Why Resist a Rebel - By Leah Ashton Page 0,49

continuation of their easy breakfast picnic-of-sorts on his bed. It all stayed very light, which suited him just fine.

No talk about anything serious. No talk about last night, and certainly no talk about tomorrow.

But now, in Bondi, they’d gone quiet.

Not an awkward silence—quite the opposite. But still, Dev didn’t like it.

‘What’s your favourite movie?’ Ruby said—all in a rush, as if maybe she didn’t like the silence either. ‘I mean, of yours. That you’ve been in.’

As she walked she stared at a spot somewhere on the sand ahead of her.

‘Now You See Her,’ he said, immediately.

She looked up at him, her eyes squinting a little in the glare. ‘I’ve never heard of it.’ She paused a second. ‘Sorry.’

He smiled. ‘Good. It’s awful. I had about two lines in it, a straight-to-video effort filmed on the Gold Coast when I was twenty.’

‘And so it’s your favourite because?’

‘I got paid for it. My first paid role in a movie.’

They’d reached the end of the beach and paused to step back into their shoes before walking up a small ramp to the footpath.

‘That’s interesting,’ she said. ‘Not your first starring role, or first blockbuster, or first Golden Globe nomination?’

‘Nope. It was the money in my bank account—as small amount as it was. Proved it wasn’t just a dream—but that it could be my career.’

They walked a little further without speaking, past the famous Bondi Icebergs swimming club. Dev had been here a few times—not to swim in a pool so close to the ocean that the Pacific’s waves often broke straight into it, but to the bar. For a few promotional events, the occasional dinner...

Irrationally he imagined coming back here with Ruby, in summer, to swim. For a moment he could almost see it—her hair slicked back just as it had been after her shower this morning, smiling at him across the water...

But he quickly erased that idea—he wouldn’t be in Australia in summer, he’d be in Hollywood.

By then, everything would be back to how it was. And Ruby would be off working on her next film, along with all her rules about dating cast and crew, and her refusal to ever settle down in one location.

‘Dev?’

Ruby had asked him a question, he realised. ‘Sorry, I was...’ He ran a hand through his hair. ‘What did you say?’

‘I was worried I’d offended you,’ she said. ‘Don’t worry, it was a stupid question.’

He slanted her a look. ‘You do know you have to ask me it now?’

But they’d reached a little temporary marquee—the start of the sculpture walk. A few minutes later, equipped with a catalogue, they’d descended a series of stairs to reach the first set of sculptures, scattered across the tiers of rocks that lined the cove and spread their way into the ocean.

Ruby stood in front of one—a giant red nail that appeared to have been hammered between the rocks, tall enough to loom above them both.

‘What was your question?’

She sighed. ‘It was nothing. I was just saying I was surprised that the money meant so much to you.’

‘Given my background,’ he finished for her.

She shifted her weight awkwardly. ‘As I said, a stupid thing to say.’

‘I’m not that easily offended,’ he said. At least, not with her. But then—if she was someone interviewing him—he never would’ve answered the original question honestly, anyway.

Actually, he wasn’t entirely sure he’d told anyone the truth before.

Not that it meant anything—it was a trivial thing. Meaningless.

‘Having a privileged background doesn’t mean I don’t have an appreciation for hard work, or for money.’

‘Of course not,’ she said, very quickly.

He knew he could’ve left it at that, but as they walked further along the path he found himself explaining. ‘My dad was a self-made man,’ he said.

Ruby didn’t say anything, but her pace slowed.

‘He started with absolutely nothing—as a labourer, actually. Mum met him back then. He worked his way up, he became a builder. Then began his own construction business, and started to buy and sell property. Sometimes to renovate and sell, other times to hold, or to rent.’

They’d walked straight past the next sculpture, Dev realised. But he didn’t want to stop; if he did, the words would, too.

‘All he wanted for us boys was security. A secure career. A good income. A good family.’

‘So he didn’t want you to be an actor,’ she said.

He lips quirked, but it wasn’t a smile. ‘No.’

Ruby didn’t even glance at the next sculpture. Stairs rose above them, leading out of the cove, and they walked up side by