Imperial Bedrooms - By Bret Easton Ellis Page 0,46

usual, it'll take even longer for you to understand and - "

"Why are you here, Trent?" I ask, unable to contain the stress that's whispering around us. "What? You're here on Julian's behalf? You want Rain to be with Julian? You want them to live happily ever after?"

"No, no, you're not paying attention. You don't get it," Trent says, shaking his head. "Just stop all contact with her. Starting this afternoon. Don't see her anymore. Don't return her calls. She'll come back to you but don't let her - "

"What if I say go fuck yourself?"

"That would be very stupid."

"Unless you tell me why I should stay away, I don't think what you want is going to happen."

Trent stares at me, and then he tells me something that I know he doesn't want to.

"If she can make Rip Millar happy for a couple more months then everything will calm down." Trent stops and looks into my face. "Do you get it, now? Do I need to explain this any further? Julian's really not the obstacle right now. You are. Julian's already tried to talk her out of being with you. But, in this case, you're the only one she's going to listen to."

"Why me?"

"Because she thinks you're the only one who can do something for her," Trent says, and then shakes his head again. "You're the only one who cares enough." He pauses. "Because she thinks that you're her only chance."

I force myself to laugh but it's just a gesture to overcome the fear. When I reach into my pocket for the iPhone three consecutive texts read: why are u with him? Why Are You With Him??? WHY ARE YOU WITH HIM???

I'm not listening to anything Trent says until I hear "As of now, you've officially made yourself a target" because this reminds me of what Rip Millar told me in the back of the limousine a few nights ago. "What?" I look up from the phone and then glance fearfully down the boardwalk at the guy in the windbreaker, who has appeared again, pretending to stare dreamily into the hazy distance.
Chapter 13

"Someone could be setting you up," Trent says.

"Being set up for what?"

Trent notices something as I light a cigarette.

"Your hand is shaking," he says. "You can't smoke here."

"I don't think anyone's around to enforce that."

On the roof of the Mexican restaurant someone is scanning the pier with a pair of binoculars. And then I realize that the guy who's been following us is taking more pictures, his camera aimed at the ocean even though the haze makes these pictures almost impossible, unless instead he's taking pictures of two guys leaning against the railing at the end of the Santa Monica pier, one of them smoking a cigarette, the other one backed away from him in frustration. The windbreaker guy crosses the pier again as if he's looking for a better angle and I don't say anything to Trent because he hasn't noticed the guy and the empty roller-coaster cars glide slowly down their tracks, slipping in and out of the haze, and someone faintly sings you're still the one from a radio inside a surf shop and on the beach a surfer shuffles through the sand near the water's edge, a towel wrapped around his head like a turban.

"You know she came on to Mark," Trent says. "Or did you know that?"

I keep looking at the phone.

WHAT IS HE TELLING YOU?!?

"She tried to fuck him," Trent says. "He wasn't interested. He laughed about it. It was the night after the audition and she sent him pictures of herself. She told him he could fuck her if he wanted to."

I look back at the roof of the restaurant and then I squint at the blond guy with the camera, now disappearing into the haze.

"He said she was too old for him - "

"Are you trying to make me angry?"

Trent moves into another tactic. "Daniel Carter's interested in doing Adrenaline. He wants to make it his next movie. We could make that happen." Trent looks at me hopefully. "Would that mollify you?"

"What are you doing, Trent? Why are you here?" I mutter. "If you're not going to talk straight to me then I'm leaving."

"Just walk away. Just leave her alone. I'm just asking you to walk away from her and leave it alone." Trent pauses. "You don't need to know why. You're not going to get any answers. I doubt it would matter to you if you had them anyway."

"I