Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 57423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
As she walked out, she wondered if she didn’t have a lot in common with her character after all.
Chapter Nine
West was happy they were heading back to the condo because he knew the route so well. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t have been able to navigate a new route because his brain was buzzing.
Something had gone horribly wrong in that private talk with the director, but he couldn’t get her to talk about it. Despite the argument the cast had gotten into, Ally hadn’t been upset that afternoon. Getting Channing on her side seemed to have energized her, and she’d wanted to spend the time they had making out in her dressing room. She’d walked into the meeting with Jay relaxed and ready to talk about work and come out strained and quiet.
It had taken every bit of restraint he had to not knock down the door and demand to know what Jay had said to her.
But then being Ally Pearson’s boyfriend was a constant lesson in restraint. He couldn’t beat the shit out of all the people who hurt her. He had to have skin as thick as hers and understand that behaving the way he wanted to would only cause more trouble for her.
He was getting there, but then he had a day like today and he couldn’t stand the thought that he hadn’t been in there, in that room with her to deflect all the crap the director had likely told her.
He pulled into the parking lot, and sure enough, he had to move through three photographers shoving their cameras at the car.
Ally flipped them the bird.
That was the first time in weeks she’d been so openly bratty. She’d been either ignoring them or smiling and giving them a great pic before moving on.
Oh, she was a roiling ball of emotions, and he had to figure out how to get her to let them out or she would boil over, and that fire would burn them all.
Calm. He had to be an ocean of calm even when he was anxious himself. When Ally was upset, she could say things she didn’t mean.
West parked the car. They were past the gate, and management had let the photographers know they would enforce trespassing rules.
“Ally, do you want to take a walk? Or go to the gym?” Sometimes she got rid of her nervous energy that way. He wanted to offer to take her to bed, but she hadn’t reached for him when she’d walked out. There had been no hand in his, no hug or tilt of her head to ask for a kiss.
This was about him, and he was suddenly worried this might be a fight he couldn’t win.
“I need to work on my lines.”
She didn’t. She knew that script back and forth.
“Okay.” He didn’t open the car door. “I wish you would talk to me.”
“About what, West? About how the director thinks I’m wasting a great opportunity because I’m too focused on my boyfriend to do my job? That?”
Ah. He was right. This was absolutely about him. “Yes, I definitely think we should talk about that.”
She threw the passenger side door open. “I told you I have to work.”
He followed her, locking the car and heading into the building. Ally blew past the doorman, who frowned since he was used to her stopping to chat and ask him about his wife and kids.
She was throwing those walls up as fast as she could.
West nodded his way. “Sorry, Frank. Bad day.”
He hustled to catch up with her. This was going to get bad if she was behaving like she’d been given villain duties on this particular episode of life. She didn’t even hold the door to the elevator for him. He had to jog or she would have gone up without him.
Was she trying to piss him off? “I get that you’ve had a bad day, but you don’t have to take it out on me.”
She pushed in the code that would take them to their floor. “Don’t you know that’s what I do? See, if you’d ever watched the show, you would know that I’m a mean brat who takes her problems out on everyone around her.”
He kind of understood how that show had worked. There wasn’t a whole lot of reality to a reality show. “I’m sure you were used to create a whole lot of drama, but I do know who you are, and this temper tantrum is not you.”
Her eyes widened, and he realized he’d made a mistake. “Temper tantrum? Are you kidding me?”
She wanted to fight.
West took a deep breath, his brain working. He needed to keep calm and understand that whatever was going through her head, she didn’t want to hurt him. She was stressed and anxious, and he was the only safe target.