“It’s not like that, Mom was trying to make sure I didn’t get fat.”
She sounded the tiniest bit unsure, and I bit my lip to keep from sharing my opinion.
“Hailey, how ya doin’ honey?”
I gave the cashier a smile. “Hey Bree, I’m fine, you?”
Bree was six feet tall, taller in the platform heels they were wearing with their sparkly miniskirt. With close cropped hair, dark skin, and cheekbones that would cut glass, they made a striking figure. Bree was a popular performer on the drag circuit when they weren’t working at the co-op.
“Not as fine as you are in those jeans baby. They are doing good things for that juicy ass of yours.”
I laughed, used to Bree’s over the top compliments, but for some reason, it seemed to annoy Tori. She stepped closer, putting her hand on my shoulder and giving the cashier a hostile look.
Bree laughed. “Oh, it’s like that, is it? Relax, Hailey and I are just besties.”
I knew they’d be blowing up my phone later asking for details on the woman I’d brought with me, not that I could tell them anything. Even I knew enough about the way celebrities were treated to know that it could be dangerous for Tori to have her identity compromised. She told me she rarely went anywhere without at least one bodyguard.
After a brief argument over the bill I paid for the groceries, and we lugged them out to the car.
“No one’s ever refused to let me pay before.” Tori sound shocked.
“Stick with me and you’ll learn how people act in the real world,” I teased, hip checking her.
“I plan to stick with you, believe me.”
Tori
Ifelt like I was in a whole new world here.
“Why did you run away to Seattle?” Hailey asked as we drove back to her apartment. “Do you know people here?”
“I don’t know really. It was just dumb luck. I went to the airport and took the first flight out, and it was heading to Seattle.”
“You flew commercial?” she asked in surprise.
I laughed. I’d never flown commercial in my life.
“Oh God no, I grabbed a seat on a private jet that was coming to Seattle to do a pick-up.”
“Of course you did,” she mumbled.
I watched her out the corner of my eye. She drove like she did everything – with a quiet but competent efficiency. I hadn’t liked it when that Bree person flirted with her. I’d been struck with a jolt of jealousy, which was surprising, because I’d never been jealous in my life.
Then again, everyone I’d dated had been a set-up, a carefully orchestrated meeting by my mother, my manager, the studio, or someone else, and always for the purposes of furthering someone’s career. While I’d clicked with some of them enough to have a real relationship, I’d never felt this possessiveness, this intense interest, like I felt with Hailey. I was dying to kiss her. Dying to find out if her lips were as soft as they looked.
I realized with a start that coming to Seattle was truly the first thing I’d ever done for myself. Maybe it was fate bringing me to Hailey. I still couldn’t believe that she didn’t know who I was, but she was delightfully clueless about me and my celebrity lifestyle. I loved it.
“What are we doing now?” I asked when we finished unpacking the groceries.
“I was planning to read.”
“Okay.” I dug in my bag and pulled out my Kindle. I had a few books waiting for me on the device. “I’m ready.”
Hailey seemed surprised. “You read.”
For some reason that smarted, but I just shrugged. “I have a lot of down time between scenes. Movie sets are boring.”
“Hmm.” It was her standard response when she didn’t know what to say, I was learning.
