Not Talented in Hollywood: Not in Hollywood Book 3

by Leonie Gant

  “I think you may be overstating things” I said.

  “I don’t think so” said Crystal. “While you were trying very hard to avoid looking at him, I was watching. He did not look like a man ready to give up on what he wants and I hate to be the one to tell you, but he wants you.”

  “I can’t do it” I whispered looking intently at my coffee cup.

  “Then don’t” said Crystal. “You’ve avoided him for the last three months. Tonight was one of those situations. With any luck you won’t see him again.”

  I nodded, hoping that luck would be on my side for once.

  “Although” Crystal smirked, “we’ll keep the sleeping with him plan in reserve for now. You know, just in case.”

  Chapter Five

  I wish I could say that those words did not keep me up that night. I really wish I could say that it was my worrying about Edwin that caused me to get up really early the next morning after giving up on trying to get a decent night’s sleep. By that time I had convinced myself of a lot of things. Top of my list was that Edwin was going to be fine and second on my list was that I had made the right decision with Griffin. If the man could cause this much chaos to my psyche just by looking at me, then it was better that I kept as far away from him as possible. Of course answering my door and finding the one person in this world I wanted to keep my distance from, didn’t help me in my hopes for a peaceful day. Standing in the doorway was Detective Jake Griffin looking just as tired as I felt. Of course that didn’t detract from the fact that he still looked good.

  “Planning on inviting me in?” he asked as I stood there gaping like an idiot.

  “Oh, of course” I said, years of my mother’s etiquette training coming to the fore.

  I tugged on my shirt as I closed the door, painfully aware that I was wearing my combination of clothes which while very comfortable, left a great deal to be desired in the style stakes. I followed Griffin into the living area to find him pacing the floor. Never having seen him as anything other than totally in control of his environment, I was surprised.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  He stopped. “Why have you been avoiding me?”

  Alrighty then, straight to the heart of the matter.

  “We talked about this” I said as gently as I could. “We’re just not right for each other.”

  “No, I remember pretty clearly that you said that my job meant more to me than you could and you walked away and disappeared for a few months. We never actually got a chance to talk about it, because I have a few things to say.”

  I clasped my hands together and waited. He was right, I did bolt without giving him a chance to have closure.

  Griffin resumed pacing, his hand raking through his dark hair as he pinned me in place with that green eyed stare of his.

  “I was really angry with you until I realized that this is your problem not mine” he said.

  Wait a second, this didn’t sound like closure and I opened my mouth to argue.

  “No,” he said holding a hand up, “my turn remember. You are so messed up by your ex fiancé that you are not willing to give anyone else another chance.”

  I opened my mouth.

  “Still my turn” he said holding a finger up as if to emphasize the point.

  “See, you act practical and calm. It fools people into believing you are in complete control of your emotions. You could tell that there was something real happening between us so you grabbed onto the first excuse to run away from it.”

  “You finished?” I asked starting to get annoyed at the character assassination.

  “Not by a long shot honey” he said and I could see his eyes sparking with the excitement of a challenge.

  “What is between us is real and I am not going to let you throw it away because you’re too scared to grab onto a good thing.”

  He stalked towards me and I could see his eyes sparking with something else now and despite my best intentions I backed away from him, not stopping until I felt the wall at my back. He dipped his head and softly touched his lips to mine. I moaned at the contact. I had missed this so much. Even when I was telling myself he was no good for me, I would remember how it felt to have him holding and kissing me. I had never felt this before and I was very afraid that I would never feel it again.

  “See” he whispered against my lips. “This is what’s between us. You can’t deny it and I don’t want to deny it. I have spent three months in agony missing you” he said hoarsely and despite the strength in his words I could see that letting himself be this vulnerable was costing him. But he was doing it, and in that moment I crumbled. I sought out his lips and poured all the feelings that I had been burying for the last few months into that kiss. It was his turn to groan and he took over the kiss, deepening it. Feeling his arms wrap around me, I felt at peace and on fire all at the same time. I started to lose track of everything but those lips caressing mine.

  “Oh my God.” I heard Crystal’s voice as Griffin pulled away from me. Sure enough there was Crystal standing at the door, her eyes wide and yes, there was the beginning of a smile.

  Griffin looked down at me and I noticed that even though he had pulled away from the kiss his arms were still wrapped around me, seemingly unwilling to let me go.

  “This discussion isn’t finished” he pitched his voice low as he gave me a squeeze before letting go.

  Watching him walk out the door I was finally able to acknowledge that I was in a lot of trouble when it came to Jake Griffin. When he was out of sight Crystal looked back at me, taking in my obviously swollen lips and messed up clothing.

  “Way to take one for the team” she said grinning. “Last night I figured there was no chance but here I find you sacrificing yourself for your friends.”

  “You quite finished?” I asked dryly.

  “Oh, I don’t think I’m ever going to let you forget about this moment” she grinned.

  “It’s not what you’re thinking” I said.

