Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
CLOVER
Itake a couple steps outside before I feel Roman’s large hands catch me along my waist. His hands are rough and calloused where they meet my exposed skin, and it sends sparks dancing down my spine.
The sensation causes me to gasp, and I try to cover it quickly with a throat clear. I freeze, not knowing what to do.
“Come on,” he murmurs in my ear. He hasn’t said anything scandalous, but the gesture feels intimate and sends my heart into a frenzy, nonetheless. Roman gives the faintest nod toward where the photographers are.
Right, they’re watching. This is really happening.
I need to pretend to be into Roman Everett.
He gives me a smile that has undoubtedly dropped dozens of panties, and I have to tell my stupid body not to react to it.
This is just acting. Logically, I know Roman is a jerk.
My mind understands, but my body clearly has not gotten the memo.
He pulls me close and whispers, “I want you to look up at me and smile. We’ll talk for a minute, then go our separate ways.”
“What do we talk about?” I ask.
Roman glances down at my lips, and it sends a wave of heat through my body. “We’ll have to do a little improv I suppose.”
“Okay… um.” My brain spins as I try to come up with something.
“Don’t have an aneurysm over it, Daly. They can’t hear us. We just have to sell how it looks.” As he says it, he brushes a piece of hair back behind my ear with a tenderness I didn’t know he possessed.
“It’s kind of impressive how little your words and actions line up right now,” I say as I stare into his eyes, stepping closer.
“What can I say? I live to impress.”
“Really? I thought you lived to be a dick.” Mentally, I kick myself as soon as the words are out. I can’t help it though, something about him gets so under my skin.
Roman sets his hands on my hips, and pulls me in close. “No, that’s just for you, love.”
He gently takes me by the chin, and leans in for what I can only assume will be a kiss.
Is this it? Is this really how we’re going to have our first kiss?
In front of the paparazzi? But I glance down at his soft lips, and some traitorous part of me hopes we do.
He lowers his mouth to mine at a torturously slow pace, until he’s hovering just above.
My body is screaming at me to press up onto my toes ever so slightly to close the distance between us.
Before I get the chance to do something I’ll regret, Roman’s eyes lift and he “notices” the paparazzi.
Pulling back from me, his hand drops and his expression hardens. Playing the part of the territorial, pissed off movie star who hates that he’s been spotted.
“That was perfect,” he mumbles under his breath.
“Is that it? Do we need to do anything else?”
“That’ll be enough for them for now.”
“So do we–”
“I’ll see you when I have to.” He turns and walks away without another word.
I curse myself for wanting to kiss him not thirty seconds ago.
The hot water from my shower does an adequate job of washing away my irritation from today.
When I hop out, feeling refreshed after letting it nearly burn me for the last fifteen minutes, Maren shouts my name.
The shout is loud, and she sounds alarmed.
My heart sinks wondering what the hell caused it.
I grab my electric toothbrush as a makeshift weapon, and with nothing but a towel barely covering the goods, I run toward the living room where I heard her shriek.
I’m not sure what I’ll encounter, and I doubt I’ll be able to tackle whatever the hell it is in nothing but a teensy tiny towel with an electric toothbrush no less, but at least I know how to haul ass when it matters.
Instead of finding my roommate in peril, she’s sitting on the couch with her mouth agape, staring down at her laptop. There’s clearly no danger in sight.
“Clover, what is going on?”
I could ask the same damn thing, Maren.
“What do you mean?” I ask, looking around and trying to calm my pulse now that I know there’s no murderer hiding behind the curtains.
My cheeks redden as I remember I’m holding my electric toothbrush as a makeshift weapon, and I pull it behind my back to save what little face I can.
“What is this?” Maren turns her laptop so that I can see.
I know that logo and bright yellow background anywhere, she’s reading Celebrity Scene Online, a website and magazine that’s one of the top celebrity gossip sources out there. Could there already be an article out about Roman and I? It’s been all of an hour since we left the gym.
Celebrity Scene Online
Romance Rising for Roman Everett?
Roman Everett was spotted leaving the gym with his new Darkness Rising co-star, Clover Daly.
They were pictured having an intimate conversation and sharing an embrace before noticing photographers.
Sources at Starlight Studios say that while it’s too early to tell what’s going on, the two have a wild amount of chemistry, and it’s palpable to anyone nearby.
