to be. That being photographed anytime she went out in public and having paparazzi follow her everywhere she went ranked right up there with getting a full body wax. It sucked.
“One day you’ll get it,” Julie had told her repeatedly. “Then you’re going to say, ‘Why didn’t you tell me it was like this?’”
“How did the shoot go anyway?”
Cal had been up north in the Black Hills shooting a period piece that was supposed to be a sleeper hit. But how many indie films had Cal worked on where she’d been assured the thing was going to be a hit? Julie had tried to tell her there was no way to predict a successful film, but Cal insisted this was the one. The movie that would take her out of the Nowhere to Hide shadow and launch her to the A-list where she belonged.
“It was fine.” Cal licked chocolate off her fingers. “I’m supposed to tell you hi from Leo Frost.” Leo was using the film to get his feet wet as a producer. As if the man didn’t already saturate the town with his presence.
“Ha.” Julie huffed. Leo Frost had been her costar in Dangerous Race. The guy had serious woman issues. “Was that before or after he tried to stick his tongue down your throat?”
Cal burst out laughing. “After.”
Shock dropped Julie’s chin to her chest. “You didn’t. Please tell me you didn’t let Leo...” She couldn’t finish the sentence.
“Let Leo fuck me?” Cal asked. Her smile answered the question, and Julie’s eyes rounded wide. “Oh, c’mon, Jules,” Cal said. “I don’t know what your problem is with him.” She ticked off her fingers. “One, he’s gorgeous. You can’t tell me you don’t think he has the hottest bod in town. Two, he’s loaded with sex appeal.”
“And money,” Julie added wryly.
Cal nodded. “And money. That never hurts. Third, being seen with him could do wonders for my PR.”
Julie hated that Cal was willing to sell herself for PR. “He’s trouble, Cal. He’s all about the convenience. He’s not one to stick around.”
Shrugging a shoulder, Cal waved her off. “He doesn’t need to stick around. I’m not expecting that. I just need the exposure. Now that we’re back in town, when we get together it will be big news.” Her confident grin told a story all its own. Cal expected this plan to work.
* * *
Allen wanted to die.
For three days he’d lain flat because of a killer flu. He’d barely had the energy to stand up and piss, much less feed himself, so it was times like this when he thanked God for his mother...and the fact that he lived in the room over the garage of his parents’ house. Someone knocked at his bedroom door. Speak of the devil.
“Allie, I’ve got some soup for you,” she said, opening the door and sliding her big body through the frame.
He moaned. He detested when she called him Allie. Girls were named Allie, and he had never been a girl. “Set it on the table,” he mumbled into his pillow. “I’ll get it in a minute.”
“Don’t let it get cold,” she warned. “It’s no good cold.”
All right already! She’d been in the room for only ten seconds and he already wanted to kill her. How many times did he have to hear the same cold-food speech? He was twenty-seven years old for God’s sake. He knew food got cold if it sat out too long. He managed another grunt in response. No need to piss off Mom. He still felt like shit and needed her to cook and do his laundry. Not that she didn’t always do those things, but she bitched about it less when he was sick. How the hell did she think he had the time to do any of that crap for himself when he worked almost seventy hours a week?
These marked his first days of sick leave in the six years he’d been the I.T. guy at So. Cal. Electronics and Games. He’d accrued months of vacation time too, so he didn’t give a fuck if they missed him now.
“Do you want me to turn on the television for you?” she asked after she set the tray down with a clatter.
Anything to drown out her obnoxious nasal voice. “Yes,” he mumbled.
“What channel, honey?”
He didn’t fucking care! Just turn on the goddamn television and get out of the fucking room! She was the biggest fucking cunt on the planet. “Whatever it’s on is fine,” he gritted out.