Security, with Landers’s blessing, had decreed that people not rehearsing that day couldn’t hang around, but Devlin liked to know what was going on. As always, it was because of Landers that Devlin had been forced to hide. He found places in the bushes near the stage where he could watch without being seen. One of the things he wanted to know was if his big-shot ex-brother-in-law would show his disdain for small-town theatrics. Would he take direction from some guy who didn’t know a script from the instructions for a can opener?
Devlin’s hopes were dashed when Landers acted as though he were performing in an Oscar contender. Why? he wondered. But then he saw the looks Landers was giving Casey.
At the auditions, he’d seen Landers watching her, but now the looks were deeper. Much more serious.
Why did the best of everything happen to Landers? Devlin wondered. Whatever he did was touched with good fortune. It was as if some great cosmic force had decreed that each family was to be given a pot of luck, and in their case all of it had gone to Landers.
But maybe today Devlin had been able to take away a little bit of that golden touch. He knew that Landers had told only his sister that story about his first audition, but when he and Nina were married, Devlin had worked to get information out of her. He liked to know secrets about his enemies. And right now the work had been worth it, just to see the look on Casey’s face. His insinuations had made her trust of Landers go down a few notches.
When his phone buzzed, Devlin frowned at the ID. It was the private eye he’d hired. “It’s about time! What happened?”
The man’s voice was gravelly from years of cigarettes and whiskey. “Keep your pants on. I told you I’d get them and I did. But they’re going to cost you twenty thou.”
“What?” Devlin yelled, then lowered his voice. “You paid twenty grand for those photos? From some tourist with a long lens?”
“Don’t blame me. It’s the Internet. The guy knew pictures of Tate Landers and Jack Worth saving some kid’s life were worth a bundle. I talked him down from fifty, but then, you can’t really tell for sure who the men are. They’re back inside the house in deep shade.”
“Can you see the girls?”
“Oh, yeah. That blonde is loved by the camera! But I like the other one better. She’s got meat on her in all the right places. If you’re planning to use these photos to blackmail Landers, you’re going to have a hard time proving it’s him.”
Devlin gritted his teeth. “It’s none of your business why I want them. Just send them to me.” As he clicked off, he could hear weights clanging together, and he stepped off the path to the Big House’s garage, into some tall bushes. In the weeks that he’d been in the nowhere town of Summer Hill, he’d become quite familiar with Tattwell. After all, the place should have been his. With Landers always in L.A., what did he need with a house in Virginia? And all Nina had to do was ask for something and her brother gave it to her.
As he peered through some branches, he saw Landers and Worth with the ugly trainer and the girl playing Jane. They were a cozy little group, looking like they’d known one another for years.
That Devlin had been thrown out of the rich, easy life of Tate Landers renewed his rage. He had worked hard to be part of it. In fact, he was the one who’d foreseen what Landers was going to become. Didn’t that count for everything?
Years ago, right after he’d first arrived in L.A., he was young and hungry and living with six guys in a one-bedroom apartment, all of them going from one audition to another.
One night when they were out for midnight pizza, their good looks attracting a lot of attention, Devlin noticed an “older” woman, late thirties maybe, watching them with interest. The other guys ignored her as she sat there in her plain little car and put away a large pizza all by herself. But Devlin was sure he’d seen her before, so he smiled at her—and ended up going home with her.
He’d been right that he’d seen her before. She was a top executive at a major movie studio and had a mansion up in the hills. The cheap car was only used when she didn’t want to be recognized.
When Devlin moved in with her, he knew it was temporary. And she told him that if he tried to use her name to get an acting job, she’d throw him out. She said, “You’re here for sex and that’s all. And when I get bored with you, you’re out. Got it?”
He did get it, so he kept his ears and eyes open for anything he could use to make a future for himself. One night he heard her on the phone talking about who they were going to get to play the lead in some big-budget romance movie. She said she favored a grown-up kid actor named Tate Landers.
Devlin didn’t have anything to do while she was at work, so he watched every show Landers had ever been in. Devlin had to admit the kid was good, and when he reached his teen years he’d developed an angry air that the camera seemed to magnify.
As Devlin watched the shows, he began to think of the advantages of being the best friend of a superstar. He just needed to establish the friendship while Landers was still unknown. Later, there would be big houses, trips together, opening nights. “Did you meet my best friend, Devlin?” he imagined Landers saying. “He taught me everything I know. I owe it all to him.”
He sought the guy out. Like Devlin, Landers was living with roommates in a small apartment and going to umpteen auditions. He had no idea he was being considered for a major motion picture.
Devlin did his best to befriend Landers, but it didn’t work. Since he was a few years older, he tried to set himself up as a mentor, but Landers didn’t go for it. They were cordial, but they never got past the superficial.
It was only by accident that Devlin met Landers’s weak spot: his younger sister, Nina. She was quiet, shy with strangers, and looked to her big brother for everything. In an instant, Devlin changed his plans. If he couldn’t crack the brother, he’d go after the sister. But his intuition told him that Landers wouldn’t like him dating his precious sister.
It had taken a lot of talking and many lies—both of which Devlin was good at—to get Nina to agree to see him in secret, but he managed it. He conducted a courtship that should have been put in the history books. Flowers, chocolates, laughter, stuffed animals—and sex. Lots of great sex. Nothing kinky. No tying her to the bed, as the woman he lived with liked, but still good. Devlin was kind and considerate, respectful and affectionate. So what if he punched a few holes in the condoms? It was all for a good cause.
But still…something was wrong, and she began to talk of breaking up. When Nina told him she was pregnant, Devlin was apologetic, said he couldn’t understand how it had happened. He’d been so careful. With big, slow tears, he offered to do whatever she wanted. He loved her and wanted to marry her, but if she didn’t want him, he’d get out of her life. It was her choice. He just begged to please, please be allowed to see his child now and then. In the end, Nina couldn’t stand up to his tears and she accepted his proposal.
After the wedding, things went well for a while. Landers got his movie role and used some of the money he received to buy his pregnant sister a modest house in an L.A. suburb. Most of the time, Landers was away on movies, Nina was a wife who didn’t ask too many questions, and the kid was quiet.
It was all great—until Landers began to interfere. Why couldn’t he have left things alone? It was true that he paid for things, but he could afford it. Devlin wasn’t greedy. He didn’t demand a mansion in a gated community, as the sister of Tate Landers deserved. And Devlin did go to auditions. Maybe not as many as he said he did, but enough to say he was trying to get a job.
It all started collapsing after some blabbermouth told Landers that Devlin hadn’t even tried out for a part that he’d said he was sure he was going to get. There’d been loud arguments and
threats from Landers, who afterward used his connections to get Devlin a serious audition. It was because of Landers that Devlin got the lead role in a new cop series on a cable network.