“That lasted all of five minutes!” She laughs. “I knew you’d cave before I did!”
“I did not cave.” I frown. “I’m being generous, you know, because you’re being so generous with fixing my sister’s dress.”
“If I can,” she says.
“You’ll be able to.”
“You have a lot of faith in me.”
“Because I know how amazing you are.”
Her eyes soften at my words.
“So…now that the sex ban is lifted, you wanna go and break the bed with me?”
She laughs, bright and loud, making me smile. “You’re one of a kind, Vaughn West.”
“So are you, Charly Michaels.”
And she is. My one of a kind.
“Isn’t your mom sending over the picture for me to look at to see if I can fix the dress?”
“Oh, yeah. We’ll wait till she sends it over, and you’ve had a look. Then, we can go fuck.”
“God, you’re romantic, West.”
“I know.” I shrug, grinning. “You’re a lucky, lucky woman, Pins.”
Truth is, I’m the lucky one to have her in my life.
Charly
Vaughn leaves for his sister Sasha’s wedding in two days.
I fixed the dress. It was a bigger job than I had initially thought from the look of the pictures. There were some really fine tears within the lace of the bodice, and some crystals were missing, but I managed to get ahold of some that were almost identical from a store in Vegas. I finally finished fixing the dress late last night, and I did an amazing job, if I do say so myself.
I text a picture of the now-fixed dress to Sasha. I’ve been keeping her updated with my progress on it. She’s been so grateful, constantly offering to pay me money for doing it, but I keep refusing. Honestly, I enjoyed working on it, and it kept my mind off my silly feelings of rejection over Vaughn not wanting to take me to the wedding with him.
Because I am being silly.
We might be more than just sleeping together now, but that doesn’t mean he wants to take me home to meet his family. And, of course, it would expose our relationship, which I don’t want.
So, the dress is safely inside its garment bag in Vaughn’s hotel room, where I am right now, and it’s ready to go with him to Oregon.
We finished filming at six p.m. Vaughn and I were starving, so he had Alex order room service for when we got back, and we had dinner together in his room.
We’re now lying on the bed, watching an episode of Julian’s show Dead Cop. I’ll admit, I’m totally addicted. Logan and I are always talking about it at work, but because Logan’s ahead of me, he’s careful not to spoil it for me. But the one thing we do agree on is that we want Julian’s character, Mason Banks, to get it on with his costar character Meredith Castle. And I also want them together in real life. But Logan reckons that Julian is gay. He said his gaydar was flashing loud and bright when he met Julian.
I don’t think Julian is gay, and I think he and Sara Parks, who plays Meredith, would be perfect together.
I keep meaning to ask Vaughn if Julian is gay. I guess now would be as good a time as any.
“Vaughn?”
“Mmhmm?”
“Is Julian gay?”
His eyes flick to mine. “What made you ask that?”
“Because Logan thinks he is. He said Julian set his gaydar off when they met. But I think he’s straight.”
“Why does it matter?”
“It doesn’t. I just really want him and Sara to get married and have babies.”
He laughs, shaking his head. “Sadly, Julian won’t be having babies with Sara.”
“So, he’s gay?”
“Yes. But that has to stay between you and me, as Julian’s in the closet.”
“Why?” I frown.
“Because he has a hell of a lot of female fans who watch the show because of him and his pretty-boy looks. Coming out could damage the ratings, as his female fan base could drop when they realize that he’s not fishing in their gender pool, and the network doesn’t want that.”
“That’s stupid.”
“That’s reality, babe. Women like to see the men they watch on-screen as available.”
“Yeah, but it’s not like they’re ever really going to get with them.”
“You landed me, didn’t you?” He shrugs.
“Ass!” I poke him in his side.
“Hey! No need to go crazy and start attacking!” He holds his hands up in surrender.
“Drama king.”
“No, babe, your King.”
“God, you’re so arrogant.” I roll my eyes.
“Just the way you like me.” He chuckles.
Shaking my head, laughing, I settle back down beside him and start watching the show again.
“Anyway, it’s only like you and me,” he says.
“What is?”
“Julian in the closet. We’re in the closet, albeit together. People don’t know about us.”
“For a completely different reason.” I can feel my insides starting to tense.
“Yeah. But whatever the reason, we’re still hiding. Just like Julian.”
I don’t say anything because…what can I say?
I’m partly doing it for him—the movie and keeping his reputation clean, not attracting attention to his love life again—but I’m also nervous about us going public, which is the truth but not for the reason he thinks.
I feel like I’m deceiving him.
I am deceiving him, and I hate it.
I just don’t know quite what to do about it yet. Well, I do know what to do, but at the end of the day, even when that’s done, I’ll still have to tell him the truth. I’m just not sure what version of the truth to tell him.
“So, I’ve been wanting to ask…” He pauses the show and shuffles down the bed.
He turns on his side to face me, so I do the same.
“Sounds ominous. It doesn’t involve something kinky and dirty, does it?”
“No, but it can if you’d like?” His eyes flash at me.
“I’m not averse to kinky and dirty, but let’s put a pin in that for later, so you can ask me what you wanted to ask me.”
“Will you come to Sasha’s wedding with me?”
He’s asking me to the wedding?
My heart soars.
“I mean, I know the dress is fixed, but I thought she might need you there, just in case, you know.”
And then it drops like a rock in water.
“You want me to come to help with the dress?” My voice is stilted. I know it is. I can hear it, but I can’t seem to help it. “The dress is fine. Sasha won’t need my help.” I sit up and start to get off the bed.
“Hey, where are you going?” He tries to tug me back to lie down, but I resist.
“Back to my hotel.”
He moves across the bed, so he’s sitting beside me. “Why?”
“No reason.”
“For fuck’s sake, Charly.” His voice is tense. “Don’t play games. Just tell me what’s wrong.”
I turn my eyes to him. He looks irritated.
So, I tell him the truth, “I overheard you talking to Natasha on set last week.”
His brows pull together. “About?”
“Sasha’s wedding. You hadn’t even told me, which was fine because you didn’t have to.”
“Clearly, it’s not fine.” His tone is resolute.