Can't Take My Eyes Off You, page 7
I don’t. ‘Not funny.’
‘I know, I’m sorry.’ He kisses me again.
‘I didn’t think I’d get to see you tonight since I refused to go out.’
‘We’re filming,’ he says. ‘If they want us to go out, we go out, but I kept an eye on the time and slipped out when I had the chance. I was going to text you, but time got away from me, and after our phone call didn’t go the way I’d hoped, I wasn’t sure you’d want to see me tonight. It’s why I snuck in. I wanted to surprise you.’
Our phone call wasn’t that bad. Just the usual me refusing to hang out with him and his ass-face friends and residual feelings that I fight off, so I feel I’m in control of the situation.
‘We can’t keep doing holiday freebies, Will. Do you have any idea how many there are? Next thing I’ll know we’ll be honoring Grandparents’ Day with an old-fashioned freebie bang. I can’t.’
He laughs, but then goes serious. ‘You really want me to leave?’
‘No,’ I say quietly.
‘Tell me what you want, Berkley.’
Finally, I give in, sliding a hand over his ribcage, to pull myself closer to him, kissing his chest. He closes his eyes as I do, breathing out what feels like a sigh of relief.
‘I want to be with you,’ I say truthfully. ‘But it’s counting as our second relapse, because as you just said, it’s getting too difficult to walk away.’
He frowns. ‘Alright. So for tonight, we’re the old us again?’
‘Yep,’ I say.
‘Then I can finally say the words I want to. I love you,’ he says, hopeful.
‘I know, Will. I know.’ I might not be able to say the words, but that doesn’t stop me from kissing him back when his lips meet mine because I apparently have zero willpower. Pun. Intended.
8
WILL
‘What can I get you two to drink?’ a waitress says as she stops at the end of our table.
I glance at Berkley, her hair braided and pulled over her shoulder as she looks at the menu. Even fresh out of bed, with yesterday’s makeup on, she’s still gorgeous. I insisted I take her to breakfast because I hate leaving like I’m a one-night stand for her and even though last night was otherworldly, that’s what this morning feels like.
‘Coffee?’ she asks.
I hold up two fingers to the waitress.
‘I’ll be right back,’ the waitress says, flashing me an I know who you are smile.
‘Another of your fans,’ Berkley says, with a roll of her eyes. She hates the fan thing. I can’t say I blame her. If random men were swarming our table for a moment with her, I’m sure I’d be jealous as hell.
‘A part of the gig I can’t control,’ I say.
She’s looking over her menu at me, her eyes lingering as she studies me. ‘It’s that pretty face of yours,’ she says with a coy smile. ‘By the way, I still like the glasses more than the contacts. I almost forgot how super-hot Clark Kent they make you.’
I reach across the table to touch her hand. ‘I love that you think I’m super-hot ’cause I think you’re super-duper-hot.’ Now that she’s given me a window of opportunity, am I going to flirt like a kid in love? Abso-fucking-lutely.
She grins.
I do usually wear contacts. When I don’t, I have nerdy black-framed glasses she helped me pick out years ago. If I’m going out and don’t really want people recognizing me, which has only become a problem recently, these glasses, baseball caps and my favorite hoodies help me hide. And the occasional fake ’stache. I gotta make my girl smile.
‘Flush my contacts more often, and the glasses will magically appear,’ I say. Lucky for me, I keep a backup pair in my Jeep.
She grimaces. ‘I can’t believe I did that. I’ll buy you more.’
‘No, you won’t. I have plenty at my apartment.’
For a second we sit silently, looking around the diner, waiting on our coffee to wake us up completely.
‘Do you think we’ll be like this forever?’ she asks, suddenly changing the subject.
‘Describe this?’ I say, sitting back when the waitress brings a pot of coffee and two cups to our table.
The front door of the diner dings open, interrupting our conversation and earning a groan from each of us at the sight of the newcomers. Mike, Felicity and Finn walk in. This is a regular haunt because the diner is open twenty-four-seven, but I didn’t think they’d show up this early on New Year’s Day.
