Page 46 of The Déjà Glitch

He shook his head and met her eyes. “Gemma, I seriously haveno ideawhat he was talking about. Me leaving the show? Kings and dragons? I mean, that sounds like a pretty specific rumor if someone’s trying to harm me.”

She hated to see him so distressed. She couldn’t easily imagine what benefit there was to be gained over a rumor like that, but she knew Hollywood was cutthroat. She was sure there were stealth forms of sabotage beyond her imagination.

“Would someone do that to you?”

“No one who I can think of,” he said with a shake of his head.

Gemma didn’t know what to make of that. “Then maybe it’s somehow true?”

“It can’t be. I think I’d remember if I agreed to walk away from the show that I’ve been with for five seasons and completely change genre.”

The wordrememberrang like a gong in Gemma’s head. The conversation they’d had at lunch came back to her in a rush.

“Jack, what if youdon’tremember? What if it happened yesterday?”

CHAPTER

9

“Okay, new theory,”Gemma said as they climbed back into Jack’s car. “You made some life-changing decision yesterday—the real yesterday—that somehow set today in motion.”

Jack punched the gas hard enough to make the tires squeal and rock Gemma against her seat. They had swapped positions, and now he was the one spiraling in a panic with her trying to calm him down. Given the change in roles, she wondered if she should have been the one driving.

“Where are we going?” she asked as he hit a speed bump hard enough to bounce her off her seat.

“I need to go home.” He jabbed his finger into the console screen. A wavy line appeared, waiting for a command. “Call Charlie,” he ordered.

“Who’s Charlie?” Gemma whispered as they whipped out of the studio lot. She grabbed the handle above her door.

“My agent.”

The outgoing call rang loudly inside the car. It put Gemma’s nerves on even higher alert.

A few rings passed before a deep voice answered.

“Jack, what’s up?”

“Tell me I didn’t quitMac Drake.”

A pause passed. Gemma held her breath.

“What?” Charlie asked.

“Duncan Miles just had a meltdown on set, and he said it was because he heard a rumor that I was quitting to go write for some fantasy show. Tell me that’s not true.”

They made it away from stoplights and surface streets and Jack directed them toward a freeway. Gemma really wondered if she should have been driving, given the speed he was going.

“Jack, man, what are you talking about?” Charlie said.

Jack exhaled a mighty breath that Gemma mimicked. “Thank you.”

“The deal is done,” Charlie came back and said. “We made it official yesterday. I figured you were giving everyone atMac Drakenotice today.”

Jack paled and gripped the steering wheel hard enough to pop one of his knuckles. “What?”

Charlie nervously laughed. “Is this some kind of reverse buyer’s remorse? Because I’m lost.”

Jack took a hand off the wheel and scrubbed his face. Gemma could tell he was struggling to decide what he could say and not complicate matters.