On the Outside (Caught Inside #3)

by S. Briones Lim

  Tyson gazed down at me and frowned. “Harper—”

  “No,” I interrupted. “I don’t give a damn anymore about this show, about the network, and about this pansy.” I pointed toward Coby. “If they want to kill me off, then fine. I’m walking out right now.”

  Sarah’s mouth dropped open. “Harper, you’re in the first half of the episode. You can’t just leave.”

  “Try me. They can rewrite the fucking script.” I turned to grab my purse, but Tyson immediately stood in my way. “Move.”

  He crossed his burly arms over his chest. “Though I completely agree with you, I can’t let you leave.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “And why not?”

  “You’re still under contract.” He sighed and bowed his head. “You have to do it, Harps, unless you want to get sued.”

  I shut my eyes tightly and groaned. He was right, of course. I had no fucking choice but to continue working a bit longer for people that didn’t want me.

  Awesome.

  Chapter 3

  “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it and you really want to show it…” My voice trailed off as I shoved another piece of red velvety goodness in my mouth before finishing off the song. “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.”

  My eyes followed the pieces of cake that flew out of my mouth and landed onto my couch. On any normal day I would have freaked out to find red crumbs on my brand new white couch, but now I couldn’t give a crap if a dog walked up and marked his territory on it.

  I sat in my apartment with the curtains drawn closed, drowning myself in the dark. The television, radio, and computer were all shut off and unplugged. There was no way I’d risk seeing another false news report about me or in the very least accidentally catch an episode of Joy on TV. It had been a full week since I shot my last episode and a full week of being a self-proclaimed recluse. I didn’t even know when the last time I showered was.

  Taking another bite of my cake, I eyed my once immaculately clean apartment and inwardly cringed. Empty soda bottles littered the floor, along with Chinese takeout containers, half-empty pizza boxes, and a Styrofoam box I’m guessing once held Mexican food. My healthy diet was out of the question, as was my ability to keep clean. Sighing at my disgusting behavior, I lowered myself onto the couch and prepared to take my third nap of the day.

  Justin Timberlake’s beautiful voice snapped me out of my sleep. My eyes flew open when I heard the first few bars of his song playing on my phone.

  “Ugh, who the fuck is calling me?” I yawned, blinking my eyes slowly. “Don’t they know how late it is?”

  Once my eyes began to focus I peered at the nearby clock and realized it was only four in the afternoon. Blushing my one last show of humility, I reached out and grabbed my phone.

  “Hello?”

  “Oh thank God! I called you ten times and thought something terrible happened to you!” Riley, my best friend, explained on the other line.

  “I wish,” I muttered, grabbing a crumb off the couch and placing it in my mouth. “At least I’d have something going for me.”

  “Stop with the pity party, Harper. How long have you been locked in that apartment of yours?”

  “I’m not in my apartment,” I lied. It wasn’t as if she had cameras watching me…right?

  A dark cloud washed over me. I immediately ran to my window and peeked through the sliver between my blinds. Seeing no cameras outside, I sighed.

  “What’s wrong?” Riley asked.

  “Just realized the paparazzi stopped camping out in front of my apartment.”

  “Well, that’s good. Now you can actually go outside and function like a normal human being.”

  “Hey, I resent that!”

  “Really? Harper, when was the last time you took a shower?”

  “Yesterday,” I lied again. I was on a roll. But hey, lying was a job prerequisite for acting, wasn’t it? Not that I had a job anymore, but still.

  I heard her take a deep breath. “Harper, this isn’t healthy. I know things have really gone to shit with you, but remember I was there once too. I got over it and you can too.”

  “Easy for you to say. You were able to run off to the other side of the country and hide.”

  “I wasn’t hiding,” she protested.

  “Yeah, you were. And it’s fine. It’s something I would do if I could. I can’t even step out of the apartment without people berating me.” I felt a twinge of self-pity and tried my hardest to push it away. It didn’t work and once again I felt myself plummeting to the depths of despair. “I just wish you were here with me.”