‘Well, throw some toes in the air. Spanky and the rest of the fuckwit gang is here,’ Berkley says under her breath, making herself busy pouring us each a cup of coffee.
I laugh to myself, but keep my co-stars in my sights. Felicity’s gaze is on Berkley. She walks across the room like she’s walking a runway, wearing the same dress she was last night, so I bet they haven’t even been home yet. Her heels tap on the floor as she struts our way.
‘I swear that woman exists just to be my nemesis. Why’s she hate me so much?’ Berkley whispers.
‘Because you own my heart and she wants it.’
‘The balls on that girl. She’s got some big ones, I’ll give her that.’
The two women’s faces drop when their eyes meet. Yep, they are not and will never be friends. That’s what this looks says, clear as day. Comparing them would be like comparing cucumbers and oranges. There are no similarities. Berkley is prettier by a mile, she makes me laugh, she has a soul and I’d rather be sitting next to her than Felicity any day.
Mike and I acknowledge one another’s presence silently as he leads the double Fs through the place like he owns it to a booth at the back. Behind us, thankfully. Jonah, our lead camera guy, follows them. He gives me a nod, panning the camera to Berkley and me as he walks past. Heads of other customers turn, glancing between the five of us, attempting to figure out why the camera is even here.
Felicity stops at our booth, her eyes on Berkley. ‘Well, if it isn’t my least favorite person in the world, buzzkill Berkley,’ she says, her tone less than thrilled. ‘I thought you’d finally jumped off a cliff.’
‘And I wish you’d swim into a boat motor,’ Berx says with a smile. ‘Farcical Felicity.’
I can’t help but chuckle. I’m one thousand percent certain Felicity doesn’t even know the word ‘farcical’.
‘You’re a waste of mine and Will’s time. You should really think about that cliff thing.’
‘I’ll rent you a boat.’ Berkley doesn’t back down and finally Felicity wanders off, towards the table Mike and Finn are at.
‘Ugh. I hate her, Will. I feel like there’s about to be a gang shooting,’ Berkley whispers to me. ‘I should probably just go,’ she says, attempting to scoot out of our booth, but I’m bigger than her and sitting right next to her, blocking her in. If I wasn’t, she’d be out the front door already.
‘Stay,’ I tell her, sliding my hand down her thigh. ‘With you is where I want to be and I don’t care who on the planet knows it.’
She rolls her eyes. ‘As sweet as that is, do you have any idea how much hate mail I’m going to get when this airs? Two of my photos have gone out into the world connected to you and fans didn’t hesitate to let me know they hate me. I had to lock down all my social media accounts recently.’
We, er, I, in particular, make the tabloids pretty regularly, so I get why she’s nervous. Berkley’s only made a couple accidental appearances on season one. Brief – mostly because the first time she showed up while filming, Cole (one of our producers) rushed her through an appearance agreement without explanation. She meant to cancel it, but figured her identity is now out there as someone in my life, and you can’t really take that back. Felicity also hasn’t exactly made it a secret that they both pine for the same guy. I can’t believe people are harassing her.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘’Cause you don’t get to know everything anymore, William. Plus, it’s humiliating. They think I’m the loser here.’
‘You are not a loser.’ I lean into her, kissing the top of her head. ‘Top-of-the-line security system. By the end of the week. I promise.’
‘That’ll definitely fix everything, thanks,’ she says sarcastically like she’s lost all hope.
‘Berx, look at me.’ I throw an arm over the back of the seat behind us.
Reluctantly, she glances at me. Berkley’s never been a do-as-I-say kind of girl. I love that about her. I also love that she knows despite my fucked-up way of showing it, I’d never let anyone hurt her. Maybe I’ve made all the wrong decisions lately, but my whole heart belongs to this girl.
‘Promise me you’ll tell me when you’re scared of something, alright? Call me. Text me, whatever. I will drop everything to help you.’
Her laugh isn’t jolly.
‘We both know that’s not entirely true.’ She looks away from me as she says the words, stirring her coffee with her spoon.
