19. CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 19
“ T ake the crème brulée away from me. I feel sick,” Clara grumbled, staring balefully down at the half-empty dessert pot, bitterly regretting the moment Taylor declared that he wanted another one, and she agreed with him, getting one as well.
“Hand it over. I’ll eat it.” Taylor stood up from the seat he had been lounging on and came over to her sofa, sitting down beside her and grabbing the delicious dessert off her.
“It’s all yours.” Clara’s eyes widened slightly when he didn’t bother to retrieve his own spoon, instead taking hers and eating with it. It all felt so intimate.
“This is the best,” he groaned around a spoonful of food, then slapped his hand over his mouth when some of the crème brulée escaped as he spoke, landing on the coffee table in front of them.
Clara snorted with laughter and slapped her own hand over her mouth. “Sorry.”
“It’s quite alright. You’re not the one who embarrassed themselves in front of a girl he’s trying to impress by spitting food out.” Taylor dropped his head down, but it didn’t disguise the flush that spread up his face.
Clara giggled again before she fully comprehended what he had said. “Sorry. What now?” She turned in the seat to face him, her knees now touching his jean-clad thigh.
Taylor’s face lifted to her, and their eyes locked. “I like you.”
“Oh,” Clara mumbled, her cheeks flushing.
“I enjoy spending time with you. I look forward to your messages. You’re trustworthy. Any of the pictures I’ve sent you could have earned you a lot of money if you sold them.” He leaned a little closer to her.
“Who would do that? That’s awful,” she sputtered, and a warm feeling spread through her when she remembered the collection of silly selfies, location shots, script pages and many, many other photos he had sent her.
“Exactly, it doesn’t even cross your mind to do that.” Taylor edged closer to her.
“Oh,” Clara said again. “I—“ She tried to muster the courage to say she liked him too, when there was a knock at the door of his suite and instead of saying that, she said, “Did you order more food?”
“No.” He shook his head, frowning at the door. “Ignore it. They’ll go away. So?” His eyebrows rose as he looked at her.
“I…” She tried again, willing the words to come out of her lips that she liked him too. But before she could get the nerve to say anything, the knocking on the door repeated, this time louder. “Are you sure you shouldn’t get that?”
“No. They’ll leave.” Taylor sounded confident, but then his phone rang. He leaned over and grabbed it off the table in front of them, showing her the screen that read ‘Devon’.
“Do you think that’s her knocking?” Clara gestured to the door, where someone was now pounding on it.
His eyebrows drew together in a frown and he sighed, “Probably.”
“You should answer,” Clara said, staring at the ringing phone in his hand.
Taylor sighed more deeply and answered his phone. “Hi Devon, what’s up?”
Clara strained her ears to hear what the actress said, but his phone was pulled too tightly against his head.
“You’re outside my room? I didn’t hear the door. I was in the bathroom.” His eyes widened in surprise and then locked with Clara’s when he repeated back. “Your manager is with you?”
Clara was on her feet, grabbing her handbag and gesturing towards the door; she should leave.
He shook his head vigorously, leaping to his feet. “Wait a couple of minutes. I’ll throw some clothes on and come answer the door.” Hanging up the phone, he stared down at Clara.
“I should leave?” It was half a question, half a statement.
“You can’t. You need to hide,” Taylor murmured.
“What?”
“You need to hide,” Taylor repeated, grabbing her hand and towing her towards the bedroom door.
“Why do I need to hide? Can’t I just walk out? You can tell them I was helping you out with some medical jargon.”
“Devon’s manager used to be my manager. I left him due to some unsavoury practices on his behalf. If he’s here, it means he’s up to something, more than likely nasty. And I don’t want to expose you to someone like that.”
Clara’s eyes were wide as she whispered, “What sort of thing would he be here for?”
“I don’t know. But there’s no legitimate reason that Devon would visit me at ten at night with her manager. The weasel must be up to something. Please just hide. For me,” Taylor pleaded, taking hold of both her arms and staring down into her eyes.
Clara froze in his grip, electricity running up her arms where he touched her. Their eyes locked, and she couldn’t look away, lost in the blue pools. His head moved towards her, and she felt her skin flush. Her breath hitched as he drew nearer, and then a hand slammed against the door again, and they jolted apart.
