“Why would you apologize to me?” I asked. She was setting me up. I knew it.
“Because I don’t actually like ruining people’s lives,” she said. Her swagger and bravado had always been front and center in our previous interactions, but they were hidden now. “I’m just trying to do my job. I thought you were a willing participant in all this.”
My lips parted in surprise, but then I shook my head. She was lying. There was no good reason that she would be here. Somehow, she wanted to use this interaction to make things worse. “You thought I wanted to be a villain on a trashy TV show?” I asked.
She raised an eyebrow at me. “There are plenty of people who want to be anything on a TV show. Villain. Hero. Supporting character. Whatever Ashton Radley is supposed to be these days…” she trailed off and I couldn’t stop my smirk.
At least Meg and I agreed on one thing: Ashton Radley sucked.
“So, you’re here to apologize?” I questioned. “You might have come earlier. It’s too late now. Everything is already ruined.”
Her expression was genuinely contrite. At least, it looked that way to me. “I wanted to tell you that it was Marigold’s idea to trick you. She worked with my boss to do it. I honestly didn’t know until right before it happened. I… I like to think I wouldn’t have gone along with it if I did.”
Interestingly, she didn’t say that she wouldn’t have gone along with it. Somehow, that made me think she might actually be telling me the truth. Meg seemed like she might be aware of her amorality. And yet she was asking for forgiveness? She must be a very complicated person.
“You really thought I was playing along the whole time? Manipulating Tommy?” I shook my head at her in dismay. What kind of monster would do such a thing?
Maybe the kind right in front of me.
Meg shrugged. “Marigold pitched the idea of the show to me after Quincy called me that day when she told the paparazzi she was Tommy’s girlfriend. She had a whole series mapped out. Tommy Prince is a huge Hollywood figure. It was an easy sell to my boss. Any time we can take down a public figure, it’s good for business.”
“How do you live with yourself?” I asked her. “You say you don’t like ruining people’s lives, but it seems like that’s exactly what you excel at.”
“I do excel at it,” she told me. “That doesn’t mean I like it. I especially don’t like ruining normal people’s lives. It’s different with public figures. They put themselves out there. They’re looking for the attention. But you…” She took a deep breath. “You’re just a person trying to live a regular life. I never meant to ruin your life.”
I wanted to hate her. To call her a liar. Instead, I offered her a beer. She wasn’t lying to me. It was obvious.
“Okay, fine,” I told her. I inclined my head at the van. “Come on, let’s have a beer in the van.”
She grinned and we stepped inside. “This is pretty nice for a dry cleaning van.”
“Thanks.” I gave her the bean bag and sat on my cot.
“I really am sorry,” she told me, opening her beer and sighing. “I didn’t realize I was ruining your life. I just thought I was making a reality TV show. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.”
Everybody has to make a living, I guess. “Did you really believe that Quincy was dating Tommy?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t care. That part of the story was irrelevant, because we already had the footage that made it look real. The idea that you, the evil stepsister, might have stolen him was just too delicious to pass up.”
“Whose idea was it to stalk me and Tommy?”
She frowned. “Mine. But that’s literally my job. I dig up dirt for a living.”
“That sounds fun,” I said sarcastically.
“It is, sometimes,” she told me, grinning. I sat back in surprise. She was an intense woman. “Look, I know I’m not a good person. I’m doing what I have to do though. I’m not asking for you to absolve me of all my sins here. I just wanted to apologize to you for ruining your relationship. It’s obvious that Tommy Prince is in love with you, and you love him back. I didn’t see it before. I was just chasing a story.”
I didn’t really understand Meg Butler. In some ways, she seemed genuinely sorry for what she’d done. But she seemed totally unrepentant about other things. I wondered distantly how she’d ended up in her line of work. How does someone become like her? I could only imagine there was a good story there.
But her story was far less important than the one she tried to spin around Tommy and me.
“Tommy almost lost his chance at an Oscar because of you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, he won it, didn’t he?”
“That’s not the point.”
“No, your point was that I made him almost lose it. But actually, it was because of you and your family,” she told me. “Look, blame me if you want, but the truth is that if it hadn’t been me, it would have been some other opportunistic media vulture. They might have been worse than me, too. If you’re really looking for someone to blame, you need to look right back at your family. It was their idea to use you both.” She smirked at me. “You could have been smarter in all this. You played into my hands the entire time.”
She was probably right, but it hardly absolved her. Just because there was someone else that was worse than her, or because I’d been naïve, that didn’t make her good. A lesser evil is still an evil. And Meg Butler could clearly be plenty evil.
“Do you put that on your business card, Opportunistic Media Vulture?”
She giggled and fished one out of her handbag. She extended it to me. It said, Meg Butler, Witch. I couldn’t help my laugh.
“That’s actually pretty funny,” I said grudgingly.
“Opportunistic Media Vulture was a bit long for a business card,” she said conversationally.
“It certainly is.”
In a weird way, I almost liked her. She was funny. But mostly I still hated her.
“Why did you really come to apologize to me?” I asked her.
“Why does anyone apologize?” she asked. “I did it to make myself feel better.”
