Typecast (37 page)

The next e-mail wasn’t Erin’s reply, but instead an e-mail to Logan.

Lost a part today. Thought I should let you know you lost a revenue source. Maybe you should be my agent. Brian is furious. The director accused me of being distracted, and Brian accused me of being high. I did the audition on Drew’s birthday. Probably no one but you or me even realized the date. Though while I suffered, I’m sure you got to see him. Do you bother giving him my messages or is it all a big joke to you? I know the answer. I sometimes think I should have sided with you and done the sequel. At least I would have had more time, but you managed to get us out because I begged you. Maybe one day you will deliver on what I really want. Don’t bother replying. Needed to vent.

Apparently Erin had been on a roll. Only a couple of minutes later, she had written a message to Ryder. The first part of the e-mail consisted of a similar rant to him, but the last part of the message caught her attention.

Do you ever think about it? Do you ever just want to go into that little magic place? Remember how we would go lock ourselves away with our stash? Smoke, eat, and make love for what seemed like an eternity? Too bad we got caught. It was so good back then.

You know I love you,

Wren

As if she were addicted to a soap opera, Ivy rushed to the next message.

Logan’s response had come about two hours later.

Temper tantrums and stomping your feet won’t get you what you want this time. Go running to Ryder to make it better. Remember this: there is a clause you stay clean in our contract. I swear I’ll stand there and watch you pee in a cup myself. Stop your tears about the one you can’t have. Just like the rest, you would toss him in the trash once you achieved your goal. Well, in your case, you recycle, but that’s as much my fault as yours.

Don’t give me your tears about the sequel. You and Ryder wanted an out and you got it. You’re welcome.

Get to work. Your true love is not any of us. It’s your image on the screen, so go make it happen.

LA

Ivy tried not to shudder at the reference to Erin and her man together and went to Ryder’s reply.

Baby, you and I are one destructive pair. If left to our devices, we would have been a mess. We both know it. We were too high on our careers, our drugs, and ourselves to notice how badly we failed. The percentage taken out of each and every check I receive—not to an agent or a publicist, but for a screw up mistake—only reminds me of what I have lost. I suppose I will fall back on my mantra and say I hope I make Logan a very rich man because I will be even wealthier.

I need to tell you something, but I want you to promise me you won’t get upset.

I met someone. She’s not in the industry. I want to see what happens if I leave my baggage at the door, and I wanted to be straight with you.

Don’t dwell on Drew. If you were meant to be, your paths will cross one day.

Ryder

Even though the e-mails were exchanged a few years ago, at Ryder’s news, Ivy’s chest tightened all the same. She blinked away the tears for the woman she mostly disliked. What happened with Drew? Did Erin really love him?

She went to the next e-mail from Erin to Brian.

My love,

I’ve been sitting in my bungalow for hours trying to think of what to do, who to call, where to go. All paths always lead to you.

I swear I’m not on anything. I was off that day thinking of things I lost, when I should have remembered I found you, or you discovered me. Not that it matters.

I know you love me, though it would be nice to hear the words.

I won’t show up at your home to make it all better, but remember my fake diamonds and cheap perfume left you panting and begging for more.

If you come to me, I promise to leave you panting, no begging required.

Years of e-mails told a story of a troubled woman, one who wanted love, but didn’t know where to look besides her history.

More importantly, the mist that surrounded that night, that awful night that seemed to define them, began to clear.

She glanced at the time and went to an e-mail sent only days before Logan walked into her office for an interview.

Logan,

It’s been a while. The anniversary is upon us. I can’t believe it’s been twenty years since the premier of the movie that changed all of us forever. Funny, I still feel like the eighteen-year-old on that screen. At the time I thought you were so young. The gap between seventeen and eighteen seemed as large as the Pacific Ocean. Who knew that the fact you were underage would later save me and Ryder?

You may have been the youngest, but you were the smartest and the most talented. Don’t think that every day I’m not reminded that you should have been a star. I will speak for Ryder and say we hope that giving you a piece of our careers made up for the fact you lost the sequel and the other parts you wanted. Unfortunately, Logan Alexander became typecast. Maybe in a way we all did.

As per our agreement (look at how official I sound), Ryder and I will continue to not speak about the movie, the night you were arrested, or the sequel. You were always the one to take care of us. You know what needs to be done and remember all the details. Hell, at this point, I can only remember the name of the movie.

I have started to get phone calls and such asking to break my silence. I would like to know, how do you want to handle this? I’m done making mistakes in my life. Seems they last decades.

When I decided to write to you, I swore I wouldn’t mention the unmentionable, but I can’t stop myself. Will you tell Drew I need to see him? Do you think that maybe twenty years is penance enough? How many times do I have to beg? Is the fact that I never moved on enough, or do you still think I’m the world’s greatest actress? If so, you better figure out a way to get me a goddamned Academy Award.

Since I’m not allowed to talk about this with anyone but you, I will say this. If I had one thing to change about that night, or the days leading up to that night, I only regret not getting the chance to talk to him and plead my case. Everything else, I take responsibility for, though in the end you took the blame.

I will ask one more time.

Attached are the places that already contacted me.

Wren

Ivy clicked on his response.

Erin,

As always, I will hold up my end of the deal. Continue to give me any information.

