She could ask him why he hadn’t bought or borrowed a charger. She could find out why he’d missed his flight. She could scold him for worrying the people who loved him.
Or she could ask the only important question. “Are you ill or hurt in any way?”
“I’m not sick.” His pause discomfited her. “And if I’m in pain, I brought it on myself.”
Oh, shit. “Alex—”
He mustered a pale shadow of his usual grin. “Don’t worry, Wr—Lauren. You won’t be seeing me in your emergency room. It’s not that kind of self-harm. I promise.”
What that meant, she wasn’t certain. But she didn’t see any obvious signs of illness or injury, and he didn’t appear to be in acute distress.
“In that case …” She lifted the phone clenched in her sweaty hand. “I need to text Marcus and let him know you’re okay.”
Once she’d sent the message and confirmed its delivered status, she looked up to find his tired eyes trained on her, his lips tight.
“Sorry you came all this way for no reason, but thank you for caring about my well-being.” His knuckles shone white as he gripped the bench on either side of his hips. “May I escort you back to your car?”
Now. She would do this now.
“No,” she said.
“But—okay.” His shoulders rounded, and he studied the stairs under his feet. “Okay. I understand.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think you do.”
Courage, Lauren.
She was important. To him, and to herself, which meant this was the right thing. Finally, finally, she was doing the right thing.
“I would have come to see you anyway. If not tonight, then tomorrow.” Sucking in a deep breath, she set her fists on her hips. “I have things I need to say, and it’s going to be hard for me, so can you please let me speak until I’m done?”
He inclined his head, now watching her carefully once more, his entire body tense.
“I owe you an apology.” When she focused on the wrong she’d done him, the words came more easily. “Not only for the way I left, but why I left. I shouldn’t have abandoned you in the middle of a wedding reception, regardless of my reasons, but I definitely shouldn’t have abandoned you without telling you what had happened.”
Those tired eyes had turned sharp as flint once more, his haze of exhaustion gone in a heartbeat. But he didn’t say a word.
“I was already worried someone would say something terrible to me in front of you, because I knew how you’d react, and I just—” She blew out a breath. “I didn’t want you to get in trouble over me. Again. So I sent you up to the front table, figuring that would keep you safe.”
He opened his mouth, paused, then clamped it shut again. Which she appreciated, but this next part was going to be the true test of his self-control.
Her short nails biting into her palms, she braced herself and told him. “Then your agent tracked me down and asked to speak with me privately.”
A low, muffled, furious sound erupted from his chest, and he jerked violently, his brows slamming together. His expression hardened to stone, but he grimly kept his mouth closed.
“I refused at first, but he said he was concerned about you, and you’d seemed …” Restless and ashamed, she tugged at the end of her ponytail. “You’d seemed not yourself since your meeting with him, and I didn’t want to disrupt the reception by bothering you. So I went with him. Which I shouldn’t have done, and I’m sorry about that too. I promise never to speak to one of your business partners without you present ever again.”
At that, some of the fury faded from his grimace, and he blinked at her once. Twice.
“He told me about the StreamUs offer.” Another tug at her hair. “He said it was your last shot in Hollywood, and if they wouldn’t agree to have me as your cohost, you’d turn down the offer. He said even if they did agree, if I refused, you’d still turn them down.”
She frowned at him, because she’d been wondering—“Was that true? Did you tell him that?”
Exhaling loudly through flared nostrils, he nodded.
Well, at least she hadn’t bought an outright lie. There was that.
“I thought so. It sounded like something you’d say.” She pursed her mouth. “For what it’s worth, he seemed sincerely concerned for your future, Alex. And we both agreed the job was perfect for you. But we shouldn’t have had a conversation about your life and career without you, and I want you to know I realize that.”