“Are you finished?” he asked calmly. “If so, you know where the door is.”
“Raina…I’ll call you later,” Dani said, trying to placate the woman but Miles wasn’t going to let that woman influence Dani while he was trying to fix what was broken.
“Nope. No calls either. You’re going cold turkey on everything and everyone I feel is standing in your way of treatment.”
“So that’s it? And you’re okay with this?” Raina pressed, her stare boring into Dani. “Are you sure?” At Dani’s imperceptible nod, Raina barked a short, incredulous laugh as if she were watching a freak show and then she shrugged, saying, “Whatever. It’s your funeral, not mine. Don’t come crying to me when no one takes your calls any more.” Raina slow walked backward to the door, adding an extra dose of venom. “That’s the thing about this town babe…if you can’t be seen, you can’t be seen. You know?”
Miles opened the door and the minute Raina stepped over the threshold, he slammed the door behind her and locked it.
Miles closed the door and locked it, meeting Dani’s look of open distress as he decided right that moment, “We’re not staying here. Pack your bags.”
“What?”
“I said pack your bags. You’re coming back to St. John with me. After that display, it’s very clear to me that this place — and that woman — is toxic. There’s no way you’re going to escape the influence of these parasites around you unless you leave for a while. So…pack light. It’s very humid in St. John.”
“I can’t just pack up and split L.A.,” she protested. “I have a job here.”
“No, what you have is a deteriorating reputation and if people like Raina have their way, you’ll have nothing but porn directors looking your way when it’s all said and done. If you come with me, clean up, and get your head on straight, you’ll actually have a shot at landing that part in Falling From Grace, and honey, that’s the real prize — not some chance meeting with a lecherous director who probably uses the casting couch to pick his actresses. You feeling me?”
Dani bit her lip and her eyes welled but she nodded. He’d never seen her so fragile, so unlike herself. What had this place done to her? “Okay,” she murmured, still not quite sure of what to do or say in the situation. She was so turned around and backwards, she didn’t know which way was up anymore but he’d help set her straight. No one deserved to feel so lost.
Not even Dani.
-4-
Dani, packed and already boarding the plane, was a bit dazed that this was all happening so fast. Two days ago, if someone had told her she’d be boarding a plane to the Caribbean with Miles Lassiter she would’ve laughed in their face and told them to sell that shit to someone who’s buying. And yet, here she was, settling into the seat beside him, inadvertently catching a whiff of his cologne and shuddering with private awareness of every soft and tender part in her body. How was this possible? Did she care? Well, a little bit, if she were being honest. A part of her was so grateful for Miles’ intervention even though she could never admit that out loud. There were so many things she’d like to say to Miles, maybe even to explain how everything had gone sidewise so quickly, but then she worried that he didn’t care any longer to hear her reasons. That was the part that hurt the most — the indifference. Maybe he’d been The One. Heaven knew that when she’d been with him, she’d never been happier. Of course, she hadn’t actually known that what she craved had been in her grasp all along. No, she’d been too hungry for fame. And who was she kidding? She still hungered for that elusive high, which was why her stomach was unsettled and her nerves were jangled at the realization that she was leaving Los Angeles. You had to be around to be seen, as Raina reminded her. She looked to Miles. “How long is this little vacation?” she asked.
“At least a week. Possibly two.”
She swallowed the anxiety in her throat. “Two weeks? I can’t take that much time away from the scene.”
“Sure you can.”
“Miles…you don’t understand, Hollywood has a terribly short memory. I have to be around in people’s faces so that they don’t forget who I am.”
“That’s bullshit. Nobody forgets about Meryl Streep and as far as I know she’s not out clubbing every night in the hopes of catching attention she doesn’t need.”
Her cheeks burned. “Well, I’m not exactly Meryl Streep.”
“Not yet.”
His quiet confidence warmed her insides with unexpected joy and she smothered the irrational fear making her edgy. There was truth to his statement. Since hanging with Raina in the hopes of catching the right people, she’d done nothing but push the right people away. When she’d started this journey, she’d been so sure of how to shape her career but since her fame exploded, she’d been unsure of what the right move was and had leaned heavily on Raina and her crew for guidance. Maybe that’d been a mistake. “What did you think of Raina?” she asked, more for confirmation of her own misgivings than a true curiosity.
“She’s a parasite. Where’d you meet her?”
“At a club called Crimson,” she answered, glancing out the small window. “At first she seemed so much fun and for awhile, it was a lot of crazy fun but lately…I don’t know…I’m not sure Raina is good for me.”
“Let me erase all doubt – she’s not. She doesn’t care about you or your work. You’re a meal ticket. There’s a reason people who become wildly famous stick to their original base of friends — because they can’t trust anyone else. I can almost guarantee that your ‘friend’ Raina has her own interests at heart, not yours.”
Dani nodded, feeling like an idiot for letting someone like Raina run her life for the past six months. “After Judgment, things went haywire and everyone wanted a piece of me. I didn’t know how to handle it all. Raina seemed to have all the answers.”
He grunted with a shake of his head. “Yeah, well, it’s what you wanted, right? Everyone wanting a piece of you? I seem to recall that was your biggest dream — total fame. I guess it’s true when they say, be careful what you wish for.”
She shot Miles a reproachful look. “That’s not fair…everyone has dreams. It’s not nice to beat me up over mine. Besides, I didn’t know what I was truly getting into.” Or what I would lose. “Not everyone has everything in their head figured out.”
“You’re right,” he agreed, adding with a shrug, “but somethings just come with the territory you’ve pegged as your destination. It’s up to you to keep your head straight when the world is turning.”
Wasn’t that basically the same advice her dad had once given her? Thank God, her dad passed away two years ago, he would’ve been mortified to read the tabloids about her. Some of it was true, some of it was pure lies but no one ever took the time to sort it out. “How long is the flight?” she asked, fighting a yawn.
“Long enough for you to take a nap if you want,” he said.
“Do you mind if I use your shoulder?”
“No,” he said, his gaze darkening ever so slightly, causing her breath to hitch. But he looked away before she could say anything aside from a murmured word of gratitude. She settled her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes, loving how secure she felt snuggled against him like old times. There was just something about Miles that’d always felt safe…like home.
#
It was going to be a long flight, Miles realized the minute Dani’s head touched his shoulder. Within moments, she was sleeping like a baby. Risking a stupid move, he bent to inhale the unique scent of her crown, closing his eyes against the wash of memories that threatened to drown him. Why did this feel perfect? No woman had ever fit him so well, as if they were two puzzle pieces interlocking together. So cliché, he wanted to groan but the truth was hard to shake and the memory of their first night together was even harder to stop.
“Nice place,” Dani had offered, checking out his luxury apartment, openly appraising his pad, her fingers trailing along the marble countertop in the kitchen. “Doctors still make bank?
”
“I do well enough,” he said, grinning. “Nothing compared to actors, of course.”