Her expression changed to shock before quickly turning to anger. “Celeste,” she practically growled.

“What about her? As far as I can tell, Celeste is the most decent person I know here. You, on the other hand—”

Brina jabbed a finger into my chest as her cheeks flamed. “I what? Huh, Tatum? So I got rid of her. You were never going to get back together with me as long as she was still around, so I did what I had to do. Any girl would have done the same thing.”

I saw red. Everything that spewed from this delusional woman’s mouth only fueled my quickly building temper. “Brina, listen to me and listen well. We are never getting back together. You and me? That shit’s old news.”

Putting on a practiced pout, Brina said, “Are you trying to tell me you don’t still love me? Because I don’t believe you.”

Tempted to pull my hair out strand by strand, I leaned toward her, my mouth mere inches from hers as if I were leaning in for a kiss, but I felt nothing but anger. “I don’t love you, haven’t loved you for years. We’re done. We’ve been done. The only reason you’re acting like this is because it’s the first time you’ve seen someone else want me. And not just any someone, but Paige.”

“Oh, please, like that’s going anywhere. She’s gone now, and we can—” She reached out and touched her fingers to my cheek, but I jerked back as if it burned.

“Don’t touch me.”

“Why are you being like this?”

Frustrated at how clueless she was, I spat out, “Are you on drugs? No, seriously, are you on something that makes it impossible for you to live in reality? Have you heard a single word I’ve said?”

Scuffing at the dirt with her boots, she said, “I heard you. I just don’t believe you.” She tilted her head flirtatiously and pulled out the smile that used to do me in every time.

Disgusted, I shook my head. “I don’t know what else to say to you. I don’t want you. I don’t love you. And I think you’re a bad person,” I added with a shrug.

Apparently that shot hit its mark. Brina narrowed her eyes at me as she hooked her hands on her hips. “Oh, right, I’m a bad person because I got rid of my competition. Because I made sure the one person who didn’t belong here in this town left. She wasn’t going to stay anyway, Tatum. God, I did you a favor!”

“The fact that that’s how you justify your behavior speaks volumes about your character, Brina. I don’t know what I ever saw in you.” I raked my gaze up and down her body and knew immediately what I’d seen in her as a kid. Unfortunately for her, that wasn’t enough for me anymore.

“Stop saying that!” Her eyes filled with unshed tears as she looked up at me.

That old trick used to work with me, but not anymore. “I won’t. I don’t want you.”

“What do you want then? You want her?” she spat out.

My breath hitched as I looked Brina straight in the eyes. “Hell yes, I want her. And I was actually on my way to go get her before you interrupted. So I need to go.”

I turned away from Brina’s shocked expression and walked back toward my mom’s house a short distance away.

“It will never work!” she shouted at me as I walked away. “You’ll be back here in a week, begging me to take you back.”

I did my best to ignore her words because they mirrored my worst fears.

“Don’t hold your breath, sweetheart. You’ll die. Guaranteed,” I shouted over my shoulder as I pulled open the screen door with new resolve.

I’d prove them all wrong. Especially myself.

Find Somebody New

Paige

I’d spent the last few days laying low in my apartment, except for the single afternoon and evening I’d spent at my parents’ house. Despite the paparazzi camping out on the street, it was really nice to be home and enjoy the comfort of my supportive family.

My mom had agreed with Quinn about the open letter to my fans on my website, and my sister thought it was the perfect thing to do to reach them directly. She said that they would love reading something like that from the person they admired, so I’d spent half the day writing and rewriting it so it would be perfect. It would be a personal message from me, in my own words, that I could continue to add to if necessary. Or I could just let it stand on its own and be done with the whole situation.

It felt good to take control of my life, to be in charge of my reputation in the public eye. I sat on my bed with my legs crossed, typing away at the laptop on my lap as my mom walked into my room and sat down next to me.

“Have you heard from him?” she asked.

My fingers froze on the keys as I sucked in a breath. At least she was thoughtful enough not to mention his name.

“No.” I turned to her and blinked away the tears that threatened, but that was harder to do considering who I was talking to. Confiding in your mom about things made it that much more emotional. You could be vulnerable with your family in ways you couldn’t with others.

“I’m sorry, honey. I can’t imagine what that boy’s going through with you gone,” she said as she pulled me close and kissed the top of my head.

“What do you mean?”

“I just think that you were probably like a tornado of the best kind, coming into his life and ruffling him all up, and then leaving just as quick as you touched down. He probably doesn’t know what the heck to do with himself.”

“Are you defending him? He pretty much shoved me out the door and into Colin’s arms. It was embarrassing,” I admitted.

“I know, honey. But he’s a man. And they tend to make a lot of mistakes,” she said with a light laugh that only irritated me.

“I don’t want to talk about Tatum right now. I need to focus on fixing my career and everything I’ve worked so hard to build professionally. Then I’ll deal with my heart.”

Mom nodded. “Fair enough. So in that regard, I don’t think you should tell Jayson or Corryn about the letter,” she warned, and I agreed.

“Honestly, I wasn’t planning on it.”

“Good. I’m not sure how I feel about those two anymore.” She frowned, her concern causing wrinkles to form around her eyes and mouth.

“Well, if they know I’m planning on posting this, they’ll try to book me on every entertainment show and website to talk about it. Anything to garner extra attention,” I said, unable to hide my sarcasm.

No way would I let that happen; I wanted to keep Tatum and his town to myself. There were things I was willing to share, but Tatum wasn’t one of them.

“And I’m not sure they’re the best people to have in my corner.” With a sigh, I added, “I honestly don’t know if they ever were.”

Mom gave me a sad look. “I’m so sorry, honey. I feel like I should have taken better care of you, watched out for you more. When your career took off, you had to grow up so fast.” She wrapped one arm around me and squeezed.

Hugging her back, I said, “Mom, you didn’t do anything wrong. I believe that my team should grow with me and want the best for me, but I’m just now realizing that they don’t. We were both duped when it came to Jayson. He’s good at his job. You didn’t know he was like this any more than I did.”

“When’d you get so smart, huh?” she asked with a smile.

I grinned back at her. “Probably at birth. I come from good stock, after all.”

My phone vibrated, and I glanced down to see Madison Myers flashing on my caller ID.

Scrunching my face in apology, I said, “I need to take this. It’s Madison Myers. She’s an agent.” I pushed up from my bed and closed the door after Mom slipped out. “Hello?”

“Paige, it’s Madison Myers,” she breathed out, her voice instantly soothing me.

“Hey, Madison, how are you?”

She laughed. “I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about.”

I shuddered. “Oh. The tabloids, you mean? It’s not true.” My shoulders slumped forward as I realized that everyone who ever knew me in this town probably believed what was being reported about me.