“How dare you?” Anjella puffed up in her anger, as if she was about to explode. Then she turned on me. “What kind of place have you brought me to? They are so rude!”
“They’re rude?” My jaw dropped open in disbelief. This woman lived in a fantasy world.
“Exactly,” she said, nodding as if she didn’t understand my words and thought I was agreeing with her.
“There’s no need to yell at your friend,” Christopher said. Anjella let out a tinkling laugh.
“Friend? Please.” She shook her head. “Lyssa is my assistant. I don’t think she can walk and chew gum at the same time, but I had hoped that she could pick a halfway decent restaurant.”
My blood boiled as Anjella talked about me like I wasn’t sitting right there. She was humiliating me in front of this stranger. Why am I putting up with this?
“If you don’t like it here, please feel free to leave. I’ll even comp all three of your drinks if that’s what it takes to see the back of you,” Christopher said.
I almost smiled.
“I’ve never been treated so poorly,” Anjella exclaimed, the drama in her voice way over-the-top. She shot to her feet, stumbling slightly, and thrust her nose into the air. It would’ve been funny if it wasn’t so embarrassing.
“I’m leaving.” She raised her voice to ensure the whole place heard her. “Anjella Jarrett will never step a foot in here again.” With that, she marched away from the table without a backward glance, clearly expecting me to follow.
I didn’t.
I sat there, staring down at my cold food, and wondered how I had let things go this far. Anjella had done this for attention, I was sure of it. From the invalid complaint about the first dish all the way through to the dramatic declaration at the end, which she had made sure everyone could hear. It was all to be noticed because people like her believed that negative attention was better than no attention at all. She wanted to be talked about. She lived to see her face on the gossip rags and all over social media. It was an obsession for her.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about my job, but, for now, I was letting her leave this place on her own.
“Here,” Christopher said, picking up my plate, “let me make you a new creamy pasta. On the house.”
Looking into his dark blue eyes, I realized that he was cute in an understated way. I wouldn’t call him classically handsome, but he had a humble quality about him that appealed to me.
“I’ll be right back,” he said.
“Excuse me.” A man’s voice drew my attention to the left. I saw a dark-skinned man standing there with an odd sparkle in his eye. He looked to be in his mid-forties
“Yes?” I asked, hoping he wasn’t a reporter about to ask me for the scoop on Anjella. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with that.
“My name is Daryl Scott,” he said, holding out a business card. I took it curiously. “I’m a talent agent.”
“And what can I do for you, Mr. Scott?”
“I want to make you a job offer.”
“What?”
“I just watched you sit here and handle your client for half an hour and you never lost your patience, even when you maybe should have. You have a calming nature and seem very grounded. I have a client that could really use your help.”
“I don’t think so,” I said, shaking my head. I was already exhausted from dealing with Anjella, the last thing I wanted was to take on another diva.
“I understand, but he’s not like Anjella Jarrett. Although, is anyone?” he said and then chuckled. I gave him a weak smile. “He’s more a party boy than anything else. I just need someone to get him under control. It’ll take patience and a firm hand.”
“I don’t think I’m your girl.”
“Okay, how’s this sound? I’ll double your salary. Whatever it is.”
That gave me pause. If I did move to New York, which seemed like my best option, I would need a nest egg. Double my current salary could go a long way toward that.
“I’m leaving the state. But I can do it for one month for fifteen thousand dollars,” I said. Worst case scenario, he’d reject my offer and I’d be right back where I started. He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment.
“You think you can get him to shape up in that time?”
“I’m sure of it,” I said confidently. If I could put up with almost a month of Anjella, I could handle anyone.
“Then it’s a deal.” He held out his hand. I shook it.
Digging around in my purse, I pulled out one of my business cards and handed it to him.
“Here’s my contact info. Draw up a contract and email me. We’ll go from there,” I told him. I suddenly felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I had another option. I didn’t have to put up with Anjella’s tantrums anymore. I didn’t feel trapped.
“Keep an eye on your inbox,” he said and smiled, shaking my hand again.
“So who’s the client?” I asked, now that we had an agreement, I wanted to know who I was dealing with.
“Callen Lord,” Daryl replied, turning and walking away with the air of a man that had just found the solution to all his problems.
My back stiffened and my heart fluttered. Did he just say Callen Freakin’ Lord? The sexiest man alive? Wow. It was getting hot in here.
“You look happier,” Christopher said as he approached the table, setting down a fresh plate of steaming pasta. My mouth watered.
“I am happier. I think a good opportunity just presented itself.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that. Speaking of opportunities,” he held out a folded slip of paper, “here’s my number. Call me sometime.”
I took the paper with a smile as Christopher headed back to the kitchen. I scarfed my meal, barely taking the time to notice how delicious it was. The more I thought about leaving my current job and dumping Anjella as a client, the more eager I was to do it.
As soon as I finished my meal, I walked out the door and into the bright sunlight. Even the weather seemed to be uplifted by my change of fortune. I pulled out my cell phone and called Will, my current boss.
