I respond with a grunt. I really am a moody prick. Putting down my empty beer bottle I turn my head toward one of my oldest friends, the guy who gave me my first job in this town, and grab another beer.
“No, I’m not okay.” I snatch up the bottle opener and flick off the cap, taking a big swig of beer. Pissed and needing to vent, I huff out a breath, then proceed to tell Chad about Adam Reynolds and the big party at Verve and how I want to rip Reynolds’ arms off and beat the shit out of him with them. “She’s so sweet and caring! She can’t even see that he just wants to get in her fuckin’ pants! And this job she’s doing? Her boss is a total douche and he’s working her so hard that she’s falling apart.”
“So I guess you don’t want me to tell you that everyone I know is trying to get an invite to that party?”
Frowning, I feel the white-hot rage surging through my body. I clutch the bottle too tight and swallow half of my beer in order to stop it from manifesting into something ugly. “No,” I snap. “I don’t want to fucking hear that. And yes, in case you’re wondering, I did see the newest Rolling Stone.”
That fuckhead Reynolds was on the cover and once again talked up the fucking party at Verve as if it’s being thrown just for him. His hard-on for Sydney is getting on my last nerve.
Chad sighs and swings his legs off of his lounge chair so he’s facing me. “Tell you what, I’ll talk to production and see if they can juggle some scenes so you can be there for that party.”
I perk up at Chad’s offer. “That would be so… you’d do that?”
He reaches up and pats my shoulder. “Of course I would. First, I’ve known you forever and you’ve never asked for a schedule change, ever. Second, in all the time I’ve known you, this is the first girl that’s ever played hard to get. It’s damn entertaining,” he says jokingly.
I glare at him and open another beer. “I’m glad my problems are fuckin’ hilarious Chad.”
He grins.
Bruce drops me off at the Sunset Marquis a couple of hours and too many beers later. I’m not drunk, but sporting enough of a buzz to not be completely sober. All I want to do is talk to my girl. I’ve worked late all week and I haven’t been able to catch her in several days.
I collapse into the desk chair and boot up my computer. “Fuck!” I slam my fist on the desk when I open Skype and see that Sydney isn’t logged in.
I stand up and dig my phone out of my pocket, dialing Sydney’s number as I pace the room. When it goes to voicemail, I lose my shit. All of the agitation that I’ve felt over the past two weeks comes exploding out of me at once.
“Motherfucker!” I rear back and throw my phone across the room. It hits the wall and shatters into pieces that scatter everywhere.
That didn’t do nearly enough to satisfy my rage. I spin on my heel and strike out at the nearest object, which happens to be the massive armoire. The door cracks upon impact with my fist. I pound on it over and over until the door is shredded and so is my hand.
“Goddammit!”
I slide down the wall and land heavily on the ground, cradling my bleeding hand in my lap. This girl is going to be the death of me. Either that or I’m going slowly insane.
Or possibly both.
A quick knock on my dressing room door alerts me right before it opens and Jane walks in, carrying a bag from the Apple store.
“Here’s your new phone,” she says, glancing at my swollen, makeup-covered hand with a scowl on her face.
“Thanks Jane.” Embarrassed, I avoid eye contact. Only Jane and my mom can make me feel about two feet tall when I do something stupid.
“Want to talk about it?” She sits on the couch next to me.
All I really want to do is try to reach Sydney again. Without a phone since last night, I haven’t been able to think about anything else.
I shrug. I’m tired of the sympathetic looks that she gives me when she thinks I’m not looking. And I already got bitched out by Chad, Lou the executive producer, and the makeup artist today for the scrapes and the black and blue marks on my knuckles.
“Well, if you change your mind, I’ll be around.” She gets up and leaves the room, closing the door behind her.
I yank the phone out of the bag and see that it’s already powered up and has my contacts in it. God, I love my assistant. I find the correct number and hit dial.
“Drew?” Sydney’s sweet voice calms me down instantly.
“Sydney,” I breathe. “Where have you been? I’ve tried reaching you but you never answer.”
I’m fucking pathetic. Sitting around wondering why a girl isn’t taking my calls.
“I’m so sorry. I’ve been working all the time and when I get home I crash. I’m exhausted.”
The anger I had yesterday comes mushrooming back up from my gut, about to boil over. “Your boss is a fucking asshole,” I hiss. “You’re going to get sick, Sydney.”
“I’ll be fine,” she says, trying her best to placate me, which just makes me angrier. She should be worrying about herself, not me.
“Christ Syd, can you please just do as I say and take better care of yourself?” I growl, wanting to jump through the phone and make her take me seriously.
“Yes, I will Drew. So, how’s your project? Is everything going well?”
I feel like such a shit for lying to her about my job.
“It’s going great babe. The hours are long but the faster I get this done, the sooner I can come home.”
“Well, as long as you take care of yourself,” she jokes.
I laugh, she has no idea how much working out I’ve been doing with Damien just to vent my frustration at this ridiculous situation and the stress of being not being able to do anything while she falls to pieces.
“I manage to keep up,” I say sarcastically.
“That’s good, oh, hold on.” I hear someone talking to her about chairs or something. “I’m sorry Drew, I have to go. A shipment just arrived.”
