“Have you made any progress on the Sophia front? Got a plan at least?”
I sighed. “I can’t call her. She’s either got her phone turned off or she’s got another number by now. And I don’t blame her. She had so many nasty calls and texts. I just wish I had her new number. But I screwed up. I guess I could turn up at her parents’ house and grovel like hell. Doesn’t seem like much of a plan though.”
“You gotta be careful if you do that. Are the paps still hounding you? You don’t want to lead them straight to her doorstep.”
“It’s died down mostly. I guess that prince is getting married this weekend. I’m just grateful the paps have someone else to chase. No one gives a shit about my drama when they’ve got a living fairytale to watch.”
“So what’s the plan? Are you going to try to get her back? It sounded in there—” King tipped his head toward the living room where we’d had Nix’s intervention. “Like you wanted to fix things with Sophia.”
“I do. I just don’t know where to start.”
“From my experience, words won’t mean much unless you’ve got some action on your side to show that you want to change. If you can show her with her your actions first, she might be willing to listen to what you’ve got to say.”
“Got a lot of experience groveling, huh?”
“Never said I was the one doing the groveling.” King stared at me a long moment then took a drink. “Ariel was the one who always had something to apologize for.”
“Sorry.” Felt like I was saying that a lot here lately. Maybe I should spend more time thinking and less time talking. Especially considering the fact that I knew better about King and his ex. Their relationship had been a train wreck for so long.
King lifted a shoulder. “It is what it is. Or was. Anyhow, let’s get back to you and your groveling. What can you do to prove to her that you’re listening and willing to fix what’s broke?”
“Well if my memory serves—” And it should because her words were carved into my soul at this point. “She said that she couldn’t trust what was real and what wasn’t. I’m too used to lying, and I manipulated her from the start. Oh, and I also don’t follow through since I didn’t ask to read any of her finished screenplays or introduce her to anyone in the industry like I’d promised.”
“Sheesh.”
“Yeah. I fucked it up royally.”
“I’d say.” King huffed in disbelief and my heart sank. It was as hopeless as I’d feared.
We drank in silence for a moment before King spoke again. “Have you had time to read her screenplay since she left?”
“Yeah, it’s awesome. She wrote a treasure hunt adventure slash romance that is amazing. I want to play the lead so fucking bad. I actually brought you a copy if you want to read it.”
“Sure. But why haven’t you passed it along to your agent?”
“I don’t know what the right move is here. I don’t think it would take much to get a director lined up and start looking for funding, but technically I’m not even supposed to have the screenplay.”
“Wait, what?”
I quickly explained the situation.
King raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, I don’t know if betraying her trust like that is the best way to get back together with her.”
“What the fuck am I supposed to do?”
“Stop manipulating her. Be straight with her and tell her the truth.”
“I thought I was supposed to have some action on my part first to show her I’d changed.”
“Then do something to prove to her that you’re thinking of her first. Do something to protect her interests before you start going behind her back and arranging her whole life for her—again.”
“How the hell do I do that?”
“Damn, you’re lucky you’re so pretty.” King teased with a smirk. “Get her a fucking agent—the biggest shark you can find. Someone who will look after Sophia’s interests. And you gotta use your back channel contacts to do it. Most of the top literary agents won’t read unsolicited screenplays.”
“Makes sense. It could work.” I couldn’t believe I didn’t think of it myself. I had an agent. King had an agent. Last I’d heard, even Nix had an agent. I scratched the back of my head. “But how do you know so much about literary agents?”
“I saw a segment onSixty Minutes.”