Page 48 of Such A Bad Girl

Fuck whoever was doing this. It was beginning to really piss me off. A nagging twinge of fear swelled in my chest. This was just like the texts Everleigh received. So, the sender had my number now, too. What was previously an annoyance was turning into a much more significant problem. Mostly, I was worried for Ev’s sake. There were a lot of crazy fuckers in the world and the urge to protect her welled up in me.

I texted Everleigh, hoping to ease her mind a little. I didn’t want to tell her that I’d received one, too. The last thing I wanted to do was worry her even more.

Don’t worry about those texts. I’ll handle everything, okay?

I pulled up the text I’d received and replied to the prick.

I don’t know what you’re talking about. Fuck off.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

EVERLEIGH

Theo’s message reassured me, but only a little. I texted a quick reply to thank him and headed out the door to go to work. I hated Saturday shoots, but I had no say in our schedule.

Charlie was waiting for me, the black SUV idling in my driveway. I slid in the backseat, then sat back and sighed as we headed into the city. I always felt stressed about leaving my home. My life was unpredictable, and I never knew what could happen. Now that I was getting these weird texts, I was even more anxious. I hated that I needed security at all, but Theo was right. Without it, I just wasn’t safe in big crowds.

I ran over my lines during the short commute, determined to do a good job today. It had been challenging to do so lately. Between all those disturbing texts, and my feelings for Theo, I’d been completely overwhelmed.

After that mind-blowing sex with Theo yesterday, my body was still alive with his touch. I felt like a cat in heat, the urge to rub up against him to find more relief was making it hard to concentrate on anything at all.

I wondered if he’d actually fucked me, if I would have felt satisfied then? As it was, I would probably never know. I was a little shocked at myself for being so brazen with him yesterday and I wasn’t sure I could do it again.

I wondered if that’s what it would take for him to go down on me again. I wondered how much he enjoyed it. I wondered if he was obsessively thinking about it right this very minute, just like I was?

The fact that I’d probably never get those questions answered was infuriating.

The fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about his body on mine wasn’t the only thing on my mind, though. My heart felt like it was bursting at the seams. I wanted to see him again. I wanted to beg him to tell me how he really felt. I wanted him to tell me that we’d somehow find a way to work all this out and finally be together.

But I couldn’t do any of that.

For the next twelve hours, I did my best to lose myself in my character. Time flew by, and when the director yelled ‘cut’ for the final time, I couldn’t wait to sink into the hot tub back at home. Exhaustion weighed on me, the feeling sinking deep into my bones.

Charlie had driven me halfway home when I received another text.

If you value your reputation and career, you’ll meet me tonight to discuss a mutually beneficial arrangement. Tell nobody. Come alone.

3107 Beverly Blvd.

8:30 p.m.

My first instinct was to send it to Theo. He’d told me he was going to handle this. But they were still texting me. So maybe he hadn’t?

Why were they still texting me?

The rest of the way home, I contemplated what I should do. I was beyond tired, overly emotional, and I had only two hours to figure it out.

I couldn’t figure out exactly what was going on. What was their motive? If they did know about Avett, how did they know? There were no witnesses that night. At least, not that we saw. Questions swirled in my head, all with no answers. Was someone watching? How much did they see? And if they knew everything, why didn’t they go to the police?

The realization that maybe they had sunk in. My hands trembled at the thought of possibly going to prison. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves.

Most likely, they wanted money. I could probably handle that on my own. I could make it go away pretty easily. Theo didn’t seem to be too concerned, so maybe I shouldn’t be either.

Once we got home, I said goodnight to Charlie, went up to my room and opened up my safe. The first year I was in Hollywood, when I first started making money, my mother had somehow charmed my bank manager and finagled her way into my accounts. She’d stolen thousands of dollars from me, completely cleaning me out.

Since then, I’d never completely trusted banks. So I had a fairly large sum of cash in my safe — a safety net, so to speak, just in case.

When you grew up poor, you learned to keep a bit of an apocalypse cushion. Especially when you had a mother as greedy as mine.

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