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

  She gave a short nod.

  We both stood, clearing the plates as servants who’d been watching from inside the house came out to help us. Just before they reached us, she mumbled, “It wasn’t me.”

  I turned to look at her as I reached for an empty glass. “What?”

  “I didn’t tell him about Jack.”

  I eyed her for a long moment, and she met my gaze evenly. I sighed. “Okay.”

  She nodded, turning back to her task, but I could have sworn her shoulders sank with relief that I believed her.

  But I did. Not just because she’d said so but because now that I wasn’t in the middle of being yelled at, I could think clearly, and I didn’t think she would do that to me. For all her faults—for all my faults—we had forged some sort of bond in Pinedale.

  Maybe we’d even learned to trust each other. And I didn’t want to see all that ruined now that we were back. I glanced toward the house where Daddy was no doubt working.

  I didn’t want him to pit us against each other. Not again.

  “Tess?” I paused just outside the door to the house as Maria took some dishes from my hands.

  Tess arched her brows, and we both waited until the servants went in before I finished. “Whatever you’re up to. Whatever this is…” I nodded toward the table where she’d been whispering with Vivien. “I want in.”

  Four

  Jack

  I was in hell. It was official. The sun was so bright it burned my eyes, and the air was hotter than Hades even though it was November.

  I brought up a hand and squinted as I got out of the cab at the address Amber had sent me when I’d finally gotten her to respond. She’d been a long time coming with the information and hadn’t offered up anything about herself or where she’d run off to. But at least she’d answered my SOS about how to track down my best friend.

  Heaven forbid Brandon quit his silent treatment long enough to text me back when I tell him I’m coming to California to make amends.

  Nope, I have to hear from Amber that he was starting to shoot the new version of his dad’s old show this week and he’d be on location on a site just south of the city. The location was teeming with trailers and equipment and trucks and people…

  So. Many. People.

  Like I’d said—hell. I wasn’t much on crowds in the best of circumstances, and after two planes and a miserably long cab ride, I was not in the mood for the laughter and the loud talking that surrounded me as I made my way past what looked to be a makeshift outdoor cafeteria and a long line of burly guys having a smoke.

  “Hey, cowboy, you lost?” someone called out. I squinted and then blinked rapidly at the sight before me. A girl wearing short denim shorts and a plaid shirt tied just under her breasts. Her hair was parted in braids on either side of her face like she was some porno version of Daisy from The Dukes of Hazzard.

  And then she took a couple steps closer and I squinted in disbelief. “Amber?”

  “Good to see you too, Jack.” She moved toward me with slinky, sexy movements like she was putting on a show. For whom? I had no idea, but her arms twined around my neck, and her barely covered top was pressing up against me and—

  Who the hell was this? It was Amber, but not. And not just in looks. It was her smile, her sultry gaze… It was everything about her.

  “Okay, what is happening here?” I gently pried her off of me, and with one more laughing look to someone in the distance, she turned back to me with a smile that was much more in keeping with the Amber I’d grown up with.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, my brain finally catching up with my senses.

  Her eyes widened and her gaze flicked over my face like she was trying to read me. “Didn’t Brandon tell you?”

  I frowned. “You know he hasn’t spoken to me in weeks.” More like a month and five days, but who was counting?

  “Yeah, well, I figured by now you’d have learned about… everything.”

  My eyes narrowed as hers widened further. “About what, exactly?”

  She glanced over my shoulder again. “You know what? I’d really better go. I’ll tell Brandon you’re here and looking for him.”

  I opened my mouth to call her back because… I had questions. So many freakin’ questions. “Hey, what did you mean—”

  “Do me a favor, ‘kay?” She spun around on one of her spiky heels, and my mouth gaped. Seriously. Who ever heard of cowboy boots with heels?

  “What’s that?” I called back.

  “After you’ve talked to Brandon…” She hesitated, her sexy saunter faltering for a second as she licked her lips, her amusement fading. “Don’t hate me forever, all right?”

