Arden smiles a bit, looking back at the road. Gets more comfortable in her seat. There’s a few minutes of silence, which I hate, but she finally breaks it. “That was Whitney who texted you from my phone the other day.”
You don’t say?
A smile pulls at my lips. “Yeah, I put that together.”
“But Iamsorry for biting your head off,” she says, and I don’t look at her, because I get the feeling that she doesn’t want me to. “Just don’t make comments about where I live, okay? I know it isn’t the Hollywood Hills. It’s just how things have to be right now.”
I nod, even though I still hate the thought of her being there alone, and I don’t fully understand what the end of that sentence means. I’m sure those words will haunt me for the next little while, but I keep my mouth shut anyway.
It’s not my place.
“I won’t do it again.” It’s a promise I’m going to try to keep.
“Thanks,” she says. There’s a beat of silence, and then she looks at me. Really looks at me. I can feel her eyes burning into my face. “Do you really volunteer at the shelter? Fix it up for them?”
“I don’t get my hands dirty, but I pay for it, yeah.”
“Hm.”
“What?”
“Just didn’t expect that from you.”
That stings a bit, but I let it go. I know my reputation, how I come off, and I didn’t exactly start volunteering there out of the goodness of my heart, did I? She’s not wrong to assume so little of me.
“I’m more than just a pretty face.”
She rolls her eyes at that. “If it weren’t for all the assaults, I might believe it.”
She’s got me there. That one adds a bit of salt to the wound.
“Well, the assaults are typically for a good cause.”
“I don’t know if that’s really a thing.”
“Youaren’t a good cause?”
She shakes her head a bit, drums her fingers on her lap. “The only thing Icausedwas a headache for you.”
She seriously has to stop saying shit like that.
“No,hecaused that.”
“Technicalities.” She waves me off like it’s nothing. Like she and him are the same.
Yeah, that’s not going to fly in this vehicle.
“No, heliterallydid. What did you do besides look ridiculously hot at a bar?”
She blinks, a bit taken aback by the compliment, I guess. Strange, since we’re in this situation because I was hitting on her at the very bar where I punched that guy in the face for touching her. I thought my attraction to her was clear.
“That was all him.”
“Either way, it just keeps getting worse for you because of it. They won’t give you a break, will they?”
I let out a long breath. “No. They won’t.”
The game is the game, though. Being a celebrity of sorts comes with living under a microscope, even if you hate it. I typically love it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m one of the very few who thrive when the cameras are on me, but I can still acknowledge the downsides to that.
