“Yes?”
He frowns, and then I notice that everybody else seems to be waiting for me. Aidan’s expression curls with unconcealed contempt.
“Your line, Liz.”
Someone giggles, and I swallow, feeling stupid and unprofessional. I say the line from my head, holding his disdainful gaze with a steady one of my own.
With a curl of his lips, he turns away.
Pushing aside my embarrassment, I continue with the rest of the reading. Fine. Let him go out of his way to show me he still hates me for what I did to him.
If only he knew.
He can’t possibly hate me more than I hate myself.
He can’t possibly punish me more than I punished myself these last seven years, knowing that I threw away the best thing that ever happen to me.
After the session, Aidan doesn’t wait to chat. He picks up his notes and strides out of the rehearsal space. Gathering my things, I hurry after him.
At the door to his office, he turns around and sees me trying to catch up. His face hardens.
“Wait…” I reach him before he can close the door. Thankfully, he doesn’t slam it in my face and break my nose.
“What do you want now?”
“To apologize?”
“For what? Your behavior at the presser? Your presence here? Your actions seven years ago?” His laugh is bitter and mocking. “I don’t have the kind of time it would take for you to attempt a decent apology.”
“You can at least let me try.”
“Why?” He takes a step toward me, then stops and his eyes rake me from head to toe. “You know what, Liz? There’s no point. Just leave me alone.”
“I’m sorry about the press thing,” I say quickly, before he turns away. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I was afraid that you’d say something cruel about me before I even had a chance to convince you I’m not the same person I was seven years ago.”
“You’re still the same person.” His voice is almost pitying. “You were afraid I’d say something that wouldn’t be flattering to your image? That’s your explanation?”
When I don’t reply, he continues. “Fuck it, Liz. You’re so out of touch with reality. Don’t you care about anything but how you look to your adoring fans? Are you even real anymore?” His voice drops to a whisper. “Were you ever real?”
I am. I was, and he’s wrong about me. “I care what you think,” I tell him. “I told the whole world how I feel, how I still feel about you. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
He looks tired. “No, it doesn’t. You already told me how you feel about me, remember? You told me loud and clear seven years ago.”
“Aidan…”
“Aidan!”
We both turn toward the female voice at the same time. The newcomer is an attractive woman with a lithe model’s body in a sheath dress and black pumps.
She’s almost as tall as Aidan, and when she walks past me and takes his arm, she plants a slow kiss on his lips.
The granite in his expression relaxes into a smile. He doesn’t bother to introduce me, and she walks through the doorway into his office without a glance in my direction, all the while looking at Aidan with a smile that reeks of familiarity and intimacy.
Jealousy twists my insides. I hadn’t even considered that there would be someone else. How stupid of me. I know he hasn’t been celibate all these years, but seeing him now with another woman, tears at me in a way I never imagined possible.
I want to confront her and tell her Aidan belongs to me.
Except, he doesn’t, and I have no right in the world to feel this crippling jealousy and possessiveness.