Touching the Billionaire - Holly Jaymes Page 0,66

did before? I don’t think so.”

I let out an expletive under my breath. “No, she’s got it all wrong. I need to talk to her.”

“Well, she’s not here. She’s got a new movie opportunity and she’s left for California. So you’re going to have to get over it.” Nadine pushed the man out of the way and shut the door in my face.

“Goddammit.” I had no choice but to return to my own place. When I got there, I started to pour two fingers of bourbon, but then decided to bring the bottle with me to the couch. I hated that Madeline thought I was a total complete douchebag asshole jerkwad. But I also hated that she thought I’d use her like that. Maybe I hadn’t told her I loved her, but hadn’t I been good to her? Hadn’t I opened up myself enough for her to know that I wouldn’t manipulate her in that way? The guilt that I had over not correcting Corrine which led to Madeline feeling betrayed, now morphed into anger that she believed I was the type of person to do that.

I sat on the couch drinking my bottle of bourbon and began to seethe. I’d given her more than I’d given any woman before. Hell, I’d driven up to Woodstock, acting like a fucking chump because I missed her so much. I touched her last night like she was the only woman in the world because she was the only woman in the world. The only one for me anyway.

But to her, I was a man who would use sex and seduction to manipulate a performance out of an actress. By the time I finished the bottle, my entire body had gone numb. Everything except my heart, which felt like it had been torn apart into a million pieces.

I woke up the next morning feeling like shit, but I wasn’t completely sure if it was the hangover or at losing Madeline. I was still torn between being pissed at myself for not correcting Corrine and letting her get me in this mess, or being pissed at Madeline for believing that I was as big an asshole as she seemed to think I was.

Madeline was right about one thing though; I should win an Oscar for the way I was able to get my ass to work and do my job while hiding the fact that my heart was broken and my brain was drowning in bourbon.

At the end of the day, I went home as usual, and because I was so pathetic, I made another attempt at texting Madeline. Maybe after a night away, her anger had dissipated and she realized that I wasn’t a jerk. But again, the text bounced back as blocked.

“Fucking A.” I headed up to my apartment, pretty much planning to do what I’d done the night before; drink my feelings away into oblivion. This time though, I decided to use a glass and switch to vodka.

After pouring myself three fingers, I took it out and sat on the terrace. It was September, so it was still warm, but the feel of fall coming was in the air. I sat on one of my lounge chairs and closed my eyes, wishing for the pain to stop.

My phone buzzed, interrupting me. Looking at the caller ID, I saw was my publicist. I didn’t really want to talk to her and yet, on the other hand, maybe talking to her would distract me, so I picked up the phone.

“Hey, Theo, how are you doing?”

“I’m alright,” I lied.

“I just wanted to give you the heads up that all the dates are set for your public appearances on the release of Earthshot.”

I scraped a hand over my face. I’d forgotten that movie was coming out sometime around Halloween. It had been almost a year since I’d finished it.

Normally, I didn't mind doing public appearances to promote a movie. After all, I enjoyed acting and the best way to keep acting was to get people to come to see the movie. But right now, I didn’t feel like I had it in me to be Theo Wolfe, big movie star.

“Can you forward me the schedule? I’ll be sure to be there.” In the end, I didn’t have much of a choice. Talk show appearances were part of the game.

“I sent it earlier today, but since I didn’t hear back from you, I want to check to make sure you got it.”

“I’ll check my email.”

I hung