Step Wilde: A Stepbrother Romance (32 page)

I inhaled sharply and leaned against the countertop. Hearing my dad even mention her was almost too much for me to take.

“Nicholas,” he said, turning to face me. I could tell it was almost physically painful for him to look at me. “I loved your mother. Just not in the way she deserved to be loved. And I know that now. But she knew. She knew about Marcy.”

I felt my stomach turn over at the mention of the woman my dad had cheated with. “I told her. I wanted to be honest, at the end. Maybe it wasn’t fair of me to do that. But she said she just wanted me to be happy.” He looked away into the distance, over my shoulder. “I’ll never forget how hurt she was. Her face…” My dad’s eyes filled up with tears, his face twisted in pain. “I’m sorry, Nicholas. I’m just so sorry for leaving you the way I did.”

He stumbled forward and sobbed on my shoulder. I set down my soda bottle and patted his back awkwardly. I was fighting back tears of my own.

“I’m not going to tell you it was okay,” I said in a flat voice. “You’re not going to get that from me.”

My dad pulled away, wiping away real tears with the sleeve of his shirt. “I don’t expect you to. I just…I just wanted you to know.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

My dad gnawed on the inside of his cheek. “Why’d you come here?”

I weighed my options in my head. A huge part of me wanted to just clam up, finish my Coke, and go back to Hailey. Then I realized I hadn’t run for an hour through the streets of New York to work on a motorcycle with my dad. I was here because my subconscious knew that I needed it. I inhaled for strength.

“Because I fucked up. I just…I don’t know. I didn’t know where else to go. This seemed as good a place as any.” I turned around and walked over to the worn, beat-up leather sofa in the corner. I sunk into it, feeling the leather almost wrapping itself around me.

“What’d you do?” my dad asked, still standing across the room. It seemed that he’d already used up what little emotional reserves he had. I was okay with that. I needed physical room right now, too.

“I don’t know what you’ve read in the press, but most of it’s true,” I said.

My dad nodded. “I’ve been…keeping up with it,” he said.

“You have?”

He set down his beer and reached into his pocket to pull out a key ring. He crouched down and unlocked a cabinet, pulling out a four-inch black binder. It looked heavy. I leaned forward and saw that the binder was one of about a dozen identical black tomes. My dad walked over and tossed it on the coffee table with a thud.

I looked at him inquiringly. He just nodded. I flipped open the binder and saw my face staring back at me. I turned the clear plastic sleeves and saw approximately the last year of my life flash before my eyes.

There were magazine covers, article snippets, printouts from online gossip rags – everything. I kept flipping, eventually seeing grainy, on-set photos of me and Olivia. She was beaming with her hair in 1950s finger curls, laughing at something I had said. Fox was just out of frame; I could see his hairy hand.

I kept flipping. There was Gina spilling our secrets to the press. And then there was Hailey with my hands around her stomach on Instagram. I made it to the end; the last piece of memorabilia a hand-torn Page Six article speculating on what Hailey and I would be wearing to the movie premiere.

I rubbed my hands across my hair and stared up at my dad. “Everything?”

He nodded. “I think this might qualify me as Roman Wilder’s biggest fan.” A rare smile played at his lips. Then he turned serious. “Nicholas. I’d never want you to make the same mistakes that I did. Whoever it is that you love – you have to be with them. Life is short. Don’t waste another woman’s time like I did to your mom. It wasn’t fair to her most of all.”

I nodded slowly. “Are you happy, Dad?”

This time he gave me the fullest smile I figured he was capable of giving. “I’m learning how to be happy. You should, too.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

OLIVIA

The door of the limousine opened and it was like I was thrust into a world of nothing but blinking lights.

I tried to maintain a neutral expression, one of those “I’m smiling but not too hard” faces all the young actresses seemed to pull. My number one fear was flashing my underwear, which was a ridiculous thing to think about while wearing a floor-length dress.

My second fear was that the barely-holding, iron-grey ceiling of clouds above us all would open up into a cold thunderstorm. I saw that there were large black umbrellas along the railings holding back the fans and the press.

A few security guards were whispering nervously to one another while they looked upward. Apparently I wasn’t the only one concerned.

