Typecast

by Kim Carmichael

  “Her complexion is not pale. It’s ethereal and matches her ensemble perfectly,” he growled.

  Luck have it, Ivy wore a midcentury kimono-inspired dress with her hair up and no panties. He would make use of that last fact later. Making love offered amazing anxiety relief. All the pent-up energy needed to go somewhere—may as well be an orgasm.

  The woman looked between him and Ivy. One false move and the blush brush would need a rebristling.

  He narrowed his eyes, daring her.

  Craig entered the studio, trailed by Julia. “Kathy, the star is fine.”

  Ivy raised her head and clutched his wallet to her chest.

  “Julia said to fix her.” The woman turned.

  “She looks as if she’s ill.” Julia snarled. “Did stage fright get the best of her even with her man in tow?”

  This was a whole new enemy to snare. Logan tilted his head from one side to the other to stay loose for the kill.

  “She’s fine,” Craig repeated.

  The makeup maven huffed and scurried out of the studio.

  “So, what is the plan?” Craig joined them and sat at the edge of the coffee table.

  Julia remained off to one side, her arms crossed, and her lips pursed, resembling a part of the anatomy he would rather not mention—but he was sitting on it.

  “First, I’m going to ask why someone who is not your top-rated star is here.” Logan leaned back and crossed his legs.

  “This was originally my spot. I want to know what happens with it so I can salvage it when I get it back.” The battle-ax crossed her arms.

  “Let me ask you something.” He leaned forward to Ivy’s boss. The man had to be sleeping with Julia to allow her behavior. “Is she really that good?” Talk about pent-up energy—the woman had the power of a stink bomb.

  Craig widened his eyes.

  “Why are you here?” Logan went right to the source.

  Julia cleared her throat. “Like the rest of the world, I wanted to see the two of you together. Her grandfather was known for media stunts.”

  “Then you should watch the story unfold like the rest of the world.” He stared her down.

  “Julia.” Craig spun toward her.

  “I will get ready for my broadcast.” As if to check the time, she lifted her wrist to her face and backed out. “Do you think this whole thing will be over in about fifteen minutes?” She left without waiting for an answer.

  Craig faced him once more. “So, what is the plan?”

  “We’re going to address the story, be honest, and give our fans something they won’t find in any of the other media coverage.” He grabbed Ivy’s hand. More like pried it away from her.

  “Excellent. I was a bit concerned when the story came out. I didn’t want the carpet ripped out from under us.” Craig nodded. “You’ve been trending all morning. The timing is perfect. I’m going to stay for the filming.”

  Once more, he took in Ivy. Her ethereal complexion turned pale. “Before we get started, I’m going to give our gorgeous star a pep talk.”

  Craig took the hint and stood. “I would say break a leg, but I think Logan would kill me.” He patted Ivy’s shoulder and left.

  “Here’s your wallet.” She thrust it at him. “I never knew anyone to take a good driver’s license picture, but here we are.”

  “Baby.” He returned the wallet to his pocket and reclaimed her hand. “Why the sudden bout of nerves? I thought we were past this.”

  The director walked to the edge of the set behind Ivy and held up three fingers.

  Logan gave him only a slight chin lift. Under the guise he needed some water, he spoke to the man and told him to begin filming without his skittish love realizing it.

  “That was before—”

  “Before what?” He slid his chair closer to hers and, with his free hand, gently prodded her face to an ideal position to catch the light.

  “Before you said you loved me and before our story was plastered all over every piece of printed and electronic matter in the world.” She furrowed her brow.

  “Oh, but that should make this even easier. Anytime you are with the one who loves you, nothing horrible can happen.”

  Her first smile of the day lit up her face.

  The director gave him a thumbs-up telling him they had started filming.

  “You know, we never really talked about it, but what did it feel like dancing with me last night?” He made sure to keep his tone conversational.

  The color the stupid makeup woman wanted to artificially apply to her cheeks appeared in its natural glory in a perfect pink glow. “Logan.”

  “Come on, tell me.”

  She bit her lip and toyed with his fingers. “Well, it’s so weird because part of me was, like, I’m here dancing with Logan Alexander to the song. That’s sort of all part of the fairy tale, especially for my inner teenage fan girl.”

  “What did the other part say?”

  “That I’m dancing in front of a million people, but I’m with the man I love and nothing else matters.” She turned his hand over and traced her fingernail over the lines in his palm.

  A shudder tickled its way down his spine, and he arched his back. Before he had the chance to ask another question, she continued.

  “You know, once we started dancing and the music took over and my body was pressed up against yours, I was so aroused by everything I could hardly wait for us to go be alone.” Now she stroked one of his fingers. “I think someone else felt the same way.”

  His mouth opened, but his words left him.

  She leaned over. “I love when I can feel how turned on you are when we are in public. It’s so naughty.”

  Redirect. He needed to redirect her. Maybe he needed to devise a better plan on a live feed.

  A wicked chuckle escaped her throat, and she lifted his finger to her lips, giving the tip a combination of a chaste, but erotic kiss. “How are we doing now?” Her gaze fell to his lap.

  He glanced over at the director. The man had his hand over his mouth and made a motion to cut.

