Sarah arched an eyebrow. “Who the hell is Monica?”
“You. You’re Monica. You’re the high school girl who thinks you can bully people into acting a certain way because you think you have power. But you know what? I’m not intimidated by you. When I was younger, and I thought you and Landon really had a connection, sure. I felt lesser than. But now that I actually know you, I am completely convinced that you’re nothing to be afraid of. So, go ahead. Fire me. But at the end of the day, I’m still going to win, because I refused to let a woman who carries around rocks to call me worthless. And news flash! I got the same damn stones from Amazon for nine bucks!”
35
Landon
It looked like my weekly trip to Maria’s yoga studio was a no-go after the cameras caught Shay and I together the previous week. The minute I walked around the corner and saw the line of people standing outside the building, I knew word had gotten out about my appearance there the week prior. Business was booming for Maria, which was excellent.
I just hated that once again something special that I truly enjoyed was being taken away by fame. I couldn’t even go breathe in peace.
“You’re really good at drawing a crowd,” a voice said. I turned to see Shay standing there, and she smiled at first, but then it faltered to a frown. “Are you okay?”
I shrugged. “I just wanted to have something that was mine for a little while. Maria’s classes were that for me.”
She moved in closer and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly. “I can’t imagine how annoying it must be—having people follow you all the time. My coffee latte drama had finally faded away, and that was hell. I couldn’t imagine having that kind of attention on me at all times.”
“It can be a bit much.” Truthfully, it was becoming more and more of a bother ever since Shay came back into my life. There were so many things I wanted to do with her. I wanted to take her out to dinner and be able to sit across from her and have a friendly conversation. I wanted to walk into a coffee shop and not have to worry about people pulling out a camera and filming our interactions.
“Do you ever wish you never got into acting?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I mean, I do love what I do, the films. But even more, I love having the means to give back to people. Because of what I do, because of this career, I’m able to help people who might not have been able to help themselves, and in a way, that makes all this madness worth it. Even if sometimes it can be a bit draining.”
She looked up toward the packed studio. People were lined up outside, obviously not dressed for a peaceful yoga stretching.
“Want to take a walk with me?” she offered. “To get away from this world for a bit of time?”
“I’d like that more than anything.”
She gave me a smile, and I gave her mine as we began walking in the opposite direction of the crowd.
“So, I was hoping I could talk to you tonight anyway. I wanted to talk to you during shooting today, but there was always someone around. Still, I figured I should give you a heads-up. It’s about Sarah.”
“Yeah? What about her?”
“Well.” Shay sighed and tilted her head toward me. “She’s kind of batshit crazy.”
I laughed out loud. “That’s the complete opposite of what I expected you to say to me.”
“I’m sorry, but she is. I know she’s been my idol for the past forever years, and I know I thought her performance of Lucy Knight was spot on and I know I raved on and on about how she played that psychopath character in such a realistic way, but now it’s all making sense to me. She was typecast in that role. She is a psychopath.”
“Well, I could’ve told you that.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Well, I’m glad you knew. She snapped on me today and fired me because of the photographs the paparazzi took of us last week.”
“Wait, what? She fired you?”
“Yeah. It’s okay, really. I’ll find something else, and if worse comes to worse, I can pick up some classes at Mima’s studio.”
“But you loved being on set. You deserve to be on set.”
“I’ll get back to it somehow. It might just take a few years of trying.”
The whole situation was bullshit. Sarah crossed a line letting Shay go, and I was determined to make it known to her how she was in the wrong.
“I’m so sorry, Shay. Truly.”
“It’s okay. I’m just glad you knew about her. I wouldn’t want you to end up with a girl like her.”
“What kind of girl would you want me to end up with?” I asked.
She paused her steps and looked up at me. My heart was wild and my mind untamed as she parted her lips to answer. “You should probably end up with a girl like me.”
“And how exactly do I end up with a girl like you?”
She stepped in closer to me and bit her bottom lip. “I think you have to kiss me right here and right now.”
That was the easiest request I’d ever fulfilled.
Mine.
Shay finally said the words that she was mine, and I couldn’t have been more fucking happy if I tried. We’d spent the following nights together, wrapped in one another’s arms. Each day at work, I avoided Sarah the best I could. I hadn’t shit to say to the coldhearted actress who’d decided to throw a hissy fit when she couldn’t get her way.
When she came into my trailer one afternoon, I almost had Willow throw her out, but instead I refrained. We had to keep it professional, seeing how we’d put so much time and energy into the movie.
“Hey, Landon. I wanted to stop by and make sure you and me were good. I know there seemed to be some tension between us since I had to let Shay go, but I was hoping we’d be able to work through it.”
“No,” I flatly replied.
“What?”
“I said no. What you did to her was wrong, and I won’t forgive you for it. Shay is the most important person in my life, and I refuse to let someone like you get in between us. So, I’m saying no, Sarah. I don’t want to work through this drama with you. You showed your true colors, and we’ll leave it at that.”
