Take a Chance on Me_A My Heart Channel Romance Read online

  Chapter Two

  Chance Risk never got tired of hearing a crowd cheer his name.

  Well, except for the protesters, but he wasn’t going to let them get to him tonight. Here, in this moment, even those faded away into the sound of thousands of people cheering in anticipation of seeing him. He’d done several shows over the last year, but this was his first in L.A. His hometown.

  Someone from wardrobe tugged on his protective suit to make sure it was securely on him while the announcer started the video montage that would play for the next two minutes before he roared onto stage. His personal assistant, Kim, stood a few feet away with her tablet, a look of concern crossing her face.

  “It’s going to be fine,” Chance called to her, his voice halting with every tug the woman from wardrobe gave on his suit. Any other time he might be annoyed with how overly cautious the producer was being, but he was too excited about going out in front of a live crowd. Usually it was just him, his cousin Hannah, and his cameraman, Rog, out on adventures. They were cautious, of course, but they weren’t worried about being sued. “Have you heard from Rog?” he asked Kim, who always seemed to know what was going on with everyone.

  “Yep. The doctor said it was just food poisoning.” He’d been sick since they’d gotten back in town from Brazil the night before.

  “Good.” One less thing to be concerned about.

  Hannah snapped a few more pictures of him getting suited up, and he gave the camera a thumbs-up. She lowered the camera with a censorial look. “These are supposed to be candid, for the website.”

  This was Hannah’s latest idea to boost viewership, which had been steadily dropping over the last six months for reasons they couldn’t figure out. Hannah wanted to give a behind-the-scenes look at a live show to encourage their current viewers to continue watching. At one point, he’d been the fastest-rising MyChannel star, but then he’d started his live shows and the protesters had come out in droves, and, well, here they were. Trying to make sure they didn’t lose any more sponsors.

  “Chance being goofy is pretty true to what behind the scenes looks like,” Kim said in her standard bored voice, not looking up from her tablet.

  Hannah frowned. “I guess. But a lot is riding on this.” She turned to Chance, folding her arms, too casually. “I can line up some interviews in a snap, get you spotlighted in a few magazines, maybe expand our viewership—”

  “No,” Chance said, firmly. He was willing to do a lot to make sure Take a Chance didn’t fail, but talking to reporters wasn’t one of them. They were like vultures, looking for the next big story even if it meant picking apart someone’s life.

  “Aren’t we a team? This is a decision we should make together,” she said.

  Kim sidled closer. “Is this really the best time for this conversation? Chance has to get on stage in less than a minute.”

  “There’s never a good time to talk about this with him,” Hannah said.

  Chance rounded on her. “Hannah, you saw what they did to Christian.” First they’d puffed his brother up with attention, making him insufferable, then ran him over with false accusations that ruined his marriage.

  She took a deep breath and scrubbed her hand over her exhausted eyes. They’d all been pulling long days for months. And without Rog there, none of them felt quite right. “I’m sorry. But we’re desperate, Chance. This is a sinking ship.”

  And if it went down, they were all going to be dragged under.

  He pulled her into a quick hug, despite the cry of dismay from the woman checking his suit. Hannah had always been the one family member who’d believed in him, and he couldn’t let her down. “I’ll think of something,” he said with more confidence than he felt. “And if the show tanks, then we can all change our names and try again.”

  “Ha, ha,” Hannah said. “I like my name, thank you very much.”

  “I wouldn’t mind a name change,” Kim said, thoughtfully. Chance couldn’t blame her. As much of a burden as it had been to have the same last name as his famous brother, he couldn’t imagine what it was like being the daughter of one of Hollywood’s most notorious stars.

  “It’s pretty liberating,” he told her, easing some of the tension from the earlier discussion.

  “Maybe I could be Calamity Misfortune,” she mused.

  Hannah’s serious eyes brightened with humor. “Or April Spring.”

  “Yeah, I like it,” Kim said. “Just similar enough it’s clear you only had to look at the top two entries of the thesaurus.”