I have failed her in the past; I know this. Not only was doing the show a total mistake, but a few times, she’s called, and I either wasn’t near my phone, had it on silent, or was too intoxicated to help her.
‘I fucked up, baby. I know this, but I can’t go back. None of us expected the show to blow up like it did. I have to see it out now.’
‘Have to or want to?’ she asks, our food being delivered interrupting us.
‘I’ll check back in on ya, sweetie.’ The waitress winks at me, touching my shoulder, completely ignoring Berkley, who lets out an irritated groan.
‘I love you, Berkley,’ I say into her ear. I know she’s asked me not to say those words as it’s a violation of rule number whatever, but I can’t not say them to her. It’s like an urge I can’t stop and technically we’re still living relapse number two. ‘Please let me in a little more?’
She closes her eyes momentarily before sitting up, ignoring my request and picking up her fork.
I sigh, a little discouraged, planting my hand on her thigh again and sliding it down to her knee. A hint of a smile turns her lips as she looks my way. We don’t say anything. We don’t have to. We feel exactly the same way, and the fact that we can’t figure this out is killing us.
9
BERKLEY
Six Months Later, June 2021
PDX ROYALS FANS – CAT-FIGHT ALERT
Did you see last week’s episode, Royals fans? We’ve finally discovered where Willy’s head is at. On his longtime girlfriend (now ex), Berkley Kaine! She’s been spotted a couple of times now as being closely related to someone on the show but looks like that relation isn’t by blood. We did some research and we know these two dated since their teen years and broke up just before Will decided to do the show. Bryce and Bianca, friends of Willy’s, have been in the background of the show since the start, but we had no idea Bianca had a fraternal twin sister who holds Willy’s heart. The woman is beautiful too, unsurprising considering Will is a stunner himself.
What we didn’t know, until recently, is that she and Felicity are not fans of one another. We don’t know the exact story, but if we had to guess, who could blame them? They’re pining after the same man! And I’m not sure Willy’s going to let Berkley go so easily even though it seems she is attempting to keep her distance from all things Royals. This smells like DRAMA and we love it!
I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of her soon with the way Willy has latched on to a bottle of booze. (We previewed tonight’s episode – trust us, she’s there.) Can she help him? Or will Felicity swoop in and save the day? We don’t know, but we can’t wait to find out.
The show airs on E! every Sunday at 9:00 p.m. PST.
My phone dings with an incoming text on the counter in front of me. Will’s face flashes across the screen. I tap his text, clicking on the link he’s sent over. It takes me to a tabloid magazine website, where my face stares back at me. I knew that stupid fight would make the show.
CAT-FIGHT ALERT
Shit.
‘Liv!’ I yell her name through the shop. Longtime girlfriend? Where the hell did they get that? If Bianca blew my cover, she will hear about it.
After a minute, Liv pops out of an aisle in her section. ‘What?’
‘There’s a photo on a tabloid site of Will and me.’ I watch the stupid show; I knew it was coming. I just didn’t think the tabloids would pick it up the way they did.
‘Oh yeah?’ she asks excitedly, speed-walking my way, her arms overloaded with books she’s stocking. She dumps the books onto the front counter, grabbing my phone from me and looking at the photo.
‘How’d you find this?’ She backs out of the website and frowns, glancing up at me with a disappointed look on her face. ‘You’re texting Will? I thought you were trying to quit him?’
‘I am trying.’ We no longer speak every day. I’ve limited it to once a week and texting mid-week is against that new rule. Usually, we text on the day the show airs because he gets to preview it first and warn me of whatever will piss me off.
‘Did you read the headline?’ I ask her, ignoring her chastising of my and Will’s relationship. Whatever it is. ‘Longtime girlfriend?’ I ask. ‘That’s the first time they’ve ever referred to me as Will’s girlfriend.’
‘They were bound to find out at some point. Honestly, I’m a little surprised it took them this long. At least it’s a good photo.’
