Playing His Game (The Reynolds Brothers) (24 page)

Fucking Christ, he
is full of himself right now. If I could get my head out of the sink I'd walk
over there and slap him again.

"Jealous?"
Jared asks. "You think I'm jealous? I've only ever wanted the best for
you, Scott, and if this outsells me and that's what you want in life, then I'm
happy for you. I want you to succeed, but I know that's not the case. You may
be fighting for the world's biggest prick right now, but I know Winnie enough
to know she would never do this. She might dance in lingerie, strip and even
have a threesome with you and Tawny, but she'd never do porn unless there was a
significant reason."

He knows about the
threesome? Kick me while I'm down, why don't you?

Scott's silent and
instinctively I know he's watching me. I turn on the faucet and rinse my mouth
out with cold water. I turn it off and Autumn hands me a towel to wipe off my
face. When I turn around to face them I feel weak and defeated. I don't know
how much more of this I can take. Scott must sense this, too, because he
confesses everything.

"Alright.
You're right; you are all right, okay. Winnie did it for me. I started gambling
again and I lost everything. I mean everything, but it didn’t stop me and I
kept going. I ended up owing a hundred grand to some guys I should have never
gotten involved with to begin with. They're the ones who beat the hell out of
my face and gave me ten days to come up with the money.

"I couldn’t
go to you, or Mom and Dad, because of what happened last time and, long story
short, Donnie gave me a way out and I took it. I was supposed to shoot it with
Tawny, but Winnie took her place at the last minute. There, are you
happy?"

The room is silent
and I'm stunned Scott was so quick to tell his brother the truth. It almost
feels like everything we did was for nothing. I have no validation now for what
I've done because Jared knows now anyway.

"You're.
Fucking. Pathetic," Jared replies loud and clear. "I thought that
maybe you cared about her and that's why I turned the other way and didn’t say
anything. I was wrong."

Jared turns to me
and continues speaking, "I'm so sorry, Winnie. This is my fault for not
getting you away from him sooner. A real man would never let his girlfriend do
something like this. A real man would protect his woman's body and reputation,
and my brother's not a real fucking man."

His words hurt to
hear and I'm ready to stand up for Scott and defend him. He needs me on his
side right now. He needs someone on his side.

"She's not my
fucking girlfriend."

Those five words
silence me and do irreplaceable damage to my heart. He says the words
maliciously and his cold voice is not the same man I've shared a bed with for
over a year.

His stance is
cold, his arms are lying across his chest as he looks Jared dead in the eyes,
and I want to scream at him. I want to scream at him and hit him and then tell
him everything I'm feeling all at once.

I hate him.

I’ve never felt
hate like this before in my life. It overwhelms me and I can feel it taking
over every inch of my body. They say you can never truly hate someone unless
you loved them first. I never believed that until now, because I loved Scott. I
would have done anything for him and he just broke my heart.

I turn to my
sister, tears threatening to spill from my eyes and ask, "Can I go home
with you now?"

She nods her head
and places her arm over my shoulder, pulling me out of the room like a
frightened child.

"Winnie?
Winnie, where are you going?" Scott calls from behind me, but we ignore
him and walk through the house and out the front door. I don't even bother
putting shoes on. Autumn opens the door to the backseat of Jared's car and I
slide in. She follows right behind me and closes the door. I lean my head on
her shoulder as she embraces me in a hug and I just cry. I cry for everything
I'm feeling, and I cry for everything I'm not. I cry because basically, I don't
know how I'm feeling.

Scott doesn't
follow us out and a moment later Jared's climbing in the front seat and pulling
out of Scott's driveway. He doesn't ask me any more questions and I'm grateful.
I don't think I could say anything more at this point.

Chapter Twenty-One

The last three
days have been so unbelievably horrible I almost think I dreamt them. When I
woke up the morning after the big confrontation at Scott's house I half
expected him to be there. I thought he'd be waiting for me in the kitchen until
I woke up and was ready to talk to him, but he wasn't. I checked my phone and I
had no messages or missed calls from him either. This shocked me.

