Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Her question doesn’t quite shock me, but at the same time, this is the first time since I accepted Cal’s date invitation that I’ve actually been forced to confront my thoughts and feelings for the man. But as I do, a smile that I can’t control comes over my face, and I nod.
“Yes,” I say. “I do.”
“So he’s not the arrogant asshole you thought he was?” Sarah asks.
“No.” I shake my head. “I was wrong about him. And now, I’m falling in love with him.”
11
Cal
The trip is over, the show is done. It went better than anybody could have hoped. I should be ready to get out of here, head home, and get back to my life. But that’s not how I’m feeling right now—at all. My mind is on other things at the moment.
It’s a running joke among guys about how different they feel after climaxing with the girl they’re with. How one second they’re super into her, and then the next, they just want her to go away. Post-nut clarity, we call it.
That never happened to me with Reese.
If anything, sharing a climax with her only brought us closer together. I wanted to stay there and hold her forever, but I had business to take care of today, and she said she had a shift to get ready for later in the day. Of course the last thing I wanted to do after spending such a magical night with her was deal with Kathleen and Josh. I don’t know specifically what they want, but I can imagine. I’m eating breakfast when they show up.
“The jet’s ready to go when you are,” Josh says, taking a seat in front of me at the table. He looks tired and annoyed.
Kathleen takes a seat beside him. She looks annoyed too, but like someone took Josh’s annoyance slider and slid it all the way to the max. “Where do you see this going, Cal?”
“This?” I ask, pointing my fork at my delicious scrambled eggs. “I see these going into my mouth. They taste great, by the way.”
This seems to really piss her off, and she frowns back at me. “Your current public image, Cal.”
“Ah.” I nod. “That. Yeah, you two showing up right after my show like that to try and get me to stage a photo—can you not do that again? Ever? Thanks.”
“You need a suitable girlfriend, Cal,” Kathleen replies. “This playboy-womanizer thing can only go on for so long before your female fans start to turn on you.”
“I’m not going to manufacture a relationship, Kathleen,” I reply. I can feel the anger growing inside me. She may mean well, but this is the part of stardom that I absolutely despise. “I’m not going to lie to my fans for the sake of publicity.”
“You’re not lying to your fans, Cal,” Kathleen says in that manager-tone she always has when she’s trying to convince me of something. “It’s just a few pictures with Jenni that we carefully stage to generate interest among the press.”
“Staging, lying.” I shrug. “What’s the difference?”
“There’s a difference,” Josh chimes in.
“Not to me,” I reply. “And not to the girl I’m actually falling in love with.”
Kathleen lets out a blood-curdling cackle that sounds like a wicked witch from the depths of a dark forest. It makes my skin crawl. “Falling in love with?” she repeats as if she just heard the most insane thing of her life.
I, on the other hand, simply stare back at her, letting her know I’m serious. “Yeah, you heard me.”
Even Josh, who is normally a lot less invested in things like this, looks like he’s trying not to laugh. Maybe it does seem a little wild to the two of them, but I know how I feel about Reese, and nothing is going to change that.
“Okay, this is ridiculous,” she says, throwing her hands up. “Did I just step into a Hollywood rom-com or something?”
“Look, we’ve got to get out of here and back to Los Angeles,” Josh says. “The jet’s all ready to go–”
“Call it what you want.” I shrug. “But the Jenni Hinderman thing is off the table, and I’m not heading back to Los Angeles today either. You two can feel free to go, but I’ll be sticking around for a while.”
“Wait?” Kathleen replies. “For how long?”
I turn and look at her. “A while.”
12
Reese
I’m sitting next to Sarah on the couch while she watches some thriller about a guy super-agent that I’m barely even paying attention to. All I know is he’s doing his best to save the country from a toxin. Or is it a bomb threat? I honestly couldn’t say. I’m so preoccupied thinking about Cal that the only way I could pay attention to this show right now is if someone put a gun to my head.
I’ve been lounging around the apartment all day like a slug, replaying last night’s events over and over in my mind, wishing I had actual physical copies of everything that went down. But I was so wrapped up in what was going on that all I have is a twenty-second clip of the show that I recorded from backstage and that’s it.