Page 99 of Anyone But the Superstar

Mom slips her arm around my shoulders. ‘So don’t ever think you are not as talented or as loved as your brothers.’ She pulls me in tight. ‘Because honestly,’ she whispers, ‘you’rethe most impressive.’

I squeeze her back. ‘Thanks, Mom.’

‘Yes, well.’ She retracts her arm, swiping her glossy polished fingers under her eyes. ‘What is not impressive is your plan to meet your sister.’

I wince at the hard truth.

‘It doesn’t seem like you planned anything, actually.’ She stands, smoothing down her pencil skirt that somehow looks classic and chic even with her two-faced cat sequined t-shirt peeking out from her cashmere cardigan. ‘It’s like you just showed up and hoped to run into her.’

Meeting my mother’s less-than-dazzled gaze, I grimace. ‘I just thought if our meeting was random, if she and I justhappenedto meet, then she wouldn’t have time to—’ I sink into my shoulders ‘—I don’t know, be disappointed or upset, maybe?’

Mom holds my gaze, not an ounce of sympathy in hers. ‘Please tell me you are hearing how asinine that sounds now that you’ve said it out loud?’

I sigh, scooting forward on the bed until my feet drop to the floor and my head rests on her stomach. ‘Yes.’ Wrapping my arms around her, I mumble against her sequins. ‘I hear it.’

‘Good.’ Placing both hands on my shoulders, she waits until my eyes meet hers. ‘Then, shall I call your father?’ At my bewildered expression, she gives me a withering glare that rivals Thomas’. ‘No, notthatasshat.’

Apparently, I’m not the only one Chase has been a bad influence on now that the ‘asshat’ Stanley Moore is no longer around.

The sunlight streaming in from the bedroom suite’s window highlights my mother’s pale-blonde hair. ‘I’m talking about yourrealfather, Dr Gerald Howard Lee.’

Goosebumps appear at the name I’ve only read in the research I did after discovering my true parentage. ‘You—’ I grip my knees with my hands ‘—have his number?’

‘Yes.’ She straightens her pearl necklace. ‘I’ve never used it, but I’ve always made sure I had it.’ Hand still resting on her pearls, a mix of regret and guilt flit over my mother’s refined features. ‘I was waiting for you to decide how you wanted to tell them, or even if you wanted to, before I acted.’

‘Oh.’ The hollow spot Felix left in my chest warms. ‘Thanks, Mom.’

She opens her mouth, then pauses, as if second-guessing what she was about to say.

I purse my lips, wondering what else she has to surprise me with. ‘What?’

‘May I ask why you were so hell-bent on seeing your half-sister before seeing your father?’

I grimace, knowing the answer is going to make me seem lamer than my haphazard attempts to see my sister. ‘I, uh, just figured I seem to have more luck with siblings than fathers—’ I shrug, not meeting Mom’s eyes ‘—so, um, I thought Jackie the safer option.’

‘Please remember that Stanley Winston Moore is the exception, not the rule.’ She holds my gaze, her soft eyes looking harder than I ever remember seeing them. ‘That goes forallmen. Becauseanyoneworthanythingwould consider themselves the luckiest man alive to have you in their life.’

I nod, once more unable to talk, knowing full well she isn’t talking about either of my two dads anymore.

25

FELIX

Having your ass chewed out verbally by someone who blames you for their ass being chewed out literally isnotfun. Two days later, I’m still reeling.

I drop my head back on the Four Seasons suite’s sofa, exhausted from the day’s long and, thankfully, final shoot.

As expected, Ron lost his mind after the Hollywood rumor mill began attacking his two co-stars. Phrases like, ‘Unacceptable and unprofessional behavior’, ‘Keep it in your pants’ and, ‘There will be hell to pay’ were banded about until David, Anne’s professor talked Ron down.

He wasn’t even mad about the bad press, either. Just the black eye. Everything to Ron is inconsequential against the shooting schedule. And seeing as, even after Hollywood make-up magic was shellacked on my face, Ron still had to rearrange the shoot to hide the swelling around my eye, I’m one mistake away from being on Ron’s blacklist.

Especially when you add in the constant re-shoots from Amanda missing her marks and forgetting her lines – all frombeing a victim the cheating rumor Camilla spread about us, no doubt.

Our PR firms mutually denied the affair, issuing a joint statement:It is unfortunate in this day and age that two people of opposite sex cannot share a ride back to their hotel without the public assuming something more than friendship. Amanda and Felix are simply friends and colleagues who share the utmost respect for each other personally and professionally.

Thankfully, the studio issued their own statement in regard to the picture of Elizabeth and me kissing, shutting down any further inquiries:As cell phones, tablets and cameras are contractually forbidden, not only on set, but inside the government facility, we will be taking legal action to get to the bottom of the leak.

Even so, the news outlets have commented on the glaring absence of my own statement in regard to my supposed relationship with Camilla Branson or the whereabouts of my mother.

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