BARE_A Hollywood Romance

by Sarah Robinson

  An ache pounded in her chest at the thought, and tears stung her eyes.

  The dressing room began to splinter around her as she began trembling with the pressure building inside her. She'd never been so full of pleasure and grief all at the same time, but when her climax hit her, she pressed into Reed's chest as he held her and finished inside her. He wrapped his arms around her back, holding her tightly as they stayed locked together.

  She couldn't hold back her tears anymore, letting them slide down the sides of her face to her temples as her shoulders shook.

  He gently caressed her hair, kissing her. "It'll be okay, Teag. It's okay."

  "I love you, Reed," she admitted in halted sobs against his chest. "I've been in love with you for most of my life."

  He placed a soft kiss against her lips. "I'm so in love with you, Teag. And I will be until the day I die."

  "I'm sorry," she said, sniffing and trying to compose herself. "I'm sorry we couldn't make it work."

  "Yet," Reed reminded her. "This isn't goodbye, Teag."

  She smiled sadly at him, not wanting to be the one to take his hope away. But hers? It was gone—the pain between them too intense. The trust gone, fearing he’d never be the man she’d known he could be.

  They'd had so many chances, and they’d still been unable to make it work.

  They were over.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  "Um…what?" Jason blinked, staring across the desk at Reed. "You're what?"

  "I'm taking a sabbatical." Reed lifted one leg, placing his ankle on the opposite knee, as he sat and stared at his agent. "So, you'll need to let the projects I've signed on to know."

  Jason placed his elbows on the desk, steepling his fingers in front of his face. "Reed, I don't think you understand the money on the line here."

  "I'll pay back any advance if the project can't wait until I get back."

  He shook his head. "You realize that means I have to pay back my ten percent, too, right?"

  "I'll pay your percent, too," Reed assured him. He certainly wasn't going to fuck over his agent just because he'd made his own decisions for his life. "This isn't me trying to destroy my career. I'm not quitting. I just need a break."

  "What about Break Down 2?" Jason asked, already starting to write notes on his pad. "You can't pass on the sequel when you're the leading role."

  Reed considered it for a moment. "When does shooting start?"

  Jason opened his calendar on his phone. "Uh, two months after the premiere of the first movie."

  "That's fine," Reed assured him. "I'll be back in time for the premiere."

  Nothing was going to keep him from the event he'd see Teagan at.

  Jason licked his lips, his jaw set tightly. "This is really fucking annoying, Scott."

  "I'm sorry," he replied, though he wasn't actually sorry at all. He'd been working nonstop for eight years and raked in millions of dollars. He needed the break to step back and focus on himself, focus on growing as a person. How he was going to do that was still pretty unclear, but there was certainly no way to become a better person in Hollywood. He needed out, even if only for a little while. "But this will be a good thing in the long-term."

  Reed pushed up to his feet, leaning over and offering a hand to Jason. "I'll see you in a couple months."

  Jason shook his hand. "You might make me the most money, but you're my least favorite client, dickhead."

  Reed laughed, his head tipping back. "You're my least favorite agent, asshole."

  "Well, at least we're on the same page about something," Jason replied, grinning now. "Good luck on your sabbatical. I'm probably still going to blow up your phone."

  "I'll probably turn it off," Reed teased, though he actually planned on doing just that. "See you later, man."

  They shook hands one more time, and then Reed headed out of the office and toward his car. He glanced in the back seat of his car as he climbed in, checking that his suitcases were all still there. Between now and the movie premiere, he was going back to the one place where he felt truly him best self.

  Thanks to Los Angeles traffic, it was almost two hours until he was pulling into the driveway. He parked his car and climbed out, taking his luggage out of the back seat and placing it on the asphalt.

