Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 41935 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 210(@200wpm)___ 168(@250wpm)___ 140(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41935 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 210(@200wpm)___ 168(@250wpm)___ 140(@300wpm)
I text him my thanks. I told him Alice’s last name and asked him to see if he could find a patient with her last name at a hospital in Detroit. His assistant is a wizard and I know she’s the one who actually did it. She also booked me a flight and arranged for a car to pick me up at the house and take me to the airport and another one to pick me up in Detroit.
Tony’s the best. He didn’t ask me why I was leaving the show when I texted him about it earlier. He just said he’ll read the contract over immediately and handle all communications with the producers and network execs. Now I can focus all my attention on Alice.
“You’re leaving?”
I look up and find Farrah glaring at me from the doorway of my bedroom. I cringe inwardly, not in the mood for her bullshit.
“Yeah.” I stand up and loop the handle of one bag over my shoulder.
“Why?”
“I don’t owe you an explanation, Farrah.”
She closes the door and advances on me, her eyes narrowed with fury.
“Go fuck yourself, Dalton. You played me. And I don’t understand why. Why not just be honest about who you were really into? I know we have to play along with the drama for the producers, but you could have told me privately that you had no interest in me.”
I shrug. “I didn’t owe you that. Did you ever tell me who you were and weren’t interested in?”
“Is Misty fucking you and Dom separately, or are you guys doing threesomes?”
I gape at her, stunned by the leap she’s making. The corners of her lips curl up in a knowing smile.
“There’s my answer. You don’t want the world to find out you’re bi; that’s why you’re leaving.”
I laugh. “You’re so far off the mark. I don’t give a shit if you make stuff up about me, but Misty doesn’t deserve it. Dom doesn’t, either, but I’m sure he couldn’t give a fuck what a narcissistic actor says about him.”
She balks, her eyes widening. “Did you just call me a narcissist?”
My temper flares, but it’s not really due to this conversation. It’s because of how she treats Alice. It was all I could do to keep quiet this morning when Farrah told Alice she didn’t need to go home to be with her family.
“I did, and it’s the nicest of the things I’d like to call you. You want to know why you can’t figure out who it is I really want, Farrah? It’s because you’re so fucking wrapped up in yourself. You make everything about you. You don’t deserve Alice.”
“What does my assistant have to do with any of this?”
I lose my shit. “Alice! Her name is Alice! She’s a thousand fucking times more than just your assistant. She’s a person, and you take advantage of her. Do you think she wants to work for you every hour of every day, seven days a week? She does it for her family. And then she hardly ever gets to see them because you won’t get your own bottles of water out of the fridge for one fucking weekend.”
The color drains from her face. “Oh my God. It’s Alice?”
“Goddamn right it’s Alice.” I work to keep my voice down so no one can hear us outside this room. “She’s beautiful and smart and funny. So fucking generous and selfless. I’d walk through fire for her, and you don’t even see her. How fucking dare you say is he dying or something to her in that bitchy tone earlier? You don’t know anything about him. You don’t know because you don’t care.”
She leans back, her expression as stricken as if I just slapped her even though we’re several feet apart.
“Get out of my way.” I glare at her until she turns away and leaves the room, not saying another word.
I close my eyes and blow out a breath as I walk to the stairway. I didn’t mean to tell her about me and Alice, but I did, and now I’ll have to face the consequences.
If Farrah fires Alice, I’ll pay her parents’ bills. Hell, I’ll pay them anyway. If she’ll let me.
That evening, I’m sitting in a waiting area of Detroit Memorial, a silver-haired woman in the seat across from mine snoring as she sleeps sitting up. I’ve been here for more than an hour, guilt and nervousness swirling in my gut.
I should’ve asked Alice if she was okay with this. I came because I wanted to be there for her. But she might not want that. She’s going to get a lot of bombshells dropped on her all at once--I left the show and followed her here, and I told Farrah about us.
It’s a shit time to drop all that on her when she’s so worried about her dad. I’m considering my options, wondering if I should leave when the choice is made for me.