Page 60 of Never Forever

With superhuman strength I got to my feet and stood between him and my precious wall. He tried to look over my shoulder, but I held up my hands like we were playing basketball, and I was defending the basket.

“Are those baby pictures?” he asked.

“It’s none of your business.”

He bent to look under my armpit. “Why do you have pictures of superheroes and babies?”

It was all my dreams for the next year and beyond. The superheroes were Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Cate Blanchett as Hela and Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch. My trinity. My mother, daughter and holy spirit.

And yeah. A whole bunch of very cute babies.

“Thanks, Matt. You can go.”

He stepped back, his eyes on me again. Serious. Always so serious. I used to love to make that asshole smile.

“You need to take better care of yourself,” he said, scanning me up and down.

“I know this is hard for you to grasp since you only do exactly what you want to do and nothing else, but it’s called being busy. It’s called working. Responsibility.”

He looked at me for a long time, his brow furrowed.

“What?” I snapped.

“Why don’t you have people taking care of you?” He asked. “You’re famous, right. Rich? Aren’t you supposed to have a bunch of assistants making you cold smoothies or something?”

I gaped at him.

“What about that guy you were dating? That singer,” he sneered.

“Have I fainted?” I asked, looking around. “Did I hit my head?”

“You would have if I hadn’t been there,” he said.

“I would have managed and how do you know about Darren?” I asked. The singer he’d mentioned.

“It was all over the internet,” he said. “I couldn’t get away from it. You broke up?”

“Obviously,” I snapped. Though it hadn’t even been a relationship. It had been two dates that Darren had orchestrated for optimum paparazzi exposure. I’d been used, but I wasn’t about to tell Matt that.

“He seemed like an asshole.”

Ugh. I could not handle this version of Matt Sullivan. Worried and correct. It made me angry. It made me want to ask why he thought Darren was an asshole. It made me want to confess that I’d never liked having assistants because it felt intrusive.

It made me want totalkto him. Like I used to talk to him.

“Please, just go,” I said.

He nodded, like he understood. Like he accepted my bitchiness as his due. He didn’t get to pretend to be the injured party. The jealous ex. Because I was always the injured party.

“Yeah, okay. I know it’s not my place,” he sighed. “Just try and take better care of yourself. I don’t have time to be catching you every time you faint.”

He ducked his head as he left the trailer. I wanted to chase after him and get the last word. Some incredible zinger that would put him in his place.

Instead, I collapsed on my couch, slumped sideways and looked at my vision wall.

Concentrated on my future.

Because Matt Sullivan was nothing but the past.