Unlucky Break (8 page)

‘You’re the most
real
person I’ve met in a long time,’ he said. ‘At least in this town.’

Andie smiled, but her stomach knotted. If only he knew how false she really was at this moment. The only real thing about her right now was the intense attraction she felt towards him.

‘I’m not like you think I am,’ she said, cursing the stupid dress and wig she was wearing.

‘Neither am I,’ he said, and leant forward. ‘Listen, do you want to leave – go somewhere and talk? I know it sounds like a line. I swear it’s not – I just feel like it’d be really nice to talk to someone who doesn’t think
The Great Gatsby
is just a movie with Leo DiCaprio.’

Andie paused. What would happen if she went? Would she reveal everything that was false about her? Would he think she was mad?

Dammit,
she thought,
why am I not myself tonight?

Because you don’t know who you are
, said something inside her. Andie smiled at James. ‘Sure, let’s go,’ she said, faking nonchalance.

Andie had never left a bar with a guy before. There had only ever been Cameron.

She wondered if James was planning on trying to sleep with her, and if she’d say yes if he did. The aching in her body told her he was interested, but she doubted it would mean anything to him. She’d seen him with Nikki Morgan just days ago at the airport. She was sure Marissa had told her they’d broken up months ago, but they’d seemed pretty couple-y then. Maybe he really
was
like the tabloids painted him – a bit of a player. But somehow she couldn’t believe it.

They walked around the pool, Andie’s hand still in his. It felt good there, natural, as though it belonged.

‘You motherfucking cheating asswipe,’ Andie heard someone scream. She spun around to see Nikki Morgan storming across the deck towards them. Andie dropped James’s hand instantly.

‘Who the fuck is this?’ screamed Nikki. Her pupils were dilated, Andie noticed, like her mum’s had been whenever she had morphine.

‘Nik, come on,’ said James in a low soothing voice. ‘It’s nothing. Let’s not do this here.’

Andie’s chest squeezed at hearing him describe her as ‘nothing’.

‘He’s using you to make me jealous,’ screamed Nikki at Andie. ‘You think he would ever take home someone like
you
, otherwise?’

Over Nikki’s shoulder, Andie saw Jess in the crowd. She was frantically motioning for Andie to move away, to get out of there. Andie started to back off, allowing herself a brief glance at James. Outwardly, he looked conciliatory, resigned, but she saw that underneath, he was looking worriedly at Nikki.

Nikki was swaying on her heels and staring at Andie with a deadly look in her eye. ‘Step back from my man, bitch,’ she said, slurring a little. She flailed a hand at Andie, who dodged it easily.

So it’s not a gun-toting LA gang that I have to be worried about,
thought Andie.
It’s a crazy bitch movie star.
But that wasn’t very comforting at this particular moment.

James reached out to grab Nikki. ‘Come on, Nik, let’s just go home,’ he said in a low voice.

Nikki relaxed in his arms and he held her tight. She seemed to have passed out.

James leant over to Andie and murmured, ‘Do you think I could maybe have your number, and we could take a raincheck on that chat? I just realised I don’t even know your name.’

Andie looked incredulously between him and his passed-out girlfriend. ‘You can’t be serious,’ she said, shaking her head.

‘I am,’ he said. ‘I know you felt it between us too. Please?’

Andie paused and then reached into the small bag that Jess had loaned her. She pulled out her bedazzled phone and was scrolling through to find her number, which she hadn’t memorised yet, when she felt all the air leave her stomach. The phone dropped to the ground as she felt herself falling backwards.

Andie had just enough time to hear Nikki laughing like mad Mrs Rochester from
Jane Eyre
. Then she was shocked back to reality as the cool water of the pool closed around her. Andie panicked, water filling her nose and throat. She floundered around, finally bursting to the surface, gasping and spluttering.

‘You kicked me!’ she shouted at Nikki.

‘Stay away from my man, bitch!’ Nikki screamed at Andie. James rushed her away towards the exit.

Andie treaded water for a minute, trying to get her head around what had just happened. Then she swam towards Jess, who was waiting at the side of the pool.

‘Tell me,’ she said, as she pulled herself out of the water, ‘did Nikki Morgan just kick me into the pool?’

Out of the corner of her eye, Andie saw the older guy in the white suit from the bar. He was laughing at her.
What a dick,
she thought.

Jess helped her out of the pool. Andie felt the dripping wig slip off her head. A staff member handed her a towel, as though this wasn’t an unusual occurrence.

‘Yup, she sure did,’ said Jess. ‘A baptism, LA style. Welcome to Hollywood, baby.’

5

Nikki rolled over fitfully and dribble ran out of her mouth onto the pillow. James lay next to her, watching her closely.

She’d been wasted last night, the worst he’d seen her in ages. Who had she been partying with? He tried to run through the list of assholes who would have given Nikki drugs again. She had been clean for a few weeks and he’d thought she was through the worst of the withdrawals.
She’ll have to start again,
he thought bitterly.

James sat up on the edge of the bed and rubbed his face. He’d spent most of the night cleaning the contents of Nikki’s stomach off various surfaces, and then holding her while she wept as she came down. The first week was always the worst.

He’d put her to bed only a couple of hours ago, and watched her constantly to make sure she didn’t vomit again and choke in her sleep. He knew what to do. He’d been doing it forever.

Nikki’s breathing was finally peaceful and regular, so James pulled on an old T-shirt and jeans and quietly ducked outside for some air.

He flicked his phone on and checked his messages. Seven missed calls from his manager Pete.

