Not Famous in Hollywood (Not in Hollywood Book 1) (15 page)

We found a little diner and the two of us
settled into our booth.

“What can I have?” asked Roberto, and I
couldn’t help but feel bad at the fact that he felt he needed to
ask that question.

“Just have what you want from the menu” I
said. “I’ll cover it.”

Roberto put down the menu. “What exactly am I
going to be doing to pay for this meal?” he asked suspicion in his
eyes.

Okay that made me feel lousy. How many times
had this kid had to ask that question? I wanted to give him a hug
but realized that any physical contact at this stage was not going
to be welcome.

“
Nothing” I
said. “I have some questions about the photos you took that you
sent to Ryan Hendricks, but you can choose whether to answer those
questions. If you would prefer you can have your meal and we will
talk later. If you don’t like the questions I am asking or you just
don’t want to talk about it, you can walk out of here, no harm, no
foul.”

“Okay” he said.

He then
proceeded to order a massive meal that made me worry that he was
going to be really sick by the end of it. Table manners seemed to
come in secondary to the need to put as much food into his mouth as
necessary. I touched him on the back of his hand softly to get his
attention.

“There isn’t a time limit” I said. “We can
stay here a while if you want to take it slower.” He grunted at me
but slowed down his eating. I had a brother so I knew how much a
teenage boy was capable of eating. After what seemed like forever
Roberto sat back with a satisfied look on his face.

“So” I asked, “are you going to stay and
talk?”

He stretched his arms out behind his
head.

“Sure babe” he said.

I cocked my head. “Don’t call me babe. I
really don’t like it.”

He grinned at me and in that moment I saw the
cheeky spirit that he had.

“What’s your real name?” I blurted out.

Not on the list of questions that we had but
all of a sudden it seemed to be important to me that I knew who
this kid was. Roberto looked disconcerted.

“
I’m not
going to turn you in to anybody” I said. “I just want to know who
I’m talking to.”

Roberto
looked around and in that moment I could see uncertainty. “My name
is Roberto,” he maintained stubbornly.

“
Any last
name Roberto?” I sighed, willing to accept what he was saying, at
least temporarily
.

“Not that I’m giving you at the moment” he
said.

Okay, boundaries had been set.

“
When did you
get those photos that you sent to Ryan?” I asked.

“
A couple of
weeks ago” he said. “I was just hanging and I saw them together. No
one else was around and I saw the woman and knew she was Ryan
Hendricks’s girl. She pretty much had her hand down that guys pants
in the middle of the street so I thought I’d follow
them.”

“Taking photos of them having sex seemed like
a good idea?” I asked.

“
Course it
did. I bet you would have done the same thing” Roberto said
defensively.

“
Honestly,
I’ve got to say, I also walked in on them having sex and my first
instinct was to get the hell out, not to whip out a camera phone
and go all art house porno on them.”

“You’ve got to get in the game” Roberto
said.

“No, I really don’t” I said. “Why did you go
to Ryan with the blackmail instead of Emily? She’d probably have
deeper pockets and more reason to pay up.”

“I didn’t go to him to blackmail him” Roberto
said indignantly.

“Then why did you go to him?”

“I thought he should know that his old lady
was stepping out on him and what the guy was like. What?”

He’d caught my smile which I was working very
hard to quash.

“You were trying to do the right thing” I
said.

“I was not.” Roberto sounded defensive. “I
just thought maybe he could help me with an exclusive one day if I
did a solid by him.”

“No.” I shook my head. “You gave up a
guaranteed payday to help someone out. That says something about
you.”

I grinned
broadly at him. He slumped back in the booth, crossed his arms and
if he’d been a little bit younger he would probably have poked his
tongue out at me.

“I spoke to the dude a couple of times. He
didn’t seem too broken up about it so we just kind of left it at
that. Heard he died last week so I figured the whole thing was over
and done with. Why are you asking questions?”

