Backdraft - The Secret Life of Trystan Scott #2 Read Online Free Page A

started to walk away.
    He reached for her, grabbing her wrist,
wanting an explanation. “Hey, wait a second. Mari, what is this?
You know me.” His heart throbbed harder as his hand gripped her
wrist. Her skin was so warm, so smooth. When she looked up at him
with those dark eyes, he was lost.
    “I’m not so sure anymore.” She looked down at
his hand on her arm like she didn’t want it there.
    “What do you mean? Of course you know me.”
Trystan tried to strangle the pleading tone out of his voice, but
it wouldn’t budge. An icy feeling was pooling in his stomach as he
watched her.
    “I’m never really sure if the guy I know is
the real Trystan or the act.” She tucked a curl behind her ear and
looked up at Trystan with those eyes. They said everything. She
didn’t trust him. She didn’t know what to believe anymore and it
was his own damn fault. “You can put on a dazzling show when you
try. How I am supposed to know what’s real and what’s not?” When
she asked the question, she couldn’t look at him. Her gaze fell to
the floor.
    He took her shoulders in his hands. “Look at
me, Mari. You know me. I wouldn’t lie to you. About anything.” Her
gaze lifted and met his. Her brown eyes seemed incredibly
vulnerable right then, and he didn’t know why. Trystan knew this
was important to her, that she felt misled and he wanted to fix it.
He lifted a hand to her face and tucked a stray hair behind her
ear, letting his fingers linger in her soft hair. His voice was
soft, beseeching, “You know me better than anyone else. You always
have.”
    Mari swallowed hard, her eyes locked on his.
She didn’t look away. She didn’t shirk him off like she usually
did. Instead she stood there, barely breathing, looking for the
truth in his eyes. His gut twisted like someone was wringing it
out. The way she looked at him said so much. Did she really not see it? Of course not. She saw the guy on stage, the one
who kissed Brie—the one who was never serious about anyone.
    Finally she said, “I don’t know.”
    “Come to the prop room tomorrow with Tucker’s
pass. I’ll show you that I’m serious. Acting is acting. Brie
doesn’t have my heart.” He paused, willing her to see it, to feel
it. Squeezing her shoulders, he said, “Someone else does.”
    Mari broke the intense gaze, nervously
tucking her hair behind her ear, and stepped back. He smiled at
her. The way she tucked her hair behind her ear was a tick that he
hadn’t noticed before. Something about the way she did it, like she
was trying to hide from him, made him adore her even more.
    “We’ll see, I guess. I want to believe you. I
really do. I just... I don’t know anymore, but I’ll come. I’ll be
there because of what happened today. All of it.” Mari gave him a
weak smile and turned on her heel to leave.
    Trystan’s eyes slid over her curves and
landed on her hips for a second. The black top she wore wasn’t
tight, but it wasn’t loose either. Coupled with those jeans and
that sexy hair, she looked like a goddess—and just as far out of
reach.
    Mari was too good for him and he knew it.

CHAPTER 4

    ~MARI~

    I didn’t want to watch that part, but the end
of the second act drew me back to my seat. No one blocked my line
of sight, so I had the perfect place to watch Trystan give Brie a
perfect kiss. The tension in the air was so thick, the way he
looked at her made my stomach twist. It was like watching the lines
when he ran them with me. Nothing seemed real in that moment. The
guy I loved was inching closer to someone else, his lips pressing
to hers, his hands gently touching her face. It was like hitting
replay and watching him kiss me. Suddenly it felt like there was no
air. The room grew hotter as my heart slapped into my ribs, banging
inside of me like I was going to die.
    That was my kiss. It was the same kiss he
gave me in the prop room. I’d known it was fake, that he was
acting, but somehow seeing it in front of me was too much. I