He pulled back, scowling into my face with concern.
“No, I don’t think that’s what it is.”
All right. You asked for it.
I took a deep breath. Where to begin?
“Did you know everything from my studio was on the jet?” I asked in a rush, my words tumbling across a single breath.
He pressed his lips together, hard, then nodded.
“Did you know about this house? Everything?”
“Declan buys houses all the time,” he said.
“Don’t try to dodge me, Jackson. You knew about all this?”
He paused, then nodded again. His arms dropped and hung at his sides.
“Is it really that bad?”
I quirked an eyebrow. “Wow, you guys really are cut from the same cloth, huh? You know that’s not the point.”
He shook his head. “We’re nowhere near the same cloth,” he said softly. “And you’re right, that’s not the point.”
“I don’t feel like you’ve been honest with me.”
Filling his chest with a deep breath, he closed his eyes.
“Margot, nothing is set in stone,” he said. “You’re here to work; you said so yourself. And look… you’re working. And it’s brilliant. I can see that already.”
I seethed silently. While I knew he wasn’t entirely to blame, he was the closest person to lash out at.
“It’s late. You must be starving… Peter is here. Are you coming to dinner?”
I shook my head. “No,” I sulked.
His shoulders slumped. “Well,” he said gently, “let me know if you feel like eating. I can always bring you something.”
“I don’t feel like eating, Jackson. I feel tricked.”
His bit his lips closed, nodding almost imperceptibly.
“You knew about all this, didn’t you?”
“I tried to tell you,” he said simply.
“When? When you told me I ‘didn’t have to sign anything?’”
He shrugged and shook his head, his eyebrows knitted together. “Then and other times… You can make up your own mind. I didn’t want to tell you what to do.”
“Really? Why not? So you wouldn’t influence the outcome of your little game?”
He looked at me, his gaze intense and hurting but I didn’t care.
“That’s not fair.”
“Fair to whom? You? Well who’s supposed to be worrying about what’s fair to me?”
“You’re the only thing I’ve been thinking about this entire time, Margot, and I think you know that,” he said defensively.
“No, apparently I don’t know anything!” I yelled, my voice vibrating the canvasses like drums. “Apparently I’ve just been bumbling along like some broke-as-fuck basket case, doing whatever you guys wanted, falling right into every trap you laid for me. What a fucking joke this must be for you, huh? See the little monkey dance?”
“It’s not like that.”
“You guys must just sit around and laugh and laugh your asses off, huh? Let’s see if we can get her to trash her career! Let’s see if we can get her to leave her friends! Let’s see if we can get her to burn her fucking life to the ground!”
“Margot, stop!” he snapped, walking toward me. I flinched back and he stopped, confused. As my breath came out in ragged, frustrated grunts, I watched his hands trembling at his sides and wondered if he meant to hit me or hold me.
“Please stop it,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Maybe you’re right… This was all a mistake. Why don’t you… Listen, I’ll be back in the states in a few days. Why don’t you go home, and I will be there.”
“I came here to work, Jackson. For the ten-thousandth fucking time. I came here because I thought it would be good for my career…”
“I know,” he said with a guilty edge to his voice.
“Do you know? Really? Or do you just think I’d follow you anywhere for your entertainment?”
He took a deep breath, his eyes beginning to flash with frustration. “Margot, honestly it was never like that for me. And I know you’re upset right now. I get it. This isn’t like you. The offer to go back to LA stands--”
“How do you know what is ‘like me’ or not? You barely even know me!”
He winced like I’d slapped him. Voices in my head begged me to apologize, to take it back, but I stubbornly resisted. Slowly he stood up straight, his eyes dimming to a steely grey, then reached into his jacket pocket.
“This is open-ended,” he said evenly, and dropped an envelope on the duvet. “You can do whatever you want.”
I turned away from him as he left the room, wanting so much to chase him but not even knowing what I would do with him if I caught him. Then I took the envelope and threw it on the side table and flung myself diagonally across the big, empty bed.