Page 74 of Enemies Off Camera
I’m running. Roaring. Gnashing my teeth like an animal.
I’m going to put twenty-one on the board before this game is over—at least.
FIFTY-THREE
Two Days Later
Ican’t stop staring at my phone.
It’s on the table, and I’m willing it to ring—or ding—with the special sound I assigned Jaxon’s texts. I haven’t heard from him since Saturday night.
I didn’t catch the game. I had to attend the annual party at the studio producingNext In Line. There was no getting around it. Ihadto be there.
I’m glad I went, though… because I got a surprise. One that’s still got me shaken to my core.
Which is why I’m here with Anne at the café in her office building. She only has an hour, and I’m taking all of it.
“I don’t know anymore,” I say, swirling my straw in my iced coffee. “Blaine and I—on the same show. How did this even happen?”
Anne gives methatlook. The one I hate. Her sneaky look. The one that says she’s been holding out on me because she thinks she knows what’s best.
“What is it?” I ask sharply.
She sighs. “Okay. Let me just put all the chips on the table.”
I slap the tabletop. “All of them.”
“Blaine’s the one who recommended you for the role of Kayla Norton.”
My stomach drops.
She holds up a hand before I can speak. “And I jumped on that shit, Zara. You were a sinking ship.”
I wince. I felt it when I saw him last night—thatfeeling. Like I’d been kicked in the chest. And now, hearing this?
Anne was there when I couldn’t get out of bed. She doesn’t know about the shoplifting, but I have a closet full of crap I took when Blaine made me feel like nothing. Like I didn’t matter.
And now he’s back? Hand-delivering my career on a silver platter?
I glance at my phone again and shake my head. What the hell am I doing wrong in life? Why do the people I trust always end up slicing the deepest?
Blaine hadn’t shown up to table reads—his character comes in at episode three as Peter Folks, a cousin with a legit claim to the family’s empire. But last night, his smirk told meeverything. He knew I was shocked. Knew I was pissed. And he enjoyed every second.
He never apologized for cheating on me. Just slipped straight into victim mode.Iwas the problem.Ineeded help.
But last night it hit me: Blaine isn’t living life—he’s producingThe Blaine Show. And I’m just one of the characters.
The way he looked at me… then pretended not to. The way hetriednot to stare at every beautiful woman in the room—like he was putting on this whole show just for my benefit, like he wanted me tonoticethat he wasn’t looking. That fake restraint, that forced composure—it was the biggest tell of all. He hadn’t changed. He was just trying harder tolook likehe had.
And now I’m scared.
Am I doomed to fall for Blaine Bello types? All romantic and attentive at first, then disrespectful—and dangerous—by the end?
I mean… I had to go to the doctor. Get tested for everything. Thank God there was nothing I couldn’t cure.
Anne’s voice is running in the background, something about professionalism and power. About putting on my “big girl panties.”
Yes. She actually says that.
