Page 50 of Unapologetic Love Story

He pulled his makeshift seat a little closer. ‘Why?’

‘Because if you do write about me, I don’t want to end up looking a fool.’

‘I would never make a fool of you, Raina. It’s not possible. But I’m not down here for work.’

His eyes felt so intense and her skin had heated, despite the ice. ‘So you want to be friends?’

He hesitated. ‘Friends?’

‘Yes,’ she said softly. ‘What else?’

He gave her a look of displeasure but didn’t fight her on it. ‘Friends.’

‘Yes.’

An awkward silence.

‘As a friend,’ he said sardonically, ‘can I ask why you seem so blue?’

She was surprised. Pepper hadn’t noticed. No one else had. ‘Do I?’

‘Yes, Raina.’

She flipped through her mental scripts, wondering which blasé answer to pick. But it was hard to lie to him. He was so big and so close, and his gaze was all-encompassing.

‘I have this heaviness in me,’ she said, her voice barely a whisper. ‘It gets worse when good things happen.’

‘Good things like award nominations?’

‘Yes. I feel . . . the weight of it all.’

‘Of being different?’

She noticed his use of ‘being’, rather than ‘feeling’. ‘Exactly.’

‘Well,’ he said, moving closer once more. ‘As a friend, but also as someone who’s researched you pretty heavily, I don’t know how you do it all without going mad.’

She frowned. ‘What?’

‘The job. The questions. The role model shit.’

‘I’m not a role model.’

‘Yes, you are. They’ve stuck a spotlight on you and made you the flavour of the month. That comes with all kinds of shit you didn’t sign up for. It only happens to women, and it always leaves them burned out. I don’t know how you’re doing it.’

Raina felt as if he’d reached over and ripped off her mask. ‘I—’

‘I kick myself every fucking day for the stupid, ignorant shit I said to you during our first meeting. And I’m a smart guy who should have known better. So, you must hear that crap all day, every day. Plus, your fans are loud. Which is great. But loud fans mean louder haters. And I’ve seen some of them. Forget the anonymous trolls, everyone has those (though yours are on another level). That politician who said you were trying to glamourize disability? The alt-right YouTuber who tried to get you—’

‘Tom.’ She held up a hand. He was reading her soul and it was unbearable. ‘I get it.’

‘No, you don’t,’ he said carefully. ‘You don’t get how fucking great you are, but that’s fine. I can tell you. As your friend. You’re like fucking Clark Kent.’

Raina squinted at him and then stifled a laugh. ‘Sorry, I’m what? Like, the comic book?’

He blushed, which made her giggle. ‘So, I read comics as a kid.’

‘You like Superman?’