Damage Control (The Hollywood Series Book 2)

by Jae

  “Let’s hope so. The divorce won’t be final until the end of the year, long after the release of Ava’s Heart, so I should be fine.”

  “Shailene and I will keep a low profile until then,” Nick said.

  “Thanks.” Grace shifted on the couch. She didn’t want to think about the headlines the press would print once they found out about the divorce and Nick’s new girlfriend, so she instead reached for the paperwork Nick had brought over. “What’s this?”

  “My lawyer has drawn up a generous alimony package for you.”

  “Alimony?” Grace was careful not to smile since she didn’t want to hurt his male ego. She made more money than he did and had from the very beginning. When they’d first met, Nick had been a stuntman while Grace had already been nominated for her third Golden Globe. “Nick, I appreciate the gesture, but it’s not like I’ll starve to death after the divorce.”

  “Okay, then let’s forget about the alimony and talk about the house.” He swept his muscular arm to indicate the Laurel Canyon property.

  They had bought it together when they’d married fourteen months ago. Grace looked around, taking in the living room where they had hosted dozens of parties. None of it held any meaning to her. Nick and his interior decorator had picked out the furniture and the ultramodern decor while she’d been on location. She’d thought she would come to like it or at least get used to it over time, but it hadn’t happened. The house, impressive as it was, had never truly felt like a home. She bit her lip to stop herself from saying it out loud. “You can have the house.”

  “Did you just say…?”

  She nodded. “That you can have the house. It’s too big for me alone anyway. I just want the cottage in Topanga Canyon.”

  He stared at her with eyes as round as an owl’s. “You prefer the cottage to the house?”

  Before she could answer, the gate buzzer sounded.

  Nick glanced toward the foyer. “Are you expecting someone? Your new boyfriend?” he asked casually.

  A little too casually, Grace thought. Clearly, he couldn’t help being a bit jealous of any new man in her life. “I don’t have a new boyfriend.”

  “No? I thought maybe you and Russ… You looked pretty cozy on set.”

  Grace burst out laughing. “It’s called acting, Nick.” Kissing her co-star on film had probably been the most unromantic moment of her life. “Be right back.”

  Lauren parked in the same spot as the last time she’d been here and climbed the stairs to the Durand/Sinclair mansion.

  Again, Grace was the one who opened the door, with no sign of any employees around. “It seems we’re making a habit out of these impromptu meetings,” Grace said when she stepped back to let her in. She was smiling, though, and didn’t sound annoyed at the interruption. In a pair of faded Levi’s and a Central Precinct T-shirt, she was more attractive than any woman had a right to be.

  For some reason, that annoyed Lauren even more. She didn’t return the smile. “We need to talk.”

  Grace looked back over her shoulder, toward the living room. “Now isn’t a good time.”

  “Now is a very good time,” Lauren said. “If we don’t talk about this now, you can read all about it online tomorrow.”

  Grace’s eyes widened. “What—?”

  A man stepped into the foyer, interrupting them. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t want you to think I was intentionally eavesdropping on your conversation.”

  The surprise and worry disappeared from Grace’s face as if she’d pressed an emotion-controlling button. With a practiced Hollywood smile, she said, “Nick, this is Lauren Pearce, my new publicist. Lauren, this is Nick Sinclair, my husband.”

  Lauren would have recognized him even without the introduction. She’d met him only once, but he’d been photographed with Grace often enough. Admittedly, they made a striking couple, his black hair and broad shoulders contrasting nicely with Grace’s blonde hair and feminine curves.

  “I think we met at an after-party a few years ago,” Nick said.

  “Right.” Almost against her will, Lauren was impressed that he remembered her. With all the classically beautiful actresses who’d paraded around the party in plunging dresses, she hadn’t thought that he’d paid her much attention.

  They shook hands before Lauren looked back at Grace. “We really need to talk.”

  “I’ll go,” Nick said.

  “I didn’t mean to—”

  “That’s okay. I’m expected back on set in an hour anyway.” He turned toward Grace and pulled her into his arms.

  Lauren averted her gaze, giving them some privacy, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw that he just pressed his lips to her cheek instead of claiming her in a passionate kiss. “Thank you,” he said.

  Grace hugged him tightly. “You’re welcome. Just be careful on set, okay?”

  “Will do. See you tonight.” He jogged down the stairs, got into his gleaming black Corvette, and drove off.

  They stood in the foyer for a few seconds, looking at each other, before Grace closed the front door and said, “Let’s go to the patio.”

  They settled on the same two patio chairs they had used a few days ago.

  Lauren decided to get right to the point. “I just had an interesting call from a blogger for Hollywood Affairs. He found a source who swears you spent the night with a fellow actress in a hotel in Macon.”

  Grace gripped the armrests of her chair with both hands, but her carefully schooled features gave nothing away.

  “He says you paid with a credit card registered to your birth name,” Lauren added and watched Grace’s face for any kind of reaction.

  Grace stared out over the city without saying anything. After a few moments, she got up and walked toward the edge of the pool. She dipped the toes of one sandaled foot into the water as if to buy herself time to think. “What do we do now?”

