Brandon shook under Seth’s grasp, and there was no mistaking the look of fear on his face. “Get your hands off me, Seth.”
Seth held him a few seconds longer. Then he released him—not because he didn’t think he couldn’t punch the living daylights out of the asshole, but because he didn’t have the energy to deal with such an insignificant prick.
Once Brandon was out of Seth’s grasp, he seemed to get his balls back. “Don’t think I don’t have power in this town, Seth. I can fuck you over in a heartbeat. How easy will it be to get a job after I have you dragged off this set by security?”
“Don’t bother. I’m leaving.” He didn’t need Brandon to fuck him over too. He’d already fucked himself pretty damn good on his own.
Once in his truck, Seth didn’t leave right away. Instead, he waited until he saw the familiar BMW hybrid pull up. Lexie saw him almost at once and tossed him a glance that seemed to say,
hold on a minute.
He watched as Lexie escorted Heather out of the car. Heather wore oversized sunglasses, but he knew they hid red, puffy eyes. Another wave of regret rolled through him like nausea and he was almost glad when the object of his affection had walked out of sight.
As he’d hoped, Lexie came back alone shortly after. He pushed the button for the power window to move down as she approached.
“Seth, she doesn’t want to see you. I’ll make sure you get anything you left in the trailer, but I can’t let you in there yourself.”
“I know. I was actually looking for you.”
Her brow arched. “For me?”
“I figure you’re the only one who can tell me what I can do to fix this.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and looked absently into the distance. “I’m not sure if you can. You screwed up pretty bad.”
“I know.” His knuckles turned white as his hands clutched the steering wheel, even though the car wasn’t on. “Does it matter at all that I…?” He swallowed. “That I honestly love her?”
Lexie cocked her head, seeming only mildly surprised by Seth’s confession of love. “You know her pretty well now. What do you think?”
“I think she doesn’t trust people very easily. And she trusted me.”
“Yep. Your lie erased every bit of that.” She nodded as though she were deciding something. “I’ll tell you what—I’ll do my best to persuade her to talk to you. I don’t know if it will do any good, but I’ll try. You can call me.”
He let out a small sigh of relief. It was something. The best chance he had, anyway. “Thank you, Lexie.”
She smiled then appeared to think better of herself. “Jesus Christ, you’re going to get me fired, you know that? Why am I such a sucker for you?”
“Because you know I’m good for her.”
“You do make her a better person.”
It was Seth’s turn to look into the distance. “She makes me a better person too.”
“Well, right now it’s hard to see that. It seems more like you’re a total shit.” She leaned onto the window frame. “So here’s my advice—show her. Show her you’re a better person.”
Seth’s forehead creased. “How?”
With a shrug, she stood upright. “You’re a smart guy. You’ll figure something out.”
Show her
. Lexie’s words echoed in his ears as he watched her walk away, his mind already racing with ideas.
Chapter Twenty
Heather gazed out the window of the Trump Towers Suite overlooking Central Park, rubbing her hands up and down her arms to warm herself. It wasn’t that it was cold, exactly. The weather was actually quite warm for November in New York City. Still, she felt chilled. She’d blame it on the change of climate from L.A. if she hadn’t been cold there as well.
How long had it been since she’d felt warm now?
Almost three weeks. Since the day she watched Seth leave her bedroom.
She turned to the suite’s thermostat and hiked the temp up to seventy-four. From across the room, she felt Lexie’s eyes on her, watching her every move like a nervous hen. It seemed she’d been watching her like that for as long as Heather had felt the chill. Did she really seem that much of a mess? She knew she was inside, but thought she’d managed a pretty decent façade. Guess not.
She sighed and looked at the clock on her phone. Six hours left until check-in at the New York City 24-Hour Plays. That left hours of pretending she was fine. It was easier when she was busy. This downtime was the worst, when all she wanted to do was cry or sleep. Or cry
and
sleep.
God, how long could this heartache last? She’d only known Seth for three months. She’d been with Collin off and on for two years and didn’t feel a fraction of the anguish she did now. Maybe it was because she’d been betrayed so deeply, but she suspected it was more than that. Like, maybe because Collin wasn’t ever
the
guy. And Seth was.
“Do you want me to order room service?”
Heather glanced at Lexie, who was still watching her every move. “No, I’m not hungry.”
“Heather, you haven’t eaten all day.” Someday Lexie had to explain how she’d so effectively mastered that motherly tone at her young age. “You need to eat something before the Intros meeting tonight.”
“I already looked at the menu. Nothing looks good.” Heather didn’t need to look at the menu to know nothing looked good. That was another side effect of lost love—no appetite.
“I could order some Chinese. Or pizza. Or anything! This is New York, everything delivers.”
Heather weighed her options for a moment, deciding whether it would take more energy to continue the battle or just give in and eat something. A compromise, maybe. “The only thing I want is a Diet Coke and a bag of Cheetos.” Junk food. Her trainer would go ballistic.
Whatever. Who cared? She certainly didn’t.
“Then I’ll run out and get some. There’s a store on the corner.” Lexie grabbed her purse and coat from the closet, obviously elated that Heather had shown an interest in eating.
A weak surge of satisfaction filled Heather’s chest. At least she’d made Lexie happy.
She flung herself on the sofa and wrapped herself in the blanket she’d snagged earlier from the suite’s bedroom and watched her assistant as she buttoned her pea coat.
The concern returned to Lexie’s eyes. “Are you sure you want to be doing this?”
“You’re the one forcing me to eat something.”
“I meant the plays.”
