Get a Grip (Hollywood Nights)

by North, Cara

  “Sam,” Bo called. “Let it be.”

  He was sure plenty of hearts were broken now that Ivy was officially off the market.

  “See,” Ivy said. “This is exactly why I don’t bother with it. Mathis puts out official news about my professional life not my personal life. I can’t spend all day defending myself, and I don’t like the inappropriate comments. I feel bad for those people who do post for themselves because they have to filter everything when they read. I’m sure there are a lot of great people out there who write nice things. Unfortunately, there are a lot more who don’t.”

  “I get it.” Sam shrugged. “I don’t like it. But I understand.”

  Dale looked at Sam and asked, “Are you going to go through and respond to all of the comments about him?”

  “You know it,” Sam said. She was such a tough little brat.

  “I don’t advise it,” Alex said from the other end of the table. “Sam you don’t understand how easy it would be for people to track you down now that Bo is married to a celebrity.”

  “Ivy,” Bo corrected. “I’m married to Ivy.”

  “Ivy, the movie star, we know. It impacts everyone in some way, Bo. I didn’t see any paperwork prior to the Vegas wedding. Will you be drawing some up before the big event then?” Alex was always all business. Bo wasn’t sure when it happened to him other than sometime after the Adele incident. He went from being the selfish older brother to a real robot.

  “No.” Bo looked at Ivy and said, “I think she’s a keeper. I don’t foresee any prenuptial postnuptial paperwork necessary.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Adele blurted out.

  “I am,” Bo confirmed. “What’s mine is hers.”

  He didn’t mean to make her uncomfortable, but he could tell she was getting anxious. Her fingers started tugging and straightening the hem on her shirt. No one else could see it. He knew it was what she did when she was anxious. He let his thumb slide across the fabric of her shirt against her back where he had his hand.

  “Even my allowance?” Sam asked quietly.

  “Do you see how spoiled she is thanks to you?” His mom blurted before he could say anything.

  “Everyone is spoiled thanks to Bo.” Dale amended. “I notice that’s a new bracelet you have there, mom.”

  “I’m his mother,” she said as if that made all the difference.

  “Ivy, everyone but Double A over here,” Dale said and motioned with his thumb to Alex and Adele, “is on the payroll of Blissful Sound. We do actually work when asked, but as the company kept getting bigger, they needed amateurs like us less and professionals more. He made us shareholders.”

  “I was working on my own business plan. It had nothing to do with Bo.” Alex said.

  Everyone looked at Alex. Bo didn’t bother to bring up the fact that the plan Alex had been working also included sleeping with Adele during those foundation years. The couple, if counting the overlap had been together about five years. “And you are a successful lawyer, Alex. I understood then. I understand now.”

  Dale made a noise of disgust, but then covered it with a cough as Gabe nudged him in the side.

  Ivy looked at him. He looked at her and he knew she knew the depths of the betrayal. Her eyes turned sad and he hated that she had to know all of this about him so quickly. He didn’t have time to lead her up to the family drama aspect of his life.

  “I’m going to work in the office as a secretary in training over the summer.” Sam perked up. “I can’t wait!”

  “That sounds like fun.” Ivy beamed a big smile at his little sister.

  Adele snorted. Of course she had probably never worked a day in her life. He couldn’t remember her ever having a job.

  He was starting to become awkward because he didn’t like talking about money. His family, most of them, had been there when it was a startup. They were there when he needed people on the street running errands and promoting the few bands that were using his studios while he worked on set as a grip to earn the money to put into the startup. Soon, small film makers and indie outlets that couldn’t afford expensive sound effect people found a reasonable rate at his place. The connections on set led to questions about voice overs, audio edits, and other things Bo knew how to do from his college classes and hands on experience under some of the greats in the industry.

  It was a multi-media center dealing with all things sound and the people kept coming back. It wasn’t their fault the business boomed and he had to hire people who could actually manage it full time. When it made enough money he paid them as if they were investors. In his mind, they had been. They invested in what he needed most during those days; they invested in him, his dream, and his goal.

  “Did I hear there was a cake made for this dinner?” Gabe looked directly at him and winked. Bo was so grateful that someone had sensed it and changed the subject. Dale had been through some real shit relationships, but Gabe was a keeper. He loved Dale and had a way of tempering the wild side. That was all that mattered to Bo.

  “Yes!” Sam jumped up. “I made it. I’m so excited about it too. I didn’t burn it, and I didn’t break it with the icing. It is perfect.”

  “Well, go get it child! What are you waiting for?” Gabe laughed. Sam headed off to grab the cake.

  ***

  Later…

  Ivy was glad to be in her own bed. She realized during dinner with his family that he understood some things she never thought anyone would. He helped to support his family because he could. She liked talking about them on the way home. She talked about Gabe’s big blue eyes and how he reminded her of a teddy bear she once had. Bo thought that was hilarious and that she should tell Dale. She wouldn’t dare.

  She soaked in the sight of him. He was sleeping. His brown hair pointed in a tousled mess. When they returned he was in an all fire hurry to get her undressed. She had a few things to do before bed and the longer she made him wait the more turned on he seemed to be. He was in, out, and knocked out in less than thirty minutes.