  Chance took the proffered leather gloves and slipped them on with a forced smile. “It never gets old, you two making fun of my name.”

  Kim shrugged. “Be more creative next time.”

  “There won’t have to be a next time, because I’m going to come up with a brilliant plan that doesn’t involve the vultures—” He gave Hannah a pointed look, “—and we’ll all get to keep doing the thing we love.”

  “Are you ready?” The producer, Jim, landed his beefy hand on Chance’s shoulder with more enthusiasm than necessary. The woman tugging at his suit finally stood back, apparently satisfied, and handed him a helmet with flame decals along the sides.

  His concerns would be waiting for him at the end of the show, but for now he was going to focus on making this the best moment he could. “Always,” Chance said, channeling his MyChannel, risk-taking persona and putting on his helmet, muting the sound of the excited arena. He walked to the edge of the stage and got on the motorcycle, revving the engine several times as the announcer yelled out his name to the screaming crowd.

  “Let’s do this,” he said under his breath, a whoosh of adrenaline rushing through his veins as he drove onto the stage, gaining speed with every inch. The bass of the blaring rock music thumped in tune with his heartbeat as he approached the ramp, going faster and faster, everything becoming clearer and more focused until he flew over the shark tank and through the ring of fire, feeling the warmth against his skin as he sailed through the air. Flying.

  He landed, the bass reverberating through his body, along with the cheers. He took off his helmet and clicked his microphone on, but waited a moment. Soaking in the energy.

  This was why he did this job. This feeling he couldn’t get anywhere else.

  Chapter Three

  Oliver gasped as Chance’s motorcycle roared to a stop on the stage, the scent of burnt rubber coming from the tires. “That was awesome!” he said under his breath, and Madelyn smiled and settled into her seat for the show.

  Chance’s voice boomed across the arena. “Hello! I’m Chance Risk! I’m glad you could all make it here to spend an evening with me.”

  She squinted to see his face clearer, but the features were too smudgy. His voice, though. She could swear she’d heard it before.

  Yeah, Madelyn. You’ve heard it a thousand times coming from the tablet when Oliver watched his shows. She shouldn’t have let her vanity make her leave her glasses in the car.

  Oliver leaned forward in his chair, his body alight with anticipation. Madelyn was glad Jason had backed out so she could have this moment and memory with her son.

  Chance continued to walk across the stage while people behind him quickly removed the ring of fire and wheeled away the motorcycle. “I got my start as a stuntman,” he began. “Working on movies like The End of the World, Shoot to Kill, and of course, Danger Dives 1 and 2.”

  A female behind Madelyn screamed, “We love you, Chance!” The crowd went wild with cheers in response.

  Chance paused to let the screams die down. “But it wasn’t what I wanted to do. So Rog—that’s my cameraman extraordinaire—and I got together for lunch.” The crowd yelled even more wildly at Rog’s name, and Chance chuckled. “On a side note, we are launching a new series of behind-the-scenes photographs of our events on the website later this week, so check it out, and you’ll get to see the man behind the magic.” This announcement was met with a few more hoots. “Rog was filming on Danger Dives 2, and one day a
t dinner after a long day on the set, we came up with this great idea of a guy who goes on filmed adventures. And Take a Chance was born.”

  Oliver followed his every word, enraptured. Madelyn had known Chance was an entertaining risk-taker; what she hadn’t known was that he also could tell a good story. His voice had all the right inflections, and he knew right when to pause and when to make a word louder with impact. He held the audience captivated with his words. She couldn’t clearly see his face, but she imagined it was just as expressive as his tone.

  “Our first stunt … well, do I need to tell you what my first stunt was? Or should I just show you?”

  Oliver bounced in his seat and clapped his hands. “It’s the shark, Mommy!”

  “Shark! Shark! Shark!” The contagious chant carried across the arena like a wave, until Madelyn found even herself caught in the current of the cheer.

