LOL: Laugh Out Loud (After Oscar, #2)(46)

Scotty wasn’t wrong about the tabloid stuff, but he seemed so torn up about it—way more than he needed to be. “Hey,” I said, reaching again for his hand. “Don’t worry about that. We’re safe here.”

He looked up, his eyes meeting mine. “You’re not… mad?”

I brushed my thumb over his knuckles. “We can’t be held responsible for other people’s actions.”

He let out a bitter laugh. “Oh, god, you have no idea how much I wish that were true.”

“It is true,” I told him.

Scotty squeezed his eyes shut, and I noticed his eyelashes were damp with unshed tears. I ran my hand up his arm, squeezing his shoulder, then the side of his neck so that my thumb traced his jaw. He automatically leaned into my touch. “Thank you,” he whispered.

“Your mom made bad decisions,” I continued. “That’s not your fault.”

He squirmed slightly, shifting so that my hand could no longer reach his face. I dropped it onto one of his knees, still craving the touch of him.

“Here’s the thing…” He blew out a breath and then met my eyes. His chin trembled while he tried to stay steady. I could tell it was taking all of his courage to tell me this. “She has nothing. We usually live together to save money, and now she has no job and no place to stay. I need to go home and get a job. I need to face reality, Roman, and reality is me not being able to keep Nugget.”

I opened my mouth to offer him help, but he didn’t let me speak.

“Before you say it, no. I know you’re incredibly kind and generous, but…” Scotty shook his head and cursed under his breath before looking back at me with pleading eyes. “Please, Spartacus. Please don’t offer to give me more money. I don’t want to be that guy. Especially not with you. I just… I need help selling Nugget because it’s my only option. I can’t afford to keep her, but I don’t really know what price to ask, and how to make sure they’ll take good care—”

I’d had enough. He was trembling now, his eyes shining with tears. It was too much for me to take. He was too vulnerable and in too much pain. I couldn’t bear it. I yanked him into my lap and enveloped him in a giant hug. It seemed to be our thing all of a sudden, and I was 100 percent cool with that. If there was any way I could use my body to provide this man comfort, I would do it in a heartbeat.

“I’ll buy her,” I growled into his ear.

“No way,” Scotty said angrily, trying to wriggle out of my hold. “I told you—”

I held him firm. “Shh. I’ve always wanted a horse. In fact, just yesterday someone told me I needed a horse to round out my, and I quote, ‘fucking celebrity status.’”

My comment worked to elicit a small smile. Scotty snorted. “I was just pissed at the situation. I know you don’t really want a horse.”

“I do,” I told him earnestly. “I totally want a horse. And not just any horse. A Nugget. She’s grown on me. And I already know she’ll fit in my house, so it’s a match made in heaven.”

Scotty kept himself rigid a moment longer, and my mind spun with other ways to get him the money he needed while still allowing him to maintain his pride. Honestly, if he’d really wanted easy money, all he’d have had to do was call one of the tabloids and tip them off to my location. If he’d wanted big money, he could have snuck a photo of me naked and sold it.

He could have easily sold me instead of his horse. But he hadn’t.

My heart tightened at the realization. At the statement it made about how much he respected me and my privacy.

Ever since my first movie hit number one at the box office, I’d had people vying to get close to me so they could profit off me. At the time I’d been so naive and trusting. It had never occurred to me the lengths that someone would go to use me to get what they wanted. It had only taken a few breaches of my trust for me to learn my lesson.

I’d had no reason to doubt Scotty’s motives when it came to me, and I hadn’t needed proof that he wasn’t using me. But I’d gotten it nevertheless.

“I’m not selling you my horse,” Scotty said with complete annoyance. “Stop trying to make this okay. It’s not okay. Nothing about this is okay! I’m selling her to Kip’s dad.”

“It will break my heart if you take Nugget away from me,” I told him. And it was true. Because it would break my heart to see Scotty have to let go of something he loved so dearly. “And if you sell her to Kip’s dad, I’m going to have to offer him even more money to buy her back. Please don’t do that. Let me buy her for cheap direct from the source.”

I was trying to lighten the mood in hopes it would keep both of us from shattering.

Scotty snorted through his tears. His smile made my heart sing. “Don’t be ridiculous, Save-Everyone Man.”

“I don’t want to save everyone,” I murmured, catching his eye. “Just you. And Nugget.”

Scotty’s body sunk against mine as he let out a breath. “I’m so sorry, Roman. I told you you’d hate me.”

I ran a hand through his short blond waves. “And you were wrong. I don’t hate you. In fact, I like you more and more with each passing moment.”

Scotty pulled back to give me the side-eye. “Did Marigold leave you some magic mushrooms by any chance?”