Step Wilde: A Stepbrother Romance (26 page)

I vaguely remembered telling Harrison to block the number.
Fuck.
“And what the hell was that about?”

My father leaned forward with a stern look in his eye. “Well, we hoped that this announcement would take place in a slightly better atmosphere.” He squeezed Penelope’s hand. “We’re getting married.”

I nearly dropped my glass of whiskey.

Olivia was silent.

Penelope was trying to rally her energy on behalf of the entire table. “We’re really getting married. In about six months; we’ve booked the venue and everything. We hope you can both make it to New York.” She gazed at my father lovingly. “I’ve already moved into Garrett’s loft in the city.”

Olivia stared from me to Penelope to my father. “You left Ohio?”

Penelope smiled and nodded. “The movers are delivering my things as we speak!”

“So you lost the deposit on your apartment. The one that I gave you.”

Penelope shifted. “I’m happy to pay you back, Livvy. You know that.”

“You mean
Garrett
will pay me,” she scoffed. “No, keep it. It’s fine.”

The waiter appeared with our food. We all sat in silence as he placed the plates in front of each of us. I suddenly wasn’t hungry.

“Another whiskey, please,” I asked him. He nodded and picked up the two crystal tumblers that I’d emptied.

Nobody moved to grab their forks. Penelope smiled. “You two will be step-siblings! Isn’t that something? Meeting in college, then starring in a movie together, and now you’ll be related.”

The only person who laughed was Penelope.

“Fuck this,” I said, standing up. “I don’t know what
this
is, but it’s clearly bullshit. You two won’t make it another month from what Olivia’s told me.”

The words left my mouth on a river of alcohol-soaked thoughts.

Penelope looked stricken. Olivia’s mouth had gone into a firm line.

“Nicholas, please,” my father intoned, giving me a pleading look. I’d never seen that face before. I shrugged it off.

"Yeah, well, sorry I can't play pretend for your new piece of ass." The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"Wilder," Olivia whispered under her breath. "Stop it. People are staring."

"I don't fucking care, Olivia!" I yelled, feeling my anger surging out of control. I stood up, knocking my chair over. I was officially drunk. "This is bullshit. I don't want to fucking
see you
, Dad. How do you still not get that? Not - not after what you fucking did." I knew I was yelling.

The entire patio had stopped to stare. A few of the patrons were recording video with their phones.

Olivia covered her face with her hands, reaching down to grab her bag and leave. But still, I couldn't control my rage. Everything just came pouring out of me in a rush of drunken emotion.

"You're an
asshole
, Dad. I'm never going to
fucking
forget that. Have fun fucking your new squeeze here. I heard she likes the rich ones, so your time is swiftly running out.”

Olivia had fled already, and I let her go. I went another direction to get back to my room. I didn't want to deal with anyone. Besides, I'm sure TMZ would know what had happened within a matter of minutes.

Bad news always traveled at the speed of fucking light.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

WILDER

"CUT!" Fox ripped off his headset. "Everybody take five minutes." He pointed at me and Olivia. "
Except
for you two. Come with me."

He pulled us over to the side of the vineyard a good hundred yards away from the main production area where everyone was milling around. Nobody even bothered looking over at us to see what we were doing. I knew that was a bad sign.

The last five days of shooting had gone horribly since meeting with Olivia’s mom and my dad. Olivia and I had been shooting scenes separately until today. I knew each take was going over like a lead balloon. Olivia could barely look at me.

And the truth was, I was drunk. Really, really drunk. I could barely remember my lines.

"What is going on between you two?" Fox asked.

I looked at Olivia, who picked at her fingernails but refused to answer. Her hair was pulled back in finger curls, red lipstick covering her plump lips. She looked like a 1950s movie star. I wanted to reach out and pick her up and carry her back to the hotel.

I wanted to tell her that I was sorry.

"I - nothing is wrong, Fox,” I explained. “You know how it goes. It's just the end-of-production slump. This happens with every single movie that we all work on. People are tired, they miss their families-"

Fox held up his hand. "Cut the shit, Wilde." Then he turned to Olivia. "What did he do?"

