Page 10 of Overexposed

“I would be if Seven hadn’t woken me up just now,” Ollie admitted, grabbing a couple of vitamin juices out of the fridge and offering one to me. “You’re inbigtrouble, Gemini Harrison.Hugetrouble. But first…who was she? Fangirl, right? You fucked her, I hope.”

My twin quirked a puzzled brow at our best friend. “The fuck are you talking about? I went hiking through Runyon Canyon before dawn because I couldn’t sleep. No fans, certainly no fucking.”

“He is talking about the pictures ofmehooking up with some hot brunette all over the tabloids this morning,” I snapped, losing my cool all over again. “Don’t act like you don’t know about it, Gemini. I sure as fuck wasn’t the one picking up chicks at the Cactus, regardless of what fucking TMZ thinks.”

Gem choked on the Gatorade he’d just taken a gulp of, then coughed and spluttered for a moment before staring at me in shock. “Excuse the fuck out of you?”

My eyes narrowed and my fist tightened so hard that I was at risk of shattering the glass juice bottle I held. “You. Heard. Me.”

Ollie yawned again. Loud. “Where’s your phone, Gem? Haven’t you seen the blow up?”

My brother shook his head, still looking like he’d seen a ghost. “I left it behind.”

Fucking typical. He never took his phone with him when he went for hikes, claimed it was too easy for people to find him and he wanted to bealonewith nature. To help clue him in, I tossed him my phone and it unlocked for him thanks to our identical faces.

“Oh. Fuck,” he whispered, his eyes wider than a dinner plate as he scrolled. “What the hell? Sev, this is bullshit. She knewperfectly wellthat it was me and not you. I can’t believe she fucking—” He broke off, running a hand over his face with a groan. “Sev, bro, I’m so sorry. She seemed sonormal.”

I frowned, confused. “What makes you think the chick had anything to do with the photos? You just got papped, dude. It happens to us all the freaking time. Youknowthat. Remember when Ollie got papped coming out of the family-planning clinic a few years back?”

“Yo, dude,” Ollie interjected, “they share the same building as my dermatologist. I was getting my skin checked for melanomas!”

“Paps don’t fucking care. They sell whatever story makes them more money. And apparentlySeven Harrison Cheats On Clara Bellesells more magazines thanGemini Harrison Breaks His Dry Spell.” I threw my hands in the air, silently cursing the fact that my own fame was preventing my brother from just living his life. But at the same time… “Fuck,Gem. You know better!”

Gemini was staring at my phone, his brow furrowed as he zoomed in on the images. “Foxy bitch,” he muttered under his breath, but there was a weird, little smile on his lips like he was remembering a hell of a good night.

Come to think of it, he’d been in acrazygood mood that next day. I guess he really had broken his dry spell in spectacular fashion, and honestly, good for him. But if he could hook up without destroying my life, I’d be a lot happier.

“It was her car,” he said in a quiet, thoughtful voice. “The pics…they’re all taken fromher carand since there were no slimy paps hiding out in the back seat, I’d bet my shorts they’re stills from a dashcam.”

“Whoa,” Ollie commented, peering at the pictures again. “So she knew who you were…but still sold these to the dirt media as it being Seven? Rough.”

“Not necessarily,” Gem said, defending the mysterious woman. “Maybe she sold them asmeand the breaking publication decided to slap Seven’s name on it. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

My phone rang again, and Gem held it out to show me Jerry’s name flashing on the screen. I shook my head and he rejected the call. Barely a moment later, it started again and this time when he held it out, Clara Belle’s name flashed.

“Shit,” I breathed. “Gem, I swear to fuck?—”

“Dude, what do you want from me? I don’t have a time machine.” He was irritated now and understandably so. Tossing me a middle finger, he answered the call for me and put it on speakerphone. “Clara Belle, honey, it’s Gemini.”

“Fuck you, Gem. Put Seven on.” My girlfriend had a vicious tongue on her, despite her carefully crafted image as Hollywood’s darling.

“He’s right here,” Gem replied, raising a brow at me, “but I wanted to get ahead of things and tell you those photos are of me, not him. I met a woman the other night and was a little bit indiscreet, and?—”

“Do you think I’m an idiot, Gemini?” Clara Belle snapped. “Obviously it’s you. Anyone with half a fucking brain knows it’s you. Seven isn’t that goddamn stupid, especially now with the Carriage Pictures deal on the table.”

A huge sigh of relief gusted out of me to hear her say that, and I sagged to sitting on a barstool as Gem handed the phone acrossthe island to me. “Thank fuck,” I groaned. “Clara, baby, you have no idea how worried I was that you were calling to break up with me.”

There was a pause on her end. Then she gave a small laugh. “Oh, Sev…Iambreaking up with you. Honey, you know I love you, but this scandal is going to behugefor me. Awful for you, don’t get me wrong, and I really do feel bad about all of that, but I’d be an idiot not to take this opportunity.”

Shock rendered me speechless for a moment and I just stared at my phone like maybe I’d heard her wrong. We’d been together for four years, and I’d been planning on proposing to her once the Carriage Pictures deal went public. It was all planned out between our publicists. I’d spent millions on her ring and everything.

“What the fuck?” I exclaimed eventually. “Clara, I didn’t cheat on you. Those pics are of Gem!”

“I know,” she replied, her voice dripping with false sympathy, “and, Sev, this hurts me just as much as it hurts you. But the media thinks you’re a lying, cheating scumbag. There’s no coming back from that, and you have to see how fantastic this will be for me! I’m the heartbroken, jilted woman here. My agent is already getting calls for new roles I never would have been considered for previously. This could win me an Oscar, Sev! Really, if you loved me, then you should be happy for me.”

Fuckingspeechlessall over again.

Ollie and Gem looked just as shell-shocked as I was feeling, their jaws basically on the floor as they enjoyed a front-row seat to the systematic destruction of my whole damn life.

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