Page 58 of Behind the Scenes

“As such, her job is done here.” Laura jerked her head to the side, motioning for me to move. “Let’s not have a repeat of this tomorrow, hm?”

And like the good, obedient dog I was, I followed her.

My manager had nothing to say. Not even when Laura grabbed a card from her pocket and flicked it at him.

The love of my life indeed.

laura

. . .

Iwas annoyed that she had left me holed up in a stupid hotel room while on a beautiful tropical island, that was all.

I wasn’t annoyed that she hadn’t come home when Penelope said she would.

I was annoyed that she had forced me here with her stupid fucking contract, making me miss client meetings, and then decided not to show up for an entire day.

I had definitelynotmissed her. Or worried about her.

I knew the Hollywood elites. I hated them. I thought they would be a good clientele when I was first starting out, but they were all the same. Just like that douche Penelope told me was Harley’s manager.

How could he even think of trying to tellmewhat was ethical regardingmyclient?

I stabbed a piece of my grilled tuna with a bit too much force. Both Penelope and Harley stayed silent as they watched me grumble under my breath about that fucker.

“No overtime,” I hissed. “How could you let this go on for so long? The back pay alone is probably in the millions. What did the union say?”

Penelope’s eyesdarted to Harley.

“They pay off the union, Laura,” she simply replied, no malice or annoyance in her tone.

Why? Why is she not angry?

I would be fuming.Iamfuming.

“The literal point of them is to protect you, isn’t it? What about your lawyer?”

I was met with silence, so I stabbed another piece of my tuna.

“Do you want your money or not?” I hissed, waving my fork at Harley. She gave me a soft smile.

She’s fucking smiling like she’s not losing millions. Like they’re not taking advantage of her.

“Are you offering your services to me?” she asked. “I thought you didn’t want to work with actors.”

“You can’t just leave me bored and alone in Hawaii after forcing me to come here with that fucked-up contract of yours,” I huffed.

Harley let out a laugh and shook her head.

“The contract is meant for our relationship, not for me to hire you as my lawyer.”

Penelope didn’t seem surprised about the contract.How much does she know exactly?

“Then hire me,” I said and plopped a piece of tuna in my mouth. Even seasoned by my anger, I had to admit it was the best tuna I’d ever had. Which only made me more annoyed that I hadn’t experienced it at a normal time of day.

“Okay, that’s enough of this,” Harley said with a sigh and stood. “Penelope, please pack this up for Laura and pay the man extra for staying open late for us.”

I didn’t have time to protest before Harley was helping me out of my seat and walking me out of the restaurant.