Typecast (34 page)

I got a little detained. Are you all right? I’ll be there as soon as I can and will spend the night making it up to you.

Ivy narrowed one eye at Logan’s text. His really fast meeting she couldn’t attend turned into not quite that fast.

She swiveled her chair toward her computer and stared at the screen. With Logan constantly with her and his whirlwind of activity, she never had the chance to really sit and think, only react. With some time on her hands, she rewound the last day from the moment Logan had said he loved her to the shoot this morning.

“It’s okay.” She didn’t want to read too much into Logan’s actions, or wonder what he had to hide by not having her there, or try not to focus on how both Erin and Ryder seemed conveniently available within a moment’s notice. Instead, she decided to indulge a little and clicked on the video Wilson filmed of their dance. As of yet, she hadn’t gotten the opportunity to watch it all the way through.

Fine, she couldn’t stop the flutters in her stomach. She leaned in and studied Logan. The man possessed the most amazing aura. Everyone in the audience stared at him, captivated, and she didn’t blame them.

In what seemed like a lifetime ago, she would hear that song and a pang would ring through her chest at thinking about
Hollywood Stardust
.

The video panned over the spectators, pausing at Ryder.

Yes, the man was insanely good-looking, but nothing like her Logan. A slight snarky grin on his face, he leaned back on his heels and watched. Though she didn’t know him all too well, her instinct told her he was pissed.

Next, the camera paused at Erin. Where Ryder seemed to be able to hide his emotions, even Erin’s extensive training in acting couldn’t mask her feelings. She stood with her arms crossed and her head tilted away, but with her eyes on the action, her expression nonexistent.

At one point, Erin must have loved Logan. It was no secret they had their so-called connections over the years. While Ivy wanted to believe they only came together out of mutual need and shared history, the way her chest tightened told her things were different for Erin.

Maybe that was why she couldn’t go with Logan.

“You will always have your little dance.”

At Julia’s voice intruding into her thoughts, Ivy hit the pause button on the video and squeezed the mouse. “Do you need something?”

“I thought since you were abandoned by your boyfriend, I could get you used to the idea of returning to your real job, and had some items for you to research.” Without an invitation, Julia entered, took the chair on the opposite side of her desk, and leaned over. “Oh, maybe you are already doing some research, perhaps on your competition?”

Ivy swallowed and, after taking a breath, faced her nemesis.

“You know they were together before.” Julia put some files on the edge of the desk.

“Oh, really? That’s news to me and the rest of the world.” She balled her hand in a fist at the way her voice shook. “Do you have any evidence?”

“Maybe you lost your touch.” Sighing, Julia sat back in the chair. “Try a search engine, or just look within your gut. You know I speak the truth. The look on your competition’s face is enough anyway. Not that it’s any competition.”

Her heart sped, thumping a warning not to listen, but the bitch managed to articulate every one of her fears. Rather than continue on, she decided to combine two of Logan’s tactics: the redirect and the direct question. She always was a fast study. “What is your problem with me?”

“Do you really want to go there?” The woman narrowed her eyes.

She had to give it to Julia for at least not trying to say she didn’t have an issue. “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to know.” Another Logan lesson: goad them and prod them into giving something away.

Almost like she was cocking her weapon to fire off the next round, Julia pursed her lips. “You don’t know what it takes to make it in this business.”

When all else failed, stay silent. In truth, it took her a little off guard that Julia didn’t have something bizarrely inappropriate and cutting to say.

The tactic worked, and Julia continued. “You grew up all around the industry, your family is practically considered Hollywood royalty, you could have any job you wanted, and you chose to come here? Why?”

“I thought this would be a good place to start my career, learn how to get over my stage fright. Plus, the wave of the future is streaming and live feeds, and this is a great place to learn.”

“Don’t you understand?” Julia shook her head. “What you see as a stepping stone, a means to an end, I see as my career. I fought for this job. Your family was your résumé. You didn’t even audition.”

“Every industry is all about connections.” She gave an attempt to defend herself, but she had also been bitten before by someone she or her family didn’t know when someone pretended to be a friend but they only wanted to pry into personal business.

“At the end of the day, you couldn’t even do your job and you were given to me so I could take up your slack, and then—”

“Then?” Ivy needed to hear the rest.

“Then you take what’s supposed to be an interview and make it into a career-changing assignment.” Julia stood. “Only for you, it’s another stepping stone. You won’t get the true story because you get a man out of the whole deal.”

“Julia.” She held her hand up to stop her from leaving. Maybe the woman was nasty, horrible even, but it made sense.

“What?”

“I’m sorry.” Maybe everyone dealt with jealousy a different way.

“Don’t be.” Julia put her hands on her hips. “He’s probably using you. The man is a villain, you know, on screen and off.”

At having broken one of Logan’s rules, she pressed her lips together. She should have never allowed her enemy to see her softer side.

Julia sauntered to the doorway, turned, and pointed to the computer screen. “From one woman to another, I would find out what’s going on behind the scenes. I think you know anyway.” With her final blow dealt, the woman left.

Ivy returned to study the image of Erin, now blurred from the tears in her eyes. If Logan could have the beautiful starlet, why was he with her? Of course at the moment, he wasn’t—he was at some quote, unquote meeting. She clicked on her Internet browser and typed in Erin’s name. The typical websites popped up.

She returned to the search bar, added the word
relationships
, and hit “Enter.”