  “I don’t know. I walked in here and there you are about to climb Mount Griffin if I don’t miss my guess.”

  “That reminds me” I said, “I want my key back.”

  “You gave it to me” she said smiling.

  “For emergency situations” I stressed.

  “This was an emergency” she said, still with that grin in her face.

  “In the strictest definition of the term?” I queried.

  “Okay maybe not an emergency as such.”

  I stood there looking at her, not saying a word.

  “I went to Edwin’s place to talk and he’s not there, I thought he might have come over here for breakfast.”

  “No, as you can see I’m quite alone.”

  Now it was Crystal’s turn to look at me with an amused expression on her face.

  “Well I was alone until Griffin showed up.” And kissed me in a way that I was never going to get over.

  “I’m worried about him” Crystal slumped on my couch.

  “We’re all worried about him” I said.

  “He looked so lost last night, as if he didn’t know what to do next. Did Griffin say anything about the case?” she asked hopefully.

  “No, I hadn’t got to the interrogation part of your evil plan” I said.

  “Maybe next time” said Crystal. “Don’t give me that look because believe me there is going to be a next time.”

  I dropped my head as I walked away because she was right.

  “Where are you going” she called out as I went in my bedroom.

  “I’m getting dressed, I’m assuming you want to go and look for Edwin.”

  “Good plan. Do you have anything for breakfast? I’ve run out of food at my place.”

  Crystal was always running out of food at her place. Between her, Sean and Edwin my grocery bills were at least triple what they should be. I was amazed they hadn’t starved while I was away.

  Once Crystal had been fed and I finally looked like I could be seen in publi
c, we went looking for Edwin. We found Miss Betsy working in the garden as usual.

  “Have you seen Edwin today?” Crystal asked.

  Miss Betsy straightened up, took off her hat and wiped her forehead.

  “Oh yes, he took Sean surfing this morning. Those boys were up at the crack of dawn.”

  I wasn’t surprised. Sean and Edwin had bonded over their mutual love of the sport. I liked the fact Sean had managed to find a decent male role model after the disaster of a boyfriend that his mother had brought home.

  Heading for the beach, Crystal and I found Edwin sitting on the sand looking out at the ocean. Each of us sat on either side of him.

  “Where’s Sean?” I asked looking out over the water.

  “He’s still out there” Edwin said waving his hand in the general direction of the ocean.

  “I think he met a girl and he’s out there surfing with her. Seems I was cramping his style.”

  Crystal and I smiled. Sean had the hormones of any sixteen year old boy and he was always meeting girls. His goofy sense of humor, red hair and freckles seemed to appeal to teenage girls and he was learning to capitalize on it.

  Crystal nudged Edwin with her shoulder. “So are you going to tell us what’s going on or are we going to have to play twenty questions?”

  “Just trying to work out what I want to do with my life.”

  Crystal frowned, “I thought you wanted to be an actor.”

  Edwin sighed heavily. “I don’t know if I ever really wanted to be an actor. I started off modeling when I was seventeen. Made money early so I didn’t bother going to school. Next thing I find I’m completely bored with modeling, but I don’t have much of an education. Acting seemed to be the next logical step. Now I’m looking at it and I suck at acting and I really don’t want to go back to posing in front of a camera.”

  I looked at him worriedly. The poor guy actually looked really down.

  “How about sucking it up and dealing with it.”

  My head dropped. I loved Crystal but she really didn’t do sympathy well.

  “So you finally realized that acting isn’t your thing, at least you worked it out now rather than twenty years’ time. Now is the time for you to man up and work out what you want to do with the rest of life. Sitting around looking at the ocean isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

  Keeping in mind that this was the man that only twelve hours previously Crystal had confessed to loving, I was a bit surprised at the tirade. I could tell that Edwin was a little shocked too.

  “You want to kick the boot in a bit harder” he said through tightly clenched teeth as he got up from the sand.

  “Where are you going?” I called out as he stalked off.

  “Obviously nowhere” said Edwin. “Give Sean a ride home will you.”

  With that he turned around and left us in the sand.

  “What the hell are you trying to do?” I asked Crystal incredulously.

  “He needed some motivation” she said calmly.

  “Motivation, yes. A kick in the teeth, not so much.”

  “He’ll be fine, trust me. I know Edwin. If we let him wallow he’ll do it for ages. This way he gets a kick in the pants and he’ll work out what he needs to do that much quicker. I need him to work it out so he can realize that I’m the woman for him and he can get started on achieving that goal.”

  “All part of the master plan” I said.

  “Well if I left everything to him he’d never get around to asking me out.”

  Good point, she was probably right. Crystal’s eyes widened and I felt drops of water on my back.

  “Would you mind backing away a bit Sean” I said as I turned around.

  “You’re sitting on my towel” he said giving me an evil grin before shaking his head and spraying the two of us with water.

  We jumped up and backed away from the spray.

  “What did you say that scared Edwin away?” he asked as he grabbed the towel and started to dry off.

  “What makes you think we said anything?” I asked.

