Fuck. Now I’m truly screwed.
“I don’t want Arianne. I never wanted Arianne for more than a fuck or two. She latched onto me.”
Bob’s sigh comes through the line loud and clear, every bit of his frustration with me evident with that one breath. “Look, Buck. It’s simple. Play along until the contracts for the film are signed, okay? Let things ride the way they are. They’re making Lou look like the interloper.”
“Exactly, but that’s not what she is. She’s important, Bob.”
“Okay, so explain it to her. She’ll understand. She’ll want your career to do well, right?”
Fuck if I know.
I pat Tuffy on his silky head. “Shush. I’ll be back later, Buddy.”
I let myself out the backdoor, into the dark. At the edge of Delores’s lawn, I text Lou.
-Knock. Knock. I’ll be at the kitchen door in 60 seconds or less.-
I creep up the rear stairs. Lou stands, arms crossed, foot tapping, just outside the glass door leading into the kitchen.
“Why aren’t you entertaining your fiancé?”
I run my hands through my hair. “Aw, Lou. Don’t be like that. You know she isn’t my anything. I broke it off with her weeks before I even came home. That woman’s just a mental patient waiting to happen—one breakdown away from being picked up by the men in little white jackets.”
“Crazy, is she?”
“She’s something. But she’s not my girlfriend, much less my fiancé.”
“You sure about that? Because it seems like that show of yours is trying to make this whole thing look like something else.”
Through clenched teeth, I say, “Fuck what the show’s doing. Trust me on this. She’s nothing to me—less than nothing. They’re just vying for ratings, and the way my contract is written, there’s squat that I can do about it.”
Her sigh seems to echo through the trees. “So you weren’t staring longingly at Arianne while you held my hand under the table?”
“Fuck no. Lou, when I’m with you, I’m with you. You’re all I can see.” Everything about this grates me the wrong way. “Did it seem like I missed her to you?”
She looks to the deck and runs her bare toes along the edge of the board at her feet. “I guess not.”
“Okay, then. Don’t watch the show. They’re gonna make this look a whole shitload different than it actually is. It’s going to make me out to be a fucking prick, I just know it. I’m not watching it anymore either.”
Her head pops up. “Liar. You will too.”
Damn. “Yeah, I guess I will. But you know what I mean. I have to have this for my career. There’s a major role riding on it, and Arianne’s right in the middle, unfortunately. Her dad’s the producer; he could squash this deal if he decides to.”
“Wait. Hold up. You fucked this woman to get a part?”
I step back. “No. Of course not! We met on location and got together a couple of times. But she didn’t want to let go, and now I’m up for this part—just waiting on the contracts to come through—it just happens to be with the production company her dad runs. Bad luck on my part.”
She rolls her bottom lip between her teeth. “Okay. I get it.”
I take her elbows in hand, bending at the knees to look her in the eye. “You do? Really?”
She drops her head back, staring at the ceiling. “Yes, I get it. It’s a career move.”
The grimy fist that’s had hold of my heart since I saw that stupid episode of Celebrity Homecoming finally lets loose. “Exactly!”
“Look, it’s almost three in the morning. Is there anything else you want, Buck?”
“I keep telling you, and the answer’s always going to be the same: I just want you, Lou.”
Her face is shadowed, but her eye roll is almost audible.
“I don’t get you, Buck. You and I both know you just want to get laid.” She ushers me inside. “Can’t you just say that? I want a piece of ass, Lou. That’s all. Just a piece of ass.”
I push her against the counter, running my tongue along her bottom lip. “Fuck you taste good—for such a mouthy bitch.”
“You’re funny,” she says with a completely straight face—though with no animosity.
“See? One of the many reasons I love you, Lou: You’re the only girl I know who I can say that to and doesn’t get her panties in an uproar.”
The corner of her mouth rises and a spark comes into her eyes.
“That’s only because I’m not wearing any panties.” She hikes her leg around my waist, her fingers grazing the erection pushing at the backside of my fly.