Wild Trail (Clean Slate Ranch #1)(86)

Wes didn’t know the entire history of Miles’s on-again/off-again relationship with his best friend Dallas. They’d met in college. Fucked around on occasion. Lived together post-graduation. The whole reason Wes had gotten an apartment with Miles last year was because Miles had declared his friendship with Dallas over, and he’d needed to get away from him for a while.

Dallas had shown up last month at the club where Wes and Sophie had taken Miles for his twenty-fifth birthday, and they’d gone off together. Miles hadn’t discussed what was said between them with Wes, and Wes had given the guy his privacy. But Wes had disliked Dallas instantly. He seemed weirdly possessive of Miles, and that turned Wes off.

“Have you told Dallas to fuck off?” Wes asked, glad to be talking about someone else’s problems, even if it was about Miles’s creepy ex.

“Repeatedly,” Miles replied. “With him, it’s easier to ignore than engage.”

“I figured you guys hashed things out on your birthday.”

Miles stiffened. “I have to get ready for work.” He started to stand.

“Dude, I’m sorry, I wasn’t prying,” Wes said, hurrying to stand, too. Worried he’d offended Miles somehow and a little anxious over why Miles refused to discuss his birthday.

“It’s fine. Listen, Mack seems like a reasonable guy, okay? And the ghost town might not even be able to open until next spring, depending on the weather this winter. Maybe you’ll be able to do the movie and still work with Mack. Just...trust him, okay? And trust yourself. Not all of us have the same good instincts you have.”

Well, that wasn’t a strange thing to say, or anything.

Wes watched Miles disappear into the bathroom, wishing like hell he knew how to engage Miles. Make him talk about whatever was bothering him. But the guy was not only secretive, he was stubborn as hell. Wes eyeballed Miles’s phone, which he’d left on the couch, then tried to turn it on. Password protected.

I am a shitty friend, prying like this.

If Miles wanted Wes to know what was going on with Dallas, he’d tell Wes. For now, Wes had to trust that. And he had to trust Mack. Trust himself. Trust that this would all work out exactly as it was supposed to.

*

Never. Again.

Wes had flown out of San Francisco at eight in the morning, so he arrived at LAX by nine, to be picked up by a driver and taken across town to the audition, which was scheduled for ten, only to be shuttled back to the airport to make a one o’clock board time home so he wasn’t late for work at the restaurant. Nope. Never again.

Even though he’d spent most of that block of time sitting on his ass, he got back to the apartment exhausted. He’d texted Mack frequently throughout the day, mostly to keep him apprised of Wes’s location, and he’d sent the last after flopping into the taxi that drove him home.

He had an hour before he needed to be at work, so Wes sank into the couch and chanced giving Mack a call. He hadn’t returned many of Wes’s texts, which was fine, because he had to work, too.

The phone only rang three times before Mack picked up. “Hey, you. How did it go today?”

“I think it went well,” Wes replied, grinning like a fool just hearing Mack’s voice. And he tried not to gush, his conversation with Mack yesterday morning fresh in his mind. “The producer is super chill, and I met my potential costar, John, and we had good chemistry.”

He’s hot and kind and we hit it off so well, and I really want to do this movie.

He kept that to himself.

“That’s great,” Mack said, sounding totally genuine. “How about the actual audition?”

“I nailed it. They were totally impressed I didn’t need the sides to do the scene.”

Mack chuckled. “Think that gave you an advantage?”

“Maybe. Thankfully John didn’t hold it against me, because he needed the sides. They still have a few other actors they’re auditioning, but everyone seemed to really like me. And they all knew my history with Drake, and they didn’t care. John even said if I got the part, I could use any publicity interviews we did to set the record straight on what happened back then.”

Wes had nearly hugged John over that idea—the chance to finally tell his side of the story and prove he wasn’t a vindictive asshole who would out someone. He could finally clear his name down in La La Land.

“This sounds like a great opportunity for you. I’m so proud of you, Wes, I mean it.”

Wes heard the genuine pride in his voice, even if it was underscored with sadness. “Mack, can I ask you something personal about Geoff?”

A long pause. “Yes.”

“You said he was an actor, too, so did you guys ever talk about what would happen if he made it big? Or even got a role in a film that took him away for a long period of time?”

Mack sighed. “Some. We talked more about it at the start, but then after a while, his parts stayed small and far between, so it stopped feeling like it would ever be an issue. Being apart.”

“How did you feel about the idea of him traveling, though?”

“Honestly? It worried me a lot, because Geoff was an extremely flirtatious guy with a high sex drive. I worried that he’d cheat again, especially after he did cheat.” Mack snorted loudly. “Joke was on me, since he didn’t have to go farther than Hollywood Boulevard to cheat on me.”