Haze - By Andrea Wolfe Page 0,89

that's a great way to start."

Dan's body's language immediately screamed, his shoulders tightening up, his arms crossing against his chest like a bouncer. "Whoa, dude, chill out. I was just playing. I don't care what the hell you two are doing."

Something finally clicked in Stacy because she looked distraught. Jack butted in again before she could say anything else.

"It didn't sound like you were playing," Jack said, "and you were being fucking rude to Effie here."

For some reason, it actually appeared to be helping. Jack was delivering a verbal beating, one that seemed to be knocking Dan's ideas right out of circulation. Jack wasn't lying or making up stories to cover our asses, just defending me from undue, inappropriate attention.

Stacy stood there, ruminating. "God, will you two calm down, please?"

I didn't know whose side she was actually taking. She seemed to be trapped between the two men, her long-term friend and her former boyfriend. But just because Dan was her old friend didn't mean she would take his side over the man she actually dated.

"Yeah, Jack. Just relax, man." Dan was trying to be diplomatic, but from my perspective, he couldn't be redeemed, not now. Not ever. It was too obvious that he was only trying to be nice because his job required it of him.

"Well, I think we need to be going. It was so nice meeting you, Dan," Jack said promptly. "It's a real shame we never met prior to this magic moment."

"Jack, seriously, man. It was just a joke. MCI loves you. I don't know shit about the girl you're with."

"I'm sure." Jack punctuated his sentence with a nod. "I'll let them know that their shitty A&R guy who ran into me at a party convinced me to take Lexy Brown elsewhere. You'll be real popular around the offices."

Whoa. This had heated up fast. Dan looked like he wanted to punch Jack, but obviously realized that Jack had something he wanted. Well, that his company wanted. A successful transaction would obviously benefit him as well. Jack had the upper hand and he had successfully changed the path of things.

Dan's eyes gave me one more look, a look that felt creepy and scummy and everything else that was a synonym for uncomfortable or uncalled for. "I'm gonna go, Stacy. Have fun with your friends." He turned and disappeared into the crowd before we could say anything else.

Stacy immediately turned to Jack. "What the hell was that all about?"

"Can we sit down, please?" I asked, feeling lightheaded and weak. I pointed toward the chairs by the pool that was essentially just a nice decoration since no one was swimming. It was an area clear of drama and semi-private.

After sitting down in a semi-circle together, Jack began explaining what had happened.

"Fuck." Stacy stared down at the sunlight reflecting in the pool. "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to say anything."

I instantly defended her, my mind cooled down from before. "You couldn't have known. It's just... messy. I try not to bring it up."

"God, of all the people we could have run into, it had to be him."

"I hate to say it, Stace, but he's kind of an asshole."

She shrugged. "Yeah. He's close to my family, though, so there isn't much I can do about it." She ran her hand through her hair, pulling the loose strands from her face. "Did you mean what you were saying back there?"

Yeah, I really wanted to know that as well...

He laughed. "I was just talking out of my ass. Trying to scare him." His glorious green eyes met mine. "Effie, don't sweat it, please. I don't want this to ruin your first visit to Hollywood." Jack's fingers lightly stroked the nape of my neck, the sensation instantly calming, as irrational as calm felt.

"Yeah, all right," I said weakly. I looked over at Stacy, trying to gauge her response to all of this. Her face was neutral, her features accentuated by the light of the sun. No matter what Jack said, I'd never stop believing Stacy was far prettier than me. I mean, when she walked down red carpets, the flash bulbs sounded like machine gun fire.

I realized that I had successfully suppressed the recent tension with Sam, the divorce stuff, the dying company drama, and that was what made this all worse. "I want to talk to you about it all later, though."

"On the plane ride back tomorrow, okay? Let's just try to have fun while we're here." He gave me the most optimistic