Page 30 of Shine For Me

“You don’t have to do that,” I tell him, trying to keep my voice light. “No sense in spending hours flying around just to hold my hand for a few minutes.”

“I would, though, Junie,” he says softly. “Just say the word.”

“It’s fine,” I assure him, talking fast so I don’t start crying. “Sebastian is here, you know. I’m sure he’ll take me out if I need a distraction.”

“Oh, God,” my brother says drily. “Do not go out drinking with Bash. You’re going to end up passed out in the street on the cover of People magazine.” A beat passes. “What about Ransome?”

“What about him?”

“Have you talked to him about any of this?”

“Not really. He doesn’t know about…no. I don’t need to put all my shit on him.”

My brother scoffs. “Isn’t he supposed to be your friend? Don’t friends talk to each other?”

“I don’t know. Do they?”

He grunts softly. “Don’t know. I don’t have any friends.”

I bark out a strangled laugh. “God, we’re really pathetic, you know that?”

“I am quite aware,” he says in that sardonic voice he’s famous for.

There’s another beat of silence until I finally blurt out what I’ve wanted to say since I first saw his name in my notifications. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”

“Then you shouldn’t,” he says immediately. “You don’t have to.”

“Why am I such a fucking coward, Grey?”

“You’re not a coward, Junie. You just happen to have a supremely fucked up family.”

I close my eyes, hating how true his words are. This is something we’ve fought about numerous times over the years—Grey’s insistence that our family sucks while I vainly try to defend them for reasons I can’t even really remember anymore. It’s always been so hard for me to admit that the family I thought I knew—the one that existed when I was a kid, before the divorce—was a sham.

But now it’s getting even harder to deny it.

“You know I’ll never be able to tell him,” I mutter. “He’ll give me that stern, disapproving look and I’ll cave.” The same way I always do.

“I’ll come with you,” he says immediately. “Jimmy doesn’t intimidate me.”

I bite back a bitter laugh. My twin might think he’s better at standing up to our grandfather than I am, but it’s not like he’s got a great track record there, either. The last time I saw him he’d just dropped everything to fly halfway around the world for the birthday party because Jimmy Cain snapped his fingers and demanded his presence.

“I appreciate that,” I finally say. “But it doesn’t really help. It would just mean I was relying on you to make my decisions, instead of him.”

“The difference is that I actually give a shit about your happiness,” he snaps.

I don’t bother arguing. Normally I would remind him that Grandpa does want us to be happy—he just has a much different definition of that word. And a much different idea of how to go about getting it.

Today, though, I’m not inclined to defend Jimmy Cain. Not when I think about the slew of messages from reporters and PR people waiting on my phone. Not when I think about Adam.

“I’m almost to the hotel,” I tell him instead, my stomach sinking as I wonder whether or not there will be photographers waiting for me there. Maybe I should have spent this time talking to Harper the PR lady. Too late now.

“You’re at a hotel?” he asks, sounding surprised. “Don’t you usually rent out some disgustingly swanky mansion or something?”

“It was too far from the studio,” I say, hearing the defensive tone in my voice.

My twin brother is silent for a moment before he bursts into laughter. “Oh, Junie,” he says. “This is worse than I thought.”

“What are you talking about?” He just laughs harder. “Grey,” I bark. “What the hell?”

“Who else is staying at this hotel?”

I’m suddenly very glad my brother can’t see my face. “The rest of the cast. Most of the crew. Gabe and Bash.”

“Uh huh. And would a certain blond-haired, blue-eyed Prince Charming be included in that group?”

“I have no idea who you’re talking about.”

I totally know who he’s talking about.

My brother laughs some more and I can just see him shaking his head, his eyes twinkling in that way they do when he’s making fun of me. “It’s time to break up with the fake, cheating, asshole fiancé, Junie,” he finally says through his chuckles. “For so many reasons. Not the least of which is the guy you actually want to be with.”