My dress had a five-foot silk train and the front skimmed the ground. I took the hand of Fox, who had apparently been waiting for me. He kissed both my cheeks grandly.

“You look absolutely stunning, my dear.”

I smiled at him. “You don’t look so bad yourself,” I said, indicating his messy bucket hat. “I see that the hat even goes with a tuxedo.”

Fox laughed. “When you’re a man and a director, you can get away with nearly anything clothing-wise.” He took a step back and smiled at me again. “You truly are a vision. Like you walked out of 1950s Hollywood.”

I could barely hear what he was saying over the people screaming at me. I patted my finger curl up-do nervously, hoping it would stay in place all night. I linked my arm through Fox’s.

“Let’s do this thing,” I said.

I tried my best not to look for Wilder, instead focusing on answering the interview questions. I couldn’t remember what I said even moments after I choked out answer after answer. I must have spun around a dozen times for photos. Halfway down the red carpet I heard raucous screaming from the crowd.

I knew that sound.

It meant Hailey was here.

Fox and I were between interviews. Janna, who looked stunning in a fitted, strapless black dress, handed me a bottle of water. I took it gratefully, surreptitiously glancing over my shoulder to see if my guess was correct.

It was. Hailey was a vision in a white, form-fitting satin dress that hit her at mid-thigh. Her pregnant belly almost looked like an accessory. Her makeup included dark-winged eyeliner and black lipstick; her blonde hair was in her everyday blunt-cut long bob. She looked like a punk rock swan princess.

Nobody could pull that off but her.

Then my eyes met Wilder’s from a hundred feet away. It was like someone had turned the volume down on the crowd. I knew that he saw me. There was a pained look in his eyes. I nodded at him. He nodded back. Hailey saw us looking at each other and pulled him toward the first cluster of cameras.

This is going to be a long night
, I thought as Janna pushed me toward the next interviewer. I pasted on a smile and jumped back into gleefully describing Italy and how grateful I was at the opportunity.

“One more, and then you’re almost done,” Fox whispered to me. “We’ve got Nancy O’Flannigan and then the cast is going to take a few group photos.”

I felt my stomach drop and bile come up in my throat.

“Remember the last day of filming? You say the word. If you’re not comfortable…”

I sighed, exasperatedly. “I got it. Everyone keeps saying that to me. But it still puts it on
me
to make the decision when I’m not even the one who – “

Janna grabbed my arm, a toothy smile on her face. “There are microphones
everywhere
, Olivia. Smile and get through this,” she said through gritted teeth.

I swallowed hard and let Fox pull me toward a beaming Nancy O’Flannigan, the mother of all entertainment television.

“Olivia, who are you wearing tonight?” she shrieked at me.

“Lydia Smithson,” I replied. “She was the costume designer on the film. Isn’t it gorgeous?”

“It truly, truly is,” Nancy intoned. She was like a robot. She switched her face to sadness and I knew what was coming. “I know it must be hard for you, with all of the gossip swirling around, but what is it like to see your would-be lover with his pregnant girlfriend here tonight?”

I nearly opened my mouth to tell her where she could shove that question when I felt a strong hand on my lower back. I didn’t need to see the thrilled look on Nancy’s face to know who it was.

“How’s my favorite interviewer?” Wilder asked in his husky voice.

I felt my knees start to tremble. He was my kryptonite.

“Better now that you’re here!” she shrieked, reaching a red-clawed hand toward his muscular bicep and squeezing. “You’ve been out of the press for a while…and I know you’re probably
feathering the nest!”

I felt a stone drop into my stomach and my smile become even more fixed that it already was.

Nancy threw her spray-tanned hand over her mouth, gasping and looking at me. “Oh, I shouldn’t bring that up in front of you, Olivia!” Then she applied a look of fake concern to her face. “Is everything alright? I know that you two had your…moments together. Tell me what it’s like to be here again, with your costar tonight. What a whirlwind year for you both, after all.”

She practically threw her microphone at my mouth waiting for a response.

I was saved from answering by Wilder. “Nancy, I just have to say, Olivia was nothing but professional through the entire shoot. You should really know better than most people not to believe what you read in the press.” I looked up at him. His eyes were blazing.

