Prologue #3
Maybe that’s what I need to change. I’ll come on heavy. Clingy. If I take all the chase out of it, he’ll get bored without the challenge and be the one to end things without creating chaos.
I can do that.
I can totally…
What? Essentially prostitute myself out and hope it doesn’t backfire? Pray I don’t have to keep it up for months? Or worse, years? Should I marry him and have his babies while I wait for him to leave me?
I can’t do that.
I might not have been willing to commit to the bit to that extent, but I did my best to play nice. Keeping hold of my temper, I pointed out, “I don’t trust you because you’re lying to me.”
“No, it’s because you’re neurotic, anal, and too stuck up your friends’ asses. Which is fucking funny because you never let me up yours.”
Annnnnd we’re done.
“Okay, this was a waste of time.” I pulled the phone away from my ear to hang up on him, but his shouting made me pause.
“Wait! Shit, Greer, wait. Gimme a second.”
I contemplated hanging up anyway, but that little bubble of hope in my chest stopped me. I gave it one last try as I laid it on thick.
My syrupy sweet tone.
My wounded softness.
The blind love and dedication I’d felt for him in the beginning.
I put it all into my words as I sniffled again. “I want things to be okay, Josh. So badly. I just need you to tell me the truth.”
“But that won’t make it okay,” he admitted on a thick mutter. One that was filled with regret and pain.
One that reminded me of how much he’d loved me before.
Of why I’d tried for so long.
Over.
And over.
And over again until that seemingly interminable well of love I had for him had run dry.
“I can be okay with a lot. I just can’t be okay with secrets and lies.” My lip curled into a sneer as I added a forced laugh. “I’m too neurotic.”
I didn’t think it would work, but the self-deprecating joke landed, and he chuckled before sighing. “I want to tell you. Fuck, I’ve wanted to tell you. But he made me swear not to.”
“Who?”
“Your dad.”
“What about him?”
Josh let out another frustrated groan. “Okay, you know how I’ve been working for Chase Majors?”
I started to say yes before catching myself. I’d known he was working for an actor, but his NDA prevented him from telling me who. It had been Maddie who’d told me, so I played oblivious to hide that. “That’s who you’ve been working for?”
“Shit, I wasn’t supposed to tell you that. Don’t tell anyone, okay?”
“Of course.” It wasn’t a lie since I didn’t give a shit enough to say anything.
“I mean it, Greer. If Chase gets looped into this, everything is fucked. Please.”
“I won’t.”
“Good. Okay.” He let out a harsh breath.
“When Chase found out that I also work for your dad, he started seeing him for minor upkeep. Botox, peels, jaw work, that kinda shit. He got some scripts for mild pain relief, but then he started asking me whether your dad could prescribe other shit like a real doctor.”
I was pissed at my dad, but I still rolled my eyes in his defense since a plastic surgeon was a real doctor, and he did a lot more than boob and nose jobs.
Josh continued. “Your dad agreed, and it kinda snowballed.”
Maddie had told me as much, but I was still somehow surprised to hear it confirmed. I played it up, letting it bleed into my incredulous tone. “Are you saying Dad is dealing drugs?”
“Whoa. No. No, nothing like that. He’s just helping people out.”
“With prescriptions.”
“Yeah. But it’s not a big deal, Greer, I promise. Every doctor does it. It’s not like he’s handing out heroin or some shit.”
He wasn’t trying to downplay it. I wasn’t sure if it was because he’d been raised by a mother who popped Xanax like breath mints or because of how commonplace it was in general.
Whatever the case, his dismissive attitude was his truth.
Explaining the error in his logic would be impossible, so I didn’t try. “Is Dad having financial trouble?”
Josh sounded thrown by my question. “Not that I know of. Why?”
“Because he’s selling prescriptions,” I said.
He blew a raspberry and chuckled. “You know your dad.”
No, I don’t think I do…
“What’s that mean?” I asked.
“He’s getting connections out of it. Invites. Status.”
I closed my eyes, tilting my head toward the sky.
The parties.
The influx of patients.
Every time I talked to my mom, there was some new bash. Some elite event. Some in-demand invite they’d somehow landed.
It wasn’t a deadly illness that’d driven Dad’s actions. It wasn’t that he was hovering on the edge of financial destitution. It wasn’t even that his naive stupidity was being taken advantage of by patient lies and exaggerations to score more prescriptions.
My dad put everything on the line to be popular.
The bubble of hope popped, spreading pain through my aching chest like it was made of jagged shards of glass.
It stole my breath as the truth rocked through my head.
I have my answers.
But what should I do with them?
Tell my mom? Have Maddie tell her parents? Go to my dad and plead with him to stop while he was ahead?
As awkward and horrific as it sounded, the last one seemed like the only feasible option.
I was vaguely aware of Josh still rambling his assurances that all would be okay, but I didn’t catch the specifics until he said, “It’ll be weird with them together, but we’ll make it work.
I have two auditions this week. Once I start landing roles myself, I won’t need Chase.
I’ll be on my way to the top, and then I’ll be able to take care of you. ”
I didn’t need anyone to take care of me, but that wasn’t where I was stuck. “Weird with who together?”
“Weren’t you paying attention?”
“My signal isn’t great,” I lied before adding a double whopper of one. “And I was focused on the stuff with you and me, babe.”
“That’s how it needs to be. Focused on us. Not your friends or school or all that shit that’s in your head.”
So I need to give up all my stuff, and you stay glued to your phone like an overgrown iPad kid?
Got it.
“Okay, sure,” I rushed out. “Awkward with who, though?”
“Your dad and my mom. I promised I wouldn’t say anything until the divorce was finalized, but like you said, we need to be honest if this is going to work. And fuck, I was sick of holding that in.”
For the second time on that hike, I was forced to collapse to the ground before my trembling legs gave out.
A jolt of pain went up my spine from the impact, but I barely noticed.
Mom was right.
He is having an affair.
An affair with fucking Gloria of all people.
I might’ve been able to keep the prescription shit to myself if Dad agreed to stop.
I might’ve even been able to follow Mom’s lead by burying my head in the sand about an affair with anyone else.
Literally anyone else in the world.
But Gloria?
She was the worst. A selfish, conniving user who only cared about herself.
Mom and the OGs had always been insanely nice to her. They’d included her. They’d given her the benefit of the doubt.
And that was how she repaid Mom?
I didn’t say goodbye to Josh. I didn’t keep up the ruse of playing nice.
I hung up the phone before climbing to my feet. And then I hurried down the path.
I needed to go home.
I needed to talk to my mom.