We've shared a lot
together over the past year and a half and I thought he'd fight more for me. At
least see how I was doing, but his lack of communication hurt me that morning
more than anything else.

Autumn told me it
would be fine. He was probably waiting for me to cool off before he tried
calling me to apologize. It made sense. I can get a little crazy when I'm
upset. He was probably just waiting for the storm inside me to blow over before
he apologized and begged for forgiveness for the things he said.

When another day
passed and I still hadn't heard from him, I no longer believed he was waiting
to call me. He was a coward. That's all that made sense to me. What other
reason did he possibly have for not calling me? We were friends before all of
this got so complicated and a friend would call to make sure another friend was
okay. Autumn still made the same excuses for him, but I knew even she didn’t
believe them.

Then there are the
events of today. I woke up like I had the past two days, hoping to hear from a
groveling Scott, but as usual, he wasn't here and my phone had no missed
messages from him.

I made a cup of
coffee and turned on the television, surfing through the channels to find
something to watch... and there he was, sitting across from our local
newscaster.

Was he getting
interviewed?

My initial shock
almost caused me to miss the female news anchor's questions so I listened
intently to the interview. She asked him what he did for a living, what he did
for fun, and how the instant fame of the last few days has affected his life.

Instant fame? He
was famous now?

He sat up tall and
looked her confidentially in the eyes as he answered each of her questions. My
eyes appraised his body and I noticed the few subtle changes since the last
time I saw him. His skin was paler, his eyes had dark circles under them that
someone tried to hide with concealer and his face looked slimmer. I know that's
crazy since it's only been three days but he actually looked slimmer.

Isn't the camera
supposed to add ten pounds?

The anchor asks
about me, but Scott changes the subject and starts talking about Jared's
production company. I think the interview’s almost over when two pictures flash
across the screen. The first picture is of Scott sitting on a director's chair
that has Don's production company's name written on it. He's signing a copy of
our DVD to a woman who is practically naked. The second picture is of him
leaving a nightclub with a scantily clad female on one side of him and Tawny on
the other side. Scott himself isn't doing anything damning in the pictures, but
the fact that there are even pictures of him out shows that I'm suffering while
he's out riding his fifteen minutes of fame.

 The camera
moves back to Scott and the female anchor. She asks him specifically about the
photo of him coming out of the club last night.

"Does your
instant fame make you a magnet for the ladies, or were you always getting this
much attention?"

Ladies and
gentlemen, give this woman an award. That was a hard hitting question right
there. She could solve world hunger with her captivating journalism.

He answers her
cockily and she closes off the interview, but not before ruining my life
completely.

"If you're
interested in purchasing this video featuring Brayden Boner and Winnie Adams,
you can find the purchase links on our website. We'll be right back with sports
after this commercial break."

She said my name.
That fucking newscaster, anchor bitch, said my name. That was one thing we
agreed to. I signed a contract saying my name wouldn't be released.

I start to
hyperventilate. I'm having a panic attack. I dig through the cabinets in the
kitchen until I find a brown paper bag and I start to breathe in and out of it.
The bag crinkles and closes and then expands to open.

In and out,
breathe in and out.

Once I’ve got
control of my breathing I leave the kitchen and head back into the room I've
been staying in. My phone is on the bed and I grab it to call Scott. It rings
once, twice and then goes to voicemail. I hang up and dial again but the same
thing happens so I decide to text him.

Me: CALL ME. IT’S
AN EMERGENCY!!!!

I hold the phone
tightly and wait for his call but I get nothing. No text. No phone call. So I
text him again.

Me: PLEASE!!!!
I’M FREAKING OUT

Me: I need you
to reassure me right now.

When another half
hour goes by and he still hasn't called I want to cry. It's really over between
us. My love for him wasn't enough and now I've ruined my entire life for him.

