was saving up for a nicer apartment back in LA.
Kix stared at me like I’d turned into a green, scaly monster since I’d seen him last.
“What? You almost made me drop my coffee,” I said, moving up the steps of the trailer.
“Is that a hickey on your neck?” Kix asked with a dramatic gasp. “Like, from a human other than yourself?”
He followed me into the trailer, and I tried to hide my smug grin. Tomo was already in there waiting for me. I could hear him chatting with someone. As soon as I stepped fully inside the trailer, I saw who he was talking to.
“Mom?” I squeaked.
“There you are. I was worried sick. Come here and give me a hug.” She moved toward me in a cloud of familiar perfume. I handed the drinks tray to Tomo and wrapped my arms around her slender frame.
Lola Heller had always been a gorgeous woman by any standard, but now that she had plenty of money and lived an easy lifestyle, she was even more lovely. Part of me thought it was simply a matter of growing into her beauty, but maybe it was something else, something more mundane like a high-quality skin care regimen. Either way, she was undeniably beautiful, and she turned heads wherever she went.
She was also charming as hell. My mother could talk anyone into anything and make them think it was their idea. It was both a blessing and a curse.
“What are you doing here?” I asked when she finally pulled away. Her hands clutched my arms as she gave me a mother’s assessing once-over. Her eyes immediately spotted the mark Kix must have seen, because they narrowed for a split second. Thankfully, she kept her opinions to herself about it.
“Iris called and said you might like having me here for the next few days because of your call schedule.”
I stared at her, unblinking. My agent was behind this? “Why would I need you here?”
She waved a hand in the air. “I didn’t say need, honey. I said want. You know how you get when the call schedule gets demanding. I guess she was a little worried you’re not taking good care of yourself. And I can see now she was right. You look like you’ve barely slept. Have you lost weight?”
I was suddenly unreasonably angry. When Declan had gotten close to the subject of my mother last night, I’d felt defensive. My mom had busted her ass to get us away from her toxic parents. She’d done everything she could to support and protect me from people in the industry who might have taken advantage of me along the way. In fact, she’d spent my very first paycheck on a lawyer to protect me, to protect us, from predators in the business.
But now that she was here, I saw so much of her through a new light. I was twenty-four years old and my mommy had just shown up at my workplace to “manage” me. It was untenable. I was horrified.
For some reason, I wanted to call Declan and ask him how I should handle it, but that only made me feel less in control of my own life. I didn’t need anyone. I needed to handle my own shit.
“Kix, Tomo, would you mind giving us a few minutes, please?”
After they left the trailer, I turned to my mom. “I can’t have you here. Thank you for your concern, but you have to see how inappropriate this is. I’m no longer a child actor, Mom. You can’t just show up on set when I’m working.”
“Iris told me you’d refused to bring Alix to Colorado with you. Why?”
I pictured my personal assistant, a young woman I couldn’t imagine living without most of the time. She’d become one of my closest friends over the three years she’d been working for me. But I hated being seen as a diva on set. I didn’t like showing up with “people.”
“I gave her a few weeks off,” I explained. “She went to Maine with her parents and siblings. I guess they have a house there or something.”
She frowned. “Honey, you can’t expect to be able to manage a starring role like this without some support.”
“I’ve done it before.” I didn’t add that I’d done it many times before. “Also, I have plenty of support on set, and I have Kix here for moral support.”
It sounded as lame out loud as it had sounded in my head. Besides, I still needed to ask