‘I guess. I mean, this makes it a bit weird, doesn’t it? Not to mention that I’m on tonight’s episode as well. How did this spiral out of control when all I wanted was to not be a part of the show?’
‘You can’t quit the star,’ she says like I’m a dumbass. ‘That’s the problem. If people are jealous, screw ’em. Is it your fault you can pull in some hot-as-fuck tail? No, it’s not. People would be high-fiving you in the streets if you were a dude.’
I scrunch my face. ‘But instead, I’m seen as his backup girl. The one fighting the princess for him. Ugh.’
My phone buzzes in her hand. ‘It’s him,’ Olivia says. ‘Prince Willy.’ She grimaces as she says his name. ‘He says, “Call me please”. Pfft, she’ll call you when she wants to call you, and you’ll deal with it,’ she says to his message.
‘Stop,’ I say, grabbing my phone from her. ‘We’re grown-ups. And we’re friends. We talk shit out.’ I lift the phone to my ear and wait for him to answer. One ring.
‘Hey.’ His voice alone melts me.
‘You do know your phone dials out too, right?’ I ask. ‘You could have just called.’
‘It’s completely my fault you’ve been identified so I thought that warranted a phone-call apology. My publicist wants a straight answer: are we or aren’t we an item?’ he asks hesitantly like he’s unsure he wants to know the answers to any of his questions.
‘We are not an item and you know that.’
He’s silent for a moment, contemplating my words. ‘Alright,’ he finally says. ‘Can I at least confirm we’re friends?’ He sighs heavily. I can almost see him running his hand through his hair in frustration.
‘I mean, I guess you have to, don’t you?’
‘It’d be smart to get on top of it.’
‘That’s what she said,’ I say with a laugh.
He chuckles. ‘For what it’s worth, I’m sorry this is headed the exact direction you didn’t want it to but my feelings haven’t changed. I didn’t cringe seeing us together until Felicity walked into that diner and ruined our moment.’
‘I know. Next time I’ll be smarter about being in public with you. Perhaps we should just cancel our final “relapse” and call it quits now before this gets worse?’
‘Are you serious? During our birthday month?’
My heart sinks. Will’s birthday and mine are a few weeks apart and they’re both coming up.
‘We’re one year in, William, and things have gone awry. How much worse will it get if we keep going?’
He thinks on this before saying, ‘I’ll agree on one condition.’
‘What’s that?’
‘You come over here for one night. I’ll sneak you in. No one will ever know you’re here and afterwards, we’ll take a break until the show is over. Fair?’
I sigh heavily, looking up from my phone to Olivia. She frowns, reaching out to touch my hand.
‘Fine, but under the dark of night, William. Promise?’
‘Absolutely,’ he says.
‘Then I guess it’s set. Text me the details and I’ll be there.’
‘Alright, and Berkley… I still love you.’
‘Yeah, that’s what you keep saying…’ I moan. Love sucks. Like truly. Zero stars.
10
BERKLEY
I’m at Bianca’s with Olivia at her and Bryce’s apartment. It’s about six blocks from my bookstore and four blocks from Will’s apartment building, sitting near the middle ground. We have Royals watch parties so I don’t have to go through it alone. Plus Bryce loves to see himself on television.
It seems I’ve acquired some fans recently because I’ve appeared on a few episodes now. Barely. Like glimpses, yet the paparazzi misses nothing. Because the show sometimes hurts, we’ve even created a drinking game to play while we watch. Anytime Will refers to me on the show, we drink. I leave here either tipsy, or a little bit heartbroken, a lot.
Tonight, I’m making an appearance. One of the producers, Cole, has befriended both Will and me, taking a personal interest in the complications of our relationship. When Will gets overly intoxicated, Cole will call me and have me talk him down. You could say I’m his drunken fairy godmother.
After the little diner incident, I called another ‘no face-to-face visits’ penalty for fear that exactly what happened would happen. Not long after, I got a call from Cole that Will was not in a good place and had been in a fight in a bar. I did see him that night but only long enough to find his car, then drive him home and into bed. This is the scene on tonight’s show. I then snuck out when he finally passed out.
