Page 14 of Hollywood King
“What, Nel? Tell me what I’m doing that’s not saving lives.”
She sat the device on the desk and continued her fussing. “Well, you are doing what you are doing, and neither of you need to change that. Especially now.”
I popped the button on my collar and then the next one down, finally feeling a little free after hours of confinement in stiff charcoal wool. “What does that mean?”
After she tidied around the two leather chairs in front of my desk, she continued to the bookshelf by the door, and around to the bathroom. “Stop cleaning and talk to me. What does ‘especially now’ mean?”
She halted in grabbing a feather duster from out of a low cabinet and straightened. I waited for her to answer. Pressing her would only prolong her delay in telling me. “I heard Ms. Cathy is seeing Eddy.”
“You don’t think I figured that considering she was on the front page of that rag kissing him?”
I popped another button and jerked my shirt free simply for the violence required in dragging it out of my waist band. “I knew they would end up together. He’s part of her world. Hindley and Father must be pleased.” I enunciated the word pleased in a mockery of how my adopted brother might say it.
I didn’t have any other clothing to maneuver without ripping something, so I threw myself down in a chair and stared out the window.
Being angry with Catherine didn’t help either of us. She waited, and I watched from afar as I built my career, first as an actor, then as a producer and director. For years, it seemed she had no interest in other men. She never dated but devoted all her time to school.
My chest tightened with a different feeling. I’d never been more proud than when I watched her graduate from medical school from the back of the auditorium. The thoughts of Eddy fled, and I remembered the smile she beamed out at the crowd when she accepted her certificate. It reached into me, the image forever branded there.
My Cathy.
“Wipe that look off your face boy. You need to move on,” Nelly scolded.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Can you email me the audition list tonight so I can cut it down before we begin tomorrow? I’m not sitting through twelve more hours of mediocrity.”
She met my eyes and stalked to the tablet on the desk. With a few swipes, she gave me a sickly sweet smile and put it back down. “Done. Now go home and get some rest. We can get back to it in the morning. My old bones can’t take days like this.”
“You’ve been here for two hours. Dinner is the only task you handled today.”
She huffed and threw the duster back into the cabinet. I watched her with a smile. No matter how inferior the world made me feel, she’d always remind me I was nothing more than a little orphan boy raised by a family too good for me. And then remind me I should feel no shame in it.
“You go home, Nelly. I’ll follow you out in a few.”
She pointed at me. “You better leave. If I call you in the car in ten minutes, you better be in there on the way home.”
I gave her a salute and sank deeper into the chair. When she left and quiet descended, I eyed the tablet on the edge of my desk. Cathy popped into my head, and I leaned over and snagged it. Within seconds, I had the gossip rag open and the article spread before me. It didn’t go into detail, but there were three pictures. One of Edgar laughing and Cathy smiling up at him. One of him reached out to capture her face. And then the last one.
Another sucker punch low and quick. The kind you didn’t expect until the wash of pain spreads through you in a wave.
I didn’t have the right to be angry. Rationally, I knew she’d moved on. Hell, I’d dated enough for both of us in the last ten years.
But no mistake, Cathy was mine. Claimed and labeled and damn well possessed.
Maybe it was past time to remind the powerful Earnshaw family they had an adopted son.
Maybe it was time to go home. Finally demand Catherine take her place at my side.
I swiped through the article one more time and glared at the image for good measure. Then I turned it off and shoved it on top of my desk. If I didn’t get to my car soon, Nelly might come back, and this time, take my balls with her.
I grabbed my discarded clothing and flipped off the light. Then headed down the long halls again to reach the front of the building. My car service sat idling on the curb. Nelly must have texted my driver as she walked out. I slid into the back and called out to Patrick. “I’m headed home, Patrick.”
“Right away, Mr. Cliff.”
“Heath, Patrick, just call me Heath.
“Of course, sir,” he said, but I knew I’d have to tell him again and again, as I had for the past year.
We took the back roads, and I scanned the empty dark streets from behind tinted glass. Once we got to the house Patrick put in the code, the steel gate creaked open, and he parked by the front door. As usual, I climbed out before he could come around and open the door. “Thanks, Patrick. Pick me up here at nine. I have some early auditions.”
