Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 95609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 478(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 478(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
I set my mug on the counter and open the door, expecting to see my besties. “You’re…not who I expected. How did you find me?”
Patrick stands in my doorway. Outside of work he’s far more stylish. He wears perfectly pressed slacks and a bright blue polo under a fleece hoodie I’ve seen recently on several young stars. He’s traded in his sneakers for a pair of designer loafers, and his hair is a bit curly when he doesn’t slick it back. He’s a hottie when he’s not at work scowling at everyone. “I was your boss. I had all your paperwork. Besides, even if I hadn’t known, I could have done this thing called looking you up. Unless you’ve recently joined a witness relocation program. Which you haven’t. Can I come in?”
I stare at him for a moment. “You look different.”
“I’m not working,” he states flatly. “When I’m not working, I tend to like to be me. Are you going to leave me standing out here? You know you kind of owe me since you cost me my job and likely my career.”
I feel my jaw drop even as I open the door and allow him entry. “What was I supposed to do? Let him rape you? Sorry. I didn’t realize that was part of my contract.”
He stalks in and glances around. “You live here?”
“For now. Maybe not much longer. Don’t know if you heard but my ass got fired, too.”
His expression goes grim. “Yeah, I did hear that you got cut from the show. Lily’s a friend of mine. She’s still working. I told her not to quit so she can give me all the gossip.”
It’s good to know he has someone on the inside. I wish I did. “Then you probably know more than I do since I got blindsided.”
“You had to realize what was going to happen when they let me go,” Patrick argues. “You had to know they would go into protective mode. It’s a classic tactic for any large corporation.”
“I’ve never been in the position before,” I admit.
“What did you say to him after I left?”
“I was scared so I went along with what he told me.”
He flushes, his cheeks going bright red. “And what did he tell you? That I wanted it? That we were having an affair?”
I didn’t want to go into the specifics and make him feel worse than he already does. “Something like that.”
He stares at me for a moment like he’s trying to figure me out. “You should have believed him. It would have been easy to, and it would have saved you a lot of trouble. Why did you think it was nonconsensual? We could have been pretending.”
“You weren’t pretending.”
“You can’t know that. If you went along with him, why did they fire you? I know why they fired me. He didn’t want to get caught again so he got rid of the temptation, as he put it,” Patrick explains. “You must not have sold him. You’re not exactly an actress. He knew you knew, and that’s why you got the boot. Lily told me she knew something was up when the producers took the king into private meetings most of the day. The two dates they were filming got cut way short. They must have been worried he would react poorly to you being let go.”
“They had to convince him to let me go.” I realize why Patrick looks different. Why he’s acted the way he has. “You dress down so he won’t think you’re dressing for him. How long has it been going on?”
“I met him last year on a set and he asked me out. I told him I don’t date married, straight men and that was that,” he says. “Then I got this job. I thought since it was a large shoot, I would be okay. I can get a dude’s coffee, but he started asking me to talk to him privately.”
Patrick’s eyes close, and his chest moves as he takes in a deep breath. A long moment stretches between us, and I know he’s making a decision. He’ll either bring me in or push me away, and I’m almost certain he’ll select the latter. He seems to have learned that it’s better to protect himself than to trust others. His eyes open, and he turns to the window. “I need air.”
I follow him out on the tiny fire escape, and we sit for a moment, our shoulders pressed together as the hum of the crowd forms a soundtrack to this scene of ours.
“This would be a good place for a confessional,” he says quietly. “I mean if you could get a camera out here and it wouldn’t drive the sound person up the wall. The light at this time of day is excellent. It’s an extremely New York place to confess your secrets.”