Page 160 of Faking the Pass
First, I’d sign those divorce papers I’d crammed into my top dresser drawer so Presley wouldn’t be affected by the blowback.
He’d already paid enough of a price for my sake.
Picking up my phone to call my agent, I was surprised to see an incoming call from her on the screen. Weird.
“Hello,” I answered.
“It’s Iris,” she said unnecessarily. “Listen kiddo, I have some news about the sequel. I just got a call from someone at the studio, hoppin’ mad. They’re cancelling it. Were you watching?”
“Yeah, I saw it,” I said, bobbing up and down in a sea of shock and exultation.
I was free.
I wouldn’t have to see Randy ever again—except for in court. I had every intention of joining that lawsuit.
Not because I wanted any money out of it. I wouldn’t take a cent of the payout. No, I wanted to add my voice to those of the other women he’d victimized and testify against him.
Makesurethey were believed, that we all were.
“They’re in full-on damage control now,” Iris continued in her rough, tobacco-ravaged voice. “No other studio’s gonna touch it either. Randy may never work again.”
“Wow,” I whispered.
“You okay?” she asked. “Don’t worry, your advance is guaranteed, so you’ll still get the deposit next week. We’ll find you another picture, okay doll?”
“I’m fine,” I promised her.
And I was. At least about the cancelled movie.
I’d find other work eventually, and the guaranteed advance would tide me over until then and allow me to pay Danielle back.
My spirits rose higher and higher until I felt like my heart was out of my body, floating at the top of the room like an escaped balloon.
Hanging up with Iris, I turned to Danielle, who was a curled ball of energy, waiting to explode.
“I don’t have to do the sequel,” I told her in an excited squeal that might have woken her kids. “They cancelled it.”
She sprang from the couch and started jumping, and I grabbed her hands, joining her in a squealing, laughing happy dance that would definitely wake even the soundest little sleepers.
Sure enough, a pair of cries emanated from the kids’ bedroom.
“I’ll be right back,” Danielle promised. “Keep the celebration going.”
Sadly, the person I wanted to celebrate with most wasn’t here but on the other side of the country.
I missed Presley all the time—sometimes it felt like every minute—but the pain was especially intense right now.
And then it occurred to me… Randy was about to be in a world of financial hurt thanks to putting that expensive law firm of his back to work on the new lawsuit.
Would he even have the time or resources to go after Presley if I were to reach out to him and try to salvage things?
A spark of hope flared to life, but I immediately doused it.
Look what Pres had accomplished without the distraction of me in his life.
And now that he’d achieved his record, he’d probably moved on with anewfemale distraction.
Pain twisted through my gut. Chances were, the answer was a big fat yes.