‘I know, I’m sorry.’ He kisses me again.
‘I didn’t think I’d get to see you tonight since I refused to go out.’
‘We’re filming,’ he says. ‘If they want us to go out, we go out, but I kept an eye on the time and slipped out when I had the chance. I was going to text you, but time got away from me, and after our phone call didn’t go the way I’d hoped, I wasn’t sure you’d want to see me tonight. It’s why I snuck in. I wanted to surprise you.’
Our phone call wasn’t that bad. Just the usual me refusing to hang out with him and his ass-face friends and residual feelings that I fight off, so I feel I’m in control of the situation.
‘We can’t keep doing holiday freebies, Will. Do you have any idea how many there are? Next thing I’ll know we’ll be honoring Grandparents’ Day with an old-fashioned freebie bang. I can’t.’
He laughs, but then goes serious. ‘You really want me to leave?’
‘No,’ I say quietly.
‘Tell me what you want, Berkley.’
Finally, I give in, sliding a hand over his ribcage, to pull myself closer to him, kissing his chest. He closes his eyes as I do, breathing out what feels like a sigh of relief.
‘I want to be with you,’ I say truthfully. ‘But it’s counting as our second relapse, because as you just said, it’s getting too difficult to walk away.’
He frowns. ‘Alright. So for tonight, we’re the old us again?’
‘Yep,’ I say.
‘Then I can finally say the words I want to. I love you,’ he says, hopeful.
‘I know, Will. I know.’ I might not be able to say the words, but that doesn’t stop me from kissing him back when his lips meet mine because I apparently have zero willpower. Pun. Intended.
8
WILL
‘What can I get you two to drink?’ a waitress says as she stops at the end of our table.
I glance at Berkley, her hair braided and pulled over her shoulder as she looks at the menu. Even fresh out of bed, with yesterday’s makeup on, she’s still gorgeous. I insisted I take her to breakfast because I hate leaving like I’m a one-night stand for her and even though last night was otherworldly, that’s what this morning feels like.
‘Coffee?’ she asks.
I hold up two fingers to the waitress.
‘I’ll be right back,’ the waitress says, flashing me an I know who you are smile.
‘Another of your fans,’ Berkley says, with a roll of her eyes. She hates the fan thing. I can’t say I blame her. If random men were swarming our table for a moment with her, I’m sure I’d be jealous as hell.
‘A part of the gig I can’t control,’ I say.
She’s looking over her menu at me, her eyes lingering as she studies me. ‘It’s that pretty face of yours,’ she says with a coy smile. ‘By the way, I still like the glasses more than the contacts. I almost forgot how super-hot Clark Kent they make you.’
I reach across the table to touch her hand. ‘I love that you think I’m super-hot ’cause I think you’re super-duper-hot.’ Now that she’s given me a window of opportunity, am I going to flirt like a kid in love? Abso-fucking-lutely.
She grins.
I do usually wear contacts. When I don’t, I have nerdy black-framed glasses she helped me pick out years ago. If I’m going out and don’t really want people recognizing me, which has only become a problem recently, these glasses, baseball caps and my favorite hoodies help me hide. And the occasional fake ’stache. I gotta make my girl smile.
‘Flush my contacts more often, and the glasses will magically appear,’ I say. Lucky for me, I keep a backup pair in my Jeep.
She grimaces. ‘I can’t believe I did that. I’ll buy you more.’
‘No, you won’t. I have plenty at my apartment.’
For a second we sit silently, looking around the diner, waiting on our coffee to wake us up completely.
‘Do you think we’ll be like this forever?’ she asks, suddenly changing the subject.
‘Describe this?’ I say, sitting back when the waitress brings a pot of coffee and two cups to our table.
The front door of the diner dings open, interrupting our conversation and earning a groan from each of us at the sight of the newcomers. Mike, Felicity and Finn walk in. This is a regular haunt because the diner is open twenty-four-seven, but I didn’t think they’d show up this early on New Year’s Day.
