Page 39 of Everything In Between
He exhales a breath on the other end of the call and I can hear his relief when he says, “Me too.”
“If I go to your game, everyone will speculate, so we need to be on the same page,” I explain. “I don’t want there to be any confusion from you or from me on where we stand. Especially after what happened at the gala.”
Hayes hesitates again. “Have I confused you in any way? Given you some type of mixed signal? Cause if I have, it wasn’t intentional.”
“It’s not that. It’s just?—”
“What?” he whispers, urging me to tell him what’s on my mind.
I wrap my arms around my legs and close my eyes, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth for two beats. Hayes must be able to hear the swift change in my demeanor because my phone suddenly chimes, indicating he wants to switch to FaceTime.
When I hit accept, I’m met with the familiar sight of his face, eyes crinkled up at the corners with concern. His gaze rakes over my face and his lips turn down. “Jersey, what’s wrong? Talk to me. That’s the only way we can move forward.”
“You won’t be scared off?”
He chuckles. “No, honey, I promise you there’s no chance of that.”
Taking a deep breath, Bethany’s words echo in my ears and I decide it is time that I live a little, without any hesitation. On top of that, his assurance melts through my lingering doubts, so I launch into what’s on my mind. “I haven’t been seen out with anyone since my last relationship ended and I’veneverbeen involved in the headlines like this before. Kelsey’s been blowing up my phone nonstop about releasing an official statement to the gossip, but then she keeps changing how she wants to approach it. It’s just another thing to worry about that no one tells you when you sign up to be a celebrity.”
He blinks twice, not expecting that to be the reason. Leaning back in his chair, he gives me his full attention. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I shrug weakly. “I don’t know where to start.”
“You were together a long time.”
“Yeah,” I say wistfully. “What a colossal waste of my time. Did you see that too when you looked me up? Or did you hear the gossip through the grapevine, like everyone else has?”
“I did see it, but I didn’t read too much into their versions of what happened. I’m aware you dated Corey Shrader, that you broke up, and the media had a heyday with it. That’s all I know. I stopped there. I wanted to hear your side of it whenever you were ready to share. Which I’m guessing is now?”
“I guess so.” I glance away for a second and then back to his face on the screen.
He bites his lower lip. “What happened?”
I let out a humorless laugh. “That’s the question I asked myself right after the breakup, too. I don’t really know.”
“He’s the one who ended it?”
“He was. After I asked him to marry me,” I say and watch him closely, gauging his reaction to that bomb. He visibly swallows,his Adam’s apple bobbing with the action as his expression hardens.
“Oh yeah?”
“He said ‘no,’” I say bluntly, giving another nonchalant shrug.
“Did he say why?”
“He said that if he was going to have a wife, she couldn’t be as famous as I was. He’s a singer too, so I think my rapidly growing levels of fame were getting to him. He’s been in the industry much longer than me, but he’s not even close to where I’m at in my career in half the amount of time.”
Hayes scowls. “Self-conscious bastard.”
“So that was that. A relationship can’t sustain a blow like that, so I knew I had to move on. I should’ve known earlier. I tried to be everything he wanted, but even then, it was never enough. He only seemed to want me on good days, having no interest in being supportive when I was having a bad day.
“Yet at the same time, he always tried to beat me down or diminish my hard work to something like luck, or even giving all the credit to Callum. They were buddies,” I add in. Hayes looks confused, so I go on. “The two of them are cut from the same cloth. Which was unfortunate because Cal’s input directly set the tone for our relationship. To the point where I suspect the only reason Corey said no to my proposal was because Callum didn’t give him the go-ahead. The more I reflect on it, the more I think Callum convinced Corey to date me for the PR.”
“Jersey that’s?—”
“A wild accusation? I know.”
“Were they friends before you started dating?” Hayes asks, two lines appearing between his brows as he frowns.
