Finding Kat (15 page)

“They’re supposed to start next month. They are cutting it close with the casting. They have announced the roles for a few of the minor characters but they haven’t nailed down Lilly or Jackson. I did hear they were close to closing the deal on who is playing Jackson. They are just waiting to do a screen test with Lilly to make sure they have the right chemistry.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. I didn’t want her to have chemistry with anyone else. I knew it was inevitable; she was bound to play a role that involved kissing another guy and being “intimate” with him. She hadn’t dated much, despite being surrounded by good-looking actors and I tried to remember that she had been holding out for me. Somehow, I knew that seeing her on set wearing nothing and rolling around on a bed with another guy was going to get to me.

“How do you do it?” I asked him, hoping that he had some magic answer to keeping relationships alive under so much pressure.

“Trust, man. You gotta have a lot of trust in her and in your relationship. It’s hard. I’ve been on both sides the watcher and the one being watched and it’s not easy either way. You just have to remember that despite what it looks like, she is just acting. It’s just her job to be convincing. Just make sure that you talk about it. That if it’s bothered you, you tell her and let her reassure you, and trust that she is telling you the truth.” Lawson patted my shoulder and wandered off, striking up a conversation with one of his costars.

I believed in her but I knew that what we are building was new and hadn’t been tested. I hoped I was strong enough to pass the tests that were coming.

“What are you over here thinking so hard about, Rock Star? If you’re not careful you will cause permanent damage.” Kat joked as she pulled me in for a kiss.

“No worries about that. If it didn’t happen when I was a teenager making stupid decisions, I think my head can survive anything.” I made an effort to pull myself out of my gloomy thoughts. This was a party, a celebration of Kat’s accomplishments. I resolved to not borrow trouble and have fun with her while I could.

We danced and mingled for hours. I discovered that Kat was a very well-liked person in her crowd. Everyone knew and loved her for her sense of humor and her kindness. They shared stories with me about life on location, and what it was like to film in the rain and cold. The parties and events made acting look glamorous but I learned it was a lot of hard work in poor conditions sometimes. They had trailers to go back to, but they didn’t always have enough star power to merit getting the star treatment. Especially if another big name was on set and they were more demanding.

Kat introduced me to a lot of behind the scenes workers who had the best stories to tell. They told us about their first jobs as gofers for the directors and set designers. They laughed about outrageous demands and the funniest things they had to go buy at local stores.

“I was in this backwards tiny town in the middle of nowhere and I had to go grab some stuff for the set. I walked into the Walmart and bought rope, tanning oil, chocolate syrup, lighters, towels, a bicycle pump, and ten first aid kits. The look on the old woman’s face as she checked my stuff out was hilarious. I couldn’t resist messing with her. I said ‘My wife read that one book and told me she wanted to experiment. I’m not really sure what the lighters are for but the bicycle pump is a great idea.’ Her eyes got all wide but she didn’t say a word.” Dylan, the heavily bearded and tattooed man would have been out of place in a small town like that but he knew just how to take advantage of their stereotypes and turn it into something funny.

We laughed until he were bent holding our stomachs and I saw tears running down Kat’s cheeks. I wiped them for her, still laughing. I could tell, being around these people, why Kat loved her job so much. They had gotten to know each other pretty well on set and spent time together after work and became friends.

When Kat mentioned the party, I worried that I would be out of place or draw too much attention but everyone was nice and didn’t seem to care who I was. I had a really good time and I gained a much better understanding of Kat and what she did.

Chapter Seven

KAT

I woke up the next morning ready for anything. I had a lot of time-consuming calls to make today and I was so pumped up from the night before that I didn’t mind the thought of making them. First up on the list was my assistant. She was a work at home single mom and had the daunting task of answering all my emails and fan mail. She was a great friend but we didn’t see each other for fun outside of work as often as I would have liked.

“Cameron Davis speaking, how may I assist you today?” Cammie asked sounding as if she was a bit preoccupied

“Hi Cammie! It’s Kat. How is everything going over there today?” I smiled and sipped my coffee while sitting on my deck looking onto the beach.

