Page 63 of Love On and Off Set

“Nothing worth worrying about.” I shrugged. “You’ve done your duty.”

He continued to stare at me.

“Well, how about you? Since we’re reminiscing. How do you go from a Brit lit major at Stanford to a bodyguard in Vancouver, Canada?”

“I’m Canadian.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I’m from Vancouver.”

“Uh-huh.”

He wrinkled his nose. “I dropped out of the university and came back to Canada. I studied to be a personal trainer and have been doing that.” He scratched his nose. “While pursuing higher education in a different field of study.”

I cocked my head.

“I did my undergrad and Master’s degrees in Canadian literature. I’m currently a part-time PhD student.”

“Uh…can you repeat that?” He’d been an English Lit undergrad. Now, seven years later, he was studying for his PhD?

“I was a personal trainer part-time while I did an undergraduate and graduate degree in literature. I’ve narrowed my focus to Canadian post-modern lit and am doing a PhD part-time.”

“And you’re a bodyguard.”

“Well, this is a newer gig. I sort of got tired of being a personal trainer.”

Sort of got tired of… What the hell did that mean? What did any of it mean?

“You’re going to stay in the room until I come and get you in the morning. If you need ice, get it now. You have a fridge, freezer, and microwave. Order food from the kitchen and only open the door for waitstaff. We clear?”

I frowned. “This is ridiculous.” Even as I marveled at all he’d accomplished. If I hadn’t dumped him, he never would’ve achieved such greatness.

And I likely wouldn’t have sunk to such lows.

But I couldn’t go back into time. “I know how to behave. Omar is a distant memory.” Because that was what this was really about—the sex tape.

"I'm sure you get over your exes quickly." He glared. "You’ll soon forget about the tape."

Damn him for knowing me so well. About getting over my unimportant exes, anyway. Forgetting the tape was a whole other matter. Still, apparently seven years hadn’t dulled his memory.

Then he continued. "I'm sure another boyfriend will come soon."

“I don’t want another boyfriend. And besides, if your boyfriend taped you and then released it to the public, would you get over it quickly?” He was really pissing me off.

“I would've never been in that position.”

“Oh God, right. Because you’re perfect.” I let out an exasperated sigh.

“Never perfect. No one wants perfection. They think they do…but they don’t. Being with someone who shines so bright that everyone else fades into the background? That’s not happiness.” He straightened. “I have to go. Stay put.”

With that, he was gone.

And I was alone with my thoughts and no way out of this quagmire. Seeing him every day was going to be torture. No two ways about it.

Chapter Four

Freddie