He blinked a bit, then said, “When I met you… you… you were all like…” he made a noise and fluttered his hands around me. “Like that. You’re… one of those. I can’t stop looking at you…” he said.
There was a silence that hung in the air, and I was starting to feel a buzzing in my ears.
“I hate you for it…” he said, his teeth clinking together on that word. Hate.
I was lost for words.
“Do you… even know… how beautiful you are?” Oliver asked.
This was getting too heavy for me. I needed to escape — I needed to get out of this situation.
But it was too late. He lunged forward and began unbuttoning my pants.
I jerked away. “Oliver! Oliver stop, you’re drunk!”
And just like that, when he was fumbling with my button on my jeans, he leaned to the side and passed out.
Relief flooded through me, and I pulled myself out of his grip.
He didn’t wake up as I got off the bed.
My heart was racing as my mind tried to put together what had just happened. Was he secretly into me this whole time? I remembered getting shades of it when we were at that secret bar, not knowing if that sparkle in his eye was for me or Reese when we made the plan.
I shook the thought away as I tilted him onto his side, then covered him with a blanket.
He was out cold. I checked his pulse, just to make sure he was still alive. Satisfied by his beating heart under his smooth neck, I got up and left.
I called another Lyft, courtesy of the production company, and was back at the beach within a few minutes.
The party was dying down, and the only ones on the beach left were Mason and Alina. I was disappointed that Leo was gone, and felt a red hot anger stir within me at Oliver.
He’d wasted my time; squandered my opportunity to talk to Leo alone.
I trudged my way through the sand and sat on the log next to Alina.
The bonfire, which only half an hour before had been roaring to match Reese’s anger, had now died down to a few glowing embers.
“Look who’s back,” Mason said tauntingly as I settled in.
“Did you not expect me to come back?” I asked, my eyes narrowing at him.
“All I know is that you went back to Oliver’s hotel room,” he said, the light from the embers dancing in his eyes.
“Stop it, Mason,” Alina said, the tiredness lingering in her voice.
“What? I’m just calling it like I see it,” he said, his eyes still dancing with delight.
My hands were shaking. I was so… so incredibly done with drama for tonight that I didn’t know how much more I could take. I was exhausted. Maybe that’s why I snapped, “Why, you jealous?”
Alina and Mason both looked at me.
It was like Mason couldn’t believe that I was standing up to his taunts, entering the banter with him. After a few uncomfortable seconds passed, Mason said, “You wish.”
Alina audibly yawned. “Well, I’m tired. I’m going to call it a night.”
I knew what she was doing. Trying to leave me alone with Mason because there was some kind of weird, bantering flirting going on.
“I’ll come with you,” I said quickly, hoping to walk her back to her trailer and then go back to mine.
“Well, I’m not going to be alone out here on the beach,” said Mason smoothly. “I’ll walk back with you.”
Internally I cursed. I was hoping to be with Alina alone so I could catch her up on the drama for the night.
But here we were, the three of us trudging through the sand and towards the glow of the trailers. We did the whole small talk thing, saying we were excited for the shoot tomorrow and all of the offshoots of conversation that were spawned from it. Thankfully it was enough to take up the entire walk.
Dread swelled within me as I realized we’d be dropping Alina off at her trailer first.
Me and Mason would have to be alone together for a few minutes.
There was this weird energy coming off of him like he saw what was about to happen and was delighted by it.
Because I was dreading it, it made it only happen faster. Before I knew it, we were outside Alina’s trailer door, bidding her goodnight.
She went inside and I heard the lock click.
Then it was just me and him.
“So,” he said with his Cheshire Cat grin. “Welcome to the shit show.”
Chapter Fourteen
“If you want to squeeze more secrets out of me, I have to warn you that I’m not in the mood,” I mumbled grumpily.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re in the mood or not,” he said. “This kind of drama — it never stops when you’re in show business. I tried to warn you when we were up on that cliff earlier today…”
“Was that today?” I said sleepily. It felt like this day had lasted an eternity.
Mason chuckled. “Yeah, that feeling never goes away either. The days feel like they last months.”
I walked with him through the sand, following the directions a crew member texted me earlier to find my new trailer.
“Good job on your negotiation earlier, by the way,” Mason said.
“How do you know about that already?” I asked.
“Word gets around fast on the set,” he said slyly. “Plus, it’s me, and I know everything.”
I frowned at his arrogance. “You don’t know everything,” I said. I knew I shouldn’t have baited him like that, because it would only lead to more of his annoying questioning, but I couldn’t resist.
I needed a win.
“Right. You know the one thing I don’t,” he said, watching me carefully. “I’m surprised you’ve been able to keep it from me for this long. Usually, all I have to do is look at people and they tell me anything I need to know.”
“You’re so full of yourself,” I snarled.
Normally I wouldn’t have been this rude to Mason, but I was so exhausted by the