“Okay. Just let me know when it’s safe for me to come out.” She strode through the door, her head down, trying to cool the flush in her cheeks.
When a bed came into view, she ground to a halt, spinning around and gazing up at Taylor.
“I’ll get rid of them as fast as I can. Make yourself comfortable.” He gestured towards the sofa and the bed. Then his long legs ate up the distance between them. Reaching out, he pushed her hair back behind her ear. “I wanted tonight to go differently.”
Clara merely stared at him, her heart pounding.
“I’ll get rid of them as quick as I can. Okay?” he said as his hand grazed down her arm until he squeezed her fingers before letting go and stepping backwards.
Clara was so stunned that she waved at him, which made him laugh, then throw her a wink over his shoulder before he closed the door.
Standing in Taylor freaking Anderson’s bedroom, she was frozen and didn’t know what to do. She should sit down on the bed or the sofa, but her body was so overwhelmed that she didn’t move at all.
Muted voices filtered through to her, breaking her paralysis, and she realised she wasn’t going to sit on either; she was going to sit as close as she could to the door and listen in to whatever parts of the conversation she could overhear.
“Devon, Brian. Come in, have a seat,” Taylor said, his words ringing through the closed door.
“Taylor, it’s good to see you. It’s been too long.” A man’s voice, which Clara assumed was Brian, answered.
“What do you want?” Taylor growled in return.
Clara chuckled quietly; Taylor wasn’t going to exchange pleasantries with a man he obviously despised.
“I have a proposition for you that will benefit both of your careers,” Brian said smarmily.
“And that is?” Taylor hissed in displeasure.
Clara thought for a second and grabbed her phone from her bag. Pushing it up against the door, she hit record to capture the audio of what was about to happen. If it was nothing, she could always delete it.
“It will be good for Devon’s career to be linked to you romantically,” Brian stated.
“No.” Taylor’s reply was quick and vehement.
“Hear me out before you decline,” Brian chuckled.
“I don’t need to hear you out. Devon, you’re a wonderful actress and a lovely woman, but I won’t fake anything with you, sorry.” Taylor’s voice was firm.
Clara shifted to the floor to get more comfortable and winced when the floor creaked slightly under her. Freezing, she hoped the people sitting in the next-door room hadn’t heard her.
“Taylor, be reasonable. We wouldn’t want the photos to be ‘accidentally leaked’,” Brian said smarmily.
“What photos?” Taylor’s tone was cold as ice, and Clara leaned forward, making sure she didn’t miss anything.
“These.” Brian’s words were followed by a long silence.
Only broken by Devon saying, “I’m sorry.” So quietly that Clara barely caught it.
“What photos?” Clara murmured, unaware she had said anything out loud until she heard Brian.
“What was that Taylor?” the manager said.
Clara slapped her hand over her mouth, berating herself for being so loud.
“I didn’t say anything. I was merely enjoying the photos that were taken of me when I was, what, seventeen years old?” Taylor accused. “You have photos of me when I was a minor. You release them, and my lawyer will have you arrested.”
“Don’t be so quick to point fingers. You might want to check the date stamps on those photo files. You were most certainly eighteen, so no crime has been committed in me having these photos of an adult,” Brian said confidently.
Clara’s breath hitched. What was in the photos? It must be something awful.
“You shit. Devon, do you think this is the right thing to do?” Taylor asked sharply.
“I’m sorry. We only have to do it until after all the press tours for this movie are over. Then, we can have an amicable breakup. You know, the pressures of work, us being apart too much,” Devon said shakily.
“Shit,” Taylor swore loudly.
Clara could hear him pacing up and down the room.
“No one will believe they’re real.” His voice was frantic.
“Of course, they’ll believe they’re real. And the carefully crafted image you’ve perpetuated will be in tatters. And some other actor will jump into the hole you leave, and by the time this all blows over.” Brian laughed loudly. “That worked on so many levels, especially for this photo. You will no longer be an in-demand actor, loved by everyone. Your name will be mud. So you have no choice. Do this for me, and these photos will disappear forever. You have my word.”
