Taking the picture from Maddie, I shook my head as I spun it around and got a good look. I glanced at it for an instant before I turned it sideways, tore it, then turned it sideways once more, tearing it again before I dropped it to the floor in eight pieces.
“Uh!” Maddie scoffed. “Why did you do that? Wasn’t she pretty enough for you? Isn’t that what you want?”
I glared at her as she looked at me, dumbfounded.
What the hell was wrong with this woman? Didn’t she know how fucking stunning she was? Why would I want some bimbo from an escort service when I’ve got her?
“Greyson, I don’t understand what is going on,” she said as she leaned over to try and pick up the bits of the shredded photo from the floor of the limo.
Before she could grab them, I placed my size twelve shoe over most of them, blocking her.
“I’ve already told you what I want, Maddie. Don’t make me repeat myself any longer. You will be accompanying me, tonight and every night, for the rest of my trip here. Am I making myself absolutely clear on that point?”
After failing to retrieve the bits of Lynne’s image from beneath my feet, Maddie leaned back into the seat next to me and nodded her head. “Yes, I understand. I’m sorry. I just thought you didn’t really mean it when you told me that before.”
Satisfied she’d received my message, I interlaced my fingers in my lap. “I always mean exactly what I say, Maddie. Life is too short to mince words, especially in matters of business… and beauty.”
I noticed her head turn a fraction in my direction before she spoke. “Um, okay,” she replied. “I’ll make the necessary changes. Eight o’clock you said?”
As she finished speaking, we pulled onto the lot of the studio and the limo began to slow. I ran my fingers through my hair and glanced at her.
“Yes. Eight o’clock. And not one minute later.”
MADDIE
When the limousine pulled out of the film studio’s parking lot, I had the sudden realization I was in the midst of my first cash flow crisis as a business owner. Chewing my lower lip with my upper teeth, I took a mental inventory of what I’d spent Greyson’s entire deposit on and it didn’t take long to realize where it went.
Aside from all the money I’d put down around town to secure the long list of things he rejected when he got here, I was in deep with the additional payment I made to secure Lynne’s escort services. Unfortunately for me, the closest she would get to Greyson Sinclair was the sole of the ten thousand dollar loafers he used to squash her face with not fifteen minutes earlier.
Frantic, I whipped out my phone, opened the calculator app and did some quick math. After subtracting more zeros than I cared to mention, I couldn’t believe the number I was left with wouldn’t even cover the damn limo for the rest of the trip!
Ugh! I hadn’t even been in business for three days yet and already I was broke!
As if all that wasn’t bad enough, I had absolutely nothing to wear. Like, zilch.
And Greyson wanted me to be his escort!
I groaned and dropped my cell phone on the car seat next to me. It landed with a hard bounce and as I watched it flip end over end, I noticed it had ‘butt dialed’, via the car seat, the last person on Earth I wanted to talk to at the moment. In the next instant, it came to rest display side up on the floor of the limo and mocked me in bright blue torment as the words, ‘Connecting to Tray Bay’ flashed across the screen.
It’s Trevor’s pet name, okay? It’s a long story. Just--don't ask.
“Shit!” I yelped, as I scrambled to grab it and hang up before he answered. Reaching for it in a near panic, the neatly organized manila envelope in my lap went flying and with it every shred of paper relating to Greyson’s schedule. The sheets floated down from random directions and at strange angles, thwarting my attempt to get at the phone in time to disconnect it.
After what I guessed was the second or third ring, at least, I snatched the traitorous device from the floor of the car and hung it up faster than a toupee moves from a bald man’s head in the middle of a hurricane. However, just prior to disconnecting it, I swore I heard the tinny sound of the word ‘hello’ uttered through the phone’s small speakers.
Clutching my chest, I leaned back in the seat. I whispered a barely audible plea to the heavens, hoping against hope good fortune would shine down on me, for once. I don’t think I managed a single breath for the next ten or fifteen seconds as I closed my eyes and waited for Trevor to call me back. I knew he’d use any excuse to do it, especially if it involved me calling him first.