The Broken Road - A Zac Efron Novel (18+)

Chapter 8 - Betrayal

I was relieved when Tom finally called "cut" for the day. I couldn't quite place my finger on it, but there was something up with Zac. There is always a very thin line when you're filming a romantic scene with a new costar – one you have to be careful not to cross. You need to have a small wall up, otherwise the romantic things you're acting out with each other can feel very real and very intense, even though in reality – they aren't. It's why so many Hollywood romances start in front of the cameras. Based on the way Zac had been looking at me and the way his heart was racing, I think he forgot to put that wall up.

Zac climbed out from under the covers and slipped his robe back on. He stood with his back to me so I could do the same.

"Decent?" he asked.

"Decent," I replied giving him permission to turn back around.

We walked back across the street to the wardrobe trailer together. I grabbed my phone off the counter and walked into my side of the trailer, shutting the door behind me. I glanced at my phone and saw I had 154 missed calls and hundreds of text messages. On the craziest of days, that was...a lot...even for me. Before I could figure out who any of them were from, my phone was ringing again. It was my assistant, Lauren.

"Hello?" I asked, bringing my phone up to my ear.

"Hey," Lauren said uncomfortably on the other end.

"What's going on? What's wrong?" I asked her as I pulled off the tape they had used on my body, wincing as I did so.

"Are you alone?"

"Yeah."

"Actually alone?"

"I'm in the wardrobe trailer, but I'm by myself. What the hell is going on?"

"Why don't you sit down," she pleaded. I pulled my jeans from earlier back on and sat down on the small sofa in the corner.

"Alright, I am currently sitting down."

"When was the last time you talked to Aaron?"

"I saw him yesterday morning before I went to the airport, why?"

"Do you know where he was going?"

"Yeah, he was going to visit his parents. Lauren, what the hell happened? Is Aaron OK? What's going on?!" I was frantic at this point.

"Aaron is OK," Lauren started.

"Then what the hell is going on?" There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. "Lauren, you're just the messenger. Whatever it is, I won't be upset with you, just tell me what the hell is going on."

"He's cheating on you," she finally spit out.

I swear I completely stopped breathing in that moment. "There's more," she continued.

"What?"

"It's Megan. He's cheating on you with Megan."

I could feel the blood drain from my face and my mouth fill with saliva in that moment. I ran into the bathroom and landed on the floor in front of the toilet in just enough time for vomit to escape my mouth. The horrendous, acrid taste of stomach acid made me wince as my stomach wretched again. I coughed over the toilet as tears came to my eyes. I pulled my knees into my chest as I sat on the bathroom floor and leaned back against the wall. I picked my phone up off the floor, there was a huge crack now on the screen.

"How? When? What? How do you know?" I rambled into the phone. And then I realized, Zac was going to be waiting for me. "Wait!" I cut her off before she could continue. "Don't tell me, I don't want to know right now," I said as I fumbled around to find a toothbrush and toothpaste.