Chapter Six

The distance from the set to the dressing room feels agonizingly far as I walk with throbbing temples. Fucking hangover. My eyes water when the white walls of the corridor seem to warp into a vortex. I grab Zette’s arm to steady myself.

“You did good there, Lucy,” she’s been saying but I tune her out in an effort to keep myself composed while there are still eyes on me. “Are you okay?” she asks when I don’t respond.

“Just get me back to the dressing room quickly. I don’t want to be someone who faints after her interview.” My manager nods and leads me on, deftly but politely rejecting anyone who would like to take a picture with me. I breathe a sigh of relief once inside the dressing room. I sink into the swivel chair like a deflated balloon and close my eyes. The throbbing doesn’t disappear, though. It feels like every pulse is a tick to a timer that would blow my skull open.

“Here’s some aspirin.” Katrin shakes my shoulder to wake me from my half-dazed state and hands me a glass of water.

“Lucy, there’s a man outside who wants to talk to you,” Jessa tells me as I pop the medicine into my mouth. I empty the glass of water in long gulps and hand it back to my best friend.

“Tell him I’m not receiving fans at the moment,” I say, massaging my temples. I hear my publicist leave the room but after a minute, she comes back agitatedly.

“He says he must see you now.” I detect a hint of fear in Jessa’s voice. Despite the headache, my interest is peaked. I turn to face her.

“No one demands my presence, Jess. Only the fool does it, only the brave seeks it, but no one gains it. Don’t tell me you forgot that golden rule.”

“I know the golden rule, but you’ve got to see him.”

This arouses my curiosity even more. “Is he someone familiar? Someone I dumped?”

“Hell, no. You wouldn’t have dumped this guy. He. Is. Gorgeous.”

“What’s his name?”

“Wouldn’t give it.”

I cross my arms and tap my heels, thinking. How dare he demand for me in my own lair? Guys who do that are either those who want my attention or those I’ve dumped. He doesn’t seem to belong in either category. I turn to Jessa. “Fine, let him in and I will find out what his problem is. I want every one of you to clear the room. Jess and Kat, you know what to do.”

My best friend’s eyes widen in shock. “You’re not gonna do what I’m thinking, are you?” When I don’t answer, she lunges for me and grabs my shoulders. “Lucy, are you insane? You know you’re within the TV network grounds and whatever happens to you goes right to Jia Collins’s notes. You’re going to be in the next news if you do this.”

I shrug her off. “I don’t care. Remember, he asked for this. Entering hell without my permission means he has to play by my rules. And no one breaks my rules. Not even the devil himself.”