Hollywood Divorces / Hollywood Wives: The New Generation (51 page)

Shelby nodded. Perhaps that was Linc’s problem. He could never forget his abusive father and the shocking violence he’d endured as a child. It was one of the reasons she always forgave him for his out-of-control drinking and vile moods.

That’s why she loved him so much–because, deep down, he wasn’t the big macho movie star, he was a little boy lost and he needed her. He also needed therapy, and one of these days she was convinced that he’d give in and she’d get him to spend more time with Brenda. If only he would, it might begin to solve their problems.

L
unch was a feast: giant pink prawns followed by succulent grilled chicken, and tomato and mozzarella pizzas. For dessert there was rich chocolate cake and coconut
gelato
.

‘I haven’t eaten this good since I got here,’ Cat announced, licking her fingers with glee.

‘You’re a fast-food girl, then, huh?’ Jonas said, leaning forward to remove a speck of chocolate from her lips.

‘This isn’t fast food, this is amazing.’

‘You’re easy to please,’ he said, thinking that sometimes she actually acted her age. It was most endearing.

‘Jump says I’m not.’

‘He’s wrong.’

She grinned. ‘You know what I’d like to do now?’

‘Go back to the boat?’ he said hopefully. ‘Because there’s a lot more party details I should be taking care of.’

‘Oh, no,’ she said, vigorously shaking her head. ‘Merrill promised I had you for the day, so now
I
want to go water-skiing.’

‘You’re not serious?’

‘Perfectly serious. Why?’ she said, wrinkling her nose. ‘Don’t you ski?’

‘I tried telling you earlier–I didn’t have your privileged upbringing.’

‘Privileged upbringing, my ass! Warring parents who were always on the run. Jump taught me in Australia. We spent ten days exploring the Great Barrier Reef. It was way cool!’

‘He sounds like quite a guy.’

‘You’d like him,’ she said, adding mischievously, ‘and now that I know you’re not gay, you two could be friends.’

‘Does that mean he’s homophobic?’

‘No way.’

‘Then why couldn’t we be friends if I
was
gay?’

‘Which you’re not.’

‘Not.’

‘Jump gets along with everyone.’

‘Is he bisexual?’

‘Come
on
,’ she protested. ‘Stop teasing me.’

‘Do I have to?’ he said, mock-serious.

‘Yes, Jonas, you have to.’

‘Y’know,’ he said, stretching, ‘I’ve got to admit that this has been kind of relaxing, getting away from the big man for a day.’

‘You need to do it more often,’ she said, leaping up and reaching for his hand. ‘Cause now I’m about to teach you how to water-ski.’

He started to protest, but she was having none of it. ‘What’s under your shorts?’ she demanded.

‘Excuse me?’

‘Have you got on underwear?’

‘Of course,’ he said, alarmed. ‘And I’m
not
skiing in them.’

She stifled a grin at the thought of Jonas in his underwear. Boxers or briefs? Aware of his label fetish, she decided they had to be Calvin Klein and tight.

‘Come on,’ she said, pulling him up. ‘I’m buying you swim-shorts to protect your modesty, then you can learn.’

‘Don’t
want
to learn,’ he objected.

‘Yes, you
do
,’ she said insistently, ‘’cause when you’re a big producer making huge meaningful movies, you’ll come here and knock the pants off everyone with your cool athletic abilities. How about
that?
’

He liked the fact that she had confidence in him. Maybe she wasn’t such a pain in the butt, after all. ‘So you actually believe I’ll make it?’ he said.

‘Anyone who has a passion is gonna make it. Hey–I’m a classic example. Dropped out of school at fifteen, was a major druggie–only don’t mention that to Merrill.’

‘I quit school at fifteen too.’

‘You did?’

He nodded.

‘How come?’

‘My old man needed extra drinking money.’

‘Sounds like a story I should hear.’

‘Another time.’

‘Promise?’

‘Sure,’ he said, uncomfortable because he didn’t like revealing stuff about himself. After all, she couldn’t possibly be interested. She was merely killing time until she hooked up with her rock ’n’ roll husband.

Two hours later, half drowned and surprisingly content, they lay side by side on sunbeds on an almost empty beach. Cat was oblivious to the attention coming her way: stripped down to her bikini she was a total looker, tall, with her athletic body, spiky blonde hair and classic features. Even her various small tattoos and piercings failed to detract from her beauty.

