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“I come in peace.”
I look him up and down slowly. “Do you?”
He slides his hands into his slacks pockets and leans against the wall. “The interview went well.”
“Mmmhmm.”
“You were funny. It’s nice to see you laughing,” he tells me.
“I learned a long time ago how to laugh on command especially when I don’t feel like laughing and make it convincing.” I give him a fake smile that borders on saccharine before letting it fall with an eye roll.
He nods and the awkward silence stretches between us. “Shay, I’m sorry about how I handled everything.”
“How did you even know that? Are you trying to dig up stuff on him?”
“Yes.”What the fuck?
“Why?”
His lips form a straight line and he shrugs guiltily. “I didn’t want a repeat of what happened with Paxton.”
“Paxton was a serial cheater.”
“I just meant I didn’t want to see you get hurt. I didn’t want you to be blindsided and the second you went public, people would have gone digging into his past. You know how it works, Shay.”
“And the way you chose to tell me was you not wanting me to get hurt? Bullshit. It wasn’t your story to tell.”
He sighs and sits down running a hand through his hair. “It was never my intention to hurt you. I’m in love with you, for god’s sakes,” he blurts out like it isn’t a huge bomb that’s going to change everything. “It bothered me that another man that doesn’t deserve you is getting a shot with you.”
My mouth drops open becauseno fucking way.“I’m sorry, back up, what?” My mind is moving a mile a minute and my hand immediately goes to my bracelet, knowing it can’t do anything but make me feel closer to Damian and hope he can sense that I need him.
“I’ve been in love with you for years. Since Alex and I broke up. Hell, it’swhywe broke up if you ask her,” he continues.
I blink several times in shock. I remember Alex did break up with him and I also remember I never really got a straight answer as to why. I didn’t push it because it wasn’t my business. I tuck a hair behind my ear nervously trying to figure out what to say and how to say it without potentially ruining what’s left of our friendship and potentially the chemistry on our hit television show.Fuck. Why did he have to tell me this now?“Jeremy, you can’t be serious.”
“I was trying to give you time after you and Paxton broke up and then I saw you at the club with Damian and I got pissed, all right?” He stands up and crosses the room. I take a few steps back. “Shay, you know me. You can trust me. We’ve been through everything together.”
“Jeremy…” I put my hands up.Damian was right all along.“This whole time?”
He nods and reaches his arm out to touch my face, but I move out of his reach. “We could be so good together. It would be so easy, Shay.” I hate that I feel like he’s following me around the dressing room because now I’m against a wall with nowhere to move.
“Jeremy, stop,” I say.
I want to call for Damian or anyone but I don’t want to be dramatic.Jeremy wouldn’t hurt me…right?After five years of friendship, I hate that I don’t know the answer to that question.
He stops walking and looks down at his feet. “Do you feel anything for me?”
I swallow nervously, unsure of how he’ll take the truth. “Not beyond a friendship,” I tell him. “I…I love Damian. I’ve loved him for a really long time and maybe that makes me an asshole for staying with Paxton. I just…I thought he wasn’t an option for me. I thought he didn’t feel the same way about me.”
He snorts. “Who wouldn’t want you? You’re Shay Eastwood.”
“That’s not why I want her,” Damian’s voice is low and icy but heats every inch of my skin as he shuts the door behind him and crosses the room. He stands in front of me but for the first time, I don’t think it’s because he thinks there’s a threat to me.
But to him.
“Are we going to have a problem, Gardner?” he asks, referring to Jeremy by his last name. “I know your show requires a lot of specific scenes, but she’s acting. She does not want you.”
I don’t hear him respond so I peer around Damian and see the angry look Jeremy’s giving him. I’ve rarely seen him angry; I’ve never so much as heard him yell except when we’re shooting and our characters are arguing.