  The soft thunk of his car door closing was the announcement of Reed’s fresh start. He paused and drew a deep breath, taking in the navy blue house with white shutters, surrounded by some kind of red flowering bushes and sitting pristinely in the center of a patch of just-mowed green grass. The white picket fence that encircled the whole thing was like icing on the cake of suburbia, a distant cry from the modern penthouses and bright lights of the city he’d just left behind. Sunlight flashed off the fire engine red front door as it swung wide open.

  "Uncle Reed!" Nell came charging through the door, racing down the porch stairs and throwing herself into his arms.

  "Ooof!" Reed pretended to groan at the onslaught, but it actually didn't hurt one bit. In fact, there was nothing he loved more than hugging his niece. "You almost knocked me over!"

  "Well, I'm getting taller. Mom said I'm going to be taller than her one day," Nell said matter-of-factly.

  Reed laughed. "That might be true. Your mom could fit in my pocket."

  "Hey!" Penelope called out from where she was standing on the front porch. "I heard that!"

  "Hey, shorty," Reed greeted her, laughing and walking up the walkway with a suitcase in one arm and Nell in the other. "Ready for your new roommate?"

  She grinned. "I put some sheets on the couch. Your feet are probably going to hang off the edge, but you said that was fine."

  "More than fine," he insisted, placing Nell on the ground and walking behind them into the house. "I don't need much. Just my family."

  Penelope patted him on the back. "Well, you're officially my go-to babysitter, so you'll get a lot of that."

  Reed smiled, more than fine with that as well. If there was one thing he wanted from this sabbatical, it was normalcy. He'd spent the last decade in search of fame and wealth, and none of it had made him happy. None of it had made him feel the way he felt when he was reading Nell a bedtime story or teasing his sister across the dinner table. No amount of money or attention made him feel whole.

  But the way his family looked at him? That was more fulfilling than any red carpet or signing bonus.

  While he'd sworn to win Teagan back one day, that wasn't why he was here. She was right—he wasn't ready. And he wanted to get ready, but not for her. For himself. He needed to find his center, his base—the place where he felt at home.

  He had seen that in Teagan last week when he'd visited her in New York City. He'd seen that feeling of belonging that emanated just from her being surrounded by the lights and inspiration of Broadway. There was never a moment he'd felt that, or stopped and focused on finding that.

  "So, what the heck are you doing here?" Penelope asked him as she sat down at the breakfast bar and sipped on her cup of coffee.

  Reed glanced over at his niece, but Nell was in the living room already, playing on her iPad and oblivious to her conversation. "I just needed a break, you know?"

  "A break from glitz and glamor?" Penelope snorted. "Wow, what a hard life you lead."

  He grinned. "You know what I mean. I've been…I don't know. My priorities haven't been in the right place."

  She raised one brow. "Uh, clearly. I'm the one who just bailed you out of jail, remember?"

  "Little hard to forget five days behind bars," he assured her.

  "What about Teagan?" Penelope prodded. "Have you spoken with her yet?"

  He nodded, looking away for a moment. "We spoke."

  "And?"

  "And, it's over," he replied, exhaling loudly. "She doesn't want to continue things."

  "Good for her." Penelope clapped her hands. "About time she kicked you to the curb."

  Reed furrowed his brows. "Thanks, sis. Aren't you supposed to be on my side?"

  "Uh,
no one should be on your side right now." Penelope pushed her hair back over her shoulder. "But, yeah, I'm on your side. I just think you don't deserve her yet. She's practically an angel—she always was. You've got a lot of work to do before you deserve that."

  "I'll never deserve her." Which was the truth. Despite the changes he wanted to make, he knew none of it would matter. She would always deserve better than him, and he was just going to have to except that. In the meantime, he was going to focus on himself. He was going to focus on being the man his family deserved—the uncle that Nell deserved.

  "Well, you have us." Penelope stood, walked around the counter, and then embraced him around his waist. "We will always be here."

  "Group hug!" Nell came running over and threw her arms around both of them.

