Baby Come Back to Me

It had been a week since the wrap party, a full week since Matt had seen or heard from Lilith, and not for a lack of trying. He could only wonder if she was avoiding him because she knew the conversation that was to come. Some part of her had to know that he knew what was going on, that she was seeing Thomas Hunt right under his nose. She couldn’t be so foolish to think that he hadn’t noticed that they both went missing at the same time during the wrap party, could she? She couldn’t actually think he was so blind to have missed it when she was flaunting it in his face. That kiss, right in the open where everyone including he could see—that was a bold statement. One that told him she never cared for him the way he cared for her. Or maybe she did and the change occurred when he got hurt. Matt roughly ran his hair through his brown locks, no he wouldn’t take the blame for something she did to him. He just couldn’t believe that she could do this to him.
When Matt first met Lilith she had been so innocent, like a deer caught in the headlights only she was a young actress learning how quickly Hollywood could chew you up and spit you out if you were too naïve. He had known that getting involved with someone so knew to the film biz had been a mistake. He was a moth drawn to the flame and she was the brightest flame he’d ever seen. He had fallen for her the moment he met, oh how he tried to resist her magnetic pull but she was so hard to resist. He wasn’t sure what drew him to her more, her bubbly personality or the way she was still so green at how grueling working in Hollywood really could be.
All Matt knew was he needed to get to know her more. He had been hurt, crushed when he thought she had gone to the tabloids selling all their secrets. He’d thought she was different, that maybe they could be happy. When he found out it had been his agent, Jonathan all along he had been overjoyed, thrilled that she would give him a second chance. Maybe he should have stayed away, caged off his heart, not let her back in. Then he wouldn’t that shad to endure the pain of falling even deeper for her, nearly confessing his love to her.
He’d been a damn fool to think that he had meant a damn thing to her. He kept running through their entire relationship, going through it over and over again, desperately searching for something he may have missed, any clue that could have warned him this would happen. Every run though, every play by play, every single image running through his head and he still couldn’t think of a single thing that might have been a warning sign. Sure she’d been with Seth, but that was back when he was ignoring her every call. He just wished he knew when everything took the turn it did, pinpoint something that could have saved his heart from the pain he now felt.
Matt roughly raked his hand over his face, the stubble he’d been ignoring all week grazing his palm. Why wouldn’t she answer his calls? Did she think he knew but was trying to get back with her? He wasn’t, was he? No, as much as his heart hurt, as much as it pained him, he knew he needed to let this be the end of them. He just wanted her to tell him it was over to his face. He deserved that much didn’t he? Or had he been such a horrible boyfriend that he deserved to be left like a dead animal carcass at the side of the road? Matt shook his head, he couldn’t allow his doubts to flood his brain and make him take any of the blame. This was all on her, on Lilith. She was the one who didn’t think once about him or his feelings. She was the one who moved onto someone else while she was still seeing him.
Matt had enough, enough wallowing, enough self pity. He was starting to see red. How could she treat him this way? Treat him like he had never mattered anything to her. Sure he’d cut her out, but he had been hurt, betrayed—even if she had been framed, even if he had failed to listen to her to believe her he didn’t deserve this treatment. He didn’t do anything to even make her think he’d done anything to break her trust. He just wanted her to come clean, be truthful, maybe find out why she moved on without giving him a second thought.
Matt grabbed his phone from where it sat on his bedside table, punching her number, the only number he’d tried for days. He held his breath as it rang, waiting for her to answer, hoping she would finally just pick the hell up.
“Hello?” Her smooth silky voice rang through the earpiece.
Lilith’s voice caught him off guard. As much as he wanted, needed answers, the truth he had gotten used to being ignored. “Lilith, we need to talk.” Matt barked, his voice coming out harsher than he’d meant.
“Yea, I guess we do.”
Maybe he’d finally get the answers he needed, maybe he’d finally get the truth. Or maybe she’d just make him fall for her all over again.