Why Resist a Rebel - By Leah Ashton Page 0,37

slept through his alarm, or threw it across the room—but when Graeme knocked on the door he’d drag himself out of bed, and with every step he’d get a tighter grip of what he was doing, where he had to be, what he was doing that day.

He had his pride. He was a professional, and a damned good actor. A whole film crew was waiting for him.

Or at least it had been different. These last few days when Graeme had knocked, getting out of bed had been harder. He’d needed even more coffee once he’d hit Unit Base—enough that his own coffee machine had materialised in his trailer.

He swallowed the tablet, then cupped his hands under the running tap to collect enough water to wash it down. Water trickled down his neck, then down his bare chest, forming damp, dark spots along the waistband of his tracksuit pants.

He leant forward, staring into his eyes. Under the harsh lights, his eyes were red despite all the drops that Hair and Make-up were giving him. His face was a jumble of sharp angles and shadows, his skin dull...

This had to end.

He was over this. Over it, over it, over it, over it...

Tomorrow would be different.

He switched off the lights and flopped onto his bed, his skin too hot and his legs too restless to cover himself with even a sheet.

Tomorrow would be different.

If he kept saying it, one day it would actually be true.

Ruby hammered on Dev’s front door. It was a really lovely door, with panels of stained glass, and part of her worried that she’d damage it. Only a very small part, though. A much bigger part of her wanted Dev to get his backside to Unit Base. Pronto.

‘Don’t worry,’ said Graeme beside her. ‘It won’t break.’

He stepped forward with an air of much experience and put her hammering to shame, rattling the door with his heavy-fisted knocks.

The delicate glass held. The noise was deafening. But there was still no sign of Dev.

‘Do you have a key?’ she asked, trying to peer through the multicoloured glass.

‘No,’ he said.

Ruby took a step back and put her hands on her hips as she surveyed the house.

Paul had called her to his office barely thirty minutes ago, and she’d shot out of her office and to Dev’s cottage in record time. Unfortunately, Dev’s call had been ten minutes prior to Paul’s ‘Where the hell is Devlin Cooper?’ rant, and with every minute that passed—and with a twenty-minute drive back to Unit Base...

Basically she needed Dev out of his house and into his car now.

There were only two windows on the front of the sandstone cottage, edged in dark red brick. Both were closed, and a quick test proved they weren’t going to open easily. The white-painted veranda wrapped around the side of the house, and Ruby followed it, stopping at each window to check for an entry point. So far—no luck.

The back of the house was a modern extension, with the veranda opening out into a deck with views to the mountains—not that Ruby paid any attention to it. Instead she zeroed into a flash of pale colour—curtains that were flapping through a small gap in the sliding doors. It was only a small gap—did that mean Dev hadn’t closed it properly when he’d left? Or when he’d returned?

Ruby hoped like heck it was the latter, because he certainly wasn’t on set—her phone had remained silent—so if he wasn’t in the house she had no idea where on earth to look for him next.

She had to push the door open to create a space large enough to walk through. She stepped through the curtain, pausing a moment to untangle herself from the heavy fabric. Inside it was dark—gloomy despite the sunny day outside. And silent—completely silent.

For the first time it occurred to Ruby that maybe Dev hadn’t simply slept in. She’d immediately assumed he was lounging about, deciding he had more important things to do than—you know—his job.

‘Dev?’ she called out. Or meant to. Instead she managed little more than a whisper.

She cleared her throat, and tried again. ‘Dev?’

Again—silence. This shouldn’t be surprising given the noise she and Graeme had been making was infinitely louder, and had certainly elicited no response.

But still, only now did Ruby worry.

What if the rumours were true?

She knew many celebrities kept their addictions well hidden—many more did not—but Dev... She just couldn’t believe it. She’d spent a night with him—surely she would’ve guessed?

She stood in the lounge room,