Nancy took the hint. “Well, I must say that I have a little birdy who snagged an early screener.” She leaned forward conspiratorially. “He says it’s some of the best acting he’s seen from you, Wilde.”

Wilder cleared his throat and nodded toward me. “Olivia is incredible to work with. It was somewhat of an unorthodox start to production, but I honestly owe it all to her. Truly. She brings out the best in me.”

I stared at him, open-mouthed, feeling my eyes start to well up. It was incomprehensible to me that I had even a drop of saline left in my tear ducts after the last twenty-four hours. I swallowed hard and turned to Nancy.

“The feeling is mutual. I wouldn’t have had the confidence to do this without him. Wilder was wonderful to work with.”

Nancy wiggled her eyebrows. I knew that she was thrilled to be the only reporter here to get
both
of the star-crossed lovers in front of the camera together. She was clearly warming to me.

“My
confidant
, so to speak, told me to expect a breakout performance from you as well,” Nancy said with a smile.

I laughed nervously. “Well, I don’t know about that. But I did have a lot of fun.”

Nancy wrapped up the interview with a string of pleasantries that I was having a hard time focusing on. Wilder’s tuxedo-clad arm was pressing into my fur-covered one. Even through the layers, I could feel the heat. I felt like I was buzzing. A moment later, Wilder was pushing me away toward the photo area. He leaned forward as we walked, his mouth almost nuzzling my ear.

“You did great,” he whispered.

Chills went down my body. “Thanks,” I said.

A moment later we were standing in front of a bevy of photographers. Wilder put his arm around me and we posed, our bodies touching. I tried my best to control my breathing.

Wilder whispered to me through a clenched smile. “I’ve missed you, Liv.”

I pretended to laugh for the cameras’ sake and looked up at him.

“Congratulations on the baby,” I muttered.

His face clouded over slightly.

He said nothing else, and soon we were shunted into the theater.

I didn’t know how I was going to make it through this.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

WILDER

Somehow the assigned seats were like this: Olivia, Fox, Hailey, and then me.

I wondered if Hailey had somehow fixed it to be like that. I wouldn’t put it past her. But I had been hoping to be next to Olivia. I wanted to talk to her, even if I felt like there was nothing I could say. It was like a magnetic longing between us – connecting us.

I had felt her the instant I’d stepped out of the limousine.

Fox said a few words to the buzzing crowd; I remembered nothing. People laughed and cheered. I clapped along robotically. As the lights dimmed, he climbed over Olivia and into his seat, rubbing his hands together with excitement.

“This is it!” he said, beaming.

The opening scenes of the movie had been edited in post-production to be black and white. The idea was that the audience was being transported into the past; it was simple and effective. The sweeping shots of the Italian countryside along with the soaring opening score gave it a cinematic quality I certainly couldn’t have anticipated when I’d been presented with the original script late last year. Judging by Fox’s unbridled excitement, he was clearly pleased with the finished product.

The cameras whizzed through vineyards. Then the camera moved through a digital layer of pure, white clouds; when the camera emerged, the scene turned to color, showcasing dazzling shots of the city of Milan. A few people in the crowd actually gasped at the effect.

It did feel real, even to me.

I tried to sneak a glance over at Olivia, but she was staring resolutely ahead. Hailey saw me looking and grabbed my thigh, digging her sharp fingernails into my tuxedo pants. She grabbed my hand and set it over hers. I tugged it away, feeling disgusted.

Olivia onscreen was breathtaking and enchanting. She was also unbearably fucking sexy. I couldn’t rip my eyes away from her image when it filled the entire screen.

She was an absolute star.

The movie was pretty fucking great. It was funny, witty, and fast-paced. It had an old Hollywood glamour to it and the chemistry between me and Olivia was undeniable. I was so wrapped up in following the storyline that I’d almost forgotten where it was heading.

Then came the sex scene.

Hailey had a death grip on my knee as onscreen Olivia stepped out of the bathroom in her underwear. I felt like I could smell Olivia’s perfume. I’d been transported back to that day – that day where everything had seemed like it was finally going to be perfect. And then it had all gone to hell.