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Later that night, when I got back to our apartment, Reed wasn’t alone.
When I got out of the elevator, just out of sight, I watched as the director Reed was complaining about was heading out of our apartment.
A sick feeling washed over me. I turned the corner and waited in the shadows until the older man quickly stalked towards the elevator. Once he was gone, I waited a few minutes and then walked over to let myself into our apartment.
“Ree?” I called out as I slammed and locked the door behind me.
He stepped into the hallway in his red silk robe, his hair disheveled.
“Hey, I thought you weren’t back until after midnight?” Reed asked.
“We shut down at eleven. I guess a fourteen-hour day was long enough.”
“Okay, well, I’m exhausted. I’m off to bed. Night.”
He turned quickly.
“Ree?”
“Yeah?” He swiveled back to look at me.
Under the dim glow of the overhead light, I finally took notice of his face. The dark circles under his eyes. And the redness on his cheeks.
“Is everything okay?”
Reed let out a shaky breath and tightened the belt on his robe. “It will be.”
Two days later, Reed had his speaking role back.
I never asked and he never said. It became the great unspoken secret. I had plenty of my own, but Reed? He was normally an open book.
There was a shift between us, a wall thrown up. One that neither of us was willing to climb.
And it turned out, we weren’t that different, he and I.
Both of us were gonna make it, no matter the cost. Pride had no place in show business.
But I hated to think of my friend, who was a kind and sensitive man, being hardened like me. I didn’t want that for his life.
Two weeks later, I moved out.
But every time I walked into my new place, I expected Reed to be there. Or his belongings, which were strewn in every room in our old apartment. He was fastidious about a clean kitchen, but a neat freak he was not.
What did I miss most? His boisterous laugh. And oddly enough, the scent of those damn vanilla candles that he had everywhere.
I often heard the echo of his voice in my dreams. For the most part, that’s where I saw him. I was busy, and so was he, and our friendship went from talking every day to texting once a week.
It took me four months to get used to living alone.
I hated every minute.
CHAPTER 4
REED
SEVEN YEARS AGO
“Reed, take the offer. It’s a historical drama with a lot of potential. If it gets picked up, think of the royalties. We’re talking lots and lots of money.”
