Free Below the Line by Candice Owen

had, something closed up inside her. She had decided she never wanted to feel that way again. She never wanted to care about someone so much that she could be hurt when they left. So, she always left first. She had always made sure that her heart wasn’t involved― until now.
     
    Tears burned behind her tightly closed lids. The last time she cried had been at her mom’s funeral. Her entire body shook as she tried to hold herself together; but, it was too late. The first tear fell, followed by a flood of them. She couldn’t stop them. The sobs tore from her chest and made her throat burn.
     
     

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
     
    Nate flew down the road, knowing she would head straight for her trailer. It was the only place she had to go. Dammit, how stupid am I? He had pushed and pushed, wanting her to want him back, wanting her to care and then playing a stupid game with her emotions when things didn’t go his way.
     
    He couldn’t get that look on her face out of his mind. She was hurt. It was a misunderstanding, but how could she know that when he had been acting like he didn’t care for her at all this week?
     
    It was after ten and the studio back lot was locked up tight. He didn’t have a key to the gate since he didn’t need to live on set. He couldn’t tell if she was already inside, her trailer too far from the gate for him to see it.
     
    He drove around to the main gate and thanked his lucky stars that a security guard he had become friendly with this past week was in the guard station. He let Nate in after a minimal amount of cajoling. If he got caught, the guy would probably lose his job, so Nate told him how much he appreciated his trust.
     
    He parked his bike and raced through the lots to where the trailers sat. Marissa’s truck was there but not her bike. He didn’t know what to do. He thought, I can wait for her there but what if something happened to her on the way here? I can’t think of any other place she might go, but  I don’t know enough about her to know that for sure. I’m losing it. I’m worrying about her as much as I worried about myself when I was on the streets. If something happened to her because of my stupidity, I’ll never forgive himself.
     
    ***
     
    The first crying jag in years had left Marissa feeling weak and shaky. Her legs felt heavy as she walked back to her bike. The exhaustion was total, weighing her down. All she wanted was to go back to her crappy trailer, climb onto her lumpy mattress, and cry herself to sleep.
     
    She spent the drive home trying to figure out what to do. There was no way she was giving up her chance to do this movie because she got her heart bruised. It was also far too late to fire Nate and get someone new trained. Obviously, she was no longer going to have to worry about his on screen chemistry with Kate. She would just have to continue acting as if he didn’t matter to her, get the stunt work over with, and quickly find another job to move on to. Get out of Hollywood for a little while. Maybe find a good shoot in another country.
     
    Time and distance, that is what it would take for the bruise to heal. By the time she returned to California her bruise would be healed. Besides, it wasn’t as if she was going to be running into Nate after this was over. He would go back to his life at the club and forget she had ever existed.
     
    She made it home and got the bike parked and covered before the tears began again. She placed the blame for her pain squarely on her own shoulders. She thought, It was a huge mistake to hire someone I found attractive. It had been tempting fate, and I deserve the burn. Lesson learned.
     
    Nate stood the moment he had heard her pulling in around the back of the trailer, relieved that she was okay. Hands deep in his pockets, he headed around to meet her, trying to think of what to say to make things right.
     
    The tears running down her face made his gut clench hard. “Marissa?”
     
    She couldn't look at him. If