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“My boss is Naomi Pilkington,” I add, looking down at my hands, expecting the car to stop so he can tell me to get out.
But he doesn’t. In fact, I hadn’t even noticed we were moving the ride is so smooth and the windows tinted so dark.
“Oh,” he says knowingly, a smile playing on his lips as he nods to himself. “That’s a name I’m familiar with, I’m surprised she wasn’t there this morning to try and put me on the spot with some awkward questions,” he reflects.
“You’re not mad?” I ask, surprised at how amused he is by it all. I thought he would have had the opposite reaction, considering how much the column and the paper seem to prey on celebrities for a story.
But Jack just shrugs, laughing it off.
“My agent who’s also my manager deals with all that stuff,” he tells me casually. “I only hear about things usually after the fact, and I never watch TV or read a newspaper,” he confides in me.
“Truth?” he asks me in a near whisper, lowering his voice and leaning in so close I can feel the warmth of his breath on my ear.
“I made more last year from lawsuits against the press than I did from any movies, so I guess your boss is really doing me a favor.”
I’m a little shocked to hear him say that, but feel instantly relieved he doesn’t mind who I work for and just a little bit more interested in him hovering so close to me when he speaks.
I want to hear him tell me more, but he pretends to get defensive. A consummate actor whether he likes it or not.
“How do I know you haven’t been sent to spy on me?” he asks, trying to keep a straight face but giving himself away when he smiles, his hand brushing mine by accident as he slaps his own thigh with another laugh.
“She doesn’t know about today, me winning the contest I mean,” I tell him honestly. But I don’t feel like going into real details, like how I just know she’d want me to be part of something horrible to get a story that just wasn’t true.
“How do you feel about it?” he asks, suddenly sounding more concerned than serious. “About writing all that stuff, being part of it? You don’t strike me as someone who would be drawn to any of it,” he observes, his eyes casually passing over me again.
Making my chest stiffen and my legs press together.
There’s a way in which Jack Mercury can look at you and then change in a second.
One minute he’s the actor, the movie star. The next, he’s all man. Letting you know with a single glance that he’s also a man who knows what he wants and he always gets what he wants.
This is confusing me though because I know the look. But why would he be looking at me like that?
“I’m just an intern really,” I say quickly and way too loudly. Something I always do when I’m nervous. “I got my degree in journalism and this is the first… the only job I could get that’s even close,” I remind myself, feeling my shoulders sag and my own voice trail off.
Jack breathes through his nose and makes a low sound. “I think you might surprise yourself. I think you’d be more than capable of a hundred things, given the right opportunity,” he says.
I figure he’s just being polite, but when I look up at him, those intense dark eyes of his are locked on mine.
“Anyway,” he announces. “We have a whole day ahead of us and I promise I won’t just pick your brain about work. Tell me more about you. Tell me about Olivia Fanning.”
There’s really not a lot to tell, and I’m worried if there’s a whole day of this in front of us it might all be over before lunch.
But Jack is interested, in everything I have to tell him about myself.
He’s a keen listener and only speaks when he has another question.
I try and think of the million questions I know I must have for him, but it’s no use.
He’s determined to know more about me whether I like it or not, and before I know it I feel like I’ve told him my whole life story.
Chapter Six
Jack
She hasn’t mentioned a boyfriend, husband, or significant other.
Only spoken about her job, college, and some of her early life. But not enough to tell me everything I want to know about her.
I’m used to fans telling me what they think about me, how much they think they know about me. All that kind of thing, but with Olivia, it’s almost like she’s never had anyone to talk to let alone talk to about herself.
That’s all I want to hear about, her. I’m the last person to want to talk about myself either. Everything I say for the cameras or in an interview, it’s all scripted.
