The crowd was laughing so she assumed her response to whatever idiotic question Hugh had just posed was spot on. Gathering her wits about her, she kept that stupid fake smile in place and listened.
“Can we talk about the late night visit in Miami with none other than the hottest politician on the planet?” Hugh pushed his glasses back a bit and smiled down at her.
Sweet Jesus. Mary. And Joseph.
She needed the strength of the trifecta, because she was going to reach over and do some harm to the overly tanned and overly botoxed face that stared back at her in glee. Why hadn’t she ever noticed that? She didn’t trust the botox. Sure a little bit here and there was fine, but when your entire face didn’t move, well, that was a problem. It meant that you were hiding something or running from something and in Donovan’s books, that meant you couldn’t be trusted.
Donovan kept her game face on. “We could.”
Hugh leaned closer. God, his teeth were too white.
“But then I’d have to kill you.”
The audience laughed and Hugh shook his head, grinning into the camera. “There you have it my friends. If I don’t wake up tomorrow, you all know that Donovan James had something to do with it.” He winked. “And that would mean that I finally managed to get the scoop on Jack Simon. Of course I wouldn’t be able to share it with all of you, but I’d die a happy man because that man right there, is the sexiest man alive. I really don’t care what People Magazine says. Um, Brad Pitt who?”
Again more audience laughter, and it took all she had to make it through that segment to the musical guest spot.
Donovan got through her live performance with Rick, otherwise known as Maverick, and less than forty-five minutes later, she was in a limo with him.
“Sorry about that,” Maverick said. “He’s had a thing for Jack for years. He should just come out of the closet already.”
“Hugh Dexler is gay?” she asked, her face deadpan, her sarcasm deep.
Maverick chuckled. He was her best friend and knew everything about her sad, pathetic life. But even he didn’t know all the details about what had happened with Derek. That was her shame. She hadn’t seen Rick since before the fundraiser and until now hadn’t realized how much she missed him. She leaned back in her seat and sighed.
“So, Grace pulled a fast one.”
He was staring out the window and turned when she spoke. “What was that?”
“Grace. She broke up with Liam.”
“Not surprised.”
“Really?” She arched an eyebrow.
“She’s an intense girl. and that guy was all about partying. They weren’t a good match.”
Donovan sighed. “Well, she convinced me to use her vacation time on this beautiful island off the coast of Belize.”
“And?” Rick’s hair was on the long side, and he tucked a piece behind his ear, watching her intently. As per the Simon genes, he was a winner in the looks department. Tall, athletic, and handsome, this Simon had a soulful side to him and the women ate it up like candy. They loved his bohemian look, his talent with a guitar and man, the guy could sing. He was a true artist and was at home writing screenplays, painting with oils or recording in a studio.
Right now his brown eyes were questioning, and he knew something was up. Rick knew her better than anyone, and she wished with all her heart that he was the Simon she loved.
“Jack showed up.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “More like shit-storm.”
“Why the hell would Grace do that?”
Donovan was silent for a few seconds, eyes on the traffic beside them. “She still believes in love I guess.”
“Well Christ I hope so. She’s still a baby.” He paused. “What happened?”
That big ball of emotion was back, and Donovan had to take a few seconds before she could speak.
“What do you think happened?” she managed to say. “He was pissed off. I was shocked. We did some fighting. We did some ignoring. Some more fighting. He pissed me off again. And then we…”