Princess of Hollywood (The Glitterati Files Book 2) Read online

  Princess of Hollywood

  Book Two

  Maggie Dallen

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  About the Author

  One

  Amber

  One month later...

  So I was the bad guy now, right?

  Of course I was. Everybody said so.

  But was that really any reason to snub me at my first Hollywood event?

  “I’m sorry, miss,” the oversized bouncer said again.

  “You don’t look sorry,” I shot back.

  His expression didn’t alter, not even a little bit.

  I sighed but rallied quickly, flashing him the sort of sugary sweet smile that had made me beloved by every girl and guy in my hometown since I’d moved back six months ago. I’d been all too happy to leave the pathetically small town of Pinedale Montana in my dust the moment the contracts were signed and the check from the Devereaux production company cleared.

  “Pretty please?” I asked with my hands clasped together in front of me.

  Either pretty smiles didn’t work in LA or this guy was being paid too well to care. The man was a brick wall between me and the party raging in the courtyard behind him.

  “This is my party,” I said, all smiles gone now. “It’s in my honor.”

  Well, it was our party. In our honor. Me and Brandon and the other soon-to-be stars of the reprised hit TV drama Love on the Range.

  But whatever, it didn’t matter because my statement was met with a blank stare, and I counted twenty ways I would make this guard’s life a living hell once word got out that I was the new leading lady of what was already being hailed as the primetime drama of the decade.

  I was going to be a star. That was the deal I’d made with Lila, and tonight’s party was to announce the show and its cast, led by Brandon and me. “I have to be in there,” I said, jabbing a finger toward the party. “They’re going to announce me any minute now and… I have to be there.”

  I hated the desperation in my voice, but then again, this was the moment I’d been waiting for. It was why I’d agreed to go back to Pinedale to spy on my former friend, and it was why I’d gone above and beyond to make sure that the Devereauxs didn’t screw me over.

  And, of course, they’d tried. When Lila’s father’s people had contacted me about being paid to get Brandon to Hollywood, no one had told me that I was backup. I was just a mole. A spy. His precious daughter Delilah—better known as Lila—she was sent as well. She’d been sent to compete with me. Both of us had one objective and something to gain.

  And she’d almost won.

  Luckily for me, I was about a hundred times smarter than Lila, and I’d discovered what her father had offered her. The leading role. For me, he’d merely offered money and a walk-on part with two lines. As if Lila was a real actress. As if that girl could act her way out of a box. Please. I was the actress here, and not just in real life, although I had no problem using my skills there either if it meant getting my way.

  No, I’d spent my time in New York working as an extra, taking crappy commercial parts, modeling for creeps, and sleeping with disgusting directors who’d promised to help my career. All so I could find a way out of the hellhole that was my life. Sure, I could have found a real job, but it wasn’t like there were a ton of opportunities for a high school girl, and I wasn’t born to be a fast-food worker. Everyone I’d ever met was always telling me how pretty I was. How I should be a model. So, I’d done it.

  I’d paid my dues in every way possible. A spoiled brat like Lila didn’t deserve to be a star. She was only good for one thing—being manipulated by people smarter than her, prettier than her, and with way more to lose. In this case? Me.

  I glared at the ivy-covered gates that kept me out of my own party. This was her doing, I’d bet my life on it. Not adding me to the list just reeked of her particular brand of bratty pettiness. She no doubt expected me to call her in a panic, groveling to be let into the party that she’d helped plan.

  I sniffed as I considered my options.

  That girl wanted to play games? Fine. She could have her petty little vengeance, but we both knew that I would win in the end. Every. Single. Time.

  I batted my eyelashes as I leaned over, exposing so much cleavage in my V-neck gown this goon could no doubt see my navel. “If you could just tell Delilah Devereaux that I’m here—”

  “She knows.” His gaze was unreadable as he stared me down.

  I dropped the smile. Lila knew I was here… and she was still keeping me out. My hands clenched at my sides. This just went beyond petty and straight into betrayal.

  We had a deal.

  Leaving now? That was not an option. I’d come this far from my crappy hometown, I sure as heck wasn’t about to turn and flee with my tail between my legs just because one braindead guard was acting as Lila’s lapdog.

  I had pride, even if Lila didn’t. With that thought, I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming my rage. “If she’s aware I’m here, then clearly I was expected—”

  “You were expected two hours ago,” he said, consulting some list that was on the concierge stand beside him.

  Two hours ago, huh? If Lila Devereaux hadn’t realized by now that I was a girl who knew how to make an entrance, then she hadn’t been paying attention.

  Not that I should be surprised. The girl was clueless.

  I mean, she’d spent weeks in Pinedale and never realized that there was an enemy in plain sight.

  Again… me.

  Let’s recap, shall we? Lila was sent by her hotshot producer father to bring my childhood bestie, Brandon MacMillan, back to Hollywood to reprise a role on the TV show Love on the Range. It was a role that his father, Frank MacMillan, made super famous back in the day. Back before he died.

