“You’re going to be seen leaving here no matter what,” I muttered.

He ran his hand reassuringly over my arm. “Don’t worry about it.”

“But if you’re photographed leaving in the morning?” I asked. I didn’t care about me, I was worried about him.

He looked at me with a serious expression. “If I leave here tonight, the paparazzi might just think that I arrived first – alone, and that they missed

me. If I leave in the morning, then the cat’s out of the bag.”

“What are you going to do?” It was his decision.

“I know what I should do. But what I should do is not what I want to do. If I leave in the morning, they are going to start following you.” He

motioned his head towards the window.

“What difference does it make? You’ve been here twice, and now there’s a private party here. I’m sure the connection has been made.”

“If I leave in the morning, that’s it. It definitely begins. Are you ready for that?”

A few select words he said crossed through my mind: “I’m falling in love with you” and “girlfriend.” Then I thought about the freedom that I take for

granted every day. I would no longer walk around the Earth in complete anonymity.

“If you really meant all the words you said to me on the roof, then yes, I’m ready.”

“Taryn, I just want to protect you. You know that, right?”

I nodded. I knew he didn’t want me to be hounded. But how long could he, or would he, keep me a secret? I guess a little disappointment

showed on my face.

“Well, we don’t have to decide now. We still have a game to watch,” Ryan said, giving me hope.

I turned the channel to Sunday night football. The familiar background music started to play and a few of the guys mimicked the tones. It was

funny.

“We’re going to watch American football?” Suzanne whined.

Ryan turned and spoke over his shoulder. “We could call a car for you if you don’t want to stay.”

I smiled inside. He was being nice, but he really wanted to get rid of her.

“I can call for my own car, thank you,” she snapped back. I was glad to see her use her cell phone.

I carried a fresh pitcher of beer over to the guys. They were all lined up at the table closest to the television.

“Gary, get your money ready!” Ryan teased.

I filled Ryan’s empty glass with beer. It looked tasty so I took a sip then handed it to him. He took a big gulp and handed the glass back to me.

“You get your money ready,” Gary bantered back. “I already have one of your twenties in my wallet; just waiting for another one. Maybe you

should give that twenty to Taryn to keep warm for me.”

Ryan patted my leg. “Don’t you worry about this twenty. It’s nice and warm, and looking forward to having another twenty to be its friend.”

Ryan rested his arm on the back of my chair and whispered in my ear, “let’s do a shot.”

“Preference?”

“How about that tequila we had that one time?” Ryan answered. “Do you still have some?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I think there’s enough left in the bottle.”

“Well, let’s kill it. I’ll give you money for a new bottle. That stuff was good!”

Suzanne and Francesca put their coats on and then Suzanne announced their departure. Hardly anyone said goodbye to them. Kat yelled “see

ya” very loud, but her tone was definitely more dismissive rather than a sincere goodbye.

I heard some screams coming from the waiting fans when they departed through my front door, but the screaming didn’t last too long. Since the

screams were coming from females, the crowd outside was obviously waiting for actors, not actresses. My thoughts were that they were really

waiting for one actor in particular to emerge.

I had suspected, and Ryan had confirmed, that the paparazzi were staked outside my building - waiting. But it was only then, when Suzanne and

Francesca left, that the amount of paparazzi waiting became more apparent. The entire sidewalk and the full length of my exterior were illuminated

by flashes from the cameras, completely lighting up the darkness outside my windows.

Once Suzanne and Francesca left, it was like everyone inside could breathe again. The men were getting loud, shouting at the football game,

and the ladies had to yell just so we could have a conversation.

My attention focused back on Ryan when I saw him talking on his cell phone. He didn’t talk long, but whatever he heard pissed him off. He

pounded his fist into the table. I watched as he leaned over and said something in Cal’s ear. Cal just shook his head in disgust.

After everyone did a shot of tequila, I sat at the big round table with the ladies to play some cards. Kat was getting tipsy; she was so cute to

watch as she giggled to herself.

“I’m glad the psycho twins finally left,” Kelly announced. Her comment made me chuckle.

“Yeah, what’s up with Suzanne?” Marie asked. “She’s kind of like a bitch.”

“That’s an understatement!” Kat laughed loudly.

“It’s surprising; on screen she and Ryan have such amazing chemistry. I thought she’d be nicer,” Tammy said.

“That’s because Ryan has the patience of a saint!” Kat yelled in Ryan’s direction. “We should call him Saint Ryan from now on.”

Ryan looked over his shoulder and smirked at her.

“We all told him that if he’d just kill her already, we could go home. We even offered to bail him out of jail if he’d do it!” Kat joked. “Right Ryan?

I’d bail you out of jail in a heartbeat, brother!”

“That’s why I check the clip in my gun before every scene.” Ryan laughed. “I’m so paranoid that one of you are going to slip real bullets in there

one day.”

“And what about Francesca?” Tammy asked Kat. “She barely said a word to anyone.”

“That’s because Suzanne does the talking for both of them now. Sometimes we wonder if Fran is made out of wood and Suzanne has her hand

up her ass making her mouth move,” Kat hiccuped.

Ryan turned around, laughing hysterically at Kat’s comment. He made a gesture like he had a puppet on his hand.

“Francesca has issues,” Kelly added. “At first she was really nice, but she developed this idolization of Suzanne, and then she became an evil

clone.”

Kelly lowered her voice. “Fran is infatuated with Ryan, or at least she was. I don’t know anymore. We think since Suzanne was in a position to be

close to Ryan, Fran started to mimic her - thinking it would attract Ryan’s attention. It developed into this sickness.”

“I’m still betting on the alien abduction theory myself,” Kat added. “One more movie, one more and then we are finished with them. I am so not

looking forward to having to hit the promo circuit with them again. It’s going to be a freaking nightmare.”

“Well Suzanne said some harsh things to Taryn tonight,” Marie added. “It’s pretty obvious that she’s got a thing for Ryan too.”

I looked down at the cards in my hand, displeased that she mentioned it.

“Taryn, she was a bitch to you! I wanted to punch her. Now when I see the next movie, I’m going to wish Charles would let her bleed to death in

that cave.”

I thought about Ryan having to go to work tomorrow. Would he say anything to Suzanne or would he just ignore it for the sake of keeping his job?

I presumed he would just keep his cool and do his scenes the best he could. It wasn’t in his personality to invite confrontations.

I was glad he told me what he did when we were in the shower earlier this morning. He was honest with me. I wondered if anyone else sitting at

this table knew about his slip in judgment when he slept with Francesca. If they knew, they certainly weren’t going to bring it up in front of me. Kelly

and Kat were above that.

I looked up at the television and saw that the Steelers had possession of the ball.