With her hands cupped around the coffee mug, Julia frowned. “Chris is on TV?” she asked. “Why? Is he an actor now or something? Is that why he stopped coming over?”
Sasha let out a huge sigh of relief. Her mother was clueless. She hadn’t seen the interview. The whole thing must have passed her by, but her relief was replaced swiftly by anger. Chris hadn’t just let her down, he’d let her mom down, too. He’d dropped them both in hot water.
“He did an interview, Mom,” she explained. “It was about me.”
“What about you?”
“About my relationship with Thomas.”
“Why would anyone want to watch an interview about you and Thomas…?”
“Mom, it doesn’t matter. Just do me a favor, will you? Don’t watch it. None of it is true, and it’s less than complimentary.”
Her mom looked even more bemused. “But I don’t understand. Why would Chris go on television to talk about you? He was always so fond of you, of the family. He was like a son.”
“Was,” Sasha said with a sigh. “But he’s not anymore. When Thomas fired his publicist for me, she wanted to get back at me. The best way was through Chris. Let’s say she helped stir up some ill feelings between us, and then Chris took the easy way out, he went for the money.”
“Well, then, maybe you should sell your story as well?” her mom said with a shrug. “Counter sell, if such a thing exists. Your story is certainly more interesting than his!”
“Nice idea,” Sasha replied. “But for legal reasons, unfortunately, I can’t.”
There was a gag order, stopping her from speaking to the press. Pippa had tricked her into signing it. There had been plenty of offers, but she couldn’t take any of them up without risking getting sued. And without a job or Thomas backing her, a lawsuit would financially cripple her.
Julia shook her head. “Honestly, I don’t understand the world these days. Are people really willing to pay Chris money because he once had a relationship with you and you once had a relationship with an actor? And you’re not able to talk about it, but he is? It’s madness!”
Hearing her mom sum it up like that made the gravity of the situation hit Sasha all at once. Tears started creeping up her throat.
“I can’t believe I ruined my career for…”—she had to stop herself from saying ‘mind-blowing sex’—“...him.”
“Well, he is very handsome,” her mom replied. “And very rich.”
“Mom!” Sasha cried. However, she couldn’t help smiling. She’d needed a light-hearted reprieve.
The older woman reached across the table and squeezed Sasha’s arm. “You’re home now,” she said. “Everything will be okay.”
But Sasha couldn’t help feeling that it wouldn’t, that nothing would ever be okay again....
Chapter Twenty Three
It was dark. Sasha lay on her old childhood bed, staring at the ceiling. This had been her room before she’d left for college, and now, here she was again. It was like a regression, a step backwards. She’d gone from an independent career woman living alone in Chicago to a pampered Hollywood girlfriend sleeping on silk sheets and taking private jets. Now, she was back where she started. No, it was worse than where she’d started. She’d lost her career and she’d lost the man she loved. She was so disappointed in herself.
Sasha wondered whether there was any chance of a reconciliation between her and Thomas. The undeniable attraction between them had led them back to one another’s arms on more than one occasion. It had pulled them through numerous misunderstandings and setbacks. But Thomas’s last words to her had felt so final: “This was all a disaster. From start to finish. I should never have pursued you. This was all a huge mistake.”
Ever since she’d left England, Sasha had mulled those words over and over again in her mind. Did he really mean it? From his perspective, had it really been a disaster from start to finish? What about all the good times they had shared? Had he erased them from his memory, or had she built them up into something better than they were? Had she been so dazzled by his fame and beauty that she couldn’t see the situation for what it really was…a disaster?
Or, was this just one of the infamous outbursts Thomas was so prone to have? The man blew hot and cold—she’d experienced that firsthand—and his temper could flare at a moment’s notice. However, that didn’t stop the fact that she’d broken his trust, the one thing that meant the most to him, by lying about what had happened with Chris. In fact, she hadn’t just broken it, she’d smashed it to pieces. After Crystal and Pippa’s deceit, to have her lie to him was the worst thing she could possibly have done. Hell, she probably could have slept with Chris, so long as she told Thomas the truth. However, pretending the kiss hadn’t happened, that was the real problem.