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“That sounds good.” I nod.
Veronica, who still hasn’t looked up from her phone, chimes in, “I’m grabbing a spiked seltzer for the road, do you want one?”
“Please,” I tell her as she walks towards my kitchen.
I’m grateful for the privacy because I want to talk to Damian about what happened upstairs. I don’t want him to think I was mad or didn’t appreciate his intentions.
He takes a step closer to me and lowers his voice. “I’m sorry for earlier,” he says before I can speak. “I didn’t mean to come off like an asshole or unreasonable. I’m just worried about you being thrust into the spotlight before you’ve really processed everything. But if you say you’re good, I believe you.”
My heart melts at his words even though I know he doesn’t believe me. “So, you’re adding ‘therapist’ to your list of duties now?” I joke and he gives me a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes, almost as if he is trying to find humor in my words but can’t. “I appreciate it.” I smile and he nods just as Veronica returns with two cans of grapefruit-flavored spiked seltzer.
We head out of the house, Veronica’s arm linked with mine as Damian trails behind us, locking the door. Max, Veronica’s security arrived not long ago and will trail in the car behind us. We opted to go more lowkey and didn’t request a limousine for the night. Instead, we decided to take a Range Rover since it would only be Veronica and me. Damian will sit in the front, of course, while Veronica and I sit in the back.
The ride to Rush is quicker than usual despite LA traffic and we are there within about twenty minutes and just as the manager, Tony, had told Damian, the entrance is crawling with paparazzi. We circle the block before going down the back alley towards the employee exit that is very much covered so that if anyone happens to be back there, they wouldn’t see who is going into the club. It’s one of the reasons so many people like coming here when they want to be incognito.
Before long, we’re inside and heading towards our table, nodding and waving as I pass by friends and acquaintances.
“About time you got here,” Derek says, immediately sliding a hand around Veronica when we slide into the booth and pressing a kiss to her cheek. I roll my eyes becauseI know how this is going to end.I can already see it in her eyes, and the second he flashes her his hundred-watt smile complete with those dimples she’ll be in the bathroom gagging on his cock.
She slides his arm from around her. “Miss me?” She grabs a glass of champagne from the center of the table.
“Obviously.” He smiles, just as Jeremy, who must have been at the bar, comes around and slides next to me in the U-shaped booth. Jeremy, who happens to play my love interest on the show, is probably one of the best friends I have other than Veronica. Maybe because we had to become very comfortable with each other very quickly, given that our romance begins after a one-night-stand on my first night in the city in the first episode of season one. It’s been six seasons and a lot of love scenes and we are slated to get married in the series finale according to the vague outline of the season I received last week.
Although we have chemistry on the show and spend about twenty hours a week making out, there’s actually nothing between us. He’s ten years older than me and when he started the show, he was engaged to someone else whom he truly loved and was kind of fucked up for a while when things didn’t work out. By that point, he and I had established such a strong friendship that neither of us ever wanted to ruin that. We truly are like brother and sister.
Of course, there was always some buzz around us. Fans love us on the show and shipped us as a couple relentlessly much to Paxton’s annoyance. There was a night that Jeremy had a party at his house and I ended up staying over that led to weeks and weeks of people speculating that we were in a secret relationship.It didn’t matter that half of the LA Dreams cast stayed over. Nope, it was just the fact that I was there.
“Thank god, you guys showed up. Derek is being a whole pain in my ass,” he says grabbing his beer and pulling it to his lips as I grab a glass of champagne.
“Because he wants V’s ass?” I joke loud enough for them to hear and Jeremy nods in agreement.
Veronica flashes me her middle finger just as Derek raises an eyebrow and cocks it at her. “We had a whole conversation about this. No, Derek.”
“Whatever.” He rolls his brown eyes and narrows them before pointing at me. “By the way, why have you been so MIA and what happened in Canada with Pax? I saw you were there for all of five seconds.” While Derek is obviously closer to me due to all the time we spend together, he is friendly with Paxton. I had told them all I was going to be in Canada for a few weeks when Derek had brought up going to Napa Valley for one last weekend before shooting started.
Veronica flashes a look at me and I prepare the lie to fall from my lips. I will probably end up telling Jeremy but Derek talks way too fucking much especially when he’s drunk. He never knows what’s appropriate to share in mixed company and I don’t want him blabbing all of my business to everyone in our circle.
“It’s a long story,” I say, waving him off. “We had an argument while I was there and I left. I have so much shit to do before we go back to filming anyway so I wasn’t going to spend it arguing with him in another country.” The lie is seamless and Veronica nods in agreement.
“Plus, she missed me, obviously.” She tosses a blonde hair behind her ear before giggling into her champagne.
“I guess he wants to clear the air,” Jeremy says and I look at him wondering what he means by that when he nods towards the entrance to our section where I see Paxton making his way towards us.
Fuck.
“Hey, baby.” The words are out of his mouth the second he gets to the table as he stands in front of us. I am hyperaware of Veronica tensing in my periphery and I can sense her focus on me. My eyes dart around him searching for Damian as I try to plan my exit strategy. I didn’t want to talk to Paxton. Our PR teams didn’t wantor shouldn’t wantme to talk to him either.Especially in public.I find Damian instantly, not too close, but close enough that he could get to me if I was really in trouble, standing next to the bar. His eyes are on me and I give him a slight shake of my head letting him know that I’m okay and to give me a second.
I glare at Paxton, annoyed that not only is he here but he’s wearing this very particular gray suit that he wears when he wants all my attention. Objectively, he looks good and it pisses me off.
“Pax, sit—” Derek says and he starts to get up to shake Paxton’s hand when Veronica wraps an arm around his shoulder and presses a kiss into his neck, effectively keeping him in place and distracting him from inviting Paxton to sit down. I’m pretty sure she’s only doing it for my benefit, and I wince internally, knowing it’s setting her up to be in a position she’s trying to avoid which is ending up in bed with Derek later.
I put on a smile,that I’m sure everyone at the table knows is fake.“What are you doing here, Paxton?”
“I thought we should talk?”
I stare at him, confused, blinking twice. “About…?”
“Do you want me to move so—” Jeremy starts and I cut him off, grabbing his arm to keep him in place.