  “Hate you for—” I shook my head because she was already heading around a corner. Off to find Brandon, I supposed.

  My attention was caught by the most ridiculous scene I’d ever witnessed. And no one was even filming. A young shirtless guy with a six-pack and oiled up skin was attempting to wrangle a horse, and he was failing. Miserably.

  My squint turned to a grimace as I watched the scene unfold because… holy crap, someone was going to get hurt. The guy clearly had no idea what he was doing, and his eyes were nearly as wide and panicked as the poor horse’s.

  I looked around to see if anyone was going to step in, but when the mare started kicking, I moved in, jumping over the fence that kept this horse and a few others penned in and walking up to the shirtless moron who was trying to hang on to the reins for dear life. “Can I give you a hand here?”

  He let go instantly and backed up. “Oh good God, yes,” he breathed.

  I didn’t laugh, even though I wanted to. A few minutes later, the horse was under control and I was taking her to the location where she was supposed to be making her acting debut. Poor horse. This was no place for her… or me. “I feel your pain, girl,” I said to her as we reached the spot I’d been pointed to. “Luckily for me, I’ll be out of here just as soon as I make sure my buddy is all right.”

  The horse huffed some air right into my face as if to say, ‘you lucky bastard,’ and I laughed, stroking her nose.

  “Well, well, if it isn’t Ho-down Jack.” The familiar voice behind made me still.

  My whole body felt her behind me, the sound of her voice enough to bring back every aching, lonely moment of heartache since she’d walked out of my life.

  It hit me all at once, like a kick to the chest, and I held my breath until it passed. Turning slowly, I saw her standing there, leaning against the pen’s edge and looking just as beautiful as I remembered. Just as heart-wrenchingly gorgeous. And that mask of hers was firmly in place as she pushed away from the fence to walk toward me.

  No, strut.

  Strut was the only way to describe the way she moved. This girl was sheer sex appeal—a month away from her hadn’t changed that.

  I steeled myself against the ache, the longing.

  A month away hadn’t changed anything. She’d left. Without an explanation, without a reason. Although, the reason had been easy enough to figure out. When push came to shove, she’d chosen Brandon over me. She’d chosen Hollywood and her manipulative father and the kind of wealth and glamor a guy like me could never provide.

  That little reminder was enough so that I had my wits about me when she reached me.

  “I guess what they say is right. You can take the cowboy off the range but…” She waved a hand, a hint of a real, rueful smile breaking through the facade. “Blah blah blah, I’ve never been good with those old sayings.”

  I let out a short laugh despite myself. Despite telling myself that if I saw her again while I was here, I wouldn’t so much as smile. But now, here I was, returning her smile because I couldn’t not.

  Not when she was looking at me like that. Like no time had passed. Like she was happy to see me.

  Like she was sad to see me.

  Everything I saw in her eyes echoed everything that I was feeling—that same confusing mix of affection and heartbreak and ha
ppiness and despair.

  I ran a hand through my hair and took a deep breath. I didn’t even know what to say, where to begin. We hadn’t texted, we hadn’t emailed. She’d cut me out just as coldly as Brandon had, and the questions I had for her were wrapped up in layers of bitterness and resentment that left me with nothing.

  I got nothing.

  I didn’t want to beg her for answers. I wouldn’t be that pathetic. But also…

  Why else was I here if not to get closure? With her. With Brandon. The thought of my best friend, who was on this set somewhere… There was one question she could answer. “Is he okay?”

  A flicker of something I couldn’t quite read passed through her gaze before she gave a short quick nod. “He’s good. Brandon’s great, actually.”

  She didn’t play dumb and she didn’t play coy, and for that, I was absurdly grateful.

  She tilted her head to the side as I walked toward her. God, she was gorgeous. Her white-blonde hair was wrapped around her head in some sort of braided crown, and while Amber had been dressed like a slutty Annie Oakley, Lila looked like the picture of sweet wholesome innocence in a pale blue sundress and brown boots.

