“Okay, no talking, Emerson.”
I rolled my eyes as Jupiter pressed start on Avengers, hunkering down under the blanket, trying to stop myself from falling asleep.
My stomach started rumbling loudly as the credits rolled and the film finished.
“Can we eat now please? I’m hungry.”
“Yes, tacos. I’ll go and make them, and we can bring them back here. You want to stay or come and talk to me while I cook?”
I was kind of comfy.
He walked off knowing what the look on my face meant, but thirty seconds later he was back, standing in the doorway, frowning at his phone as mine started buzzing on the table next to me. I leaned over to grab it, Drew filling the screen.
He never failed to bring a smile to my face, he smiled back but it looked… different. Weary almost.
“Hi, sweetheart, how are you?”
I frowned. “I’m good, babe. Are you okay?”
“Jupe’s with you, right? Can I speak to both of you?”
Jupiter dropped down on the beanbag next to me and I tried to sit up and position the screen so he could see us both.
I glanced between him and Jupe. “What’s going on?”
He looked pained, rubbing his thumb back and forth over his forehead.
“Mary called me. I’ve just been on the phone with her.” He looked at Jupiter’s puzzled face. “My manager.”
Jupiter sat forward, his elbows on his knees getting closer to the screen. “Mary Masters? She’s your manager?”
Drew nodded.
“Ballsy.”
“Yeah.” He took a deep breath. “Anyway, she’s told me there’s a story coming out tonight on Page Six. It’ll be in print tomorrow.”
“Okay…”
I wasn’t really sure what he was trying to get at, but I felt Jupiter tense next to me. “Crawley, what have you done? I swear to God I will beat you to a pulp when you get back.”
Drew’s jaw clenched.
“Jupiter, for once, just shut the fuck up,” he snapped. “It’s not about me, not directly anyway.” His eyes trained on mine. “Em, it’s about you.”
I frowned. “What does that mean? I don’t understand. How can there be a story about me?”
Drew looked like he was close to tears, and for the first time I noticed how pale he was, his face etched with worry.
He gave a deep sigh. “Richard sold a story saying that you and I were having an affair behind his back. And that he caught us.”
I started blinking, trying to figure out if I’d heard him correctly. And , for some reason, I was trying to wrack my brains for a memory of when he’d caught us. But I couldn’t find it because it hadn’t happened.
You can’t remember something that never happened.
“I don’t understand. That’s not true.”
“I know it’s not true, Mary’s told them, but they’re printing it anyway.”
