To Love Jason Thorn (12 page)

“Do you think everyone is stupid and won’t
see through the publicity stunt?” Tom asked, getting all worked up again.
“Every idiot is getting into a fake relationship these days. No one will buy it
with you.” His eyes flicked toward Megan, who was staring at me silently.
“Aren’t you going to say something?”

She shrugged. “He’s right; dating someone
won’t help you deal with all this crap. With the timing of this, they’ll see
right through it. However, if we find someone—”

A knock on the door interrupted her
sentence, and a second later Alvin’s head popped in. “We’re going to miss our
flight, boss. We need to leave right now.”

I waved my hand. “I’ll be out in five
minutes.”

When he closed the door, I gave all my
attention back to Megan. “You were saying?”

“You’re not going to like it.”

“So far you haven’t said anything I liked,
why change it now?”

“If we’re going to lie about a
relationship, we have to go bigger than that. You have to do something that
will pretty much swallow this whole thing up along with your previous
transgressions.”

“Out with it,” I said impatiently.

Tapping her long fingernails on her desk,
she let out a long breath. “We’ll have to find you someone to marry.”

I stared at her blankly. Then, looking at Tom’s
interested gaze, I laughed. “I think you’ve both lost it. I’m not paying you to
come up with a stupid solution like that. They won’t believe that I went ahead
and got myself a girlfriend, but they’ll believe that I married someone for
love? Do you even hear yourself?”

“You’re not paying the guy off.” She
shrugged. “So I’m telling you that having your pictures taken with a fake girlfriend
won’t make all this go away. You have to do something big and stop all of this
at once. And what does it matter to you? I’m not telling you to fall in love
with her. A fake girlfriend, a fake wife—it’ll practically be the same thing
for you. The only difference is you’ll have to live in the same house for a few
years.”

“Live in the same house? A few years?” I
laughed harder. “You’re crazy. Tom, you can’t possibly agree with her.”

“Do you have a better idea?” he shot back.
“The public’s perception of you has to change; if this is the way to do that…”

Glaring at them both, I got up from my seat
and walked to the door. I was tempted to fire them both on the spot, but they
were the best, and apparently I wasn’t in a place where I could do whatever the
hell I wanted any more.

I stopped by the door. “I’m not paying
anyone. Let him release it to whoever he wants.” Opening the door, I saw an
impatient Alvin lifting his brows and tapping at his watch.

“Jason.” Tom’s resigned voice stopped me
from moving farther.

“If this…
after
this gets out, you’ll
still get offers, but trust me they won’t be the same offers you’re getting
right now. You’ve been playing with fire, and frankly, you’re about to go up in
flames.”

My grip on the door tightening, I turned to
face the duo. Over the past few years, we had built a good relationship among us.
They knew who I was and where I wanted to go in this industry, and I always
appreciated their guidance. They had never cornered me like this. They always offered
me options.

“I want Olive’s movie,” I said to Tom. “Do
whatever you have to do to tie me to it. Leak the news today before this goes
out if you have to. I don’t care what you do, just do something so they can’t
back away.”

It was reluctant, but he nodded. “I’ll do
my best.”

To Megan, I said, “I don’t like your
solution, Megan. I get where you’re coming from, but…anyway, it doesn’t matter.
I have to think about it. I assume you don’t have any blushing brides ready for
me to choose from?”

Calmly, she shrugged. “I might have a few
names.”

“Of course you do,” I muttered. Ignoring
her, I continued. “When I get back from Canada, you can show me your list and
I’ll think about it more. That’s about all I can do right now.”

I turned around to leave.

“Jason, in Canada you have to—”

“Don’t worry, Tom,” I interrupted him. “I’m
not planning on letting anyone come near my dick. Not any time soon anyway.”

“What are you doing in there, Olive?” Char
asked.

I drew my head out of the freezer and
looked at her over my shoulder. “Have you seen my ice cream? I hid it behind
the peas, but it’s not there.”

She laughed. “I’m afraid you’re too late, I
saw Lucy inhale that last night.”

“Damn you, Lucy,” I muttered, giving up on
my search.

“Are you nervous?”

“Nervous? Who, me? About what?”

Tilting her head, she waited expectantly.

Rolling my eyes, I mumbled, “He hasn’t been
gone that long, just a few months, and he texted me every now and then, but
yeah, I’m excited to see him again.” Even though I knew I shouldn’t have been,
I was. “And as if that’s not enough excitement for my fragile heart, I’m gonna meet
the casting director and actually be there when they pick who’ll play Evie. I’m
definitely freaking ecstatic about that.”

“You’re so lucky. I wonder who’ll come in to
audition for her. If Keira Knightley is there, you have to take pictures. A ton
of them. From every single angle.”

“Ah, Char,” I said as I hopped up on the
counter empty-handed. I wanted to eat ice cream to calm down my nerves. “Talking
about Keira Knightley isn’t helping at all. If I see Keira Knightley, I’m going
to embarrass myself even more than I did the last time they saw me, and I don’t
want to think about that.”

