Absolutely Famous (19 page)

He sits up some and gives me
a genuinely astonished look. “I’m not a hypocrite!” He’s actually wounded by my statement. I laugh again, harder this time.

“How does not wanting your sister to date an actor when you yourself are an actor not make you a hypocrite?”

“Because I’m me and she’s my sister, and …” He pauses, stumbling over his words. “Okay fine. I’m a hypocrite for wanting to protect my sister from douchbags with giant egos. But I don’t care.” Drew folds his arms across his chest and pouts.

Damn, he’s so stinking cute!

“I get it, babe. Remember, you’re not a douchebag with a giant ego and neither is Declan. Just … just be nice, okay?” I flutter my eyelashes at him and part my lips in a pathetic attempt to be charming.

I hear him take in a sharp breath and his eyes darken slightly.

Hmmm, maybe I’m a better actress than I thought
.

The door to the suite slams shut and we hear
Allie yell from the living area. “Get your butt out here Forrester!”

I look at Drew in mock horror and laugh. “You’d better get out there and take your lumps buddy
.”

He sighs and rolls his eyes.
“Women.”

“Yep, women,” I agree.

Chapter
23

Twenty minutes later, Leah bursts through the door to the suite and gives Drew a huge hug. “I can’t believe you’re here!” she screams.

Shocked, Drew pretty much just stands there and lets her freak out all over him. It’s funny how Leah can do that to him. She’s so small and so loud and she’s big on being touchy-feely with everyone. Drew doesn’t know how to deal with her. She looks like a tiny blond streak as she darts around in front of him, flinging her arms around his waist since she can’t reach his neck.

“Hey, Leah,” he says, attempting to peel her off of him and get her far enough away to not shatter his eardrums.

“Stop molesting my guy.” I joke, trying to help him out.

“Fine, I’m starving anyway.” She lets go of Drew and sniffs, “I
smell food, is there any left?”

“No, there was but I shoved the cart back into the hallway when I left with Dex earlier,” Allie says as she glares at Drew.

“What?” He acts all innocent. When I join Allie in glaring at Drew he raises his hands in defeat. “Fine, I’ll be nicer to
Dexter
.”

“You know his name is Declan, don’t be an asshat!” growls Allie, smacking his arm.

Drew laughs. “Fine, Declan. Are you happy?”

“Yes, thank you big brother,” she says with a big fake smile.

“So, I’d like to see this listening device detector that you have and I’d like to speak to the agent who gave it to you,” Drew says to me. I walk over to the entryway table and get the palm-sized electronic device and hand it to him.

“You push here and take this part and wave it around every part of the room,” Leah says as she points to the small black box in Drew’s hand. “We do it every t
ime we come back into the suite.”

“We’ve never found a thing,” I add. “Not once, and they’re still getting recordings of our conversations. I’m starting to think they have live humans hiding under my bed or in the duct work.” I purse my lips petulantly and cross my arms.

Leah and Allie laugh with me at my joke. Drew however, doesn’t think it’s funny.
At all.
He frowns and stalks off into the first bedroom.

Leah jerks her thumb in the direction Drew went
. “Is he seriously going to look under the beds?”

Allie and I look a
t each other then back at Leah. “Yeah,” Allie says. Leah stares at her bug eyed. “What can I say, he’s not normal,” she says with a casual wave of her hand. “He’s always been that way, even when we were kids.”

“What way? Insane?” Leah asks.

I huff. “He’s not insane and you know it.”

“No, not insane,
more like an overprotective maniac,” Allie explains to her.

A giggle bursts from my lips when Drew storms out of my bedroom and disappears into Allie’s. “Definitely overprotective,” I say.

Drew returns to the living area and slams the bug detector down on the table. “I need you to give me the number for that ex-spy,” he growls at Leah.

She turns and looks at
him in amazement. “Forrester, I let you act like a giant douche when all that shit went down in New York and L.A. because I felt like you had the right to lash out. But I’m not taking that attitude from you right now,” she snaps at him. “Ask me nicely and you can have it.”

