Fan-Tastic Read Online Free Page B

something great standing right in front of me.”
    “So, what are you going to do about it now?”
    “Try and prove to him that I’m worth a second chance.”
    She tapped her fingers on the table. “I noticed he stayed the night with you last night.”
    “Damn, you’re nosier than the paparazzi,” he teased. “Yes, he stayed with me, but he slept in the other bed. I was only trying to help him save some money.”
    “I guess the comic book business isn’t very lucrative?”
    “Not for somebody who’s just starting out like him. I thought I would give him some guidance.”
    She smiled. “Like when you made that big announcement to the news that you’re gay and a certain has-been eighties television star better shut his homophobic mouth before you sicked some of our zombies on them?”
    Deke grunted. “It probably would have ended up giving the zombies food poisoning.”
    She tilted her head to the side. “What was he like in high school?”
    “Who? The has-been actor or Blake?”
    She gave him a playful tap on the arm. “Blake.”
    “Quiet. That’s why it took me a while to remember him. He was always in some corner, all by himself, drawing in a ratty sketchbook His fingers were always smudged with paint and charcoal and he had the worst haircut. I think his parents took him to one of those cheap salon chains that were always having $7.99 specials. Poor guy.”
    They glanced over at Blake. While he may not have much more money, he was way more fashionable. He still had those red and black streaks running through his hair and they went well with his black jeans and stylishly aged T-shirt—the colour of which had faded from red to nearly pink.
    Then Blake looked over at Deke with a smile and Deke knew he truly was a goner. His stomach even did that flipping thing as his heart thudded in excitement. Just like in all those old bodice-ripper romance books that Deke’s grandmother used to insist on reading out loud to him. It never occurred to her that it was inappropriate material for a sixteen year old. She had just thought that maybe hearing how ’real’ love worked would shake the gay out of him. All it had managed to do was put him off girls even more and hate anything that was Civil War themed, since those were the only books she seemed to like to read.
    “He’s cuted-out quite a bit,” she mused.
    He cocked a brow at her. “Isn’t the term filled out?”
    “Yeah, but since he’s skinner than Angelina, cuter fits better. Seriously, that boy needs to eat more. Does he live in a homeless shelter or something?”
    It took him a couple of seconds to realise Linda’s question was serious, but given that she was raised in a rich, show-biz family, he decided to give her a pass. She wasn’t the best at knowing how things worked in the real world. She was so self-centred that she actually thought Linda Blair had been named after her, regardless of the fact the famous actress was actually decades older.
    “No, he told me last night over dinner that he lives with his mother.”
    Deke didn’t add the fact that it was in her basement and that he had to fight five cats for living space. Knowing Linda, she would judge Blake for that. While she was sweet, it only an outer shell, whereas her inner parts could be as sour as a lemon.
    As if proving his point, she wrinkled her perfect nose, the one her daddy had paid top-dollar for. “Yeah, that’s the bad thing about those artist types. A lot of them are poor and most of them never make it.”
    “Funny, people say the same thing about actors.”
    Her brows drew together in confusion. “Really?”
    Deke thought back to all the horrible cattle calls that he’d gone through, all the mean rejections, and the times where he hadn’t had enough to pay for dinner. He was willing to bet that Linda didn’t realise that was how most actors made it.
    There was a lull at their table, so Deke got up. “I’ll be right back.”
    “Fine, but if Bert comes and asks where