“Hello?” he answered, his voice guarded. I had noticed that it always was when I talked to him lately. He knew what a nightmare Anjella was, but he wouldn’t transfer me to a different client. I decided to give him one more chance to do the right thing.
“Hey, Will. I’m calling to see if you can do anything about Anjella. I can’t work with her anymore. She’s verbally abusive to me and everyone else around her. I’ve given it my best shot, but I just can’t go on like this.”
“I’m sorry, Lyssa, but you don’t have a choice. Anjella pays a lot of money for the ability to treat others any way she pleases. I know that sounds bad, but it’s the truth. She’s our client and we have to accommodate her.”
“No, Will, she’s your client and you’re the one that will have to accommodate her from now on. I’m finished. I quit.”
“What?” he yelled. I pulled the receiver away from my ear with a frown.
“I quit,” I repeated. “I’ll look for my last paycheck in the mail.”
I hung up to his angry spluttering. In the end, this came down to my boss not caring that I was treated as less than human, as long as Anjella’s checks kept coming.
Anjella pays a lot of money for the ability to treat others any way she pleases. That was disgusting.
I hadn’t made a conscious effort to go to the set. I was directed there by my own angry thoughts. I wanted to confront Anjella, even if that was ill-advised.
I found her shooting a scene and stood watching for a moment.
I felt like I was seeing her as she truly was for the first time. Anjella was beautiful and seemed larger than life with her superstar status, but at the end of the day, she was nothing but a spoiled brat. She wasn’t even that talented. I had worked with tons of actors and seen some amazing acting, but this wasn’t it. She relied on sultry looks and was more concerned with her appearance than anything else. It stilt
ed the emotions she was trying to portray.
After a few takes, the scene was complete, and she glided over to me, looking expectant. “Well? Where’s my lunch?” she asked with a raised brow.
“What are you talking about?”
“I left that shithole without eating. Tell me you brought me some food,” she demanded with a glare. I was done biting my tongue.
“Why would I do that? So that you can throw it in my face when I bring something you don’t like?”
“You’re my assistant, feeding me is your job,” she argued, seemingly thrown off by my response.
“Not anymore, it’s not. I quit.”
Anjella stared at me for a moment, then had the audacity to laugh.
“You quit? You can’t just walk away from me, it’s career suicide. I’ll make sure you never work in this town again.”
It was my turn to laugh. “You sure think a lot of yourself, I’ll give you that. And I’ll admit that I bought into it for a while, believing that the job was too important and worth sacrificing my dignity. But it’s not. Nothing is worth dealing with your entitled ass.”
An expression of shock crossed her face and then it turned red with rage. I wasn’t going to hang around and let her blow up at me though. I had had enough of that over the last few weeks.
“You can take this job and shove it. I’m done with you.”
Then, feeling lighter and more in charge of my own life than I had in a long time, I turned on my heel and walked away, a smile on my face.
Five
Callen
I had never thrown a more out-of-control party. My mansion was packed with people, living area, deck, and even spilling out onto my private beach, where a huge bonfire burned. I had a DJ set up near the backdoor, blaring dance music that encouraged gyrating bodies everywhere I looked.
And, of course, the booze was plentiful.
A temporary bar was set up in the sand, with every kind of liquor imaginable and a bartender that could whip up a mean cocktail. I had fifty-gallon totes filled with ice and bottles of beer scattered around the edges of the party, forming a kind of perimeter while also keeping everyone buzzed.
Women were skinny dipping in the ocean and a group of guys raced my ATVs up and down the beach, kicking sand all over the place. A group of fire eaters danced, swallowed fire, and juggled blazing torches for the crowd’s entertainment.
A caterer had taken over my kitchen and kept the island filled with food constantly, so any of the two hundred guests could walk through and grab a bite to eat at any time. She also had hotdogs and long roasting sticks for the bonfire.
As for me, I was flitting through the crowd at random, always a drink in my hand and dozens of women clamoring to dance with me. I was happy to oblige. Everywhere I looked, people were laughing and smiling, moving to the music and cheering on the racers or fire eaters. The air was cool, but the atmosphere was hot.
I was riding a high, as I swallowed my fourth shot of the hour and the world seemed to tilt more than once. But my laughter came easy and the people around me were even more fascinating. I was on top of the world and the negativity that had been thrown at me lately seemed to just melt away.
“Callen!”
I turned at the sound of my name to see Brett standing there with a frown on his face. He looked pissed.
“Brett,” I yelled to be heard over the music, clapping him on the back with one hand as I held my beer in the other. “Welcome to the party, man. Where ya been?”
“Working,” he answered shortly. “I didn’t know you were having a party.”
“I didn’t tell you? I’m sorry about that. I didn’t want you to miss it,” I said. I was feeling light-headed all of a sudden, but I pushed through it. “Here, I have some of those shitty German beers you like in this tote.”
I grabbed his arm and started to pull him to the beer I got him, but he ripped his arm out of my hold. I stumbled and almost fell, spilling my beer. Not cool.
“You’re plastered,” Brett said, looking annoyed.
“What’s your problem?” I asked.
“My problem is that Jessica is here.”