“Okay Syd, if I call you tomorrow will you answer?”
So I don’t have to break another phone, or possibly my hand?
She giggles and the sound goes straight to my dick. Fuck, this is unbearable.
“Yes, I will. I promise.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Bye Drew.”
“Bye.”
The crackle of the speakerphone in my room startles me. “Forrester, we need you on set.”
Fuck! Late again.
I get up and hurry down the hallway only to be immediately intercepted by Jackie from wardrobe.
Shit.
“Hey Andrew,” she purrs.
“Jackie,” I nod and attempt to keep walking.
Naturally, she steps in front of me and juts her giant fake breasts in my face. Sydney or no Sydney, this chick and me would never happen. She just can’t get that through her damn bleached head. As if I haven’t noticed her eye-fucking me at every costume fitting. I should have shut her down then, but I didn’t think she’d be so damn persistent.
“So, I was thinking…” she begins.
“Jackie, I really don’t have time for this.” Ever, I want to add.
When she reaches out and puts her hands on my chest, she’s crossed the line. I wrap my hands around her wrists and she smiles, thinking she’s won. Then I slowly remove her hands from my body, put them down at her sides, and release them.
“Don’t touch me like that again, or you won’t have a job,” I say in a low voice.
She pouts her lower lip out. In her mind, I’m sure she thinks it looks sexy. It doesn’t.
“I heard you were more fun than this,” she whines.
“Well, don’t believe everything you hear,” I say as I step around her and dash to the set.
I really wish Sydney were here.
CHAPTER 24
It’s been three weeks since I’ve seen Sydney and I’m beginning to unravel. When we’re able to Skype, Sydney looks even thinner and more exhausted than ever. I can’t harass her abo
ut it either, because she threatens to cut off my Skype time if I do. She’s completely castrated me right where it hurts the most, my need to protect what’s mine and keep her healthy and safe.
She did tell me she had caught a bug, but was feeling a little better in the last few days, but I don’t know if she’s just lying to keep me from freaking out. Having no control over anything in our relationship is driving me slowly insane.
“Drew,” Chad calls me over to the video village to watch the last scene. He’s leaning over the control panel, focusing on one of the dozens of televisions laid out in front of him.
“Yeah, what’s up? Did we not get it?” I ask as I put on a set of headphones and edge up next to him.
We watch the last take of one of the fight scenes between me, Zane, and some KGB agents.
“What do you think?” Chad asks.
I shrug. “I think it looks great.” I’ve been doing this a long time and I know a great take when I see one.
“Me too,” he says smiling. “That means we’re done for today.”
Thank Christ, I think as I put the headphones down. “So what do you need me for? I’m pretty sure you didn’t call me over here because you miss my pretty face.”
Chad grins and hands me a small stack of colored papers. “What’s this?”
“The schedule changes. You’ll be done by Saturday morning.”
“So… I can go to New York Saturday and not worry about coming back?” Is that even possible?
“Yep.”
“Shit, I owe you man. This is great.” I feel happy, something I haven’t felt since I left Sydney back home. “I’ll talk to you later,” I call out as I hurry back to my dressing room to call Sydney.
Shit, her phone goes to voice mail. It’s the middle of the afternoon in New York. She’s probably at the club. Just as I’m about to call Jane and have her book a flight for Saturday, my phone rings in my hand, scaring the shit out of me.
Sydney.
“Hey sexy girl, how are you? Feeling any better? Need me to call that Jeff guy and tell him what an ass he is?” I hope I sound happy. I’m excited to tell her that I can make it to the party.
“Yeah, still tired, but much better. My stomach seems to have finally calmed some. And no, please don’t call Jeff; I need him pissed at me like I need a hole in my head.” I can pretty much tell that she’s rolling her eyes as she says her boss’s name. He’s such a douche. Her voice lowers as she whispers into the phone. “I miss you so much.”
My chest clenches at her confession. “I miss you too baby. So, I finally got Chad to give me a definite for next Saturday.” I wait to tell her, teasing her a little bit.
“And…” Sydney waits for my answer but I make her sweat it a little.
“Drew! Stop keeping me waiting.”
God she’s so fucking cute.
“And he managed to alter the schedule so I’ll be finished out here by that morning. I have a flight that lands in New York at 5pm on the 8th and I won’t have to come back out here the following week either.”
I’m ready to be back home with her, but I’m also nervous. I’ll have to tell her everything before I can walk into that party. She may not want to see me again after that.
“So that’s great! Right? The party doesn’t start until 9. The celebrities don’t start arriving until 10 or so. You should be here in plenty of time to make it. I’m just sorry that you’ll be on a plane on your birthday.”
More concerned about me than about herself, as usual. Like I could give a shit about my birthday when I’m worried about her flipping out and leaving me when I tell her who I am.
“Actually, I’m hoping we could meet at your place and go together. I wanted to see you first.”
“That’s perfect. Just so you know, Leah made me promise that I wouldn’t revoke her invite just because you’re coming with me, so we’ll see her there. She doesn’t want to ride with us though; she’ll feel too much like a third-wheel. Her words, not mine.” Sydney’s laughter filters through the phone, making me laugh along with her.
