Chapter Thirteen

They filed into Ginger’s trailer, all three of them. Her mind, riddled with exhaustion, scrambled desperately for an explanation that wouldn’t send her straight to the unemployment line.

At every mental turn, she reached a dead end. She was fucked. Utterly. All she had to rely on at that point was her longstanding relationship with Matt and her charm.

Since there was no place for the three of them to comfortably sit, they stood in a huddle in the dark. The glow of the full moon made it easy enough to discern the disappointed expression on Matt’s face and the wary one on Elliot’s.

The star of the show widened his stance with his arms folded over his chest, not guilty, but formidable and confrontational.

Ginger was pretty sure she couldn’t pull off an intimidating glare—what with the leaves and dirt all over her. Didn’t stop her from trying, though.

“So.” Matt nodded for her to start talking.

“What?” she snapped. So much for charm.

“This is happening? You’re fucking the star? That’s where we’re at now?”

Elliot cleared his throat, sending a clear warning.

Matt shifted his attention to him. A cruel stiffness formed over her co-producer’s darkly handsome features. Matt had always been the laid back dad-type of the group, but tonight, Ginger got a glimpse of how intimidating the hulking ex-linebacker could be. “Ten women after you isn’t enough? You need a few more? You gonna stop with Ginger or you have more plans?”

Elliot remained disturbingly silent. Apparently, he was giving Ginger the lead on this.

She spoke up. “There’s some history here you don’t know about, Matt. The important thing is it’s over.”

Matt laughed. “It’s over? Have you looked at yourself?” His withering glare threatened to shrink her into a ball, but she stood her ground.

“It is now.”

“How long has this been going on?”

“It’s over.” She willed the words to be the absolute truth. “Elliot is dedicated to making this work, and there’s absolutely no reason the show can’t go on exactly how it’s been.”

“How it’s been is a mess. Now I get why.”

Ginger shook her head with vehemence. “No. No, this has nothing to do with anything. This was a moment of weakness on my part, and I swear to God it won’t ever happen again.”

Elliot finally spoke. “Ginger…”

She raised a hand to shut him up. He’d given her the lead, now he needed to fall in line with whatever lie she was about to roll out. “Never again. There are no feelings here. We had sex. One time. I can pretend it never happened. Can you?”

“Can he?” Matt gestured at Elliot.

Ginger looked up at the sexiest, broodiest star they’d ever had. His hardened gaze conveyed he was not a fan of the words coming out of her mouth. “Elliot?” she prompted.

His jaw twitched as he loosened it to speak. “Sure. Never happened.”

Matt scratched at his beard, disappointment rolling off him in waves. “I can’t believe this. In a million years I never would have…”

Ginger swallowed hard, the shame of what she’d done settling in. She should lose her job. Matt should totally go to Marlon to tell him everything, and she should get kicked to the curb without ceremony, without severance, without any hope of working in this industry again.

“Elliot, go back to your trailer,” she ordered.

“I’d rather see how this wraps up.”

“I need to speak to Matt alone.”

“Get out, Hale.”

Without further argument, Elliot left Matt and Ginger alone in the dark.

She collapsed onto the small couch and clasped her hands together, hating how much they were shaking. Matt leaned against the kitchen counter. With his back to the window, his face was all in shadow.

Before he said anything, Ginger spoke. “I can fix this. I have a plan.”

“What the fuck were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t—”

“And what history?” he asked.

There was no reason to lie. “After last season wrapped.”

Matt uttered a soft curse on an exhale.

“We went out there to talk. He was threatening to leave the show, wanted to see his contract.”

“So you decided to give him a reason to stay?”

She lifted her chin in defiance. “Excuse me?”

“I’m trying to understand what would make you do something so stupid.”

She’d asked herself the same question twenty times already. Leaning against the hard back of the barely cushioned bench, she crossed her legs. “I got carried away.”

“Oh, come on.”

She feigned nonchalance though everything inside her trembled, partly because it hadn’t even been half an hour since Elliot totally rocked her world, but also because she knew her actual world might be falling apart. “I fucked up, but it won’t happen again. I’m bringing Jenna back.”

Matt flinched. “What?”

“I know he’s distracted. I know this is all a huge bore so far, but when Jenna comes back, everything will be different.”

He held up a hand. “Why haven’t I heard about this?”

“Because I got the idea tonight. Davis is going to reach out to her, and as long as Marlon agrees, I think I can get her back.”

“Does Elliot know?”

“No.”

Matt stewed, audibly breathing through his nose. It was hard to tell by his continued silence whether he’d been adequately distracted. “What about you?” he finally asked.

“What about me?”

Matt tucked both hands into his pockets. “You said there were no feelings.”

“I meant it.”

“I’m finding it hard to believe you’d flush your entire career down the toilet for the sole purpose of getting boned in the woods.”

Ginger gave him a look she hoped read as mysterious, not frantic. “Well, frankly, Matt, you don’t know me all that well outside of this place.”

“I know you well enough.”

“I’m not a relationship person,” she admitted.

“You’re not a careless person, either.”

“Everybody makes mistakes.”

“Not like this, Ginj.”

It was time to put all her cards on the table. She was about to gag on her own anxiety. “What are you gonna do?”

Matt scrubbed at his face, mumbling, “I never should have had that cigarette.”

“Some things are tough to quit.”

He let go a cynical laugh. “I like working with you, Ginj. A lot.”

“I like working with you, too.”

Finally he said, “I won’t say anything.”

She nodded, still cautious.

“But I need to know—are you the reason he’s so unengaged?”

“Absolutely not. Jenna’s the reason.” She had to be. None of this would have ever happened if Jenna had done the smart thing and picked him in the first place. “That’s why we need to get her back.”

Because once Jenna came back, Ginger wouldn’t have anything to worry about. Letting Elliot find his happy ending with someone else might burn a little, but in the end, there was no emotion tied up in what they had. Granted, she had a soft spot for him. She could admit that, but she couldn’t let him become her weakness. What they had was just physical. A craving.

Only way to fix that was to go cold turkey.