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“It’s good you don’t look at it because now they’re saying you’re in rehab. Oh yeah, that’s the bad news.”
I swiped the sheet off my lap, but my foot got tangled. I kicked at the cotton to free myself, I growled. “What the fuck? Rehab? For what?”
“Gossip sites are saying that since you weren’t with Lacey at the premiere the other night that you’d checked yourself in.”
I stood and paced. Naked. Every bit of post-sex chill was gone.
“And where did they get that idea?”
“Unofficially?”
“Lacey,” I said. Of course, she’d say that.
Lacey Anderson played a physical therapist on NYC ER. Together, along with other members of the cast, we had to do interviews, attend awards shows, dinners, and media events. Whatever the show and the broadcasting channel wanted, we did. When the program took off, specifically my character, she latched right on. She stood beside me to ensure we were photographed together. Plus, other shit that had the gossip sites spinning stories about us being a couple.
“Rehab? WHAT THE FUCK?” I shouted.
“You know her,” he replied, as if that explained it all.
“Right,” I sighed. Why else would a man stand her up other than being in rehab? I hadn’t stood her up. I’d never planned to go to the premiere in the first place. I instantly thought of Aspen and how that asshat had ghosted her. “I’m on vacation. Just like everyone else in the cast with filming done. I’m in Montana to get away from Lacey because she’s a–”
“I know what she’s doing, saying you’re dating and all, making her star shine by attaching herself onto you.”
I didn’t like to think I was egotistical, but I was more famous than Lacey. Her being my girlfriend only brought her more visibility and fame.
“Like a pond scum sucking bottom feeder,” I said.
“That means you’re pond scum.”
I sighed, tore open the blinds. Winced at the bright sunshine. “This is your job to fix.”
“Come back to LA, do the test. Prove to everyone you’re not a druggie.”
I shook my head. I wasn’t leaving Hunter Valley now. The one and only thing in my life that was one hundred percent real was what I had last night with Aspen. She did trivia with me, Luke. She fucked me, Luke. She didn’t know who I was. Didn’t come all over the dick of a celebrity. Hell, she didn’t cling. She fled. The only woman I wanted to stay, left.
I wasn’t walking away from a chance with her. One night wasn’t enough. Now I had to go back to LA to shut down ridiculous rumors?
“I’m not a drug addict,” I said through clenched teeth. “I don’t do that shit. I don’t have to prove myself to anyone.”
“You have to prove yourself to the film producer, Chris Taylor. He doesn’t want another problem actor. The lead on his last film was so high on set he did a stunt he shouldn’t have and ended up in traction.”
I remembered that. Hell, everyone in the world knew what happened to him. He flushed his career down the toilet, and he really was in rehab.
I shook my head. “No. I show up, Lacey will be all over me and spin some other bullshit.”
After a night with Aspen, I didn’t want Lacey Anderson anywhere near me. She was fake. Not only her personality, but her boobs. Her eyelashes. Probably other parts of her, too.
“Rehab shows you’re bettering yourself. That you have focus and a new lease on life.”
“Are you serious? I don’t need to better myself. No fucking way. I pay you a shit-ton of money to deal with this and not lie while doing it. Tell them I’m on vacation. Is that so hard to believe?” I sighed. It didn’t matter. Gossip sites didn’t want the truth. That was boring and didn’t sell papers or ad space or whatever. “Deal with Lacey. Talk to her agent and fix this mess. I’m staying in Hunter Valley for the next few weeks. No Lacey. No rehab. No photographers.”
I hung up. Sam was a good agent. Negotiated smart contracts. Made me–and him–a lot of money. When the TV show somehow took off, I became an overnight celebrity. A fucking sex symbol. Magazines made me the sexiest bachelor alive. The bigger my star shined, the more it seemed Sam wanted.
Me? All I wanted was something real. Sure, I’d wanted to act. Wanted to be successful at it. But I had never expected the insanity that went with it. The acting didn’t stop when the director yelled, “Cut!” I just wanted to be Luke for a while, not Derek Dashwood.
6
ASPEN
