CHAPTER 22 


Sadie only vaguely heard the door open. 

“Sades…you home? We brought you some dinner! Sad…” 

Liz stopped dead. Sadie was on the bed. Half-naked. Curled up in a tiny ball sobbing. 


“Oh my God,” she gasped, dropping the Styrofoam container in her hand. She rushed to her friends side, “Sadie, oh my god, are you all right?” 

Sadie didn’t reply. She only sobbed brokenly. Icy fear raced through Liz’s veins. 


“Sadie, talk to me right now. Did someone hurt you? Did Josh hurt you?” 

Because she was going to kill the fucker if he did. 

Sadie shook her head. 


“He didn’t hurt me,” she whispered, “He…he just left…he said…he said…” 

The sentence dissolved into nothing. Sadie hiccupped and sniffled miserably. She buried her face in her arm. 

Liz noticed Dan standing in the doorway. 

“Not now,” she murmured, conveying with her eyes that it was ok…but they needed a girl moment. Dan nodded. 


“I’ll be in the bar,” he said. 


“Right. I’ll find you.” 


“Ok.” 


The door closed with a quiet click. Liz returned her attention to the sobbing puddle. 


“What did he say Sadie?” she whispered, stroking her friend’s cold, naked back. Her skin was wet still, and the towel was doing nothing to keep her warm. Liz grabbed a near by blanket. “Tell me, honey, come on…” 


Sadie only coughed and shuddered. Liz tried again. 

“Sadie, what did Josh say to you? What has got you this upset?” 

Slowly Sadie’s eyes lifted. Liz had never seen so much pain. 

“He said I lied,” she croaked, “He said I lied and I was just a starfucker…after him for the notoriety.” 


Liz’s hand stopped moving. She stared. 

“Why the hell would he think that?” she asked in disbelief. Sadie’s eyes lowered. Silent tears began to spill again. 

“He thought I told you about the phone sex,” she murmured, “And that it was all a scam.” 


Liz felt her stomach drop as the origin of the problem began to dawn on her. Phone sex…what she’d yelled when she’d come back for her gloves… 

“I was joking,” she whispered, “I was joking, Sadie! Was he here when I …” 

Sadie nodded. 


“It really happened Liz…I know you didn’t know. But it really happened. And he thinks I did it to fuck with his head.” 

Liz’s gut hit the floor and she bit down on her bottom lip hard enough to taste blood. 


“You’d never do that,” she choked out, feeling tears in her own eyes, “You’d never…and he thinks…” 


“Liz it’s over and it’s not your fault.” Sadie pulled the blanket tight around her shaking body. “It’s just over. And I should NEVER have been stupid enough to think I could have it to begin with.” 

Then, Sadie began to cry again. 


Liz stood up. 


“Sadie, I’ll be right back,” she said slowly, eyes sealed with determination, “I’m going to go…find Dan…I’ll be right back.” 

Sadie nodded mutely, closing her eyes. The tears continued to spill. Liz went out the door. 


Minutes later, she reached the hotel lobby. 

Minutes after that, she was pounding ruthlessly on JC’s door. 

She was a whirlwind when it opened. 

“Can I help…” 


“Shut the fuck up you cocky motherfucker and get the hell out of my way!” With strength she didn’t know she had, Liz shoved her once-favorite pop star as hard as she could. JC staggered back. 

“What the…who the hell let you up here?” he demanded as Liz pursued him into the room. “And what gives you the right to…” 

“I told you to shut up,” Liz interrupted, staring him down, “And I have every right to be up here because you just left my best friend in a crying HEAP on my bed, asshole!” 


She watched as the recognition dawn in his eyes. It was followed quickly by cold, steely anger. 


“So you’re Liz,” he said, voice low and bitter, “Huh. Well. Then I don’t need to tell you WHY she’s sobbing on your bed because YOU already know.” 


He looked downright frightening when he was angry, but Liz would not be deterred. She folded her arms across her chest. 

“I know NOW,” she shot back, “ I didn’t before.” 

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” 

“It means I didn’t know about the phone sex JOSHUA…” Her voice radiated with disdain. “It was a JOKE when I said it.” 

He looked confused. Liz surged forward. 

“I didn’t know anything about you two until less than 15 minutes ago…and that’s ONLY because I tortured Sadie until she told me.” 

JC eyed her. 


“How much did she tell you?” 


Liz eyed him back. 


“Enough to make me not like you very much.” 

She saw him flinch. She kept coming. 

“Did you ever stop to think,” she asked, voice deadly calm, “That maybe she really did like you? That maybe she didn’t give a flying fuck about your money or your fame? She’s a fan JC, yes. But who the hell isn’t these days? She’s also a person. A good person. A person I have trusted for YEARS with my secrets and my life and my tears…” 

She dared to step closer, encouraged by the minute twinge of uncertainty in JC’s stare. Her words were venom. 


“She’s a lot of things to me Josh and she could be a lot of things to you, too, if you let her. But I’ll tell you one thing she’s not…” 

She waited for him to speak. His adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed and prepared himself. 


“What’s that?” he asked finally. 


Liz walked right up and glared into his eyes. 

“She is NOT a starfucker you pompous bastard.” 

Then, in a gesture of unmitigated hatred, Liz spat on his shoe and walked out the door. 
 
 
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