  Reed laughed, embracing his sister and niece in one go. Already he was beginning to feel at home; like this is exactly where he belonged. And for the next few months, this was exactly where he wanted to be.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  "How's Benson liking New York City?" Simone tossed a small ball of yarn in the air and watched as Benson ran in circles on the wood floor trying to catch it.

  Teagan leaned back into the couch, putting her feet up on the coffee table. "As long as there's a sunny spot, he doesn't care where he is."

  "What about you?" Simone turned to her. "Still as dreamy as that first night?"

  Teagan grinned. After almost two months in New York City, not a single ounce of the magic had worn off yet. "Even better," she replied. "I'm up for an understudy position for one of the bigger parts."

  "Wait, so you're being promoted already?"

  She shrugged. "Not really promoted. More like, I'd fill in if the current actress was sick."

  "Then who takes your role?" Simone seemed confused, and granted, it could all get a little confusing but Teagan had quickly adapted to the fast-paced world of Broadway.

  "Another understudy." Teagan tossed the yarn back toward Benson after he'd batted it across the floor back to her. "So, basically just switching us around."

  "That sounds like a promotion."

  She tried not to smile, but it was impossible to do anything but lately. "I guess it kind of is."

  "Do you have any wine here?" Simone sat up and looked toward the kitchen.

  Teagan shook her head. "Nope. Been on a strict diet since starting the show. No empty calories or I'm not going to fit in my costume."

  "See, that's why I love singing." Simone picked up a magazine from the coffee table and started leafing through it. "No one cares if I have a muffin top as long as I can belt out those notes."

  Teagan had long admired her younger sister's talent with the microphone. Simone's voice was strong and dynamic, and when she sang, Teagan got chills.

  "Well, it's not only the show's fault," she replied, running a hand over her stomach. "Certain foods have been making me nauseous lately. I think I might have a gluten allergy, so I'm trying to give up particular foods until I figure out what's making me sick."

  "Oh, that's even worse." Simone groaned. "There's nothing I love more than gluten."

  "You probably don't even know what gluten is."

  Simone chuckled. "I know it's probably something that makes food delicious."

  Well, she wasn't wrong.

  "When is your flight back to Los Angeles?" Simone asked her.

  Teagan clicked the calendar app on her phone and scrolled through the next few weeks. "On the tenth. Two weeks from tomorrow."

  "Mom's going to be ecstatic. She complains everyday about you being so far away."

  Teagan scoffed. "I tried to buy her a ticket to come out here."

  "You know Mom doesn't do planes."

  She shrugged. "She's going to have to learn."

  Simone let a beat go by before she put down the magazine and turned to face her. "Are you nervous?"

  "For the premiere?" Teagan furrowed her brows. "I'm excited. A once-in-a-lifetime experience. Never been on a red carpet before except occasionally as Aria's date."

  Her sister shook her head. "No, for seeing Reed. Walking the red carpet with him and all that. You won't be able to avoid him—hell, I doubt he'd even let you. That man is in love with you."

  "No, he’s not. We're over." She kept playing on her phone, trying not to think about the man who'd broken her heart twice and yet somehow still held it in his hands. "I made it very, very clear. He and I are done for good."

  Simone scoffed. "Mmkay. But like, really, how are you going to act when you see him?"

  "I'm going to be cordial and friendly. We're professionals, Simmy."

  Her sister lifted one brow. "What about when you're off camera?"

  "Exactly the same."

  She was not going to let seeing Reed rile her, nor was she going to let him ruin her night. As much as she was in love with Broadway, she had seriously enjoyed her role in Break Down and if she ever had the chance to do another movie, she would take it.

  She hated to admit it, but the fame was exciting. Her upcoming role in the movie was already being touted by critics as a break-out role, and, while the tabloid article had been a huge invasion of privacy, the leak about her and Reed had catapulted her into the public's eyes. Actual paparazzi followed her around on occasion now, her social media followers were in the hundreds of thousands, and reporters called her frequently for interviews. She never told them anything, of course, but it seemed that the quieter she was, the more they wanted her.

