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I don’t want to admit how much that dream has been fueling me these last two years. Through all the late nights and the humiliating demands, I kept telling myself,It’ll all be worth it. Angus will help you…
My voice comes out weak. “You don’t know that.”
Sullivan’s is the opposite. “I know that people do what benefits them. What benefits Angus is to keep you poor and hungry, right by his side.”
I stare at him, slowly shaking my head. “You’re cynical.”
“Realistic.”
“Well, I don’t trust you. You blackmailed me and you already flipped the script, right in front of my boss.”
“Understandable.” Sullivan’s gaze is steady and unblinking. “But I think you’ll find I’m a man of my word. Unlike Angus.”
He watches my face.
His is calm and impassive.
I see flares of genuine emotion in him—when he laughed at my dig at his hair. When he’s overwhelmingly confident. And strangely, when he talked about love—that was when he seemed most honest.
But the rest of the time, I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.
“I’m not doing it,” I say. “Tell Angus whatever you want.”
And I walk away from Sullivan.
3
SULLY
Ilet Theo walk away because she needs time to cool off, and then time to percolate.
This is against her nature, I know.
She’s just like she was when I knew her—wearing her emotions all over her face. That’s why the mean girls loved to torment her—it was so easy to get those big blue eyes to fill up with tears and those pale cheeks to flush with color.
I’m surprised she managed to lie to Angus at the job interview. He must have been distracted trying to sneak a look down her shirt.
Theo dresses like a nun, but that’s only more intriguing to men who are used to women throwing themselves at their feet.
I’ll admit, even I was enjoying the curve of her back beneath my palm. I never would have expected to find myself dancing on a rooftop with nerdy little Theo Mahoney, but the universe is endlessly entertaining.
She’s grown up since then. Got a little more fire in her.
I was tickled when I did my deep dive into her history and found that even good-girl Theo has a dirty secret. Granted, hers is relatively tame but exploitable all the same.
She’ll come back around. I just need to give her time to marinate.
My phone buzzes on the bar top. I came to the Golden Gopher for a celebratory drink after successfully launching part one of my plan. The number on the screen is some twelve-digit salad that can only be my brother.
I abandon my drink to slip outside and take the call.
“You’re alive,” I say by way of greeting.
“Unfortunately,” Reese replies.
His voice is distant and crackling but so warmly familiar that I might as well be talking to myself. Or at least, the half of myself that’s a lovable idiot.
“Filming not going well?”
