Chapter 11 #2
“I told him you’ve always been that way, of course,” she went on. “And he was doubly impressed when I told him about your partnership with that British fashion designer, Ryan Hawthorne, and your upcoming movie with Simon Underhill.”
“Neither of those things have been finalized yet,” Drew warned her, anxiety rising. “It’s not a great idea to go around telling people about things that haven’t happened yet.”
Jessica should have known that. Keeping your lips zipped was Hollywood 101.
“I know, but he’s a big star, too. He’s not going to tell anyone.” Jessica brushed the whole thing away with a wave of her hand. “Darius asked about you and Lee, too, by the way,” she added with a sly look.
The sparkle in her eyes threw Drew for a loop. If he hadn’t known better, he would have thought she was as big of a fangirl over him and Lee as any of the people they’d taken selfies with in the last few weeks.
“About Lee,” Drew said, shifting uncomfortably, but needing to clear the air about the whole thing as quickly as possible.
“You two haven’t fake broken up, have you?” Jessica asked, fixing him with a disapproving stare.
“No, we haven’t,” Drew said. “Kind of the opposite.”
“Good,” Jessica pushed right over everything else he wanted to say.
“Things are going great with you two together. The nastiness on social media has died down, and even Judith thinks I’ll have a better chance booking future roles now that the threat of everything blowing up when people discover I’m your girlfriend is gone. ”
Drew was stunned into silence by the speed with which Jessica had made one of the most difficult things he’d had to deal with in years all about herself.
More than that, as she pushed up off the couch and headed into the kitchen, saying, “I’m super jetlagged and I need coffee, but you don’t have the kind I like, so I’m going to head out to that corner shop and get some more. ”
She grabbed her purse from the counter and slung it over her shoulder.
As she did, Drew stood and shifted to stand where she’d have to go through him to get to the door. “Jess, we need to talk.”
“Why?” Jessica asked checking in her purse for something instead of looking at him. “Is something the matter? Oh!” She stopped searching and glanced up at him, eyes wide. “Did you have your meeting with Simon Underhill? Is he going to cast you in his next film?”
“No, we haven’t been able to find a time that matches both our schedules yet,” Drew said, more annoyed with her than he wanted to be.
If felt cheap for him to be upset with his girlfriend for not paying attention to him when he wanted to break up with her.
At the same time, he resented having to initiate the conversation at all.
Jessica had to know that things were more or less over between them and had been for a while.
“I hope you two can work something out soon,” she said, walking around him and heading for the door.
“The sooner you can get that film deal booked, the sooner I’ll be able to use it as leverage to get Judith to set up meetings for me about some of the projects I want to do.
I have my eye on a sponsorship with Gucci, and you’re my ace in the hole to get it. ”
Drew was floored. He’d known Jessica was ambitious, but he’d never thought she was shallow. Instead of forcing the conversation that needed to happen between then, he just stood there, wondering if her attitude was something new or if she’d always been that way and he’d just missed it.
“Oh, before I forget,” she said coming back to him as soon as he reached the door. She lifted to her toes and gave him a quick kiss. “I missed you,” she said with a smile, then kissed him again before making a beeline for the door.
By the time Drew recovered from his shock enough to say, “Missed you, too,” Jessica was already out the door. All he could do was stand there and wonder what happened.
One thing was certain. Any lingering horniness he’d had after his brief text conversation with Lee was totally gone.
He wanted to text Lee again or call him and talk about what had just happened.
He hated feeling vulnerable, and the whole notion that he’d missed how ruthless Jessica was for all the years they’d spent together definitely made him feel vulnerable.
But something about calling his fake boyfriend, with whom he’d shared a very real and spectacular orgasm just two nights before, and who he had some seriously unresolved feelings for, didn’t feel right.
There was someone he could call who he trusted with his life, though.
He headed back into his bedroom, pulling his phone from his back pocket. He sat on the end of the bed straight away, toed off his shoes, and dialed Abby.
“Let me guess,” Abby answered without a greeting. “Jessica is back in London.”
“Yes, she is,” Drew said, sighing and rubbing a hand over her face.
“Did she tell you all about Darius Carter?”
“Yep. As soon as I walked through the door, she launched into a whole monologue about her time filming and how great it was and how all sorts of opportunities are about to open up for her because of my relationship with Lee.”
He didn’t need to explain anything more than that. His tone of voice did all the work for him. Abby knew him, and Jessica, well enough to read between all the lines. He skipped right to asking, “So how is your boyfriend these days?”
There was so much more to the question than met the eyes, to the point where Drew felt a slippery feeling in his gut before he could start telling the story.
Abby already knew everything.
“You’ve always known, haven’t you,” he said instead of answering directly.
“Known what?” Abby asked with super-false innocence.
“That I’m—” The words caught in Drew’s throat. He’d barely been able to admit the truth to himself in the last few days. It felt huge to say it out loud.