Danny (Models On Top #1) (13 page)

THE ELEVATOR DOORS
open and Jody greets me with a smile. I hand her the paper coffee cup. “Grande mocha latte with coconut milk and a sprinkle of cinnamon, as you requested.”

“You’re the best. Thanks, Danny. You ready to face the dragon?” she asks as we walk toward the glass doors leading us inside. She rushes to open it wide before I can open it for her.

We round the corner and I follow her through The Pit, saying hi to the few agents working late. “Don’t let the dimples fool you. I’m ready to
slay
the dragon.” I send a smile over to the new girl stationed at a desk near the conference room.

“Don’t even think about it.” Jody says, “I’m betting she won’t last a month.”

“That desk seems to be on quite the rotation.” When the blonde smiles back, I add, “I know the rules. No fraternizing with co-workers or clients. Brunettes are more my type anyway.” Squeezing her into a side hug to tease.

She laughs. “You’re terrible.”

“So I hear.” I wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her close. I place a quick kiss on the top of her head. “At least you love me, Jods.”

Pushing off, she laughs even harder. We’re standing outside Mark’s office, so she lowers her voice. “I’m an eternal fan, hot stuff.” She walks back to her desk.

“Now why does that sound sarcastic to me?”

She points at Mark’s office. “Thank you for the afternoon pick-me-up. Go before you get both of us in trouble.”

“Does that mean I’m in trouble? I think I like the lie of the paycheck better. And I’m always available for afternoon pick-me-ups.”

She turns her back to me to grab a call, but when she answers she’s still laughing causing me to laugh. I knock on the door.

“Come in.”

Walking in like I own the place, I joke, “You summoned?”

“Stop flirting with my assistant and shut the door. I need to go over the finalized contract details for Vittori so they can pay us.”

“I like getting paid.”

“So do I. Signature here.” He points to a line. While I sign one page and then the next, he says, “You’re in Marfa, Texas. Vittori wants the casual line shot there. The suit line will be shot in New York. The formal line will be shot in Paris. They haven’t ruled out Rome.”

When I sit down, I set the pen on the desk and get comfortable. “What’s the schedule and can I get a haircut.” I run my hand through my hair. “It’s getting shaggy.”

“Let them tell us how they want it cut. I’ll send an email over today asking for specific style instructions. We need to knock this shoot out of the ballpark, so I don’t want to fuck anything up so close to the job. Marfa is in five days. New York a week after that. I haven’t gotten a confirmation on Paris yet. Does this work for you?”

“Yes. Don’t I have other jobs already scheduled though?”

“Yes, but one is the week between Marfa and New York, so no conflict. Jody also has a stack of invitations for you to go through. She’ll reply and make sure there are no conflicts for any you want to RSVP yes to, so stop by her desk before you leave.”

He takes his glasses off and sets them in front of him and finally looks at me. “How are you?”

“I’m fine.” He’s not usually this serious with me. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Just checking. I know you’re not used to being home this much. Just making sure you’re good with it.”

“I like being home. I’ve been working non-stop for years now.” I shrug it off as if nothing’s wrong. “Are you worried about my career?”

“No. The opposite. You should have less jobs because of your fees, but you’re booking the same as you always have. Just making sure you’re up for it, still into it. Are you scouting locations for anyone?”

“No, I had to put that on hold for the work.”

He sets down a stack of packets. “Five scripts arrived in the last two weeks. I wanted to scan them first. These three are worth taking a look at.”

“When are the auditions?” I ask, taking them in hand.

“That’s just it, Danny. Two of these you can have if you want it, acting unseen. The other they want you to do a scene with the lead actress to see if there’s chemistry.”

“Why are you saying this like it’s a bad thing? I’ve done a million commercials.”

“I’ve been through this transition before.”

I sigh. “I know. I’ve heard this story.”

“Brad Lowe was a good guy. Fame can do nasty things to people.”

“You think I’m susceptible?”

“No. I think you’ve always known who you were. Doesn’t mean I don’t worry. Temptation is a dangerous thing.”

“I’m not Brad.”

He lightens and sits back looking pleased. “No, you’re not. Just remember you’re in charge of your future. You don’t need movies. You have years left in modeling.”