  “Well, you can always visit me. Door’s always open.”

  “Yeah, right. You live with Blake now. I don’t think I can last one day around a happy couple without barfing. No offense.”

  She let out an exasperated sigh. “Harper, seriously, this isn’t healthy.”

  My eyes brightened. “Hey! What if you visit me? I think it’ll really help me out if I have something to distract me.”

  “Um…I would, but I can’t. It’s really bad timing. My fall line is going to be launching soon and I need to be at the store.”

  What a load of bullshit. I narrowed my eyes and coolly replied, “It’s summer.”

  “We launch one season early.”

  I threw my head back in exasperation and flung myself back onto my couch. The sudden impact caused the springs to creak, warning of an impending break. That’d be all I needed to further add salt into my wounds—a broken couch.

  Raking my fingers through my oily hair, I sighed, feeling the pangs of melancholy gripping my heart. “You’re such a bad best friend.”

  Unfortunately, Riley wasn’t about to share in my misery. She snapped sharply, “I’m also busy and have a life. Speaking of which, you should go out and live yours.”

  “Go out?” I repeated as if it were the most foreign concept known to man.

  “Yes, and be around people,” she spelled out slowly. “Seriously, you’re just putting yourself in a bigger funk.”

  “How do you expect me to go out in public? Everyone hates me.” I cringed as images of tabloids and hate mail flew through my mind.

  “Not everyone,” she clucked.

  “Right.” I snorted.

  “Are you even watching TV anymore?”

  “Nope,” I answered with a pop of the P.

  “And you haven’t gone to the grocery store?”

  I eyed the remnants of my takeout and snorted. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Then you haven’t seen that the newest scandals taking the world by storm are Melony Archer’s sex tape and Julie Rose’s nip slip. You’re in the clear! Now’s the best time to venture outside your door when the world’s attention is on two pairs of unfortunate breasts. Well, maybe not unfortunate. I’d kill for their bra sizes.”

  I fingered a button on my oversized cardigan and shrugged. “Maybe you’re right. I mean, it is getting pretty boring sitting in the dark.”

  There was a moment of silence before Riley exclaimed, “You’ve been sitting in the dark too? This is really serious. Go, Harper. Go outside. Take a shower and go to a bar or something.”

  “So now you’re pushing me to drink?” I teased.

  “Ugh, no. What I am pushing you to do is to become a functioning human being again. Call some of our old friends.”

  I shut my eyes. “I haven’t spoken to Amelia or Jessica since I started working on the show. The show you should have been working for, by the way.”

  “Would having me working on Joy make this situation any easier?” she shot back.

  “No…”

  “Harper, please. This isn’t good. Promise me you’ll at least go out for dinner or something.”

  Cringing at the food boxes littered around my apartment, I knew I should agree and at least get a salad or something. “Fine. But if this is a disaster, I’m running home and locking myself indoors for
ever.”

  “It won’t be, I promise.”

  “I’ll take your word for it then.

  Chapter 4

  I shouldn’t have taken her word for it. In fact, I shouldn’t have stepped outside the apartment at all. Though the night wasn’t exactly a disaster, the morning after sure was.

  I blinked myself awake, startled at the sound of light snores coming from my right. I attempted to roll over, but felt a heavy arm across my bare breasts.

  Bare?

  Gasping, I reached down and grabbed for my crotch and yup, there was my small landing strip out in the open. Right there in all my naked glory.

  Letting out a silent groan, I reached up to touch my forehead, which surprisingly didn’t hurt much considering the amount of alcohol Aaron and I…

  Shit!

  Wincing, I turned my head to take a good look at the man beside me, though I was pretty sure I knew who it was.

  The slight crook of his nose. The floppy sandy brown hair that curled slightly toward his hairline. His thick bottom lip, which looked a bit unproportioned to his thin upper one…

  I just slept with my best friend’s ex-fiancé!