“Yes, that’s fine. As long as we’re alone before we go to the party.”
So I can drop a mushroom cloud on you right before your big career-making design is revealed.
Sydney readily agrees to my request. “We will be, don’t worry. I’m so excited, Drew. You being there is going to make this potentially shitty night so much better, so long as you don’t actually throat punch Adam that is.”
“I can’t make any promises about that, Sydney. He needs to keep his hands to himself. I just hope you’re glad that I’m there with you at the party.” And I’ll most likely punch him either way, I’m sure.
I hear someone call for Sydney. She never fucking rests. Not even five minutes for a phone call. My hand tightens around the phone.
“Drew, I’m sorry. I have to go. They’re calling for me. Thank you so much for agreeing to go with me. Tell Chad thanks too.”
“I will baby, you’re welcome. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I have a late night of work today.” I checked the new schedule, lots of late nights in order to wrap up in time.
“Okay, bye,” she says, her voice much happier than it was at the beginning of the call.
Me? Now I’m the one freaking out over celebrities and nightclub parties, but probably not for the same reason as Sydney.
CHAPTER 25
“Drew!” Chad calls out from behind a television screen.
I hustle over and reach out to grab a set of headphones. Chad stops me before I can get a pair.
“You don’t need those.”
I must look surprised because the fucker laughs at me. “What?” I narrow my eyes at him suspiciously.
“You just filmed your last scene. Get going,” he says, his hands on his hips and a giant grin on his face
Now he has my attention. “Really? You’re not shitting me are you?”
“Nope, go. Have a good time in New York.” I turn to leave but he stops me. “And Drew, happy birthday.”
“The jury is still out on that,” I say sarcastically. “I’ll let you know tomorrow if it’s happy or not.”
I call Bruce while I’m getting out of my wardrobe so he can grab my luggage from the hotel and get to the studio as quickly as possible. By the time I get out of the shower and say bye to everyone, he’s outside waiting for me.
It’s only 8am and I’m already done with work. I don’t know how Chad did it, but I owe him big. The crew was pretty pissed that we had to start so early this morning, but they showed up and rallied to get the job done so I could make my early flight.
I’m so ecstatic that I don’t even care that a pack of paparazzi hound me as I make my way through LAX without Jane, who’s flying back Monday. Even the clingy fan that follows me to my gate doesn’t bother me today.
I collapse in my seat in the first class lounge, close my eyes, and put my earphones on to make myself unavailable to anyone passing by. It’s not until an airline employee taps my shoulder that I realize what time it is. My flight should have boarded by now.
“Mr. Forrester, I’m sorry to bother you,” she says kindly.
I look at her expectantly, waiting for her to finish her thought.
“Well,” her face reddens a little and I feel bad, so I give an Andrew Forrester smile. That encourages her to tell me why she came over here. “I just saw that you had headphones on so you probably didn’t hear the announcement that your flight has a two hour delay.”
Crap.
I must make a pretty intimidating face because the woman flinches back from me.
I drag my hand across the back of my neck. “Sorry, I just really need to get back to New York. Long day ahead and all,” I say so she won’t think I’m a total asshole.
“No problem. I’ll let you know if anything else comes up.” She gives me a weak smile before turning and walking away.
I pull out my phone to call Sydney. I should still land by 7pm and have enough time to make it to her place befo
re the party. Maybe I could tell her in the car?
Of course, her voicemail picks up and I have to leave a message.
You’ve reached Sydney, leave a message and I’ll call you back.
“Hey babe, I’m still at the airport in LA, my flight is delayed. They think we’ll be in around seven or so. Try to wait for me before you leave. I know you have to be there, but I really want to talk to you before we go. Miss you.”
I shove my phone in my pocket and wait.
An eternity later, they finally board my flight. I hang back until everyone else is on before taking my seat. Naturally, there’s someone next to me. Fuck, I should have had Jane come with me instead of leaving her behind to tie up loose ends.
The older man stands to let me into my window seat. I can feel every set of eyes in first class focused on me as I take my seat.
“Hello,” my seatmate says.
“Hi,” I answer, looking at the guy warily. This better not be one of those flights where I’m next to a Chatty Cathy for five hours.
He pulls out a thick, economic newspaper, folds it to an article, and starts to read.
Thank God for that.
After takeoff, I pull out my iPad and watch some of the dailies that Chad uploaded and check my email.
About an hour and a half into the flight my neighbor taps my arm and gestures for me to remove my headphones.
“Yes?” I ask.
“You probably couldn’t hear what was going on in coach, but apparently there’s been an issue with one of the other passengers.”
“What do you mean an issue?” Me and my goddamn earphones!
“A medical issue. We’re going to have to land in Denver so he or she can get off of the plane.”
I sit up straight. “What!”
“Yep, probably a heart attack or something, I’m not sure. They haven’t said, just that we’re landing in Denver.”
I groan and drop my head into my hands. This is fate, I’m not meant to tell Sydney. I’m not meant to be with her. Adam fucking Reynolds will make a move on her tonight and get her wasted so he can treat her like a whore.
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