The Director's Cut by Js Taylor (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud txt) 📕

conversation about the movie.

I turn to Lorna.

“Do you have any plans for later?”

I’m wondering if I can squeeze in a drink with her between rehearsing my lines for tomorrow.

Lorna looks guilty.

“Um. Yeah. I kinda do.”

I glance at David.

“You’re going out with the props guy?” I whisper, leaning in close. That might be a good match, I decide.

But Lorna is shaking her head.

“No. It’s not like that. We’re just friends.” She takes a breath. “Ok, Issy, don’t get mad. But Ben is taking me out.”

“Ben Gracey?”

Of course I know which Ben she’s referring to. But I’m so shocked, the words come out of my mouth before I can stop them.

Callum turns fractionally at my outburst, and then returns to quizzing David about the props.

“Yeah…” Lorna is twirling a strand of her Afro hair into a single perfect curl.

“How did he get here?” I demand.

“I told him I was out here on the movie, and he flew out earlier today,” says Lorna, defensively.

“Did you clear it with James?”

“No… but…”

“Lorna!”

“Listen,” she says, her eyes flashing, “Ben doesn’t need to ask permission to fly to Barcelona to see his girlfriend.”

“You’re his girlfriend now?”

Something about this isn’t adding up. Why is he suddenly calling Lorna his girlfriend?

“That’s what he said.”

“Why is he suddenly so keen?” I ask suspiciously. “I thought he was hot and cold.”

Lorna’s face tightens in annoyance.

“It is possible, you know,” she says, “that a man could like me.”

“I…” I open my mouth to protest, but she carries on talking.

“We might not be a movie star couple like you and…” she stops herself, seeing my face flash a warning glance towards David.

“Well, you know what I mean,” she finishes. “Anyway. I told him I was in a movie, and he flew out earlier today. Simple as that.”

“You told him you were in a movie?”

Something is beginning to lock into place in my mind.

“Yes.”

“Did you say which movie?”

“Of course,” replies Lorna. “Well. Not the name. But I told him James Berkeley was producing it.”

My whirling thoughts are fitting together. Ben flew out today. Then a reporter arrived in Barcelona.

Something tells me this is too much of a coincidence. Ben was one of the few other people who could have made the connection between James and I.

I know he doesn’t like James. This would be the perfect way to hurt him.

Suddenly I’m certain.

Ben Gracey is the leak.

I need to tell James. Now.

Chapter 13

For a long moment, I think James might not open his door. And then the handle turns, and I see his handsome face deep with worry.

He has his mobile phone in his hand, as though he’s just been making a call.

“Issy? What is it?”

I push past him into the room. And when he shuts the door, I turn to make my revelation.

“It’s Ben,” I say, still slightly breathless from running up the stairs. “I think Ben Gracey is leaking information to the press.”

James raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything. He places his phone carefully on a table.

“I think he’s been getting information from Lorna,” I continue. “I mean…” I hesitate, having not thought this part fully through. “Lorna wouldn’t have told him,” I clarify. “But I think he’s worked things out. Through her.”

“Are you sure about that?” asks James. He looks as though he’s thinking carefully.

“Yes,” I say certainly, “I asked Lorna not tell anyone. But I’ve been texting her. All Ben need do is look through her phone.”

James mouth twists, considering this.

“Ben flew out to Barcelona this morning,” I conclude. “Just before you ran into that reporter.”

James bites his lip and begins to pace back and forth.

“You’re sure he flew out here today?” he says, stopping for a moment to assess my face.

“Yes. He’s taking Lorna out somewhere this evening.”

James sits heavily on the enormous double bed.

“Come here, Issy,” he says quietly.

Bemused by his tone, I pad over the deep carpet and seat myself beside him.

He puts his arm around my waist.

“I don’t think it’s Ben Gracey,” he says, finally.

My heart sinks. I had been so sure.

“Why not?” I manage.

James sighs.

“I haven’t told you much about my past with Ben. I think I owe you some information. I don’t want you to see him as the bad guy. I behaved badly, when I was younger. He has some understandable antipathy towards me.”

“He does?”

“Yes.” James sighs. “Let me tell you a little more. The exercise we just did, with the memories? I’m guessing you couldn’t know mine. Am I right?”

I nod slowly. Either he stole money from his father’s house or refused to meet his stepbrother.

“My shameful act was refusing to meet my stepbrother,” says James. His eyes are on mine.

“You refused to meet with Ben?”

“No.” James shakes his head. “I met with Ben. But Ben has an older brother.”

He pauses, and I wait for him to continue.

“Ben was barely a teenager when his mother married my father,” he explains. “But his brother was a little older.”

He takes my hands in his and toys with them distractedly.

“Ben’s brother was in a private mental institution,” he says. His face looks so sad, that I want to throw my arms around him. But I sense he needs to talk.

“He had a serious mental illness,” he continues, studying my palms. “My father wanted me to go and meet with him. Make him feel part of a family.”

He’s examining my hands intently, turning them in his.

“I wouldn’t,” says. “I didn’t want to fly back to England. I was mostly schooling in Hong Kong, and I’d already started hanging with the wrong crowd.”

He raises his eyes to mine, and they are filled with shame. “It was a selfish thing to do,” he concludes. “It’s one of the reasons why Ben has so much bitterness towards me. And I don’t really blame him.”

“But why should Ben be so angry that you wouldn’t meet his brother?” I ask, struggling to understand the situation.

James sighs. “Ben was of the opinion that a stable family unit could help his brother recover. To his mind, I