Seth spun around and grabbed Brandon by the lapels. Pinning him against the outside of some random star’s trailer, Seth got in his face. “Don’t you f**kin’ even think about laying a hand on her, Brandon, or I swear to God, I’ll make you live to regret it.”

Brandon shook under Seth’s grasp, and there was no mistaking the look of fear on his face. “Get your hands off me, Seth.”

Seth held him a few seconds longer. Then he released him—not because he didn’t think he couldn’t punch the living daylights out of the ass**le, but because he didn’t have the energy to deal with such an insignificant prick.

Once Brandon was out of Seth’s grasp, he seemed to get his balls back. “Don’t think I don’t have power in this town, Seth. I can f**k you over in a heartbeat. How easy will it be to get a job after I have you dragged off this set by security?”

“Don’t bother. I’m leaving.” He didn’t need Brandon to f**k him over too. He’d already f**ked himself pretty damn good on his own.

Once in his truck, Seth didn’t leave right away. Instead, he waited until he saw the familiar BMW hybrid pull up. Lexie saw him almost at once and tossed him a glance that seemed to say, hold on a minute.

He watched as Lexie escorted Heather out of the car. Heather wore oversized sunglasses, but he knew they hid red, puffy eyes. Another wave of regret rolled through him like nausea and he was almost glad when the object of his affection had walked out of sight.

As he’d hoped, Lexie came back alone shortly after. He pushed the button for the power window to move down as she approached.

“Seth, she doesn’t want to see you. I’ll make sure you get anything you left in the trailer, but I can’t let you in there yourself.”

“I know. I was actually looking for you.”

Her brow arched. “For me?”

“I figure you’re the only one who can tell me what I can do to fix this.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked absently into the distance. “I’m not sure if you can. You screwed up pretty bad.”

“I know.” His knuckles turned white as his hands clutched the steering wheel, even though the car wasn’t on. “Does it matter at all that I…?” He swallowed. “That I honestly love her?”

Lexie cocked her head, seeming only mildly surprised by Seth’s confession of love. “You know her pretty well now. What do you think?”

“I think she doesn’t trust people very easily. And she trusted me.”

“Yep. Your lie erased every bit of that.” She nodded as though she were deciding something. “I’ll tell you what—I’ll do my best to persuade her to talk to you. I don’t know if it will do any good, but I’ll try. You can call me.”

He let out a small sigh of relief. It was something. The best chance he had, anyway. “Thank you, Lexie.”

She smiled then appeared to think better of herself. “Jesus Christ, you’re going to get me fired, you know that? Why am I such a sucker for you?”

“Because you know I’m good for her.”

“You do make her a better person.”

It was Seth’s turn to look into the distance. “She makes me a better person too.”

“Well, right now it’s hard to see that. It seems more like you’re a total shit.” She leaned onto the window frame. “So here’s my advice—show her. Show her you’re a better person.”

Seth’s forehead creased. “How?”

With a shrug, she stood upright. “You’re a smart guy. You’ll figure something out.”

Show her. Lexie’s words echoed in his ears as he watched her walk away, his mind already racing with ideas.

Chapter Twenty

Heather gazed out the window of the Trump Towers Suite overlooking Central Park, rubbing her hands up and down her arms to warm herself. It wasn’t that it was cold, exactly. The weather was actually quite warm for November in New York City. Still, she felt chilled. She’d blame it on the change of climate from L.A. if she hadn’t been cold there as well.

How long had it been since she’d felt warm now?

Almost three weeks. Since the day she watched Seth leave her bedroom.

She turned to the suite’s thermostat and hiked the temp up to seventy-four. From across the room, she felt Lexie’s eyes on her, watching her every move like a nervous hen. It seemed she’d been watching her like that for as long as Heather had felt the chill. Did she really seem that much of a mess? She knew she was inside, but thought she’d managed a pretty decent façade. Guess not.

She sighed and looked at the clock on her phone. Six hours left until check-in at the New York City 24-Hour Plays. That left hours of pretending she was fine. It was easier when she was busy. This downtime was the worst, when all she wanted to do was cry or sleep. Or cry and sleep.

God, how long could this heartache last? She’d only known Seth for three months. She’d been with Collin off and on for two years and didn’t feel a fraction of the anguish she did now. Maybe it was because she’d been betrayed so deeply, but she suspected it was more than that. Like, maybe because Collin wasn’t ever the guy. And Seth was.

“Do you want me to order room service?”

Heather glanced at Lexie, who was still watching her every move. “No, I’m not hungry.”

“Heather, you haven’t eaten all day.” Someday Lexie had to explain how she’d so effectively mastered that motherly tone at her young age. “You need to eat something before the Intros meeting tonight.”

“I already looked at the menu. Nothing looks good.” Heather didn’t need to look at the menu to know nothing looked good. That was another side effect of lost love—no appetite.

“I could order some Chinese. Or pizza. Or anything! This is New York, everything delivers.”

Heather weighed her options for a moment, deciding whether it would take more energy to continue the battle or just give in and eat something. A compromise, maybe. “The only thing I want is a Diet Coke and a bag of Cheetos.” Junk food. Her trainer would go ballistic.

Whatever. Who cared? She certainly didn’t.

“Then I’ll run out and get some. There’s a store on the corner.” Lexie grabbed her purse and coat from the closet, obviously elated that Heather had shown an interest in eating.

A weak surge of satisfaction filled Heather’s chest. At least she’d made Lexie happy.