“Exactly,” Tripp agreed, though it was obvious to everyone—except Josh—that wasn’t what he’d been about to say. “Like you said, this business is hard. It’s all about connections. I had my dad to help me. I want to mentor you. Obviously, that means spending time together, which is why I asked you to meet me here. You’ll need to sign an NDA. If you’re not interested, you can just sign the contract forSummer?—”
“No, I’m interested. I’m very interested.”
Easton swooped in with the forms like that was the way meetings usually went. He started to explain the NDA that was the typical coverage hidden behind legalese.
For the most part, at least.
Take the role.
Take it.
Take it.
Easton’s explanation and my silent encouragement were both unnecessary.
Josh didn’t hesitate to sign on the line. He didn’t even lift the papers away to skim the other forms. He just pushed them up enough to sign and initial.
No questions. No suspicion. Nothing but the audacity and entitlement of a mediocre man.
All that careful phrasing Easton used, and for nothing.
Tripp grinned wide, and that time, the sides of his eyes crinkled. “I’m really happy with how this went. My lawyer is going to make copies, and then we’ll take the contract to the studio so you can meet the team.”
I wanted to sink back until I melted into a relieved puddle on the ground beneath my chair.
There’s no way he’ll release the video now.
My boss-slash-boyfriend paused in the doorway just long enough to offer me a reassuring smile before he followed Easton from the room.
I’m up.
But I wasn’t. I didn’t have to decide between my various carefully rehearsed conversation starters.
Josh took the lead, spinning his chair to lean closer. “You look good.”
It’s because I’m happy for the first time in a long while.
When I didn’t glow at his compliment, he let out a mean laugh. “But still as neurotic and uptight as ever. At least you made this work. Kind of.” He nudged the binder Tripp and I had worked up and highlighted to make it seem like a bigger role.
Or a real role.
It wasn’t. The whole thing was bullshit.
“There better be more options than this sappy shit, though,” he said, presenting me with an opening that might as well have been the size of a black hole.
“What if there’s not?” I asked. My nerves at my believability came across as nerves about his answer.
“You know what.”
So close.
“But I got you this meeting and the part,” I pointed out.
“That wasn’t the deal.”
“And he said he’d help you.”
Josh shot me the cocky smirk that I used to love so much. I don’t understand why. It was just so…
