Page 100 of The Villain Edit

“What about what I want?”

“What do you want, Gabe? To spurn a woman who loves you because she isn’t good enough for your dead uncle?”

I wince, but she’s right. I chose myself over Ashley’s love and I publicly humiliated her, calling her a spurned ex. How could anyone do that to the woman they loved?

Welcome to the club.

“You and Michael were wrong about me,” I say, crossing my arms and dropping my head onto them. “There’s no good in me.”

Cora pats my back. “That’s not true. You decide who you are. Only you. And you can change and grow, rise or fall. Every day you start again. And as long as I’m on this earth, I’ll be here for you. No matter what you do, or don’t do, I believe in you and you’ll never be alone.”

Her belief means so damn much, even if I can’t bring myself to believe the same. I get to my feet to wrap my arms around her. “Thank you.”

She hugs me back. “You are worthy of love, just as you are,” she says firmly. “Promise me you’ll think about what you want, and when you figure it out, you’ll go for it.”

“I will,” I promise, squeezing her tight.

“That personal trainer of yours needs to ease up a bit,” Cora grumbles. “It’s like hugging a redwood.”

“Maybe you could write me a note. Get me out of leg day.” I know Jax though. He’d take the note, fold it into a bite-size chunk, and eat it while maintaining intense levels of eye contact.

Might be worth it.

An alert goes off on my phone—it has to be Ashley—and I glance around. Rose is talking with Julia Spencer about the interview we’re about to tape and Cora’s trying to persuade a stoic David to accompany her to an animal shelter tomorrow. He won’t meet the nice young surf instructor she wants to introduce him to, so he might as well get a pet. A rabbit, she thinks. David is horrified and trying to very politely find a way out of it.

Everyone else is quietly doing their job.

I slip my phone out of my pocket and relief nearly takes me out at the knees. I grab onto the chair in front of me. The voices around me all fade into the background.

Ash is alive. She’s okay.

She posted a photo on her social media. Just one, in black and white. Her hand wrapped around a gear stick. There’s a glimpse of the empty passenger seat and a sliver of Ashley’s leg.

This isn’t the car she drove over to my place. That one was a sleek Mercedes convertible, five years old—a gift, she’d said, from her father, after she’d stolen a lover from her mother.

The car in her post is a classic car.

She doesn’t leave a comment—only the photo. No indication of where she is or where she’s going.

It doesn’t escape me that her photo is the same as the one we posted on our road trip, but with one hand instead of two.

She’s driving to New York, retracing our journey. I feel it, like a siren song calling out to me. I belong in that car with her, not trying to reinvent myself with a TV interview.

“Are you ready?” Rose asks.

“Yeah,” I say, quickly turning my phone off and slipping it into my pocket.

“Nice to meet you, Gabriel,” Julia says in a warm voice, shaking my hand. Her white blazer sets off her flawless dark brown skin and her eyes crinkle as she smiles. We take our seats and I thank her for taking the time to talk to me on such short notice and so late in the day.

Julia has been interviewing celebrities for decades, gently prizing out juicy little details of personal lives. She’s not the softball interviewer working hand in hand with PR, but she’s not a shark scenting blood in the water either. With her dazzling smile and kind eyes, she’s someone people want to open up to. Viewers trust her, celebrities adore her. She’s my last hope.

Finally, everyone is in place and we’re ready to shoot.

Julia begins with some simple questions.

I’ve been playing the role of Gabriel Sinclair for so long, it should be easy, but it doesn’t fit right anymore. There are little moments when I have no idea what Gabriel Sinclair would say, or who he is. Julia tries to keep me on track, but the problem is me.

My ass might be firmly in this surprisingly comfortable chair, but I’m not fully present. I’m with Ash, on an endless highway somewhere under the stars.

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