Will this relatively unknown actress have what it takes to become a leading lady for both Hollywood and Roman? Time will tell…
Gingerly, I scroll down when Maren gestures for me to do so, trying to make sure the water droplets rolling off me don’t hit her laptop. The pictures from the paparazzi are attached to the article. I’m amazed at how many there are for an interaction that literally took less than a minute.
“You didn’t tell me you were going to be seeing him today,” she says in a way that lets me know she’s displeased.
“I mean… I’m going to be seeing him a lot—we’re co-stars,” I reason. Why do I need to justify this to someone I’m not even close to?
She brushes right past what I’ve said. “Do you think you’ll be hanging out off set more often?”
“I don’t know, Maren…” Whether it be the conversation or the literal state of nudity that I’m in, I’m feeling uncomfortable as hell and I desperately want to escape back to the safety of my room.
“Okay, well if you’re going to be seeing him you should let me know. That’s the kind of thing friends tell each other,” she says as she tucks a lock of raven colored hair behind her ear.
Friends? Since when has Maren considered us anything more than two individuals who coexist in the same living space? Probably since she realized I could be her ticket to meeting a more famous crowd.
To avoid answering, I look back at the screen.
“Look, there’s already forty-five comments,” she says before scrolling to the section. Curiosity gets the better of me, and I start reading. Instantly, I regret it.
Omg seriously? What does he see in her?
They should’ve cast a different actress
Totally not who I pictured him with at all.
She’s way too skinny – someone get her a burger LOL
That outfit is really unfortunate.
A bit muscular for my taste…
She’s cute–nice to see someone aside from the usual models he dates.
Why does she look so haggard?
No wonder he’s got her at the gym
There are a few nice ones mixed in there, but they mean nothing to me. I snap my eyes away from the screen before Maren scrolls down and reveals more of the nasty comments.
“Oh, these are...” she starts.
“No, no, it’s okay,” I try to dismiss as quickly as possible.
I do not want to be talking about this shit with her.
Maren’s stunning. I doubt anyone would be so bold as to tear someone like her down online.
Me? I know I’m beautiful, logically I know that.
But it also feels like I’m stuck in my puberty-mindset of “Oh God, I’m developing before everyone else…
Why am I so big and tall and unlike the other girls?
” These online comments have my stomach bottoming out.
Is this really what I’ve signed myself up for?
What I’ll be subjected to now that I’m in the public eye?
“Looks like there’s something on TroisToi too,” she says, opening a new tab to one of the most infamous gossip sites around. If people were shitty in the comments of the Celebrity Scene article, I imagine it’ll only be worse on this one.
“Actually, that’s okay. I don’t need to see it,” I say quickly, not ready to have my feelings hurt all over again.
“Okay. Well, I have an audition I need to prep for, so…” Maren announces as she stares at her cuticles.
“Right, umm. Break a leg,” I answer awkwardly before shuffling my nearly-naked ass back to my room.
I shut the door firmly, hoping it’ll act as some kind of shield to protect me from the barrage of critical comments I just read.
The sound wakes Smokey, and she tosses me a look.
As if she knows what’s going on, and how bothered I am by what I read.
Slowly, she trudges over to me and rubs her body along my shins.
The small, kind gesture is enough to bring me to tears.
Those comments sucked. And what’s worse, is they poked and prodded at feelings I thought I’d moved past. The ones about my body sting with a sharpness I wasn’t expecting.
Even though my nutritionist and trainer are ecstatic with the shape I’m in, all I can see are those shitty comments repeating on a loop in my mind.
I pull out my phone to distract myself instead of sitting with my feelings.
A minute passes, and I’m surprised to see a message pop up from Jill.
Jill
Hey! It was really great to meet you today.
Me
It was really nice to meet you too.
Jill
I know Roman can be a bit of a twat sometimes. Promise not to hold it against the rest of us Everetts?
Me
I’ll do my best
Jill
Are you free next Friday?
Me
I think so?
Jill
Roman’s too stubborn to ask, but you should come to the premiere of Under Violet Skies with us.
Right. James Everett’s latest release. A thrill races through me at the prospect of going to my first red carpet event.
Me
I’m in.
Shit. What does one wear to a premiere?