‘Well, throw some toes in the air. Spanky and the rest of the fuckwit gang is here,’ Berkley says under her breath, making herself busy pouring us each a cup of coffee.
I laugh to myself, but keep my co-stars in my sights. Felicity’s gaze is on Berkley. She walks across the room like she’s walking a runway, wearing the same dress she was last night, so I bet they haven’t even been home yet. Her heels tap on the floor as she struts our way.
‘I swear that woman exists just to be my nemesis. Why’s she hate me so much?’ Berkley whispers.
‘Because you own my heart and she wants it.’
‘The balls on that girl. She’s got some big ones, I’ll give her that.’
The two women’s faces drop when their eyes meet. Yep, they are not and will never be friends. That’s what this looks says, clear as day. Comparing them would be like comparing cucumbers and oranges. There are no similarities. Berkley is prettier by a mile, she makes me laugh, she has a soul and I’d rather be sitting next to her than Felicity any day.
Mike and I acknowledge one another’s presence silently as he leads the double Fs through the place like he owns it to a booth at the back. Behind us, thankfully. Jonah, our lead camera guy, follows them. He gives me a nod, panning the camera to Berkley and me as he walks past. Heads of other customers turn, glancing between the five of us, attempting to figure out why the camera is even here.
Felicity stops at our booth, her eyes on Berkley. ‘Well, if it isn’t my least favorite person in the world, buzzkill Berkley,’ she says, her tone less than thrilled. ‘I thought you’d finally jumped off a cliff.’
‘And I wish you’d swim into a boat motor,’ Berx says with a smile. ‘Farcical Felicity.’
I can’t help but chuckle. I’m one thousand percent certain Felicity doesn’t even know the word ‘farcical’.
‘You’re a waste of mine and Will’s time. You should really think about that cliff thing.’
‘I’ll rent you a boat.’ Berkley doesn’t back down and finally Felicity wanders off, towards the table Mike and Finn are at.
‘Ugh. I hate her, Will. I feel like there’s about to be a gang shooting,’ Berkley whispers to me. ‘I should probably just go,’ she says, attempting to scoot out of our booth, but I’m bigger than her and sitting right next to her, blocking her in. If I wasn’t, she’d be out the front door already.
‘Stay,’ I tell her, sliding my hand down her thigh. ‘With you is where I want to be and I don’t care who on the planet knows it.’
She rolls her eyes. ‘As sweet as that is, do you have any idea how much hate mail I’m going to get when this airs? Two of my photos have gone out into the world connected to you and fans didn’t hesitate to let me know they hate me. I had to lock down all my social media accounts recently.’
We, er, I, in particular, make the tabloids pretty regularly, so I get why she’s nervous. Berkley’s only made a couple accidental appearances on season one. Brief – mostly because the first time she showed up while filming, Cole (one of our producers) rushed her through an appearance agreement without explanation. She meant to cancel it, but figured her identity is now out there as someone in my life, and you can’t really take that back. Felicity also hasn’t exactly made it a secret that they both pine for the same guy. I can’t believe people are harassing her.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘’Cause you don’t get to know everything anymore, William. Plus, it’s humiliating. They think I’m the loser here.’
‘You are not a loser.’ I lean into her, kissing the top of her head. ‘Top-of-the-line security system. By the end of the week. I promise.’
‘That’ll definitely fix everything, thanks,’ she says sarcastically like she’s lost all hope.
‘Berx, look at me.’ I throw an arm over the back of the seat behind us.
Reluctantly, she glances at me. Berkley’s never been a do-as-I-say kind of girl. I love that about her. I also love that she knows despite my fucked-up way of showing it, I’d never let anyone hurt her. Maybe I’ve made all the wrong decisions lately, but my whole heart belongs to this girl.
‘Promise me you’ll tell me when you’re scared of something, alright? Call me. Text me, whatever. I will drop everything to help you.’
Her laugh isn’t jolly.
‘We both know that’s not entirely true.’ She looks away from me as she says the words, stirring her coffee with her spoon.