My phone starts to
ring in my hands and I look down at the screen hoping it's him, but it's not.
It's my mother. I don't pick up because I’m not in the mood to talk to her. I’m
not in the mood to talk to anyone. My phone rings again and I stupidly look at
the caller ID in hopes it'll be Scott, but this time it's my dad, and now I
know that they know.

They know that
their daughter did the unthinkable. Their daughter had sex on camera for others
to see. They know this because that stupid bitch of an anchor couldn’t keep her
fucking mouth shut and the news somehow already made its way to Michigan. I
feel like I'm losing my mind. Nothing seems real anymore. This has to be a
dream. One big nightmare and when I wake up all will be right with the world
because Winnie Adams would never shoot a porno.

When did my life
start to fall apart?

Scott. Scott's
when it fell apart. Moving to California is when it fell apart. I don’t want to
stay here where everywhere I go I'll be recognized for the video I made. I want
to go home. I want to go back to Michigan. My parents love me unconditionally
and we'll get through this. Sure, they'll want to probably send me to a convent
for the rest of my life, but they'll want to do it lovingly. They won't ignore
me after I gave my body to them for the sole purpose of saving their lives.

I send Scott one
more text and then silence my phone.

Me: I'm
leaving. I'm sorry for any trouble I've caused you that's made it so hard for
you to call me over the past few days or pick up the phone today. While you're
doing God knows what and hating me, consider my feelings in all this. I loved
you. I risked everything for you... because I loved you, and somehow I seem to
be the only one suffering from our actions. While you're out giving interviews,
partying it up at night and living the highlife, I'm stuck getting my name
leaked in the press. I'm the one feeling like a whore, hating myself and filled
with self-doubt. You did this to me and then treated me like the dirt you walk
on at your house the other night. I never thought I'd say this but I regret it.
I regret making that video with you, I regret ever sleeping with you and I
regret ever meeting you because in the end I got hurt and you got another notch
on your bedpost.

I grab my two
suitcases out of the closet and pack my things up quickly. I leave Autumn a
note and place it on the kitchen counter before calling a cab company to pick
me up.

I need to get the
hell out of California.

★★★

The best flight I
can get on with such short notice is to Chicago so I take it. I check my bags
and walk over to wait in the long line at security. I people watch because I
need anything to help me get out of my own head.

Once I get up to
the conveyor belt I place down my purse and phone and then walk through the
metal detector. For the first time in my traveling experience God is on my
side. The stupid metal detector doesn’t beep.

I grip my purse
and phone and walk through the airport and to my terminal. I look in each
section until I find the correct waiting area for my flight and then I sit down
and I can no longer avoid all the thoughts about Scott running through my head.

★★★

A voice comes over
the intercom, distracting me from my frantic thoughts. A woman is announcing
that the rest of the passengers can now board the 747 I'm impatiently waiting
to get on, bringing me from Los Angeles to Chicago. Once I'm in Chicago I'll rent
a car and drive the few extra hours back home to Michigan, and I'll have to
face my parents.

I feel like a kid
again, nervous about what they'll think of me. I'm going to have to admit how
stupid I was. That I let the love I have for this man control my decisions and
I did something monumentally fucked up because of it, which probably
permanently changes the way my family views me. Yes, I saved the man I love
from a deadly situation, but at what cost? My dignity? My self-respect? And
what do I have to show for it?

The man that I
screwed up my entire life for could give two shits about me. He got what he
wanted and everything is perfect in his world, while I'm hiding and hoping this
all blows over soon.

The phone in my
pocket starts vibrating for what seems like the millionth time and I don't grab
it, don't look at the caller ID, and don't have any desire to. I know who it
is. While I know Autumn is worried about me, she's not who I need to be on the
other end of the phone. She's not the person who can make this all better. Only
one person can do that and he's currently letting his inflated ego direct his
life, not even blinking an eye over the fact that I left.