CHAPTER 58
Theo
I couldn’t find Lex anywhere. Not backstage, not in our room, not in her room. Nowhere. Shane had darted off to look for her before me. Now, I couldn’t find him either.
After our cover was destroyed by that video that no one fessed up to shooting, rehearsal was dismissed, but not before Lex disappeared backstage and Shane followed. Me? I was the idiot who went back to the venue to talk some sense into the furious Winter. She was seething—foaming from the mouth, practically—and once the dancers left, she tore into me.
“I fucking warned you,” she growled.
I knew there wouldn’t be an easy way out of this. “I can’t control some peeping asshole who stuck his camera where it didn’t belong.”
“How long have you been in this business? That’s exactly how this kind of thing works. You just had to have her, didn’t you? What makes Lex so goddamn special to you that you’d decide to fuck with my show?”
I shook my head and held up my hands. “No one had any intentions of fucking up your show. Well, I take that back. Whoever put up that video might want exactly that.”
A heat wave blew through me at the thought of someone invading our privacy and using it against us. When I thought of who might have done it, only one person came to mind. “It was Reggie.”
She shook her head, in complete denial.
“You know it too,” I tried again. “And how fucked up is that? He’s friends with Lex.”
“I don’t care who put up the video,” she screamed. “There wouldn’t have been a video if you had abided by the stupid contract. You know I don’t have a choice but to let Lex go now. I’ve already sent notice to her room. Her flight back to LA will be fully paid. But she’s got to go.”
My chest puffed as anger swirled through me. “You can’t let Lex go. Let me go. The choreography is done, anyway. I’ll step down from my producer role. The show starts in four days. You can’t lose a dancer now.”
Winter’s face was red. “I can do whatever the hell I want. How do you think it will look if she stays? Everyone signed that contract. Everyone knows the rules. I allow this one to slip, then the rest of the crew thinks they can get away with anything. This is a business, Theo. One you used to be very good at. You, better than anyone else, should understand the consequences of fucking with me.”
There was no reasoning with her. “Then I’m out too.”
She visibly shook. “You can’t leave,” she screamed as the tears brimmed from her eyes. “You would seriously turn your back on me? After everything we’ve been through together? After all the opportunities I’ve given you? Don’t forget who made you an instant celebrity ten years ago. What ever happened to gratitude? To loyalty?”
“What ever happened to free will, Winter, huh? You don’t own me. We were partners in all of this, but you fucked up the moment you decided to control my life.”
She let out a scream that echoed off the stage walls, and I couldn’t help laughing before giving her a piece of my mind. I had so much more to say, but I needed to find Lex.
“And for the record, I’m not turning my back on you. You turned your back on me the moment you decided to control my happiness. Lex is it for me, Winter. And if you can’t accept that—if you won’t amend the contract and keep Lex in your show—then we have nothing left to say here.”
She wiped a tear and nodded. “Fine. Then leave. You’ll be paid up until the start of the show.”
I sighed, and while Winter could easily change her mind and right all of this bullshit, guilt was chewing through my insides. She might not have “made me,” as she claimed, but she had been a friend since the beginning.
“I don’t care about the money. Believe it or not, I care about you and this show and the dancers. All of them. You don’t need to do this. Let Lex stay, and I will too.”
She shook her head as more tears spilled down her cheeks. “It’s done. You made your choice.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. You didn’t give me a choice.”