I have failed her in the past; I know this. Not only was doing the show a total mistake, but a few times, she’s called, and I either wasn’t near my phone, had it on silent, or was too intoxicated to help her.
‘I fucked up, baby. I know this, but I can’t go back. None of us expected the show to blow up like it did. I have to see it out now.’
‘Have to or want to?’ she asks, our food being delivered interrupting us.
‘I’ll check back in on ya, sweetie.’ The waitress winks at me, touching my shoulder, completely ignoring Berkley, who lets out an irritated groan.
‘I love you, Berkley,’ I say into her ear. I know she’s asked me not to say those words as it’s a violation of rule number whatever, but I can’t not say them to her. It’s like an urge I can’t stop and technically we’re still living relapse number two. ‘Please let me in a little more?’
She closes her eyes momentarily before sitting up, ignoring my request and picking up her fork.
I sigh, a little discouraged, planting my hand on her thigh again and sliding it down to her knee. A hint of a smile turns her lips as she looks my way. We don’t say anything. We don’t have to. We feel exactly the same way, and the fact that we can’t figure this out is killing us.
9
BERKLEY
Six Months Later, June 2021
PDX ROYALS FANS – CAT-FIGHT ALERT
Did you see last week’s episode, Royals fans? We’ve finally discovered where Willy’s head is at. On his longtime girlfriend (now ex), Berkley Kaine! She’s been spotted a couple of times now as being closely related to someone on the show but looks like that relation isn’t by blood. We did some research and we know these two dated since their teen years and broke up just before Will decided to do the show. Bryce and Bianca, friends of Willy’s, have been in the background of the show since the start, but we had no idea Bianca had a fraternal twin sister who holds Willy’s heart. The woman is beautiful too, unsurprising considering Will is a stunner himself.
What we didn’t know, until recently, is that she and Felicity are not fans of one another. We don’t know the exact story, but if we had to guess, who could blame them? They’re pining after the same man! And I’m not sure Willy’s going to let Berkley go so easily even though it seems she is attempting to keep her distance from all things Royals. This smells like DRAMA and we love it!
I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of her soon with the way Willy has latched on to a bottle of booze. (We previewed tonight’s episode – trust us, she’s there.) Can she help him? Or will Felicity swoop in and save the day? We don’t know, but we can’t wait to find out.
The show airs on E! every Sunday at 9:00 p.m. PST.
My phone dings with an incoming text on the counter in front of me. Will’s face flashes across the screen. I tap his text, clicking on the link he’s sent over. It takes me to a tabloid magazine website, where my face stares back at me. I knew that stupid fight would make the show.
CAT-FIGHT ALERT
Shit.
‘Liv!’ I yell her name through the shop. Longtime girlfriend? Where the hell did they get that? If Bianca blew my cover, she will hear about it.
After a minute, Liv pops out of an aisle in her section. ‘What?’
‘There’s a photo on a tabloid site of Will and me.’ I watch the stupid show; I knew it was coming. I just didn’t think the tabloids would pick it up the way they did.
‘Oh yeah?’ she asks excitedly, speed-walking my way, her arms overloaded with books she’s stocking. She dumps the books onto the front counter, grabbing my phone from me and looking at the photo.
‘How’d you find this?’ She backs out of the website and frowns, glancing up at me with a disappointed look on her face. ‘You’re texting Will? I thought you were trying to quit him?’
‘I am trying.’ We no longer speak every day. I’ve limited it to once a week and texting mid-week is against that new rule. Usually, we text on the day the show airs because he gets to preview it first and warn me of whatever will piss me off.
‘Did you read the headline?’ I ask her, ignoring her chastising of my and Will’s relationship. Whatever it is. ‘Longtime girlfriend?’ I ask. ‘That’s the first time they’ve ever referred to me as Will’s girlfriend.’
‘They were bound to find out at some point. Honestly, I’m a little surprised it took them this long. At least it’s a good photo.’
‘I guess. I mean, this makes it a bit weird, doesn’t it? Not to mention that I’m on tonight’s episode as well. How did this spiral out of control when all I wanted was to not be a part of the show?’