Clara cringed at Brian’s entendre that Taylor was very likely naked in the photos and not alone; no wonder he had agreed and didn’t want anyone else to see them.
She almost jumped when Taylor shouted. “Your word?! That means very little. I’ll have my lawyer draft a non-disclosure agreement. If these photos ever come to light from any source, it will be your fault, and I will take you down. Do you understand?”
“Fantastic. Sounds great,” Brian chortled, surprising Clara that he was so light-hearted after Taylor’s threats.
“You’re a real shit,” Taylor spat out.
“You weren’t upset when I was using all my skills to elevate your standing in Hollywood,” Brian replied smugly.
“And I fired you.”
“But not until you had made it. You’re here because of me. So don’t sit there being superior and self-righteous. You came from nowhere, and I made you. Just like I’m going to make Devon.”
“Are we done here? Or do I have to listen to your speeches?” Taylor demanded.
“To finalise our agreement. You will be publicly dating Devon until after the press tour for this movie is over?” Brian confirmed.
“I agree,” Taylor growled.
“You will not be seen with anyone else. There will be no rumours that this is fake. Or the deals off,” Brian said.
“I agree,” Taylor replied sullenly.
Clara’s heart sank. And that was it. The deal was made: they wouldn’t be going on a date, he was going to be dating a Hollywood actress and in six months’ time, he wouldn’t be coming back to date her. She wouldn’t get a chance to see what this ‘thing’ between them was.
“Fantastic. Unlike you, I’m going to trust you to keep our agreement and won’t make you sign an NDA,” Brian offered.
“It’s more like you don’t have a lawyer who would agree with your blackmail and write you one,” Taylor snapped back.
“Blackmail is such a strong word. I would say more, a mutually beneficial agreement.”
“Get out of my room. Both of you,” Taylor demanded.
Clara held her breath, hoping that he would think to request a copy of whatever photos were being used to blackmail him. She knew that memory would dim over time, and he needed hard proof that they were the same photos if they were ever released.
“Stop,” Taylor’s voice rang out. “I need a copy of the photos airdropped to my phone right now.”
Clara sagged in relief. She had been so close to pushing the door open and demanding that Taylor be given a copy.
“Sure,” Brian replied easily, not putting up any resistance.
“Now leave. Devon, I will make this believable and won’t bad mouth you to anyone else. However, I can guarantee we will never work together again. I’m giving you one chance to not do this. And that chance is gone the second you walk out the door. Do you understand?”
Clara hoped that Devon would accept his offer, and her heart shattered a little when the other woman uttered two quiet words.
“I’m sorry.”
Clara heard footsteps moving away from the bedroom and assumed that Taylor was escorting them out. She waited a while and couldn’t hear anything else they said clearly, so she stopped the recording and pulled herself off the floor.
Glancing around the room, she dismissed the bed as somewhere to sit and made a dive for the sofa, unsure if she should admit to eavesdropping.
She pretended to be casually scrolling through her phone when Taylor flung the bedroom door open, leaning against the door frame and gazing across at her.
She was obviously a rubbish actor, as he lifted an eyebrow and said, “You heard?”
Clara debated lying and feigning ignorance, but instead, she nodded. “Yeah.”
“I thought the door would be fairly soundproof.”
“Not if you have your ear pressed against it,” she muttered.
“You pressed your ear against the door?” His eyebrow rose higher.
“Maybe.” A blush rose up her cheeks.
“Maybe means yes.” Despite the awful situation, he laughed.
“Yes, I pressed my ear against the door,” she admitted, casting her eyes downwards. A little embarrassed now that she had listened in, she debated not telling him that she had also recorded the meeting. But she finally said, “Now, don’t get cross.”
“As long as you’re not trying to blackmail me too, I don’t see what you could do to make me cross.” His voice sounded exhausted.
He strode over and flopped down on the sofa next to her, his arm resting on the back cushion.
Clara stiffened, sure that she had felt his fingers brush against her neck and muttered, “Would it help your lawyer to have an audio recording of the meeting?”
She wanted to look at Taylor to see how he was reacting but didn’t want to move her head away from his fingers, which were grazing over her neck.
“You recorded it?”