She was honest about her selfish motivations; I’d give her that. But she was also slippery. I didn’t trust her.
“Is it helping?” I asked her. “Do you feel all better now?” My voice was sarcastic.
She shook her head. “Not really. You haven’t forgiven me yet.”
“You’ve already told me that you weren’t to blame. It was really my family all along.”
I wasn’t going to let her off the hook so easily. If she wanted my forgiveness, she was going to have to own up to her part in all of this.
“Well, I definitely contributed,” she told me. “I’m not trying to paint myself like I’m some kind of angel. I mean, my business card is pretty accurate.” She took another sip of her beer. “I’m here because I’m sorry. I really am.”
As much as I wanted to hate her, she was right. It was really my stepfamily that were behind the current problem. Meg was more a symptom. An obnoxious, morally ambiguous symptom, but still a symptom.
“What do you think will happen now?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “To the show? Beauty Queens Out West?”
“Sure, let’s start with that.”
“I have no clue.” Meg drew a frustrated hand through her hair. “Tommy Prince will probably get the last laugh. Public opinion will turn against your family. He made a good point up there on the podium. Hollywood created people like me. Hollywood created the worship of celebrities and the culture that loves building stars up and tearing them down. But the people with real power think they’re above all that. They look down on reality TV and punish A-list actors that don’t obey the power structure. The elites have been having it both ways.”
I shook my head. I didn’t really understand. “So?”
“So, now that the truth is out, the show will probably get cancelled. People are going to start seeing your family members f
or what they are—part of the problem.”
“And you?” I asked.
“What about me? I might be part of the problem too, but I’m a lot smarter than them. I’ll land on my feet. I have to.” Something about her expression made me wonder if she wasn’t just as trapped as me.
But I had no doubt she was right; I was sure she would land on her feet. The sound of a car pulling up jolted me out of my stupor.
“Besides,” she continued, smiling at me sidelong. “I’ve been banking that Tommy Prince would be showing up here soon, and I’d be willing to bet that’s him now. While we’ve been talking, I’ve been stalling you. I wanted to apologize, but that was only half the story. I knew I could get here faster if I came alone. The camera crew is on their way. They’ll be here any second.”
Fuck!
The witch—bitch—had outplayed me again.
I swallowed hard. It was time to run.
“Tell me one thing,” I begged her.
She raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“Is Quincy really pregnant?”
I had to know.
She shrugged her shoulders. “I have no idea. Probably not. It doesn’t matter though. It’s too good of a story to pass up.” I was disgusted with her. She could tell that I was, too. She sighed and her composure cracked. “Look, you should go,” she told me. “You’ve probably still got like five minutes before the cameras get here. If you leave right now, you’ll outrun them.”
She was doing me a favor. I didn’t understand why, but I was grateful anyway.
“I don’t like you,” I told her.
“Almost nobody does.” Her reply was sad, but I didn’t pity her. She brought that shit on herself.
I ran outside and dove into Tommy’s car. He stared at me wide-eyed. It was obvious that he did not expect me to hop inside. He definitely didn’t expect to see Meg Butler waving at him from my van.
“Drive!” I ordered. “Meg Butler’s horrible camera crew is on their way.”
He hit the gas.
49
Cindy
“Where should I go?” Tommy asked, looking over at me in surprise. We drove two circles around the block before I realized that I’d never been in his car before. It was a sleek, low, shiny, incredibly fancy-looking Audi with black leather seats trimmed in screaming red. It looked fast. It definitely put my shabby little blue van to shame. I hoped it was fast too, because we needed to run.
I shook my head back and forth at his question. “I don’t know. Anywhere but here. The last thing we need is more cameras shoved in our faces.” I would be happy if I never saw another camera for the rest of my life.
He looked like he agreed. “Vegas?” he asked hopefully. “Our last road trip ended too early, but it’ll be better this time.”
I shrugged, too stunned and overwhelmed to argue. I figured we’d go to his house or something. But, yeah, Vegas was fine. It was far away. I doubted Meg would follow us there. “Uh. Sure.”
He pulled onto the highway. “I like Las Vegas,” he said conversationally. He was so calm, cool, and collected. “It’s not as romantic as Napa, but at least we’ll have plenty of time to talk on the drive. And maybe we’ll win big on the slots.”
I laughed. A loud, borderline hysterical laugh broke loose from me. I basically had no idea what was going on, and it was suddenly absolutely hilarious. I laughed and laughed until my tears welled up. Tommy watched me out of the corner of his eye, looking halfway worried. When my giggles finally stopped, I felt slightly better.
“Are you okay?” he asked. I could see the worry on his face. Somehow, he seemed entirely calm and it made me a bit frustrated. Why did he get to be so calm?
I shook my head at him. “I’m very sorry. I think I’ve lost my mind.”
His expression was sympathetic. “It’s been a weird day, hasn’t it?”
My hysterical giggles returned. Saying the day had been weird was the world’s biggest understatement. Too much had happened. Days weren’t supposed to contain as much action as this one had. I wasn’t mentally prepared for it. Now I was overwhelmed and exhausted. And headed to Las Vegas. With Tommy.
