Chase Me (Broke and Beautiful #1)(61)

Lena neither agreed nor disagreed with his self-assessment. “Hmm. You can bring her some on your way home. A man shows up with Tupperware, he gets a pass.” She picked up the knife again and brought it down hard on an unsuspecting shrimp. “Except for lying. That’s inexcusable.”

“Right.” He drained the rest of his beer. “There’s another reason I came early.”

Obviously picking up on the serious note in his voice, she looked up at him warily. “Shoot.”

Louis blew out a breath. “You’re my sister and I love you. Honestly, you’re also more than a little crazy upstairs, but I think you already knew that.”

She bobbed her head once. “Continue.”

“As crazy as you are, Lena . . .” He laid a comforting hand on her arm. “You’re not crazy enough to marry Fletcher. Strippers and lying aside, he’s not good enough for you. Not even close.”

“I know. Celeste has been saying the same thing, but I didn’t want to listen.” Tears filled her eyes. “There’s not a lot of guys who’ll put up with my shit.”

“You’re going to do a hell of a lot better than him.” He opened his arms just in time to catch her when she propelled herself across the kitchen. Just managing to hold his ground, he hugged her close. “In the meantime, we’ll have popcorn parties at my place. Okay?”

“ ’kay.”

She stepped back, wiping her eyes, cheeks red with embarrassment. “So, uh . . . what is Roxy rehearsing for? Anything I know?”

He leaned against the counter, grateful she’d changed the subject but depressed by the reminder of his deception in getting Roxy the audition. “Probably. It’s Johan’s new movie.”

“Johan Strassberg? The squirrelly dude who used to follow us around with a camera?” She snorted. “His parents threw those obnoxious lawn parties in the Hamptons. Everyone had to wear white. Remember?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Lena shivered. “That guy always skeeved me. I don’t know why.” She popped a single finger into the air. “Oh, I remember. Celeste and I caught him filming us in the outdoor shower once at a pool party. He wasn’t even ashamed to get caught. Big shit-eating grin on him.”

Unease weighed heavily in his stomach. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“We did. Kind of.” She winced. “Remember when we drove to his house and slashed his tires? It wasn’t because he came in first in the summer camp talent show. Even we aren’t that vindictive. It was for filming us showering and letting everyone watch it on a projector screen.”

“That was Johan’s car?” His words sounded far away. That night had been so long ago that he barely remembered it, half-asleep as he’d been in the backseat. Obviously his memory of it had been pieced together, like parts of a dream.

Lena seemed to misinterpret his silence. “Don’t make a big deal out of it. Everyone sees me naked sooner or later.” She smirked to let him know she was joking. “Either way, he always creeped me out. There was a rumor going around that same summer that his father paid quite a bit of cash to get him clear of some charges. Never found out the reason.” A timer went off on the stove, and she reached over to turn it off. “I always thought it had to do with a girl. Just a feeling.”

Louis straightened away from the counter, feeling slightly dizzy. It seemed as if a golf ball had lodged itself inside his throat, which didn’t help when his breaths had started coming faster. The apartment tilted around him when he thought of Roxy’s reluctance to discuss the rehearsals with Johan. Her stiffness every time he’d brought it up. The lost expression on her face the day in the courthouse . . . immediately following the audition. An audition he’d arranged for her. A shout worked its way up his chest, but he managed to strangle it at the last second.

Lena watched him with concern that slowly turned into recognition. “Go.”





Chapter 21



I DON’T WANT to do this. I don’t want to do this.

Had anyone who’d ended up on the casting couch ever really wanted to do this, though? What made her any different from them? The day she’d dropped out of school and come home to collect her things, her mother had told her. Told her she was just another girl with dreams too big for her capabilities. Had she been right? Maybe this was all she had. Maybe she’d been headed straight here ever since that day, and all the auditions had been a complete waste of time.

Johan’s hand grazed her backside, settling there more firmly when the words that would reject his touch stuck in her throat. Her stomach pitched violently. It would be over in twenty minutes, tops. Right? Then she could go home and scrub him away in the shower, bury herself under the covers until the sun came up. She’d been with losers before. She could just close her eyes and pretend it wasn’t happening. No one would know.

I’d know. I’m better than this.

The little voice she’d been ignoring broke through the fog bank of self-pity. She’d come to New York to survive on her own. If she slept with Johan and retained the part, it wouldn’t be as a result of honest work or a reflection of her talent. It would be a cheap win. He’d be handing her the role in exchange for her dignity. Nothing was worth that.

And dammit, she couldn’t let another man touch her when she could still feel Louis’s hands on her skin, his breath in her ear. It might make her pathetic, but she wanted—needed—to savor those memories, hold them to her, as long as she could.