Page 52 of Once Upon a Star

“He loves me. And I love him. I want to be with him. If it turns out he has to go back to California to be an action star, if he wants to do that, then we’ll do that.”

“You don’t care that he lied to you about it? That he hid the fact that the play had been canceled?” Layla asked.

“He might not have known, he might have not wanted to ruin the time we had, he might be trying to salvage it. I don’t know. All I do know is that I didn’t trust him before and it cost me years with him. I’m not going to do that again. Not when I can go and talk to him and ask him to his face.”

“That seems like a good idea,” Ella said.

“Are you being facetious?” I asked.

“No, not in the least. I want to be wrong. I want Bash to have an explanation. I don’t want you to get hurt. I want you to get the happiness and love that you deserve. The best way to do that is to talk to him. Do you know where he is or how to find him?” Ella asked.

“I know the theater the play was supposed to be at, but not where he lives. I wonder if there was someone who could help me figure that out?” I asked and looked at Layla.

“Me? Do you honestly think I could find that out? I’m a wonderful librarian but there are only so many things I can do,” she said.

“Can you do it? Can you help me figure out where Bash lives so I can talk to him. I need to clear this up. I need to know what’s going on,” I said.

“I could try, or you could just call him,” Ella said.

“Or I could do that, too,” I said and we all laughed.

Chapter 29

Sebastian

“Are you calling to have me help you book your flight? The producers said you could use their private jet,” Casey said to me when I called her.

“What the hell did you do!?” I yelled at her.

“Only what we said we were going to do. I let you have the chance to do your little play. It didn’t even make it to previews. I let you have your fun but now it’s time to come back to where you belong and get back to business,” she said.

“How could you let them print that I’m doing Eleanor Carter’s movie? I never agreed to that,” I countered.

“You didn’t? I remember very distinctly us having a conversation saying you would.”

“I said I would consider it if, and only if, the play wasn’t a success.”

“Well, the play wasn’t a success. I would wager it was a disaster. Now, before it could derail your career, I got in front of this. You’re welcome,” she said.

“That isn’t what I wanted and you know it. I haven’t even seen a script; I don’t know what it’s about, who is in it, when it starts. What is this that you already negotiated the contract without ever talking to me about it? You can’t make those decisions for me.”

“Oh, dear Sebastian. That’s exactly what I’m supposed to do.” Casey laughed.

“We’re going to have a very serious discussion about what your role and responsibilities are in my career as soon as you fix this,” I said.

I had agreed to go back to California if the play didn’t work. It didn’t mean that she could take the decision out of my hands about what the next project would be. I also wasn’t completely ready to give up on working with Isla.

No sooner had I turned my cell phone back on that it had blown up with news breaking about the play. I had hoped that Isla would have been able to salvage something but I wasn’t going to blame her. I hadn’t counted on seeing that I was already attached to another project. It was absurd and borderline unethical. I couldn’t believe that Casey had done this.

I had immediately called her as I headed to the theater to hopefully find Isla. I wanted to get to the bottom of everything and find a way to fix it, both with Isla and Casey.

“There is nothing to fix. You’re back on track. This little hiccup in your career will be over. It will be as it should be, as if it never happened.”

“That isn’t what I want. I want to be here. I want to stay in New York. I do not want to nor will I do this movie.”

“It might be a little hard to do that considering you already signed the contract.”

Her words stopped me in my tracks. “I did no such thing.”