by Julia Bright
“Fuck you.” Zach wrenched open the door to the house and stalked in, leaving Cam alone.
If Zach were sober, Cam would tell him about their plan. But he couldn’t trust Zach, not with the cocaine and other drugs flowing like they were. Zach would blab to some random hooker about his brother and the fake baby conspiracy. It was bad enough Zach knew there was something going on. He didn’t need his brother knowing everything. He hated that he didn’t trust Zach, but the drugs changed things.
Cam left the garage and headed to his room, hoping Rose was still stretched out so he could rejoin her. Instead, he found the bed empty and the shower running with the door to the bathroom locked. He needed to get his head screwed on straight. Rose wasn’t his real girlfriend, and no matter how good she felt in his arms, she wasn’t his. This, like almost everything else in Hollywood, was fake.
Chapter Seventeen
Facing Cam this morning would be weird. She’d heard some of the fight he’d had with his brother. It had been wrong to stand in the kitchen and listen in, but she needed to know what she was getting herself into. Zach had been angry and she guessed he had every right to be. Things were changing and it looked as if she was taking advantage of Cam, but she wasn’t.
Her shift started at ten thirty this morning. She’d picked up another uniform, but she needed to wash the one she’d been wearing the day before. She wondered if Cam would mind her using the washing machine.
She stepped out into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around her body and froze. Cam was sitting on the edge of the bed and looked up just as she came into the room. His gaze didn’t waver as he stood and approached her. She half expected his eyes to lower, to stare at her chest, or for him to make some lude comment about her only wearing the towel. He didn’t say a word, though the muscle in his jaw tightened and his gaze narrowed.
“What are your plans for the day?” Cam’s voice was soft, in dissonance from how he looked.
She shivered but pushed the feelings away. “I have to be at the diner at ten thirty.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re working?”
“I can’t stop.”
“This isn’t going to be long term—you working, right?”
“For now, this is what we’re doing. I’ll tell Mike that I might need a week or so off, but I can’t give it up. I’m not going to quit just because of this thing that is going on.”
“If it gets dangerous, you have to promise me you’ll stop working.”
“Why would it get dangerous?” Rose moved to her bag and pulled out her uniform before grabbing a pair of panties that she wadded into a ball so Cam couldn’t see them.
“People are weird. No, we’re not hounded like other stars, but still, there are fans who are obsessed.”
Rose shook her head. “That’s for you. No one is going to know me.”
“You say that now. Just wait.”
She shrugged, trying to act cool though she wondered if she was going crazy. This whole situation was insane and she was just along for the ride.
“No one will care who I am. It will blow over, the story will die down, and we’ll come up with some way to end our relationship. Everything will go back to normal for both of us, end of story.”
“Hopefully that won’t be the end.”
Rose’s heart sped up. “What?”
“Well, you’ll get a few modeling or acting contracts. It would be great if you could earn some extra money and maybe get some benefit from this.”
She rolled her eyes and headed back into the bathroom before closing the door, trying like crazy to keep a calm head. This was how big breaks happened and she knew it. Now she was on the inside, no longer a stranger to everyone in the business. She had her break, and if she couldn’t make anything from it, she would move home and find a job in a city where the cost of living was much less than LA.
Hollywood was too hard, and she was tired of living in some rinky-dink apartment with other people who were noisy, messy, and hard to deal with. Though Kady and Presley hadn’t been too hard to deal with, she craved privacy. Really, it was just Amanda who had been a bitch. If they had a bigger place, living with Kady and Presley wouldn’t be so bad. She could get used to having them as housemates if they could all afford a house with space so they weren’t falling all over each other at every turn. They at least needed a second bathroom.
Thoughts of Kady came to the front of her mind and her stomach twisted. Kady would hate her for this. She couldn’t tell her roommates all of this was false. All of Kady’s hopes and dreams could have been fulfilled if she’d been the one to break the story of Cam Harris settling down with a virtual unknown. If she’d had the scoop from the beginning, maybe she could get on with a magazine somewhere and make a decent income instead of having to fight to get the few scraps thrown her way. Rose knew Kady’s boss was an asshole. The man had stolen Kady’s stories more than once, and something like this, some inside scoop, could have made the difference for her. Rose wasn’t looking forward to facing Kady.
She pulled on her stockings and skirt, wrapped her blouse around her body and tied the ties that held it in place, or at least mostly in place. She still had to pin her shirt to her bra since it was a little loose and would show more cleavage than she was comfortable displaying at work.
After dressing, she opened the door to the bedroom and found it empty. Leaving the safety of Cam’s room scared her. What if Zach was mad and tried to hurt her? She didn’t think Cam would put her at risk, but they didn’t know each other that well.
The door opened and Cam stepped in, a towel around his waist, his chest flecked with water. Her tongue curled as she thought of licking all that water off before kissing his fresh, clean torso then going lower, following the thin trail of hair that ran from his belly button down. Her imagination kicked in as desire spiked. How would Cam kiss her? They hadn’t shared a real kiss, and yet, they’d slept in the same bed—twice. She must be utterly undesirable for Cam to lie in bed next to her and try nothing. Of course, she’d been asleep, and it would have been creepy to wake up to some guy trying to do something with her. This whole situation was too confusing, and she hoped it became clearer as time went on, because at the moment, her self-esteem was at an all-time low.
