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A memory from long ago, when he was twelve, surfaced then.
It’s important to communicate very clearly with women. Do you understand me?
He held all the power in their relationship, like his father did in all of his.
So it was on Hale to be clear and follow up.
“I fucked up, baby. And I’m sorry. We had a great date and I absolutely wanted to see you again. I can’t say everyone I’ve met has been trustworthy, and this has happened my whole life, but it’s been particularly prevalent since my dad died. I let that leak into what was going on with us, I didn’t communicate, because I didn’t want to be in that vulnerable place either. And I blew it.”
“You weren’t alone, Hale. I acted like a bitch.”
“We know where we stand now, yeah?”
Her eyes moved down to their bodies to indicate the fact they were standing with him pressed against her, she had both her hands wrapped around his neck, and she was making no move to break their clinch, neither was he, so she couldn’t miss she knew where they stood.
She smirked.
He chuckled.
Then she spoke.
“I’ve already talked to Mankowitz, and Imogen Swan, Gordon Fuller and Maggie Mae. They’re all just as keen to discuss what went down onRita’s Wayand how things have changed as I am. Mankowitz’s people called me back within an hour when I approached him about it. It seems everyone involved in the show was stunned, hurt and angry that the viewers reacted the way they did. Mankowitz never recovered. He said it was the death knell forRita’s Way, even if they limped along for a while. He wanted to do something likeThe Next Lifesince it happened. In fact, it’s his response to what he refers to as ‘that utter bullshit.’ It’s also one of the reasons it was essential that Imogen play the lead inThe Next Life. He wrote it for her. As a progression. A subtle way to show she was incredibly popular then because she was so fresh and pretty and talented, and she hasn’t lost any of that as time has gone by, and in fact, has only gotten better.”
She moved a hand to fiddle with the lapel on his tuxedo and continued speaking.
“I just hadn’t met him face to face yet, nor Imogen for that matter, and I wanted to introduce myself.”
“I jumped to conclusions. I’m sorry about that too.”
She lifted her gaze to him again. “That’s okay. But it might be good you don’t rush to judgment that everything I’m about is bad. I can’t say my ambitions didn’t lead me astray in the past, but I’ve worked hard to course correct.”
He nodded and shared, “I’m not dating Blake. We’re truly just friends. She isn’t my type, I’m not hers. We’d never go there.”
That was when she nodded.
“But, since we’re laying it out there, I gotta mention that some of your Exchanges back then about her weren’t real awesome, baby,” he said low.
“I sense she’s done some course correction too, Hale, but she was a mean girl. She wasn’t just known for it, she carefully crafted that persona. She was rich and spoiled and entitled and got up to some unreasonably stupid shit that only someone rich and entitled could get away with. And she crowed about it. I don’t think what happened to her with her ex was her comeuppance, but it was rather glorious to see how she took something really bad and was smart enough and strong enough to read the message and turn her life around.”
“You exposed her body, Elsa. That was far from cool.”
She blinked up at him, openly bemused. “She sold me that picture herself.”
He stared down at her.
“Is she claiming she didn’t?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I just heard Alex talking about it once, and saying Blake was really upset about it.”
“Perhaps she was upset about what I said when I broadcast it, thinking maybe I’d say something else, because she did look beautiful that night. But that doesn’t negate the fact that she sold me about twenty pictures from that party, and she didn’t sell them cheap. It wasn’t the first time she approached me with photos. Though it was the last. And all of them from that night were of her, and the one I showed wasn’t the only one that exposed her breast in that dress. She couldn’t have missed it. She has a great figure, I thought she wanted to flaunt it. Many women do.” She appeared horrified when she finished, “I’d never violate anyone like that without their consent.”
“Okay, sweetheart, I don’t know anything about it. Blake has never spoken of it. I just knew it happened and Alex wasn’t a fan.”
“Okay,” she muttered.
“And she isn’t my date tonight. I came with her for moral support. Her father is her date. She wasn’t even at my table at dinner.”
“I wondered about that.”
