Chapter Three

Dylan

It’s quiet out here…

Without Charleigh’s laughter.

Without her unique ability to pull me out of my despair.

I’m sitting on one of the White’s fancy patios behind the house. Can’t really call it a patio, I don’t think. It’s more like an extension of the house.

The ground is covered in flat natural stone, stone that meets the back of the house but otherwise, isn’t a “patio” by normal standards.

The edge is lined with boulders and goes right to a small bluff-type cliff. There is more natural stone that lines stairs, stairs that would bring a person either up toward the main level of the house, or down toward the pier and lake.

I’m lounging in one of the Adirondack chairs with my feet propped up along the edge of a giant fire pit—a fire pit made out of, you guessed it, more stone.

The fire is starting to die down, which is fine.

I should head in soon.

But it’s so pretty out here, when the sky is still a rich navy blue and is making its way toward black.

The moon is full tonight and is currently hanging low and large—looming over the lake, right over the beauty that is the pine tree skyline.

My eyes are fixed to its creamy reflection over the smooth, inky-black water, and my mind is racing.

Hell, it hasn’t stopped racing, not once, in the last five months.

I can only hide for so long.

My agent is going to get pissed with me after a while.

My parents don’t understand why I avoided going home for my birthday.

The fucking world is pissed at me for being a woman set out to ruin one of Hollywood’s best marriages.

The marriage everyone’s been rooting for since Grant Maxwell hit the acting scene, five years ago.

If this is how Tatum wants to make her transition from television to big time films, she’s doing it wrong.

No one will respect her.

She should have stuck with her boring television dramas. No one has time for that shit to be real life.

There’s no way Grant would cheat on Aja. They’re middle school sweethearts! So floving cute! Tatum is such a bitch.

I try to swallow past the large lump in my throat, but it doesn’t budge.

The anxiety is getting to be too much.

I close my eyes, even though blocking out the beautiful view does nothing for the words echoing in my head.

The words that ping pong back and forth.

I’d had a bad anxiety attack last week.

And if it weren’t for my best friend, I don’t think I’d be sitting here right now.

The overbearing need to end it all…

I attempt to swallow again, and this time I’m successful. With a slow, deep breath, I open my eyes to the dark again and take the time to watch the stars blinking to life in the sky above me.

Charleigh had to leave, but she calls me five times a day—seven in the morning, ten in the morning, noon, three in the afternoon, and six in the evening. She makes me talk about my day and my feelings. Most people don’t know this about her, but she’s studying to be a therapist.

I’m okay being her test subject.

There’s no one else in the world I can talk to anyway, and she’s been with me since this entire thing unfolded.

Part of me feared that she felt guilty.

She was the one who pushed me to go to the party.

Told me it would be good for me. Networking, of sorts. That it was what you did after wrapping a film that was slated to be one of the highest grossing ones of the year.

I don’t think she realized the extent of this particular party, not when she urged me to go.

However, I also don’t think Charleigh felt guilted into letting me stay here for as long as I’ve been. She knew I needed a place to hide, and she had just the place. No one bothered me out here. Hell, the only person who knew I was here, was Charleigh.

Well, and her parents.

And now, Cade Johnston.

Once again, the panic begins to rise.

During Charleigh’s three o’clock call, I could tell something was worrying her.

She finally let it out, during our last call.

“I’m so sorry, Dylan, but Cade’s going to show up. He and I have been friends for forever; I don’t even know how I haven’t introduced you two yet, to be honest. But you see, he’s supposed to be on this project and he didn’t like Blake, who was casted as his opposite, so I told him to demand a casting change and, shit, Dylan, but he liked your audition. And then he figured out you were at the house. I’m so sorry.”

I knew exactly what project she’d been talking about.

It was one of the latest romance novels to be made into a film, and the moment it was announced, it was the talk of the internet. I remember auditioning for it. I’d wanted so badly to be part of this project.

It was one that could easily put me on the map, more so than You Can’t Hide, the psych thriller that…

Well.

The psych thriller that basically has now ruined my career.

Charleigh told me that Blake backed out of Forever and a Day, and that Cade was asking for me to take the spot.

If it were seven months ago…

But not now.

No way, no how.

My eyes focus on the dying embers in the firepit. I have no idea how I’m going to deal with him coming here.

I do know, though, that him showing up is going to shatter the illusion I’ve built around me.

My secret won’t remain safe.