Page 13 of Hollywood King
Five
Heath
If one more ditzyblonde in need of a dye job touched me today, I might snap. As a straight, healthy, thirty-year-old man, I didn’t usually have a problem with women touching me unbidden. Unless I was attempting to cast the perfect person for my upcoming movie, and they all assumed if they flirted and made eyes at me the right way, I’d roll over and hand them the part.
I shifted at the plastic table set up in a white, nondescript room. My jacket constricted tight around my shoulders after ten hours of sitting in the same position. The door opened and in walked yet another blonde. Maybe I’d send the tabloids a tip and start a rumor I preferred brunettes.
“Hello, Mr…uh, hi,” she said, obviously flustered.
I held my hand out for her resume, and she jerked into action, crumpling the papers against my outstretched fingers.
When she retreated, I scanned her information and took a look at her headshot. None of it mattered. I’d hire a barista off the street if she fit the bill of my character. “Whenever you’re ready, Ms. Rockwell.”
She shook her shoulders out and squared them before launching into her reading. Not as bad as the last audition, but still not my girl.
When she finished, I nodded and tucked the sheets into my ‘absolutely not’ folder. “Thank you, Ms. Rockwell.”
She took a step forward and squeezed her breasts together. It took all my self-control not to roll my eyes. “You can exit the way you entered,” I prompted her further. Instead of pressing, she slumped her shoulders and left without another word.
I checked her name off the list. The last one for the day.
On that note, I loosened my tie and shrugged out of my jacket. I hated wearing suits for these things. Technically, I didn’t need to be there in the first place, but I didn’t trust my guys to pick the right girl. Those assholesweresusceptible to long lashes and displayed cleavage.
While I gathered my things, someone entered the room. A gust of air preceded my assistant, Nelly. Her short, gray hair was ruffled and sticking up around the thin frames of gold bifocals perched on her head. She was old enough to be my mother, which made her a powerful asset in my business. No one wanted to go head to head with the Silver Queen. “What’s up?”
She tossed a news rag on the table, and it slid against the folders by my hand. The front page displayed me, my face, in the neck of a socialite. To be fair, the restaurant was loud, and I leaned in so she could hear me. Leave it to them to blow things out of proportion.
I scanned the page again and caught a bubble image toward the bottom. It punched me in the gut. I didn’t sit down, more melted into the chair.
Cathy, my Cathy, kissing Edgar-fucking-Linton. The playboy saint all of Hollywood worshipped. The same man she’d pledged, once upon a time, she’d never be with.
I closed my eyes and inhaled oxygen which suddenly felt too thick. The paper lay there, taunting me with the image.
Fuck them.
I wanted to rip the picture, tear the newsprint to shreds, and light in on fire. My fingers tingled, my toes tingled, until my entire body felt unmoored, floating in a sea of rage.
Edgar-fucking-Linton.
With her fair skin, deep dark hair, those lustrous eyes. Not to mention the curves she grew into over the years she’d been away from me. She could have her pick of all the men in Hollywood, and she chose Eddy.
The paper disappeared, and I chased after it with my hand. Nelly stood crumpling the stack into a ball. “You don’t need to read this garbage. I showed you so you can call your latest conquest and make sure she doesn’t need to make a statement to the press.”
My heart still hadn’t returned to its usual rhythm. The anger simmered steady under my skin. I felt soaked with it. I didn’t dignify the ‘latest conquest’ remark. Did you need something, Nel?” I gritted out.
“Popping by to see if you found your leading lady yet.”
I shoved the chair under the table and skirted the edge to leave the room without responding.
Nelly trailed after me. “That good, eh?”
I glanced back, and she caught up to my right side. “What about me says put your tits in my face and I’ll compromise my entire picture to hire you?”
“Uh…it went even better than I thought then.”
I continued walking straight down two corridors to find my office in this building. Once inside, I threw my jacket on the plush leather arm chair and then stripped my tie to follow. Nelly bustled in, straightening things, cleaning up after me, as usual. I snagged my tablet off the desk and turned it on. Before I could call up the browser, Nel snatched it from my still outstretched hands. “What the hell?”
“You don’t need to go on that website and read about Ms. Cathy. She is minding her own business, saving lives, and you are doing…”