  Everyone thought it was an accidental drug overdose that killed him, but if you paid as much attention as I did…? Well, secrets tended to stay not-so-secret in a town like Pinedale. I wasn’t sure how, but his crazy wife had something to do with it. Even I remembered the fights that broke out before he suspiciously died. On top of that, Brandon’s mom was totally certifiable.

  And who was I? How did I fit into all of this? I was the girl next door, thank you very much. I was the sweetheart with the heart of gold and blah blah blah.

  Please.

  No one was that nice. Sure, I was a sweet kid back in elementary school, but all those losers at Pinedale High somehow managed to believe that I’d stayed that way even after my mom tore me away from the only home I’d ever known. Even after she ditched my good-for-nothing dad; even after she started shacking up with a creep who tried to mess with me so often that I started to sleep with a knife under my pillow. Even after I’d transferred to a public school in a bad neighborhood of a big city.

  Even with all the crap I’d gone through, I came back to Pinedale for senior year and all those mouth-breathing idiots thought, ‘hey, Amber’s back. Must still be the same naive little girl we remember from fifth grade.’

  Morons.

  I didn’t even have to try to get back into the heart of Brandon’s social circle. All I had to do was move back into my old room at my grandparents’ ranch, which bordered
his family’s property, and voila. I was in.

  But why try to con an old buddy from my past, right? I know that’s what everyone’s thinking. Was I some cruel heartless witch who just wanted to take advantage of the sweet, misunderstood hometown hero?

  Of course not.

  I might have my faults, but I wasn’t heartless. I’d just figured out that I had to look after myself because no one else was going to. So, when Devereaux’s people approached me about getting close, promising me some immediate money but also a giant payday and my big break on-screen if I got him to go to Hollywood with me… of course I took him up on the offer.

  What he didn’t tell me was that he was also sending his beloved daughter as well.

  The moment she showed up in town, I knew what was happening.

  I was just backup. I was the inside man he was using to get all the dirt on Brandon and his family while she swooped in and stole what was rightfully mine.

  I didn’t think so.

  So, I’d done what I’d had to do. It wasn’t like I hadn’t known for ages that Brandon was playing for the other team, and I honestly didn’t care. More power to him. I actually liked him more once I’d realized he wasn’t another dumb jock trying to angle his way into my pants.

  The only people who didn’t seem to know he was gay were his bible-thumping mother and his hometown football buddies. I wasn’t even sure Jack knew, and Jack had been his best friend since forever.

  It wasn’t exactly a giant leap to guess he wouldn’t want to be outed by the secret photo I’d taken of him and that loser buddy of his, Ryan. Brandon might have been kind and loveable, but he wasn’t dumb. He knew very well what this secret would do to his already cuckoo-for-Cocoa-Puffs mom. She was a die-hard religious zealot, and finding out her son was gay would break her heart and no doubt push her over the edge, if she hadn’t made that leap already.

  If I was Brandon, I would have ditched that town with its small-minded townsfolk, the crazy mom who’d gambled all their money away, and the dumb jock he’d been fooling around with who wasn’t nearly hot enough for a guy like Brandon.

  So yeah, I’d known from day one about his little secret, and I’d honestly hoped I wouldn’t have to resort to blackmailing the guy to get my way. But… there you had it. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, and this girl?

  She wasn’t about to be left behind in Podunk while spoiled Lila walked off with the grand prize.

  She hadn’t won a month ago when she’d tried to steal my prize, and she wasn’t going to win now.

  I crossed my arms, cutting off the guard’s view of my cleavage.

  “Look, loser,” I said, dropping any pretense of politeness. “Just let me in and I promise I won’t tell your boss that you—”

  “That’s enough, Amber.”

  I spun around to see Tess walking toward me from the back entrance of the patio. “You might have wormed your way into this town with blackmail, but don’t let it go to your head.”

  She came to a stop in front of me and I had to blink to register that this was still the Tess I’d talked to a handful of times in Pinedale. Granted, it had always been cloak-and-dagger with her, and it occurred to me now that maybe she’d been playing just as much of a role as I had.

  Gone were the nerdy glasses and the oversized cardigan. Her hair was slicked back in a chic bun, and her black dress was simple but elegant.

  She was elegant. All understated makeup and bare minimum jewelry. Her whole look made me feel gauche in my shiny, strapless red gown. My dark curls felt overly done and stiff, like I was a goddamn beauty pageant contestant.

  Witch. She’d probably done it on purpose. I wouldn’t put anything past a Devereaux.

  I jerked my thumb in the direction of the guard, hating the heat that churned in my belly and creeped up my neck. It was a mixture of rage and embarrassment. Shame. I might have signed the contract, aced the audition I’d filmed in my grandparents’ barn—even though we all knew I would have had to suck balls to not get the part. Blackmail was kind of lovely like that. But despite all that—despite that I was here—I still wasn’t allowed in.