  Lauren followed her and stood next to her so that she could see her face. “The first thing you need to do is to stop lying to me. You can’t be caught lying. Not to the media and certainly not to me.”

  “I’m not lying,” Grace said, still staring down into the rippling water.

  The impulse to shove Grace into the pool gripped Lauren. Maybe that would wake her up. But, of course, she couldn’t do that. “You sure as hell didn’t tell me the truth either. What happened with Jill Corrigan? It was Jill with you in that hotel, wasn’t it?”

  Stan hadn’t mentioned the other actress’s name, but he’d implied that the Tinseltown Talk article was true.

  “That’s none of your business,” Grace said, her voice carefully controlled, no anger leaking through.

  “None of my business?” Lauren shook her head. “Your public image is my responsibility. If you don’t give me the information I need to do my job, I can’t keep working with you.”

  Slowly, Grace turned toward her. “You want to drop me as a client?”

  “No. I don’t want to.” God knows, Marlene would kill her if she did. “But I will if you constantly keep me in the dark. We’ve been broadsided by this because you didn’t trust me.”

  “How can I trust you? I hardly know you.” Grace’s Hollywood mask wavered a little. Her eyes, bluer than the water of the pool, reflected so much vulnerability that Lauren was speechless for a few moments.

  Lauren understood. There were no friends and no secrets in the showbiz jungle. If you trusted someone with your secrets, it was entirely possible that you could read about it in the tabloids the very next day. “I know you don’t. But you know my reputation. I want to make partner or even run my own PR firm one day. What do you think would happen if I broke the confidentiality clause in my contract?”

  “No one would ever hire you again,” Grace said.

  “Exactly. I might not
be an actress, but image is everything in my profession too. If I did anything that harmed my reputation, it’d be game over for me. So it’s in my own best interest to protect your secrets.”

  Grace sighed. “I believe you, but…it’s not my secret to tell.”

  Lauren studied her. She’s protecting someone. One person came to mind immediately. Jill Corrigan. “Is Jill gay?”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  Her stubborn refusal to tell her the truth made Lauren grit her teeth, but at the same time, she couldn’t help admiring her loyalty. In Hollywood, that was rarer than a fifty-carat diamond. “Grace, I need the facts so I can put together a strategy for how to deal with the media.”

  “No, I mean, I can’t tell you because I don’t know. I don’t think she is, but we never talked about it. All you and everyone else need to know is that we’re not having an affair.” Grace turned abruptly and walked back to the patio table.

  Again, Lauren followed her, sensing there was something Grace wasn’t telling her. They sat facing each other.

  “That won’t be enough for the media,” Lauren said. “We have to give them something, or they’ll keep digging. If you don’t talk, they will find someone who will. They’ll bribe your housekeeper, your assistant, your gardener…”

  “I don’t have an assistant, and my cleaning service and the company that keeps my yard up come in when I’m not here,” Grace said.

  So she’d been right. Grace kept no employees around, probably because she didn’t want strangers leaking intimate details of her life to the press. Once again, Lauren wondered if there was a reason why Grace was so private. Was she hiding something? “Doesn’t matter,” she said. “They’ll snoop through your private life until they find something.”

  Grace gulped audibly. She raked her fingers through her long, blonde hair.

  “There is something to find, isn’t there?” There always was. Lauren had found that out early on in her life. Nothing was ever as it seemed in Hollywood. Still, she’d hoped that it would be different with Grace. She liked her, no matter how often she told herself not to be fooled by her warm, friendly facade. It was probably just that—a facade.

  “Yes,” Grace whispered.

  Lauren said nothing, not pressuring her. She sensed that Grace needed to say this in her own time.

  “Nick and I…” Grace rubbed both hands over her mouth as if part of her wanted to hold back the words. But then she dropped her hands and looked into Lauren’s eyes. “We’re getting a divorce.”

  Lauren sank against the back of her chair. She wasn’t sure what she had expected Grace to say, but certainly not that. She cursed under her breath. “And you’re only telling me this now? Christ, Grace, I need time to prepare a strategy. You can’t just spring this on me out of the blue and expect me to adjust!”

  Grace lowered her gaze to the stone patio. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “I’m not trying to make things difficult for you, but like I said…”

  “You don’t trust me.” Lauren sighed. Thoughts and media strategies ricocheted through her mind. “Their golden couple separating… Your fans won’t be happy. I bet they didn’t see this coming.” She sure hadn’t. Grace and Nick’s relationship had seemed to be one of the few stable ones in Hollywood. “There were never any jealousy dramas, ugly fights, or separation rumors.”

  “No,” Grace said. “And there won’t be any in the future either. It’ll be an amicable divorce. No breaking dishes, no screaming, no tears.”

  No passion? Lauren wondered. “So if everything is so harmonic between you, why get divorced?”

  “It’s not because either of us is having an affair, if that’s what you’re asking.” A hint of defensiveness crept into Grace’s tone.

