Page 66 of Hot Nights in Morocco
“Don’t you dare mention Sienna’s name!”
Sienna?Is that the woman Max alluded to in the bar the other night?
“You’ll crawl back to me, Jake. You always do. Award season will swing around in no time and it’ll boost both our profiles, just like last year.”
It’s her absolute certainty that cuts the deepest. That, and the disdain… God, it’s dripping from her mouth like a hungry dog’s drool.
So, this was Jake’s game plan. He must screw women on location all the time, and then crawl back to her when it’s deemed mutually beneficial. Stupid me for thinking I was any different.
I can feel the tears welling up. They’re waiting in the wings like some melancholic troupe. I look down to find my clenched knuckles pressed tight against the door, but I don’t feel a thing. There’s a raucous shout from downstairs, but it’s like I’m hearing it from inside a bubble. Jake didn’t give a shit about what Cassie was feeding to the press because I was already dust in his rearview mirror.
“Have you spoken to Brad recently?”
“You and your jealously.” Cassie’s titter sounds like a three year old on helium. “You’d think after all these years you’d get a handle on it. I can recommend a real good therapist.”
“Well? Have you?”
“As of matter of fact, yes. He’s shooting a new movie in London, and the lead just dropped out. He’s offered me the role.”
“On whose fucking authority? Global ismystudio. He’s needs approval from me before a single scene of that movie is shot.”
“Calm down, I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding. Listen, I’m scheduled to fly out to New York next month for the premiere of that movie we did last year. Shall we call it a date?”
“Fine,” I hear him snap. “I’ll get my L.A. team to call yours.”
It’s like listening to the sound of my heart shattering against the wall of his expensive suite.
So damn final.
I watch a cockroach climb the wall next to me and vanish into a crack in the ceiling.
Can I really be obliterated so easily?
That’s when I hear Lucy’s warning in my head. She begged me not to take this job. She knew what Jake was like. She’s a celebrity reporter. She hangs around with these people all the time.
Will Cassie still leak the story?
I stumble down the hallway, searching frantically for the positives in all of this. For the first time in sixteen years I wagered the last unbroken piece of me, and I lost it all to the best player in the house. My only consolation is the smashing of the smokescreen. The revelation of the lie.
I finally see Jake for the man he really is.
But it’s no good. Deep down I know it’s never going to be as simple as that, because in one shitty evening, I’ve lost the man of my dreams, the job I love, my self-confidence,andmy reputation.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Oh, God, make it stop! Make it stop!
Bomb shrapnel is piercing my skull. I’ve never felt pain like it. Whimpering, I reach out for a glass of water on my nightstand, but my fingers close around something damp, instead. And prickly…
That’s not normal.
I peel one eye open and stare, uncomprehendingly, at a neat row of red and yellow flowers. It takes me a moment to get my bearings, and then another to realize that I’m staring at the well-tended undergrowth that borders the hotel swimming pool.
Looking down, my worst suspicions are confirmed. I’ve just spent the night on one of the woven sun loungers outside.
Fully clothed.
Shameless.
