Page 15 of Resisting You
From within my pocket, my phone buzzed, ringing for the thousandth time that morning. With a sigh, I tugged it free from my pocket, relieved to find it wasn’t Rosa, or Hazel, or even Reid.
Instead, it was my publicist.
I shouldn’t answer. It was my sister’s wedding day and I was the officiant for God’s sake. If there was ever a day I should have off from all the Hollywood bullshit, this was it.
Even still, I sighed and swiped my thumb across the screen, answering. “Kristen,” I said. “What’s up?”
“What’s up?” she repeated and I had to tug the phone from my ear, she was yelling so loudly. “What’s up? Are you seriously asking me that right now?”
“Ummm, yeah.” I kept my voice calm and collected. I had a pretty good habit of acting cool, even when my life was imploding.
And holy shit was it imploding right now.
I raked my fingers through my hair, knowing my mom would kill me for messing with the way she combed it earlier.
You can look like something out of a Jack Kerouac novel the other 364 days of the year, but today? Today you are officiating your sister’s wedding. You need to look presentable,she’d said only thirty minutes earlier.
“Kristen, this really isn’t a good time,” I said. “I’m at my sister’s wedding.”
“Oh… yoursister’swedding, huh?” There was silence. Like the most boring game of chicken ever.
Finally, Kristen sighed. “Tell me the rumors aren’t true, Noah. Please, God, tell me you didn’t do what everyone is saying you did.”
“Okay. It isn’t true.”
More silence. “But…isit true? Did you elope last night?”
I cringed. How the hell did she find out? Was it leaked somewhere? Did Rosa tell anyone?
“Um…”
“Dammit, Noah!”
Kristen was quiet for a long second. And she was never quiet. It was unnerving as hell.
“We can fix this,” she muttered after what felt like a lifetime of silence. “It looks like some kids took photos of you two as you left the chapel last night, and sold it to TMZ, but I think we canspin this before it gets out of control. We could say you were just celebrating the marriage of your best friends and that’s the photograph of you two leaving the chapel. Yes. That’s it. We can keep the annulment quiet… for a little while at least, until the filed paperwork goes into public record.”
Just the thought of the annulment made my stomach ache. Rosa’s face popped into my mind and for a brief second, I wished it was true. I wished that we had soberly eloped and that she was here, holding my hand, ready to start a life with me.
“What if I don’t want an annulment…” I whispered. I was so quiet that if Kristen hadn’t stopped talking altogether, I wasn’t sure she’d heard me.
After a deep breath, Kristen said, “You are a teen heartthrob. The guy that all these girls are dreaming they could someday be with, Noah. You’re a role model. Role models don’t elope drunkenly at one in the morning in Atlantic City. They have big, romantic engagements. Lavish weddings?—”
I snorted. “Okay, let’s not get too over the top.”
Kristen sighed again and I could just see her pacing her office, her silver hair pulled into a tight bun.
She was sort of like the rich aunt who always judged your every move. Except I paid her a shit ton of money to judge me and then fix my messes.
And trust me, I had a lot of messes to fix.
But this one just about took the cake.
“So what does this mean?” she asked. “Are you married now? Officially off the market? Am I pulling you from the bachelor’s auction?”
“For the love of God,yes. I told you yesterday, I don’t want to be in that?—”
“Now more than ever, if you’re getting that annulment, you need to be in that auction! And I need to know what sort ofstatement to release. I have every magazine from here to London calling me.”