James called him back as he lit a cigarette. ‘Hey man, what’s happening?’ he said when Pete picked up on the first ring. He tried to sound upbeat and casual, hoping that last night’s news hadn’t reached Pete yet.

No such luck. Pete’s voice came down the line like a machine gun. ‘What’s this I’m hearing about Nikki assaulting some chick at Skyhigh last night? What the hell went down, Hawthorn?’

James walked outside and lowered his voice. ‘I was just talking to this girl and Nikki went schizoid and kicked her into the pool. She was hammered. You know what she’s like when she’s high.’

‘Jesus Christ, Jamie.’

‘I know,’ James said. ‘I really liked her, too.’

‘Who?’

‘The girl who ended up in the pool,’ said James.

Pete laughed. ‘Ah well. No doubt she’s sold her story to TMZ by now.’

‘Yeah. Shame, she was cute,’ said James. He could hear real regret in his voice.

Pete paused. James braced himself for what was coming. Pete knew him better than nearly anyone. ‘You know,’ Pete said, ‘you ain’t ever gonna move on while Nikki is in your bed.’

James sighed. ‘I know. But I can’t just abandon her when she’s like this. She’s just getting used to the break-up. She’ll come round.’

‘Dude, it’s been a year,’ Pete said. ‘Both of you are in denial, big time. You gotta sort this shit out. I’ve had your publicist on the line all morning, freaking out about last night. How you wanna play it?’

James stubbed out the cigarette. He would do what he always did for Nikki. Protect her until she could take care of herself. Somehow this time felt harder than it ever had before, though.

‘Say a fan approached Nikki and me,’ he sighed. ‘We were just out for a quiet night with friends. The fan pushed herself onto me. She was outta control so Nikki stepped between us and the crazed fan accidentally ended up in the pool.’

Pete laughed. ‘I like your style, man. Don’t forget you got a meeting with Barry Rosen at Frontier on Thursday and after that you got the photo shoot for publicity posters.’

‘No problemo,’ said James. ‘See ya.’

He hung up the phone and lay down in a hammock strung between two palm trees.

Dammit, what did he have to do to make Nikki understand they were over? He had done everything to make it easy for her. He’d covered for her countless times, allowed her to abuse him and make a fool of him. He’d even taken the blame when she’d had the car accident, and now he was going to court for her. He could end up in
jail
for her, for Christ’s sake, although he had the best lawyer in LA, so he doubted it.

Every time he thought he was free, she came back into his life, drunk and drugged. She was so fragile that sometimes he thought she wouldn’t make it. That she’d end up just like his mum.

James swallowed as a lump formed in his throat. He shook his head angrily. He couldn’t think about his mum right now.

As he watched the clouds float lazily above him, James wondered if he had any integrity left. The story about the girl last night had rolled so easily off his tongue. He wasn’t even shocked by his ability to lie anymore. He’d done it so many times. There were so many cover-ups, so much bullshit. He took the weight of Nikki’s pain because he could. But how long could he keep it up?

As he swung the hammock gently, the girl from the night before came to mind. What was her name? He hadn’t found out, he remembered. He couldn’t place the accent. British, maybe?

She was the most genuine person he’d met in a long time in Hollywood. She didn’t seem impressed by his fame. He was so sick of the way people acted like they didn’t care about celebrity when really they did. No, the girl last night had seemed interested in just
him
. She was funny. Smart. He’d liked the way she thought before she spoke, as though she was weighing the words in her mind. That kind of thoughtfulness was hard to come by in this town.

‘Hey, baby,’ he heard. Nikki was standing in the doorway.

‘Hey,’ he said curtly. He didn’t move to get up. He was pissed and he wanted her to know it.

‘You okay, baby?’

‘No, I’m not okay, and I’m not your baby, Nik.’ The clouds swung back and forth as he rocked in the hammock.

Nikki walked over and stood next to the hammock so that it bumped into her, jarring him unpleasantly each time he rocked.

‘What?’ he said finally, and swung his legs onto the ground.

‘Why are you angry?’ pouted Nikki.

James shook his head in disbelief. ‘Are you serious?’ he said, fighting to control the volume of his voice. ‘You kicked some random girl into the pool last night because I was holding her hand. Who
does
that?’

‘Were you going to sleep with her?’

‘That doesn’t matter. It’s none of your business, Nik.’

The thought had definitely crossed James’s mind. He was only human, and the girl was hot, in that dress that left little to the imagination. But sleeping with her hadn’t actually been his motivation for asking her to leave with him. He’d really wanted to talk to the girl who made him feel as though he was interesting, not just good-looking. The girl who was in love with a character from a book.

‘Have you slept with anyone since me?’ Nikki asked pitifully. She took James’s hand and held it to her chest, undoing her silk shirt with her other hand.

James stood, mesmerised by her cool, blonde beauty. Goddamn it, she was beautiful. But so crazy.

He slipped his hand onto her breast and felt her nipple harden. They stood, breathing in sync for a moment. Then Nikki moved to him and the spell was broken. James pulled his hand out.

‘It’s over Nik, really. You know this.’ He sounded angry, he knew, but how could he make her understand?

‘You’re a prick,’ she said coldly, turning and storming back inside.

James heard the front door slam. He fell back on the hammock, his hands covering his face. She’d be back. He just had to decide whether he’d pick up the pieces next time.

6

‘I can’t
believe
they said I was a crazed fan.’ Andie sat at the breakfast table reading the TMZ website on her laptop.