“I’m going to pick up the keys for the house today,” Cam said.
Rose’s gaze snapped up as she realized she’d been staring at the front of his towel, wishing he were totally naked. “Oh. Um, when are we moving in?”
“Since the house is furnished, I was thinking tonight.”
She chewed on her lower lip as worry spun through him. “Oh, yeah, that would be good. I guess, after my shift, I’ll just go there.”
“Do you remember the address?”
She shook her head. “Not really.”
“I’ll have Andrew text it to you.”
Rose nodded then turned away from Cam to gather her stuff into her bag. She’d thought too hard about his naked body and now she wanted more from him than he would give.
“Thank you. I’ll see you tonight then.”
“Rose?”
She turned and found Cam’s gaze on her. Looking at him was like drowning in a pool of what-ifs that would never happen.
“Yes.” Her voice cracked on the reply.
“Please don’t talk to anyone about us. Not even your roommates.”
She nodded and left the room with her bag over her shoulder. She’d wanted him to hug or kiss her, maybe even say something sweet, but he’d turned away and headed into the bathroom after he’d asked her not to say anything about them. Disappointment filled her as she stepped into the hall. He hadn’t said goodbye. Their relationship was fake, and she had to keep reminding herself of that fact over and over again, because if she didn’t, she might just end up too depressed to pull herself out of it.
Rose received notification that her Uber car was there and headed to the front door, praying she didn’t run into Zach. They weren’t on the best of terms, and she didn�
��t want to talk to him face-to-face and hash out what was really going on, not after hearing him and Cam argue. At least she would be able to wash her clothes at the new house and not have to come back here to get her clothes clean.
The car dropped her at the diner, and she walked in a little early, surprising Mike. He shot her a look then growled before stepping back into the kitchen.
“He’s in a mood,” Lori, one of the other waitresses, said.
“Did he think I wasn’t coming in today?”
“After yesterday, no. None of us thought you would be here. We thought we’d be working short. Thanks for actually showing.” Lori headed back into the kitchen and Rose followed.
“What are you doing here?” Mike asked.
“I’m on the schedule.”
“But—”
“I’m not going to leave you high and dry. I said I would be here, I’m here.”
“What about next week?” Mike asked.
“As long as no one comes to hunt me down and stalk me, I’m here. If it gets dangerous for you, I can’t work here though.”
Mike had pulled meat from the refrigerator and began preparing for the burger rush. “Why would it get dangerous?”
She shrugged as she stored her purse. “I don’t know. Cam said something about stalkers. I don’t think I’ll have any stalkers, but you never know. People are weird.”
“They are, and this is Hollywood.” Mike shrugged and shook his head, grunting as he began seasoning the meat.
Rose laughed and grabbed four onions, slicing one after peeling it. The restaurant had some contraption that made slicing onions and tomatoes easy. Plus, she liked the repetitiveness of the task since it calmed her.
Mike had been nice to her, and she hated the thought of bailing on him. This wasn’t where she wanted to end up, and maybe she would actually get a break just from being tied to Cam Harris, but the last thing she wanted to do was screw over her friends.
Customers started showing up at eleven, and they had a steady stream of people until close to two thirty. No one recognized her or asked anything about Cam. She had gotten off easy, or she thought she had. Maybe being recognized would get her a part in a movie or TV show. If people were talking about her, the studios might be more willing to take her on. But what did she know about anything? She wasn’t an insider and her brush with the inside had been insignificant. Cam was only helping her because he’d been put in an unescapable position, not because he wanted to help her.
Andrew was nice, and Melissa had been helpful, but neither of them knew her. By the time she was about to clock out, depression had snuck in, clouding all of her thoughts. Then the door opened and Kady stalked in, her eyes narrowing when she saw Rose. This was going to be a very uncomfortable conversation.
“When do you clock out?” Kady asked.
“Now.” Rose couldn’t hide from her roommate, but she couldn’t tell her everything. She was in a very tough spot. If Kady got too angry, she’d have no place to go back to once this was all over. She’d not really thought that through. Kady’s life depended on stories like what Rose was going through.
“You, me. My car now,” Kady commanded.
After going to the back to clock out and say bye to Mike, Rose followed her out to the street to Kady’s old sedan that would never be mistaken as a nice car. The air conditioner only worked some of the time, and if Kady had to travel anywhere, it would conk out if she had to drive up a steep grade.
With the doors shut, she waited for Kady to say something. She’d expected yelling, or screaming, but when Kady spoke, her voice was even, calm with no anger showing.
“What in the world is going on?”
Rose looked out the front window, unprepared for how hard this would be. “I can’t talk about it.”
“I know you’re not pregnant.”
Rose whipped around, panic filling her. “I—you… I can’t talk.”
“Listen, I don’t know what is going on, but it seems like you are in over your head.”
