Free The Blackwell Lessons by Sk Quinn Page B

sentence. My stomach is churning and I feel like the tip of a knife is pressed against my heart.
    ‘I told you,’ says Marc. ‘I barely know her.’
    ‘So why did Leo ask you that?’
    ‘Uh oh!’ Baz says. ‘The cat’s out of the bag now, Marky Marc. The missus is getting jealous.’
    ‘I’m warning you Baz.’
    ‘Just trying to have a laugh—’
    ‘I’m not laughing.’
    The room has gone horribly silent.
    Ruby and Nadia are both watching me, pitying looks on their faces.
    ‘So what did Leo mean?’ I say.
    ‘It doesn’t matter,’ says Marc. ‘We’ll talk about it later.’
    ‘I’m sick of waiting until later!’ I snap. ‘We’ll talk about it now .’
    ‘She’s got balls this one,’ Baz remarks. ‘Do you usually let her talk to you like that? Or do you keep her in line by—’
    ‘Baz, be quiet,’ Marc barks. ‘Sophia – come with me. Nadia, I hope you don’t mind. Sophia and I need to talk privately for a moment.’
    ‘Go ahead,’ says Nadia.
    Marc scoots me out the door and along the corridor. He opens a door marked ‘Awaiting delivery: E1’ and leads me inside.
    There are furs and slave girl dresses hanging up, and a black leather sofa strewn with caveman clubs and animal horns.
    Marc closes the door behind us.
    ‘I’m not stupid,’ I tell him. ‘Leo didn’t ask you that for no reason. You and Sigourney—’
    ‘Sophia, you’re the only girl I’ve ever loved. No one else matters. But for the record – yes I slept with Sigourney Seymour.’
    I feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach.
    ‘You slept with a girl I’m going to be working with?’
    And not just any girl. A supermodel.
    I swallow. ‘More than once?’
    Marc doesn’t meet my eye. ‘Yes. More than once.’
    ‘How many times?’
    ‘Christ – I wasn’t keeping count. We weren’t together long. I can barely remember her, to tell you the truth.’
    ‘Were you together before she was with Leo?’
    ‘In a manner of speaking.’
    ‘What on earth does that mean?’
    ‘It means the waters are a little muddy.’
    ‘Sigourney cheated on Leo with you?’ I say, my voice practically a screech. ‘Marc! How could you—’
    ‘She didn’t cheat on Leo with me,’ says Marc. ‘She got together with him after I told her I wasn’t interested. But she still called me endlessly. Asking me for another chance. God knows why – I hardly treated her well.’
    ‘Did she live with you or anything?’
    ‘No. She didn’t live with me. She didn’t have any impact on my life whatsoever. We just both happened to be in LA at the same time on the same circuit. In those days, it was inevitable something would happen.’
    ‘Because she’s so beautiful?’
    ‘No. Because we went to the same clubs and saw the same people. The bad crowd. What happened between us was no big deal. Maybe she cared more than I did. I don’t know. But in those days I didn’t give a damn.’
    ‘It’s hard to think of you that way,’ I say. ‘Being so selfish.’
    ‘I was selfish. Completely selfish and lost.’
    ‘So Leo doesn’t know? That Sigourney still called you when they were together?’
    ‘I never told him. But with Sigourney … you never know what she could have said in the heat of the moment. She certainly likes to manipulate people’s emotions.’
    ‘Did she hurt you?’
    Marc laughs. ‘No. But I saw her in action. With Leo. And others.’
    ‘Leo told me he was messed up over her for a while.’
    ‘I’m not surprised. For all his immaturity, Leo is honest and open. She no doubt dragged him through the mud.’
    ‘There’s two sides to every story.’
    ‘In Sigourney’s case, I doubt that. Maybe she’s changed now. I don’t know. Anyway. Look – Sigourney Seymour is someone I hardly knew. From a time I was completely lost. She meant nothing then and she means nothing now.’
    ‘What hurts is you didn’t tell me.’
    ‘What was there to tell? Until today I didn’t know she was in the movie. You want me to tell