Page 125 of Rebel Romeo

Snapping my head up to him, I launch into Skyler’s lines. “Go, Zach. We both know you can’t possibly love me after what I did.”

Holden startles briefly, clearly taken aback that I was beginning the scene so abruptly.

Then, just as quickly, he’s in it. Holden vanishes and in his place, Zach appears. “What if I can? What if I forgive you?” Holden takes a step closer to me, edging me back even farther out of the spotlight. I feel the warmth of the light leave my arm.

Holden is stealing your spotlight. Laurie’s words from before ring in my head. Both literally and metaphorically, she’s correct.

I step forward firmly into him, pushing him back. “Then you’re an even bigger loser than I thought,” I spit at him. “Can you forgive this?”

Rearing back, my palm connects across his cheek and I hear his sharp hiss of breath. Usually with stage slaps, we try to connect at the top of the neck/base of the jaw because to the audience, it looks real… it makes a loud sound… and it doesn’t hurt.

But the slap I did just now was very real. A red streak appears across Holden’s cheekbone. When he looks at me, he quickly shakes off the shock in his whiskey brown eyes. “You don’t mean that.”

“I do.” My voice is low. Just above a whisper as I slap him again. “I also mean this.”

I step forward again. This time I’m the one pushing him out of the spotlight and even though it’s not in the blocking, I slap him a third time. Then a fourth. My fists curl together and I’m pounding them into his chest as tears fall down my cheeks.

“Ka—” Holden catches himself about to say my real name and shifts quickly back into character. “Skyler,” he says, grabbing my wrists, softening the blows. He yanks me to him and kisses me hard. His mouth calms the raging storm in my chest and I relax against his mouth. When we pull apart, he’s still holding my wrists, clamping my body flush to his. “Fine. You win.”

Releasing me, he turns and slowly exits stage right. As I stand there in the gray spotlight, tears fall freely and McCay yells, “Blackout! End of Act 1.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Holden

Five years ago…

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get the image of Professor McCay and my dad out of my head.

What the hell was it this time? Just another quick fling? And if so, couldn't he have chosen someone else—literally anyone else—other than my teacher to fuck?

And McCay apparently liked to live dangerously, too. First, fucking her grad student, Keith. And now getting it on with one of her student’s dads?

McCay, the granola mogul.

A trustafarian.

Dad didn’t know that I’d seen them. And I wasn’t planning on talking to him about it any time soon. At least, not until I talked to my mom to see how much she really knew.

I’d texted her after rehearsal last week… after catching my father and Professor McCay… just to check in and apologize.

But she hadn’t responded.

In over a week, she hadn’t responded to me.

It was so unlike her, that I was getting very worried.

My phone buzzed as I walked into the theater and I yanked it free, nearly dropping my coffee, I was so antsy.

But it wasn’t my mom.

It was my father calling me.

My fucking father.

I silenced the call, not wanting to talk to him.

I hadn’t wanted to talk to anyone this week. I’d been avoiding Duncan and I’d even canceled my date night with Katherine. I just couldn’t look her in the eyes after what we’d spotted together.

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