  Sean stopped and looked at me as if I was an idiot, an expression he’d taken with me quite a lot lately.

  “You turned up and he left. It wasn’t me that scared him off.”

  “He just needs to work some things out. Where’s the girl Edwin said you were talking to?” I asked.

  “Her boyfriend showed up” Sean said morosely.

  I looked behind him and sure enough there was a teenage girl giggling inanely to something the musclebound guy with her was saying.

  “Better luck next time” I said

  Chapter Six

  Getting back to the apartment complex we found Miss Betsy standing at the front, a worried look on her face.

  “Thank goodness you’re here” she said twisting her hands together.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “That policeman who has been to see you sometimes, he came and took Edwin away.”

  “He did what?” I exploded.

  “He and that pretty woman who comes with him, they arrested Edwin and took him away” Miss Betsy repeated.

  “Get back in the car Crystal” I said as she started to get out.

  “What about me?” asked Sean.

  “You stay here with Miss Betsy, we’ll find out what’s happening with Edwin.”

  “What’s going on?” asked a bewildered Crystal as I pulled out of the parking area.

  “Griffin arrested Edwin.”

  “He did what?”

  Oh that didn’t sound good. Crystal was going with her calm voice. Bad things had a tendency to happen when Crystal used her calm voice in an emotional situation.

  “Call your lawyer and get him to meet us at the station” I said, desperately trying to head off an explosion.

  Walking into the station I refused to dwell on the number of times that I seemed to be finding myself in this particular building. At least this time I wasn’t going to end up in the interrogation room, or at least I hoped not. Crystal stormed up to the front desk and caught the attention of the officer.

  “I demand to see Detective Griffin” she announced and I winced.

  I love Crystal but every now and then the spoiled Hollywood princess comes out in her. Those of us who are her friends deal with it and can laugh it off. I didn’t think that the officer behind the desk was in a laughing mood. To his credit though he restrained himself from telling Crystal exactly what she could do with her demand and very politely asked her to take a seat while he fetched Griffin. He also called her ma’am repeatedly after the first one elicited a tightening of her features. Couldn’t really blame the guy for getting in his digs when he could. Sitting with Crystal in the waiting area was interesting. Being relatively early in the day we were obviously not being treated to the full experience that only a police station at night can offer. As the time dragged on I could see that Crystal was beginning to lose her patience. As she started to get up again to harangue the poor desk sergeant I put a hand on her arm.

  “Not going to help” I said. I had noticed the smirk on the officer’s face as he saw her movement.

  Nope, Crystal hadn’t made any friends there. The lawyer that Crystal had contacted came in and after speaking with Crystal was led into the back area to his client.

  “What is taking so long?” she said through gritted teeth.

  “I don’t know” I said looking anxiously towards the door.

  “They’ve got the wrong person, Edwin could never hurt anyone.”

  “I know that, and you know that. Griffin will work that out. He’s not an idiot and he’ll work out that there is no way that Edwin could have done this.”

  “I need to get some air” said Crystal.

  “I’ll come with you.” I started to stand up.

  “No, I just need some time on my own to clear my head. Can you wait here and let me know immediately if Edwin comes out.”

  “Of course” I said as I sat back down.

  A few minutes lat
er I started wondering whether I should have gone out with her. The door to the station flew open and half a dozen cops were struggling to drag in a well-dressed woman who was screaming and yelling abuse at the top of her lungs. I was surprised to see Travis Cooper, private investigator to the rich and famous following her. Looking startled when he spotted me, he left the struggling cops and made his way over, taking a seat next to me.

  “Interesting entrance” I motioned in the direction of the woman. “What happened there?”

  “Client of mine, found out her husband was cheating on her with the housekeeper.”

  “Classy, if a bit unoriginal” I said.

  “I only ever deal with the best” he smiled.

  “Obviously there is another part to this story because she does not look like a satisfied client.”

  “Yes, she didn’t take it too well and went after her husband with a set of gardening shears.”

  I grimaced at the image that crossed my mind.

  “Luckily, or unluckily, whichever the case may be, I was there so was able to stop the impending bloodbath and called the cops.”

  “On your own client. Hope you weren’t still expecting to get paid” I said.

  “There’s a reason why I always get paid up front. Won’t be getting a bonus this time though.”

  I laughed at the morose look on his face.

  “So what are you doing here, another client die mysteriously?”

  “I have never lost a client” I said defensively.

  “No, of course not, just the people around them start dropping like flies.”

  “I could be here to pay a parking fine.”

  “You’re here to pay a parking fine.” He looked at me skeptically.

  “Well no, but I could be here for that reason. You shouldn’t automatically assume someone’s died just because I’m in a police station.”

  Travis continued to study me without saying a word.

  “Fine, Catarina Badal was killed last night at a theater and I was at the after party. My friend Edwin is being questioned by Griffin at the moment.”

  “See, was that so hard?” Travis asked.

  “You just can’t assume that I’d be here because of a murder” I said trying to get my point across.