Jonas had trained himself not to have feelings for any of the actresses he came into contact with–and, working with Merrill, there were many. But Cat was not an actress, she was a writer/director, and he suddenly found himself very attracted to her, which he realized was not a wise thing. This kind of attraction had not happened to him in a while.
He’d given up on girlfriends because they were too time-consuming–not to mention demanding. He preferred to concentrate all his energy on Mr Zandack, a manic boss.

Watching Cat, it suddenly occurred to him what he was missing.

‘Man, you were so hysterical on the skis,’ she said, breaking into a fit of giggles. ‘I
warned
you not to bend your arms. The moment you bent ’em it was all over–you took such a dive.’

‘Glad you’re amused.’

‘I wish you could’ve seen the expression on your face!’

‘I had a better time sitting in the boat watching you.’

‘I’m a fine skier, huh?’ she said boastfully. ‘A champion!’

‘Not bad.’

‘Ha! Admit it–I
am
a champion!’

‘Yes, Cat, you’re pretty damn great.’

Christ! He’d better put a hold on his feelings before he made an idiot of himself. She was being friendly and he was falling in love.

‘We should be getting back to the yacht,’ he said, checking his watch.

‘How’ll we get back?’

‘I thought maybe we’d swim.’

‘
And
he has a sense of humour,’ she said, laughing.

‘You were under the impression I didn’t?’

‘Well…I
am
getting to know you better. You’re not as uptight as I thought.’

‘Uptight?’

‘Don’t sound surprised. You’re
so
into your work, it’s frightening.’

‘And that’s a bad thing?’

‘All work and no play…’ she said flirtatiously.

‘Let’s go,’ he said abruptly.

‘Five more minutes,’ she pleaded, rolling on to her
stomach and, to his discomfort, unclipping her bikini top. ‘I’m having
such
an amazing time.’

‘You can sunbathe on the yacht,’ he pointed out, trying not to stare.

‘No, I can’t. The crew are everywhere, and I don’t fancy the idea of Zandack leering at me with a hidden camera. I bet he has them stashed all over the place.’

‘No, he doesn’t.’

‘Face it, Jonas. He’s a dirty old man. And old perverts get off on hidden cameras. By the way,’ she added casually, ‘does he proposition all his actresses too?’

‘How would I know?’

‘Cause you know everything he does.’

‘Not everything,’ he said, marvelling that this girl possessed such an extraordinary talent for movie-making. Where did it come from? Today she was just a kid having fun.

‘C’mon,’ she said persuasively. ‘We’re friends now. You can tell me.’

‘Nothing to tell,’ he said. ‘And if there was–I’d be loyal to my boss.’

‘Loyal, my ass.’ She snorted. ‘You think he’d be loyal to you?’

‘Yes.’

‘You could’ve warned me about him,’ she said accusingly.

‘Why would I do that? You might have liked it.’

‘Yeah, sure,’ she said sarcastically. ‘There’s
nothing
I like better than sucking—’

‘That’s enough,’ he interrupted, hurriedly holding up his hand.

She giggled. ‘You’re a prude.’

‘No, I’m not. Can we please go now?’

‘If you insist,’ she said, sitting up and fastening her top.

He attempted to avert his eyes, an impossible feat.

‘Tell me about tonight,’ she said, reaching for her shirt. ‘Who’ll be there I should play nice to?’

‘You don’t have to be nice to anybody,’ he assured her. ‘Your talent speaks for itself.’

‘Jonas,’ she said, wriggling her long legs into her shorts. ‘That’s the coolest thing you’ve ever said to me.’

Granting an interview for
Vanity Fair
was a treacherous path indeed. Faye had already negotiated the cover, so Lola felt confident that the photographs would be fantastic since
Vanity Fair
only employed the best. She was hoping the photographer would be Annie Leibovitz or Greg Gorman, both of whom she’d worked with before. However, she was nervous about the interview, especially as for once Faye had been unable to secure copy approval.

Thankfully the interviewer was male–she always enjoyed a better rapport with men. Sometimes women were jealous of her, even though she did nothing to promote their feelings of inadequacy–in fact, she went out of her way to be extra nice to them.

She walked into the interview, attitude in place. Gorgeous, yet humble. Sexy, yet approachable. A girl who’d made it from nothing and now appreciated every minute of her phenomenal success.

The interviewer, an older man of stature, put her at ease immediately, and then they were off.

As usual, Faye had warned her that she was not to talk about Tony. ‘What if
he
brings him up?’ she’d said. ‘I have to say
something
.’