  She wasn’t sure if it was because of the fact he had held off that afternoon, or if he was just really excited. Maybe he was hopped up on the sugar from the cake. It was the first treat she had seen him eat. There was still so much to learn about each other.

  The one thing she knew for sure from this afternoon is that she was insanely jealous of Adele. The woman had only greeted him the same way other people greeted friends and family all the time. Ivy knew she wasn’t just a sister-in-law.

  Not only was she his ex-fiancé, the woman was stunning. She looked like a model. Her big blonde hair and blue eyes stood out against the navy sweater she had worn. Ivy was an actress. By any standard she had been considered pretty, if not beautiful. Any standard, but her own.

  Ivy got out of bed and before she knew it she was standing in front of the full length mirror in her bathroom taking stock of the woman looking back at her. Her long brown hair had been a trademark feature. She had considered dying it blonde before. She wouldn’t dare do that now. Both of the women she had seen him with were blonde, blue-eyes, and busty.

  She pulled her braid around and looked at the dark chocolate strands. The length had become more than she cared for. It was almost at her waist.

  She squinted and considered the fine lines at the corner of her eyes. She pushed the flesh upward and then let go. “Ugh. You aren’t getting any younger.”

  She looked at her arm and held it up in a curl. She needed to get back to the gym. She was getting soft. Her gaze dropped to her breasts and noted that they were real. Nothing spectacular but they were hers. Ivy decided her modest B cup size was probably nothing compared to Adele’s twin peaks. She turned sideways and looked at her ass.

  It could be worse. She had a bit of a bubble butt, nothing to make headlines with, but she did at least have an ass. She sighed and took a step back to lean against the vanity. She tried not to think of some of the comments she had read online.

  Her head swam with the criticism. Her ear
s were too small, her eyes too big. Her legs were too long in one comment and not long enough in another. There was no winning when it came to the poll of public opinion. When she had briefly “dated” Jonas the jealous women in the world went nuts picking every detail of her apart. If there was an outfit that didn’t fit on camera the way she thought it did in the mirror they claimed she was pregnant or getting fat from heartbreak.

  She could not get her head together. All her life her sister was considered the prettier one. May had been their parents shining star until she fell from grace thanks to a basketball player with a really nice car. Ivy had been the result of a planned vacation that became an unplanned pregnancy.

  Her parents loved her. They really did. She just knew they loved May more, or at least differently. It changed as the situation changed. Ivy began to feel the pressure May had received all along as the favorite and re-considered her concept of love. No one accepted her as she was. She knew that what was happening with Bo was different. She also knew what his previous taste had been.

  She felt his presence in the doorway and looked over at him. “Hey.”

  “What’s up?” he asked sleepily.

  “I can’t sleep.”

  “What do you want to do?” He stretched. She looked at his mostly naked body and tried her best to find a flaw in him. He had lines at the corners of his eyes too, but they made him look distinguished not old.

  “I usually watch television until I fall asleep on the couch.” She tugged at the bottom of the pajama top she had on.

  “Come on then,” he held his hand out to her. She took it. The strength behind those fingers soothed her instantly. “We’ll go watch some TV.”

  Chapter 5

  Bo made a sandwich and returned to the couch with his food and a drink. He knew something was bothering her when he found her staring in the mirror in the bathroom. She seemed to be okay, but once he left her alone for more than a few minutes, she reverted back to her thoughts and that hem on her shirt. She kept looking at him as if she had something to say, but wouldn’t. Finally he asked, “What?”

  She gave him a surprised look as though he just pulled the question out of thin air for no reason.

  “Ivy, sweetheart, you have something to say. Just say it.” He titled his glass up to drink.

  “I think I need to get a boob job.”

  He choked on the water, it went up his nose, and he coughed several times before catching his breath again. She was crazy if she thought she needed a boob job. She patted him on the back as he cleared his throat. “Thank you. Now what brought that on?”

  He suspected it had something to do with her meeting Adele, but he wasn’t going to assume.

  “I don’t know. I mean I’m not very large, and you…” She caught herself mid-sentence and looked at the television instead of at him.

  “I what?”

  “It appeared to me that you preferred a certain build of woman.” She huffed.

  “Yes, I prefer they have been built with a vagina.” He snorted. “You are something else. You know that?”

  “Me?” she asked accusingly.

  “Yes, you. You’re one of the hottest women on this planet and you can’t seem to accept that.” She blew out air as if to express doubt with sound. He looked at her and frowned. “I don’t like the thought that you would change something so personal because you think I prefer a bigger boob.”

  “But you do.”

  “Why do you think that? I don’t understand. Did I stare at someone in the hotel, on the plane, at…no. I know I didn’t.”

  “You didn’t stare at her, but you didn’t have to. I could see her. I could see what you wanted. Do you have any idea what that is like? To look at the person that came before you and realize you might not measure up?” She crossed her arms and huffed.

  He had to laugh. She looked at him as though he had lost his mind. He groaned and said, “Woman, I have had to watch you with your last two co-stars and that singer. I have money. I’ll give you that, but Ivy, I am just a grip. At heart I am an average dude who would rather spend his days on set or on the beach. I’m not an actor. I’m not on the cover of magazines. Yeah, I think I know how it feels to look at the competition and worry about measuring up. I have been doing that for far longer than I’d like to admit and not just with you.”

