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think anymore. Exercise always did that for him: gave him the opportunity to close off his mind to the mess he’d made of his life and let him focus on the present. Nothing more.
    Feeling the power flow through his feet as he moved them faster and faster, Gage pressed the buttons to increase the incline and push him even harder. Just a bit more and all he’d be able to focus on was putting one foot in front of the other. Sweat dripped down his face and trickled down his back. Gage yanked his t-shirt off and threw it across the room. He increased the speed further, relishing in the sound of his shoes hitting the belt of the treadmill. Faster.
    His breath came in short bursts as he worked harder to keep the pace. Gage loved the intense feeling as his body pulled from reserves and kept up with what he was asking of it. But it wasn’t working. The blissful blankness that normally accompanied physical exertion wasn’t coming. He was still thinking. There was no escape. Megan’s face flashed in his mind.
    “Dammit.”
    He knew why she was there. He wasn’t stupid. Lucas had warned him more than once that if he didn’t pull it together, they were going to have to do some major damage control for his reputation. But he hadn’t listened. It was easier to keep drinking and partying and just let everything else figure itself out. Of course, that hadn’t worked out well for him at all. And just because Gage knew why Lucas had sent Megan didn’t mean he had to like it. Except he did. At least a little.
    He liked looking at her, for sure. She was gorgeous of course, and not in the over-processed, overdone way of most of the actresses he worked with on set. No, Megan, with her dark hair and chocolate eyes, was beautiful in a completely unexpected way. She didn’t try too hard and she didn’t need to. But there was more to her than her looks. She was fiery and unlike most of the women he came across.
    Ever since Extinction came out, women had thrown themselves at him. They didn’t care who he was, or what he liked, or what his favorite color was, or what made him happy. They only cared about being with someone famous. Even actresses, famous in their own right, wanted to be linked to him. For goodness’ sakes, Lucas had presented him with actual contracts from some of their reps. It would be completely impossible to find someone who actually wanted to be with him. Someone like Lana.
    “No!” He pumped his arms and increased the speed on the treadmill even further. “I won’t think of her.” But once the thought of his childhood sweetheart was in his head, he couldn’t get it out. He also couldn’t forget the last night he’d seen her when she’d pleaded with him not to do the movie. To stay on the farm so they could get married the way they’d planned. But it was the look in her eyes and her tear-streaked face when he’d walked away from her that haunted him at night and led him to try any means possible to forget.
    His lungs at the verge of bursting, Gage powered through another few minutes on the treadmill, willing himself to stop thinking of Lana. He was just about to increase the incline again when the door flew open.
    “Gage? I’ve been looking everywhere for you. What the—“
    He saved himself only moments before his feet flew out from under him. Gage slammed his hand down on the emergency button and the treadmill came to a sudden and complete stop, jarring him against the front of the machine.
    “Are you okay?” Megan was at his side, but he was too preoccupied with getting a full breath of air into his lungs to respond to her. He collapsed over the edge of the machine and took his time composing himself before grabbing the towel that was hanging off the edge and wiping his brow.
    “I’m fine,” he said after a moment. “I was working out.”
    “It looked like you were trying to kill yourself,” she said.
    More like trying to kill the demons inside him, he thought but didn’t say aloud.
    “Well, I