"Why are you staying in a hotel?" I frown.
"Well, Mr. Sexy Rockstar, I can't go home. It's surrounded by reporters and when I say surrounded, I mean surrounded. It's gated, but that means stopping and risking someone getting in when the gates open and I can't be bothered to hire additional security. I've never had to before, and I'm not starting now."
I nod, not at all happy about the situation, a situation I helped create.
"So where are you staying?"
"I've got an entire floor booked at the Beverly Wilshire. Once filming is done, we'll stay in the house in Santa Monica."
I feel like shit. Damn. "I'm sorry, Lucy. I didn't realize the reporters were on you that bad."
She shrugs. "It's par for the course."
"They weren't nearly that bad at my place."
"Gated community?" she asks and I nod. "Yeah, mine's not. I haven't had a need for it."
"Until now," Sera says.
"You're a movie star," Xander says. "How could you not need a gated community?"
"I've always stayed under the radar when I've gone out-avoided temptation, so to speak. It's not that we haven't been looking already, we just never made it a priority."
"Guess we will now, huh?" Sera says and Lucy nods.
"We're taking Jace out for drinks," Kennedy says and Lucy groans.
"Really? His first night here?"
"Is there a better time?"
She sighs. "He's got his own suite. I'll give you the key, Jace. I rented out the floor so we have privacy. You all can party there if you want, just keep the skanks to a minimum please, and over on your side of the building. I don't want to hear that shit."
Lucy looks around then asks, "Where'd Sera go?"
"She took off with Cage," Jace replies.
She nods and I wonder what's going on between the boss man and Miss Sera.
"Do you have a car here?" I ask.
"Max."
I nod. "I'll take you home."
"Okay. That's probably better. Then Jace and the boys can have Max or Gio drive."
I nod again as Lucy hands Jace his suite key and tells him they've got the car for the night.
"We'll drop their cars off and Max can take us to the hotel."
"Sounds good. Stay out of trouble," Lucy says to Jace as she gives him a hug. She mimics Robert DeNiro as she points and squints her eyes at the other guys, who just grin.
I let out a chuckle. I'll be damned if I don't like her even more now than I did ten minutes ago.
Chapter Fifteen
Jesse
Past
"You're not going to invite me up, are you?" I ask.
She shakes her head. "No, I'm not. We've still got to work together."
"Just one more day … more like half a day. There's not much left to shoot."
"Jesse."
"Lucy."
She smirks and shakes her head.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Oh come on. It was something."
She turns in the passenger seat to face me. "You really want to know?"
I glance over for a second before looking back at the highway stretched before us. "I do."
"I was just thinking 'Jesse freaking Kingston'."
I grin. "Yeah, that's me."
"It still seems surreal."
"I could say the same Miss Hollywood actress. Luciana freaking Russo."
She waves me off. "I'm not anything but a mediocre actress at best."
Now I really do laugh. "Oh really. This coming from the woman who got nominated for an Oscar after her very first film."
"Please. It was best supporting actress and I didn't win."
"Still nominated and you won the actress Oscar for your last film so don't tell me you're mediocre."
"Meh. I don't feel like I deserve any of that. I'm just Lucy and I go play other characters sometimes."
"You work hard, learn all the lines, get into that character, make it believable."
"Great scripts help."
I chuckle. She can't accept the compliment. "Would you stop? You can't admit you're good?"
"I just don't see myself like that. It's just a job … acting. Now music... That's going to be something I really want to succeed at."
"I have no doubt you're going to. It might be a little slow going at first, but I honestly don't think so. Not with Cage's backing."
She nods. "I have to find a new manager, though Cage said he would step in for the time being. I'm not sure how he can find time for that with everything he's already got going on."
"I'm sure it has a little something to do with Sera."
"Probably."
"How'd you meet Cage?"
She smiles a smile of fondness and I know Cage is someone special to her.
"Well, it wasn't long after I'd met you that Irene, my agent, had lined Sera and I up to be in a music video for Crashed. My mom hated it. I mean hated it. Anyway, when we got there, his assistant Marci greeted us just like she did yesterday and took us into the conference room. There sat Cage and a few of his people, as well as all the band members from Crashed. It was all Sera and I could do not to squeal like stupid little fangirl groupies." She shakes her head at the memory.
I chuckle. "Go on."
"I'd never worked on anything like the videos so we were essentially virgins-that's what Cage called us. I was offended at first but didn't say a word. I mean, it's Cage Nichols. At least that's what I thought back then. Anyone who isn't in the industry, I've noted, doesn't see anyone who is in the industry as just a person. They're all hyped up to be OMG Mr. Rockstar or Miss Actress."
"Kinda like you just thought of me a few minutes ago?"
"Yeah, but I know you're just a guy who loves music, who gets to do what he loves for a living. But that's not how we saw it back then, Sera and I. So we were pretty awed by everything. Then we got on set and it was so much fun. God. So much more fun than acting in a movie or television show. The music, the lights, the sound, the stories that Cage creates for the videos-but mostly it was the music. Sera and I lose ourselves in it and we weren't prepared for being in a video."
"Uh-oh. I sense something bad is going to happen."
"Not bad, just super embarrassing."
"What happened?"
She plucks at something on her pants. "Well, we got out there and Crashed started playing. Sera and I did our ass wiggling as we were supposed to but when they got into it, so did we. We were dancing around singing the lyrics at the tops of our lungs," she laughs. "It was just horrifying to do that in front of all these professional people."
"How hard of a time did they give you?"
"That's the thing. They didn't."
"No?"
She shakes her head. "They knew we were being weirdoes but they didn't stop playing. They let us get our goofy dancing and singing out of the way, they laughed a bit, and told us we were a lot of fun. Cage-he just sat there in his chair, leaning to one side, elbow bent upward so his chin was resting on his hand-you know what I mean."
I nod, knowing that posture of Cage's well.
"So quiet and stoic, I thought we were fired for sure. Then he gets up from his chair and walks over to us, just me and Sera, and pulls us both into a hug and starts laughing, telling us what a breath of fresh air we are, that everyone is always so serious. Well, that set the tone for that shoot and our relationship with Cage. We started hanging out with him a bit, I took his advice on movies and things-he's good friends with Irene, by the way."
"Of course he is."
"I know, right? Anyway, so we just became friends and whenever we can, I should say, whenever my schedule allows for it, we work on videos with him. I'm not sure how many we've been in. Five? Seven? All I know is that Cage is one of our best friends and there's something between him and Sera that they are in such denial of and I'm afraid they'll never act on."
"I've seen them together. There's no way they'll be able to hold out much longer."
She shrugs. "Maybe. I hope so. They'd be happy together but Sera's … different."
"There's a story there."
"There is but one very personal and private."
I nod. "I can respect that."
We ride in comfortable silence for a while before I ask the one question I've been wondering since I saw her on our set.
"What did you think when they told you, you were going to be doing a video with us?"
"Ha! They didn't!"
"What do you mean?" I ask, not understanding what she's saying.
"Sneaky fuckers, all of them. Cage, Irene, Spenser, all the assistants … none of them told us who it was, just that it was some big-name band and we'd be happy. It was a 'surprise'."
"So you didn't know until you saw us?"
"Not a clue. Not until Ben strummed his guitar and you sang with me. Talk about a heart-stopping minute."
"We heard you when we walked in the building. You were singing some P!nk song and when we got halfway to you, you started in on Red. We all just kinda stopped where we were and listened. None of us said a word. Your voice," I shake my head, remembering how haunting it was. "It was an incredible thing to hear and then we started toward the sound and when I turned the corner and saw you, I couldn't believe it."