I opened my mouth to protest, but he gave me a look that told me in no uncertain terms that if I let slip a single syllable he was going to make sure I never worked another day in Hollywood. I glanced at Olivia, who still refused to look at me.

"He didn't do anything," she said. "It's just...family issues. And the press and all the attention. It’s been a lot for me.”

“Bullshit,” Fox said. “You’ve been doing great until today. A little grumpy toward the crew members, maybe, but your solo scenes have been flawless. Now I stick you with this asshole here and you can barely look at each other. What. Happened?”

Olivia stayed silent.

Fox stared at her as if he were trying to read the contents of her brain through her facial expressions. "No, I don't buy that. What did he do? Did he hit you?"

Olivia looked up, startled. "No, no! Oh God, no. Of course not."

Fox stepped back and pulled his hat off entirely, folding it up in his hands. He put his hands on his hips and then stepped close to me like he was going to kiss me. He sniffed the air.

I jerked back. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Jesus Christ on a cracker, Wilde," he said, shaking his head. "You're drinking again. Seriously? Seriously? You're doing this to me. And to
her
? God." He walked away and picked a few grapes off of the vines, squashing them between his thumb and forefinger.

"Olivia," I said quietly. 

But she held up her hand. "Don't fucking talk to me," she replied, crossing her arms and turning her back to me.

A few minutes later, Fox came back, his hat firmly back in its spot on top of his head. "Okay, this is what I want from both of you. I need you to leave
this
, whatever it is,
off-screen
. Just pretend for an
hour
that whatever happened didn’t happen. You both look like two people who'd rather drink poison than work with each other. Well, that's how Olivia looks. I'd almost rather have Hailey back here.”

Olivia looked up for the first time at those words, her face the picture of hurt and offense. Fox grabbed her hand.

"You misunderstand, Olivia. If I brought Hailey back I’d be replacing this asshole over here, not replacing you.” Then he laughed maniacally, the same way he had after firing Hailey.

She nodded, biting her lip. It looked like she almost wanted to smile.

Fox turned back to me. "You, dearest,
darling
Wilder, look like a sad, sick, pathetic puppy. Which would work if we were shooting a Hugh Grant rom-com. But we're not. It's a romance-action adventure, and I need you to channel your goddamn inner James Dean, fuck 'em and leave 'em attitude that you're so fucking famous for. I need you to
not
be Nicholas. I need you to be
Wilde
. And I need you to stop drinking.”

It was the first time I'd ever heard him use my real name. I hadn't been aware that he knew what my real name was, honestly. I took a deep breath.

"Alright," I replied.

"Okay. So we are all on the same page here, then?"

Olivia spoke. "Yes. I am anyway." She walked back up the hill, her ass wiggling in her waist-high pants. I tried not to stare.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

OLIVIA

“Has he even tried to apologize yet?” Lydia asked me.

She had four sewing pins in her mouth and was hand-stitching a lacy bra while we sat in her hotel room. I picked fried potato slices off of her abandoned room service plate.

I pulled my bathrobe closer around me. I was practically living in the thing since the breakfast with my mother.

“No,” I replied after I’d finished chewing. “Asshole,” I added as an afterthought.

Lydia sighed. “He was upset about his dad. Give him a little bit of a break? How would you have reacted if
your
dad showed up out of nowhere?”

I shifted uncomfortably. I knew that she was right. But I was too stubborn to agree or apologize. I absentmindedly tied the waist of my robe shut.

“Keep those puppies out,” Lydia admonished. “I’ll need them again in a minute.” She set the pins down and held up the bra. “Ta-dah!” she said.

“It’s gorgeous, Lydia,” I told her. I tried not to think about wearing it in front of Wilder on set. Our sex scene was happening in a few days; the last day of shooting.

Lydia snapped her fingers. “Turn around, robe off!”

I did as I was told, and a minute later my breasts were encased in the softest lace I’d ever touched in my life. I spun around so Lydia could see. She stared at my chest appraisingly.

“I think I did a good job,” she said. “Considering I had to enlarge it by three cup sizes.”

I walked over to the bathroom mirror and looked at myself. It was gorgeous and supportive.