Once again, my tiny blonde powerhouse of a friend is completely unintimidated by Angry Drew. Most people would cower under his glare
. Leah? She stands there with her arms crossed over her chest.

Allie and I turn our gazes from Leah over to Drew to see his reaction. To our surprise, a huge smile spreads across his face. In a perfect southern accent he drawls, “Beautiful Miss Leah, princess of New York and the wisest woman I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, may I please have the honor of retrieving the agent’s phone number from your lovely self?”

She laughs at his over the top performance and pulls out her phone. “I’ll call him for you. You’re good.”

Agent Wilson can’t come over until later tonight so Drew decides to catch a few hours of sleep since he barely got any on the flight over. Allie is tired too, for other reasons, so she takes a nap as well. Leah went shopping with Britt
any and then the two of them are heading over to watch the night shoot with the guys.

Not wanting to be separated from Drew by leaving the suite to shop with Leah, I get my laptop out and check some emails from the New York office. Since my mom is back at work making a movie, she’s letting me manage this remodel completely on my own. That means no running decisions by anyone. It’s a great feeling to be able to make this project mine in every way.

As I type an email my phone chirps to let me know I have a text message.

Oliver <
Can we talk about earlier?>

Crap
. I can’t discuss anything with him. Especially not with Drew here in London. I quickly text back.

Me <
No worries, we’re good.>

There, hopefully it’s vague enough for him to realize that I’m not mad or weirded out, but that I also don’t want to discuss anything. Eve
r. The phone chirps again.

Oliver <
I don’t want you to think badly of me.>

Sighing, I
realize he may not be so easy to shake.

Me <
I don’t think badly. Now is not a good time.>

Another chirp.

Oliver .>

Wonderful. As if
I don’t have enough pushy, testosterone-filled, alpha men in my life right now. I toss the phone onto the couch next to me and finish up my emails. Done with work for now, I sit back and close my eyes. Drew is here with me in London, and we’re okay.

All of that time apart only made me stronger as a person. It was difficult, but ultimately it seems as if it was worth it to bring me
out of my protective shell.

Itching to think some more about us, I long to go for a nice long run. I know Drew would have a fit if he knew I was running by myself so I decide it’s better to just stay put. The thought of how he would react if he woke up and I was gone is enough to make me feel sick to my stomach.

Bored, I decide to do a little online browsing. I shouldn’t look her up, I know this. Things like this never lead to anything good but I’m having a weak moment and there’s nothing else to do. I bring up the browser and click Google. Typing out her name I hit enter, ignoring the warning bells going off in my head.

Kiera Radcliff

Tons of stuff comes up, but it’s the recent news events that catch my eye immediately.

News for Kiera Radcliff

Co-star
s Andrew Forrester and Kiera Radcliff Heat up Vancouver

Entertainmentnews
- 3 days ago

While filming in Vancouver, Kiera Radcliff seems to have moved on from sexy rocker Adam Reynolds with her co-star, Andrew Forrester. Seen out at several Vancouver hot spots…

Kiera Radcliff and Andrew Forrester Get Cozy On and Off the Set in Vancouver

TMZ
- 4 days ago

Co-stars turned lovers Andrew Forrester and Kiera Radcliff have been seen together all over Vancouver while in town filming the Depression-Era drama
Downtrodden Masses
…

Kiera Radcliff Remains Mum on Rumored Beau Andrew Forrester

E!News
- 6 days ago

Actress Kiera Radcliff was suspiciously tight-lipped when asked about her rumored relationship with co-star Andrew Forrester. Radcliff, in L.A. to promote her latest movie,
Under the Atlas
…

There are at least twenty more articles describing the so-called relationship between Drew and Kiera along with tons of photos of them together that I can tell are from the film set. I feel nauseous. Maybe waffles weren’t such a great idea. I had no idea that so many news outlets were linking Drew to that psycho. I’ve been so busy monitoring
CelebCast
that I didn’t pay attention to anything else. That’s probably a good thing, but this is an awful lot of information dedicated to a false rumor.