“I like what I’m doing. I’d rather look at photography jobs over acting for now though.”

Tapping his fingers on the glass top of his desk, he buddies up. “Tell me the truth. What happened between you and Reese the other night?”

Chuckling, I rock back, the front legs of my chair lifting off the floor. “I told you the truth. Nothing. I made sure she got in safely and left her, fully clothed and passed out.” I look out at The Pit through the window that divides us.

“I thought she was holding her liquor fine, but then bam, it seemed to hit her all at once.”

“She was always a lightweight,” I say mindlessly.

Casual convo just turned serious. The lines streaking through his forehead deepen. “What do you mean, she was always a lightweight?”

Shit!

My eyes dart back to him. “Um.” I go blank momentarily before I find the lie I need to tell. “She told me. When we were walking to her room. She said that happens to her.”

“Oh. I see.” His lines lighten. “For a minute,” he says, laughing, “I thought you meant you knew her.”

Being honest, I add, “Nope. That’s the first time I’ve met Reese Carmichael, the woman.”

“You’re talking weird. Are you okay?”

“Yep.”

“Does everything have to pop with you? Yes or no will do.”

“Yep, you’re right.”

My plan is working. He’s annoyed. I’ll get the boot any second.

“Go. I have work to do. I’m sure you have some woman to do.”

I laugh while standing up. “You think so highly of me.”

“Do you not?”

“For your information, I have no plans tonight. Vargo is in two days, so I’m laying low.”

Once again he looks pleased. “Well, this is a surprise. A good surprise. Stay on top of your job. Get some rest and we’ll talk soon.”

“My body’s my temple.”

“Okay, you’re laying it on a bit thick now. Just look good and let me do the rest.”

“Deal. See ya later, boss man.”

“Later.”

When I close the door, Jody spins around in her chair. “So, are you going to do a movie?”

“I’ll look at the scripts. Mark said you have some invitations for me?” I sit down in a vacant chair and roll over to her desk.

“I do. You’ve got fancy schmancy events to go to. How about I run through them and you can say yes or no and then we’ll go through the yeses?”

“Sounds good.”

Five yeses and twenty-three nos later, I’m on my way to Luke’s. The door is open so I go on in. “Dude, has it started?”

His arm is draped over the back of the couch. He turns over his shoulder. “Nope, five minutes. You’re just in time.” He drinks beer from a bottle, then says, “Grab a brew. I ordered pizza.”

“Fuck you and that pizza.” I grab a bottle of Vitamin Water from the fridge.

“What? You dieting, princess?”

“I have a shoot in two days. I can’t eat pizza.” Walking in, I sit on the other side of the couch and kick off my sneakers and use the coffee table as a footrest.

“The tough life of a model. Guess that means more for me.”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

“What’d you do today?”

“Met up with Holli.”

“So let me guess, you had drinks with her but not me?”

I kick him in the leg. “You jealous?”

“I’m jealous of you. She’s still fucking hot. I saw her on some blog the other day.”

“Man, don’t talk about her. Anyway, you reading the gossip blogs and have the nerve to call me princess?”

“Dude, she was in a bikini.”

“Good point. Okay, forgiven.”

The game starts and we go quiet because watching a game requires intense concentration. Two minutes in, Luke stands, points at the TV, and yells, “Fuck you! Shit. If this is how the game is gonna go down, I should have bought more beer.”

Damn. The opposing team already scored. “Grab me one. I can tell I’m going to need it.”

The doorbell rings and he hands me a beer as he goes to answer it. When he returns he sets the pizza on the table in front of us, then hands me a salad. I smile. “Aw bro, you do love me.”

“I love you buying rounds of drinks. For you to keep doing that, I need you to keep working. Enjoy your lettuce, princess.”

I kick him again. Just ’cuz.

I don’t know why we’re still watching. Our team has had their ass kicked by halftime and it feels like Luke and I have had ours kicked as well. We’re both sunk into the couch on our respective sides, stuffed… well as stuffed as you can be from a plain garden salad with no dressing and chicken. The beer’s doing a good job though. “Each one of these bottles is five hundred crunches or two more miles for me to run. Tomorrow is going to suck.”

