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Tears pricked the corner of my eyes as I read the final sentence over and over. It certainly wasn’t in keeping with the criteria of our biography assignment, but reading it made a weight lift off my shoulders that had been pressing down on me all week.

Liam had abandoned me and let our drama class down, but reading his heartfelt words made me wonder if perhaps returning to L.A. wasn’t the simple decision I’d assumed it was. All week I had believed he left because he didn’t care enough to stay, but everything he’d written about me suggested that wasn’t the case. That perhaps Liam did care for me, after all.

I let out a sigh as I leaned back in the chair and ran a hand down my face. Reading this assignment didn’t really change anything. Liam was still gone, our play was going to bomb, and it was unlikely I’d ever see him again. His words had given me a small ray of hope though. If Liam believed in me this way, then perhaps all was not lost.

26

Liam

I’d only been back in L.A. for a day, but it felt like I’d been separated from Teagan forever. Guilt weighed heavily upon my chest, making it hard to breathe, and I couldn’t seem to take my mind off her. Leaving without saying goodbye was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do, and not contacting her now was like torture.

“How did she take it?” I asked Zeke.

“About as well as can be expected.”

I pressed two fingers to my forehead to stave off the mammoth headache I could feel brewing. After a day spent in meetings, I was exhausted. The thought of Zeke returning to L.A. and telling me about his conversation with Teagan had been the one thing getting me through it all.

“Was she mad?”

“I think she was more upset,” he replied.

I swore, the thought of hurting Teagan tearing me up inside. “I should call her…”

Zeke quickly shook his head though. “We talked about this, and you need to keep your distance from Teagan. Your mother will be watching your every move right now, and we can’t risk her getting any more material to use against Teagan.”

“But it’s just a phone call.”

Zeke let out a sigh. “And what exactly do you think you’ll achieve with a phone call?”

“I could explain…”

“What? That your mother is using photos of Teagan and her mom to manipulate you?”

He was right. I couldn’t put that on Teagan. “I could at least say goodbye.”

Zeke folded his arms over his chest as he looked at me. I was surprised by the amount of sorrow in his eyes, which only proved how pathetic I must have looked.

“It’s your choice, but I’m not sure saying goodbye is going to help her,” Zeke gently explained. “She’s hurt, and it didn’t seem like she wanted to talk to you about it. You have to remember that this isn’t just about the two of you. Your disappearance will probably ruin the play she cares about too.”

“But I didn’t want to hurt her or ruin the play.”

“I know that, but you made the right choice. Those photos your mother has would destroy Teagan.”

I let out a frustrated breath. “I just wish I could explain it to her...”

“And maybe you can once you’ve done what your mother wants and this movie is over. But until then, you need to give Teagan some space and let her focus on her play. Calling her now would only confuse and upset her more.”

I wished he was wrong, but Zeke had a point. I’d screwed Teagan over by leaving and calling her now wouldn’t change that. Opening night forBeauty and the Beastwas just over a week away, and I knew she’d be spending every ounce of her focus on helping get my replacement up to speed. Teagan wouldn’t want to hear from me unless it was to tell her I was coming back for the performance.

“You’re right,” I said. “Calling Teagan won’t help, and it’s better not to risk giving my mother any more ammunition. For all I know, she’s probably tapped my phones as well as having me followed.”

“I wouldn’t put it past her…” Zeke grumbled. “She certainly had no qualms about releasing those pictures she got from your cloud last year.”

I swallowed as I remembered the day I’d opened my laptop to find my progress pictures all over the internet. They were pictures I’d taken to keep track of my training, and since I hadn’t always been as bulky as I was right now, the before pictures were quite embarrassing. My mother had been quite happy to sell them to the tabloids though, just like all the other pictures she leaked.

At least I was aware when I was being photographed at parties or outside nightclubs with girls. But these pictures had been private, and while they weren’t the worst photos in the world, it felt like a complete violation to have them splashed across the covers of every trashy magazine in the world.

It was safe to say that I no longer allowed Mother access to any of my accounts. She used everything she could to manipulate me though, and I often dreamed of what it would be like to oust her from my life entirely.