I’ll see about that Oscar.

Logan

The only e-mails after that were ones forwarding Logan media contacts.

Finally, she did as she should have done before and logged out of Erin’s e-mail. Her prediction was spot on. The answers were all there. Somehow the two of them had roped Logan, the underage teenager, into taking the fall for their drug use and getting the sequel canceled. In turn, the guilty parties had paid him for his silence, leaving him the villain in the movie and in real life.

“I seem to be low on what has now become my basic sustenance for life and I need my IV.” Logan knocked on the doorjamb.

No matter how many times he showed up for her, her breath caught at the sight of him. “You’re here.”

“Always.” He pulled a long-stemmed red rose out from behind his back.

As if on automatic, she stood and went straight for him. Rather than taking the gift, she wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest and breathing in the scent of his soap and bit of cologne.

“Are you all right? You seem a little spooked.” He ran his hand through her hair.

“Is it all right to tell you I missed you?”

“Only if it’s all right to tell you that you didn’t miss me one fraction of the amount I missed you.”

She tilted her face up to him. “How was your meeting?” Her stomach twisted at the thought, though somewhere along the way her jealousy seemed to have vanished.

He bent down and gave her a soft but lingering kiss. “You know, throughout the years the three of us have sort of waxed and waned. We were sort of thrown together and just stayed that way, but I think after this gala, I need to wane.”

“I understand.” She pressed her palm to his face. A little stubble tickled her skin.

“You always do.” He kissed her wrist. “However, I didn’t spend my entire time with them. I had to do a little planning, and tomorrow night I have something sort of special planned for the grand finale before the gala.”

“What is it?”

“I’ll be the director, and you’ll be my leading lady. It will involve a very apropos reenactment, as well as some sweeping romance, and some shocking reveals and plot twists, and that is all you’re going to find out.” He winked. “How about we go home? I thought I would make love to you and then make dinner.”

“Isn’t it supposed to be dinner then making love?” She raised her voice to sound coy.

“No, I need you first.” He kissed her. “I love you, baby.”

“I love you. Let me get my things.” With a sigh, she separated from him, returned to her desk, and peeked over at him. The world needed to know who the villain was and who the hero was. They needed to know they got it wrong.

She turned back to her computer staring at the Chargge.com home page before turning it off. Of course if the world knew, then Logan would know she had betrayed him. She didn’t know if she was ready to write that script.

CUT TO:

INT. STEVEN’S ROOM — GRANDPARENTS’ HOUSE — FLAGSTAFF, AZ – NIGHT

ROXY sneaks into STEVEN’S room.

ROXY

Can I come in?

STEVEN

Looks like you already did.

STEVEN slides over in the bed and pulls the covers back.

ROXY checks the door and joins STEVEN in bed.

ROXY

Tomorrow we will get to Hollywood Stardust.

STEVEN

Aren’t you celebrating with the wrong person?

ROXY turns on her side and faces him.

STEVEN

Or maybe it’s the right person after all.

STEVEN kisses her. ROXY pulls back and gasps.

STEVEN

So what happens after we reach Hollywood Stardust?

ROXY

I don’t know. All the rest.

Chapter Twenty

“Logan.” Ivy held her arm out in front of her in a vain attempt to navigate where he led her. “When can I take the blindfold off?”

“When we’re at our destination and Wilson can film your reaction.” He chuckled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in tight. “We’re almost there.”

Thus far, Logan had made her wear the blindfold from leaving their apartment to wherever they stopped the car, and now it seemed as if they had walked several miles. In preparation for what she assumed was going to be his quote unquote sweeping romance, she wore a halter-style 1950s maroon dress, complete with matching heels. The heels! She also didn’t expect to be accompanied by her best friend and Logan’s brother, but they were filling in as the production crew for their final shoot before the twentieth-anniversary gala.

“Hold on. We’re right there and Wilson just needs to set up.” He positioned her and gave her a light kiss on the top of her head. “Are you ready? This could be life changing.”

Her stomach filled with flutters. Before Logan had hid her eyes, she had caught sight of him in black pants, a white shirt, and a black blazer, a bit dressier than his normal shoot attire. “What’s going on?”

“Ivy, I thought you wanted me to take the blindfold off,” he crooned in her ear.

She tried to use her other senses to take in her surroundings, but wherever he had brought her was pretty silent. “Where are we?”

“Why don’t you take a peek?” He pulled the tie on the blindfold.

Once her vision cleared, she gasped. “Oh my God!” For fear her knees would buckle, she grabbed on to Logan’s arm.

Before her, in all its grandeur, stood the Hollywood Stardust theater, well facade. The straight lines, the triangles, and the squares done in rich blues, reds, and metallic gold exemplified the art deco styling of the famed theater that never truly existed.

She glanced around. Logan had brought her to the movie studio lot. Other buildings, or pieces of buildings, littered the area, and she smiled.

“I felt it only fitting we do our last shoot where the movie ended.” He guided her closer.

“It’s so amazing.” She stared up at the slice of building that meant so much to her and pictured the last scene of the movie. How Steven drove away. The moment Roxy opened her eyes and watched him go. Maybe the moment wasn’t life changing, but it was certainly one she would never forget. More life changing was what she knew about Logan’s past but didn’t know how to tell him. “Thank you.”