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Slut.
I clicked it without thinking, a little surprised to see a picture of myself on the screen. I recognised it as the day I walked April to her car a few weeks back. I stood in profile, my features barely visible, my body curled protectively over April’s smaller one. We were locked together, my hands pinning her to the car as we kissed wildly. We look good together.Right.
Then I noticed the comment again,slut,her name tagged beside the word. Before I could stop myself I clicked on the responses and scrolled through comment after comment, insult after insult. Not a single one aimed at me. My body must have revealed my fury because April peered over the top of the screen.“What is it?”
“These comments, who are all these people?” My voice was a white-hot poker.
The change in her was instantaneous. Her shoulders curved in on themselves, the light in her eyes dimming as she tugged the phone back and locked the screen without looking at it.“Ignore them… it’s just random trolls online.”
How could she expect me to ignore that? The things they were saying, what they’d called her. She didn’t even look surprised.
“We have to report it.”
“Who would I report it to? Social media companies don’t care. For every one hundred comments I report, maybe one gets removed, if I’m lucky. It’s better not to read them.”
This is the reality of her life, I realised. Her sorrow that drunken night on the bank coming back to me, the memory as fresh as she was before me now.“I don’t get it.” I tried to rein my anger in but the words sounded harsh even to my own ears.“Why would you want this? Why keep putting yourself out there for these bastards to hurt you?”
She looked indignant. Seconds ago we’d been closer than two people could ever be and now, while she might physically still behere,I could feel her slipping away.“Because it’s my job.”
“Just weeks ago I held you while you wept because of the shit this industry put you through, princess. I don’t—”
“What?” She drew back. Her freckles stood out against her pale skin.“What are you talking about? When did I cry?”
“The night… the night I brought you home from the pub.” Her mouth set, eyes flicking as she tried to recall those missing moments.“I didn’t bring it up before because I couldn’t be sure it was information you meant to share with me. I wanted you to trust me enough to talk to me yourself, not whisper confessions when you were drunk and sad.”
“I told you… about Aaron?”
Aaron.His name slotted into place, hitting number one on my shit-list.
“You didn’t tell me his name, only that you signed a contract you shouldn’t have.”
She must have sensed my despondence, because she said quickly,“The reason I didn’t tell you isn’t because I don’t trust you, it’s because I’m angry at myself as well as him. I want to forget it ever happened.”
My hands curled over hers.“I would never judge you.”
She pulled her lower lip between her teeth, biting down as it began to tremble.“You might once you know.”
“Never.”
I waited as her fingers burrowed into my shirt and her chin dipped.“I first signed with Aaron when I was nineteen years old, he was my manager and a good one, for the most part. He got me auditions with directors I’d dreamed of working with and in exchange, when he told me to change my physical appearance, I agreed. When he suggested a rigorous diet, I did it without question. I told myself he knew what he was doing. People called him a bastard and I ignored them. He could be a hard-arse, but one you wanted in your corner.” It took all my effort to keep the slow rhythm of my hands on her bare arms and not imagine them wrapped around the slick bastard’s neck.“Then, a few years ago, I ended a relationship with a long-term boyfriend. Aaron offered to take me out to dinner to cheer me up, and I didn’t realise until midway through the main course it was a date. I felt uncomfortable but I… I didn’t know how to tell him, I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. So when he kissed me at the end of the night… I let him.” My hands paused on her shoulders.“I convinced myself that maybe it was a good idea to date him, we had a great working relationship and he was attractive enough.” She blew out a shaky breath.“I bet you think I’m really stupid, don’t you?”
“No, princess, I don’t think you’re stupid.” Him…? Yeah, I had a lot to say about him.
“Things were fine for a few weeks, he was attentive and kind, always buying me gifts. And then it all became way too much, he grew really insecure and wanted to spend every moment together. He asked me to move in with him after a month of dating and started pressuring me into having sex with him.” She seemed to grow smaller as she spoke. Her voice shrinking to a whisper.“It’s called‘love bombing,’a term I wasn’t aware of at the time. It wasn’t until I finally told him I couldn’t do it anymore that I realised what an idiot I’d been, because he held my entire career in his hands. Every job that came through from my agent he blocked, every interview, every audition.”
I could kill him.
“You couldn’t go to your agency?” I grit out.
“He had… he had access to all my social media, he said he would log in and write things I would never, ever say. He told me he had… photos… of me on his phone. Though, that turned out to be a lie. He threatened to ruin me and I believed him.”
I watched tears drip from her chin and fury like I’d never felt rocketed through me. I wanted to tear the world apart until I held that spineless man in my grip. Punish him for every ounce of pain he’d ever caused my woman—anywoman, because predators never acted singularly.“I took whatever job he would allow, the stupid reality shows, the dancing and the social media, anything I could do to get by.”
“And now?”
“A few of his other clients came forward with complaints and I felt safe enough to voice my own.” Her lower lip trembled some more.“I was a coward not to do it straight away.”
I shook my head sharply.“That’s not true, you had no way of knowing he wouldn’t follow through with his threats.”