  “Crap!” I screamed and jumped out of the bed, which I knew perfectly well was not mine, considering how far off the ground it was. My bare ass landed on the cold hardwood floor with a thump. Without bothering to stand back up, I scrambled to my knees and began crawling around looking for my clothes. “What the fuck did I wear last night?”

  “You wore a skintight black dress and red-soled high heeled shoes. They’re in my closet.”

  I flinched at the sound of the deep voice, but remained silent.

  Aaron snorted, but remained lying in bed. “Really? You’re just going to stay on the floor? Are you suddenly shy? After everything we did last night?”

  “We didn’t do anything. As far as I’m concerned, last night was a dream—no, a nightmare.” My voice sounded hoarser than normal.

  “Ah, so she speaks.”

  I shut my eyes and bit down onto my lip. I applied enough pressure so it didn’t hurt too much, but still stung enough for punitive measures. “Please tell me we didn’t…”

  Aaron propped himself up onto his elbows and peered down at me. I abruptly pushed back into a sitting position and brought my knees up to my chest in an attempt to hide my naked body.

  He rolled his eyes. “Come on, Harper. We both know there’s always been chemistry between us. Even when I was with Riley I’ve seen how you always looked at me. What’s the point of acting all coy now?”

  He must have been imagining things because all I ever saw him as was my best friend’s man. I gulped. “What did we do last night exactly?”

  “You really don’t remember?”

  I shook my head, trying to sift through the bits and pieces in my mind. “I remember going to get dinner at Délicieux and…” My mouth dropped open. “You were there finishing up a business dinner and you joined me.”

  He nodded his head slowly as if he were trying to coax the memories out of me. “I said you were looking a bit down and asked if you wanted company. You said yes.”

  “I was also about three glasses of wine in,” I snapped.

  Taking a deep breath, Aaron stood from the bed and gracefully landed on his feet. He shuffled toward his closet, giving me a great view of his muscular ass. Realizing I was ogling, I averted my gaze and stared at the floor. He grabbed a bathrobe that probably cost more than a month of my rent, shrugging it on before he took my dress in hand.

  “Here,” he said, holding it out for me.

  I shook my head.

  With a roll of his eyes, he walked over to me and draped the dress above the hump of my knees. “Stop acting so weird. We had fun, Harper. Be happy you invited yourself over here.”

  “I did what?” I gasped.

  “We had a few drinks and I was ready to have my driver bring you home. You insisted on staying with me and even launched yourself on top of me.” His cheeks reddened slightly as if thinking about our escapades aroused him yet again. My eyes automatically flittered toward his groin and as expected, a small tent had fully grown. He gulped, causing his Adam’s apple to bounce. “I asked you time and time again if you wanted to do it and you said—time and time again—that you did.”

  “I was also drunk,” I shot back angrily.

  “You didn’t seem like it.” He ran his hand through his ruffled hair, which was sticking up with a cowlick on the side. “Believe me, if I thought you were incapable of making sound decisions at any point in time I wouldn’t have touched you.”

  The sincere look on his face made me realize he was telling the truth. The small pinch of my gut also reminded me that—at the time—I had wanted it.

  As memories began flooding back, the guilt began to grow. I remembered feeling exceptionally vulnerable and loving the good attention I was receiving. Being an up-and-coming tycoon, Aaron was also a common target of NYC’s tabloids and well-known around the city. The fact that he was okay being seen with me while the rest of NYC shied away from me spoke volumes. By the end of the night, Aaron had become a hero of some sort.

  I shook my head. “It was a mistake. I…we shouldn’t have…”

  “Harper, if this has anything to do with Riley, we’re broken up, remember? Besides, isn’t she with that douche, Blake? I still have it in my right mind to sue that bastard. He nearly broke my nose!”