“Yeah,” she replied slowly, pulling her phone out and pressing play on the audio file.
The voices were muffled, although it was still clear enough to understand and make out who was speaking.
“That’s—“
Clara cringed when he paused.
“That’s amazing. Yes, it’ll help my lawyer. Thanks.” He hesitated for a moment, then looked away from her. “I suppose you want to know what’s in the photos?”
“I do want to know what’s in them, of course. But I would never ask you to show me. It’s something you think could ruin your career, and it’s none of my business.” She was surprised when a moment later his phone was in front of her with the photos open.
Clara hesitated before she took it.
Her hand shot to her face when she saw the first photo, and she understood exactly why Taylor was so upset. He was pictured lying on a bed on his front naked. In the background, several other naked bodies were visible, male and female. And when she zoomed in on the table next to the bed, there were piles and piles of drugs.
“I was young and away from home for the first time. Things got a little wild.” Taylor’s head flopped back on the sofa, and he stared up at the ceiling.
“Are all the photos similar to this one?” she questioned, finally turning her head to face him.
“No,” he stated flatly.
“No?”
“The others are worse,” he admitted.
“Oh.” She held his phone out to give back.
“You don’t want to look at the rest?”
“No. I don’t need to. Devon and Brian have violated your privacy enough. I don’t need to as well.” Tingles flew up her arm when his hand brushed hers as he took his phone back.
“I’m going to be dating Devon for at least the next six months,” Taylor said in a flat voice.
“Yeah. She’s very pretty.” Clara tried to sound optimistic, although she knew it wouldn’t help.
“And a total asshole,” Taylor added.
“That too.”
“I like you. I wanted to take you on a d—“
Clara cut Taylor off before he could finish his sentence. “Don’t. How could this work?”
“We could make it,” he tried again. “I like you.”
Clara sighed deeply, finally admitting out loud to him. “I like you as well.”
“Then we wait. When Devon and I officially break up, you and I. We see how things go.” He grabbed hold of her hand, squeezing her fingers tightly.
“Taylor, I’m not part of your world. I live a small life in a small town. I’m not fun, and I’m not glamorous. In the next six months, you’ll meet so many new people. Women who are from the same world as you. Don’t make me any promises, as I’ll get carried away, and when you move on with your glamorous life, and I’m still in my mundane one, it’ll be so much harder for me.” She gently pulled her hand out of his. Willing the tears she knew were close not to fall.
“But once this is all over, we could—“
Clara cut him off again, shaking her head, saying, “Let’s be realistic. By then, you’ll be on another film set, meeting new people, and I’ll still be in the same hospital I’m always at, doing the same thing. You’ll have heard all my stories, and I won’t be interesting anymore. Jack broke me. It took me a long time to put myself back together. I don’t think I can do it again.”
“What if it does work out?” Taylor whispered, his fingers stroking the back of her neck.
She leaned into his hand, letting herself enjoy a moment that she could have never predicted, for a few seconds before she sat away from his hand and broke the connection she was enjoying too much.
“Taylor, you are nothing like I expected. But us,” she pointed between them. “you and I, we could never work. I don’t want to lose you as a friend, and I can’t pin my hopes on something that may never happen.”
“I’ll feel the same way in six months,” Taylor said fiercely, his eyes not leaving hers.
“I hope you do. But please don’t promise me anything. It’ll make it easier for me. Is that okay?” She stared into his eyes, which echoed her own sadness until he finally nodded.
“Friends?” He held his hand out for her to shake.
She looked at it, then took it, shaking it.
“Friends,” Clara said, trying to ignore the electricity that radiated up her arm from where their palms touched, but the longer their hands were in contact, the worse it became. She wondered if he felt it too, then she dismissed the stray thought. He liked her because she spoke to him like he was a normal person, nothing else.
Taylor’s thumb stroked over the palm of her hand, and Clara jumped to her feet, pulling her hand free and tucking it under her armpit, stepping away so she wouldn’t be tempted to do something stupid like lunge forward and try to kiss him.
“I’ll see you tomorrow. Be careful with your plan with Devon. Okay?” Clara waited until he nodded, grabbed her handbag, and strode out the door.