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He shrugs. “Can’t say I’m not enjoying seeing you cast as the villain. Hollywood’s good girl isn’t exactly pristine, is she?” He leans in. “Is your boy toy enjoying that filthy mouth of yours or is it all for show?”
I can’t believe this prick.
I lean back and cross arms. “Jealous? You liked my mouth just fine until you decided it would be more fun to ridicule and slut-shame me. Why? Because I got more offers than you? Because I was featured on more magazines?”
He narrows his eyes at me. “You liked playing the whore and you know it.”
“No. I liked being spicy with my boyfriend. Then you had to go and twist it and make it ugly. When you called me a whore, it wasn’t some fun role-playing game. It was to hurt. To humiliate. And you know it.”
He says nothing, only continues to leer at me. I’m done messing around. “If you aren’t going to tell me why you’re trying to sabotage my career then why did you want to meet?”
“Sabotaging your career? That’s rich coming from you,” he scoffs bitterly.
“What are you talking about?”
“Dropping out of the Netflix project.”
It takes me a moment to even know what he’s talking about. It was a rom-com, not dissimilar from my Christmas movies. I was hoping for an edgier script, not something I was already doing.
“I didn’t exactly drop out of it. I wasn’t officially cast yet.”
“But once I was on board you dropped it.”
“Is this what all this is about? The script was too much of the same. You know how it is.”
He jams his finger into the table angrily. “Once you were gone, they dropped me.”
“I had no idea that would happen.”
“You know they wanted an Atwood-Townsend movie.”
I sigh. I did and it was a factor, though not the only one, in me passing on the role. I did not want to get in a cycle of doing movies with him. One reunion was enough.
“I had no idea they would drop you if I wasn’t in it. They could have found a different actress.”
He rolls his eyes. “Don’t play so naïve.”
I throw up my arms, exasperated. “Ben, my career is not connected to yours. It was the same tired storyline, plus we’d just done a movie together. It wasn’t a smart career move for me, so I bowed out. That’s it. I wasn’t trying to ruin things for you. I thought we’d gotten over our past duringSnowed In. You even apologized! I thought we parted friends.”
“Friends,” he practically spits out. “We were never friends. We fucked.”
“Well, then you truly are a better actor than I thought you were.”
He scoffs. “Everyone always underestimates me.”
“Clearly.” I get up. I have no idea why he called me here, but I have no desire to stay any longer. I have what I need.
He gets up too and immediately crowds me. I put my hand to his chest to stop him from getting any closer. His hand comes to my hip, and I step back as I push him away. “Don’t fucking touch me.”
“You used to love my touch.”
“Yeah, I guess I’m a better actor than you thought too.”
Anger fills his gaze just before I turn around and head out of the bar. My hand is shaking as I press the button to my floor. I glance back, thankful he hasn’t followed me. But I don’t breathe normally until I’m locked in my room again.
I grab my phone and stop the app I installed earlier right before my phone rings and Jackson’s name pops up on the screen. I breathe a sigh of relief. He’ll be here soon.
“Hey,” I answer, doing my best to keep my voice steady.
