Bad Boy Brody(57)

“Hey.” There was a whole bottle of rum on the counter. “Where’d that come from?”

“My purse.” She poured some in a second glass and passed it to Gayle. The two clinked their drinks together before Shanna turned to me. “This is a time that I need to drink.”

She downed half the liquid in one gulp.

Gayle winced after her sip and set it down. “That’s a bit strong for my taste.”

Shanna asked, “You want one?”

“Thought I had a drinking problem?”

She snorted, rolling her eyes and picking her glass up again. “You aren’t an alcoholic. We all know that, and you’re better now.” She motioned outside my patio door. “Your time of rest was really a time of sex, right? Goddamn. I would’ve loved to have tricked my boss into giving me vacation if that were the case.”

I sat at the kitchen table, watching Shanna finish her drink and pour a second one. Gayle took her glass, joining me at the table.

“I didn’t plan that. You decided to give me the time off.”

“You were supposed to be resting and healing.” Shanna grabbed the bottle and took a seat too.

“I was grieving my brother’s death.”

She eyed me skeptically. “How are you handling that? You seem like you’ve found your purpose in life.”

Shit. Maybe I had.

I didn’t want to think about that, so I waved it off. “I’m distracting myself.”

“With Wild Horse Woman out there?”

“Maybe.”

Gayle snorted. “Come on. How long has this been going on?” She leaned forward, her arms going flat on the table. “You need to tell me everything.”

So I did.

When we first arrived.

The night I saw her running from the house.

When the herd first made their appearance.

Gayle asked, “How did you two start talking?”

I hesitated.

“Brody!”

I relented. “I went on a walk, and she was at the river. That was our first conversation.”

“And how did you go from having a conversation to sticking your prick inside her?” Her eyes flashed. She wasn’t messing around.

I told her about the cabin visit.

She frowned, deep in thought. “That was why Abby Kellerman was here?”

“She said she heard Morgan talking to me. She wanted to know about her sister.”

Shanna sighed heavily. “None of this is in the script. None of it!”

Gayle handed over her drink. “Take mine.”

“Gladly.” Shanna picked it up and took a long drag from it.

Gayle focused on me again. “You still haven’t told me when you started sleeping with her.”

“The first night of my week off.”

That was it. She wasn’t going to get the details from me, and when my mouth remained clamped shut, Gayle realized it.

She nodded, leaning back in her seat. “You love her?”

That was also none of her business. “I care for her.”

She scoffed, her eyes flicking to the ceiling. She could read between the lines. “So what does this mean? We don’t know about her. What do we need to know?”

“What do you mean?”

“You were ready for trouble out there. I know you, Brody. I saw how you reacted to Kellerman Senior showing up. You expecting trouble?”

“Yes, but I don’t know what it will be.”

Shanna threw her hands in the air. “Why isn’t any of this in the script? It should be in the goddamn script. This girl should be in there. It’s a happily-ever-after ending right now. Karen Kellerman was murdered, but they wanted the end shot to be Peter and Karen riding off into the distance. Credits. Fucking credits. That’s how I’m supposed to tell the real ending, but this girl—she has a daughter! A daughter, who is like this mythical freak creature, and gorgeous, and she lives with fucking mustangs.” She was yelling. “It’s a much better fucking movie than what I have now.”

“Can you put her in?” Gayle asked, making my attention whip to her.

“No!” I jerked forward on my seat. “The contract is for the script how it was written. You can’t change it.”

“No. That isn’t true. I do have creative license, but I would have to do more research and look into how her presence would alter the plotline. If it alters it too much, you’re right. There might be areas that they would fight me on.”

Gayle leaned forward again. “The movie will still happen. Finding out about this girl won’t change that unless Shanna decides to start that fight.”

Shanna rounded on her, her chest puffing up. “I don’t—”

“They didn’t put her in for a reason, Shanna.” Gayle clipped her head from side to side. “They’re going to fight you on it, and you know it. They’ll take you to court, and they have the money to do it.”

“Aren’t they also the producers?”

Shanna groaned at my question as her hands flew into the air. “She’s a gold mine. She is drop-dead gorgeous. Her whole story is captivating. She’s sleeping with Hollywood’s bad boy, and she’s a Kellerman! A Kellerman. A movie needs to be made just about her.”