‘You’ll say what I told you before,’ Faye had answered sternly. ‘And remember, you are now a married woman so it would not be appropriate for you to discuss another man.’

‘I know,’ Lola had argued, ‘but by the time the magazine hits the stands I might not
be
a married woman.’

‘Nobody knows that, do they, dear?’

‘Surely the magazine will be pissed if I talk lovingly about Matt, then dump him? They won’t have time to change their copy.’

‘Go ahead and
pretend
that you’re happily married,’ Faye had insisted, refusing to change course. ‘We’ll deal with the divorce when it comes.’

So that was exactly what she did. She talked about her past movies, her future career plans, Matt, and the things they enjoyed doing together. ‘We like sending out for pizza and watching videos,’ she found herself saying. ‘The simple things are best. Family, close friends. Our favourite evenings are spent staying at home.’

Thankfully, it was over after an hour and a half.

‘God!’ she complained in the car driving back to the hotel. ‘It’s so tough. I have to keep a smile on my face, listen to everything he says, ask him about
his
family and appear to be interested. The truth is if I saw him on the street tomorrow, I wouldn’t even remember his name.’

‘Why do you feel you have to put on this persona for journalists?’ Faye asked. ‘Why not be yourself?’

‘
You
try it, Faye,’ she said irritably. ‘It isn’t easy. They come in with a preconceived idea of who I am and what they intend to write. Because I’m sexy and successful, they immediately think I’m going to be a diva or a bitch. It takes mucho energy and concentration to change their minds.’

‘You do a good job, Lola.’

‘Thanks.’

‘Try and get some rest before the party tonight.’

‘I plan to.’

‘And since I won’t be there, make sure that you and Matt do not fight in public. There will be photographers everywhere.’

‘Yes, Faye, I promise, Faye,’ Lola chanted, fed up with hearing the same old thing.

She ran into a couple of producers and an important director on her way up to her suite. It was always good to be seen in the right places.

She entered the suite on a high, from which she rapidly came down when she was greeted by the sight of Matt lying on a massage table in the middle of the living room wearing nothing but a towel. The masseuse, clad in an electric blue halter top and crotch-hugging shorts, looked more like a hooker than a professional.

‘Oh,’ Lola said sarcastically. ‘I do hope I’m not disturbing you.’

‘Naw, that’s okay,’ Matt said, not getting it as usual. ‘Nadine’s easing the tension in my back.’

Lola checked out his towel, and noticed that he had an impressive hard-on.

‘I’ll be in the bedroom, I need my privacy,’ she said, seriously pissed that he had some strange woman in their suite. For all he knew the woman could be a spy for the tabloids, and
he
was lying there with a hard-on. It simply wasn’t cool. Plus her stylist, makeup and hair people would be arriving soon for touch-ups, and she wanted to be free to wander around in her robe. Matt was an albatross hanging around her neck. She would be so much happier when he was out of her way.

Deciding to take a shower, she marched into the bathroom and slammed the door.

Standing under the stream of warm water washing away her cares, she began to relax.

Naturally, after a few moments she started thinking about Tony and whether she should call him one more time. She couldn’t blame him for being mad, his macho pride was hurt. If the situation were reversed she would be livid, and probably never speak to him again. Perhaps
he needed more persuading that they should get back together.

Tony Alvarez. She thought about his long black curly hair, dark sexy eyes, low-down dirty laugh, and the way he touched her in all the right places.

Yes. Tony Alvarez. He was the man.

And she wanted him back.

The moment Shelby entered their suite, Linc was all over her, barely giving her a chance to catch her breath. ‘You look beautiful. I missed you
so
much. C’mere, sweetheart, I love you,’ he said, pulling her towards him. ‘Lemme see your ring. It sparkles like your eyes.’

He smelled of mouthwash, a bad sign. And he was extremely loving–even more so than usual. She wanted to ask him if he’d been drinking, but she knew he’d get furious and deny it, so what was the point?

He almost carried her into the bedroom. The bed was strewn with rose petals, and a bottle of champagne stood in an ice bucket close by.

‘It’s not our anniversary,’ she said, quite startled. ‘What is all this?’

‘It’s for
you
, baby. I’m showing you how much I love you.’

‘Then let’s not open the champagne.’

‘Don’t you trust me?’ he asked, sounding hurt. ‘I told you, I’m not drinking any more. Hey, one lousy glass of champagne never hurt anyone. Right, sweetie?’

‘You never stop at one glass, Linc.’