  None of this had ever been about the perks—the money or the fame—but now having both, she was definitely enjoying it. The movie paycheck, along with what she was making from the show, was more money than she'd ever seen in her life, and for the first time, she actually felt like she didn't need anyone else.

  She'd earned this role based on her talent and her hard work, after years of almost losing everything from that car accident. Climbing her way back to the top, she'd achieved more than she thought possible, and she was finally giving herself credit for it. She didn't need help or a leg up from anyone—she did this on her own and she would keep doing this on her own.

  When she looked back on it, she wondered if that had been a contributing issue to her first breakup with Reed. Hell, maybe even their second, too. She'd been so willing to give up her dreams to marry him—to depend on him. She'd completely sacrificed herself, and he hadn't even asked her to. Maybe it was fear, maybe it was something else, but either way, that had been a mistake.

  For the first time in her life, she was putting herself first. Her dreams, her wants, her needs. It was exhilarating, and she was realizing just how much she'd put herself on the back burner before. But it wasn't just that she'd put her needs to the side—she'd been afraid to put herself first. Following her dreams, going after what she wanted…that meant she had more to lose.

  Chasing success also meant she could fail.

  That was a fear she had struggled with all her life. Being the supportive best friend, the encouraging younger sister, the cheering choreographer on the sidelines—none of it put her in the spotlight. None of it put the responsibilities on her shoulders. She couldn't fail.

  Now, on a Broadway stage in a prominent role? Damn, could she fail, and fail hard. But she wasn't. Every day she worked harder and harder to be the best she could be in her role, and every day it showed.

  "Well, I think it won't be as easy as you're pretending it will be," Simone continued. "I know you two are 'over' or whatever, but I see the way your eyes light when his name comes up."

  "Simmy, just because someone is your first love, doesn't mean they'll be your last."

  She shrugged. "I've never been in love, so what do I know? I just think you two are good together."

  Teagan scoffed, staring at her sister. "Literally a few months ago you were acting like I was insane to date him again."

  "You definitely were insane," Simone agreed. "But from what I've heard, that's what love is. Fucking crazy."

  She laughed, tipping
her head back. "Okay, you have a point there."

  Simone tapped the side of her head. "I know things sometimes."

  "Either way, it truly is over. I'll love Reed forever because he was a huge part of my life, he was everything to me for years." Teagan swallowed at the thought. Grief still came in waves, because just when she thought she was getting over him, the longing would hit and she'd be sad again. "But we're moving on. I've moved on. Our lives are going different directions."

  "Technically, I think his life is on pause." Simone yawned, the late-night hour clearly starting to affect her. "I heard he quit acting."

  Teagan furrowed her brow. "Really? Where did you hear that?"

  "Mom. She said he's apparently gone MIA, and the tabloids are all speculating as to where he is." Simone picked up Benson and began cuddling him, despite his annoyance with her decision. "Some people think he's in rehab."

  "He didn't have a drug problem," Teagan replied. "I rarely saw him drink, either."

  "Well, he got arrested for that drunken brawl."

  Teagan shook her head. "He’d barely had a couple drinks that night.”

  "Maybe he should have had more." Simone chuckled. "Sorry."

  Teagan didn't reply, but she couldn't stop wondering where Reed was or why he'd fallen off the pop culture map. Part of her wanted to reach out, ask him if he was okay, but that would open a door she'd been firmly trying to close for months.

  "He'll be at the premiere," she assured Simone. "He wouldn't miss it."

  Too many people would be depending on him to be there. Whatever he was doing or whatever he was going through, she just knew in her gut that he wouldn't do anything to disappoint the cast and crew, let alone his fans. Despite his antics in the press, she'd seen how hard he cared for his craft and how kindly he treated fans.

  "He wouldn't miss seeing you," Simone replied. "Guaranteed."

  Teagan chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Let. It. Go."