Page 20 of Nathan
When I turned, Nathan was picking up his clothing from the floor and putting it on with harsh movements.
“Storm and River agreed to pretend they were breaking up and that he was with me. Of course, it wasn’t supposed to last this long, but then the movie got pushed back. Why didn’t River tell you?”
“My sister never agreed to anything. She found out that you and Storm were together at the same time as the rest of the world. He didn’t even have the decency to tell her before it hit the papers.”
I gasped. “Nooo.”
“Yes. She was heartbroken and still is.”
My hand covered my mouth, and my eyes blinked like I couldn’t take in what Nathan had just told me. “That bastard! I specifically told Storm that I wouldn’t go along unless River was cool with it, and he assured all of us that she was happy to play along.”
“Who arewe? How many people are in on this lie?” Nathan was fully dressed now and sat down on my bed to put on his shoes.
“Our agents and our contacts at the film studio.”
“But you must have seen some of the articles about how upset River was.”
“Yes, and I texted Storm about it, but he assured me that he had asked her to dramatize the situation to get more publicity. Here, I’ll show you.” Picking my phone up from the nightstand, I pulled up my text messages with Storm and handed the phone to Nathan.
He sat on my bed with his head bowed, reading through the last nine months of text messages between Storm and me.
In the meanwhile I paced the floor. “Oh my god. If River isn’t in on this charade, then she might think that I really hooked up with Storm… wow, I can’t even imagine how she must feel.” I stopped in front of Nathan. “Does she hate me?”
He was engulfed in the messages and didn’t respond.
“Nathan.”
I waited for him to meet my eyes. “Does River hate me?”
He didn’t even hesitate when he answered with a short “Yes.”
With a deep groan, I sat down next to him and slapped my hands to each side of my face. “This is awful. I thought Storm was seeing River in secret and that they were laughing about the headlines and counting down until he could officially dump me and go back to her. That was always the plan, you know.”
“Why would you agree to have your name trashed like that?”
I shrugged. “It was supposed to be a short fictional affair that would create buzz and drama. The audience loves that sort of thing.”
“Do you even like Storm?”
I wrinkled my nose up a little. “He’s all right.”
A snort sounded from Nathan. “For an actress that wasn’t very convincing.”
“Storm is…” I thought about it. “I don’t want to say anything mean about him. I mean he’s a good actor, but in real life, when he doesn’t have a script to follow, he says some weird things.”
Nathan handed me back my phone and we sat a moment in silence.
“I get that you play a role for money on film. At least then everyone knows it’s pretending. But to sell your private life like that and to hurt other people in the process…” Nathan shook his head. “That part makes no sense to me.”
Curling my legs up in front of me, I wrapped my arms around my knees and rested my head on top. “Yeah, well, there are a few things that make no sense to me either. Like, if you thought that I’d been cold enough to hurt your sister, then why are you here? Is this why River agreed to meet with me but didn’t show up?”
Nathan didn’t reply, and from the way he sat on the very edge of the bed, leaning forward, I was sure he was about to bolt.
“Nathan, look at me.”
In slow motion, he turned his body enough to meet my eyes.
“Is River not feeling good, or was it just an excuse?”