‘You can’t quit the star,’ she says like I’m a dumbass. ‘That’s the problem. If people are jealous, screw ’em. Is it your fault you can pull in some hot-as-fuck tail? No, it’s not. People would be high-fiving you in the streets if you were a dude.’
I scrunch my face. ‘But instead, I’m seen as his backup girl. The one fighting the princess for him. Ugh.’
My phone buzzes in her hand. ‘It’s him,’ Olivia says. ‘Prince Willy.’ She grimaces as she says his name. ‘He says, “Call me please”. Pfft, she’ll call you when she wants to call you, and you’ll deal with it,’ she says to his message.
‘Stop,’ I say, grabbing my phone from her. ‘We’re grown-ups. And we’re friends. We talk shit out.’ I lift the phone to my ear and wait for him to answer. One ring.
‘Hey.’ His voice alone melts me.
‘You do know your phone dials out too, right?’ I ask. ‘You could have just called.’
‘It’s completely my fault you’ve been identified so I thought that warranted a phone-call apology. My publicist wants a straight answer: are we or aren’t we an item?’ he asks hesitantly like he’s unsure he wants to know the answers to any of his questions.
‘We are not an item and you know that.’
He’s silent for a moment, contemplating my words. ‘Alright,’ he finally says. ‘Can I at least confirm we’re friends?’ He sighs heavily. I can almost see him running his hand through his hair in frustration.
‘I mean, I guess you have to, don’t you?’
‘It’d be smart to get on top of it.’
‘That’s what she said,’ I say with a laugh.
He chuckles. ‘For what it’s worth, I’m sorry this is headed the exact direction you didn’t want it to but my feelings haven’t changed. I didn’t cringe seeing us together until Felicity walked into that diner and ruined our moment.’
‘I know. Next time I’ll be smarter about being in public with you. Perhaps we should just cancel our final “relapse” and call it quits now before this gets worse?’
‘Are you serious? During our birthday month?’
My heart sinks. Will’s birthday and mine are a few weeks apart and they’re both coming up.
‘We’re one year in, William, and things have gone awry. How much worse will it get if we keep going?’
He thinks on this before saying, ‘I’ll agree on one condition.’
‘What’s that?’
‘You come over here for one night. I’ll sneak you in. No one will ever know you’re here and afterwards, we’ll take a break until the show is over. Fair?’
I sigh heavily, looking up from my phone to Olivia. She frowns, reaching out to touch my hand.
‘Fine, but under the dark of night, William. Promise?’
‘Absolutely,’ he says.
‘Then I guess it’s set. Text me the details and I’ll be there.’
‘Alright, and Berkley… I still love you.’
‘Yeah, that’s what you keep saying…’ I moan. Love sucks. Like truly. Zero stars.
10
BERKLEY
I’m at Bianca’s with Olivia at her and Bryce’s apartment. It’s about six blocks from my bookstore and four blocks from Will’s apartment building, sitting near the middle ground. We have Royals watch parties so I don’t have to go through it alone. Plus Bryce loves to see himself on television.
It seems I’ve acquired some fans recently because I’ve appeared on a few episodes now. Barely. Like glimpses, yet the paparazzi misses nothing. Because the show sometimes hurts, we’ve even created a drinking game to play while we watch. Anytime Will refers to me on the show, we drink. I leave here either tipsy, or a little bit heartbroken, a lot.
Tonight, I’m making an appearance. One of the producers, Cole, has befriended both Will and me, taking a personal interest in the complications of our relationship. When Will gets overly intoxicated, Cole will call me and have me talk him down. You could say I’m his drunken fairy godmother.
After the little diner incident, I called another ‘no face-to-face visits’ penalty for fear that exactly what happened would happen. Not long after, I got a call from Cole that Will was not in a good place and had been in a fight in a bar. I did see him that night but only long enough to find his car, then drive him home and into bed. This is the scene on tonight’s show. I then snuck out when he finally passed out.
