Page 76 of #Starstruck

Things only got worse when Lexi sent me an urgent e-mail with the subject line of “When will this girl get a clue?” telling me I had to look at a link. It led to an article entitled, “Old Flames Reignite!” It had a bunch of pictures of what looked like Chase and Amelia walking down a sidewalk, heads close (and she was wearing a skirt so short I could see her tonsils). There were pictures of them eating at a café. Smiling and laughing. One where she had her hand on his arm.

And then one where they were about to kiss.

With my heart in my throat, I read the article. It talked about how these pictures had been taken in London yesterday on their press tour and said the website’s source revealed, “When they got away from all the cameras, Chase remembered why he fell for Amelia in the first place. They’ve been inseparable and are definitely dating again. It’s serious. They have plans to move in together when they return to the States.”

It’s not true,I told myself over and over, ignoring the shards of ice that had solidified my veins.It’s not true. Chase wouldn’t cheat on me. He said he wouldn’t.

My nasty, insecure voice raised her ugly head.But she’s gorgeous and would sleep with him in a heartbeat. She can give him what you won’t.

Even if they weren’t on the verge of getting back together, had they dated? Chase had never mentioned that before. Not that I’d pushed him very hard about his past. From what I’d gathered, it was more colorful than a Vincent van Gogh painting, and I didn’t need the details.

Now I wondered if that had been a mistake.

I texted Lexi.

I wanted her to talk me down. To tell me like she normally did that of course they weren’t and Chase had much better taste than that. Instead what I got back was,

So not what I needed to hear. I decided to call Chase right then and there. He was supposed to be in Berlin today, and I was about to look up the time difference when Miriam stuck her head in the door. “They need you in the conference room.”

With a heavy sigh, I shut my laptop and followed her out. I wondered if it would be another rah-rah/bragging meeting. Within the last few weeks, staff members had managed to secure a former Vine star, a stand-up comedian I’d never heard of, and an actor from a seventies sci-fi show who currently made his living going to Comic Cons and charging fans to take pictures with him (Stephanie almost spontaneously combusted at that last one).

But it wasn’t a staff meeting. Just a handful of people, including Francisco. Francisco glanced at me when I walked in. “Thanks for finally joining us, Zoe. This is the committee to redesign the solicitation letter and our brochure, and Stephanie asked that you be included.”

Design and graphics weren’t really my thing, being a math kind of girl, but I was excited that Stephanie had requested I be included. That sounded like it would bode well for my future here. I was all for anything that would tip the scales in my favor when I applied for a paying job.

But two hours later I wasn’t sure why she wanted me on that committee. Nobody listened to anything I suggested, and after two attempts I gave up and stayed silent, wondering about Chase. Where he was and what he was doing. If he remembered to dead-bolt his hotel room to keep that opportunistic succubus out.

The meeting ended, my shift was over, and I just wanted to get out of there. My phone rang, and I couldn’t answer fast enough when I saw it was him. “Hey!”

“Hey, babe. What’s going on?”

I gathered my stuff and had a momentary pang of weirdness when I noticed that my laptop was open. I could have sworn I’d shut it before the meeting. I swept it into my bag and headed for the front door. “The aliens have invaded and demanded our top movie stars be turned over. It’s a good thing you’re out of the country.”

“Not so good.” He sounded tired. “Amelia’s terrorizing everyone.”

I was so happy he was the one who’d brought her up so I wouldn’t sound jealous and psycho. I would be smooth and subtle. “What’s she doing?”

“Apparently they brought her poached eggs with yolks instead of scrambled egg whites, and she’s refusing to come out of her room. The producers want me to convince her to do our scheduled interview and photo shoot.”

“Did you have a thing with Amelia in the past?” So much for smooth and subtle.

“A thing?” he repeated, which made me nervous. It seemed like he was being evasive.

“Did you and Amelia date?” Couldn’t be plainer than that.

My stomach flipped repeatedly while I waited for him to answer.

“For, like, five minutes a very long time ago. It wasn’t serious. At all.”

Oh.Somehow that made it worse. Obviously I didn’t know from personal experience, but I’d heard that casual flings were easy to fall back into. Although, on the plus side, he must have been the one to break it off, since she was the one still publicly pursuing him. I hated the fact that she was there with him and I was here without him.

I had to get hold of myself. Not overreact. Smooth and subtle. “Maybe you shouldn’t be the one to convince her to do the interview and photo shoot, considering that the last time you asked her to do something, it was to stop being your girlfriend.”

“You say girlfriend; I say angel of darkness. For the record, she was never my girlfriend.”

The insecure voice was back.Do you know who goes on the record? People with something to prove.

Shut up,I hissed back. “That sounds rough.”

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