Several seconds passed without Neil getting a response so he continued with his report,
"I made all the necessary arrangents and ensured your schedule is packed so we can be done as early as possible. With my calculations, we should be ready to leave here in four to five days; provided you don’t want to visit the resort for your annual vaca—"
Archie cut him off, "What married man goes on a vacation without his wife?"
"You, Sir. For the past three years now," Neil deadpanned in reply.
Archie’s lips flattened into a thin line. That was a low blow, but it was the truth.
"Shut up. And get my phone," he hissed, "I have to check if her anger issue made her kill my brothers yet."
"You might as well call her directly and ask instead of watching—"
"And risk getting murdered too? Thanks, but I’ll pass. My phone, Neil," he demanded, this ti with a firm tone.
Neil tucked his hand in his pocket to retrieve Archie’s phone but had to take out his first. He switched it on, his eyes brightening at the number of notifications that sat on the phone’s screen.
"Looks like Miss Ava left the top searches already. I guess she was able to leave ho today," he said out loud, clicking on one of the notifications displayed on the screen. "She was replaced by... Stuart Salvador’s co-stars in Broken Hearts."
"Broken Hearts? Why does it sound kind of familiar?" Archie humd. Making the finishing touches to the sketch he was framing on the wall, he turned around to face Neil, his brows arched in question.
The movie’s na might simply sound familiar, but he wasn’t okay with not knowing where he heard it.
"Yeah, it does sound familiar to too," Neil started to say, trailing off as clicked on the first line of the search, watched the page load and saw what it was.
Jodi’s Instagram page was displayed, and her most recent post from an hour ago where she was wearing a white bikini and having the beach as background. Her blonde hair was flowing behind her, ssy tendrils blocking part of the wide grin on her face.
Neil’s lips curved into a smile that froze almost as soon as it started. It was rare for him to see even the smallest smile on her face when they were alone at ho but here she was, showing everyone else without the least bit of hesitation?!
With gritted teeth, he restrained himself from checking the comnts, simply pressing the like button so she would at least know he saw this. He was about to exit the page when his eyes caught the accounts she tagged and the hashtags used.
She tagged Ava Donovan? Interesting, but not surprising. But Stuart Salvador? Before he could stop himself, Neil had clicked on the tagged account and got transported to Stuart’s account, his eyes narrowing when he saw the most recent pictures the actor posted.
A picture that also had the beach background, of him standing with Jodi, her arm around his neck while he stood detached; and a caption,
[Unrequited love on screen, definitely not irl! Can’t bear to turn down pretty blondes, especially not @JoSinclair!]
"What the hell does that an?!" Neil hissed, his tone reflecting his anger.
"What the hell does what an?"
Neil looked up, his anger decreasing by notches when he saw Archie hovering above him and examining the picture with a bored expression.
"It’s..." he stuttered, "I an, what is he trying to insinuate with this caption? Definitely not in real life? Is he saying it’s not an unrequited love in real life?"
Archie shrugged, disinterest flickering in his blue eyes as he fired off, "Are you asking that? Shouldn’t you know if your girlfriend has stopped loving you?"
"Not when she has never loved—" Neil cut himself off, the words hanging in his throat as he changed the topic imdiately, "That’s not even the point here. Why does she have to put her arm around him and smile like that?"
"Publicity stunt, Neil. Quit being such a jealous boyfriend and hand my fucking phone," Archie consoled him half-heartedly. Why was he consoling him? Because he didn’t know if he would react in a worse manner than Neil had done, if Avery was the one with her arms over that pretty—he couldn’t call him handso—actor.
Returning his attention to the phone, Neil snickered, mischief tinting his eyes all of a sudden.
"Jealous boyfriend? Publicity stunt? Okay then, I guess you don’t have to see this then..." He took out Archie’s phone and pushed it to him, the latter’s eyes not failing to catch the slight smirk at the corner of Neil’s lips.
"Do I need to see sothing?" he asked.
The mischief in his eyes not dwindling, Neil shook his head and replied, "No. It’s just a publicity stunt, one that involves Miss Ava."
Archie didn’t ask the second ti. He leaned over and snatched both his and Neil’s phone from the latter’s hand, threads of horror warping around his heart at the guess of what he was about to see. Maybe Avery smiling at the man? That was manageable.
But what he saw was worse; worse than he had actually guessed. His eyes darkened with murderous intent as they zeroed in on Stuart’s face, or rather, Stuart’s lips pressed Avery’s neck and his hand around her naked waist.
"What’s his na?" the question ca out in a low growl, but Neil heard every single word perfectly.
"Why do you need his na, Sir?" he asked, attracting a glare from Archie that spurred him to continue, "Stuart Salvador, that’s his na. But you aren’t planning to do anything, right? Like you said... it’s just a publicity stunt and nothing more than—"
"Let’s leave. We are going back," Archie interrupted, rising from the couch.
Doing the sa, all traces of a smirk erased from Neil’s face to be replaced by seriousness and a trace of fear.
"We can’t go back. There’s still a lot to do over here," he hurriedly said.
"They can be postponed."
"They can’t!" Neil argued. "Not the orphanage visit, at least."
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