Page 9 of Sext Addict

I leaned back in my chair and listened and actually found myself enjoying whatever new song he was playing. I closed my eyes and remembered Jamie’s kiss, despite how hard I was trying to forget it. In my memory, his steps as he pushed me to the wall matched the thud, thud, thud of his drum. The snare mimicked the buzz that had coursed through my body when his lips pressed against mine. The cymbals entered the song and it was as surprising as how my own hand moved to the back of Jamie’s head to caress his hair, to pull him closer, to taste more of him.

As Jamie played, I wondered what would have happened if Henry had answered one more call in the office before coming up the elevator to find me. How far would I have gone?

I shook the thought from my mind. No, Jamie O’Connell was an asshole, a prickly, irritating, button-pushing asshole. If we hadn’t been interrupted, I would have grabbed his dick, no matter how big, and yanked it off.

Just then, my cell phone rang. Picking it up, I saw Ellis’s name on the screen.

Oh God. Here goes. He probably realized he’d mistakenly sexted me and was going to apologize. He was probably freaking out, worried that he’d offended me. I imagined him dragging his hand through his perfect hair and it falling back into place even more perfectly in defiance of the laws of nature.

Better to get it over with now and let him off the hook.

I picked up Ellis’s call and braced myself to hear his apologies for including me in that sexting conversation. “Hey Ellis, I was just about to—”

“I’m going after my brother’s wife,” he said.

“Huh?”

“On the soap,” Ellis explained, voice easy, casual, totally oblivious to my emotional turmoil. “That’s my storyline this week. I’ve fallen in love with my brother’s wife, who’s always been like a sister to me. But I’ve realized out of the blue that I love her. Like, out of nowhere, I just figure this out. I mean, mycharacterfigures it out. How stupid is that plotline?” When I didn’t answer right away, he added, “Tess? You agree?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, trying to pull myself together. “It’s so stupid.”

Ellis laughed. “Oh well, I’m thankful for the work. Gotta keep reminding myself of that. It’s just I’d love to sink my teeth into a really great piece of writing. But I’m paying my dues, I guess... Speaking of which...”

Great. I knew exactly what question was coming. Why didn’t liquor stores have loyalty cards? I could use one with all the little wine bottles punched out so I could get a free drink. Or three.

“How’d the audition go?” Ellis asked, just as I knew he would.

I hesitated.

“Tessa Juliet Stewart.”

I groaned and let my head flop back. Okay, so he hadn’t figured out he’d accidentally sexted me, but in truth, I’d almost rather have had that conversation than this one.

“Tess!”

“I know, I know.”

Ellis sighed and I hated that I’d disappointed him. Again.

“You were so ready for it, Tess,” he said. “You were going to nail it. I don’t see how they could have picked anyone else for the part.”

I clenched my eyes shut.

“Why didn’t you go?”

I shrugged even though he couldn’t see me. We’d had this exact same discussion in person a thousand times before. He knew I was shrugging.

“I just couldn’t,” I said lamely. “I was there, outside the room for the audition, and, well, I just couldn’t.”

Ellis was silent so long I almost checked to make sure my cell phone provider hadn’t shut off my service. Given how the day had proceeded, I wouldn’t have been surprised in the slightest. Actually, I was more surprised that it was still working.

“Next time,” Ellis finally said.

It was always what he said. Next time, next time, next time. Ellis was an eternal optimist. It was just one of the things I loved about him. And I think he actually meant it when he said, ‘Next time’. He seriously believed the next time he helped me land an audition, helped me practice the lines, helped me get there by paying for an Uber, that I would actually go inside, that I would actually deliver my lines for the casting staff, that I would actually land an acting job.

Miraculously, I didn’t think those were wasted words for Ellis or a casual platitude or fake sympathies to get me off the line. Ellis really believed in me.

And I didn’t know why.

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