  “It’s not,” Lauren said. “I’m not trying to be nosy. But that’s the first thing the press will want to know.”

  Grace curled one leg under herself on the patio chair and tugged on the hole in one knee of her jeans, making it larger. She pulled a few of the threads free and watched them being blown away by the breeze. “With both of us constantly gone, shooting three movies a year, we didn’t get to spend a lot of time together,” she said after a while. “Let’s face it, actors make lousy spouses.”

  Oh yeah. If there was one thing Lauren had learned growing up, it was this. “So there are no other people involved?”

  Grace hesitated but then said, “Nick has a new girlfriend. They got together three weeks after we separated, but he swears he never cheated on me. I believe him.”

  Lauren wasn’t sure she did. Sometimes, cheating seemed to be a popular hobby for celebrities. Lauren herself wasn’t exactly a by-the-book girlfriend, but she had never, ever cheated, and she would never tolerate it from a partner. She’d had to endure the sham her parents called a marriage for too long to want that kind of relationship. “The press will still call it an affair. If they find out that Nick and his flame got together while he was still married to you—”

  “I don’t want the press to tear him to shreds as a cheating bastard.” Grace’s eyes glittered with determination.

  “Let’s focus on you and your career and let Nick’s publicist worry about his, okay?”

  Grace clearly didn’t like it, but she nodded.

  “So, what about you? Is there someone new in your life too?” Lauren asked. Maybe Grace had found someone else too, and that was why she was so forgiving.

  Grace shook her head. “There’s no one else.”

  Either she was telling the truth, or she was an even better actress than Lauren gave her credit for. “Okay, but if there’s ever someone new in your life, I need to know before you even tell your mother or your best friend. I don’t want to be blindsided again. No more surprises. If there’s ever anything, call me immediately.”

  “You’ll be the first to know,” Grace said.

  Lauren couldn’t tell if she was being sincere or if there was a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She wondered if Grace ever stopped acting and was just herself. She glanced at her watch and realized it was noon already. Just twenty-four more hours until she had to give Stan something. “This couldn’t come at a worse time.”

  “I know. Which is why I’m trying to keep it a secret until after the release of Ava’s Heart.”

  Lauren nodded. It wouldn’t help promote a film with strong Christian undertones if the public found out the lead actress was getting divorced from her movie-star husband. “That’s the best strategy for now. But we still have to give Hollywood Affairs something.”

  “Do they know who the other actress in Macon was?” Grace asked.

  “Stan—the blogger—didn’t name names, but I’m sure he knows. If he thinks he can out someone, he’s like a bloodhound.”

  A flush of annoyance crept into Grace’s cheeks, and Lauren realized that she again wasn’t wearing makeup. She was by far the most low-maintenance actress Lauren had ever met.

  “What gives him the right to make that decision for someone?” Grace asked, a bit of heat in her voice now.

  “The constitution,” Lauren said.

  “Freedom of the press.” Grace’s lips compressed into a thin line. “What about my freedom? Or Jill’s?”

  Lauren answered with a helpless shrug. “I know it’s not fair. I don’t like it either, but that’s the way it is, and we…you have to deal with it.”

  Grace sighed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.” After one last tug on the by-now frayed hole in her jeans, she uncurled her long legs, shoved her chair back from the table, and got up. “I’ll talk to Jill and then get back to you with something we can tell this Stan.”

  We. For the first time, Lauren felt as if they were really working together as a team. She nodded and got up too. “I need something before noon tomorrow.”

  Grace accompanied her t
o the door. “I’ll try my best.”

  They could only hope that it would be enough. Lauren reached for the doorknob. “I’ll see you tonight, then.”

  “Uh, tonight?”

  “You’re still going to Russ Vinson’s handprint ceremony, aren’t you?”

  Grace raised one perfect eyebrow. “You know my schedule?”

  “I’m your publicist,” Lauren answered.

  “So you plan to attend all of my public appearances with me from now on?”

  “Wouldn’t be a bad idea. But I’d be there tonight anyway. Until then.” Lauren walked away with a short wave. Her private and her professional lives were about to collide, and—as always when that happened—she didn’t like it one bit.

  CHAPTER 6

  The limousine the studio had sent turned onto Hollywood Boulevard, making its way past souvenir shops and tourists strolling over the star-cemented Walk of Fame.

  Frowning, Grace leaned forward and pressed the button to lower the privacy screen that separated the rear of the limo from its front. “Excuse me,” she said to the driver. “Aren’t we picking up Ms. Corrigan?” She’d tried to reach Jill all day—to no avail so far, but since she knew she would see her at Russ’s handprint ceremony, she hadn’t been too worried.

  The driver looked at her in the rearview mirror. “She was on my list, but then they told me at the last minute not to drive by her house. Apparently, she won’t be able to make it.”

  How weird. Jill was as focused on her career as the rest of them. She wouldn’t just skip this event, knowing the studio expected her to be there and show her support for her cast mate.

  “Looks like you’ll have to make do with us,” Russ said, grinning at her and at Nick, who lounged next to Grace on the leather backseat.