Lydia walked up behind me and seemed to be reading my mind. “It’s going to be weird having to pretend-fuck your stepbrother in front of a bunch of people isn’t it?””

I almost laughed. “When you put it like that, yeah.”

Lydia tilted her head and frowned. “Probably not as weird as pretend-fucking your estranged lover, though.”

I sighed and turned around so she could unhook the bra. “Well, thanks for
that
reminder.”

I crossed my arms over my naked chest and wandered into the bedroom, pulling the robe back on.

“The press has backed off a bit on the idea that you and Wilder are a couple, by the way. I guess they had nothing to feed that fire but idle speculation. And besides that, Hailey hasn’t been seen in public for a while.”

“Good for her,” I said absentmindedly. The truth was that just hearing Hailey’s name made my stomach turn over. “How’s Brian?” I asked.

Lydia shrugged. “I don’t know. He won’t answer his phone. I’m pretty sure he’s done with me.” She guffawed. “It’s just as well. I’ve been eyeing one of the waiters downstairs. He keeps flirting with me, and I’m pretty sure it’s for more than just tips, honestly.”

“How can you do that? Just…jump from one thing to another?”

Lydia smiled. “Easy. I have no soul.”

“Seriously.”

She sighed and folded up the bra into a neat circle, tucking it into the pocket of a hanging garment bag.

“I honestly wasn’t that interested in Brian. He was…convenient. I think we both just got complacent. It was
easy
for us to still be together, but easy doesn’t make it
right.
” She stared out the window at the sinking sun. “It’s easy to move on when you have nothing really to lose.”

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

OLIVIA

Fox clapped his hand on my shoulder.

“You doing okay, kiddo?” he asked me.

I stared up into the bright lights in the makeshift makeup area. It was the final day of shooting. I couldn’t believe that we were almost finished. Wilder and I were still not talking to each other.

I smiled at Fox while Bev doused my face in anti-shine powder. “I’m great, thanks,” I said to him.

“I just wanted to reiterate what we talked about yesterday.”

I nearly sighed. Fox and Janna had spent half an hour with me the previous night going over the mechanics of filming sex scenes. I’d been trying to focus on their words but instead had only managed to daydream about my bathrobe, a phone call to room service and a marathon of Italian-subtitled Kardashian episodes awaiting me in my room.

“It'll just be a few of us on set. Most of production is off in the countryside shooting some action shots with your stand-ins and b-roll. Janna is going to be taking care of things over there. So it will be you, me, a makeup person and Lydia from wardrobe, along with two camera guys and the sound person."

He ran his fingers down the list of names, checking them off with a flourish as he said them.

"And Wilde, of course. It will be very, very basic. It's supposed to be a full day of sun today and this hotel suite is north-facing. It will mostly be lots of up close shots and suggestions of intimacy. Olivia, I want nothing more than your comfort, alright?"

I nodded. “Got it. Thanks.”

Bev swiped lip gloss across my mouth with a delicate brush. She applied it with the tiniest of strokes.

"Like I said yesterday: very tasteful. Nothing that makes you uncomfortable, and if you
do
feel uncomfortable at any moment, all you have to do is say the word and we stop.”

“I’ve got it, Fox. Thank you for being so thorough with me. I really appreciate it.”

Fox nodded. “Again, you say the word. This is your show.  You’re running this.”

Bev moved away from my face to grab a mascara wand and I smiled up at Fox. He nodded and left the bathroom; going back out into the main space of the suite where the camera people were setting up.

I closed my eyes and tried to breathe through my nose.

"You okay?" Lydia’s voice asked from the door. I opened my eyes and saw her pulling in a metal rolling rack that had a few different pieces of lacy black lingerie on it. "You look sick."

“Thanks, Lydia,” I said sarcastically.

“It’s the truth,” said Bev from behind me. I whipped around to look at her. “Why do you think Fox keeps coming in here to reassure you?”

I didn’t know what to say about that. Bev came over to take out the loose bobby pins that were holding back the bedroom curls the hair team had executed an hour earlier. My hair fell down against my face softly.