Page 9 of No Pucks Given
“In the living room.”
Natalie rushed into the room and tossed a copy of Ciao! at me, which landed right in front of me. I reached for the tabloid, dreading to see what the rag had to say. “What now?”
Since I started acting, I have developed a real hatred for the tabloids. Half the pages were always filled with half-truths and gossip.
Out of habit, I thumbed through the magazine to see why Natalie wanted to bring it to my attention. It only took a couple of page flips to realize there was an article that featured pictures of Carter and me from one of our latest dates. I smiled at the photos since they brought back such happy memories.
Natalie deadpanned, “You got caught kissing my brother."
I turned the tabloid toward her. “I see. Although that’s not the best part.”
Yes, my voice dripped with sarcasm since there was so much I wanted to rip apart in the article.
Natalie grabbed the magazine from me and said with a huge smile, “Oh? What’s worse? The fact that the headline referred to you as Russell Richardson’s ex or the part where you still wanted him?”
At least she got it. It shafted me that they somehow always connected me to Russell in things other than co-parent situations.
Russell might have become an A-list movie star after appearing next to a few big names about ten years ago. It seemed like he was going to be the next Leonardo DiCaprio or Brad Pitt, but some of his latest movies had stalled in post-production, and he had, quite frankly, enjoyed being famous a little more than making movies.
There wasn’t a chance in hell that I wanted to get back together with Russell. Even if things hadn’t ended poorly. He attempted to sleep with my best friend from Shady Oaks, Annette, and thenactually had a fling with Gemma Warren, who was barely legal at the time.
“Definitely the headline, and hell, even the first sentence. It’s as if I don’t have a career of my own without him.”
I got my big break as Celia when I was eight years old. I grew up on the Shady Oaks. Very few actors had a gig for even half as long, let alone still be getting such juicy storylines.
“Isn’t this your twentieth anniversary with Shady Oaks?”
I shrugged since I didn’t want to fully admit my age to anyone. “Something like that.”
Natalie swatted at me. “No false modesty, and if it is what I think it is, we’re going to promote the crap out of it for social media. Remind people that you’re more than just a pretty face who dated some has-been.”
I loved how she felt that way about me.
Chapter 9
Carter
Tonight was the night of the double date with Spencer, and I was excited.
It had been about a week since Siobhan approached us about the double date, and damn, could my girl keep a secret. Thanks to Spencer’s prodding, I tried to see if I could get a name out of her for tonight’s date, but she refused. Hell, she wouldn’t even let me pick her up for the date. Nope, we had to meet at the restaurant.
Spence and I walked into the fusion place and looked for my girlfriend since she had texted me about ten minutes earlier that they were waiting at a table. We were only part of the way through the restaurant when Spencer turned around and said, “You know what, I’m out. I don’t need a pity date.”
That was preposterous. Spencer was all in with the idea of the double date, and there was no way I was going to let him run away. Not when I already told Siobhan that we were five minutes away. So I turned Spence around and said, “No way, dude. You said that you would do this date for Siobhan, and I can’t have you making me look bad. Put your big boy pants on and let’s do this.”
Spence didn’t put up any more fight, which was good. It made things so much easier. Although once we were almost at the table, I realized I’d been duped, and I was pissed. If I realized my little sister would be here on this date, I would have said no way in hell. That was my little sister, and my best friend was going to break her damn heart.
Now I finally understood why he tried to chicken out and wanted to walk out. I poked my finger into his shoulder. “You knew. You fucking knew.”
Spencer tried to look innocent, which was complete bullshit. Thankfully, he didn’t try to lie to me. “Yeah, I figured it out less than five minutes ago.”
This was crazy, and I did the only thing I could think of. It was time to tell him to follow through with his plan to leave, and I would make it up to Natalie later. “You’re not staying. You’re not going on a date with my little sister.”
Spencer crossed his arms and stood his ground. He gave me one of those shit-eating grins he gave when he was about to do something that would piss people off. “Uh-uh. We’re going to make Siobhan look bad if we leave. So it’s time to put your big boy pants on and let’s do this.”
He had to throw my words back at me, and I grimaced slightly, but he was right. I totally deserved that. Which meant we would need to get some ground rules in place. I turned to him. “Don’t you dare fuck my sister."
At least Spence had the common decency to look innocent and say, “I wouldn’t think of it.”
