Page 98 of Overexposed

When a video popped up on her feed, I hit play. The woman who popped up lip-synched to some disparaging song with text prompts describing me. Worse, she looked like me. Well, the hair was mine and the clothes looked like...

I frowned and hit pause to look at it a little closer. They were exactly like mine. Had she gone out and bought clothes to mirror me? That was…

Fuck my life.Those were my clothes. Stolen out of my ransacked apartment, no doubt.

“Miss?” The snap of a voice jerked me out of the hellscape I had gotten lost in, and I looked up to find one of the cleaning ladies in the door. I swear, these women had stealth powers. They appeared and disappeared without warning. “I need to clean in here.”

“Oh, sorry. Let me get out of your way.” Probably a good idea to take a break. Empty coffee cup in one hand and the phone in the other, I headed for the kitchen. I had to scoot around her because, unlike other times, the cleaner did not shift to let me pass. Maybe I’d been holding her up enough that she finally had to say something. Ugh.

In the kitchen, I stared at the immaculate state of the space. The coffee from earlier was gone and the pot cleaned out. Apparently, she’d already finished this area.

I needed more coffee, though, so I started a fresh pot. While I waited for it to brew, I opened up the notifications on my phone to stare at the updates to the hashtags that had populated in the last few minutes.

The doorbell rang, and I glanced at the wall monitor. No one had buzzed up to the gate. But the cleaners didn’t either, so maybe it was more staff. I found Jerry at the front door, hisphone at his ear, and he gave me a harried look when I opened it for him.

“No, Marcus, I’m not sending them to New York for that opening. Seven already said he would do the Los Angeles, London, and Sydney red-carpet premieres. He’s going to be on planes for four days. So New York will have to be a pass…”

“Come on in,” I murmured softly as Jerry strode right past me. I closed the door, relocking it, and then waited for him to look at me.

“Sorry,” he said, covering the mic on his phone with a finger. “Almost done. Just resume whatever and I’ll follow you.”

“Seven isn’t here. Nor is Ollie or Gem.”

“I know,” Jerry said with a nod. “I’m here to see you.”

That didn’t bode well. Cycling through all the reasons he could be here to see me, I headed back to the kitchen. Thankfully the coffee was done brewing.

“Fantastic,” Jerry said. “That’s what I like to hear. Yes, he’ll absolutely be bringing Stella with him. So they can get lots of pictures. The press is justlovingthe two of them right now and I have no doubt they’ll be stronger than ever by the red-carpet date.”

I shot him a look. He almost sounded genuine, despite the fake dating being his idea in the first place.

“Sounds good. Just remember what I said: vet the paps we let in. No more daredevils.” Then he was off the phone.

“Where am I going?” I asked. “And do you want coffee?”

“I’d love a cup. I’m supposed to be cutting back.” One of those statements wasn’t like the other. “I’ve only had three so far, so I can’t hear colors yet.”

A snort of laughter escaped me and I poured him a cup.

“You should stay off the fan sites,” Jerry said with a wave toward my phone. It was still open to one of the ugly Stella-hating hashtags. “In fact, I’d avoid anything that involves your name in a hashtag. You’ll never see anything you like.”

“So I’ve discovered. You didn’t say where I was going…” I took a sip of my own coffee. It wasn’t really helping with the jangling of my nerves.

“To the red-carpet premieres. Seven’s star is rising, and we’re really close on that contract. Carriage Pictures is far more amenable to a couple of conditions now, particularly after the accident. They want to lock Seven in.”

“It was good publicity, I suppose.” That made sense. After the car crash, he was being hailed as a hero and the news was gushing over how kindhearted “Seven” was to stay and help. He’d also gotten some calls from a couple of directors that were hot right now, including one that preferred to only work with the same set of actors on every movie. The man also eschewed the studio system and did things his way.

Two years earlier, Nolan Kristoffsen left the studio he’d had a business partnership with for two decades and took his film business elsewhere. Then the first film released with that studio swept all the awards, the accolades, and made nearly a billion dollars.

Hiscall had been one Seven had taken personally, and he’d positively glowed afterward.

“Exactly,” Jerry said. “It’s rising and rising fast. We don’t want it to flame out. A lot of people are going to claim he’s an overnight sensation, but you and I both know this is years of hard work in the making.”

“No argument there.” Seven was insanely dedicated to his craft.

He gave a small nod with a slight smile. “Good, because I need your help.”

“My help?” I blinked. “To do what?”

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