Page 62 of One Kind Hand

“Who is this?” Cassandra flicked a hand toward Charlie.

“My bodyguard.” Austin sent Charlie a little grin and she held off on launching eye darts at Cassandra long enough to grin back at him.

Cassandra frowned then turned her attention back to Austin. “Well, are you going to fucking apologize at least?”

Austin sat back in his seat. “I’d love to, Cassandra, but I have no goddamn idea what you think I did. And whatever it is, I assure you I didn’t.”

Cassandra let out a loud huff and rolled her brown eyes. “This innocent act isn’t going to work on me.”

“It’s not an act. I honestly don’t know why the hell you’d slap me like that.” Austin rubbed his cheek again.

Charlie felt as if she were watching a movie. This night had gone from her being at a table with one movie star to her being at a table with two movie stars. Isabel was going to bust over this one.

Cassandra’s eyes narrowed a little as she stared at Austin, and Charlie noticed creases at the corners of the woman’s eyes. Actually, now that she was calmer and had a chance to examine Cassandra more closely, it occurred to Charlie that the actress was probably a lot older than the roles she played on the big screen. The things you learned when out with movie stars.

“You really don’t know, do you?” Cassandra leaned closer to the table, her ample breasts on display when she did so.

Austin held up his hand. “I swear I do not. Enlighten me.”

“Chad said you told him you didn’t want to work with me on Hunting Justice. That I was getting . . .” She lowered her voice. “That I was getting too old to play roles opposite you.”

Austin’s chin dropped to his chest and he shook his head. When he raised his head to look at Cassandra, he said, “First of all, I haven’t talked to Chad Zimmers in ages. You know I generally avoid him because he’s a grandstanding prick.”

“He said he saw you on Monday.” Cassandra used her index finger to swipe at a tear and Charlie felt bad for her.

Just a little.

“Not true,” Austin said. “I’ll call Cody right now and he can send you my schedule from Monday.”

“You were with me for half of Monday,” Charlie said, a slight smile turning up her lips as she recalled meeting Austin for the first time.

He grinned back at her, a heat in his eyes Charlie wanted to help him release.

Cassandra’s gaze flicked to her. “You don’t look like a bodyguard.”

Austin barked out a laugh and it was good to see he wasn’t letting a public slapping get him down. “I was joking, Cassandra. She’s my amazing date.”

“And I’m by no means an expert on Austin,” Charlie said, though she felt like one, “but I don’t think he’d say anything hurtful like that about you.”

“But Chad . . .” Cassandra pursed her lips. “Why did I believe that assclown?”

“He is a good actor,” Austin said. “I’ll give him that.”

Cassandra put her hand to her mouth. “Oh my God, Austin! I slapped you in front of all those people down in the club!” She ripped her phone from her purse and tapped the screen, scrolling for a few seconds. “Oh, there’s a few after shots of us talking on the dance floor with captions that I hit you. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. I don’t think anyone caught the actual slapping,” Austin said. “It happened so fast.”

“I hadn’t planned to do that.” Cassandra put her phone back in her bag. “I saw your face and got so mad at what Chad said you said.”

Austin reached across the table and patted Cassandra’s arm. “It’s okay. Don’t do it again though. You get one of those and that’s the limit.”

“I think there’s a slap scene in Hunting Justice,” Cassandra said.

“Shit. I think you’re right.” Austin shrugged. “Fine, but you better get that scene right on the first take.”

“I’ll practice my slapping on Chad. The bastard.”

“I think you should post on social media about him having a tiny penis instead,” Charlie said. “That will hurt him more than a slap.”