Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 145634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 728(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 728(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
I think I wanted to get caught. I wanted to go to prison like the criminal I was. It made it easier to forgive myself for leaving her the way I did.
Fuck, some nights I prayed that she would tell someone so it could all just end. But she never did. That was the worst torture of them all.
Everyone around me, walking through the hall of dressing rooms, must know I’m pissed and I don’t care. My hands are shoved in the pockets of the suit pants I’m wearing for the scene I just did, and my tie is loose around my neck. I pace back and forth outside of her room waiting for her agent to leave.
The oxford shoes I got from the set stomp the floor as I walk, ignoring how everyone passes by me, each of them tearing their stare away from me as I look up from watching my feet hit the ground. Stomp, stomp, stomp. The steps are only dulled by the thick carpeting.
I’m sure Nancy is telling her that she needs to go into an interview more prepared than she was. Maybe it’s Nancy’s fault. She should have prepared her.
What’s done is done, but the information she gave Margo is going to give me a fucking PR nightmare. My phone vibrates in my pocket and I check the name.
Mark.
To hell with that, I’m not taking it. There’s only one person I want to talk to about that interview.
The sound of her door opening stops my feet right where they are and I turn to see Nancy taking a step down from the makeshift dressing room and easily closing the door behind her. She sees me when she lifts her head, simultaneously searching for something in her oversized bag. She gives me a smile as if everything’s just fine and says, “Mr. Hart.”
I watch her leave, knowing there’s more going on behind the scenes and very much aware that she’s a better actress than I gave her credit for.
I don’t knock and I don’t ask to come in, I barge in and catch Hally by surprise. She jumps at her seat on the vanity, putting a hand to her heart as I close the door behind me.
“Nathan,” she says with bit of shock in her voice, but she doesn’t look me in the eyes.
“What were you thinking?” I ask her, letting the anger out little by little, like the edge of an over boiled pot of water, climbing higher and higher until it’s spilling and uncontainable.
“Excuse me?” she says with indignation.
“You made me look like an asshole,” I tell her.
“I only told the truth,” she says and narrows her eyes to watch me stalk closer to her. She’s defensive right off the bat, ready to fight. Maybe it’s a bad habit, maybe she really doesn’t think there’s a damn thing wrong with the impression she gave the papers.
“Is that what you want? You want them to hate me? Is this your way of getting back at me?” I ask her and it hurts to say it. I wouldn’t blame her if she was trying to punish me for leaving her. What I did was wrong. There’s no denying that.
“What was I supposed to do?” she asks as if it was all an innocent accident.
“Easy,” I tell her as I grip the vanity and lean over her, “You keep talking, don’t acknowledge the question.” I’m very aware of how intimidating I look right now. If someone came in, they’d see I’m angry, hovering over her. But I don’t care. I want to protect her, and us and what we had. And she’s destroying any chance at that by being stupid.
“Maybe that works for you and your asshole persona but that wouldn’t work for me,” she practically spits at me. “I don’t hide behind a smirk and bullshit.”
“Is that what I do?” I ask her and cock a brow.
“You act like you’re some hotshot who’s made it and doesn’t have to deal with the shit problems he creates and then gets mad when they come back and you finally have to deal with them.” Her voice rises as she talks, filling with more and more emotion.
“Go ahead and get it all off your chest,” I tell her, egging her on when I know I shouldn’t. “Tell me what you really think,” I scoff.
“You left me because you were a coward,” she sneers at me and then seems to realize what she said. She instantly backs down as she steadies her breathing, her shoulders rising and falling. She doesn’t look me in the eyes.
If I was a lesser man, I’d flinch from the venom in her tone.
“Is that really what you think of me?” I ask her, but I don’t wait for an answer. She just said it to hurt me.