“Lex…no…” Just like that, a wave of guilt surges, tripping over my disbelief. “I can’t accept that. I won’t. It’ll be a hell of a lot easier if I just make a statement, tell the public I had too much to drink, got carried away, and—”
He closes his eyes, shakes his head. “It’s too late for that, Nicks. I went along with it on camera. We’ll both look like fools. I promise you, this is the best way to handle it.”
“But…my sister,” I try, clinging to a shred of hope. “She needs me at home, in Chicago. We’re a team…”
“Joplin is on board.”
“I—” My words cut off. “What? What do you mean?”
Lex studies me for a beat before plucking his phone from his pocket and making a quick call. He places it to his ear. “Yeah. Send her in.”
Everything is a blur. A different reality. “Send who in?”
Returning the phone to his pocket, Lex steps back, leans against the wall, and folds his arms. He doesn’t respond.
But he doesn’t need to, because a moment later, my sister is bounding through the open doorway. “Stevie!”
I gape at her like she’s a circus clown dressed in neon feathers and moon boots. “Jop?”
“Hey! Oh my God, look at this room. Is this what mine looks like?” She spins toward Lex with big eyes, then swivels back to me, her grin never wavering. “This is unreal. Were you pampered? Treated like royalty?”
I can’t fathom words, let alone how to use them.
Lex lifts up from the wall. “I’ll give you two a minute.”
When he disappears from the room, I glance back at my sister, my eyes watering with emotion. With every emotion. “What are you doing here?”
She skips over to the bed and flops down, the mattress heaving with her added weight. “Lex’s agent called me late last night and said I’m ‘Operation: Damage Control.’ He’s kind of cute. Quirky but cute. Have you noticed?”
“Joplin.”
“I took a red-eye out here. Got in around six and grabbed breakfast with some of his entourage. They booked a room for me for two nights, so it’s like a mini vacation. How could I say no?” She pulls up on her elbows, sends me a soft look. “Besides, I have a job to do. I need to convince my stubborn sister to accept ten thousand dollars a week to shack up with the hottest guy in Hollywood, a guy who Iknowyou were secretly in love with back in high school—”
“I was not in love with—”
“—which, honestly, I’m not even sure why any of this needs convincing. Hell, Stevie, you’ve just been offered the deal of the century on a silver platter. No—a gold platter. With diamond-encrusted diamonds. This is a no-brainer.” She jumps to her feet and strolls toward me, her brown ponytail swishing behind her. “I saw that interview. It’s everywhere. You both sold it. It was freakin’ adorable the way he was looking at you.”
“Plotting murder in your mind is not adorable.”
“Not what it looked like to me. Not to anybody.”
I press the heel of my palm to my forehead, trying to relieve the incoming migraine. “Joplin, this is madness. This is…”
“A dream come true.”
“It’s not. He broke my heart.”
There. I said it. I confessed the underlying reason why this is so hard to give in to. Lex broke my heart. It was four years ago, and I feel ridiculous even thinking it, but it’s true. He left my soft heart in pulpy pieces, and he won’t even tell me why.
I lied for him because I was scared he’d get hurt. That his father would unleash his rage on him and put him in the ground. I couldn’t bear it. My heart couldn’t bear it.
Tears blot my vision as I turn away, embarrassed that I’m still holding on to this after all these years. After it was so easy for him to leave me behind and never look back.
“Oh, Stevie…” Joplin pulls me into her arms, stroking her hands down my back. “A heart can only break if it cares enough to. You cared about him, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s beautiful.”
“Pathetic pitifulness is not beautiful.” I sniffle, untangling myself from her embrace. “I’m scared to get close to him again. I’m scared that the pretending will start to feel real.”
“So what if it does? Feelings aren’t a bad thing, even when they hurt.”
