Center Stage (Bright Lights Billionaire #2) (2 page)

"You've had that trailer for three years. It's not temporary." She reached up and brushed her fingers over the soft skin below my eyes. "Have you decorated your house yet?"

"No, but what does that have to do with the vibe in my trailer?" I snorted, not wanting to dive into whatever she was headed toward, and yet she wouldn't let me escape the truth.

"It has nothing to do with the trailer, and everything to do with you." She poked me in the chest and offered me a weak smile. "Get dressed in that black button down and grey slacks. Actually, put on the slacks and bring the shirt with you."

"You're trying to seduce me again, aren't you?" I winked and took a step back as she chuckled.

"We all are, love." She turned and left me there with the realization of what the vibe was.

Emptiness.

Chapter 2

Riley

"Excuse me! Excuse me! Waitress!" The older lady that stood, yelling at me from the back of the restaurant, had been giving me hell since the moment she sat down at my table.

I cleared my throat and apologized to the guy who was trying to order at one of my other tables.

"I'll be right back. Sorry about this." I gave him a sweet smile that I didn’t feel and walked back toward her in time to watch her drop down into her chair with a loud huff. "I'm sorry, ma'am. What can I help you with?"

"Firstly, you can take this steak back to the kitchen. I said
medium rare
and this is not medium rare at all." She poked at the steak on her plate and glanced back up at me. "What did you write down? Medium well?"

"No, ma'am. I wrote down medium rare. I'm happy to-"

"Let me see your tablet." She extended her hand and watched me with complete disdain. It had been
that day
already, so having the wicked witch of the west seated in my section was no big surprise. The fact that I had exactly thirty minutes after my shift to drop off a late paper with my English professor and change for the Eon press conference that night had my stomach in knots. I'd been running back and forth to the bathroom my whole damn shift.

"Wilma. Jeez." The little old man beside her offered me a weak smile. "It's all right, dear. Just get the steak fixed."

"It's not all right. Let me see the tablet." She popped the table twice, causing me to jump. Where I wasn't at all docile, having someone snap at me when I was riding on E and headed toward a long night of hiding myself behind a facade of indifference was too much to handle.

I pulled my notepad from my front pocket and handed it to her as I picked up her plate and walked it back into the kitchen.

"This was supposed to be medium rare." I set it on the counter as the chef pulled it close and rolled his eyes.

"That
is
medium rare. See this?" He poked at it and blood oozed out onto the plate. "Learn your cooking temperatures, Riley. You're wasting my time."

"Great, well, the woman at my table is having a fucking conniption because it's not medium rare to her. Can you please throw another steak on the grill for her? Today's not the day for this." I put my hands on my hips, suddenly so damn tired of my old life.

Barely skimming by from paycheck to paycheck left me angry and quick to tear someone's throat out. The situation with my mother losing our house and lying about keeping my things safe in the process unraveled me even more. I had a bright future ahead of me for sure, but seeing that I was stuck in the present, the future was a world away.

"No. Take it back out there and tell her that the steak is medium rare. Period." He narrowed his eyes on me before turning around and going back to the insanity in the kitchen. The rumors at the restaurant that I’d seen Ethan Lewis had half the place loving me, and the other half not wanting anything to do with me. It was like I was ‘selling out’ by trying to make something better of my life. Fuck them too.

"Fine." I turned and walked back out to the table.

"Here. Obviously it's not you who's an idiot, unless you put in the wrong thing when you typed it in. Where is the ticket you submitted? I want to see it," the woman barked and handed me back my notepad.

The masculine voice behind me caused me to jump. "Hey, we're just going to grab something from somewhere else. This is taking forever."

"No, don't do that. I'll be right with you. I promise." Inadequacy raced through me, and I couldn't help but wonder for the hundredth time why I had decided to wait tables. Nothing was more stressful. People were rude, uncaring assholes on good days...

"I was talking to you first!" the woman barked and stood up.

"You know what? Get your own damn steak." I took off my apron, pulled my keys and what little bit of cash I had from it, and tossed it on the table. "I hope no one ruins your day like you've ruined mine."