  Before Ivy decided to use his finger to demonstrate what she did to him on their second round of lovemaking, he squeezed her hand. “Why don’t we cut and take a look at what is now going to be the second most infamous moment of our Chargge.com interview series.”

  “What?!” Ivy jumped out of her seat. “What do you mean cut?”

  “It’s okay.” He stood and held his arms open for her.

  “Oh my God!” She put her hands over her eyes. “Did I just speak about your erection to the entire world?”

  “It’s a natural human body function, especially around you.” He took her by the shoulders.

  Eyes wide, she looked up at him. “I almost gave your finger a blow job.”

  “I saw where it was going and stopped it.” He gave her a toothy grin.

  “And now, I just spoke about giving you a blow job in front of everyone here.” She groaned and hid her face in his chest. “Why didn’t you tell me we were filming?”

  “Because you were so terrified and I had to fix it.”

  Tears twinkled in her eyes only adding to her already ethereal look. “I want the world to see you the way I do.”

  “What do you mean?” He pulled her in closer.

  “I love the fact that one minute you will be giving me club soda to settle my stomach and the next terrorizing the makeup lady.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love that you wait for me to put my garnishes on your plate, but will then stomp into a restaurant’s kitchen to tell them how to season things properly.”

  “Ivy.”

  “I guess I just love you and that’s what I want the world to see.” She stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips.

  Before her fear of cameras took center stage, he had toggled about how to deal with the Erin and Ryder situation. With her words, her honest words, he had his answer. “I love you, baby.” Unable to resist, he gave her a real kiss, then reluctantly inter
rupted them prematurely and pulled back. “Maybe we should finish the segment. I need to go get something done.”

  “Don’t worry. We took care of that.” The director came to the set. “We got everything sans the blow job talk and up to you saying you loved her. It was raw and real, and nothing anyone else has. Good work.” He gave them a quick salute and walked toward the back.

  “Well, now I know exactly what we can do later to give me a reward for my good deed.” He raised his eyebrows.

  “What else do we need to do?” She smiled up at him.

  We. Oh, no. While he didn’t want to be apart from her, he couldn’t take her on this errand. In an effort to buy some time before he answered, he slid his phone out of his pocket. As if their ears were already burning both Ryder and Erin texted him. He quickly typed a mass message back asking them to meet right away.

  “Well, it was different, but it was great.” Craig approached. “Ivy, I want to go over some reports with you before you leave.”

  Reprieve. Her boss handed him the perfect excuse. At his phone vibrating, he glanced down to see they both accepted. Their anxiety must be getting the better of them. “You know, I need to go have a really fast meeting with Erin and Ryder, so why don’t I leave you here to do your reports and then I’ll come and swoop you back up.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “The reports won’t take long.”

  “If you can use it for the story, the reports can wait,” Craig offered.

  Ivy nodded.

  Damn. “No, no, there are a few business things we need to discuss. Let’s do it this way, then we have the rest of the day and evening together.” He tried his best to make it sound enticing.

  “Oh, okay.” Though she put a smile on her face, the paleness returned. “I should get my work done anyway.”

  “I’ll be fast.” He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I love you, baby.” In an effort to make the whole thing sound as benign as possible, he waved and walked away, turning back twice to get a look at her before exiting. He didn’t remember the last time there was this amount of distance between them and shook his head.

  “Wow, you’re letting your precious little protégé out of sight.” Julia sauntered down the hall.

  “Maybe you need to find a mentor because you need an acting class or a million.” He reached for a pack of cigarettes, but then remembered he quit smoking, in a way.

  “I need to land some of her luck. Only she can end up in the tabloids and have her story stolen from under her nose and still end up on top.” The viper let out a nasty chuckle. “I should have taken the story when I had the chance.”

  He forced himself not to skip a step at her words, but a chill ran through him. At one point, he thought it had to be Ryder leaking the stories to the media, but now he knew better. Once more, he texted his former cast mates changing the location of their meeting.

  “Thank God for small favors.” He had one more villainous act in him before retiring that part of his persona, but right now, he had to deal with his original sin.

  I got a little detained. Are you all right? I’ll be there as soon as I can and will spend the night making it up to you.

  Ivy narrowed one eye at Logan’s text. His really fast meeting she couldn’t attend turned into not quite that fast.

  She swiveled her chair toward her computer and stared at the screen. With Logan constantly with her and his whirlwind of activity, she never had the chance to really sit and think, only react. With some time on her hands, she rewound the last day from the moment Logan had said he loved her to the shoot this morning.

  “It’s okay.” She didn’t want to read too much into Logan’s actions, or wonder what he had to hide by not having her there, or try not to focus on how both Erin and Ryder seemed conveniently available within a moment’s notice. Instead, she decided to indulge a little and clicked on the video Wilson filmed of their dance. As of yet, she hadn’t gotten the opportunity to watch it all the way through.

  Fine, she couldn’t stop the flutters in her stomach. She leaned in and studied Logan. The man possessed the most amazing aura. Everyone in the audience stared at him, captivated, and she didn’t blame them.

  In what seemed like a lifetime ago, she would hear that song and a pang would ring through her chest at thinking about Hollywood Stardust.

