Never Say Never Read Online Free PDF Page A

actors don’t play superheroes,” he says back without missing a beat. After four years as my agent, Thomas doesn’t put up with my shit.
    “I know.” I plow my hand through my hair. It’s down to my ears and annoys the fuck out of me. I keep it like that only for my character in Shadowland .
    “Look.” Thomas takes off his glasses and leans forward, and I know he’s about to say something blunt. “You want to be a household name, right?”
    “Of course,” I say back. “I am—”
    “No,” he interrupts. “You’re well known with the action genre fans, but not with everyone. Not yet.”
    I flick my eyes back to the script in my hands. “Go on.”
    “This movie puts you in a whole new category.”
    I can’t refute that. “But…” I start, and read the title, feeling something die inside of me. Is it my manhood? “It’s a chick flick. I mean, come on. I’ve never even heard of this guy,” I say as I tap the name of the author whose book is being adapted to the film.
    Thomas shakes his head. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. And I suggest you step into a bookstore. His books—and the film adaptations—do well. Read the script. I’m calling you in the morning, and you’ll tell me you want this so I can tell the director you’ll be there for the screen-test.”
    I huff but curl the script in my hand. “Fine. But don’t hold your breath. This guy…this cowboy…isn’t me.”
    “None of the characters you play are you,” Thomas says in a dry tone. Yep, he’s done with my shit. I can’t blame him, really. I got my start in acting right out of school and landed the leading role in a trashy musical in West End. It was poorly written and could have ruined my career, but I fucking loved it.
    Being on stage, being under the spotlight, and being someone else…it’s everything I’ve ever wanted. For a few hours I can stop being Aiden Shepherd and be someone else. My real life dissipates into oblivion when I’m on stage. I become my character. I don’t have to be Aiden, don’t have to deal with whatever the hell I should be dealing with.
    On a whim (okay, I was slightly drunk), I went to an open casting for a leading role in Shadowland , and holy fuck, I got a call back. Things moved from there. I got an agent, another call back, the role, moved from London to California, then got more roles. Over the course of four years, I went from not making enough to get by to more money than I knew what to do with.
    Playing the villain-turned-hero in Shadowland has changed my life. There is no mistake about that. I live and breathe that show. Knowing that it will wrap up after this current season is terrifying. I haven’t admitted that to anyone, and I don’t ever plan to. I’m Aiden Shepherd. Young, talented, attractive…I shouldn’t have fears this early in my career.
    I leave the café in sunny L.A. and drive to my house, thinking over Thomas’ words. Typecast. It was a four-letter word among actors. It wasn’t something I wanted to be. But fuck, I like dark, badass characters. I like the underdog coming through, against the odds, kicking ass and taking names.
    The last four years passed so fast, sometimes I wonder if they were real. We filmed three seasons of Shadowland and I did the Batman movies. It kept me in the here and now and out of the past.
    I can’t go back there. I can’t think about the shit that happened. I can’t. If I do…well, it isn’t fucking pretty.
    I haven’t gone there in years. It’s been blocked out, locked away in some fucked-up vault in my mind. It’s a ticking time bomb, but hey, that’s a problem for anther day.
     
     

     
     
    The next day, I leave the screen-test with a new role. I should be ecstatic, but I’m not. At all. I unlock the door to my L.A. house and step into the large foyer. It’s two stories tall, with a curved staircase leading up to the second level. The house is empty, and every single one of its eleven-thousand square feet