Jeno answered the call and put it on speaker, placing his phone on the table in front of him.
“You’re on speaker, Lennon. What’s up?” He tapped his fingers on the wood and watched me with a careful look.
“Have you heard from Maren today by chance? I know you guys have been in touch with her here and there while working out the addendums on the contract.” I sat up straight and stared at the phone in sudden concern.
“Not today.” It wasn’t like we were besties and spent hours chatting. Usually, she sent a single word text when I had a question. She’d been purposely keeping her distance from me because of all the press surrounding the two of us lately. She told me there was no reason to feed the beast, that we should wait to leverage the attention once we had the actual movie to promote. “Why?”
Lennon groaned and swore under her breath. “Have you seen the breaking news today? Maren’s ex is fucking everywhere.”
I shook my head as Jeno told her, “So what? I thought she was done with that guy forever ago. He seems like a douchebag. She’s way better off without him.”
“You have no idea how right you are, kid. He’s the worst. But he knows exactly how to manipulate a situation to his benefit. Since the entire world was laughing at him, he decided to take all that attention and turn it into something that was bound to be the most hurtful to Maren, since, in his mind, she was in on the joke. He announced an hour ago that his new wife is pregnant. He’s playing up how excited he is, and how sometimes ‘you’re given a second chance at making a miracle.’ He was the biggest prick in the world when Maren got pregnant. He wanted her to get rid of the baby, and only begrudgingly played the part of the doting father when fans started to make comments about how disinterested he seemed. I’m sure she’s a mess right now, and I can’t get a hold of her, or Arrow, so I’m worried.” She sighed. “I’m only telling you all this because I want you to let me know if she contacts you, or if she does something crazy because she’s not thinking straight. Last time Erik screwed her over, she disappeared from the public eye for close to a year.”
“Her assistant isn’t answering?” I shared a look with Jeno. It wasn’t good if the person who was closest to you also went silent. We’d done that more than once when trying to cover up my destructive behavior.
“Arrow idolizes Maren. If she told her not to answer my calls, she won’t. You have no idea how hard I had to push to get her to switch flights so you could talk to Maren alone. That girl looks like a little pixie, but she’s more like a pit bull. All she cares about is keeping Maren safe. She might actually murder Erik for this stunt.”
“Give me her address.” I thumped a hand on the table. “I’ll go check on her.”
Lennon snorted. “That’s a terrible idea. Her place was already a hot spot for the paparazzi since that picture of the two of you got out. She lives on the beach, not a gated community like you. The police can only do so much to keep the crowd under control. Now I bet you can’t even get within a block. You’ll be mobbed. I don’t think she’s home anyway. She had a meeting and fitting with a designer. She’s doing a cover shoot for a magazine in a few weeks, and they were working on the wardrobe and styling. I thought she might try and catch a flight back to New Mexico, but her dad hasn’t heard from her either. I’m going to strangle that asshole ex of hers whenever I see him next.”
“Is there anything we can do other than let you know if we hear from her?” Ever the logical one, Jeno was able to compartmentalize emotion.
Lennon swore again. “No. It only becomes your problem if she suddenly backs out of the deal we’re working on. I can’t imagine she would since she loves that script so much, but Erik knew her biggest sore spot and purposely poked at it. I’m going to make a couple more calls. Just shoot me a text if you hear from her.”
Jeno tapped the screen to hang up the call and cocked his head