Derek
Get your ass to my office. Now.
Derek
I don’t care if you’re hungover. Put on some sunglasses and get up.
Derek
I have spent the morning working with your PR team and I swear to god if I have to see one more edit of you with your busted lip synced to a sad horny song I will quit.
Wes
I do trend well with bisexuals.
The phone thuds as I toss it onto the table. It lands next to the stack of papers, sending the top pages fluttering to the side.
I run my hand over the silver chain around my neck, making sure the ring is still there.
I can deal with her hating me, cursing my name. If there’s something worth fighting about, she cares. But now, it’s like I’m trying to flick a lighter on, but it keeps sputtering out on its last fumes.
There’s still fuel left, even if it’s almost out. I’m not going to waste it, this final chance. I sign these papers, and she’ll be done with me. I grab them from the table and the papers crinkle under the force of my grip as I stand and toss them exactly where they belong.
In the trash.
My phone lights up again.
Derek
There’s a car waiting outside. If you’re not down in fifteen minutes someone is coming up to get you.
Resigned, I shove my feet into shoes and loop my keyring onto my finger. Stepping through the door, I nearly trip over the blue electrolyte drink resting directly outside with a note stuck to it.
Rehydrate, idiot.It reads in Garrett’s precise handwriting.
A love note for me? He shouldn’t have.
I twist the cap off and down half the contents by the time I make it to the lobby. Out on the sidewalk the usual crowd waits for me, cameras at the ready.
“Hey, Marcus. How’s your daughter liking her first semester of college?” I ask, slowing my pace. I’ve been doing this long enough that some of the paparazzi feel like neighbors. Like I’m in suburbia, running into them as I shuffle to my porch in slippers and a robe to retrieve a paper, then look over to find them doing the same.
“Textbooks are expensive, and she hates chemistry but is otherwise good.” He shrugs.
I lower my sunglasses to reveal my battered face, flinching as I adjust to the rays of sun stabbing my eyes. “I’m guessing you’re needing a shot of my ugly mug to help out?”
The air fills with the clicks of camera shutters. “I’d tell you to take better care of yourself, but how else would I pay the bills?”
“True enough.”
“Is it true Avery Sloane was spotted here last night?” The questions burst from someone I don’t recognize. “How do you feel about her engagement?”
“Is he new?” I ask Marcus.
“Yeah, fresh in from LA.”
I push my sunglasses back on and step closer to the new guy. “I don’t mind you camping out here. You’ve got your bills, I’ve got mine. One rule. Avery Sloane is off-limits.” My voice goes cold and quiet as I bare my teeth in a smile. “Got it?”
He swallows, eyes wide. “Yeah.”