  I took her in from head to toe, and when her lips parted and her eyes widened, I realized my mistake. I’d shown my hand.

  Crap. One minute in her presence and I was back to being the lovesick moron who couldn’t get enough.

  Nope. That wasn’t me. Not anymore.

  Rather than pull her into my arms like I was aching to do, I reminded myself of just how she’d left me. For Brandon.

  Crossing my arms, I gave her a smirk that had her expression hardening. “So, what role are you playing today?” I asked, eyeing her again like it was a joke. Like it didn’t kill me to be this close to her and not be able to touch her.

  Her guard came up hard and fast. One second she was sweet and vulnerable. The next, she was smirking right back at me with lazy, hooded eyes. “Better question. What role are you playing, Jack?” She reached out and walked her fingers across my white T-shirt teasingly. “Better be careful how you dress on this set, you might just be mistaken for an extra.”

  “Funny.” Sure, my Wrangler jeans and cowboy boots were more Pinedale-rural than Hollywood-chic, but there was no way I was going to change who I was just because I got on a plane earlier today. “Not all of us walk around playing a part,” I told her, throwing my arms out wide. “With me, what you see is what you get.”

  She gave a disdainful little scoff. “Oh please.”

  “What?” Sure, my tone was defensive, but hers was snotty, so it was called for.

  She opened her mouth to speak, but we were interrupted by some chaos going on near the trailer closest to us, the one next to the horse pen where the guy I’d helped had gone to recover.

  He’d recovered all right and was striding away from the trailer with a red face and… he might have been crying.

  I cringed at the sight, looking to Lila to see she clearly shared my dismay.

  Good to know. When it came to random people and their emotions, neither of us was down with public displays.

  Shocker that Lila the ice queen didn’t do feelings, right?

  I had this mental image pop up in my mind’s eye. It was a memory I’d been trying desperately to forget.

  Alone in her room, tears on her face. A kiss.

  Good Lord, that kiss.

  She turned back to me so suddenly I didn’t quite check my expression, and I saw her eyes widen in surprise at whatever she caught there before I covered it with an arched brow. “You were saying?”

  She blinked. “What?” Then she gave her head a quick shake. “Oh, just…” She sighed heavily. “You’re so quick to judge, Jack, but my bet is you’ve got more secrets than the rest of us combined.”

  My stomach twisted into a knot so quickly it felt like she’d punched me. Did she know?

  Did Brandon know?

  That memory-turned-nightmare image of his father’s death. His father’s murder. It came rushing back to haunt me in broad daylight.

  “Relax, Jack,” Lila said with a sniff. “It’s not like I think you’re evil or anything, okay? I just think you’re so… so…”

  I searched her face, saw a flicker of pain that made my own chest twinge in response. “So… what?”

  Her gaze met mine and held. “You think you know the whole story, but you don’t, okay? Don’t be so quick to judge, that’s all.” Her gaze flickered away from mine, locking onto something over my shoulder. She moved toward me like she was going to walk past but paused when she was by my side. “He loves you, Jack. And you love him. Just… try to keep your judgmental crap in check for a while.”

  It was the most real thing she’d said during that whole interaction, and it clung to me as I watched her walk away. Toward Brandon.

  But then she rested a hand on his bicep as he glared at me. Her touch was intimate. It was reassuring and kind and…

  And they were together.

  Freakin’ hell, when was I going to get that through my thick skull?

  She’d made her choice. She’d chosen Brandon. And he was why I was here. Lila walked away and he moved toward me. “Jack,” he said, that familiar low drawl a warm comfort after the longest separation we’d had since we were kids.

  “Brandon.” I lifted my chin in acknowledgement, but after a tense silence, Brandon relented with a huff as he rolled his eyes and pulled me in for a one-armed bro hug.

  “I’ve missed you, man,” I said.

  “Missed you too, bro.”

  Five

  Brandon

  I’m not gonna lie—it was good to see Jack.