  I was still the poor, lowly small-town hick with no parents to speak of, no friends who really knew me…

  I was still on the outside looking in.

  Literally.

  “This is my night,” I hissed, ignoring the guard to lean in and jab a finger in her direction.

  She didn’t so much as blink. “Then you shouldn’t have been late.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “I am one of the stars; you can’t make the announcements without me.”

  “She can, and she will,” another voice reached us, high-pitched and breathy, and so familiar it made my skin crawl.

  I closed my eyes briefly and took a cool, calming breath. “Oh joy. It’s Lila.”

  She was smirking hardcore by the time she joined us. “Something wrong?” she asked, all wide-eyed innocence as she came to a stop beside us.

  I narrowed my eyes. “You did this.”

  “Guilty.” She raised a hand that sparkled with diamonds, her skin glinting in the overhead lights with some sort of glittery powder or something. With her pale blonde hair wrapped around her head like a crown and her sheer gauzy dress—just see-through enough to be sexy, but simple enough to be sweet—she looked like a walking angel.

  I wondered how many others here aside from me knew that she was actually the devil in disguise. Spoiled rotten, entitled, and dumber than a box of rocks, as my grandma used to say.

  Though Grandma had said that about me, of course. The wicked old witch.

  Lila looked from me to Tess. “What am I interrupting?” Her sweet, breathy voice grew hard. “Were you two pals reminiscing about old times?”

  Tess rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh. “Let it go already. I said I was sorry.”

  Lila shrugged and turned back to me, eyeing me from head to toe with a snotty little smirk that had my hands clenching at my sides. “Well, well. If it isn’t Podunk Barbie,” she cooed. “All dressed up like it’s the prom.”

  My lips curved up in a sneer. “Trying to keep me out of my own party?” I asked. “That’s beneath even you, Lila. What would Brandon say?” I arched my brows, feigning innocence and falling right back into my role of Amber the sweetheart girl-next-door with ease. “Or maybe you two broke up. I mean, there were some rumors floating around about him and that guy… what was his name?”

  I tapped my finger to my chin as if I was trying to remember. It wasn’t exactly a subtle reminder of our deal and what was at stake, but right about now? I wasn’t feeling very subtle.

  Lila made a sound of disgust. “Ugh, please. This blackmail thing is getting old, don’t you think? It’s the twenty-first century, and Brandon lives in civilization now, not the backwoods hillbilly town you call home. It’s just a matter of time before he feels comfortable enough to come out of the closet, and you, my dear, will have to find some other way to get ahead.”

  “I hear casting couches are all the rage,” Tess added mildly.

  I let out a hiss, but I caught myself before I could snap back. These two were unbelievable. They’d been worthy opponents back in Pinedale when they were barely speaking and neither knew what the other was up to. But right now? Together? They could be dangerous.

  But nothing I couldn’t handle.

  “Thanks for the advice,” I said sweetly to Tess. “But I’ll let Lila take the first round on the casting couch if you don’t mind. After all, she’s not the one with the leading role on a TV show.” I turned to Lila. “And we all know that the moment Brandon comes out of the closet—on his own or with my help—you won’t even have a celebrity boyfriend to flaunt.”

  Lila rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Amber. You’re a one-note wonder at this point. Enough with the threats to Brandon.” Her gaze fell on me, and all pretenses of sweetness died. “Besides, you already got what you wanted.”

  “What I want is to be let into this party,” I snarled.
“My party. Or did you forget?”

  “I did forget, actually,” Lila lied. She was back to playing the ditzy airhead. It worked for her. “I thought you were having so much fun in Pinedale that you decided to stay.”

  I narrowed my eyes at the laugh she shared with Tess.

  I smiled, my sweet girl-next-door smile. “Oh, I was having fun back in Pinedale.” I moved toward the gated entrance, pausing when I was right next to her. “Jack and I were having so much fun together with you and Brandon out of the picture.”

  She froze, her face a mask, but before she did, I caught it. The hurt, the pain, the flicker of rage.

  A surge of triumph had me smiling broadly at the guard and Tess. “I’ll be going inside to have my moment in the spotlight now.” I turned back to Lila with my best America’s Sweetheart grin. “You coming too, sweetie?”

  Two

  Jack

  Brandon’s house was creepy on the best of days. But ever since Brandon left without a word to me and just a brief note for his mother…

  His mother’s house on the ranch had gone from creepy to the stuff of nightmares.

  Walking into the house now on my way home from school, all I could hear was the sound of the TV on in the kitchen. It was always on in the background when I showed up. It was the only sign of life in the house.

  I dropped a bag of groceries on the kitchen counter before rounding the corner to the living room. And there she sat, keeping vigil in front of the TV like she had been this whole past month.

  “He told me to watch tonight.” She talked so low, it was hard to tell if she was talking to me or to herself. I glanced at the TV and saw one of the cheesy entertainment news programs. The kind that filled that void between game shows and primetime TV on basic cable.