I gave my head a little shake. Get a grip. He didn’t break your heart he just…bruised it.
I turned to Simone. “So you know your stuff, huh?”
She blinked, pink staining her cheeks as she shuffled her feet. “I wouldn’t say that,” she mumbled.
“Because you’re modest?” I guessed.
Jax gave a little huff of amusement and I glanced his way. “One of us has to be.”
His smile was small and wry, and his eyes were…intense. His gaze was focused. He was doing that thing he did where he looked at me like he knew me. Like he could see right through me.
This was the part where I hid. This was when I threw up a smoke screen and played the part of Rose the flirt or Rose the flake or Rose the vain.
Right now I felt like Rose the sick. My stomach churned and I tried not to think about how humiliating it would be if I hurled right here, right now.
Right on his shoes.
The thought made my lips twitch with dark amusement. Maybe that’s what I should do—scare him off for good.
Because that’s what I wanted, right? I lifted my eyes and my gaze collided with his. More like crashed. I was the victim of a gaze clash for the ages. His dark, brooding eyes held mine and wouldn’t let go.
I couldn’t have looked away if I’d tried. “What are you doing here?”
“Watching you perform,” he said.
I flinched because for a second there I wasn’t sure if he was talking about my monologue or making another jibe about how fake I was.
“You looked good up there,” he said. His eyes never left mine and his voice was all earnest sincerity. “You’re a really great actress.”
I shifted uncomfortably. No one ever said things like that to me, except for maybe Mrs. Klein and Hannah, but they didn’t count because they were too nice for their own good.
Jax was definitely not.
I finally looked away. “It could have been better.” I frowned at Simone who was ducking her head and trying to sneak away. “Something was missing.”
Was she right? Was I just showing the right emotions without actually feeling them? I wasn’t a method actor, by any means, but even I knew that to give a great performance you had to tap into real emotions. Embody it so wholeheartedly that the audience was forced to feel it with you.
“Maybe she was right,” I said as we both watched Simone slip out the exit off stage left.
He moved toward me and I tensed. “She’s right about a lot of things. For example, when she’d warned me that it would be complete idiocy to go along with that stupid challenge…”
I met his gaze evenly.
“She was right,” he said. “That was a mistake.”
“Well, yeah,” I said, forcing a flippant tone. “I mean, you got caught, so…obviously.”
“That’s not why it was wrong,” he said.
I didn’t want to hear this. I wanted to stick my fingers in my ears and start singing at the top of my lungs to block out his voice right now. But, since I wasn’t eight years old, I refrained. Instead, I did everything I could to deflect the conversation. “Well, yeah,” I said with a rueful laugh. “It was a mistake because you’re a terrible actor. Has anyone ever told you that?”
“Simone warned me that someone would get hurt.”
I made a psshhh sound that came out too loud and forced as I reached for the cape I’d been wearing until the stage lights had grown too hot.
Not everyone could pull off a cape. It required a certain panache. But me? I rocked it. I tossed one end over my shoulder with a sniff and instantly felt better. More like myself.
I was in control here. Always had been, always would be. This was my stage.
“Rose, wait.” He reached for my arm and I jerked away so quickly that I nearly toppled on my heel.
I would have if Jax hadn’t caught me.
My heart was trying to escape. It was making a mad run for it, throwing itself against my ribcage with abandon. Let me out!
I realized with a jolt that he wasn’t letting go. His grip was still firm on my arms.
And me…? I was still clutching the material of his T-shirt in my fingers with a crazy death grip.
Yup. I was totally in control.
“Just give me a chance to apologize,” he said softly, his voice so warm and quiet that it made me shiver. “Let me try to explain.”
I came to my senses and started to tug away from him. He didn’t entirely let go but I earned myself a little breathing room. “Nothing to explain,” I said, not meeting his eyes. “I get it. You needed money, right?” I shrugged. “No big deal.”
His silence lasted so long that I finally lifted my gaze to try and read his face, see what he was thinking.
I wished I hadn’t. His eyes burned into me like he was doing the exact same thing.
“Simone was right,” he finally said.
I frowned. “What?”
One corner of his mouth hitched up in a smug little grin. “I can see it now.”
“What are you talking about?”
“When you’re acting…you’re not really feeling it, are you?” He looked entirely too pleased with himself. “She was right. Again. Man, she’s even smarter than I realized.”
I stiffened. He was referring to what Simone had said about not feeling the emotions, but he wasn’t referring to my monologue.
He meant right now. With him.
He meant…the way I was with him.
And suddenly, despite the cape—or maybe because of it—I might as well have been naked. I tugged my arms free and this time he let me go and I stumbled back a step. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He pointed a finger at me. Rude, really. He jabbed it right in my face. “Lie.”
I blinked. “What do you think you’re