  It was weird. It was terrifying. And it brought up a whole boatload of issues I’d been avoiding like the plague.

  But it was good.

  I slapped his back before pulling back to face him—my oldest friend. And the closest thing I had to family outside of my crazy-face mom.

  That alone meant I had to deal with this thing between us. The big unspoken bucket of resentment that was one of the reasons I’d left Pinedale, and the only reason I hadn’t spoken to Jack since. “You should have told me, man.”

  He stiffened. His jaw locked, and his eyes hardened, and the guilt—holy crap, I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen so much emotion from this guy in my life. “How’d you find out?”

  I glanced around us at the bustling set. “Not here.”

  He nodded, stuffing his hands into his jeans pockets as the show’s director, Frank Bowman, headed over to us, looking as intense and frantic as always, his black wiry hair sticking up at odd angles and adding to his whole nutty professor vibe. “Who’s this?” Frank asked, staring at Jack but talking to me.

  Jack glared back at the man who’d rudely interrupted our conversation like he was ready for a fight. His hands came out of his pockets, and I just knew that one wrong word from the harried but decent LA dude and Jack would be swinging.

  Jack was many things, but patient wasn’t one of them. Especially when he was out of his element. And right now? Well, he might as well have been on another planet. I didn’t doubt that if he felt like he was being attacked, he’d throw punches first and ask questions later.

  I stepped in on his behalf. “He’s an extra.”

  Jack turned his stare to me. What did he want me to say? As an extra, he could stand around and hang out. He’d come all this way to talk, and that was what we’d do. But I had a scene to rehearse with Amber-the-two-faced-witch, and I couldn’t have Jack kicked off the set while I was at it.

  The casting guy nodded as he eyed Jack from head to toe. I tried not to laugh as Jack tensed under the scrutiny.

  “The rest of the cowboys are wearing button-downs,” the man murmured, apparently to himself. He crossed his arm and gave a decisive nod. “The T-shirt is understated. I like it.”

  Jack arched a brow in my direction, and I shrugged in response. It was still hard not to laugh. Angry with Jack or not, it was kind of hilarious to
see him so out of his comfort zone.

  Come to think of it, I’d never once seen him outside of Montana. In fact, I’d rarely even seen him leave Pinedale.

  Some of my anger softened a bit because… he’d never left the state before, but he came all this way for me.

  Ah crap. It was gonna be hard to stay mad, I could already feel it.

  The director wasn’t through. “That was you I saw handling the horse, right?”

  “Yes, sir,” Jack said.

  Sir. I just barely held back a laugh as Frank frowned, trying to figure out if Jack was being sarcastic or not.

  He wasn’t.

  The director seemed to realize it too. “You know your way around horses?”

  “Yes, sir.” Now it was Jack’s turn to hold back a laugh. I could see him pressing his lips together to keep his amusement in check at the understatement. His father might have run the local hardware store, and Jack helped him to do it, but Jack had been earning money of his own to help his family out by working on ranches since he was old enough to walk.

  “Good. That’s good.” The casting director started to back away, his frenetic energy going up about twelve notches as he wagged a finger in Jack’s direction. “It’s your big day, kid. You may have just earned yourself a promotion.”

  Jack stared at him blankly.

  “Brandon, bring your friend here to my trailer after the next scene. We’ll run some lines.” He snapped his fingers in a way I was getting used to before bolting, already shouting at some people in the distance.

  “Who was that?” Jack asked.

  “The director,” I said.

  “What…Why…” He trailed off, not seeming to know where to start as he took a look at the crazy activity around us.

  I followed his look, taking it all in like I had on the first day, trying to see it all through Jack’s eyes.

  It didn’t take much to see how ludicrous this all seemed.

  To be honest, I still wasn’t used to the set life. I wasn’t used to any of it, but especially this. The ‘audition’ process had been me and the director hanging out for a while because I was a shoo-in for the role. The read through had been me and the director and a handful of others hanging out for a while—reading some lines but mostly making small talk and answering questions about my dad.