I turned and walked out of the restaurant not feeling free like I wish I did, but worrying about how I was going to help Charlotte pay rent until my first advance from Eon Productions came in. I wished it was the worst of my worries, but it wasn't. Facing Ethan Lewis for the first time in almost a week was.

I'd lied about the almost kiss at his house a week before. Shameful pride left me trying to backtrack and cover up my need to push our budding relationship into something it never would be, nor should it. Even more than that, the sickening realization that he was seeing someone, or at least sleeping with her, was devastating. Why I thought an icon like him didn’t have women warming his bed every other night of the week was beyond me. He wasn’t living a normal man’s life. He wasn’t a boy I’d met at school at the coffee shop and our love affair would soon start.

He was Ethan fucking Lewis and
this
wasn’t the movies. I needed to remember that above all else.

I got into my clunky car and tried to start the engine only to have the car sputter and die.

"No. Please. Come on. Not today. I just made up half an hour. Don't take it back from me," I growled and rubbed the dashboard as I tried again. "Come on, baby. Start up."

Nothing. The fucking thing wouldn't even turn over.

I let my head drop as someone tapped on my window. My manager, Gerald.

"Fucking awesome." I opened the door and got out of the car seeing that I didn't have the ability to roll the window down.

"Where are you going? Someone confronts you over a steak you mess up, and you quit? That doesn't sound like you at all. What's gotten into you? This isn’t how the real world works. It’s not a film." His words were far harsher than they should have been due to his tone and the ugly scowl on his face.

"I'm tired, Gerald. Taking one more person's shit today is likely to send me into being postal. I thought it would be best to walk out instead of try and explain to the woman who was ripping me a new one that her order was right. That I didn't mess up, the kitchen didn't mess up, no one fucking messed up. She wants someone to beat down, and honestly, I'm too beat down by my own shit right now to take anyone else's."

"That's stupid." He put his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes. "Get back inside and apologize to her."

"I'd rather eat a turd." I leaned down into the car and got my wallet out of the console. "Thanks for the last few years. I quit."

"Don't ask me for a reference. Quitters don't get advances in life." He moved back as I pulled my phone from my purse and started toward home. It was five miles, but I was praying that I could get a hold of my best friend Charlotte, or if nothing else, my fuck-buddy Jace. Surely someone would be free.

"Okay. Thanks for that. It was only three years of my life of never missing a shift, getting here early and always smiling no matter how much my life or this shitty job sucked." I shook my head in disgust and pulled the phone to my ear as it rang. He continued to yap, but I walked down the street with my chin up, ignoring him.

How ready I was for a different life. I wasn't sure the life that Ethan lived was necessarily the one I was after, but one where I didn't have to search for change in the bottom of my car for gas or a loaf of bread at the store would be righteous. To have people pawing at me and worshiping the ground I walked on sounded horrid, but I would take that any day for a paycheck capable of pulling me out of poverty.

Charlotte's phone sent me to voice-mail, and I growled loudly and called Jace instead. He answered on the first ring.

"Hey, baby girl. What's up? Need me?" The laughter in the background told me quickly that he wasn't alone.

"I'm stuck on the side of the road off Vance and Timmons. Can you come give me a ride or are you too busy?" I kept my tone light. Jace was a good guy with a healthy lust for women – all women. He didn't deserve my shit, and after us being friends with benefits since our senior year in high school, he didn't much put up with it either.

"I'm good. Just leaving a barbecue. I'll be there in three minutes. I'm actually just down the road. Must be your lucky day." He chuckled.

"Not really, but thanks." I dropped the call and stopped on the side of the road to find somewhere to sit. It was still chilly out, but would be warming up soon. Spring in Los Angeles was fantastic and half the reason I still lived there. The other half was the hope that I'd eventually make it as an actress, and it would seem I had.

I still couldn't wrap my mind around the idea of being a part of a motion picture. One that people bought tickets to and gathered their friends to see. They would buy buckets of popcorn and a cold soda to sit down in a cold theater and see me. Well, see Ethan Lewis, but me too.

