Page 18 of The Fangirl and the Playboy

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Eleven Years Ago…

I’m stretched out on my stomach in bed, my legs kicked up into the air and swinging back and forth as I scroll through my favorite social media app. My entire body goes rigid, my eyes widening at the picture on the screen.

“What is this?” I murmur, my breaths coming fast and furious and my eyes burning with the need to blink.

Are Lucas and Aria dating IRL?

The headline splashes over a picture of Gavin and Julia Warner, their eyes closed and lips locking for all to see. Her fingers are tangled in his hair and his hand is on her hip and I feel like I’m going to throw up.

Taking a few calming breaths, I study the rest of the picture. There’s a trailer behind them, and it looks like the one Gavin uses on set. He’s wearing the shirt I saw him in yesterday, when he told me he was shooting scenes with Roger Albright all day.

Notwith Julia.

This isn’t a picture someone snapped while the two of them were acting out a scene for the movie cameras. No, this is something else.

With my heart pounding and tears filling my eyes, I roll off the bed and grab my shoes. I need to find Gavin. I need to find out what in the hell is going on here.

Rushing outside, I zip right past my car––Gavin’s rental house is close––and jog down the shoulder of the road. Swiping my eyes to clear the tears, I stiffen my shoulders and force myself to calm down.

There’s a rational explanation for this.

Therehasto be.

When I get to the property the production company rented for Gavin and a few other actors to share for the duration of filming, the long driveway is filled with cars and news vans. Zig-zagging my way through the vehicles, I skid to a stop at the outer edge of the crowd surrounding the front porch of the house. Microphones and cameras are rolling as reporters shout questions, but the voices blur into a dull roar beneath the pounding of my own heart.

Up on that porch, their arms wrapped around each other as they pose for the cameras, are Gavin and Julia. His lips curl into a smile I thought was reserved only for me as she nuzzles into his side.

“We were trying to keep our romance a secret, but I guess there are no secrets in Hollywood.”

My chest cracks in half as Gavin says the words with a grin, and I can’t breathe. Bile burns up my throat, and I bend at the waist until I manage to swallow it back down.

“Julia, when did you two fall in love?” a reporter calls out.

“Oh, I fell hard the second I laid eyes on him,” she says, a coy smile playing on her lips, “but like most men, it took Gav a while to realize he felt the same for me.”

I regain the ability to use my lungs, but my breaths are coming too fast and too hard as I gasp for oxygen. I can literally feel my world crumbling around me, and there’s nothing I can do to save myself.

I stare at Gavin, silently begging him to meet my gaze. To denounce this farce and tell me it’s all a big joke. But instead, he tightens his grip on his co-star, whispers something in her ear that makes her giggle, then presses a devoted kiss to her temple.

Spinning around with a tortured groan, I run. I run away from the sight of the love of my life holding another woman. I run from the reporters, obviously eating it up with shouted questions and flashing cameras. I run through the cars and vans and weeds popping up through the gravel that crunches beneath my feet.

I run as fast as I can, but it’s not fast enough.

Because there’s no way to outrun pain. No way to escape heartbreak.

But still, I run.

ChapterTen

Gavin

Feeling antsy with the need to get out and do something, I leave my rental and walk downtown to Wolfsbane Tavern. It’s Tuesday, and the weekend tourists have gone home, so it shouldn’t be too crowded, affording me some privacy to enjoy a beer without causing a spectacle.

I’m relieved to see that I was right as I walk through the doors. A few locals are bellied up to the bar, and a few tables are occupied, but that’s it. Keeping my head down, I stroll to the far end of the bar and slide onto an empty stool.

Bram notices me and smiles as he heads my way. Placing a cocktail napkin in front of me on the bar, he cocks his head.

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