“Yeah,” I finally managed to say. The crazy laughing had finally worn off. “It’s been a very strange day. A very long day.”
“Was that really Meg Butler I saw in your van?” Tommy asked.
I nodded at him. “Yeah, she dropped by for a little uninvited chat.”
His eyebrows were almost in his hairline. “She… what?”
“I know.” What a weird, borderline terrifying woman. “She came to apologize to me.”
His already shocked face became even more disbelieving. “How was that?”
I shook my head. “Different than I expected. She’s a real piece of work. I almost feel sorry for her, in a weird way. I would wager she doesn’t have many friends.”
“I bet.”
We lapsed into silence. Randomly, I was reminded of the scene at the end of The Graduate where the lovers run away from the wedding and end up on the school bus. The running had been fun, and they’d been laughing, but then they look at one another and it’s obvious that they have no idea what to do next. There was no plan.
“Congratulations on your win,” I said eventually. The fact that he’d confessed his love for me on live, national television was still too big for me to consider. So, I focused on the less unbelievable thing. Tommy had won.
He smirked at me. “Thank you. It was a completely unreal moment. I don’t think I can even explain what it felt like to hear them call my name and get that silly statue.”
I looked around the car for it. “Where is it?”
He blinked his gorgeous blue-green eyes at me. “I think they mail it out after the ceremony? The one I had on stage was just a prop. They took it away when I left the stage.”
“You don’t sound sure.”
“I—” he started. Then he laughed. “I feel like I ought to know the answer to this question. But actually, I’m not sure how it works. Maybe I was supposed to pick it up or something? Maybe I was supposed to do a secret handshake with one of the people backstage? Maybe I’ve lost my chance to get one forever?” He sounded unconcerned.
I shook my head at him. That was silly—he’d get his Oscar. They probably just mailed it. “I’m sure that’s not how it works. You won fair and square. Dramatic acceptance speech aside, I’m pretty sure they have to give you the statue now.”
“Dramatic?” he questioned.
“Well, what would you call it?” I challenged. It had been romantic, incredible, but also, definitely dramatic. The only Oscars speech that my trivia-brain could think of that was even close was Marlon Brando’s win. He’d sent an Indian woman to accept his award for him and make a social statement. But Tommy’s—culminating in a public declaration of love—had to be even more of a moment.
“I guess it was dramatic.” He laughed. “I hope you’re right,” he said. His voice was full of humor and he was still smiling. “Because after my performance tonight, I doubt I’ll be winning any more Oscars. Besides, I’m officially retired.” He was smiling about it.
My mouth dropped open in surprise. “You can’t really mean that,” I told him.
He looked over at me fondly and it made my pulse jump. “I can. I do.” He took a deep breath and shook his head. “I’m ready.”
I wasn’t quite able to process what I was hearing.
“You really want to just… walk away from your career?” I nibbled on my bottom lip. “Just like that? Quit acting? Quit Hollywood? Quit everything?”
Tommy Prince was at the top of his career. He’d just won Best Actor. Surely, he was just kidding.
And yet he was nodding his head yes. “Just like that. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s exactly what I want to do.” He took a deep breath and smiled. “I want to do something else with my life.”
“What’s that?” I breathed.
“I want to be with you,” he told me.
My hea
rt pounded hard in my chest.
Don’t get your hopes up, my insecurity whispered. You let yourself hope before and look how that turned out.
“That’s not a career,” I hedged.
“Well, I also want to go back to college,” he told me. “And do something else entirely with my life. You want to go too, don’t you? Maybe we could go together? We could figure things out together. It wouldn’t have to be all at once, either. We could take it one day at a time.”
I swallowed hard. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. That was… quite an offer.
“What do you say?” he asked.
I shook my head at him. I didn’t know how to answer.
“I like your tux,” I told him, too afraid to even attempt an answer. He couldn’t be serious. This wasn’t real. “You look very handsome tonight.”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Thank you.” Was he fighting a smile?
I looked down at myself. “I wish I wasn’t wearing this right now.” I felt small and plain in my pajamas. They had little clouds on them. I had on no makeup. My hair was a gigantic mess. I had one hand painted with purple, sparkly nail polish from when Meg showed up and interrupted me. I was a disaster. And he was wearing a freakin’ tux.
“You look great, Cindy,” he told me, grinning and looking me up and down. I squirmed in my deep, comfortable leather bucket seat. “I think you’re incredibly cute. And you look very comfy.”
“You’re making fun of me,” I grumped.
He shook his head. “I’m not. But if you’re feeling really self-conscious, you can always take off your clothes. I like you even better naked.”
I smiled at him wanly and rolled my eyes, and he smiled back. A little jolt shook me, like it did every time he looked at me that way. My body belonged to him, and I’m sure he knew it.
It felt good to be wanted, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was still just an escape for him. A dream. A little vacation from his real life which had maybe gotten more stressful than he knew what to do with lately. If he was unhappy being an actor, maybe he wasn’t thinking clearly. He probably just needed a break. He wasn’t really in love with me, although maybe he thought he was. It would be better if I didn’t get my hopes up.
Auctioned to the A-Lister Page 19
