Chapter 0442


    Neither of us pulled away though.


    At least, not until Bridget’s voice sounded behind me. “Nichs! It’s time for our romance scene.”


    Nichs released my hands and I pulled them back to my sides, just as Bridget came to a stop beside


    me.


    If she had noticed our closeness, which she must have from her closeness, she was pretending she


    hadn’t. She simply beamed her bright smile all for Nichs.


    My nerves prickled once again. Yes, Nichs had told me that he would only kiss the people he


    wanted to, but in the shine of Bridget’s presence and under the lights of the stage, who knew what


    would happen? The script called for a kiss. They were supposed to kiss.


    Would Nichs truly turn his back on the character? On the y itself? On Bridget?


    She batted her eyshes at him now. “Ready, lover?”


    My thoughts fizzled into ash. I felt suddenly faint.


    Bridget nced at me andughed. “Just getting into character, Piper.” She winked at me.


    Whatever my feelings were toward Bridget, I could openly admit that I absolutely detested her


    character for this y.


    Bridget’s character and Nichs’s were both in their own rtionships at the start, only for them both


    to im they never loved their partners and pursue each other instead. It was painted as true love


    conquering all, but I wasn’t so sure.


    My character was painted as a viin for trying to save her rtionship. And while some of her actions


    were underhanded she was by no means a saint her intentions are only to


    —


    –


    sustain the love she thought she had been cultivating for the past years.


    I hadn’t given it much thought until now, but maybe the audience and Nichs were right.. Maybe his


    character really was a cad.


    This text is property of N?/velD/rama.Org.


    No wonder Nichs was so miserable to be ying him.


    “It’s our time to shine,” Bridget said, turning her smile to Nichs once again.


    He nodded curtly at her and then looked at me. The green in his eyes was barely visible in the dark of


    the backstage, but the gold almost seemed to glow. And within that gold, I could


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    detect a swirl of emotion.


    He was trying to tell me something, and while I didn’t always understand the message behind his eyes,


    this time, I was fluent enough in Nichs to read him.


    My heart is with you.


    I could feel the words as clearly as if he had just said them aloud to me.


    Bridget patted Nichs’s arm. “Better get into position.”


    Nodding, Nichs turned from me and headed up the stair. With our locked eyes broken, I released the


    breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.


    Oddly, Bridget remained. As I looked at her, I found her watching me with a truly unreadable


    expression.


    With Nichs, I had a chance of reading his face because of the depth of our knowing each other and


    because he was so terribly earnest.


    Bridget was an actor by trade, her face could say anything, and there was no indication if that was what


    she truly felt. The fact that I didn’t know her all that well didn’t help matters


    either.


    Yet when she looked at me now, I felt an ufortable chill run down the length of my spine, like I was


    staring into the eyes of a viper ready to strike. 1


    Maybe that was an unfairparison. I felt bad for thinking it. But I couldn’t deny it. 1


    Bridget’s smile hadn’t dimmed, but her eyes turned hard.


    “Keep your eyes on the stage, Piper,” Bridget said. “I’m about to show everyone what a real kiss of


    passion looks like.”