Haze - By Andrea Wolfe Page 0,74

put his phone into his pocket. "Any famous or successful person is good enough for them."

"If that's all you write about, then I guess it is newsworthy. Does that make me famous by association then?" I asked, my eyes gleaming.

Jack kissed my cheek."Prepare to sign autographs."

"I've been practicing my signature, so I'll be just fine, thanks." I gave Jack a cocky grin and then let him finish.

"Teddy's nightclub downstairs is a hot spot too. We can check it out. You'll probably see some famous people there."

My heart was racing almost as fast as the plane had been flying. I don't think I had ever been more giddy in my life. "Is that the surprise?" I asked again. "Staying somewhere like that?"

"No. It's something I planned just for you. Let's go." Jack stood up and successfully grabbed his suitcase this time. He took my hand and helped me to my feet.

I kept trying to figure out what it was, but convinced myself to let it go after we got out of the plane.

A limo was waiting for us, and so we obviously needed to keep moving. We hopped inside and Jack greeted the driver like they already knew each other. Honestly, they probably did since he used to live out here. Not surprisingly, the driver reminded me of Percy.

After departing the airport, I watched in utter fascination as the city rolled by as we traveled toward Hollywood Boulevard. Jack remained quiet, aware that I was overwhelmed by visual stimuli. I didn't even realize that I had fallen completely silent. I just kept staring and absorbing everything that happened to pass through my vision.

I hadn't been this excited in years. I had just been in New York City a few hours ago, and now I was rolling through West Hollywood in a limo. This was kind of like a dream vacation come true—with the hottest tour guide in the world.

We arrived at that iconic hotel, slowing down as we approached the front. I had seen it in movies more than once, its iconic shape climbing into the sky with lights that you could see for miles. Kind of like a metropolitan lighthouse.

I remembered it first from that dumb Charlie's Angels movie but then also in an episode of Entourage, which Timothy had liked to watch much more than I did. The Roosevelt appeared to be very popular—which didn't surprise me, of course—and my eyes kept excitedly scanning the scenery for celebrities.

"As you can probably tell, we're here." He gave me a wide smile. "I hope it suits your needs, madam," he said in a phony French accent.

"That was just rotten," I said. "Sorry to say it."

"I know." He buried his head in his hands as if I'd really hurt his feelings. His shenanigans ended promptly when the door opened and a couple of guys helped us with our bags.

The lobby was gorgeous, as initially mesmerizing to me as the city had been. I waited while Jack quickly checked in and then we headed up to our room. My eyes profiled every person coming in, desperately hoping that they would be some movie star or famous musician or something. My overactive imagination was actually wearing me out. Just keeping my eyes open had never required so much work.

Done at the front counter, Jack led us toward the elevator. "It's a Cabana Suite," he said. "I don't get the super huge ones anymore. It's just a waste."

"I wouldn't know," I said, following behind him.

"Well, people get rooms that are bigger than a small house. I don't know what we'd do with that much space."

"Start a family?" I asked playfully.

"I think a house would be the better option. I can't even imagine how a kid raised in this sort of environment would turn out."

"I would assume like Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian," I added. "Not that hard to imagine anymore."

"Yeah, you're right." Jack let out a hearty laugh.

We got into the suite—it was big, but not too big. It was like half the size of a house, which was still huge to me. I think his New York Palace suite was bigger than this, but I wasn't sure. There were multiple TVs as well as a gorgeous, wide-open balcony over the pool and bar area that gave me a full, unhindered view of the city.

"I want to just sit out here later, Jack, and look. Can we do that?"

"If you're still up to it later, sure, we can. We might be out late tonight, especially