Page 83 of Forbidden Romeo

“Madam,” Addison said, giving me a strange look when I jumped.

“Nurse?” Katherine said, standing from the bed and crossing to Addison for their quick exchange in the scene.

In doing so, she left a bit of the sheets open and rumpled and I launched myself at them, gathering all the sheets in my arms, so clumsily that both girls jumped, swiveling to look at me strangely.

Addison’s eyes dipped to the sheets, narrowing briefly.

I cleared my throat and rushed forward to Katherine, tugging her into my arms for a final goodbye kiss before I left the scene. “And trust me, love, in my eye so do you. Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu.”

With the sheets still in my arms and both girls looking at me like I’d fully lost my fucking mind, I mimed climbing out the window and off into the wings of stage left, sighing in relief.

I didn’t stop when I got off stage, instead, I booked it up to my dressing room and shoved the sheets into the waste basket that was in there.

Not a permanent solution, but for now at least, they were out of the way of prying eyes.

Sagging against the door, I exhaled, my heart pounding in my chest.

What the fuck was wrong with me?

What if we’d been caught?

Katherine would never forgive me.

And I would never forgive myself.

CHAPTER 31

I close the journal even though I know there are more entries and set it aside.

“You were at that show?” I ask Mallory.

She nods from the other side of the couch, petting Junie who has since curled into her lap, oblivious to the drama in her little household.

Jill watches us intensely, nibbling on an Oreo from the armchair.

I swallow, my throat feeling dryer and tighter like I’d had a bite of shrimp, even though I know it’s not anaphylactic shock. “And you… knew?”

“Yeah,” Mallory says, eyes cast down onto Junie.

Was it really that obvious? “Did everyone know?”

She pauses a brief moment before answering, “No. I-I don’t think so. I was sitting next to your professor and she definitely knew something was up. Plus…” Another pause. Then a shrug. “I’m your sister,” Mallory whispers. “We may not be that close, but I still know you. I’ve been watching you act for over a decade. When it comes to you, I’ll always know what’s real and what’s… not.”

That’s strangely reassuring in a time when it feels no one knows me.

Not even me.

I’d always thought Jill was my only ally. The only person I could rely on. But maybe I was wrong.

“And for what it’s worth,” Mallory adds, “the scene looked really good. Everyone afterward was talking about how you two on stage together were fireworks. It was all chemistry this and chemistry that.” Mallory pauses, reaching forward to grab a handful of popcorn. “There was this other guy, too. He seemed to know your professor… young, looked around college age. He seemed to know something, too.”

I look up, my gaze colliding with Jill’s. “Duncan,” I whisper.

Mallory shrugs, the name seemingly meaning nothing to her. Even though to Jill and me? It means everything. “Well, it was only the three of us who seemed to know anything.”

“Yeah,” I mutter. “Until everyone knew.”

CHAPTER 32