Rough To Ride

by Elvira, Justine

  "Excuse me?"

  Jared moves past me and into his kitchen. I watch as he opens a cabinet and pulls out a coffee mug. He moves to one of those single cup coffee machines where you put a single serving plastic cup in and it brews the coffee.

  "You heard me. You and your man have got to leave."

  "I think there has been some kind of misunderstanding."

  I watch as he turns around and leans against the counter. He moves his muscular arms across his chest. The sun is shining through the skylights of the kitchen and I am able to get a better look at him.

  Wow.

  His golden tanned skin looks so soft. His tan helps make the gray of his eyes pop. He has black plugs in his ears and it's the perfect touch to his bad boy image. He's covered in tattoos from the waist up, but I can’t see most of them because his white wife beater is covering them.

  I know wife beater is probably not the politically correct term for a Californian, but that's what we call them in Michigan.

  "What did I misunderstand?"

  "I didn't hook up with anyone last night. I crashed in the first bedroom on the left. I think it's Tawny's room and Tawny's actually why I'm here. She told me I could come visit whenever I wanted, so here I am."

  He looks at me skeptically and then drags his eyes up and down my body. It's then that I realize I'm wearing my white cheerleading shorts that barely cover my ass and a tank top that fits like a second layer of skin. I'm instantly self-conscious and I want to run back to Tawny's bedroom and change.

  "Here's the thing, sweetheart, Tawny doesn't live here at the moment. She's off in Italy with her Italian boyfriend. She's spending his money and he's snorting coke off her tits that I paid for."

  "My name's not sweetheart, it's Autumn, and when did she leave? I talked to her three months ago. She said I could stay with her."

  "A lot can change in three months," he says arrogantly. "I'll make you a cup of coffee and then you can get your things and leave. I have no way of verifying you are who you say you are, so you can't stay here."

  He has a point. Without Tawny here I just look like some pathetic girl looking for a place to crash.

  Jared gives me the first cup of coffee and gestures for me to sit down at the table in the eat-in kitchen. He joins me a few minutes later and we sip our coffee in silence. I want to say something, but I have never been good at starting conversations. What would I say? Hey, I heard you bumping uglies with those two chicks this morning. Is that your normal morning routine?

  "So how long have you and Tawny known each other?" Jared asks me.

  I look up into his gray eyes and almost forget to answer him.

  "We grew up together in South Haven. It's a small town, so everyone knows everyone."

  "And you just decided to visit?"

  This is going to be a little harder to explain. If I were close with Tawny, then I would have known that she's in Italy and not in California.

  "Well, I haven't talked to her in three months, but the last time I talked with her she sent me her address and told me to come visit. She said if I liked California she would help me find a job."

  "A job?"

  "Yeah, I never took her offer that seriously, but recent events had me jumping in my car for a visit. I should have called first and I'm sorry to be such a burden to you this morning. If I knew she was in Italy I would have never crashed here last night."

  My hands are in my lap and I start turning my engagement ring around my finger. It's the first time I notice I'm still wearing it. That is going in the trash as soon as this conversation is over.

  "It's fine. When you have a life long friend, one that's seen you through bad decisions like dressing up as Lindsay Lohan, I'm sure you figured it was no big deal to drop by."

  I start to nod my head in agreement when realization hits me. My head pops up and my eyes meet his beautiful gray ones.

  "You lied," I say a little louder than I originally intended to.

  "And what did I lie about?"

  "You said you had no way of verifying who I am so I couldn't stay here."

  "Right..."

  "But you just referenced the picture of Tawny and me that's sitting on the dresser in her room, so you do know who I am."

  He almost looks a little embarrassed, but he quickly hides it.

  "So I knew who you were when I saw you last night, that doesn't mean I'm going to let you stay in my house."

  "Jared!"

  A woman yelling his name from the front door startles me.

  "I'm in here, Kel," Jared yells back from the seat in front of me.

  I watch as Kelly from last night joins us in the kitchen. She's dressed business casual and her short brown hair is styled to perfection. She's wearing big sunglasses, I'm assuming to hide her eyes and the look of being hung-over.

  "I've got bad news. Vivica-" she stops mid-sentence to look at me, just realizing it isn't just her and Jared in the room. "Who are you?"

  Jared looks between the two of us, obviously confused since I told him Kelly was the one who let me in the house last night.

  "You don’t remember her? She's Tawny's friend. You let her in and told her she could crash in Tawny's room last night."

  "Jeez, I don't remember. I was so buzzed last night, you're lucky I'm even here."

  "Classy, Kel."

  "Like I was saying, I've got bad news. We need to leave in ten minutes to drive to the shoot and Vivica just called to cancel. She can't be your co-star today because she's in the hospital with a bad stomach bug."

  I have no idea what is going on, but Jared doesn't seem worried.

  "No big deal, call one of the other girls to shoot with me today."

  Kelly huffs in frustration, "All the girls that are contracted under your company are already shooting today. We've got no one else."

  This gets Jared's attention. "What do you mean we've got no one else? I don't shoot every day anymore, Kel. My subscribers are going to want new material."

  "I know, now do you see why I'm worried?”

  I watch Jared as he stands up from his seat and moves to put his coffee cup in the sink. He turns back around and our eyes meet. It's almost as if I can see the wheels turning in his head.

  "You."

  I'm puzzled by his determined stare.

  "Yes?"

  "You said Tawny was possibly going to hook you up with a job, do you want one?"

  I hadn't really thought about it too much, but I guess I'm planning on staying in California so I do need a job. I'll be lucky if the nine hundred dollars in my bank account lasts me two weeks.

  "Yes, I need a job."

  "Do you know what kind of work Tawny was doing out here?"

  She came out here to be an actress; everyone in my town knew why she was out here.

  "Yes."

  "Are you willing to do it?"

  "By it, you mean..."

  "Do you want to be my co-star today or not?"

  Oh. My. God. I'm going to be in a movie!

  "Yes, of course I do." I'm trying to play it cool on the outside, but the child in me is jumping up and down. I might finally be catching a lucky break. I can’t believe I'm saying this, but I'm glad his co-star got sick.

  "Go upstairs and take a shower, throw some clothes on, and meet me down here in ten minutes. You don't have to worry about your wardrobe, hair, or make-up, we'll take care of that on set."

  "Okay," I say giddily and start to run up the stairs.

  "Oh, and Autumn, when you're in the shower make sure you're cleaned up... everywhere."

  I nod my head and make my way into Tawny's bathroom. I'm not sure what Jared meant by that last comment, but who cares. I'm going to be in a movie!

  *Click here to purchase Changing His Game.

  About the Author

  Justine Elvira is the author of THE PRICE SERIES, LAWFUL OVERDOSE, CHANGING HIS GAME, and ROUGH TO RIDE. She is currently working on the follow up novel to Changing His Game titled Playing His Game, along with a no
vella that will be part of a multiple author anthology. You can connect with Justine below:

  www.facebook.com/justineelvirabooks

  www.twitter.com/justineelvira

  justinethedream@gmail.com

  Justine Elvira's Goodreads Page

  www.justineelvira.blogspot.com