Page 34 of Her Dark Angel

He nods, licking his lips. “Yes, of course. But only if you promise me one thing.” His hand travels further up my thigh and I look down at it, wondering what he’s doing.

“What’s the promise?”

Reggie is sitting right beside me on the couch now. He smells of BO and grease when he lifts his hand from my thigh to wrap it around my shoulder. I try not to gag at the smell. I lick the ice cream again and look up at him, waiting to hear what the promise is.

“You can’t tell your parents about this, okay? It’s our little secret.”

I frown. “Our secret?”

He smiles and nods. “Yes. Our little secret. But it stays between me and you, okay? I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble with your parents for eating so much sugar, now would I?”

I guess he’s right. I have been eating a lot of candy the past few weeks, so maybe having ice cream on top of that would be a no-no for my parents. The last thing I want is for them to get angry at me for having it, so maybe it’s not a bad idea to keep it a secret between me and Reggie.

Reggie is always looking out for me.

I smile and nod. “I promise to keep the secret.”

Reggie grins and lifts his other hand to tuck the hair around my face behind my ears. His eyes linger on my lips before he says, “That’s my good girl.”

12

KINSLEY

Present—1989.

“He’s coming here? To the set?”

I blink at Adam through the vanity mirror in my dressing room, wondering what the big deal is. “Adam, you’re the one who said we need to be seen together more. Besides, he showed me a side to his music that most don’t get to see, so it’s only fair I share this side of me, too.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose, which only further annoys me. What crawled up his ass this morning and died? Adam isn’t one to overreact the way he is now.

“Kin, this isn’t the best place for you to be flaunting your relationship with Nash.”

“Fake relationship,” I remind him pointedly. “The one you talked me into doing. And I’m not flaunting it around. I’m doing exactly what you told me to do, so what’s the problem?”

“Yes, I know,” he says with a frown. “But what I’m saying is, the workplace may not be a great idea. It’s a professional setting, and I don’t want Nash’s presence to upset Jason. We can’t afford to lose this job because of him.”

I roll my eyes. Now he’s just being dramatic. “I’m not going to lose this role because of him. I've already told him that he needs to be on his best behavior, so you have nothing to worry about. Besides, he can only stay for an hour because he has work to do as well.”

Adam stares at me for a long moment as he contemplates my words. I don’t know why he’s acting this way when he’s the reason I’m in this mess to begin with. If he hadn’t pushed so hard for me to accept the deal and sign the contract, then Nash Beck wouldn’t be in either of our lives. And yet, here we are because of him.

If he wants me to make this damn relationship believable then he needs to trust me, otherwise this isn’t going to work.

Adam exhales a sharp breath and shakes his head. “Okay. Fine. He can stop by. But just… don’t let him do anything stupid, okay?”

I slide off the chair and smooth my hand down the front of the cashmere white sweater Cindy dressed me in when I arrived this morning. “I’m not his mother, Adam. Besides, what chaos could Nash possibly do on a movie set? He’ll be fine.”

“I see you two are friendly now,” he grumbles under his breath as he follows me out of the room and down the corridor to the main set. The set design is supposed to be my character's house which she shares with her parents.

“I wouldn’t say that.” Yes, I don’t dislike Nash as much as I once did when I went to his house the night I learned of the deal. He’s still an asshole, but not as big of one as most people make him out to be in the media. Besides the outburst about his parents after the award show, being in his presence when we were talking about music, and how he showed me a glimpse into his life was oddly enjoyable. For once, it didn’t make me want to rip my eyes out of their sockets.

Adam lays his hand on my shoulder, turning me to face him. “Just… be careful, Kin. You know what type of man Nash Beck is.”

I raise a brow at him. “Adam, there is no need for the warning. We’re just getting to know each other to help make this relationship believable, okay? I’m not going to fall in love with him.”

He doesn’t get a chance to respond before Jason ushers me and the two actors who play my parents onto the set. My eyes find Wesley standing in the wings among the many cameras capturing the scene from different angles. When he meets my gaze, his face lights up with a smile and he waves at me from across the room.

I awkwardly return the gesture as I sit on the itchy beige couch in the middle of the designed living room. The room looks like every other house with its chocolate shag carpet, white walls, and wooden furniture. I run my hand over the couch, which has definitely seen better days. It reminds me of the couch I had in my dressing room while filming Schoolyard Quest.

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