10. James
JAMES
“Don’t tell me you’re feeling guilty,” Esther said.
I had her on speakerphone because I was giving Atticus his fluids. The dog was prone to dehydration, and I had to stick a needle in his back and shoot water directly into his body. How the hell that worked was beyond me.
“He’s just a regular guy, Es. I was at his apartment, and it’s small and totally average. Plus, he’s a friggin’ kindergarten teacher.”
“He tried to kill someone and got away with it. Trust me, being the story of the week is a hell of a lot better than going to prison. If you ask me, he’s getting off easy. Plus, this was your idea. I was just doing you a favor.”
I may have complained about William Chapman ruining the movie, but it had been her idea to try and get him fired. “Yeah, but he was never even gonna be in the movie in the first place.”
“How were we supposed to know that? Just relax. This is all gonna blow over. But if you’re really that worried, there is something you could do.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?” I pulled the needle from Atticus’s back and pinched the skin to keep the liquid from leaking out of the hole.
“Well, you said he’s gonna be staying at his mom’s, right? And Derek will be around, too, not to mention his dad. You’ll be in the perfect position to solve one of Hollywood’s greatest mysteries. Do you have any idea how much money you’d get for a story like that?”
“Do you have any idea how much trouble I’d get in for breaking my NDA?” I rubbed Atticus’s spine where the fluid had gone in.
“They don’t have to know it was you. And you’d be doing Chapman a favor. According to him, he doesn’t remember what happened that night. He was blackout drunk. Think about it. You could help him fill in the gaps, give him the closure he so desperately needs.”
A key turned in the lock. “I gotta go, Es. Theo’s home.”
“All right, I’ll swing by later and drop off his birthday present. He’s gonna love it.”
The door opened, and Theo burst in, breathing heavily. He tossed a copy of Star Magazine onto the coffee table. “How could you not tell me? This is huge. Ryan Ashbury is gonna be playing you in the movie! Do you have any idea how amazing this is?”
I looked away from the cover, where William stood, wide-eyed and wine-soaked. The picture Esther got was brutal. It not only captured William’s utter disbelief but also Derek’s righteous anger. No wonder they’d paid her so much money for it.
“Pretty amazing,” I said.
“Now you have to bring me with you. You have to.”
“No, I don’t.”
I’d already run the idea by Donna. She was fine with it as long as Theo signed an NDA.
“Well, then I’ll just steal Mom’s car and drive down. I already looked it up. She only lives, like, an hour away.”
“You will do no such thing because you’ll be in Florida.” When did Theo start calling Emily “Mom?”
He just smirked and shrugged. Teenagers were the worst.
“You’d have to sign an NDA, and we both know you’d break it in two seconds,” I said. “Plus, it’s not like Ryan is gonna drop by the house. You’d never even see him.”
“Yeah, but I’d be in the same town.” Theo pushed his dark-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose and sank onto the couch with a starry-eyed gaze.
“I’ll think about it.”