“If you keep saying no, he’ll try to have Iggy fire me just out of spite,” I whispered. “I know men like Jacob. They hold a grudge.”
Damon’s eyes hardened. “If he fires you, then I really will quit. You’re more important to me than this production.”
Something in my heart literally snapped at that, and I felt emotion tugging at me. I didn’t know whether I wanted to laugh or cry. Damon was so loyal and perfect and wonderful, and I didn’t feel like I deserved him. I certainly didn’t want him quitting his first acting role in almost a decade just for me.
“Hey,” he said. “Get out of your head and stop worrying. Let me handle this. He’s not going to win.”
I stared at him, biting my lip again out of nervousness. I really needed to stop doing that. “Okay,” I said finally, my voice tiny.
Damon’s eyes flickered between mine, like he was trying to find any morsels of doubt so he could squash them. “Okay,” he echoed, and then pressed one final kiss to my lips. His hand moved from my neck and he slid his fingers between mine, clasping my hand tight as a symbol of our solidarity.
***
Alicia was absent for the rest of the day. She was supposed to be there for dress rehearsals, but apparently she’d fallen ill and had to go home. I didn’t think much of it, but suspected her illness was more sour grapes and anger after walking in on me and Damon in flagrante, or, well, halfway in flagrante, as it were.
I got to go home after lunch because the cast were working on dialogue. Stopping by the nearest supermarket, I picked up a few things for dinner before heading home. Everything seemed normal when I entered the apartment, and I went about putting away my groceries until I heard a distinctly sexual noise coming from the direction of Julian’s bedroom – a feminine moan, to be exact.
It was afterwards that I noticed a pair of high heels strewn haphazardly across the living room floor, and there was a coat and handbag on the couch. Frowning, I knew Julian wasn’t with a client, because he never brought them here. He only ever met up with them at hotels or their own houses. He liked to keep our home a home in that sense, but it was also for security purposes. Oftentimes, he might have a client become a little too attached, and if they didn’t know where he lived, it ensured that they couldn’t start stalking him. He also used a different name, and a special phone separate from his personal one to make himself even more untraceable.
So yeah, this wasn’t a client. I actually found myself smiling after a minute, because it’d been a while since my friend had brought a woman home for sex, sex he wasn’t being paid for. This could potentially be a good sign.
I went about my business, but put on my headphones to listen to some music and allow Julian and whoever he was with their privacy. About forty-five minutes went by, and I was just finished preparing a lasagne for dinner when his bedroom door opened. Soft footsteps sounded down the hall and I tried to play it cool, when really I was dying to check out Julian’s new lady friend.
Any happy thoughts I’d been having immediately fled when I turned, spoon in hand, and came face to face with a very rumpled and very much freshly fucked Alicia Davidson.
Oh, Julian.
Bad choice.
Her gaze hardened, but she straightened up as though mentally putting on her armour. Yep, I was fairly sure this was a woman who wasn’t going to let anyone shame her about her behaviour, least of all me.
“We really need to stop meeting like this,” I said, my voice neutral.
Alicia gave me a contemptuous eye roll before walking into the living area and picking up her shoes. “You can save the holier-than-thou speech, Rose. I’m well aware that you’re the perfect, sweet little flower and I’m the harlot out to seduce your handsome prince.”
“That’s not what I think of you,” I said, putting down the spoon and bracing both hands on the counter as I watched her. “In fact, I don’t blame you for wanting Damon. In all honesty, it’s still hard for me to accept that he even knows my name, never mind enjoys my company.”
She very slowly raised her eyebrows as she slipped on one dark blue heel and then