24
“Baby, please. Don’t look at that,” Reeve pleads again, dropping to his knees in front of me. “It looks worse than it is.”
I don’t know how that is even possible.
Ignoring him, I stare in a state of numbed shock as the hideous recording plays. It’s at some club, in Boston, I’m assuming, and while it’s dark, you can clearly make out Reeve’s and Saffron’s features. I spot Rudy and a few of the other cast members drinking and dancing in the background. Christmas decorations hang from the ceiling and adorn the walls, confirming it was a recent night out. Most likely, just before he left Boston for the Christmas break.
Silent tears stream down my face as I watch them kissing. It’s no chaste kiss either. Their arms are wrapped around one another as they lock lips, and they are devouring one another like it’s a new Olympic sport.
Pain races through every part of me, and I’m struggling to breathe. I sway on my feet when I stand, clutching a hand to my mouth as I rush out of the room. Reeve calls after me, chasing me down the hallway. “Vivien! Stop, please! Let me explain! I love you!”
I slam to a halt at those three little words and spin around to face him. “Stop fucking lying!” I scream, my entire body shaking as rage takes control. “Stop saying you love me when your actions prove you don’t! How could you do this to me?” A sob rips from my chest, and my upper torso aches. While the pain from my concussion has subsided and my broken ribs are healing, I’m still in physical pain, and the additional heartache is most unwelcome. “Haven’t you humiliated me enough?”
“I was high,” he blurts. “It was stupid. I never should’ve taken molly, but everyone was doing it. Filming was over. I was coming home to you, and I was happy.” The words tumble from his mouth in desperation.
I bark out a bitter laugh. “Yeah. I saw how happy you were.” I slam my unbroken hand into his chest, shoving him. “How long has it been going on, and have you fucked her?” I bend over, clutching my stomach as my half-eaten dinner threatens to make a reappearance. “Oh God. We had sex last night.” We never use condoms because I’m on the pill, and I never thought Reeve would cheat on me. “That slut is probably riddled,” I shout. “Now I’ll have to get tested!” The thought of that additional humiliation ignites a fresh layer of pain.
“I didn’t fuck her, and that was the only time I’ve kissed her. I swear.”
I throw my hands in the air, swallowing bile. “Like I believe a single fucking word coming out of your lying mouth!” I scream.
“Baby. I know you’re upset. I’m upset too. I’d never taken molly before. It made me horny as hell, and she pounced on me when I was wasted. I didn’t push her away at first, because I was confused. I thought she was you!” He puts his hands on my shoulders, beseeching me with his eyes.
He’supset? He has the fucking nerve to say that to me after what he’s done?! Shoving his hands away, I swipe at the hot tears running down my cheeks, vowing this is the last time I’m crying over Reeve Lancaster.
“As soon as I realized who I was kissing, I pushed her away.”
“A likely fucking story.” In the distance, I spot our parents holding back but listening to every word.
Reeve pulls out his cell, handing it to me. “Call Rudy if you don’t believe me. He’ll confirm it.”
As if his best friend on set wouldn’t cover for him! He really must think I’m an idiot if I’d believe that. I thrust his hand away. “I don’t care if he does. I don’t care if you were high. You promised me you were done with drugs, but that was obviously another lie, and it’s not an excuse.” I rest my head on the wall, and my body shakes as I flounder.
I’m drowning in soul-splitting pain.
Suffocating under an avalanche of hurt.
Torn between rage and gut-wrenching heartache.
“I’ll quit the movie,” Reeve quietly says, cautiously approaching me again. “They can sue me. I don’t care.”
“What about your career?” I hiss, lifting my head and staring straight at the wall. I can’t look at Reeve. It physically pains me to look at him now.
“I don’t care about my career!” he cries. He puts his hand on my back. “I only care about you.”
Shucking out of his hold, I carefully wrap my one good arm around myself, as if that will keep the shattered pieces of my psyche together. “You don’t care about me. If you did, you would’ve pulled out a long time ago. You only care you got caught.”
“That is not true.”
I harrumph, turning to face him. “It seems you need a little history lesson, so let me enlighten you. From the very start, you have refused to see what is blatantly obvious. That bitch, Bianca, and Cassidy have conspired to make my life miserable. They’re behind it all, I’m sure of it, but you still don’t believe it. That”—I point back toward the dining room, where the TV is probably still playing—“was carefully timed to inflict the worst pain on a day that should be special. A day that will now be forever tarnished for me. But I’m sure you’ll find some way of defending that bitch and blaming the press. Or better yet,” I say, gnashing my teeth. “Why not turn it around on me? Because you’re so good at that!” I scream.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spot my dad physically restraining my mom. I love how readily she wades into battle on my behalf, but this is one fight I need to finish myself.
“Go on!” I roar. “Tell me how selfish I am for not supporting you! How much I’m adding to your stress because I won’t get with the program and endorse your so-called fake relationship!” I’m really hitting my stride now, and months of pent-up frustration pours out of my mouth. “I am the only one who has suffered for your dreams.Me!Not you!” I place a hand over my heart. “I have been humiliated and vilified at every turn. I was attacked, and I know that bitch orchestrated it, and there you go kissing her in public without any regard for my feelings! You did that days after professing undying love for me and promising to fix everything! I have tried to love and support you, but you continuously shut me out. You refused to accept Mom’s help. You refused to believe me.Me!The person you profess to have loved for nineteen years. Instead, you believe that conniving slut. You—”
“It wasn’t that I didn’t believe you, Viv,” Reeve pleads, cutting across me. He grabs fistfuls of his hair. “You were so irrational when it came to her that it made it difficult for me to believe it wasn’t jealousy driving your behavior, but I see it now.”
“Well, that makes it all fucking right then, doesn’t it?!” I screech, poking my finger in his chest again. “Tell me one time I was irrational!? One time I said something that hasn’t turned out to be true?” I plant my hands on my hips, daring him to challenge me.