The second image to pop up was Erin and Logan, clearly years after
Hollywood Stardust
, holding hands. She had seen the image before, but right now it mocked her.

What did she know about Erin Holland? She strummed her fingers on the computer keys. Not much after the movie. The actress didn’t really interest her once she typed the last word of her thesis.

Unsure where to start, she returned to the Chargge.com home page.

Chargge.com. The neurons in her mind connected. She reached over to her bag and pulled out Erin’s card from her wallet.

Erin’s card with the Chargge.com e-mail.

E-mails were a living history, one most people didn’t bother to purge, especially someone with the attention span of this actress. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Erin’s e-mail held many secrets. Hell, in those little messages were probably the keys to whatever had happened that night, why Logan had served as the mouthpiece, and her relationship status.

Once more, her phone announced a text. She lifted the device.

I’m sorry baby. I’ll be there in a couple of hours. You okay?

She chewed her lower lip and read the text twice before responding.

Do what you need to do. I’m just doing some research.
She sent the message and turned back toward the screen and Erin’s card.

Unsure of what to do with the time, she typed Erin’s e-mail address into the log-in bar.

If she only knew the password, she could find out everything.

Someone like Erin wouldn’t have a complicated password. The woman said herself she had trouble remembering things.

Ivy pulled her lower lip. Maybe Matt would know how to crack the code.

At her own thought, she winced. Breaking into e-mail would be wrong, illegal.

Her cursor flashed in the password box, beckoning her. On a lark, she typed in the word
password
into the box.

An error message indicating the wrong password came up in red.

Well, the woman was smarter than she thought.

She almost clicked the
x
in the corner to close the window, but almost as joke her herself, she decided to try once more and typed in
12345678
.

For the second time, the error message came up with a warning. She would get one more try before she was locked out.

Always one for a riddle, she shut her eyes.

Seconds later, she opened her eyes and glared at the password box. Would serve Erin right always having to go to Logan for everything. They did one movie together so it wasn’t like they had a relationship. With a lift of her chin, she typed in
Hollywoodstardust
, lifted her finger high, and pounded the Enter key with conviction.

The screen changed and in a flash she was gazing at a list of Erin’s e-mails.

“What?” She gasped and held her hands back away from the keyboard.

After catching her breath, she slid her chair closer to the computer. Did she dare? What if her actions could be traced?

Her body shook, and she scrambled to pick up her phone, scrolled past Logan’s and Giselle’s texts, and found the master of all things electronic.

You in the building?

She tapped her foot waiting for the answer.

Only if you’re buying the candy bars and have time for a chat.

She bit her lip at Matt’s message and typed back.
How about a candy bar, my treat. A chat and some computer expertise, your treat?

What’s wrong in the digital world?

Having some e-mail issues.
It wasn’t really a lie.

I’m on my way, cape and all.

Thanks.
She hit “Send” and turned back to the screen. What had she done? Could she go through with it?

“Is there a reason we are in the middle of nowhere?” Ryder stomped to Logan’s side.

“I hardly consider a piece of land in Los Feliz the middle of nowhere.” Logan continued to stare out at the view of downtown Los Angeles. The little upscale town, close to Hollywood but far enough away to have a life, always held appeal for him.

“This is not cool in heels. You should have warned me.” Wearing a scarf around her head, sunglasses, and a cross between an overcoat and a cape, Erin clutched Ryder’s arm and put her hand above her eyes as if she were trying to see something way off in the distance. “What is this place?”

“This is my land.” He swiped his hand in front of him.

“You own a piece of land here, but you live above your brother’s bar?” Erin shook her head.

“After I got out of rehab.” He made the quotation mark sign around rehab. “I used to drive around up here. It was my first investment.”

“So, we bought the land.” Ryder motioned between himself and Erin.

With slow steps, he circled his friends or his enemies. Their status toggled through the years. He stopped in front of them. “I earned every cent.”

“Speaking of which, this is why we called this meeting.” Ryder lifted his chin.

“Correction.” He held up one finger. “I called the meeting.”

They stared each other down.

“It doesn’t matter who called the meeting.” Erin wedged herself between them. “What matters is Ryder and I spoke after yesterday’s little gala, and we want to make sure that your end of the bargain is being held up.”

“While I’m not surprised you asked me, I am disgusted.” He put his hands in his pockets. “Let me ask you a question.”

When they both stayed quiet, he continued. “Do you ever wonder what it would be like if we woke up one day as totally separate entities from each other? No strings, no contracts, no payments, nothing.”

“What do you mean?” Erin turned to Ryder.

“Although I think I understand, why don’t you elaborate?” Ryder glared at him.

“I want to set you both free. I want to set myself free.” He swore the lump he had carried in his stomach since he’d realized he wanted Ivy lessened some. It allowed him to take a full breath. “We need to separate our lives if we are ever going to have lives.”

Though he didn’t expect cheers and a band to start playing, he did expect smiles and possibly a handshake. Instead, Erin turned paler than Ivy at the studio, and Ryder turned away.

“Don’t you understand?” He walked over to them. “We are finished. There’s nothing more owed. You can do your own thing.”

“After that night, you told us our lives would be forever intertwined,” Erin whispered. “You said you would take care of everything.”

“I did take care of everything. Both your careers flourished in their own ways. I became a businessman. But I think twenty years is enough. You can’t say you don’t agree.” What was the issue?

“So when you decide the time is right, you can drop us and go on with your life?” At last Ryder faced him. “Did someone offer you some money for finally telling the story?”