AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“A villainous character, then? Is that a better analogy for you?” Atticus grinned. “Because my ex could rival any evil fictional antagonist.”
“I’m sorry. Did it hurt to lose her?”
“Not exactly.” He averted his gaze. “Come on, your turn.”
“Let me see. I studied dance and voice all through high school and got accepted into the drama school at USC. After graduating, I had a few minor parts, then a bigger one for a partial season on a popular TV drama.”
“I saw that one. You were great.”
“Thank you. It was only supposed to be one episode, but they liked my work enough to write her in for six more. When that ended, I got the role of Eloise onHawthorne. During break, I worked on a film and another just this past summer. I live on Venice Beach. Celeste is my manager and best friend. No pets, but I’m thinking about getting a cat.”
“Benjamin Potter was in there somewhere, right?”
I watched him, curious if he’d followed the story of my humiliation. From the sympathy in his eyes, I assumed he had. “Met Ben through some actor friends. Got engaged. He cheated with a costar. We called off the wedding.”
“The photos,” Atticus said.
“Saw those, did you? Practicing their sex scene, so to speak.”
He shrugged one muscular shoulder. “I make it a point to follow everything about you, but that would have been hard to miss. I wanted to kill the guy.”
Talking about it shot pain right into the middle of my chest. Dull stabs now, as opposed the sharp betrayal when I’d first seen the photographs of Ben with his costar.
“Did you love him?”
“I don’t know. I thought I did. But now? I see who he really is and find it impossible to imagine I ever thought so. He’s larger than life. Fills every space so there’s no room for anyone else. No one can resist him. Especially young, pretty actresses. He’s like the Pied Piper of ingenues.”
Atticus looked at me with pity in his eyes. God, I hated that.
“But I’m fine now,” I said.
“I’m glad. But I know that must have been hell for you,” Atticus said. “It’s not like you don’t have some history with betrayal.”
“And yet I fell right into his trap.”
“When Roxane’s true colors came out, all I could think about was my dad.”
“How so?”
“She was a charming snake just like him.”
I didn’t say anything. It was true. From what I could remember of Rex Sharp, he’d been charismatic one moment and cruel the next. “Do you remember the time he called Caspian a sissy for liking to cook?”
A muscle in his cheek ticked, and his eyes turned glassy. He looked away, trying to hide his pain. But I knew him too well. I could see the boy he’d once been, innocent and trusting. As the oldest son, he’d carried the world on his shoulders.
“Whenever Mama wasn’t around, he said stuff like that,” Atticus said. “About Caspian and me in particular. I was a wimpy nerd and Caspian a…I can’t say the word.”
“I remember.”
“The younger boys got Pop, thank God. They’re not nearly as messed up as Caspian and me.”
“Is that why you’re in such good physical shape? Showing him up?”
An eyebrow arched before he looked up and over the wall of the hot tub. “I never thought about it, but maybe.”
“I have to say, it didn’t surprise me that your app was a tracking device,” I said.
It made perfect sense. The little boy who had been abandoned wanted to know where his loved ones were.