  The video panned over the spectators, pausing at Ryder.

  Yes, the man was insanely good-looking, but nothing like her Logan. A slight snarky grin on his face, he leaned back on his heels and watched. Though she didn’t know him all too well, her instinct told her he was pissed.

  Next, the camera paused at Erin. Where Ryder seemed to be able to hide his emotions, even Erin’s extensive training in acting couldn’t mask her feelings. She stood with her arms crossed and her head tilted away, but with her eyes on the action, her expression nonexistent.

  At one point, Erin must have loved Logan. It was no secret they had their so-called connections over the years. While Ivy wanted to believe they only came together out of mutual need and shared history, the way her chest tightened told her things were different for Erin.

  Maybe that was why she couldn’t go with Logan.

  “You will always have your little dance.”

  At Julia’s voice intruding into her thoughts, Ivy hit the pause button on the video and squeezed the mouse. “Do you need something?”

  “I thought since you were abandoned by your boyfriend, I could get you used to the idea of returning to your real job, and had some items for you to research.” Without an invitation, Julia entered, took the chair on the opposite side of her desk, and leaned over. “Oh, maybe you are already doing some research, perhaps on your competition?”

  Ivy swallowed and, after taking a breath, faced her nemesis.

  “You know they were together before.” Julia put some files on the edge of the desk.

  “Oh, really? That’s news to me and the rest of the world.” She balled her hand in a fist at the way her voice shook. “Do you have any evidence?”

  “Maybe you lost your touch.” Sighing, Julia sat back in the chair. “Try a search engine, or just look within your gut. You know I speak the truth. The look on your competition’s face is enough anyway. Not that it’s any competition.”

  Her heart sped, thumping a warning not to listen, but the bitch managed to articulate every one of her fears. Rather than continue on, she decided to combine two of Logan’s tactics: the redirect and the direct question. She always was a fast study. “What is your problem with me?”

  “Do you really want to go there?” The woman narrowed her eyes.

  She had to give it to Julia for at least not trying to say she didn’t have an issue. “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to know.” Another Logan lesson: goad them and prod them into giving something away.

  Almost like she was cocking her weapon to fire off the next round, Julia pursed her lips. “You don’t know what it takes to make it in this business.”

  When all else failed, stay silent. In truth, it took her a little off guard that Julia didn’t have something bizarrely inappropriate and cutting to say.

  The tactic worked, and Julia continued. “You grew up all around the industry, your family is practically considered Hollywood royalty, you could have any job you wanted, and you chose to come here? Why?”

  “I thought this would be a good place to start my career, learn how to get over my stage fright. Plus, the wave of the future is streaming and live feeds, and this is a great place to learn.”

  “Don’t you understand?” Julia shook her head. “What you see as a stepping stone, a means to an end, I see as my career. I fought for this job. Your family was your résumé. You didn’t even audition.”

  “Every industry is all about connections.” She gave an attempt to defend herself, but she had also been bitten before by someone she or her family didn’t know when someone pretended to be a friend but they only wanted to pry into personal business.

  �
��At the end of the day, you couldn’t even do your job and you were given to me so I could take up your slack, and then—”

  “Then?” Ivy needed to hear the rest.

  “Then you take what’s supposed to be an interview and make it into a career-changing assignment.” Julia stood. “Only for you, it’s another stepping stone. You won’t get the true story because you get a man out of the whole deal.”

  “Julia.” She held her hand up to stop her from leaving. Maybe the woman was nasty, horrible even, but it made sense.

  “What?”

  “I’m sorry.” Maybe everyone dealt with jealousy a different way.

  “Don’t be.” Julia put her hands on her hips. “He’s probably using you. The man is a villain, you know, on screen and off.”

  At having broken one of Logan’s rules, she pressed her lips together. She should have never allowed her enemy to see her softer side.

  Julia sauntered to the doorway, turned, and pointed to the computer screen. “From one woman to another, I would find out what’s going on behind the scenes. I think you know anyway.” With her final blow dealt, the woman left.

  Ivy returned to study the image of Erin, now blurred from the tears in her eyes. If Logan could have the beautiful starlet, why was he with her? Of course at the moment, he wasn’t—he was at some quote, unquote meeting. She clicked on her Internet browser and typed in Erin’s name. The typical websites popped up.

  She returned to the search bar, added the word relationships, and hit “Enter.”

  The second image to pop up was Erin and Logan, clearly years after Hollywood Stardust, holding hands. She had seen the image before, but right now it mocked her.

  What did she know about Erin Holland? She strummed her fingers on the computer keys. Not much after the movie. The actress didn’t really interest her once she typed the last word of her thesis.

  Unsure where to start, she returned to the Chargge.com home page.

  Chargge.com. The neurons in her mind connected. She reached over to her bag and pulled out Erin’s card from her wallet.

  Erin’s card with the Chargge.com e-mail.

  E-mails were a living history, one most people didn’t bother to purge, especially someone with the attention span of this actress. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Erin’s e-mail held many secrets. Hell, in those little messages were probably the keys to whatever had happened that night, why Logan had served as the mouthpiece, and her relationship status.