Heather ran her hand through her hair. “Why wouldn’t I? I always do the plays when I have time in my schedule.” She had considered canceling, but what would be her excuse? Life went on. She had to figure out how to go on with it. Without Seth.
The thought of moving on without Seth brought a fresh wave of remorse. Which made her irritated. Which made her irritated with Lexie. “Jesus, you’re so weird. I mean, months ago you were eager to sign me up without telling me and now you’re being all freaky because I want to do them.” It couldn’t just be because she’d been moping around. Lexie was always the biggest proponent of the keep-yourself-occupied mentality. There had to be something else.
Heather sat up and glared at her friend. “What is it you aren’t telling me?”
“Seth’s doing the plays too.”
She’d said it so quickly it took Heather a moment to register her words. When she did, she’d wished she hadn’t asked. The air whooshed out of her lungs and she slumped back into the couch cushion. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
It hadn’t even occurred to her that Seth would be invited. Of course he would be. His addition to the plays in L.A. had brought in a lot of additional funding. If she’d had any capacity to think at all the last few weeks, she would have already realized it.
Lexie should have already realized it.
Heather shifted to give her assistant the best glare she could manage. “Why didn’t you tell me before we got here?”
Lexie crossed the room and sat on the couch next to her before answering. “Because I was afraid of what you’d do. But I feel guilty. So I told you. Besides, I think you should be prepared.”
A lump formed in Heather’s throat that she quickly swallowed down. “I don’t know why you’re so concerned. I’m a professional. We can figure something out.” She was an actress—those lines should have been more convincing.
“You’ve refused to talk to him or see him for weeks and now you’re okay with it?”
Heather flung her arms halfheartedly in the air. “No, I’m not okay with it, but I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
“Don’t you? You didn’t want to work with him anymore on
Girl Fight
and poof! He was off the film. It seems to me you have all the choices, Heather.” Her tone was laced with malice.
Heather hadn’t realized Lexie felt that way. They hadn’t talked about it before now. Yeah, throwing Seth off the movie hadn’t been one of her finer moments, but she just couldn’t see him then. Not when the wounds had been fresh.
She didn’t know if she could see him now either. She was still working that out in her head. One thing she knew for certain—she wouldn’t get him fired from the plays. He was too important to the cause.
“
Girl Fight
was different,” she explained to Lexie. “He was there for the wrong reasons. He works on the plays because he believes in them.” Seth at that elementary school flashed through her mind. “He did a lot of good for other people in L.A. I wouldn’t take that away from them because I got my silly little heart broken.”
Her voice choked and Lexie put her arm around her in a hug.
Heather let herself fall into the embrace, relishing the warmth of human contact. She wasn’t usually a hugger, but now, after so many weeks of missing Seth’s touch, a hug was exactly what she needed.
When she pulled out of the hug, Heather leaned her head against Lexie’s. “How do you know Seth’s here, anyway?”
“He, um, told me.”
Heather shot upright. “You’ve talked to him?”
“Maybe once or twice. Or five times.” She shrugged like it was no big deal.
But it
was
a big deal and Lexie knew it. Her play-it-off tactic was not working on Heather. “Five times! Behind my back? How could you do that?”
“You refused to talk to him and he wanted to know how you were.”
Heather wavered between feeling this was yet another betrayal from a loved one and an intense curiosity to discover whatever she could about her ex-lover.
Before she could figure out which emotion to go with, Lexie added softly, “I’ve talked to him enough to genuinely believe he cares about you.”
Heather wanted to believe that. Almost did. But his lie… “Yeah, he’s got a real fine way of showing it.”
“So he fucked up. Have you never fucked up in your life? I want you to think long and hard about that answer before you give it.”
Heather didn’t have to think long and hard. She’d fucked up plenty. In fact, she was pretty sure she’d fucked up with Seth, though she didn’t know how she would have played it differently.
She bit her lip, hoping to curb any emotion that might spill out when she spoke next. “How is he?” Then she held her breath while waiting for Lexie’s answer.
“He’s not good. He misses you. He seems to be a real mess.”
She let the air out of her lungs in a shaky exhale. “Well, that’s something.”
“You should talk to him.”
Three weeks ago, she’d vowed to never talk to him again. Two weeks ago, she’d still believed she could keep that promise. But now… She wasn’t quite sure when her resolve had weakened, but now she found herself considering.
Then she stopped considering. “I just…I can’t, Lex.”
“You’re going to be working together. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to at least smooth things over?”
Smoothing things over wouldn’t be necessary if she planned on avoiding him the entire twenty-four hours. But she didn’t say that to Lexie.
“Since the interview’s aired, you should probably decide how you’re going to address questions about the two of you.”
Heather closed her eyes and held her head in her hands. “I don’t want to think about the interview.” Her Jenna Markham special had aired earlier that week to record network ratings. So far, Heather had managed to avoid any follow-up press. Lexie had warded off most of the media by releasing a statement that Heather needed some personal time to deal with people affected by the things she’d said in her interview.
It wasn’t a lie. Just most people assumed that meant her family, not Seth. Right now, the world still thought she was with the
Hollywood Production Designer
, because she hadn’t bothered to tell anyone any different.
But there would be press at the end of the 24-Hour Plays. She wouldn’t be able to avoid the questions then. And people would see her. And Seth. Her and Seth not together.
That was why she couldn’t think about the interview. Because it inevitably led to thinking about Seth and how eventually she’d have to tell the world that they’d broken up. The thought was devastating. Because then it would be real.
“I know you don’t want to think about it,” Lexie said, unaware of what tormented Heather most about the interview. “But it’s out there now. You can’t avoid the press forever. And do you really regret saying any of those things? Even without Seth?”