Walking around me, she opened the
refrigerator and took out two small boxes of apple juice—taking advantage of a
sale, we had bought them the day before. Handing one of them over, she jumped
on the counter right across from me.

I sighed. “My savior.”

“I would offer alcohol to take the edge
off, but I’m thinking that wouldn’t be very helpful in your state.”

“No, it wouldn’t,” I said, with a wince.
“I’ll drink to my heart’s content when we go out tonight. Still coming, right?
Don’t bail on us like you did last time. It’s karaoke night.”

“No bailing necessary. I wouldn’t miss
karaoke night. So, how does it feel to be an early graduate? What are your
plans now?”

“I haven’t decided how I feel about it yet.
I’m happy, of course, but a little sad, too, I think. I paid off all my student
loans with the money I made from the book, so that’s something. I feel as light
as a feather. Don’t have a lot of money left in the bank, but at least I won’t
have to worry about loans.”

She shook her juice box before jabbing the
straw into it. “Yeah, I’m not looking forward to paying student loans every
month. I wish I had the time to write a book, too.”

It wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard the past
few months. I’d quickly learned that when you write a book, and surprise,
surprise, you’re making money off of it—even if it’s only fifty bucks a
month—suddenly everyone around you turns into a writer. Of course, they’re a much
better writer than you, only they don’t have the time to sit down and go into
la-la land because they are so very busy with real life already.

“Oh, you’re thinking of writing a book?” I
asked mildly as I inspected the juice box in my hand.

“Well, I’m English lit, too, so yeah, I’ve
thought about it. I mean, even you wrote one,” she chuckled nervously.

Raising my eyebrows, I looked at her. “Even
I
wrote one?”

“Oh.” She went poker-faced. “That didn’t
sound right. I just meant, you never mentioned that you were writing a book and
then
bam
,
you published it on your own. It was just surprising.”

Lucy had been my beta reader since the day
she’d stolen my laptop to see what I was always working on, but I hadn’t had
the courage to share my words with anyone else. It wasn’t because I didn’t like
Charlotte, it was just because I was too nervous about the whole thing.

In the silence that followed her words, she
took few long sips from her apple juice before putting it down on the counter.
“Anyway, the reason I asked about your plans…I was wondering if you were
thinking about moving out?”

“Moving out? Of here?”

“Yeah. I mean we have one more semester,
but since you’re gonna have money coming in from the movie, too…” She shrugged.
“I just thought maybe you’d get your own place.”

“You trying to get rid of me, Char?” I
asked, slightly amused, slightly wary.

“Of course not.” She jumped down and tossed
the box into the garbage can; she hadn’t even finished it. “You know Lily, right?”
I nodded. “Well, her boyfriend tossed her out so she is looking for a place to
stay for the rest of the semester. I said maybe your room would be vacant if
you decided to move out.”

“Sorry to hear that about Lily, but I’m not
considering leaving. I like living with you guys.”

“Oh.” She looked genuinely confused. “The
way you’ve been acting around Marcus lately, I thought you were uncomfortable
here.”

“Marcus was my friend for a year before we
started our relationship; we’ve been living together for almost three years
now. I’m not uncomfortable around him, Char, we just don’t hang out together as
much as we used to. Other than that, I have no problems with him. He is the one
acting weird after this book deal happened.”

“I understand.” She avoided my eyes.

“Well,” I started, edging off the counter
to get down. “I’m glad we did this.”

“Are you angry at me?”

“No. Is there a reason I should be?”

“No. Then can I ask you something else?”

I settled back again. “Sure. About?”

I pulled the short straw into my mouth and
sighed a happy sigh when the cold apple juice hit my tongue.

“Jason Thorn.”

Intrigued, I gestured for her to go ahead.
Charlotte didn’t ask many questions. She watched. She listened. She was shy to
the point that it was painful to watch sometimes.

“When you saw that video of Jason in that
alley…”

My face fell. Why was she even asking me
about that?

“Were you upset?”

Do birds shit?

What the hell?

Letting go of the straw, I raised an
eyebrow. “Where are you going with this, Char?”

“Nowhere.” Avoiding my eyes, she played
with the coffee machine I had bought with Lucy the day I got my first payment
from Amazon. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt. He is a movie star, Liv. I
saw you two together that day—when he was dropping you off—”

“You left as soon as you met him Char.”

“I know. I know. But I see how excited you
get every time you’re talking about him.”

“So?”

“Marcus thinks you’re—”

“I don’t care what Marcus thinks, Char. And
to answer your initial question, yes, I was upset to see it, but not because I
was jealous or anything like that. I don’t have a say in his life. Hell, I’m
nothing more than a friend or an old friend’s sister to him right now.” I
shrugged. “I’m not stupid enough to think otherwise. So what if I enjoy hanging
out with him, wouldn’t you? It’s not news that he, um, enjoys having sex, for
lack of a better word. Did all those people who bashed him on TV and online
think that he was a virgin or something?”

