Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
“I’m glad my sister is so worried about my safety.”
“Hey, some risks are worth taking. I’m curious. I need you to do this. If not for you, then for me.”
I roll my eyes, but I have to admit I am deeply curious. Cutting off contact with Vaughn has been harder than I’ve let on, mostly because the petty part of me has wanted to know how he’s taking all of this. He screwed me over, I got him back, and his plan to steal my book even backfired. I haven’t had access to his email in weeks, so I don’t know what kind of backlash there was. Aubrey might be the only way I could find out, short of reaching out to Vaughn, which I’m absolutely not doing. “Okay,” I say slowly. “Maybe I’m a little curious. But what if I ask to meet her and she shows up with Vaughn?”
“Definitely. If Vaughn is there, you don’t even show yourself. Just bail.”
“You’re talking like this is happening.”
Dani shrugs. “She posts all that shit on Instagram. I’m sure she checks her DMs. It’s not like you couldn’t get in touch with her.”
I sigh. “Why do I feel like I’ll regret this?”
Aubrey is waiting where she said she’d be. She’s at a table in the corner of a busy coffee shop in the middle of the day. I ready myself, then head inside.
I don’t bother getting a coffee. I’m just here for information. And maybe a little satisfaction. God knows that has been in short supply these last few weeks.
“Hi,” I say carefully once I’ve sat down.
“Hi,” she says, voice measured.
I’m not sure what I expected from her, but this isn’t it. She looks reserved and cautious. She also hasn’t pulled the classic mean girl “I stole your man and look how much prettier I am move”. She looks like she barely put on makeup and she’s dressed casual in workout clothes with a ponytail. It almost feels like a subtle peace offering.
“I’m going to just get straight to it,” I say. “I want to hear your side of things. Why did you agree to pretend to write my book?”
She lets out a breath, nodding. “I don’t know if you’ll believe this, but I didn’t know the truth. And before I say more, I should tell you I broke up with Vaughn when I found this all out. I thought about reaching out to you and apologizing, but figured you wouldn’t want to hear from me.”
“You did?” I have to admit I’m more than a little stunned.
“I did. I didn’t even know he was in a relationship when we were dating. And yeah, I found out about that and decided to give him another chance after you came into the picture. But he lied about how long you two were dating and painted you out to be some villain. He said you were always belittling him for not being worthy of his family name and not finding more success as an agent. And then when all the pranks started, it seemed like it was completely in character for what he described. He made you out to be a bully.”
I grimace. “Do you still believe I am?”
She laughs a little. “No. And even if you were, I think he deserved it. He’s a prick. And a liar.”
“At least we can agree on that.”
She sips her drink, eyes down on the table. “I’m not entirely innocent with the book thing, either. I mean, it wasn’t anything illegal like stealing your book–but he told me he had this new idea. He said real authors were boring, moody, and hard to work with. He said the next big thing would be finding people who were more like actors or models and having them take credit for ghostwritten material. It would be like an author influencer. The perfect person picked to represent certain kinds of books–like crack for fans. They’d get a great book and a great personality to rally behind, or something like that.”
“So he chose you to be the better personality to represent my book, I guess?”
She grimaces. “I’ve worked as an actress and I was trying to find work when I met him. He said it was the perfect job for me, and he said he already had a ghostwriter who was almost done with a story. I thought it was all voluntary.”
I have to sit back in my chair and digest that for a few moments. Vaughn seriously thought my personality and look wasn’t good enough to represent my own book? His solution was to trick me into using an app so he could steal my rights and hire some pretty actress to pretend the book was hers? Naturally, he decided to cheat on me with her in the process.
Suddenly I’m not so sure I got enough payback on Vaughn. If he was here right now, I think I might actually throw something at him or scream like a feral animal.