“Kat! Ohmigod. I was hoping you would call today.” She said sounding something close to worried.

“That sounds ominous. What is going on?” I frowned.

“Well. You know the weird letters you get from that one guy? Well he started sending you presents too. And the tone of the letters is just off. He said he moved to LA to be closer to you. And he writes like you meet him for coffee. But the weird part is he seems to know where you like to go. It just doesn’t feel right.” She did seem a bit frazzled.

“That is kind of unusual. What kind of presents?” I wasn’t worried yet so much as curious.

“Well it looks like trash actually. And it’s from that coffee place closest to your house that you always go to on the way to work. I think he follows you.”

“That’s a little creepy. I don’t know if this is anything but thanks for letting me know. I will be on the lookout for anyone weird looking. I will talk to someone about security. I have a gate and a code for my house but maybe it’s time to step things up. Just in case.”

I chatted more with Cammie about the business emails and random junk mail I had gotten. When we hung up, I did some research on security in LA and was overwhelmed by the results I got. Then I had a light bulb moment. Cade! He would know more about this than me. He was the one with rabid fan girls.

“Cade Walker, boy toy extraordinaire at your service.” He answered charmingly.

“Hi boy toy. Got a minute?” I asked smiling.

“For you? I’ve got as long as you need. What’s up?” He asked with a smile in his voice.

“Well I’ve got a bit of a situation and I thought you might be in position to help me.”

“Of course, sweetheart. What do you need?” His voice softened in that way I liked so much.

“I got some weird fan mail recently. It seems like the guy is following me around. Cammie, my assistant, said the letters feel off. I don’t want to freak out and call in the National Guard or anything but maybe, I should boost my security just in case, but I don’t know anything about security. So I thought you might.”

“Following you? Kat that doesn’t sound good. I agree you need a guard at your house. I’d like to give you a recommendation for a security specialist that I know, and I want you to have a guy with you during the day but I don’t think you’ll go for that.” He sighed.

“I appreciate the thought and I will take you up on the recommendation for the guy for my house, but I don’t think I need to be babysat just yet. I will keep you informed though. I won’t take risks or ignore any potential signs of imminent danger.” I was really hoping this thing didn’t escalate.

“Thank you. I will go along with that plan for now, but if this guy approaches you or the letters become threatening we may need to take further steps to ensure your safety. I have a friend at the LA police department. If you can have your assistant give those letters to him, we can see what he thinks. He deals with this stuff all the time. I’d feel better with an expert opinion about the danger level of this guy.” He sounded so strong and in charge, I couldn’t help the warmth that spread through me at the thought of his concern.

“Sure. That sounds like a good idea. Just give me his info and I’ll tell Cammie.”

“Thank you for being so reasonable about this. I don’t like the feeling I get just hearing this guy is out there following you but we can’t do much about letters. It’s not against the law to send fan mail. I have to get back to the guys, but I want you to call me when you are done tonight. I want to go to dinner with you.”

“Dinner. Like a date? Cade Walker are you finally asking me out?” I couldn’t help my smile.

“I’m not asking. I’m telling. We are going to dinner and we are going to make out in the car on the way home and we may even get to second base.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Second base? Oh my. I can’t wait. I will call you later, rock star.” I grinned.

“Bye sweetheart.”

Oh, that smooth velvet voice gave me chills. I shivered and grinned feeling like a teenager with her first date. I was getting to second base! What exactly is second base… I better google it.

CADE

I was playing around in the studio when my phone rang. I held up a hand to the guys and walked into the booth.

“Cade Walker, boy toy extraordinaire at your service.” I said thinking of our previous conversations.

“Hi boy toy. Got a minute?” She asked. Funny girl. She had to know I would always make time for her.

“Of course, sweetheart. What do you need?” I asked. I was glad that she felt like she could call me for help.

“I got some weird fan mail recently. It seems like the guy is following me around. Cammie said the letters feel off. I don’t want to freak out and call in the National Guard or anything but maybe, I should boost my security just in case. But I don’t know anything about security. So I thought you might.” She said scaring the shit out of me.