybe.

“It’s not that I don’t like you, Lacey,” he said. “You’re cool. It’s just that I need to prove myself with this movie, and if you don’t hold up your end, I kind of want to distance myself from you.”

“I know,” I said. “I’m not a fan of things going wrong either.” I looked at Amanda, waiting to see if she was willing to confess yet.

“It wasn’t me,” she insisted. “And if it wasn’t me. And I’m assuming it wasn’t you,” she said, pointing at Grant. He shook his head. “Then whoever it was is still out there trying to ruin things.”

“Hopefully, I can work around that. I want this movie to be successful just as much as you do. And I think if we work together as a team, it will only help all of us.” I met Grant’s eyes.

His eyes went down to the phone that I realized I was still holding out, recording. “I turned it off.” He let out a long sigh. “Fine. I’ll post some awesome things about you.”

“You will?” I asked.