“Some of them are real ego maniacs who think the world revolves around them,” he was saying. “Then you have the real movie stars… you know. The ones who’ve been around a while. The ones who know how the game is played. The ones who refuse to play that game.”
“Rob was asked to take part in a movie last year,” Summer said, smiling at him.
“Yeah,” Rob said. “But the bastards wanted me to cut my hair off for the part.” He grabbed his thick locks and looked at me. “Can you imagine? This is a part of me, man. I’m not just going to chop it off for a bit part in a lame movie.”
“Couldn’t they get you a wig?” Ace said with blunt candor.
Rob, his fork load of lasagna held up to his mouth, looked blankly at Ace. He was silent for a long time until Summer started to giggle.
Ace and I both joined in the chuckle and Rob finally yielded to the moment.
“Well, I guess the bigwigs at the studio didn’t think of that,” he said with a silly grin.
The waiter came around to pick up our empty plates, even Rob’s as he’d wolfed down his food with impressive speed.
“Dessert anyone?” the waiter asked.
“Chocolate cake,” Ace quickly said.
“Do you have any tapioca… or rice pudding?” Summer said. “After such a heavy meal, I’m in the mood for something light.”
“We have a fruit cup,” the waiter offered.
She grimaced. “Not that light.”
“We have a nice raspberry tart.”
“That sounds perfect,” Summer said.
“I’ll have the tiramisu,” I said.
“Same here,” Rob said. “Can’t have a lasagna without a tiramisu chaser.”
I smiled at him, this time with genuine intent. He was a lot funnier than I would have though for a rock star. In fact, he didn’t seem to take himself or his rock star status very seriously. At times, he even seemed to mock his own success.
“Espressos?” the waiter suggested.
Ace, Rob and I nodded.
“I’ll have a cappuccino,” Summer said.
The waiter left us, and Rob carried on with his Hollywood stories. By the time the waiter returned, we were cracking up.
“I’m telling you,” Rob said. “There’s nothing like a starlet who thinks she deserves more attention than she’s getting. I mean, the whole, ‘do you know who I am?’ thing gets real funny, real fast.”
“Have you ever had someone not recognize you, when you expected them to?” Ace said.
Rob chuckled. “Last year, we were somewhere in Europe and I was supposed to do this television interview for a small local channel. So, I get to the studio… I mean, I’m not done up or anything. I’m just wearing jeans and a T and the security guys refused to let me in. I showed them my ID, I showed them my passport and I even showed them the email I’d gotten inviting me to the station. But, damn, those goofballs never let me in.”
“That sucks,” Ace said.
“But that’s not the worst of it,” Rob went on. “The station was so upset, they ran a story telling everyone that I was a disrespectful no-show who’d snubbed them. That I hadn’t even had the decency to let them know I wouldn’t be there. And when I tried to defend myself, they just piled on about how selfish I was. Can you imagine the atmosphere at the show that I was doing in town that night? Man, that crowd was as cold as ice.”
We laughed at his story as our coffees and desserts arrived.
We chatted about nothing in particular as we enjoyed our desserts, then Rob looked more seriously at Summer.
“I need to ask you a favor, Summer,” Rob said.
“Sure. Shoot,” she said.
“I have this thing I have to go to this afternoon, and I hate the thought of going alone. Can you come with me?”
“Where?” Summer said as she finished off her coffee.
“I don’t know,” Rob said. “This place in L.A.”
“Sure,” Summer said.
I grimaced into my napkin as I wiped my mouth.
“Is that okay with you?” Summer said, reaching out to take my hand.
“Absolutely,” I said, certain I sounded a little too insincere.
“I can bring you home afterward,” Rob added.
“That’s okay,” I interrupted. “I’m going to be in town all day. I can go pick her up when you guys are through.”
Damn, I hated the sound of that. When they’re through? When they’re through with what?
But the main thing was that I didn’t want Rob coming to my house. I didn’t want him to even know where I lived and where Summer was staying.
I caught Rob’s flirtatious smile at Summer as he finished his coffee, flicked his sunglasses back down over his eyes and threw some cash on the table.
“Come on, babe,” he said, the term of endearment slipping so easily on his tongue. “I don’t want to be late.”
Summer got up and reached for her purse to pay her meal.
“It’s okay,” I said, waving my hand. “I’ve got it.”
She leaned in to kiss me. “Thanks,” she said. “I’ll give you a call the minute this thing is over.”
“Great,” I said.
I’ll be waiting, I wanted to add. But I didn’t want to appear to be that clingy.
I watched her walk away. She and Rob were practically hand in hand as they headed to the door and got into his shiny red sports car.
“Damn,” I let out between my teeth.
“That sucks,” Ace said.
“You can say that again,” I muttered.
“You okay?”
I shrugged then looked up at him. “And what’s with you?”
“What do you mean?” he said, all innocent.
“Seriously?” I said, letting my frustration come out on him a bit. “I’ve never seen you be so rude.”
“Rude,” he argued. “I wasn’t rude.”
“Ace,” I said. “Summer has been spending almost all her time at the house for over a month now. This is the very first time you two have met face to face. I tried to justify how effectively you’ve been avoiding her by claiming your desire to respect my privacy, but really… What’s this all about?”
The waiter came around and I settled the bill and left a generous tip.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s go home.”
“I thought you told Summer that you had something to tend to in town all day.”
I led the way to the door. “I just didn’t want Rob bringing her home. I was just looking to justify going to pick her up when she’s done.”
“Quick thinking.”
“Where’s your car?” I said as we got to the parking lot.
“Back at the office,” Ace said. “I had Rich bring me here on his way into town. I kind of figured that I might have a glass of wine or two.”
I chuckled. “You’re such a letch.”
Chapter 17
Dante Black/Parker James
The drive back to the house was in silence. I could feel the residual tension from our lunch. I tried to calm down as we took to the long winding road that led up to the gated drive that would bring us to the house.