I grab her arm. "No! Don’t. Really. It’s okay."
"But it’s not." Olivia turns on me. "This was your big break. You embody Belle. Your lushness, your voice, the way you seem virginal, even as the eroticism drips from your every move... YouareBelle in the show."
"Thanks, but you don't have to humor me."
"It’s true." Olivia grips my arm. "If anyone deserves the break, it’s you."
"And you know how it is, talent is to us actors what luck is to card players." I forget who said it, but it feels apt to say it right now, especially when neither luck nor talent is on my side.
"This is your chance." I twine my fingers through Olivia’s. "I’m truly happy it’s you on that stage."
"You mean it?" she asks cautiously.
I swallow down the ball of churning emotions which seems to have hooked itself into my throat, then nod. "You bet. In fact, I think we should go out to celebrate."
"You sure?" Penny peers into my face. "Don’t you want to go home and rest up after everything you have been through?"
"It’s because of what I’ve been through that I want to celebrate that I made it back. So what if I’m not on stage. You are." I hold Olivia’s gaze. "It’s one of the three musketeers in the lead, and" —I turn to Penny— "a second musketeer playing the enchantress. That’s cause for celebration, isn’t it? After all, we celebrated when I got the lead, too."
"If you’re sure," Olivia says slowly.
"I’m sure." I pull away from them, then grab my bag with the sweat stained clothes I wore during the rehearsal. "Let’s go get dinner."
I head for the stairs, taking them two at a time. My head is full of everything that happened. It’s the only reason I stumble on the crack in the rickety step half-way down. It’s not because my vision is blurry. I’d have fallen, too, except Olivia grabs my shoulder and pulls me upright. My bag slips from my shoulder and the strap lodges in the crook of my arm as it hits the floor.
My heart somersaults in my ribcage and my pulse skyrockets. I pause and Penny grabs my arm.
"You okay, babe?"
"Yeah." I blow out a breath. "Of course." I shake my head.
"You sure?" Olivia exchanges a glance with Penny.
"We don’t have to go out. You could come to our place, and we can just hang out. I even have the bath bombs you love." The two of them share an apartment, one in a really nice part of town, with a bathroom and a big tub to die for. A tub that I don't have at my place.
They offered the third room in the suite to me, but the rent for that room was twice the amount of the apartment I found. They told me I didn’t have to pay, but the last thing I wanted was to be dependent on my friends. I know from experience that nothing kills a friendship quicker than when money inserts itself into the relationship. I wanted to stay clear of that.
And my apartment isn’t that bad. It’s further away from the theatre, but I can always take the bus. And that’s why I ended up being kidnapped in the first place. Also because I was at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Isn’t that what that horrible man Freddie said? This incident wasn’t about me. It’s about him… That alphahole Luca. It’s all thanks to him that I’ve landed in this predicament.
"I’m good, really," I reiterate to my friends. With a last glance at each other, they release me. I sling my bag over my shoulder again and take the steps more cautiously this time. I’ve barely made it out of the door when he steps in front of me.
24
Jeanne
I pretend I don’t notice him. I try to brush past him, but he moves with me so I’m confronted by that larger-than-the-Great Wall-of-China chest of his.
I swerve to the right, then fein left, but does that faze him? Nope. The alphahole simply parks his bulk in my way so I have no choice but to stop and scowl up at him.
"Get out of my way."
"No."
"I’m not coming with you," I retort.
"You are."
"I’m going out with my friends," I say through gritted teeth.