“Those aren’t my true colors,” she said, shaking her head. “There must’ve been a bit of confusion between Shay and me. If she wants her job back, she can have it. I never meant to cause her any trouble,” she backtracked, making me want to roll my eyes so fucking bad.
She looked down at the table, where a script was sitting, and her eyes darted across the page. “Is this Shay’s?” she asked, lifting the manuscript into her hands. “I didn’t know she was into screenwriting.”
“That’s because you never bothered to ask her.”
She began flipping through the manuscript, and I hurried to my feet and snatched it from her hands. “That’s none of your business.”
“Come on, Landon. If she’s looking to get a real career started, I can help her. I’ll do it as a favor to you. My dad is the biggest screenwriter in the world. I’m sure I can get Shay a mentoring job beneath him.”
That sounded way too good to be true, and I knew to refuse Sarah’s offer. I knew she wasn’t a woman I could trust.
“She’s going to do it on her own, without your help,” I told her. Sure, I’d taken the script from Shay’s after finding out she lost her job with the purpose of trying to get it into the right hands of individuals. As time moved on throughout the day, I realized that would’ve been a mistake. She’d asked me plenty of times to not share her work, and that was what I’d planned to do. Respect her wishes. I only wished there was a way I could help her, but I knew it was something she needed to do on her own. They were her dreams—I was simply the lucky bastard who’d be lucky enough to watch them come to fruition.
“You’re making a mistake,” Sarah warned. “You and I could be the next power couple if you gave me a real shot.”
“There’s nothing powerful about two people who weren’t meant for each other.”
“How do you know we aren’t meant for each other?”
Because my heart belongs to someone else.
It always has, and always will.
“I’m in love with her, Sarah. There’s no getting around that.”
She huffed, and those true colors of hers began to appear again. “How could you love someone like her?” she hissed with disgust written all over her face.
“The real question is how could someone like her love a man like me. Regardless, I think it’s time you leave my trailer.”
“You have a lot of nerve,” she scolded.
“Yeah, I do. Now leave before I have you removed.”
“Never in my life have I’ve been so disrespected!” she whined like a five-year-old who didn’t get a lollipop.
“Yeah, well,” I shrugged as I walked over to my door and opened it for her to leave. “There’s a first time for everything.”
36
Shay
I sat in Raine’s recliner with baby Jameson in my arms staring at the television screen. Recently, things began to look up for me. I’d applied for a teaching job at a university to teach screenwriting as an adjunct professor, and I’d been called back for a second interview. If it weren’t for Karla, I would’ve never considered teaching, but it turned out I had a passion for educating people on the written word. Sure, it wasn’t Hollywood, but it felt like a huge opportunity for me to receive.
I wanted to celebrate the news with Landon, but he was off in New York City doing promo with the devil herself, Sarah, for their upcoming film. Raine and Hank invited me over for some morning cocktails—and I think secretly so I could hold Jameson and allow them to get a break.
I hadn’t minded at all—Jameson was a little saint.
The television was turned on to Good Morning America, and we all excitedly sat planted around the screen, waiting to watch Landon’s interview.
When he appeared on the screen, my heart began racing faster just from the sight of him. I was beating myself up for missing so many of his appearances throughout the years. Now, I couldn’t imagine missing one of his interviews.
He looked so handsome sitting on the stage and right around his neck was my heart necklace. I’d finally began wearing my heart necklace again, too. It felt about time to bring it out from collecting dusk.
“Yes, filming this movie has been a thrill for me,” Landon expressed. “Working with Sarah was a dream come true,” he exclaimed, and I laughed at the comment. He made me well aware of the bullshit lies he had to say on camera thanks to the production company.
I could see how he turned up his acting persona when he was on camera. He stood a little taller, and smiled wider, but those eyes? They were still his, and I could see the real Landon whenever I looked into them.
“Yes,” Sarah agreed, placing her hand against his knee.
“That bitch,” Raine blurted out.
I couldn’t agree more.
Landon patted her hand playfully and removed it from his leg and went on with the conversation as if Sarah wasn’t a factor at all.
That’s my boy.
“So, it seems you two enjoy working together,” the interviewer asked. “This is the second time you’ve worked together after all, right?”
“Yes—” Landon started to answer, but Sarah cut him off.
“It’s been beyond amazing, and I’m excited to share with you that we are going to be working together on another film this year called, Easton. It’s a beautiful film, written by Shay Gable, about two lovers who’d went through the biggest of storms with one another,” Sarah said, making my mouth drop open.
She went on and on about the screenplay, spoiling the whole plot without a care in the world. The whole plot to my script.
What in the world? How did she know about my story? She’d spoiled the whole thing with a smile on her face on national television, and I saw the shock that sat in Landon’s eyes.
“What just happened? It looks like Landon’s about to have a panic attack. He normally has a better poker face,” Raine remarked. She turned to see me and raised an eyebrow after seeing my expression. “Seriously. What’s going on?”