  Chance’s voice boomed over the chant as it dissolved into a mass of enthusiastic screaming. “Okay! You asked for it!”

  Chance pulled down a ladder hooked to the tank and scrambled to the top. A few people came out from behind a podium, standing near the tank, and one man stood at the top of it, holding a net. Chance used both hands to wave at the audience, who silenced in breathless anticipation. “Many of you may not know that Danger Dives 1 was not the first time I swam with sharks. I’ve been swimming beside them in the ocean my whole life.” Madelyn shuddered, but couldn’t help leaning forward as he tossed the microphone down to an assistant at the bottom of the tank.

  “Do you think they’re tame sharks?” someone behind her asked, her voice awed.

  “As tame as sharks can be,” a man replied. “Which isn’t saying much.”

  The assistant lifted the mic to his mouth. “On the count of three, Chance Risk is going to risk his life by jumping into a tank with this tiger shark.” The crowd counted along as he said, “One. Two. Three!”

  Madelyn sucked in a breath as Chance jumped into the tank, falling all the way to the bottom before kicking his way to the top. The shark seemed mostly disinterested at first, skimming along the bottom of the tank. Chance moved closer, his body a black wetsuit blur in the water, moving above and around the shark. The shark finally noticed him and swam in his direction as Chance surfaced. A trainer leaned forward and yanked Chance out of the water just in time.

  The crowd jumped to their feet, cheering wildly. Madelyn put her hand over her racing heart, and slowly stood beside Oliver to clap. What if he hadn’t made it out in time? What if the shark had been just a little bit faster than him? It could have been a completely different outcome.

  But the shark hadn’t been fast enough. And Chance had made it out in time. Even blurry, it had all been thrilling to watch. She was starting to see why Jason and Oliver liked this show so much.

  Madelyn looked at her watch, shocked to see that ninety minutes had passed and the show was over, with Chance Risk exiting the same way he’d entered; flying through a ring of fire on his motorcycle, yelling good night to everyone.

  “That was so fun!” Oliver turned to Madelyn, unable to hold still for a second, his cheeks flushed with excitement. “With the fire and the sharks!”

  “It was pretty awesome,” Madelyn admitted. She rarely took the time to just enjoy life with Oliver. It was the nature of being a parent; she needed to make sure he was eating right, getting enough sleep, reading with her instead of watching too much television. But in all of that, they needed to find time for fun.

  As if you even know how to do that. A wry voice that sounded suspiciously like Jason’s ran through her mind.

  I have fun. Except she couldn’t think of the last time she’d relaxed and done something just to be entertained. At Christmas, when she’d taken Oliver to see the newest animated movie? Had it really been so long? She’d been working hard, and with Oliver starting kindergarten, they didn’t have the time they once had.

  Oliver tugged on her hand. “Can we meet Chance?”

  “Yep,” she said. “Let’s go figure it out.”

  They walked back up to the entrance and were directed to a set of stairs leading to the backstage experience with Chance Risk. The line was about thirty people long, a lot less people than she anticipated.

  She definitely didn’t want to know what Jason paid for these tickets. It wasn’t her problem anymore. It was just hard to turn off the annoyance at his overspending after feeling it for so many years.

  The line moved quickly while Oliver acted out some of Chance’s stunts.

  “I don’t want you trying this at home,” Madelyn said, concerned when Oliver pretended to jump through a ring of fire on a motorcycle. He may have been a serious, responsible kid, but he was still a five-year-old.

  “I won’t,” he said, taking her hand again as the line moved forward.

  They finally made it inside, where huge pictures of places around the world hung from every wall: the Grand Canyon, the Golden Gate Bridge, even the Eiffel Tower. She didn’t know if these were places Chance had already gone or just hoped to go to. A big-screen television played a montage of some of his best moments from his show, and Oliver watched, mesmerized.

  Madelyn watched a few with him as a close-up picture of Chance Risk laughing flashed across the screen. Her heart stopped and her hand flew to her throat, unable to process what she was seeing.