  I refrained from telling him that he'd deserved more than just a punch in his face. Shaking my head, I ran my nails up and down my scalp. “No. It shouldn’t have happened. I shouldn’t even have been talking to you…”

  “Don’t act like this was the first time we’ve spoken after the breakup.” A cocky smile spread across his face. “Admit it, you wanted me for a long time and you finally got me. So…should we do this again later?”

  My mouth dropped open. Without saying a word, I stood up and stomped over to him. Expecting a kiss or something, he leaned down toward me only to be met with a slap on the face.

  “Never call me again,” I growled.

  He blinked in surprise and let out an angry cry. “You have got to be the stupidest person ever. You’re forgetting that I have ties with half of the city’s top investors. Good luck finding work in New York again.”

  I took a step back, but did not falter. If I broke the best friend code the night before, I certainly wasn’t going to break it again. “Try to scare me all you want, it’s not going to work. Goodbye, Aaron.”

  “Suit yourself. You can find your own way out.” He spun on his heel and headed for his bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

  Taking a deep breath, I began to get dressed while trying to push a nagging thought out of my mind.

  I have to tell Riley.

  ***

  “Pick up, pick up, please!” I muttered, listening to the familiar sound of Riley’s ringing phone. It was about the tenth time I’d called her in an hour, and though I knew there was a three hour time difference between California and New York, I was pretty sure she should have answered it by now.

  Ring, ring, ring—all it does is fucking ring!

  “Ugh! This effing blows.” Not wanting to hear her voicemail intro again, I groaned and chucked the phone across the room, not caring whether or not it would break. Luckily, it merely bounced off the wall and landed safely on top of my bed. Realizing how close I just came to spending five hundred dollars I didn’t have, I sighed with relief.

  About five minutes later I heard the telltale buzz of my phone. My eyes lit up as I dove for my bed and grabbed my cell. It had to be Riley. Who else would want to call me? Heart thumping against my ribcage, I eyed my screen and pouted. It wasn’t Riley. Hell, it wasn’t even a phone call! I frowned as I stared at a text, which came from a number I didn’t recognize.

  Nice seeing your mug all over the internet.

  “What kind of cryptic message is that?” I muttered. I turned to look over at my laptop, which was lying dormant on the li
ttle table by my bed. Having purposely avoided all technology for a week, the battery was drained and would take some time to turn on. Figuring the text was sent to a wrong number, I tried to ignore it, but curiosity got the best of me. Soon, I found myself opening up the internet app on my phone and googling my name.

  Harper Montgomery

  Once the results showed up, I immediately dropped my phone. Pictures of Aaron and I graced the web. Some of them were from dinner; others were of us riding in his car and the rest…

  “How the fuck did they follow me to his apartment?” I shut my eyes and lowered myself to the ground, curling up into a fetal position. “Not again. Not again. I can’t do this anymore…”

  Braving another glance at the entertainment websites and blogs, I realized the articles weren’t as accusatory as the ones about Louis. In fact, some of the bloggers were praising my choice in men this time. Little did they know that Aaron was actually my best friend’s ex-fiancé. It wasn’t as if my friendship with Riley was public knowledge.

  Riley!

  Surely Riley couldn’t have seen these photos yet. It was still too early in California, the center of all things celebrity gossip…right?

  I gulped and flipped back to the text message. My heart dropped when I realized the number shared Riley’s area code. Heart beating wildly, I began to type.

  Who is this?!?!?!?!?!

  It took only about five seconds before my phone went off again.

  This is Kacy, Riley’s REAL best friend…and yeah, she knows.

  Chapter 5

  Riley knew.

  How she knew I’m not sure, but apparently she did. I tried to engage that bitch, Kacy, in more conversation, trying to get to the bottom of everything, but after those ominous words, yeah, she knows, she fell silent.

  Riley, please. It’s not what you think! Call me.

  Riley, this is Harper again. I’m so sorry. I just need to talk to you so I can explain everything.