He stopped and went rigid as if he had a
sudden thought.

“Are you a cop?”

“No, why do I act like one?”

“Nah, you’re too nice to be a cop. Cops kind
of get too focused and go over the top of people to get what they
want.”

“Don’t I know it” I said thinking of one
particular cop. “Well thanks Roberto” I said as I got up. “You’ve
been a real help.”

“
Are you sure
that’s all you need?” he asked his voice suddenly small. I sat back
down.

“Do you want me to take you somewhere?” I
asked.

“Nah, I’m good” he said pulling his bravado
around him.

“Do you have a home to go to Roberto?” I
asked gently.

Roberto’s
head dropped. “No, my mom’s new boyfriend kicked me out last week.
Said I was useless and he didn’t want me sponging off him anymore.
Mom let him do it.”

In that moment my heart broke a bit.

“Where have you been staying?” I asked.

“Here and there.” He avoided my eyes.

“How old are you Roberto?” I asked.

“
I’m sixteen”
he said, “plenty old enough to be on my own.”

There it was
again. He tried to act and look tough but all I could see was a
teenage kid who looked younger than he was. The thought of what
could happen to him on the streets, what may have already happened
to him, broke my heart. In that moment I decided on a course of
action that Griffin would have called boneheaded.

“Come home with me. It isn’t much but I can
offer you a warm place to sleep on my couch and food, just for
tonight. We’ll try to work out someplace for you to go which is
safe after that.”

“Why would you do that?” he said his eyes
wary.

“Because if you were a puppy I’d have loaded
you in the car by now and taken you home. You think I’m going to do
less for you than if you were a puppy.”

He cocked his
head, very puppy like behavior I thought, as he considered what I
was offering. He may also have been trying to work out the safest
way to get away from the crazy woman who invited street kids into
her home.

“What do you want in return?” he asked, his
eyes narrowed.

“
I don’t want
anything from you” I said. “Just get a good night’s sleep where you
can feel safe and then tomorrow you can go where you
like.”

“
You know
lady, you are nuts” he said. “Do you know how dangerous it is to
open your home to some strange homeless kid?”

“
Actually I
do” I said. Pretty much everybody, including my cop fake boyfriend,
would be appalled. Sometimes the right thing is taking a chance
based on instincts, and my instincts were telling me that Roberto
was a good kid who was having a rough time.

“Look it’s your choice. I’m just offering a
place to stay for the night. If you’re looking to steal something
I’m the wrong person. I’ve only been in America for a few months. I
travel light so unless you think you can get a good price for cheap
sensible shoes on the black market, I’m not a good mark. I’m not
going to try to sell this to you. I’m giving you a choice, just
like I gave you the choice to walk out before. I’m leaving now. You
can come with me if you want.”

As I left the
booth I could see that he was hesitating. After getting abandoned
by his own mother, I didn’t hold out much hope for him believing a
stranger was willing to help. I wasn’t going to beg him to take my
help. By the time I got to the door he was behind me.

“Good choice” I murmured.

“I certainly hope so” he said.

As we got in the car I turned to him.

“Before we start this” I said, “we need
names, real names.”

Roberto looked at me silently. “Sean Boylan”
he mumbled.

I stuck out my hand and gripped his for a
handshake. “Pleased to meet you Sean Boylan. I’m Trudie Eyre and
for the next twenty four hours you abide by my rules.”

“
Like what”
he complained as he put on his seat belt.

I started up
the car. “In my house there are no drugs, no alcohol and no
cigarettes.”

“
You
don’
t get laid very often do you?” Sean
said.

“
You will
remember you are staying with a lady and your language and
conversation will reflect that” I said primly with a small smile on
my face. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Sean smiling as
well. “Thanks for reminding me though, there will be no young
ladies invited into my house, in fact no friends at all. Music
volume is down unless you’re wearing headphones in which case I
really don’t care as you are ruining your own hearing not
mine.”

