Page 111 of Cast to be Mine

I grabbed a can of coke and headed into my home office. I watched the dailies from Hawaii. Grace’s face filled my monitor, take after take of her pouring everything she had into Elena. She was magnificent. Every frame proved she’d earned this role on talent alone.

Not that anyone would believe it now.

I paused on a shot of her walking along the beach. We’d filmed it the day after the scandal broke. She managed to channel all that pain into her performance. She’d given me everything. And I’d repaid her by turning her life into a tabloid headline.

The gate alarm buzzed. I checked the time and frowned. It was after eight. I grabbed my phone to check my security camera. Beau.

I pushed the button to open the gate and made my way to the front door. He parked his car and climbed out.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

He held up a rolled-up movie poster.

“You look like shit,” he said by way of greeting.

“Thanks. Love you too.”

“Why are you here?”

He pushed past me into the house. “I need a favor.”

“What kind of favor?”

He unrolled the poster with a flourish, revealing the glossy image of Jack Montana in full action-hero mode, muscles bulging, jaw clenched, explosions erupting behind him. It was from one of his earlier films. Not his best work, but it had made a fortune at the box office.

I stared at it, then at my brother. “I didn’t know you were such a Jack Montana fan. You planning to hang this in your bedroom? Give the women you take to your bed something to look at?”

Beau scowled. “It’s not for me, jackass. It’s for Cleo.”

“Cleo wants a signed Jack Montana poster?”

“She’s out of town scouting locations for Blackwell Occasions.” He rolled the poster back up carefully. “She asked me to get it signed while she was gone. Apparently she’s been a fan since she was a teenager. Wants to frame it and hang it in her home office.”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed at the image of Cleo fangirling over Jack Montana. She’d grown up in Hollywood and she decided he was the guy to drool over?

“I’ll do it,” I said, still chuckling. “Next time I see him, I’ll get it signed.”

“What the hell is going on with you?” he asked. “You are quite the star these days.”

“Don’t,” I warned.

“You really do look like hell,” he said. “Is this about the actress?”

I didn’t answer. Which was answer enough.

Beau sighed and leaned against the counter. “She’s pretty. Are you guys a thing or was that just another publicity stunt?”

“It wasn’t a publicity stunt. The shit with her kissing Jack was the stunt. We are real. Were real. I don’t know. She asked for space. I’m giving her space.”

“And that’s driving you crazy.”

“A little bit. Yeah.”

My brother waited for me to talk. We weren’t the type to have heart-to-hearts. Our family communicated through sarcasm, not emotional vulnerability. But he got serious.

“You really like this girl, huh?”

“I really do.” I walked to the fridge and grabbed us a couple of beers. It was going to be one of those conversations. “I don’t know what to do, Beau. I can’t fix this. I can’t make the tabloids disappear or undo what happened. All I can do is wait for her to be ready, and she might never be ready. She might decide I’m not worth the hassle.”