Hot as Heller (Aster Valley 3)

Tessa, my friend and next-door neighbor from LA, sat curled up on one of my rocking chairs. Her big belly was hidden by a hoodie sweatshirt, but I saw the evidence of the pregnancy in the fullness of her face.

She was beautiful.

“Oh honey,” I said, reaching out to shake her awake. “What happened? Why’d you leave LA?”

As soon as she woke up and saw me, she burst into tears.

4

Finn

Being the lead actor on a fairly big-budget film came with many perks, and right now, the luxury trailer I was in was the one I was most grateful for.

I lay back on the sofa and groaned. The cold compress the makeup assistant had given me felt like heaven over my eyes.

Kix wasn’t quiet as he rifled through my fridge for a drink. I bit back the desire to tell him to get the hell out of my trailer. He only had access to a shared trailer with a few of the other cast members who had smaller parts, and if I mentioned it, he got angry. I’d learned back in high school that Kix’s tongue got even sharper when he was angry.

“That firefighter dude had a nice fuckin’ dick,” he said. “Except he kept asking me about you, so I told him I’d get you to agree to a three-way later.”

I pulled off the cloth and glared at him. “Not happening.”

The idea of sharing dick with Kix made my stomach crawl. He was a player and didn’t seem to discriminate much when it came to taking it from strangers. Which was fine but not really my speed. My speed was more like glacial cornball “making love” speed. The kind that meant I pretty much never had sex. Ever. And I for damned sure had never had a three-way.

Kix wouldn’t know that, though, because I did a very good job of making myself fit in.

“And anyway, I’m here to work. No more nights out,” I grumbled. “That was a colossal mistake.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Kix said before throwing himself into a nearby chair and spilling some of his water on the floor. I put the cloth back over my eyes.

“This is going to be a big release, Kenny,” I said, forgetting the stage name he’d picked when we were preteens. “I have to nail this part if I want Nolan to offer me the—”

“Save it,” he snapped. “I don’t want to hear another thing about that damned period drama. Besides, how the hell do you expect to nail your part if I hadn’t kept you out late enough both nights to watch a real cop in action?” He snorted out a laugh.

I thought of the gorgeous but very frowny sheriff who’d driven me home.

Declan. I’d heard the bartender call him by name the other night. Sheriff Declan Stone.

“I can nail my part,” I muttered. “It’s not a problem.”

“That’s not what I heard.” He sang the snide comment in an annoying way. I didn’t want to take the bait, but I had too much riding on this project to ignore a comment like that.

I whipped the cloth off and sat up. “What did you hear?”

Kix was tossing a water bottle in the air and catching it. “Lina overheard Nolan complaining to Shelly something like, ‘I asked for the Rock and you gave me a pebble.’ And then he supposedly said, ‘Chip Clover himself would make a tougher cop at this point.’”

My skin prickled with embarrassment. “That doesn’t even make any sense. I am Chip Clover. Chip Clover was me. If Chip would make a…” I let the complaint trail off since it was stupid. “What do they expect me to do?”

The idea they would have cast me without thinking I had enough talent to pull this off didn’t make any sense. If I couldn’t pull off this role, then why hire me for it?

“Don’t worry about it,” Kix said, tossing the water bottle up again. “I’m sure he was talking out of his ass. And why do you even care? You’ll get paid your millions regardless of how well it does.”

That was patently false. But it wasn’t about the money. If Nolan didn’t think I had acting chops, he was never going to give me a shot at the Shakespeare.

I needed some advice. “Hey, I have a call with Iris in five minutes. Would you mind finding another place to hang out while I talk to her?”

He rolled his eyes but got up from the chair. Before opening the door, he turned back to me. “You’re a good actor, Finn. Don’t listen to that blowhard Nolan, okay? He’s an asshole, desperately trying to stay relevant, and everyone knows it. You’re going to be great. Just maybe… take some asshole lessons from someone. You’re too nice to portray an angry cop. You need to find your spleen and then spray it at everyone.”