Chase Me (Broke and Beautiful #1)(65)

She wasn’t coping, though. After the two days she’d spent in bed, she’d somehow pulled herself together enough to leave the apartment, needing to disappear into her familiar routine. She’d been going on auditions nonstop, grinding her sleep-deprived self into the ground. All because she missed the gorgeous f*cker like crazy. Even though she hadn’t heard a word from him since that day, apart from the deliveries that had finally started to ebb, he hadn’t left her alone for a second. She woke up to his laugh and fell asleep to his heartbeat. How in the hell was that possible, when they’d only spent one night together? Had she contracted some kind of illness as she’d slept in his bed, which was ruining her for life?

Johan had called and apologized, although since the call had been made with his publicist on the line feeding him the sullen apology, it hadn’t technically counted. She’d filed a complaint with the studio in an effort to make sure girls weren’t put in that position anymore, and they’d promised to take the complaint seriously. Knowing it was bullshit, she’d taken it one step further by filing a complaint with the police, only to be referred to an officer who’d recorded an existing complaint, filed by Louis. The cop explained he knew Louis from the courthouse. He’d anticipated her concern about media attention and assured her there would be none, thanks to a favor called in by Louis. She couldn’t even summon the energy to be angry at Louis for calling the police without consulting her. Instead, it only reminded her how outraged he’d been on her behalf outside Johan’s office. How his arms had felt like the safest place in the universe.

God, not one minute passed where she didn’t wonder about him. Thinking of his tortured face when he’d arrived on the scene with Johan. Hearing his words playing on repeat until she had to do a mental scream to drown them out. She wanted him to be wrong. He had been wrong to go behind her back and omit the truth. But his actions had been done in consideration of her, and that’s where she got tripped up. Her anger over what he’d done was tempered with an annoying sprinkle of gratefulness. He cared. He’d done it because he cared. And now he was gone.

Roxy pressed her fingers to her forehead and massaged the sudden ache. So tired. She was just so damn tired. It hurt to be back at square one, just another face in a sea of actresses. Yes, her optimism over the part in Johan’s movie had been cautious, but she’d let herself hope just a little too much. Part of her wanted to give up, but then she’d have time to think. About Louis. About how long she’d been pounding the pavement with no success. She just had to push through. This empty feeling would eventually pass. Right?

Irritated with her defeated attitude, Roxy snatched up her high heels and rose to enter the building.

“Hey, you.”

A rough Queens accent halted her in her tracks. She turned on the top step to find two young guys looking up at her. They were both good-looking in vastly different ways. One was tall and muscular, head shaved, jeans threadbare. The other, dark-haired one looked like he was hiding a whole lot behind his glasses and white dress shirt. No mistaking it, they were both pissed as hell.

“Are you Roxy?” Shaved Head called up to her.

Oh, she so wasn’t in the mood for this. Whatever this was. “Who the f*ck wants to know?”

“That’s her, all right,” Glasses said dryly.

She split a glare between them. “Mind telling me how you know my name and what this little ambush is about?”

“I’ll tell you what it’s about. We want our friend back.” Shaved Head rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. “I just got used to him, all right? I liked having him around.”

Glasses muttered something to Shaved Head that sounded like Simmer down, but he was looking at her as if taking her measure. His gaze was so intelligent and discerning that she felt a little exposed being on the receiving end of it. “We just wanted to talk. It’s not like Louis to be this messed up.” He shifted on his feet. “He did what he did because he couldn’t help it, Roxy.”

Roxy’s attention had snagged on the words messed up. Her heart twisted painfully. She didn’t like hearing that. Not at all. Out of necessity, she put it aside and focused on what else Glasses had said. “Of course he could have helped it. He made a decision. No one forced him.”

Shaved Head snorted, looking ultra-disappointed in her. Which really pissed her off, since they didn’t even know her. Nor did she know them. They didn’t have any right to come here and throw kerosene on her brittle emotions, then set them on fire. Her feet wouldn’t move, though. She hadn’t heard Louis’s name spoken anywhere outside her head in a week, and hearing it now, hearing about him, was like a drug feeding into her veins. Calming her down. It didn’t make any sense.

“Who are you two, anyway? His fan club?”

Glasses jerked a thumb toward Shaved Head. “This is Russell and I’m Ben. Nice to meet you.” He ignored Roxy’s frown and continued. “Look, you spent enough time with Louis to know that—”

“Too much time,” Russell interjected. “Valuable bullshitting and beer drinking time.”

Ben sighed. “Louis doesn’t know how to leave things unfixed. He saw you were having a problem, he knew how to fix it. So he did.”

“If you ask me, you’re ungrateful.” When her mouth dropped open, Russell shrugged belligerently. “I call it like I see it.”