Page 116 of The Backup Bride Proposal

She walked in, feeling more uncomfortable than she ever had around him.

This had been a mistake. If she had just avoided all his calls and texts, he’d eventually have gotten the hint that it was over between them. But seeing him made her ache allover. And knowing what she knew about him made the hurt all the more powerful.

“I didn’t kiss Everly. I have never kissed Everly outside of a film scene. You have to believe me.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Then what was that picture?”

“I…can’t explain it. But it wasn’t what it looked like.”

Rolling her eyes, she said, “It’s exactly what it looked like. You and Everly embracing. Kissing.”

He blew out a heavy breath. “No, it’s not.”

“Then if it isn’t that, tell me what it is.”

“I can’t.”

And this was exactly what she’d expected from him. Lies. “This argument isn’t going anywhere, Kane. You don’t even have a legitimate explanation other than ‘I can’t.’ At least be decent enough to tell me that you and Everly have a thing, and now that she’s here, whatever you and I had going on is over.”

“But that’s not what’s happening here. Everly and I are not a thing. We’ve never been a thing. She…”

Mae waited for him to finish his sentence, for him to give her anything in terms of a reasonable explanation that she could grab on to so she could believe in him.

But he only stood there, fumbling for words that wouldn’t come.

“I’m out of here.” She turned and walked away, hoping like hell that he would stop her, that the truth would spill out, even if it wasn’t the truth she wanted to hear.

All she heard was painful, heartbreaking silence.

Chapter

thirty-three

“Cut. For thethird time.” Kane winced at the frustration in Alexis’s voice. “Okay, everyone, we’ll break for lunch and try this again after.”

Before Alexis could lay into him about his shitty performance, he walked off the set and headed for his trailer.

“Kane. Kane, wait.”

He heard Everly calling him, but he didn’t want to talk to her. To anyone. He just wanted to be alone.

“I’m not going to let you walk away from me,” Everly said, following him up the steps and into his trailer before he could shut and lock the door.

“Leave me alone, Everly.”

“Not until you tell me what’s going on. I’ve never seen you blow a scene over and over again like you did today.”

He went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, opened it and took several long swallows. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Everly plopped down on his sofa. “Well, you’re going to because I’m not leaving until we talk.”

The last thing he wanted to do was make Everly feel responsible for his breakup with Mae. “It’s nothing. I’m just in a mood.”

“I’ll say. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing I want to talk about.” He tipped the bottle to his lips, taking several more gulps, wishing it were beer, wishing he could drown out the pain swirling through his body like a plague.

“You know I’m your friend, right? That you can trust me with anything. That I’ll always keep your secrets like you’ve always kept mine.”

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