“So what? You guys are in looooove,” I laughed as I stretched out the word.
“You know she’s only twenty. We can’t have all this here.” He gestured around at the party.
“Well, this isn’t going anywhere. So I guess Jess is,” I said, shrugging.
“Can’t you just cut the night short? I think you’ve had more than enough. Do you even realize you’re slurring?”
“Don’t be such a buzzkill.” I rolled my eyes. “If Jess doesn’t wanna party, there’s plenty of other girls here. Just pick one.”
“You’re an asshole.”
Brett stormed away. I watched him go and saw Jessica lingering in the doorway of the back door. She looked confused at he grasped her bicep and steered her away. I guessed they were leaving then.
Not that I was going to let it bother me.
There was a group dancing near the fire and I joined in, pulling my shirt over my head. I tossed it aside, where it was promptly stamped into the sand by dozens of moving feet.
“Callen! Come do a shot with me,” a girl I didn’t recognize called out to me and I sauntered over. A pink mini-dress showed off her generous assets.
“Anything for a fan,” I said, and she giggled while handing me a shot of tequila. “What’s your name?” I asked, flashing my most charming smile.
“Sheila,” she replied, licking the back of her hand sensually and sprinkling salt on it. “I’m your biggest fan.”
“I’ll just bet you are.” I grinned, taking her hand in mine and dragging my tongue across it and licking it clean of salt. Tossing my head back, I swallowed the tequila in one gulp, not spilling a drop. Slamming the glass onto the makeshift bar, I looked around for the lime that had just been sitting there.
“Here it is,” Sheila said, holding her hand up with the lime slice facing me. I leaned forward to bite into it, but she pulled her hand back. I followed with my head as she brought me closer and closer to her own lips.
To hell with the lime.
Steadying myself with a hand on the bar, I was less than an inch away from connecting our lips when a throat was cleared to my right. The moment shattered and I pulled away. Bruce and Kevin, the show’s director, stood there.
“What’s up, guys?” I asked, nodding at them.
I didn’t invite them, but I also didn’t even know everyone here. So I supposed I could abide a couple of party crashers.
“What is this?” Kevin asked, looking around, his eyes lingering on the fire eaters.
“You don’t recognize a party?” I said.
“This is chaos. It’s asking for trouble.”
“No, it isn’t,” I scoffed.
Unfortunately, the guys on the four-wheelers chose that moment to come racing up the beach, chasing each other at breakneck speed. They hurtled closer, not stopping at the literal line in the sand that was supposed to mark the end of the race.
Instead, they flew up to the edge of the crowd. One of the guys came to his senses and stopped, but the other one was going too fast and slammed right into one of the huge beer totes that lined the edge of my private section of beach.
There was a resounding boom and the driver of the ATV went soaring over the handlebars, landing in the sand in a heap. The tote exploded, ice and bottles of beer flying everywhere. Everyone in the nearby vicinity fled, stumbling over themselves as they scurried out of the way.
“Oh shit,” I mumbled. As fast as it had happened, everything now appeared in slow motion and blurred around the edges. I tried to rise above the buzz of the booze as I jogged over to the man who had been thrown from the vehicle, and knelt beside him just as he let out a groan.
“You okay, buddy?” I asked, searching his extremities for broken bones. Rolling over, he opened his eyes and sat up. He looked at me for moment, confusion clear on his face. Then his eyes trailed over to the wr
ecked four-wheeler.
“Did I win?” he asked.
That earned a genuine laugh from me and I held out my hand to the guy. He grasped my palm and I pulled him to his feet. Turning to the crowd around us, I lifted the guy’s arm into the air.
“I declare a winner,” I shouted at the top of my voice. There was a round of rowdy applause and laughter. The party picked right back up where it had left off, as if nothing had even happened.
When I made my way back to Bruce and Kevin, they were not feeling my good spirits. They wore identical frowns and I knew they had nothing good to say.
“Are you out of your mind?” Bruce asked. “Someone could have been killed.”
“Everyone’s fine.” I shrugged him off. These guys were not going to kill my buzz, damn it.
“This time. But we’re worried about your image. It could hurt the show before it’s even released,” Kevin said.
“We want to renegotiate your contract,” Bruce added gruffly.
I saw red. How dare they come to my home and try to fuck with my money.
“Why don’t you guys just get the hell out of here? This is a good time and I don’t need a couple of wet blankets here. You just need to concern yourselves with what happens on set.”
“Callen, you’re out of control,” Kevin said.
“Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out,” I sneered before walking away.
It was almost two hours later that the cops showed up. The bright flashing red and blue lights lit up the entire front of the house and three officers came into the backyard, shining flashlight into people’s faces and looking stern.
“We’ve had a couple of noise complaints and someone called in a vehicle accident,” one of the officers told me after I introduced myself as the one throwing this party. His eyes shifted to the wreckage of the four-wheeler.
“We’re totally fine here,” I assured him.
“Have you been drinking tonight, sir?”
“Sure. It’s a party.”
Careless: A Movie Star Accidental Marriage Romance (Santa Barbara Secrets Book 2) Page 3