  It couldn’t be.

  Why had she left her glasses in the car? Frustrated at her own vanity, she pulled Oliver closer to the screen to get a better look. Chance Risk stood in a bustling market in the Philippines, talking to a vendor, his back partially to the camera as he reached into a bowl for something. He pulled out an egg and the vendor explained it was a fermented duck embryo. Chance described the history in an excited voice, and then turned fully toward the camera, a look of anticipation crossing his face as he prepared to eat it.

  Madelyn’s breath hitched. She’d seen that exact look dozens of times. Whenever Graham had a new idea. Every night he got to be on stage. The first time he kissed her. Before she met his family.

  Chance Risk, MyChannel superstar, her son’s idol, could not be Graham Sawyer. He could not be the man she’d left in college without a word, and had hoped to never see again. Not true, a little niggling voice of guilt said. There were many times she had longed to see him again. But it wouldn’t have done either of them any good. They hadn’t been a good fit back then, and it was unlikely time had changed anything.

  “Mommy, too tight,” Oliver said, tugging his hand from her grip.

  “Sorry.” She focused her attention back to her son and tried to block out the myriad images of Graham everywhere. “We have to go.”

  “But why?” Panic crossed his face, matching the rising panic Madelyn felt in her chest.

  Oliver dug his heels into the floor and tugged back while she pulled him through the thickening crowd. A sudden cheering began near the door and amplified as it spread through the room.

  Chance Risk had arrived.

  Chapter Four

  Madelyn scanned the room for a place to escape that wouldn’t take her right past Graham. Chance. She didn’t even know what to call him, but the last thing she wanted was to face him.

  Sure, she was the one who’d broken their relationship off eight years ago in the most cowardly way possible—a handwritten note taped to his door. But the draw between them had always been so strong that saying goodbye would have been impossible if she’d tried to do it in person.

  Their chemistry was never the problem. Nope. It had been everything else; how he never seemed to believe she could take care of her own problems and how he always swooped in to try and fix everything she was capable of handling herself. Graham always knew best. Overhearing what his family said about her had been the final straw.

  Between that relationship and her divorce to Jason, Madelyn wasn’t too keen on dating, much to her mom’s lament, who felt that life could not be lived without a man and had been married eleven times to prove it. But Madelyn was not
her mom. She could take care of herself and Oliver just fine.

  In the far corner of the room, the glow of the EXIT sign shone bright above the door. Madelyn slouched behind a group of people as Graham started to speak, and very slowly started to tug Oliver toward the exit.

  “Thank you for coming! I’ll be circling the room, so make sure I meet you!” His familiar voice ran through Madelyn’s veins like warm honey. She tried unsuccessfully to block it out, and instead picked up her pace until Oliver was nearly running at her side.

  Madelyn arrived at the exit and fled into the darkened hallway with Oliver. The moment the door shut behind them, Madelyn felt like she could breathe again. The hallway broke into a T. One arrow pointed toward the external entrance, while the other pointed toward the ground level of the arena.

  “I don’t want to go,” Oliver said between his sniffles, making her feel like a complete jerk. Oliver had been looking forward to this night for weeks, and Madelyn was making him leave because she couldn’t face seeing an old flame. The possibility that Graham might (or might not, still equally bad) recognize her was too much to deal with.

  She closed her eyes to reset her mind and came up with an idea. An idea she would never normally even consider. But she couldn’t stand to make her sweet boy feel so bad because of her cowardice. Besides, Jason had paid a ton for these backstage passes. So this was just going more backstage.

  She knelt down in front of Oliver. “Do you want to have an adventure?”

  “Do we have to leave?” he asked, his wet eyes wide.

  “Not yet.” She gave him a conspiratorial smile. “Come this way.”

  She led him in the direction of the arrow that took them through the deserted hallway and out to the arena floor. A cleaning crew swept up ash, but no one spoke to her as she led Oliver to the one thing she knew he’d like to see even more than Chance.