“Are you showing off dresses or shoes this time?”

“Fuck, dude, you don’t even want to know.”

“Really?” Now his interest looks piqued.

“Jeans and boxers with a Victoria’s Secret model that was hired. Lots of bed action. They told me to sex it up, if you get my drift.”

“
Fuuuuck,”
he says, shaking his head. “I hate you. I hate you so fucking much right now. How did you get so lucky?”

“Good-looking parents. Ha!” Just then a knock cuts the laughter and we turn as if the door is going to open itself. “You expecting company?”

He gets up to answer it. “Not that I know of.” The game comes back on, but the surprise visitor is more interesting than this sad game.

The door is opened, and I hear, “Jane?”

I sit up and angle forward to get a view of the scene that’s about to play out.

“Hi,” she says to him, but her eyes shift to me. “Hi, Danny.”

Raising my hand, I reply, “Hi.”

“I’m sorry for interrupting. I can come back another time.” She starts to back out of the doorway.

He takes her by the hand, holding her. “No, now’s good. We can talk out back.”

She nods, and they walk to the back patio. The glass sliding door is closed, cutting off any chance of me eavesdropping. I still can’t help but watch as they move around each other, each step a careful dance—close, but not too close.

I look down at my phone, feeling guilty for watching. To see two people who thought they would always be together act so cautiously around each other is hard to watch. The tension is felt from here. Yet when I look up, even I can see how much they care about one another. But something, egos, other people, life or all of the above has gotten in the way, blinded them to what’s right in front of them.

I’ve always liked Jane, but my friend is going to be messed up from this visit. She’s not here to make up, which is the only outcome that won’t screw him up more than he is now because of her.

She starts crying and Luke rushes to hold her. When she sees me through the glass, she turns to face the other direction. I get up, not wanting to witness this either. It may be him going through it, but it’s rubbing the rawness that Reese left behind.

I go into the kitchen and lean against the counter to give them complete privacy. They come inside and walk to the front door. When they leave, I go back into the living room and turn the volume of the game back up.

Luke returns a few minutes later. I’m not a girl so I don’t pepper him with questions the second he sits down. I let him be. Not wanting those same questions thrown back at me. A commercial is muted, and he says, “She said she’s been thinking about me.”

Turning to him, I don’t add my own commentary, his own thoughts are probably adding enough color to not want to add to that confusion. He turns to me and adds, “I still love her.”

I nod.

“She said she had to tell me she’d been thinking about me. Do you think she was feeling things out? How I felt for her?”

“That makes sense.”

“Does that make me her fallback?”

“No. It means you both got off track. Maybe you’ll get back on, back to where you’re supposed to be.”

The game comes back on and the volume is loud again, the conversation over. We’re guys. We’re great like that.

The TV goes silent again. “Would you take Reese back?”

So I’m wrong. We’re two women sitting around talking about our exes I guess. “Fuck. Why are you saying her name?”

“I’m serious, Danny. Would you?”

I drop my head into my hands, frustrated by more than just his question. “I don’t know. I’ve been questioning myself lately. She looked good, but do I know her anymore? I don’t know anything about her life in New York other than where she works. That’s not you and Jane. Don’t compare.”

“I think we’re kind of in the same boat here. Whether you want to believe it or not.”

“Here’s what I don’t want. I don’t want to think about it. It’s all I’ve been thinking about—”

“See?” He reaches toward me. “Here’s your oar. Get to paddling.”

“We’re not in the same boat. You’ve been broken up for more than a year but have kept in touch. Reese and I haven’t.”

He starts paddling with an imaginary oar. “Until now, which conveniently you haven’t told me about. How’d it go the other night?”

“It sucked. Reese looked incredible. She’s smart and funny and when she drinks, she gets all adorable and stuff.”

He grins some righteous smile he’s pulled out of his ass to taunt me with. “Adorable, dude, really?”

I shake my head at myself. “I’m done for. She’s gonna destroy me twice.”

“Or maybe this time… maybe this time it works out.”

“Speak for yourself and turn the game back on. Enough of this emotional feely stuff.”

He chugs his beer. “You know I’m right.”