Call My Lifeline
1439 Words
GWEN
The world tilts under me.
“That… was real?” I whisper, my voice scraping its way out of my throat like it’s afraid to exist. My eyes are still locked on the frozen image on the screen—Sara’s mouth pressed to mine, her fingers curled around my wrist like she’s claiming me. News banners flash below us in bright, merciless red.
DARLING SARA REUNITED WITH SECRET LOVER.
“Yep,” Jason says, trying for casual but sounding like he’s chewing glass. “It’s on every news outlet right now. ‘Darling Sara Reunited With Lover.’ It’s a circus. However, this causes an issue.”
An issue?
I can’t even blink. The image is burned into me. Sara kissed me. She actually kissed me. And suddenly I’m sitting here watching it replayed like a national scandal.
Jason turns off the TV, and the silence is harsh—raw. It forces me to look at him, to look AWAY from that moment looping endlessly in my head. He leans forward, irritated, eyes sharp.
“Hey. This is serious.”
“You’re right,” I breathe, chest heaving. “It’s serious. I’m going to murder Sara Starr if it’s the last thing I do.”
I’m moving before I know it—marching for the door, rage making everything inside me feel too small, too tight. But Jason catches me, arms banding around my waist, dragging me back against him. I fight for half a second before the adrenaline burns out, leaving nothing but a hollow, shaking exhaustion. I collapse into him, and the sobs hit—violent, humiliating.
He lowers me to the couch like I’m fragile glass.
I want to punch something. Cry. Scream. Anything.
“Why does she keep messing up my life?” I choke out, burying my face between my knees. My fists press against my temples like I can hold my skull together. “As soon as something starts to go right—she pops up and ruins it.”
Jason lets out a slow, tired sigh. “Listen… I’m sorry this happened. You’re right. She leaves a wake of disaster wherever she goes. But this is… this is an opportunity. A chance for good publicity.”
Good publicity.
That snaps my head up.
It hits me all at once—the hotel suite, the guards in the hall, why Jason and Sara have access to my room. Why I’m not at the award ceremony I was supposed to be at—the one Mr. McNeill is definitely going to murder me over.
“No,” I breathe. “Nonononono. NO. I am not pretending to be her lover. That’s not happening. Find someone else to suck up to her.”
“We tried.” Jason runs a hand through his hair. “We had Caleb Murray lined up, but apparently, he has a boyfriend. And then Derek Hanlin, Bryce Skelly, Nathan Banks—but you know Sara. If she wants something, she doesn’t stop until the universe folds for her.”
He points at me. “Right now, that’s you. Like it or not, you stand out. You were caught on camera. The narrative is already written.”
My stomach sinks.
“Following Sara around every day may not be your ideal summer break,” he continues, “but if it keeps her in a good place with the media, then I’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen. Whatever you need, I’ll get it. But please… appease her for now.”
He’s pleading by the end.
Begging.
And still—my hatred burns hotter.
“I will not participate,” I snap. “I refuse.”
Jason exhales, defeated. “Then I guess we’re doing this the hard way.”
He gets up. Heads for the door.
Panic flicks sharp and sudden through me. “Jason—wait—”
“There are guards posted outside your door,” he says without turning. “If you try to leave without me, they’ll detain you. In an hour, a makeup artist, hairdresser, and stylist will arrive to prepare you—per Sara’s request.”
He opens the door, glances back once.
“You’re under surveillance by Talent Stardom Industries now. Good day.”
“Hey—wait!” I lunged, grabbing the door handle as he slips out.
But two guards immediately shove me back—impersonal, unbothered. Like I’m luggage trying to roll away.
“I said NO!” I shout. “NONONO! Someone help me—I’m being kidnapped!”
The door shuts in my face.
Silence crashes over the room.
My heart is a feral, trapped animal.
My skin prickles with claustrophobic pressure.
I feel… owned.
I stumble around the suite, looking for my phone—my hands shaking, my thoughts racing and splintering like glass. But it’s gone. Of course it’s gone.
But the hotel room has a landline.
And I know Jay’s number by heart.
I dial with trembling fingers, hoping, begging—
The phone rings. Once. Twice. Five times.
Then—
“Hello? Who is this?”
Relief hits me so hard I could collapse.
“Jay—it’s me. Gwen.”
A loud inhale. “G! Where have you been? I’ve been sick with worry! Do you know how many times I’ve called? Where have you been the past two days?”
My throat tightens.
“Jay—there’s a situation. I’m being held captive by Sara’s talent agency and they’re trying to force me to date her.”
Silence.
Then Jay laughs. Loudly. Harshly.
“I’m glad you’re finally in a place to joke about Sara, especially now that she has a new love interest. It’s all over the news.”
“Jay—have you watched the video? That’s ME.”
“Okay, fine, gimme a sec. I’ll—”
Silence. The kind that punches a hole in your chest.
“G… why… why are you kissing Sara?”
“Oh my GOD—do you seriously think I did that on purpose? I bumped into her at the airport! I knocked down her bags, her disguise—everything. And when I looked up and saw her I froze. The kiss was HER doing!”
I’m practically shouting.
Nothing.
Then—
“Jay? You still there?”
A new voice answers.
“Yeah, Jay, are you there, honeykins?”
Sara.
Sara’s smug, honey-sweet venom.
My blood goes ice-cold.
“SARA! Let me out of this room RIGHT NOW!”
“Sorry, sweet-cheeks,” she croons. “No can do. Jason and the department’s orders. Such a shame too—I’d love to see you. But apparently you’re considered a threat to me.” A giggle. “I wonder why…”
“Let me out or so help me—”
“Aw, you’re cute when you’re feral.”
I hear Jay in the background. Faint. Panicked.
“Sara, what are you doing to G?”
“Oh, nothing,” she sings. “Since the incident yesterday, TSI decided to take matters into their own hands. Gwen is now officially my lover in the public eye. Which means…” Her voice drops low, delighted. “…I get her all to myself.”
My pulse spikes. I grip the phone harder—like I can hurt her through it.
“Where are you right now, anyway?” she says to Jay. “Paris? Sounds lovely. If only Gwen hadn’t been nominated for that fake award ceremony I set up for her. Which means ‘me,’ by the way.”
I squeeze my eyes shut.
Fake award ceremony.
She lured me here. On purpose.
“Oh, Jay,” she purrs, “if only you could do something. But if word got out that you tried to ‘save’ Gwen… how do you think Caleb’s career would survive?”
Silence. Long. Crushing.
“Jay?” My voice cracks.
He breathes in—shaky. Torn.
“I’m sorry, G,” he whispers. “Good luck.”
And he hangs up.
Sara giggles like she just won a prize.
The phone slips from my fingers and hits the carpet with a dull thud.
My only lifeline—cut.
My only anchor—gone.
Jay didn’t choose me.
He didn’t even hesitate long enough.
I sink back against the couch, the world tilting sideways as the truth settles like lead in my chest:
I am alone.
Completely alone.
And Sara Starr—the girl who haunts my life like a recurring nightmare—has just locked me inside a gilded cage with her name etched across every bar.
- Writer
