Page 136 of He's The Reason Why

“Research. Something’s going on. We need to know what.”

“Piper,” a nasally female voice close by called out, “how’s it feel to be Blake’s second choice?”

The phone shook in Piper’s hand, but she tapped a link, and an article popped up on the screen.

He caught a glimpse of the headline.

PIPER BELLAMY AND BLAKE RYAN: TRUE LOVE OR PAY TO PLAY?

He swore under his breath.

“There’s a video.” Her voice sounded shaky. “You and Rachel.”

She showed him the image.

They stood near a table in a familiar-looking room. A promo poster forScorchedwas on the wall behind them. “It’s the read-through. I didn’t know they were recording that day.”

“They record everything,” Piper said so faintly he almost couldn’t hear it.

He wracked his brain trying to remember what they’d said. Rachel had been her usual catty self. He’d been irritated he had to be in the same room with her. Piper had been late, which had made him frustrated because it meant everything would take longer. The bits and pieces he could remember caused a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Lizzie and Mattie appeared at Piper’s side. “Piper? The car’s here.”

“Just a sec,” Piper said.

Lizzie glanced at the reporters now crowding the fence nearby like piranha or sharks or particularly vicious raccoons hunting for juicy tabloid trash. “What’s wrong?”

“News drop.” Piper’s smile froze in place. “They have a video of Blake talking to Rachel that first day. It’s…oh.”

She walked a few feet away, then held the phone to her ear. Her plastic smile grew more brittle the longer she listened to the audio of that disastrous conversation. Anyone who didn’t know her wouldn’t notice, but he could see devastation steal the joy from her eyes.

“Piper?” Blake wanted to know what had put that stricken expression on her face. “What’s it say?”

She turned her back slightly, staring at nothing while she listened. Hot splashes of color bloomed on her cheeks, and her knuckles turned white with her death grip on the phone, but she still managed to keep that damn plastic smile.

Lizzie put a hand on her shoulder. “Piper?”

“What’s going on?” Della asked.

“It’s bad,” Mattie said.

All four sisters grouped together in a tight knot of family that pushed Blake away.

Marshall hit his arm. “You have to read this.” He handed Blake a phone.

Blake scanned the article.

In a stunning turn of events, sources tell us in this exclusive video release that Blake Ryan never wanted Piper Bellamy cast as lead in the newly released animated featureScorched.

“Hell no. Piper Bellamy is definitely not my first choice. Like sitting in rush-hour traffic in August with no air-conditioning. Jesus Christ, this is animated purgatory.”

He growled at the phone. “I didn’t say it like that. It’s not what I meant. It’s…shit.”

From the looks of things on the red carpet tonight, Blake appears to have gotten over his reluctance to work with Piper in a big way.

They already had pictures of him helping Piper out of thelimo, walking hand in hand with her down the green carpet, and posing with the little girl and her father.

It appears they are now a hot, hot, hot item. Does this mean Piper slept her way to a prime part in Ryan’s directorial debut? Did Jessica Bullock quit, or was she ousted, and who is really the father of her unborn child?

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