From Sanctum with Love (Masters and Mercenaries #10)(70)

Did she? She told herself it was easier to be out of that life, but lately she missed the peace that came with writing.

“Yeah, I get what you’re saying. When you find something good, you gotta hold on. Too many people don’t get that. They’re all trying to change him. I don’t think Jared wants to do those dumb films where everyone’s in historical crap. He’s happy where he is. I don’t get why we can’t be happy where we are.”

Because that wasn’t the way Hollywood worked. “He needs to decide what he wants. He can actually have a great career doing nothing but TV and genre films. That fan group is very loyal to the actors who treat them well.”

“See, that’s what I say. I don’t think he’ll be happy doing all those fancy movies.”

The door to the kitchen came open and Lena walked in, a long-suffering sigh issuing from her mouth. “Are you on that again? God, get with the program. In order for Jared to move up in the world, people have to take him seriously. That’s never going to happen as long as he’s wearing superhero costumes and spanking girls onscreen. Let the rest of us handle the career part.” She looked over at Kori. It was kind of the way Kori suspected she would look at a bug on the floor. Or a non-designer shoe. “As for you, here’s the paperwork. I need you to sign and send it in, and then the work on your car will be paid for. I have no idea why anyone would want to trash your car. It’s pathetic enough as it is.”

Squirrel took the papers out of Lena’s hand and gave them to Kori. “I think it’s a nice car. I actually thought it was Kai’s car when I first saw it. It looked like something he would drive.”

Kori took the papers, looking them over. It wasn’t anything she couldn’t have done herself, but Jared seemed to want to make things easy for her. “No, Kai drives a Jeep. He likes to get out of the city as much as possible. He spends a lot of time hiking.”

Maybe that was something he could do alone since nature wasn’t really her thing. It was pretty and all but she was a city girl. Kai could go hiking and she could…

Write. She could write.

She shoved the thought out of her head. “Thanks for this. I appreciate it.”

“Squirrel, could you go and have the limo pulled around? We have an appointment with the manager of the men’s department at Neiman Marcus in a few minutes and then we’ll have lunch.” She actually gave him a small smile.

“All right, but I want to go by a game store. There’s a new game Jared wants. Bye, Kori.” Squirrel waved as he walked out.

The minute the door swung closed, Lena turned on her, that pretty face of hers going arctic.

“Am I about to get the mean girl speech?” Kori sipped on her coffee, waiting for whatever would happen next. She was pretty sure this was the part of the scene where she got told to stay away from someone’s man. Lena had the look down, but Kori wasn’t sure she’d be so good with dialogue.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I do have some things to say to you. I looked you up last night. I know that you used to be someone.”

Not bad. As hits went, it would be pretty good if Kori gave a real shit about that life anymore. She’d figured out a long time ago that if the “someone” she had to be was dependent on others, she was cool being “no one.” “Please continue.”

Lena frowned as though this conversation wasn’t going the way she thought it would, but she soldiered on. “You’re not going to use Jared to get back in the business. I know Morgan King. I called his wife last night. She told me all about you. How you pathetically clung to him for years. How you claimed to have written all his scripts. You would force him to put your name on them, too.”

She had to clear something up there. “Except that last one. I had very little to do with Our Time Together.”

Oh, it had been the script she’d left him over. Those ninety pages had chronicled what it had been like to grow up as Kori Williamson. It should have been a small film about how one young girl survived, about her tenuous relationship with her sister, how she’d come to finally admire her mother. She’d meant it to be an indie film. When she’d envisioned it, she’d thought about filming in real locations, the real neighborhood she’d grown up in. It was set during her high school years, during that time when she found out only she could lift herself up out of poverty and she had to do it by believing in her own talent.

The studio had turned it into a teen rom-com that had bombed so spectacularly it had taken Morgan and his new wife, Claudia, years to get another film in production.

Sweet, sweet karma.

“That film was so stupid,” Lena said with a sneer. “Anyway, Claudia warned me about you. You get your hooks into men so they’ll take you places. She says you’re going to try to sleep with Jared.”

Kori bit back a laugh. “Not at all. I have a relationship with his brother and I’m perfectly happy there. The idea of stepping into the spotlight gives me hives.”

Lena looked her over and obviously found her wanting. “The press would tear you up. Do you understand what they would do to you? Even if you could get into Jared’s bed, you would be the fat chick he was banging.”

“Absolutely,” she agreed. Anyone over a size zero was the fat chick in Hollywood. “More importantly though, I’m not interested in sleeping with Jared. I’m happy with Kai.”