Ethan Lewis.

A long sigh left me as I brushed my fingers through my short strawberry-blond hair and tried not to ride that train of thought too long. Between his wavy chestnut hair and warm brown eyes, I was barely keeping my nose above the water. He had a million personalities that ranged from cheeky to sweet to insanely sexy to dominant. I wanted to know about each of them and get intimate with him in ways that would leave us both drowning.

But... I was being unreasonable. I was a nobody for now. That would change over time, but even that scared me to think about. And even as a nobody, I didn’t look anything like the slutty blond he’d obviously taken to his bed after our meeting the week before, nor did I look like Trish Desmount. They were glamorous and I was plain.

“And filthy.” I glanced down at my white shirt that was stained with food from my long shift at the restaurant.

"Hey, sexy. You need a ride?" Jace smiled and waved me over to his navy blue mustang. "I got a car and a cock with your name on it."

“You finally had my name tattooed on your jimmy?” I laughed as he scoffed.

“Come find out, Riley.” It was a challenge I wouldn’t make good on for a little while the way my calendar was stacking up, but as soon as I could… I would. Having him paw at me sounded delicious, fun, healing.

I gathering my stuff and realizing that my folder with my paper that was due was back in the employee locker room at the restaurant. "Fuck," I grumbled and walked to the car.

"What's up, buttercup?" He reached over and cupped the side of my face, pulling me in for a long kiss.

I melted into it as my eyes fluttered close. He was like coming home. How quickly I could see us turning into something more than we were, and where I wanted that a week back, I wasn't so sure anymore. Ethan seem to be working to take up more and more of my mental energy, and funny enough, he hadn't done a damn thing to deserve the space. He had actually done everything
not
to.

"I left my paper back at the restaurant." I kissed him again and moved back, licking at my lips and enjoying the subtle peppermint flavor of his tongue.

"Let's go get it." He watched me as if waiting for approval of his plan.

"No. Just take me home. I have that big-ass party for the film crew tonight. They're going to do a press conference and announce me as the female lead." I shrugged. My excitement was pressed below the weight of having to work with Ethan after I lied about my intent. Hurting him the way I had seemed wrong and took the joy out of a moment in my life that I should have been beyond elated about. Between that and being tired from not sleeping, I was sucking at life.

"You sure?" He gripped my hand and pulled it into his lap, stroking his erection with both our hands.

I chuckled and pulled my hand back. "I'm sure."

"I wanna go with you. Can you take a date?" He licked at the side of his mouth and gave me a sexy grin. "Might meet the woman of my dreams there."

"I thought
I
was the woman of your dreams." I snorted and pulled out my phone, texting Charlotte to see if she was still going with me too.

"You are baby, but you're taken." He reached over and ran his fingers up my thigh softly.

"No, I'm not." I trapped his hand. "Don't. I don't have time for anything other than getting ready. I want to look my best."

"You are taken." He pulled back and let out a soft sigh. "You belong to your career and the idea that I'll one day wake up a good guy."

I rolled my eyes and reached for the door handle as he pulled up to my apartment. "You can come tonight with me if you want to. Charlotte is coming too."

"Can I have you when we get back from it?" He reached over and brushed his fingers down my neck before gripping it softly. "Will you let me strip you down and bathe you with my tongue, fuck you with my fingers?"

Warmth danced in the center of my stomach, but cooled quickly at the simple fact that he wasn't Ethan. For some odd reason my libido was convinced that my soon-to-be co-star was the only man who could make me writhe in pleasure. I obviously needed a reset.

"Absolutely," I lied and leaned across the console of the car and kissed him hard and deep, letting my eyes close as he tugged me into his seat more. Our kiss turned into a quick petting session, and I was aching and dripping wet by the time I untangled from him and got out of the car.

At least I'd proven to myself that it wasn't just Ethan that could get me going, or was it? I couldn't deny that Jace had become him behind my closed eyes.