“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.”
Chapter Twelve Olive
“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?