“You’ve got kids don’t you?” said Sean.

“No” I said, “but I used to work as a
nanny.”

“That explains it” he said. “You’ve got that
whole uptight thing going on. I’m guessing you don’t date much at
all. That makes it easier, I think a boyfriend would have lost it
if you turned up at home with me.”

“
Yeah,
probably would.” Lucky for me, fake boyfriends didn’t get any say
in who I invited back to my home.

Turning up to
my apartment I noticed Crystal knocking on my front door. When I
got close Crystal turned around.

“Where have you been?” she asked exasperation
clear in her voice.

“I worked out how to find the person who took
the photos and went to meet him” I said.

“
That’s
great” she exclaimed. “Did you get any information?”

“
Some, it
seems Ryan Hendricks wasn’t really all that fussed about the fact
that his brother was sharing time with his fiancée.”

“
Why were any
of these people involved with each other?” Crystal asked. “Why
don’t they just get laid and move on? Clean and simple. Some people
are just not meant for monogamy and the sooner they realize that
the happier everyone would be.”

Noticing Sean’s inordinate interest in the
conversation I moved to quieten Crystal.

“What did you want me for?” I asked.

“I need to return the key to Ryan’s house to
Adam. He just called and sounded kind of panicked. Said he needed
the keys now. Just wanted to know if you want to come with me.”

“That would be great” I said, then remembered
that I had Sean and I wasn’t going to take him anywhere near Adam.
At this stage I did not know if Adam knew about Sean but if he did
I wanted to keep them apart.

“I can’t right now” I said looking at
Sean.

Crystal
pulled me aside out of earshot. “Who’s he?”

“
It’s the kid
who took the photos of Adam and Emily. He got tossed out of home
and has nowhere to stay. I’m letting him sleep at my place tonight
and tomorrow I’ll find someplace else for him.”

I looked down
at her expecting a lecture on what a stupid idea that was, and was
surprised to see the shimmer of tears in her eyes. She threw her
arms around me and muttered into my shoulder. “That’s the reason I
love you.”

“
Are you
gay?” asked Sean, “Because it’s okay if you are, I’m just asking
because I gotta say this is looking a little hot.”

I rolled my eyes thinking I would never
understand men. Crystal pulled away, surreptitiously wiping her
eyes.

“No we’re not gay but I need Trudie for a
little bit.”

“Oh, that’s fine. I can find someplace else
to go.”

“No you’re not” I said as I grabbed his arm
when he turned around and started to walk off.

“Miss Betsy,” I yelled across the complex
getting her attention.

The elderly lady looked tired as she was
weeding a part of the garden which had been neglected a bit
lately.

“Sorry dear” she said. “I haven’t had much of
a chance to tidy this area. We’ve had quite a few maintenance
issues lately so the garden has gone to the bottom of my to do
list.”

“So you’re going to be gardening all day
today?” I asked.

“Pretty much all day” she said.

I pulled Sean forward. “I’ve got a friend
staying with me today but I need someone to keep an eye on him
while I go out. I am sure he would be thrilled to help you for the
day.”

I could see the mutinous look in Sean’s eyes
and dropped my voice. “Please give her a hand. The work is hard on
her.”

His expression softened as he looked over the
elderly lady with dirt encrusted on her hands. “Sure I’ll
help.”

“That would be lovely” said Miss Betsy.

“Wait here” I said to Crystal.

Racing into
my apartment I grabbed a cap and some sunscreen. Coming out I
passed them to Sean. He looked at me strangely.

“
Look I come
from Australia, the skin cancer capital of the world, and that red
hair and pale skin scream disaster to me. Put on the hat and the
sunscreen and don’t question it.”

“You are one weird chick” mumbled Sean as he
jammed the cap on.

I smiled at him proudly. “I know” I said as I
followed Crystal to the car.

“
You know
he’s right” she said as we were driving. “You are kind of
strange.”