  He leaned back on the couch and started eating his sandwich. He was getting mad at her again. He didn’t like being vulnerable and he sure didn’t like admitting any weakness, but this woman was not going to be satisfied until she had turned him inside out for her own gain.

  “Don’t be silly. Men don’t think like that.” She said it soothingly.

  “So now I’m not a man?” He really had to find a way to get some time away from her. He needed to work out, surf, do something to ease the effects of physical frustration and clear his mind.

  “That’s not what I’m saying.” She put her hand on his thigh and he moved his entire body away from her and out of reach. “Bo, don’t be mad at me. This isn’t about you. This is about me.”

  “How is it about you if you want to get a boob job because you think that is what I like? That means it is about me, Ivy. Yeah, you might have some serious insecurity that I don’t understand. It doesn’t mean you can take it out on me.” He was feeling the tension in his face. He hated making that face at her, but he couldn’t keep his eyebrows from drawing down for anything. “What have I done to give you the impression I wanted anything different than what you got? Tell me. I want to know.”

  She blinked at him, opened and then closed her mouth, blinked again.

  “So what is going on then?” he practically growled it at her. He had been more patient with this woman than he had with anyone in his life. He wasn’t always easy going. He had practiced this state of being and he didn’t want to lose it.

  “I don’t know,” she said with a break in her voice and then a sob.

  If there was anything he hated more than being mad it was watching her cry. He didn’t like being mad at anyone. He could deal with crying women when it came to anyone other than his mother, his sister, and now his wife. “Try me.”

  She launched into the history of her insecurity. Her battle with her sister, her constant stress and worry over every part, the rejection of man after man because she wouldn’t give it up to them. And finally she admitted, “Adele is beautiful. She is blonde, blue eyes, big boobs. I mean she’s everything I’m not.”

  “And I thank God for that!” He couldn’t hold back his laugh. The thought of Ivy, an award winning actress jealous of Adele, and award winning bitch was beyond logic. “She didn’t always look like that. She isn’t really that blonde, those are not really her boobs. Not to mention the fact that she is a manipulative and cruel woman.”

  “Oh.” Ivy sniffed. “She looks…”

  “She’s a better actress than you are,” he said it and meant it. Her eyes opened wide in surprise at the statement. She was having an identity crisis and the words no doubt stung, but he hoped he could explain what he meant by them in a way she understood. “You pretend for entertainment. She does it for sport in real life.”

  “But your brother…”

  “Made the same mistake I made. He fell for the act. I guess she serves a purpose for him. I don’t know. I don’t care.” He looked at her. She started to get control of the tears. “There has to be someone else in this industry that can help you with this. There’s surely another actress who has been through this type of insecurity.”

  She made slight gasp of a sound and then her hands went up to wipe the tears away. “You’re right. There is and she seems happier than ever now.”

  “I know you think its crap, but some exercise and meditation would probably do you some good, sweetheart.” He sighed. What the hell was he going to do with this woman? He needed help for navigating her mood swings.

  She gave a halfhearted smile and admitted, “I guess it can’t hurt. I used to work out three times a week and I did feel
better then. I know I need to get this sorted out. I think I know how. I shouldn’t have read…”

  “Read what?” he asked.

  “The comments. I avoided a smart phone to avoid access, temptation. I didn’t even know my toes look like fingers in some shoes.” She looked down at her feet.

  He groaned. “That is ridiculous. You’re a tall woman, Ivy. You have long everything. If you had short stubby toes they would look odd. Your feet are fine…this is just…”

  “Ridiculous?” She snorted. “I know, but I can’t unread it. Now every time I put on a pair of open toe shoes I’m going to look at them and think about this.”

  So would he, but he didn’t think that was the right thing to say. He opted to change the subject entirely. “Your family is coming over for dinner today, right?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “Sweetheart, it is tomorrow.”

  “Oh.” She settled against the couch and batted her wet eyelashes at him. “I hope you like them. I love my nieces and nephews. I tolerate everyone else. I love them, you know, but it’s complicated.”

  “I know.”

  She kicked up a real smile and said, “For the first time in my life I actually believe someone does understand how complicated family can be.”

  He reached a hand across the couch towards her. She moved her whole body across the couch towards him. She was snuggled up against his chest in the next instant. He relaxed his arm around her and focused on the program on the television. It was a black and white movie on a classics channel. The kind of thing he might have enjoyed watching with her had she not pulled out her special brand of crazy and tossed it at him. He wanted to tie her ass up and make her submit to him in and out of the bedroom because she seemed to need control and wasn’t managing to find it on her own.

  He knew that had been good for him when everything came out with Adele and Alex. He couldn’t take Ivy there. He wouldn’t let anyone else touch her. He didn’t want to have a traditional relationship like that. He just wanted enough to possess her and to feel possessed by her. She wouldn’t let him out of the missionary position in the bedroom and he was doing his best to move slowly in that department. Episodes like this made him want to push the issue sooner.