One Wild Night (Hollywood Chronicles #1)(35)

Her head angled to the side. “Then why do you think you’re in here and Paxton is out there? Why do you think he removed you from his side and left you in this room all by yourself? He’s had his fun and now he’s bored with you, Kaylee. Now it’s time for you to go home.”

I fought it. God, I fought it, but a single tear slipped free. I gritted my teeth against it, just as hard as I tightened my hands into fists. “No.”

She lifted the check. “He signed it, Kaylee. This is his goodbye. Now…we have a driver waiting for you out back to take you to pick up your things at the hotel. You need to be at the airport in ninety minutes to catch your flight.”

Anger burned.

So hot.

So unlike me.

But it was there, this ripping ache that felt too much like heartbreak.

She shoved the check at my chest.

I tore it out of her hand.

She stepped back, her grin nothing but a cruel I told you so.

I gripped it in a ball. “You think I want this?”

“Isn’t that what everyone wants? Money? Fame? The chance to step out of their pathetic lives just for a second, to glean a taste of what it might feel like to live on the other side? You got your fifteen seconds, Kaylee. It’s over. And I promise you, if I ever see you anywhere next Paxton Myles again, I will personally see to it that you regret it for the rest of your life.”

There was nothing I could do to stop them.

Tears flooded free, hot streaks that undoubtedly left rivers of black down my face.

Marks of shame and heartbreak and anger.

My laughter was grim and hurt when I looked at her, the check like a white flag of surrender waved between us. But I wasn’t going down without this bitch knowing exactly where I stood.

I tore it into a hundred tiny pieces and tossed them into the air.

For the first time, it was shock that widened her eyes.

“Maybe Paxton chose to use me. But when I told you I didn’t want anything from him other than to be with him, I meant it. Maybe I saw something in him I shouldn’t have seen. Maybe I am na?ve and simple and gullible.”

Maybe my one wild night had truly turned into a nightmare. Maybe it would cause me the greatest pain that I’d ever experienced after all.

I swallowed around the grief that threatened to spill out. I looked to where the pieces of the check were scattered around our feet on the plush carpeted floor.

“But I will never be this person.”

I started for the door, before I turned and looked at her from over my shoulder.

“And I am not for sale.”

Then I turned and fled.





Chapter 18





Paxton





Jackson MacPherson would have talked for another hour if I let him. I feigned interest, but honestly didn't give a shit what he had to say. My thoughts were only on Kaylee and getting her back to our suite. Fortunately, Kenneth stepped in and pulled me away when Jackson showed no reasonable attempts at letting up.

It's been an hour since I saw Kaylee, and my heart beats wildly against my chest as I slink down the dark hallway toward the green room. Never has a woman completely consumed my thoughts like Kaylee has. Never have I wanted to disappear from Hollywood and hole up in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with a woman I met mere days ago…until Kaylee.

My eyes scan the greenroom, searching for her in the sea of bodies that stand sipping on drinks and having artificial conversations about absolutely nothing of importance.

Kendall stands against the far wall, a tall champagne glass propped in her hand as she laughs at something the man she's speaking with has said. Her head bouncing with short bouts of laughter until she sees me. She stands up straighter, raising her chin when she sees me approach, my eyes still scanning the room for Kaylee.

“Where's Kay?” I ask, not giving a fuck about interrupting her conversation.

“Don't be rude,” she scolds me, cocking an eyebrow and pursing her lips. “Paxton, this is Ransom Jae.” I've heard the name before. Some new fucking Hollywood guy that everyone seems to be getting their shit in a twist over. Honestly, he looks like a boy-band dropout, nothing that really sets him apart from every other twenty-something Hollywood actor.

“What's up?” I ask, looking over his shoulder for Kaylee only to see the crowd in the room thinning as everyone begins to head out to one of the many after parties that follow these screenings. Just like the one where I met Kaylee.

Where is she?

I turn around, pinching my bottom lip between my fingers as I try to figure out where she could be. My feet shuffle across the carpet to Kenneth who stands crouched down picking up little pieces of paper off the floor with his right hand, with a cell phone still pressed to his ear with his left.

He freezes as my feet stop just inches from his fingers. “I have to go,” I hear him say with his thick British accent, as he shoves his phone down into one of his suit-jacket pockets.

“What are you doing?” I ask him as he stands straight up, his eyes meeting mine. His face is void of any expression as he swallows hard, his Adams apple bouncing nervously in his throat.

It's as if he's looking through me, and I turn around to see what he's looking at.

Or rather, who.

Kendall stands tall, her shoulders square with her head shaking from side to side in a silent warning to Kenneth.