Page 95 of Shine For Me

Fox

“Did you change your mind yet?”

I look up to see Bodhi standing in my bedroom door, an expectant look on his face.

“Nope.”

“Come on, man.” He ignores my grunt of displeasure and walks into the room, taking a seat at my desk. I’m in the same place I’ve been for most of the day—flat on my bed. “You need cheering up. What better way to do that than by going to hang out with all of the most awesome people in the world?”

“No offense, Bodhi, but hanging out with my family is literally the last thing I want to do right now.”

“Dude. When is the last time you left this room?”

I make a noncommittal noise, wishing he would just go away. But the thing about Bodhi is that he’s very difficult to get rid of. The man is tenacious as hell. He started hanging around when Leo and Rose got together and basically just never left. It would be annoying if he wasn’t such a good freaking guy. I think he’s closer to most of my family than I am.

But I am definitely not in the mood for the Bodhi Lakra stubbornness today—even if he has a point about me not leaving this room.

We’ve been back from Napa for five days and I haven’t really felt like doing much of anything. I’m in a shit mood and everyone knows it. They also know the reason why.

Having your heart broken sucks. It sucks even worse when everyone you know can watch it happen on the covers of half the magazines in the supermarket checkout lane.

I haven’t talked to June in five days. She’s called twice but I couldn’t bring myself to answer. Childish? Yeah. Ask me if I give a shit.

She didn’t leave a message either time. So maybe she’s not so eager to talk to me, either.

I can barely remember leaving Napa. Pretty much everything that happened between June walking out of her mother’s living room and me arriving back at the house I share with Bodhi and Everly is a murky blur. I found out later that June’s assistant Cassie was in touch with Everly that morning, arranging for us to meet the private jet at the same terminal where we were dropped off.

I have no idea how June got home.Ifshe got home. One of the photographs showed her going into a hotel in San Francisco with Adam—for all I know she’s still staying there with him.

“Dude, you’re killing me with that face,” Bodhi groans. “You look like your dog just died.”

I’ve never had a dog, but if losing one feels like having an essential organ torn from your chest, I guess the comparison is accurate.

“What do you want me to say?” I ask. “It’s over. It sucks but it is what it is. She made her choice.”

He raises an eyebrow. “It’s not clear to me that she had much of a choice.”

“That’s bullshit, Bodhi. She could have come back with us.” I get that her grandfather is an even bigger bastard than I ever imagined, but she didn’t have to face him alone. I would have fucking helped her, damn it.

Instead she left me to come home to a press firestorm in LA while she stayed in San Francisco with her fiancé.

Maybe that’s not fair. The press running that picture of us wasn’t June’s fault. And I knew that whenever our relationship became public, there was going to be increased media attention. I had just assumed June would be here to face it with me. Instead I’ve had multiple phone calls and video conferences with the label’s publicity team this week—because there’s no way in hell I’m using the PR firm associated with Jimmy’s studio.

“Look, man.” Bodhi leans forward in my desk chair, resting his elbows on his knees. “I get that you feel like shit about this. I’ve been there, you know?”

I roll my eyes. “You and Everly were broken up for about thirty seconds. And she refused to accept that you were broken up, if I remember correctly.”

“Yeah, but I spent years being in love with someone who wasn’t ready for me.” He gives me a meaningful look.

“So, what? You think June isn’t ready for me? You think that’s our problem?”

He shrugs. “All I know is that girl looks at you like she can’t believe you’re even real. And that was true way before you guys went off to North Carolina to shoot your movie.”

“Then why the fuck couldn’t she just pick me?” I ask, hating that my voice breaks in the middle. But shit, thishurts.

“Finding your person is scary, Fox. Some people are ready to face that fear sooner than others.” He taps his knees as he stands. “In the meantime, you need to get out of this room. It’s starting to smell. Very unbecoming of a movie star.”

He might have a point about the room, but going to have lunch with my entire family still isn’t appealing.