“What’s it like, being Grayson Dunn’s girlfriend?” she asked, clicking the shutter button of her camera phone.
“Swell,” I bit out through clenched teeth, heading for the exit.
“Kat!” Grayson called. “Kat, where are you going?”
His voice was like a gunshot at a track meet — faster than a sprinter off the blocks, I bolted out the door and across the parking lot, weaving through parked cars and golf carts zipping between stages, dodging the bustling crowds of tourists and audience members pouring out the warehouse doors. I ducked down to avoid detection and practically crawled my way to the executive offices… only to find, when I arrived with scraped knees and wild eyes and loose hair, that Wyatt had already left for the day, according to his unenthused personal secretary, Jane, who passed me a water bottle and led me to a conference room to cool off out of sight.
Grayson, Harper, and Masters tracked me down a few moments later. By that point, the pacing had started; now, a half hour later, I can’t seem to make it stop.
“Should I slap her?” Harper asks, sounding a bit too intrigued by the idea for my liking. “They’re always slapping people out of stupors, in the movies.”
“She’s not in a stupor.” Masters sighs. “She’s just processing. Let her process.”
“I don’t know what she needs to process.” Grayson stretches like a cat in the sunshine. “It’s not like this is a death sentence. She’s dating me, not dying of cholera.”
Harper snorts.
My feet freeze. My head spins around and I laser-in on his face with the most lethal look I can conjure.
“Don’t look at me like that, kitten.” He winks. “This is going to be fun. I promise.”
I suck in a breath.
That’s it.
That. Is.It.
“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR GODDAMNED MIND?” I scream at the top of my lungs, throwing my hands up in the air. “I mean it! Of all the asinine, awful, idiotic, infuriating, short-sighted, selfish things you’ve ever done, Grayson Dunn, THIS ONE TAKES THE GRAND FUCKING PRIZE!”
“So… I gather you’re a bit peeved.” He grins again.
“PEEVED?” I roar.
“A tad upset?”
“No, I’m not upset. Upset is too tame a word for what I’m feeling. I’m… I’m… I’mseething. I’mfurious. I’minfuriated.”
“Huh.” He has the nerve to laugh. “And here I was thinking that murderous look in your eyes was all for show.”
I scream incoherently. Distantly, I hear the door click closed — Masters and Harper have fled to give us some privacy — but I don’t pay it any attention. I’m too busy glaring at my co-star.
“Honestly, I don’t see what the big deal is.” Grayson’s face is carefully blank as he pushes to his feet. Even if I gave a damn what he was feeling right now — which I donot— I wouldn’t be able to read his expression. “You were floundering. Eileen’s question threw you off balance. The way I see it, I did you a favor.”
“You didn’t do me a favor!” I growl. “You fabricated a relationship!”
“I did what needed to be done for the movie. For both our careers. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I don’t regret my choice.”
“But it wasn’t just your choice to make! This affects me, too.” I grab my hair at the roots, tempted to pull it out. “I know you’re allergic to commitment and have never been in a relationship, so maybe you don’t realize this, but you can’t justsaywe’re a couple and expect the public to buy it. Now, we actually have to act like a couple. Go places together. Engage in PDA for the paparazzi. Post photos on social media.” I scream again at the thought. “This isn’t some little white lie you tell to make yourself more endearing.I walk shelter dogs on Sundays and read to orphans whenever I have free time.No! This is a life-altering ruse that’s going to mess with every single part of both our lives. Don’t you understand that?”
He shrugs, looking totally unconcerned. “So, we act like a committed couple for the cameras. Still don’t see why you’re freaking out.”
My eyes widen. “You… I…Grayson,” I plead. “Think about this for a second. You won’t get to sleep around. You can’t go to clubs to hook up with slutty girls. You can’t stumble home to your Malibu mansion with a Victoria’s Secret model on each arm at four in the morning.”
“I know that.” His face twists into a scowl. “I’m not a complete idiot.”
“Could’ve fooled me!”
“Stop with the flattery, you’ll make me blush.”