Chapter 19

I went too far. And by too far, I meant I completely crossed the line. But I did it, and there was no going back. It was one of those things that you looked back on and thought, "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time."

Except generally when this happened, you were the only one who came out the other end harmed. It was your life you fucked up. This time, it was someone else's life I'd fucked with.

It took me a couple days to retaliate against Sophia for the stunt she'd pulled with my "girlfriends." I should have just let it go, but I'd already talked a big game. To be honest, my ego was too bruised to let her win.

It started off with Blake and me bouncing ideas off of each other while we were on set, usually near Sophia so she would imagine the worst. In reality, they were just childish ideas that wouldn't really harm anyone: drawing a mustache on promotional images of her, putting itching powder in her shoes, or maybe hiding an egg somewhere in her trailer and letting it rot and smell up the place.

Then I got a call from my mom about how disappointed she was in me after she heard the news and that she was hurt I couldn't trust her with details about my personal life. She'd never told me she was disappointed in me – at least not about anything serious. She usually said it as a joke if I ate the last slice of pizza or ate the food she'd been hiding for herself or something. She'd always been proud of me. Sophia's stunt changed even my mother's perception of me – and even if part of me knew my mom's perception of me was unrealistic because she didn't know everything I did, I was still annoyed enough to retaliate with something a little more serious than itching powder or rotten eggs.

So I did.

I found someone to play Sophia's "private assistant" and confess to buying Valtrex for her herpes outbreaks. She appeared on television via Skype and everything. She was a little too eager to do the job, especially considering I had orchestrated the scheme anonymously and she didn't realize I was involved.

I regretted it as soon as I realized it was too late to take it back. Not because I had warmed up to her or no longer thought she deserved to face some sort of consequence, but because I knew I'd crossed a line. Her stunt had been based in truth. Mine wasn't.

But with nothing left to do but own my decision, I shoved aside my feelings of regret and pretended I'd meant to do this much damage.

Too bad "owning my decision" somehow translated into "ignoring all of her calls" like a pussy.

Blake just shook his head at me from his spot on the couch, whereas Bubba looked up at me every time my phone went off, cocking his head.

"Don't look at me like that," I told him. "If you knew why she was calling, you wouldn't want to answer either."

He just barked in return. When my phone rang once again, I quickly declined the call so he'd stop looking at me like I was eating bacon in front of him without offering him any. 

"If you don't answer, she's just gonna show up here again and tell you what a terrible person you are again," Blake said, taking a sip of his Bud Light.

"I'd almost forgotten about that, but thanks for reminding me."

"Anytime," he said with a grin. He turned on his dog voice when he spoke to Bubba next. "Your dad's an asshole, isn't he Bubba? Yes, he is."

I should've taken Blake more seriously. More than that, I should've known Sophia wouldn't give up after a few – okay, more like a dozen – phone calls. And I guess I wasn't too surprised when she showed up half an hour later, just as Blake had suspected she would.

The nice thing about living in a big ass house like mine was that it came with a lot of security. I had gates at the front of the pathway that led to my house and a guard monitoring them at all times. It didn't take a genius to figure out where I lived and I had to keep the crazies out somehow.

I'd already warned the guard, Andy, not to let Sophia in anymore after her last disastrous visit. He called me to tell me she was here but I told him not to let her in, ignoring Blake's silent insults. I knew I couldn't avoid her forever, but couldn't a guy have a night in with his dog, some beer, and his asshole friend in peace?

I thought she'd given up until I heard a car alarm going off, paired with nonstop honking. I was tempted to go out and investigate but stayed put. Bubba, on the other hand, was going wild and ran upstairs to get away from the noise. Dog logic.

There was a knock at my door, but it was obvious who it was so I didn't open the door. I peeped out the window to confirm my suspicions and quickly closed the curtain when I made eye contact with Sophia.

Blake started laughing, meanwhile I was freaking out trying to make sure every door was locked so she couldn't get in.

I thought she'd give up once she realized I wasn't going to answer the door. I don't know why I always underestimated her. She always did the opposite of what I expected her to. But imagine my surprise when she opened the door – the locked door – and barged into my living room.

"What the hell?" I asked. "How did you get in here?"

She looked from me to Blake with the same cold, angry look on her face. Looks like she blamed him about as much as she blamed me. She had seen us laughing over this for the past few days, but not about the herpes thing in particular. She just didn't know that.

Instead of answering my question, she asked one of her own. "What the hell is wrong with you?" She walked over to where I was stood, still kind of in shock. "That was low. You had no right, Christian. That was just petty."

I felt my mouth opening and sound came out without even thinking about what I was about to say. "What, it isn't true?"

Good to know being an ass came naturally to me.

"Of course it's not true," she snapped. "You don't even realize what you did. God, you didn't even have the balls to do it yourself. You had someone else do your dirty work for you."

The sound of Blake's ringtone interrupted our argument. It was, of course, "Party Like a Rockstar" because why the fuck not?

Blake fumbled around for a few seconds trying to make it stop. "Sorry."

At the very least, it distracted Sophia for a bit. "Really? That's your ringtone?"

I could've used this interruption to end the conversation. Instead, I rolled my eyes at Blake and resumed our argument. "Doesn't this feel like déjà vu, Soph?"

Sophia's gaze shifted back to me. "Are you kidding me? What I did was nowhere near as bad as what you did to me."

I knew she was right. But I couldn't bring myself to admit that to her. "You're just mad because I kept my word and got you back fair and square."

"You call this fair?" She laughed without a trace of humor in her voice. "I told the truth. It wasn't any of my business. Fine. I get that. But at least I didn't lie. What I said only got you what you deserved."

"And you don't deserve this?"

She deserved something, but I wasn't sure she deserved this.

"No, I don't. You lied about this. You hired some shady girl and told her what to say. Being known as a womanizer – which by the way comes as a surprise to no one considering who you are – is nothing compared to being known as the newbie with herpes."

I was finding it harder and harder to keep pretending I didn't think she was right, so I threw the blame back on her. "It's your fault things went this far. You should've kept what you heard to yourself."

She laughed, but it wasn't genuine. It was sarcastic and kind of worrisome. "This far? You haven't seen anything yet. What you did is nothing compared to what I'm going to do."

Well shit.

I looked at her warily. "What are you going to do?"

"Why would I tell you?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "You're bluffing. You don't have anything up your sleeve."

She was clever, sure, but there was no way she already had a plan to get back at me. It took me a few days to come up with mine.

"Scared?" she asked.

"Of you? Please. You're hobbit sized."

Physically, she wasn't intimidating at all. But there was no telling what that evil little mind was capable of, especially now that I'd pissed her off even more.

"Oh, but you will be," she said. "This is war. What you did showed there are no boundaries in this little game we're playing, so you better be ready for what's coming next."

With that, she whipped around and walked out the door, slamming it shut behind her.

"Dude." Blake shook his head at me. "You're screwed."