“That’s my story,” I choked out.
“Wait, what? That’s your plot?” Hank asked, stunned.
“Yes. I’ve been working on that for the longest time. It was the story my agent has been shopping around. It’s my best piece yet. And Sarah fucking Sims just spoiled it to the world.”
“Holy fucking shit,” Raine breathed out. “What a bitch!”
I couldn’t breathe. I handed Jameson over to his mother, because I couldn’t freaking breathe.
The only way Sarah could’ve known anything about my script was if Landon told her, and I couldn’t figure out why he’d do that. Why would he take something so important to me and ruin it? That script was my baby, my star, and he handed it over to another woman. A woman who fired me.
I left Raine’s house and hurried home. I tore my place apart, searching for my words. Searching for my manuscript that should’ve been sitting in the stack with the others. But it was gone.
He took it away from me without my permission, and every single part of my heart that was beginning to open up once more for Landon and his love shut instantly.
“I can explain,” Landon said as he stood at my apartment door a day later. I hadn’t even known why I opened the door for him. I figured he’d find his way to me after the interview took place, but I couldn’t for the life of me imagine what kind of excuse he was going to try to feed me.
My eyes were swollen from spending the previous night crying into my pillow. I knew there was no way he could come back from what he’d done, from the way he’d betrayed me and my words. Still, I wanted to see what he was going to say.
“Go ahead. Try.”
He stuffed his hands into his pockets and rounded his shoulders forward. “Sarah must’ve stolen the script from my trailer while I was doing a scene. It was the only way she could’ve gotten it. After I told her to piss off the other day, she must’ve felt as if she needed to get revenge on me or something. So, she took something from me in order to hurt you.”
“I knew that already,” I said.
He looked up to me with hope in his eyes. “You did?”
“Yes. After working with Sarah for a while, I learned what kind of person she was. I’m not surprised by that at all. What I am surprised at is the fact that you had my script in the first place.”
His mouth parted to speak, but no words came out.
I nodded. “Exactly. You betrayed me.”
“No, Shay. It’s not like that. I wanted to try to help you after you got fired, but—”
“You didn’t believe I could figure something out on my own. I get it.”
“That’s not it at all. Of course, I believed you could find something. That’s why I changed my mind and decided to not show anyone your work. I took the script without thinking it through, and I made a huge mistake.”
“You took something that was mine without my permission. I can’t trust you anymore, Landon. I’ve dealt with enough liars in my life. I can’t do it again with you.”
“Shay…please…”
“You should go,” I said, placing my hands against the door. I began closing it, closing him out of my life, because it was the only thing I could think to do. This was my own fault, truly. I let someone back into my life who’d hurt me in the past. I didn’t understand why I’d expected some different kind of results.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
“Please, Shay. We can figure this out. I know there’s a way we can work around this. We’ve been through so much together. We can’t let this break us,” he pleaded, his eyes filled with emotions.
“Exactly, Landon. We’ve been through so much, and I’m tired. I don’t want to do this game where every few years I get disappointed and hurt. I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“But I love you,” he whispered, his voice soaked in pain. “I love you so fucking much, Shay. And we
were so close. We were so damn close to our forever.”
“Maybe forever was just a dream. Not something that would ever be our reality.”
“You don’t mean that. I know you, and you know me. You know we’re supposed to be together. We’ve been through fucking wars, Shay. Don’t let this put an end to us. Don’t close me out.”
I had to close him out. It was the only way we’d put an end to the painful story that we’d been living for way too long. It started when we were teenagers, and it grew too big. It was now time to close our novel. It was time to write our final words.
“I’m sorry, Landon. This is it. We’re over.”
I shut my door and listened to him hammer on it from the other side, but I couldn’t reopen it. I couldn’t let him back in, no matter how much my heart longed for his love.
“You’re afraid of love,” Mima explained at Sunday dinner after hearing about the fallout between Landon and me. She was so concrete in her statement, as if she didn’t see the flaws of her words.
I shook my head, shocked by my grandmother’s comment. Did she not hear how Landon betrayed me? How he took my work without my permission and allowed it to fall into the wrong hands?
What did that have to do with me being afraid of love?
“That has nothing to do with this issue,” I said. “My love for Landon has nothing to do with me breaking things off with him. He betrayed me.”
Just like every other man in my life. That was what men did—they let women down.
“No. He made a mistake, and you are using that mistake as a reason to run. Truth is, you would’ve found any slip-up he made and used it as an excuse to run the other way, because you are afraid of love.”
“I’m not afraid of love,’ I said through gritted teeth. A knot sat in the pit of my stomach as those words floated in my head.
“Sweetheart, she’s right,” Mom agreed, reaching out to take my hand into hers. “I see so much of me in you and I blame myself for that. You don’t trust men. You have this idea that no matter what, they will always let you down, and I know I instilled that into your system. I helped build that fear, and I am so sorry for that, because it’s not true. Not all men are evil.”
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