With another swig from the bottle, Ellie contemplated a call to her contacts in the sordid underworld of reporting, so she could leak the story before he even had a chance to decide. At least by doing that she’d give herself the upper hand. Hollywood was such a fickle place to begin with that using the media as puppets was commonplace, although ridiculous. And since Curtis was a costar on the daytime soap opera that she had agreed to star in to avoid extensive travel, Ellie had to wonder if he’d hurt himself.
Of course, it could make people feel sorry for him and boost attendance at the box office. He had a movie release that wasn't getting very good reviews from those who had been given a sneak peek.
She sighed again. Frank was going to be furious at another scandal. Her agent and friend, Frances Francois, had taken her under his wing and helped propel her career to the top. He had warned her that Curtis hit up on all the actresses, so avoid him at all costs. For the most part, she had; she just hadn’t planned on him showing up at her house. The other scandals had been pure gossip, a pitfall of stardom, and there was nothing she could have done to avoid them because she hadn’t done anything in the first place.
I promised him I wouldn’t let this happen.
The bottle was empty when she tried to take another drink. She reared her arm back to throw it, but at the last second, she just set it down.With my luck, I’d be the one to get a flat tire after the bottle shatters on the driveway.
She picked up her cell phone and powered it off. She’d see Frank soon enough on Monday. By then, she’d know how much media damage she would need to apologize for. And she really didn’t want Curtis to spend the weekend bugging her.
If he even bothered to call.
How fair is it that I have to drive myself crazy because I said no?Her back slumped against the wall as she swung her leg back and forth in open air. Nita would have a fit. Ellie closed her eyes as she heard the repeat conversation with her best friend in her head.
“You’re drunk. You should not be sitting on the ledge in your condition.”
“It’s a railing, not a ledge. I’m not jumping off the roof.”
“I’m not worried about you jumping. Your stupid ass is going to fall long before you try to jump.”
Ellie stared down at her phone and shook her head. “How am I going to call Nita with my phone turned off?”
Always her go-to, Nita would catch all the angst of the situation and then offer to go handle Curtis the way he deserved. Then she’d tell Ellie to quit acting because she had enough money to live comfortably as a normal person until she died. And then she’d threaten to beat up Curtis for making Ellie crazy right before she repeated no more men.
Which was a direct result of her relationship with Jeff, one of her co-stars. In her own defense, her bad decision had lasted over a year while they lived and worked on a movie set. Jeff had been charming and attentive, infatuated with her, both on-set and off. Not even working and basically living together had changed that. Their on-screen chemistry had sizzled because of their familiarity, and fans adored them together. Even Frank had finally acknowledged that their relationship had helped with the ratings.
Her breakup with Jeff had caused some true to life acting toward the end of filming. For a few weeks things had been awkward, but it had been long enough now that things were fine. Now, Ellie wasn't sure how much longer she wanted to stay in daytime television, but she still had a year left on her contract to decide.
Ellie rolled her eyes at the memory. Ratings. Most days it seemed like daytime soaps were nothing more than ratings. The more bizarre the situations, the higher the ratings. When couples got together, ratings would shoot through the roof. When those same couples broke up because of outside forces, the drama shot the ratings upward again. Don’t worry about the discernment of the story; just worry about the ratings.
She swung her leg over the railing and stood. The balcony tilted slightly when she took a step toward the door, or maybe that was her. She threw her arms in the air. “Don’t worry, Nita, I’m not going to jump!”
Her footsteps echoed down the hallway, one hand on the wall to steady herself as she headed downstairs in search of another bottle of wine. Her pantry was well stocked with junk food, so a weekend of inebriation, sweets, and sappy movies was just what she needed.
She tossed her phone down on the kitchen counter as she opened another bottle of Chablis. “I’m more than capable of sleeping on the couch, so Nita won’t even have to worry about me making it back up the stairs.”
She may have to deal with the fallout on Monday, but she still had forty-eight hours to avoid it all.
Chapter Three: Poking the Bear
Colton Hale
Colton held his hand out for the riders behind him to stay put. The grizzly blocking the trail was only curious so far. It could detect his dragon but couldn’t quite place it. That was common for the animals in the wild. Domesticated animals had grown used to the presence of a mostly mythical creature amongst them, but the wild animals were never around long enough to understand.
And of course, it would be now that he had Dude and Vicky with him. The name Dude just made him cringe. A city slicker pretending to be a cowboy on what they insisted on calling a dude ranch, mostly because of the play on the guy's name. Colton's family business, Outside Outfitters, was intended to be a vacation destination for outdoor enthusiasts, not those looking to be John Wayne wannabes. Besides, Colton was pretty certain that a grizzly bear was not a normal sight at an actual dude ranch.
The bear stood up on its hind legs, and Colton heard Vicky stifle a gasp behind him. He motioned with this hand. "Just stay calm. Don't move."
He needed to do something quickly because she was about to panic and make a nuisance situation something much more. The bear was only sniffing the air, but up on two legs, it appeared very daunting. Colton knew the bear would have already charged if it was looking for trouble, and he wanted to keep it that way. He dismounted his horse and took a few steps toward the menace blocking their path.
“Come on, buddy. You don’t want to do this.”
“Be careful,” Vicky hissed at him. He waved his hand at her again to stay still when he heard the horse prance. The horses were used to bears, but if the riders panicked, so would they.
Dude wasn’t much better. “I’ve heard if you run downhill, they can’t catch you.”
You're on a horse, you idiot.A bear would never keep up if the horse ran. Colton turned around. “Run down a hill, huh? You want me to try that and just leave you sitting here? Or would you rather take my place?” He knew he should be nicer, but sometimes people just played on his aggravation until he had to give it back a little bit.
