Page 158 of My Five Daddies

“Did you read that frontcover?”

“No,” I admit. “You know this thing is wrong more often than it’sright.”

“It’s not wrong this time. Readit.”

I look down at the cover, and I think I have a heartattack.

“No,” Iwhisper.

“Oh yeah,” Laney says, sounding so excited. “I couldn’t believe it either when I first heard, but it’s true. I got the email last night. He signed the papers a couple days ago, and it’sofficial.”

“Shit,” I whisper to myself, and I feel like my whole life is crashingdown.

In big, bold letters, the headline read, “Big Jackson Hendricks to star inBrutallyDishonest.”

“Isn’t he so hot?” Laney says to me. “I’m a little jealous. You’ll get to see him every day. You’ll be working pretty close with him. I’d give anything to get close to thatguy.”

I drop the magazine and shake my head. “No, no, hell no, Laney,” I say. “I won’t work with that asshole, absolutelynot.”

I storm away, back into my bedroom. I slam the door behind me and climb back into bed. I wrap the sheets around my head, but I know that won’t make adifference.

Jackson is going to star inBrutally Dishonest, and I’m going to have to see him every single day for the whole shoot. That could lastmonths.

Laney doesn’t know. Nobody knows what he did to me. Nobody knows how we lived next to each other for years, grew up together, made promises to eachother.

Nobody knows how he disappeared one day, leaving me brokenhearted, and never once answered a single letter I senthim.

I moved away, moved on, and thought I was over him. But now that he’s back, and in the freaking business no less, I can’t escape my feelings. I can’t escape the hurt, the anger, and yes, the desire that still lingers inside ofme.

Having to work with him is like my biggest nightmare. He was the boy next door. He was the man I wanted to give myself to. He said I was too young, since he was older than me, but I just had towait.

I was patient. I was waiting. We kissed, held hands, talked all day long about what we wanted to do when we gotolder.

And then he turned eighteen and hevanished.

Now I’m stuck with him. I can’t back out of this movie, despite my little meltdown. Laney has been really good to me and she’s helped me through some tough times over the years. I can’t turn my back on her now and not work on this. She’s my closet friend. Heck, she’s probably my onlyfriend.

I can’t let her down. So I’m going to do this movie. I’m going to work with Jackson Hendricks. I’m going to relive that pain every single day during this shoot, all for a movie with a totally lametitle.

This is going to be a lot harder than I could possibly haveimagined.

3

Jackson

The first tablereading is always a littleuncomfortable.

When you shoot a big movie like this, you basically don’t know anybody. But you’re going to have to get close with everyone as quickly as possible. Everyone is a professional, but like with anything else, it takes a little while to feel out the people aroundyou.

But this table reading, it’s uncomfortable to the next fuckinglevel.

“Okay, Mr. Hendricks. Can you pick up from the top of thepage?”

I look at Tara and I can feel everything I used to feel and more. The weight of the years, the time and the space that’s been between us for so long, it’s all there, crushing everything I want. She’s so grown up, so poised and beautiful, but she’s still that sixteen-year-old girl that I leftbehind.

I guess I’ve grown up,too.

“Take your shirt off. Go ahead. I won’tmind.”

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