Page 55 of Love At First Fright
E llis was trapped. Why had he agreed to come to this New Year’s Day charity gala?
He vaguely remembered donating some signed memorabilia, but after three whiskeys, everything was vague.
That’s the way he liked it, these days. There was one benefit to today: his fake relationship with Jenna was over.
She’d got the part in the movie she’d been up for, so he was off the hook.
There’d be no official breakup, there didn’t need to be. The press would do that for them.
The first thing he’d wanted to do was go to Rosemary, but he couldn’t.
He’d fucked up the most precious thing in his life.
He’d done it to protect her, he would have done anything for her.
She was his. But that was the problem. His attitude, that dominant need to protect her, had stopped him from calling her in the moment.
He hadn’t given her a choice, and now he’d lost her.
Ellis took a long sip from his glass, letting the strong smokiness of the drink make his world a little hazier.
One more hour; he would stick it out for one more hour and then he could leave.
It was more about showing up in the end, smiling as they announced his donation and clapping when they closed the bidding on it.
He slumped back against his window seat and watched people swaying in the ballroom, all partnered up, their bodies a tangled mass of expensive suits and designer dresses.
He replayed his conversation with Brody over and over again in his head.
Followed by what he’d told Rosemary. Something kept bothering him about it all, that had taken him a few days to place.
Brody hadn’t shown him the footage. Surely he would have shown it to him to gloat, that was Brody’s MO. So why hadn’t he?
Ellis fled into the garden, wandering down a spotlit path until he found a bench. It was a little damp, but he didn’t care.
He sat in the dark, listening to the chatter and music carrying on the frigid wind.
“You’ll catch your death if you stay out here too long, grandpa.”
Jenna sank down on the bench next to him.
“I didn’t know you were at the party.”
“I was your plus-one, remember?”
He nodded, slowly, drinking some more.
“I was looking for you, actually,” she said. “I have news.”
“You got the job.”
“Yeah, but that’s not my news. I fired Brody.”
Ellis turned to look at her. This young woman had more bravery than he did.
“Good. Fuck him.”
“Fuck him.” She clinked her drink against Ellis’s. “I’m here with Lyn, actually. They’re just at the bar. I suppose I ought to thank you for introducing us.”
“You’re welcome.” Ellis didn’t feel like talking and he wasn’t sure he could handle much more of Jenna’s good news, even if he was happy for her.
“Okay, what is it? Why are you being so weird?” Jenna leant over to peer at him. “You’re being all sad. Where’s Rosemary?”
“She’s not here,” Ellis ground out. “I fucked up. Make sure you don’t put a man like me in one of your rom-coms, when it comes down to it, we’re all selfish idiots.”
“What did you do? Don’t tell me this is because of what happened on the Theo Drake Show ? Ellis, you’re an idiot if you put me before her.”
Ellis realised how strange this whole situation was. Discussing his breakup with the woman he’d fake dated, who was so much younger than him yet seemed to be much more put together. Well, maybe she was precisely the right person to discuss it with. She knew what Brody was like.
“Did you know I’m bi?” he began. And Ellis told Jenna all of it. The threats that Brody had made, the reasons he’d taken part in the fake dating scheme, and finally, the footage.
“But what I don’t get is why he didn’t show it to me,” he said.
“He would have, he loves to showboat his manipulations,” Jenna agreed. “Unless…there was no footage.”
Ellis’s world sharpened. “No footage.”
“A bluff, to keep you onside.”
“Shit.” He swallowed the rest of his drink in one go. The alcohol burned down his throat, and anger clenched his muscles. Ellis didn’t feel cold anymore. He had a chance, if he was brave enough to take it.
“Isn’t your brother a lawyer?”