Of course not.
I might have my faults, but I wasn’t heartless. I’d just figured out that I had to look after myself because no one else was going to. So, when Devereaux’s people approached me about getting close, promising me some immediate money but also a giant payday and my big break on-screen if I got him to go to Hollywood with me… of course I took him up on the offer.
What he didn’t tell me was that he was also sending his beloved daughter as well.
The moment she showed up in town, I knew what was happening.
I was just backup. I was the inside man he was using to get all the dirt on Brandon and his family while she swooped in and stole what was rightfully mine.
I didn’t think so.
So, I’d done what I’d had to do. It wasn’t like I hadn’t known for ages that Brandon was playing for the other team, and I honestly didn’t care. More power to him. I actually liked him more once I’d realized he wasn’t another dumb jock trying to angle his way into my pants.
The only people who didn’t seem to know he was gay were his bible-thumping mother and his hometown football buddies. I wasn’t even sure Jack knew, and Jack had been his best friend since forever.
It wasn’t exactly a giant leap to guess he wouldn’t want to be outed by the secret photo I’d taken of him and that loser buddy of his, Ryan. Brandon might have been kind and loveable, but he wasn’t dumb. He knew very well what this secret would do to his already cuckoo-for-Cocoa-Puffs mom. She was a die-hard religious zealot, and finding out her son was gay would break her heart and no doubt push her over the edge, if she hadn’t made that leap already.
If I was Brandon, I would have ditched that town with its small-minded townsfolk, the crazy mom who’d gambled all their money away, and the dumb jock he’d been fooling around with who wasn’t nearly hot enough for a guy like Brandon.
So yeah, I’d known from day one about his little secret, and I’d honestly hoped I wouldn’t have to resort to blackmailing the guy to get my way. But… there you had it. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, and this girl?
She wasn’t about to be left behind in Podunk while spoiled Lila walked off with the grand prize.
She hadn’t won a month ago when she’d tried to steal my prize, and she wasn’t going to win now.
I crossed my arms, cutting off the guard’s view of my cleavage.
“Look, loser,” I said, dropping any pretense of politeness. “Just let me in and I promise I won’t tell your boss that you—”
“That’s enough, Amber.”
I spun around to see Tess walking toward me from the back entrance of the patio. “You might have wormed your way into this town with blackmail, but don’t let it go to your head.”
She came to a stop in front of me and I had to blink to register that this was still the Tess I’d talked to a handful of times in Pinedale. Granted, it had always been cloak-and-dagger with her, and it occurred to me now that maybe she’d been playing just as much of a role as I had.
Gone were the nerdy glasses and the oversized cardigan. Her hair was slicked back in a chic bun, and her black dress was simple but elegant.
She was elegant. All understated makeup and bare minimum jewelry. Her whole look made me feel gauche in my shiny, strapless red gown. My dark curls felt overly done and stiff, like I was a goddamn beauty pageant contestant.
Witch. She’d probably done it on purpose. I wouldn’t put anything past a Devereaux.
I jerked my thumb in the direction of the guard, hating the heat that churned in my belly and creeped up my neck. It was a mixture of rage and embarrassment. Shame. I might have signed the contract, aced the audition I’d filmed in my grandparents’ barn—even though we all knew I would have had to suck balls to not get the part. Blackmail was kind of lovely like that. But despite all that—despite that I was here—I still wasn’t allowed in.
I was still the poor, lowly small-town hick with no parents to speak of, no friends who really knew me…
I was still on the outside looking in.
Literally.
“This is my night,” I hissed, ignoring the guard to lean in and jab a finger in her direction.
She didn’t so much as blink. “Then you shouldn’t have been late.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I am one of the stars; you can’t make the announcements without me.”
“She can, and she will,” another voice reached us, high-pitched and breathy, and so familiar it made my skin crawl.
I closed my eyes briefly and took a cool, calming breath. “Oh joy. It’s Lila.”
She was smirking hardcore by the time she joined us. “Something wrong?” she asked, all wide-eyed innocence as she came to a stop beside us.
I narrowed my eyes. “You did this.”
“Guilty.” She raised a hand that sparkled with diamonds, her skin glinting in the overhead lights with some sort of glittery powder or something. With her pale blonde hair wrapped around her head like a crown and her sheer gauzy dress—just see-through enough to be sexy, but simple enough to be sweet—she looked like a walking angel.
I wondered how many others here aside from me knew that she was actually the devil in disguise. Spoiled rotten, entitled, and dumber than a box of rocks, as my grandma used to say.
Though Grandma had said that about me, of course. The wicked old witch.
Lila looked from me to Tess. “What am I interrupting?” Her sweet, breathy voice grew hard. “Were you two pals reminiscing about old times?”
Tess rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh. “Let it go already. I said I was sorry.”
Lila shrugged and turned back to me, eyeing me from head to toe with a snotty little smirk that had my hands clenching at my sides. “Well, well. If it isn’t Podunk Barbie,” she cooed. “All dressed up like it’s the prom.”
My lips curved up in a sneer. “Trying to keep me out of my own party?” I asked. “That’s beneath even you, Lila. What would Brandon say?” I arched my brows, feigning innocence and falling right back into my role of Amber the sweetheart girl-next-door with ease. “Or maybe you two broke up. I mean, there were some rumors floating around about him and that guy… what was his name?”
I tapped my finger to my chin as if I was trying to remember. It wasn’t exactly a subtle reminder of our deal and what was at stake, but right about now? I wasn’t feeling very subtle.
Lila made a sound of disgust. “Ugh, please. This blackmail thing is getting old, don’t you think? It’s the twenty-first century, and Brandon lives in civilization now, not the backwoods hillbilly town you call home. It’s just a matter of time before he feels comfortable enough to come out of the closet, and you, my dear, will have to find some other way to get ahead.”
“I hear casting couches are all the rage,” Tess added mildly.
I let out a hiss, but I caught myself before I could snap back. These two were unbelievable. They’d been worthy opponents back in Pinedale when they were barely speaking and neither knew what the other was up to. But right now? Together? They could be dangerous.
But nothing I couldn’t handle.
“Thanks for the advice,” I said sweetly to Tess. “But I’ll let Lila take the first round on the casting couch if you don’t mind. After all, she’s not the one with the leading role on a TV show.” I turned to Lila. “And we all know that the moment Brandon comes out of the closet—on his own or with my help—you won’t even have a celebrity boyfriend to flaunt.”