She nodded thoughtfully. “I heard that
after the video was released, he was booted out from a few movie projects, and
there were rumors that he was actually losing his role in your movie, too.”

“Obviously, he didn’t.” I hopped down from
the counter and tossed the now empty juice box into the garbage can.

“Well, still. It seems like he is a ticking
bomb. I just hope that he won’t ruin your movie, too.”

The apartment door opened, and Marcus and
Lucy walked in.

I focused on Char. “He is a damn good
actor, Char. He can have any role he wants. They’ll forget about the video in a
few weeks when some other celebrity cheats on his wife with the nanny, then
everyone will focus on them instead. What’s gotten into you today?” I asked,
frowning at her.

“What do you mean?” she mumbled, not
looking at me.

“Hi, Liv,” Marcus greeted me on his way to
the fridge and oh-so-casually brushed a kiss on my hair.

Startled, I turned to him as he took a
water bottle from the fridge and walked right out. “What was that?” I asked to
his back, pulling myself together.

He glanced back over his shoulder. “I said
hi. Or is that banned, too?”

Lucy bugged her eyes at me from the doorway.

“Something is wrong in this apartment
today,” I announced.

My phone pinged.

Thank god!

“My Uber is here. I’m leaving.”

“But I just got here!” Lucy whined. “You
didn’t even hear what Jameson did to me today.” She widened her eyes at me. “In
an empty classroom!”

“He rocked your world?” I asked, raising an
eyebrow.

She gave me a wolfish grin. “That he did.”

“See, I’m all caught up now. Text me when
we’re leaving for karaoke night, and I’ll get back here to get ready.”

I grabbed my purse and walked out the door,
not meeting Marcus’ eyes.

***

Finally reaching the building where the
auditions were being held, I got out of my Uber and stood there to stare at the
building for a moment. Was I excited because I was about to see my characters
come to life? Or was I excited because I’d get to spend some time with Jason
again?

“Olive!”

I turned around to see Jason getting out of
his car. The way he stepped out and closed the door of that ridiculously sexy
car of his…then, as if in slow motion, put his Ray-Bans on…

Damn…

Mini orgasm attack
.

Then he got closer and closer, and I got an
even better look at my dimple—mine, because I was staking my claim on that damn
thing. After all, I’d seen it before all of his loving fans. First come, first
served, right?

“Hi,” I managed to sputter when he reached
me.

“Hi to you too.”

We just stood there and stared at each
other for a moment, his smile getting goofier.

Should I hug him?
Could
I hug him?
Was that even allowed? Why was I so weird?

Finally, he laughed and said, “Come here.” He
gave me a sideways hug and looked down at me. “I might have missed you a bit
more than you missed me, little one. It’s good to see you.”

Not the best thing he could’ve said, but
then again I’d take anything that came out of his mouth when he was hugging me.

With my head tilted back, I looked up at him.
Reaching up, I lifted his sunglasses and finally looked into his eyes.

“Nice to see you, too, Mr. Jason Thorn.”

Laughing, he kissed my temple. Had his lips
lingered for more than two seconds, or was it just me? Did those two extra
seconds mean something? Why go for the forehead and not the cheek? Did it have
a different meaning?

Different meaning or not, my heart gave a
happy sigh and the butterflies pretty much fainted from all the excitement
Jason was giving them. I closed my eyes and savored the moment.

After we reached the floor where the
casting crew was situated, he took his time to introduce me to everyone. The
whole setup had a relaxed vibe, nothing scary at all. The casting director, Bryan,
his assistant, and a cameraman to tape the auditions were the only ones left
behind, and Jason seemed to know them all.

“I’m not late, am I?” Jason asked after
shaking hands with everyone.

His eyes on the papers in front of him, the
casting director waved his hand over his head. “Just on time, as always. Have
you looked through the script we have ready?”

The script is ready?!

Jason nodded at Bryan and took the papers
the assistant handed him. “I got them this morning.” After turning a few pages,
he asked, “Which scene do you want to go over for this?”

“We’ll try the first time he finds his way
back to Genevieve.”

“Ok. Great.” Glancing at the corner where I
was sitting, Jason looked at me and winked.

I gave him a lame thumbs up and smiled.

Clearly amused, he shook his head and
turned back to the director.

“Who’s coming in for Evie?” he asked no one
in particular.

“We’re down to three names. We’ll see how
you do on camera and then go from there.”

When I saw the first actress, Claudia
Colbert, walk in, I was very proud of myself for not losing my cool. Even
though nobody was paying attention to me, I still thought I deserved a pat on
the back.

She was wearing a simple white tee with
black jeans and Toms. Her hair was in a ponytail that was effortless in a way I
could never achieve, and from what I could see, she had no makeup on. While us
mortals had to have at least some concealer on, of course she’d been blessed with
great skin on top of everything else.