Page 26 of Mastered By Lust

“Easily done. There are no ugly pictures of you.”

“Charmer.” She laughs. “Your new girlfriend has had an effect on you.”

I squint at her, surprised again. “I haven’t said anything about a new girlfriend.”

She smiles and plucks a single, long brown hair from my shoulder—one of Leah’s. “You didn’t need to say anything. How long have you been seeing her?”

“Not long.”

“Does she have a name?”

“Leah.”

“Is she in the industry?”

“No.”

Claudia looks like she has a thousand more questions, but I direct her toward the photos. “Look, there’s one of us.”

It’s an image of all six Shinies, taken at a dinner at Harvey Billings’s house. We were in our teens, during the heyday of AoG. Nic and Claudia shine the brightest, but the six of us together are breathtaking, blinding in our attraction. It’s impossible to look away, no matter how much it hurts.

“We look so young.” Claudia touches the picture frame. “And pretty. I forgot how pretty you were back then, Gage.”

“Of course I was pretty back then.” I shake my head at the photograph. “It’s before everything went rotten.”

“Rotten?”

“Yeah, with Billings, and all the glitter and fame.” And Jessica’s cancer diagnosis, Nic cheating on me with Javi, and Claudia’s descent into substance abuse and mental illness.

“It didn’t go rotten,” she says. “There was a dark period, sure. But rotten? No. We struggled. We overcame.”

Her interpretation of the narrative is much more optimistic than mine, so I’ll let her have it without argument. But inside, I know the difference.

“Oh wow, speaking of Harvey.” Claudia’s grip on my arm tightens. “There he is. Motherfucker. Let’s get out of here.”

We walk toward the foyer, where, unfortunately, the rest of the AoG cast has moved.

“Gage!” Jessica stumbles in her haste to reach me.

We embrace.

“Mmm, I’ve missed you.” She squeezes hard before letting me go.

“Hey, stranger,” someone says from behind her.

Suddenly, Nic is hugging me, too. I step back as soon as I can without being rude. People are always watching, and the high drama of a confrontation between Nic and me would be great fodder for the press. Especially if the confrontation takes place at Javi’s funeral.

“It’s been a long time,” Nic murmurs.

I close my eyes and see her face twisted in anger.“You never cared! You only pretended to! Is it any fucking surprise I turned to him?”

Our last in-person conversation. And things only went downhill from there.

“Yes. A long time.” I open my eyes and scan the group, which also includes Todd. I clear my throat. “Jessica, how are you?”

Thankfully, Jessica takes control of the conversation. “I’m doing great.Margueriteis still running. We have one more month.”

“It’s been favorably reviewed.” The musical she wrote has been one of the most popular shows to reach Broadway and beyond. It’s currently showing in LA. “I’m happy for you, and not surprised in the slightest.”

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