Falling into Forever (Falling into You) - By Lauren Abrams Page 0,36
pop stars all want to be movie stars.” He groans. “Let’s get this over with, man. I hate this shit. In and out, like you promised.”
“Hopefully in and out, I said.”
I present the invitation to one of the security guards and he looks at us in surprise, but then he pulls aside the velvet rope without even checking the list. We’re immediately ushered into one of the main galleries, which is decked out in white orchids and a smattering of gold stars. It looks like a bad high school prom. But then again, Sam’s always been a fan of over-the-top.
I force myself to smile at a couple of adolescent girls wearing too-tight leopard print dresses and my eyes scan the room with a fair amount of trepidation. I don’t know why I’m so nervous about seeing Sam. I still see him occasionally at parties. Usually, we avoid each other, with the only acknowledgement that we had once been good friends consisting of an empty wave or the tilt of a glass.
It makes much more sense now that I know he and Hallie have stayed close, which was clearly a fact that he wanted to keep to himself. It also made my current task more difficult. I was going to have to do a lot of fast talking to get anything out of him, but I had to take the chance.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a woman in a red dress making a beeline for us. She looks familiar, and I know I’ve seen her before, but I just can’t place the face. She looks angry. My immediate assumption is that we hooked up at some point and I conveniently forgot to call her. I take a step behind Marcus, as if he could provide some protection.
To my great amusement, I realize that her eyes are full of the kind of fury that only Marcus can initiate. It’s not me that she’s coming to see. She makes a full-out stop in front of him.
“It’s been a long time, Marcus.”
Her nose is tilted up, and she’s looking down on him with a mixture of rage and condescension. She’s easily six feet tall, and Marcus has to stand on his toes to put himself at eye level, which he promptly does. The grin starts to spread across his face.
“Eva. A long time since our little island getaway, a long time since you fucked my brains out on the yacht, a long time since you whispered sweet nothings into my ear? Take your pick. That’s a lot of long times.”
“How about…a long time since you screwed me over on the Crossed deal? You stole my client right out from under my nose and left him dreaming about A-list movie stars and eight-figure advances. And then you promptly left him with nothing but a script sitting in a drawer somewhere, collecting dust. Oh, so you conveniently forgot that one? Typical.”
I try to sneak away, but she turns to me then. I cower under the rage of her stare.
“Mr. Jensen. How lovely to see you again.”
I have absolutely no idea who this woman is. However, we’ve apparently met before.
“It’s nice to see you again, too. How have you been?”
“Since you obviously don’t remember me, I’ll take pity on you and help you out. Eva Larson.”
Oh, shit.
“I’m Hallie Caldwell’s agent.”
Of course she is.
“It looks like you and Marcus made nice, then. I have to admit, I was happy to hear that I wasn’t going to have to deal with your pig shit agent on this deal. I was told the business break-up was permanent. Clearly, I was misinformed.”
“Hey, hey. Stop harassing my client, now, Ev. Your sources must not be as good as they used to be. A little bit of misinformation goes a long way.”
“Did you learn that from personal experience?” Her eyes narrow. “Furthermore, I have absolutely no desire to put my hands on your client. Unless, of course, I have to. If he continues to harass my client, I will personally kick his ass.”
Marcus’s hackles are raised, and I let him take over my defense. They’re just starting the first round of what appears to be a long battle, and I definitely don’t want to get into all of the ways that I plan on harassing Hallie. I start to slip away, but Eva’s watchful eyes pick up on my sideways movement towards the buffet before I manage to get more than a foot or two from the pair of