Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 85135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Tommy winces. “There’s half a truth there.”
“No there isn’t,” I reply. “We never discussed a reality show.”
Silence emanates from the computer screen. I’m beginning to think the connection has frozen when Tommy clears his throat. “I should have told you at the time, but Matt asked me not to.” He blows out a breath like this confession has been weighing heavy on him.
“Should have told me what?” I ask.
“He pitched me a reality show. Two, actually. One idea was to document the tour for the upcoming album, and the other was…a series built around when and if you got pregnant.”
I push the laptop back onto the coffee table and stand. A reality show? Matt was absolutely venomous about reality shows. I’d get nothing but snide comments when I indulged in a Bravo binge. “Are you sure?” I ask. “Was Matt going to appear too or—”
“Yes. Obviously the show was built around you, but he was keen to be in front of the camera.”
I slide my fingers into my hair. “How? Why? He hated the attention.”
“Unless he didn’t,” Felicity says. “Honestly, darling, I think he hated you getting the attention. Otherwise, why would he still be feeding stories to the press?”
I sit back down. “Tell me more about this reality show. Was it just me and him? What was it called?”
“Just One of The Family, or something equally cringe. It was meant to show me, too,” Tommy says. “And his sister.”
“Liz?” But of course it would have been Liz—Matt only has one sister. “She’s only eighteen.”
“He had the idea that she could be your assistant. He would be there as your fiancé-slash-advisor. The idea was to reveal how it takes an army to create a star.”
He wanted the credit.
I wonder when it started—when Matt decided he just didn’t like me very much. Because he definitely loved me at some point. Hadn’t he? When had things changed?
“It gets worse,” Felicity says.
I swallow.
“He pitched two titles. The other one was The Browns.”
Brown is Matt’s surname.
“He wanted to kick off the show with your wedding. So you’d be Mr. and Mrs. Brown.”
Matt pushed back the wedding several times. Surely it wasn’t because he was trying to sell a reality show?
“Obviously, I said no,” Tommy says. He sucks in a breath. “But I know he approached a couple of production companies.”
“Why didn’t you tell me all of this?” I ask. If I’d have known, at least I would have had a heads-up that Matt wasn’t the man I thought he was.
“I’m sorry,” Tommy says. “Looking back, it’s all really suspicious—like he was trying to maneuver himself into the limelight. At the time I just thought he was misguidedly trying to help your career.”
“I would never have done a reality show,” I say. “I’m way too boring. If you’d have pitched it to me, I would have said hell no and never even mentioned it to Matt. I would have definitely assumed he would hate it.”
“We all had him wrong, my darling,” Felicity says.
“We weren’t all sleeping with him and planning a future with him. Why didn’t I see it?”
“You loved him,” she says. “You weren’t looking for it.”
That sums it up. I wasn’t looking for it. Well, I won’t make that mistake again.
My phone buzzes with another text from Beau, asking about my day. A swell of relief and hopefulness combine in my stomach. Maybe he’s not disappointed about the zoo, because he’s the man I think he is.
Butterflies swoop and rise in my chest as I think about him.
I like spending time with him.
I light up when he flirts with me.
I look forward to seeing him.
But I refuse to be blindsided again. I text out a reply that will test him. Did he really want to go somewhere public—like, to the zoo. Or is it me that he wants to see?
If you want to, I can arrange security to bring you through the back entrance to the hotel and we can hang out.
Beau doesn’t strike me as a man who wastes time. If it’s fame he’s after, he’ll say no.
I get an instant reply.
I can be there at 8. Just tell me where to go.
My heart inches a little higher in my chest. Not even Matt’s betrayal can pull it down.
SEVENTEEN
Beau
She freezes when I press a kiss to her cheek.
“You okay?”
She nods, but I’m not convinced. Especially as she hasn’t even let me cross the threshold to her hotel room.
“Rough day?” I glance at the security guard standing beside me. I don’t expect her to open up in front of him, but I have to ask all the same.
“I guess.”
For a moment, I wonder if coming here tonight was a mistake. She’s been clear she doesn’t want to be anything more the friends. And I feel the same. Except I like her company. I’m enthralled by the way she keeps so level-headed when she’s being hounded by the press. And I want to know more about how she sees the world. She’s experienced so much, but in ways totally opposite to my own considerable experiences.