I click the browser shut and close my MacBook. Sighing, I walk over to the window and look out. I have to fight the urge to press against the glass and calm my nerves.
You don’t need this anymore Sydney
. Checking the clock to make sure it’s not too early in Atlanta; I pick up my phone and call my mom.

Please pick up
.

“Sydney how’s the U
.K?” my mom says, her soothing voice floating across the phone lines like a soothing balm.

“Mom, it’s great. I really love it here
. How’s the movie going?”

“It’s so wonderful Syd. I can’t believe I’ve been gone from the business for so long. It feels like I never left
.” I’m so happy for my mom. After giving up the career that she loved so she could try to raise me normally, she deserves to enjoy herself.

“Time does seem to become irrelevant at times
. I wish I could have visited you on the set, mom. It would have been great to watch you working again.”

She makes a dismissive sound
. “No big deal Syd, you have a career too, and now that I’m not going to be as involved in the company, your role is even more important. So, how’s the nightclub coming along?”

I tell her about the design I came up with, what’s been done so far, and my description of the atmosphere I hope to communicate with the different elements. She listens intently, commenting on ideas that I’ve brought in, giving me a much needed ego boost.

“It sounds perfect dear. Vertigo will be the perfect complement to Verve. The subtle European touches you’ve added will merge effortlessly with the modern feel.”

“Hey M
om, how did you and Dad deal with, you know, rumors about your relationship?”
God, this is so awkward
. I don’t want to hear about my parents’ romantic lives, but I need to talk to someone with experience in this area, and my mom has plenty of that.

“You mean all of the tabloids printing that we were either cheating on each other, br
eaking up or getting divorced?”

“Yeah, stuff like that.”

“Is something specific going on Sydney?” I can’t get anything past her, ever. She knows me way too well to pretend it’s just a generic question.

“Kiera Radcliff, do you know who she is?”

“Hmmm, yes. I do. What about her?” she asks cautiously. It doesn’t sound like my mom is a big fan of hers either.
Interesting
.

“She’s Drew’s co-star in the movie they just finished filming. She made it no secret to me that she wanted him and wouldn’t let me stand in the way
.”

“Honey, after everything you two have been through, do you
really think he would do that?”

“No, I know he wouldn’t. He actually can’t stand her,” I let a small laugh escape. “But there are articles, dozens of
them that make it sound like they’re actually together. They paint me as a whore that jumps from guy to guy and they make her sound like a freaking saint for healing his broken heart!”

“
Why do you care what they say? Do you love him?”

“Yes.”

“Does he love you?”

“Yes, but that’s not the point,” I whine.

“That’s exactly the point, Sydney,” she says sternly. “You shouldn’t even read that junk. It just poisons your mind and makes you distrust the ones you love. The only ones you
should
trust.”

“I know,
Mom. I wouldn’t read those things normally.” I take a deep breath and tell my mom about the spying and the listening devices and all of the articles that have been coming out with private details. “Mom, sometimes it’s just me and Leah or me and Drew in the room. Neither of them would leak anything. It has to be someone eavesdropping.”

“The press is getting much too pushy and invasive,” she agrees. “Unbelievable. Do you need me to se
nd someone to do some digging? I know people, Sydney.”

Tears threaten to spill from my eyes at my mom’s offer. She’s so good to me, she a
lways has been. “No, it’s okay Mom. Drew is here now and he’s meeting with the guy that Ry’s lawyer sent over with the bug detectors. We’ve got it covered for now.”

“Okay honey; just let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

“I will mom, thanks for listening.”

“Syd, have you thought any more about calling your dad?” she asks, catching me completely off guard.

I can barely form a response. “Uh, yeah, I have. I mean I will, call that is. Just not now. I mean, I’ll call him when I get back to the states.” I need to get my life a little more together before I can take any more life changing events, but I don’t say that to my mom. She has enough to worry about without me dumping even more problems in her lap.