Rose nodded and leaned against the headrest. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to stop tears that had a life of their own. Kady said nothing as she shed tears she hadn’t known needed to fall. The stress of the last twenty-four hours was getting to her. She liked Cam but didn’t know how she would live in the same house with him without combusting. There would have to be rules. They couldn’t sleep in the same bed again, that much she knew.
“Rose, I looked into the Harris boys, and they are trouble with a capital T. You can’t be serious about Cam. He’s a mess. Neither one of them is the type of man who can bring you happiness. I know Zach is on drugs. I shouldn’t say anything, but my boss is going to do a story about Zach and his drug problems. They have a guy following him around, catching photos of him buying drugs. It’s going to be bad, really bad. There are some very serious accusations being thrown at him.”
Rose sucked in a breath. She couldn’t allow something like that to hit Cam and Zach. They already had enough problems and adding an exposé about drugs wouldn’t help them.
“I know it might be weird, but Cam and I have something. It may not be what everyone else thinks a relationship is, but for now it’s working for us.” She hadn’t lied, but she also hadn’t told the truth. They had a relationship, a business one, but no one could know.
“Rose, this is going to blow up in your face.”
“I have a handle on it.” But she didn’t. She was about two seconds from freaking out.
A hard rap on the window startled her, and she jumped, squealing a bit. She glanced up and saw Cam, his lips pursed and his eyes narrowed. She felt bad. He must think she was talking, really talking, to Kady. God, this couldn’t get any worse.
“It’s Cam. I need to go.”
Kady reached out, grasping her arm. “Rose, whatever you’re involved in, I can help, but you need to be open to receiving that help.”
“I’m fine. Really.” Rose opened the door, and Kady stepped out too, her gaze boring into Cam. Now Cam was smiling, acting as though everything were perfect.
“Cam, Rose told me you two have a special relationship. Is that true?”
Cam shot Rose a heart-stopping smile as he caught Rose’s gaze and winked. “Rose is special. The best woman I’ve ever known. We need to head out, babe. I need to pack.”
“Sure. I’ll see you later, Kady. I’ll be by the apartment tomorrow to pack. I have the day off, and if I don’t get it done, I have off the next day too.”
“I’ll be there,” Kady said as Cam led Rose away.
They headed to her car that had been parked there all night. He took her keys before getting behind the wheel, not giving her any option but to sit in the passenger seat.
“I said not to talk to anyone,” Cam growled as he turned the key, starting the engine.
“I didn’t,” she spit back, wishing the situation were different. Her heart ached and her head spun. How had she gotten this deep into this mess? Telling Cam about the report on Zach could once again ruin Kady’s chance at getting a better job, but she couldn’t keep this a secret from Cam, not after how nice he’d been so far.
“What do you call that?” Cam turned the engine over and pulled out of the parking lot and into the traffic flow.
She sighed and rolled her shoulders. “I didn’t tell her anything, but I found out something.”
“What?” Cam stared at her for a few seconds before turning back to pay attention to the road.
“Can we go to your house?”
“We’re going there now.” Cam’s nostrils flared as he shot her another less-than-friendly glance.
“No, not the new place, the other one. We need to talk to Zach.”
Cam stopped at a light and turned to stare at her, looking like she’d lost her mind. “Zach? Why do we need to talk to him?”
She sighed, shaking her head as the argument and Kady’s words came back to her. “I know Zach has some issues with drugs. Hell, a lot of people do, but now it seems
like the gossip magazines think it’s news. They’re following Zach around, filming him as he does stuff.”
Cam’s face turned white and a horn honked behind them. He took off, turning at a street that would lead them to his and Zach’s house. “Oh shit. Why do you think they’re doing that?”
“Well, the same reason they made a big deal out of our picture and the pregnancy story.”
“Fuck. I need to call Andrew.”
“Can he do anything?” Rose had no clue if there was anything that could be done. Though Kady loved being a journalist, even she knew sometimes the stuff they reported on was just junk. This story wasn’t so much a story as a smear campaign launched against Zach and his brother.
“Andrew will know what to do,” Cam said.
Rose had no clue if Andrew would know, but she sure as heck had no idea where they should start at in trying to solve this issue. Having a damaging story come out about Zach could push him over the edge. The man wasn’t stable, but having all the stuff he did exposed to the whole world might lead to some problems. Zach wasn’t a terrible person. He just needed some help. She wished Cam could help him get the help he needed. She didn’t think smearing Zach’s or Cam’s names would make anything better.
They were close to the house when she spoke again. “Cam, I know you don’t believe me, but I didn’t tell her anything. She’s lived with me for a while and she’s fairly certain I’m not pregnant.”
“Shit. Do you think she’ll say anything?” Cam pulled onto the street where he and Zach lived. He grunted as he pulled into the driveway. “You know if she did, it would only look bad for her. She’s a journalist, not some person looking to make a quick buck. Claiming you’re not pregnant when our camp says you are would look rather hateful.”
“But I’m not pregnant,” Rose said.
“No one knows that other than you and me and, well, Andrew.”
Cam cut the engine and got out of her car. He moved to the garage and typed in a code into the keypad, opening the door. Her heart stopped when she saw Zach slumped against his car, beer in hand.