Page 10 of Her Hollywood Master (Master Me #6)

M arissa checked her phone on the ride over in Joel’s Mercedes. Her battery indicator was on red. “My mom called seven times,” she said.

“Why don’t you call her now, to prep her for the meeting?”

“Nah. I’ll let her stew,” she said.

He raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment.

“I also have a text from Ella Janes.”

“The supermodel?”

“Yeah, my ex’s new girlfriend. She says she wants to hang out. What is wrong with these people?”

He chuckled. “I don’t know, but don’t engage with the crazy.”

She shut her phone off. “I won’t.”

Julie, her agent, pulled into the studio parking lot right after they did. “Marissa,” she called, walking over in a crisp but sexy business suit, her heels clicking on the pavement.

“I’ll let you two talk,” Joel said in a low voice, heading inside.

Julie pointed toward the door he’d entered. “You came with him?” Not waiting for an answer, she gave a knowing nod. “Nice work. What’s on your lip? Listen, I can handle this. Your job is just to look contrite and let me do the talking.”

“That’s what Joel said,” she muttered.

Julie raised her eyebrows. “Did he? Smart man. Let’s go. Oh God, there’s your mother. Come on, let’s go in before she catches us.” Julie grabbed her arm and tugged her through the door and into the elevator, closing the doors before her mom appeared.

“Try not to let your mom say anything crazy, okay? We’re just lucky they’re willing to talk terms to keep you on the movie.

I don’t know what the hell is going on, but you need to get your shit together, sugar, or your entire career is sunk.

Yesterday everyone was throwing out the old she will never work in Hollywood again lines about you. ”

If Julie meant to reassure her, she’d done a terrible job.

She touched her cold sore with her finger and trailed after her agent into the appointed conference room where Joel held out a chair for her to sit beside him.

Antonio sat across the table, his fingers interlaced, staring at a corner of the ceiling.

Joel dropped a hand onto her nape in a signal to everyone in the room of his support.

She exhaled and forced a smile.

“This is Alan Gray, from legal, Joe Rymes, you know Doug Smit, the producer. And we’re just waiting on Mr. Betts, who will represent the studio executives today,” Joel said.

Her mom toddled in and plopped down on her other side. “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you for the last twelve hours,” she hissed.

Marissa shrugged. “My phone was dead,” she said.

Joel’s eyes slid sideways to look at her but he didn’t comment.

Mr. Betts came in and the room fell silent. “So, what are we looking at?” he said, obviously not into small talk.

Alan Gray, the attorney for the studio spoke up, directing his attention to Julie. “Well, as you know, the studio is prepared to file for breach of contract.”

“Bullshit,” Julie cut in. “You need her to finish this movie, she’s ready to finish it. I don’t even know why we’re here to talk.”

“We’re here because I have been trying to make this film all week, but your little?—”

“All right, Antonio,” Doug Smit cut in, “we know it’s been a rough week. We’re here to talk about how to get back on track. The studio is willing to rehire Ms. Sparks under a few conditions.”

“Which are?” Julie, asked.

“The cost of delays will be deducted from her salary.”

“That is ridiculous,” her mother snapped.

Marissa shot her a warning glance.

“To what tune?”

“Seventy-eight thousand. And counting, because from the looks of her face, she won’t be returning to film tomorrow.”

Marissa flushed and it took all her willpower to keep from touching her cold sore.

“Again, I’m calling bullshit,” Julie said. “Ms. Sparks clearly has a medical condition that prevents her from working. You give her hassle on this and I’ll have the union and her attorney down your throats so fast you?—”

The attorney held up his hand. “We just need some assurance this won’t be an on-going issue.”

“It won’t be,” Joel said. All the eyes turned to him, some registering surprise. “Marissa will be staying with me for the remainder of the shoot and I will make sure she stays healthy.”

Everyone turned to look from her to Joel and back again and no one said a word for a full three seconds.

She sat frozen, not sure how to play this particular scenario.

Was she still the sorrowful starlet? For some reason, she felt the part of Joel’s babygirl coming on, but that wouldn’t be right.

He said she had to be mature in front of others.

“Well, that’s good enough for me,” Doug said. “Obviously Joel has an enormous stake in getting this picture done right. If he’s taking responsibility, I feel comfortable giving the go-ahead to rehire Marissa.”

Her mom opened her mouth and Marissa tensed, but no sound came out.

“Great. Where do we sign?” Julie asked.

The attorney pulled out a contract and slid it over to her. Julie scanned it and signed, pushing the papers to Marissa and tapping her signature line. She signed without reading it.

Betts stood up and everyone followed suit, shaking hands and leaving the room.

“Julie,” her mother said, “do you really think we had to settle for that?”

Julie rounded on her. “I think Marissa came close to losing her entire career yesterday and I think you’re partly to blame. It’s time to hire Marissa a real manager who can keep her on her game.”

Her mother’s jaw fell open.

Marissa turned and made a beeline for the door.

Joel’s warm hand touched her back and she wanted to turn and dive into his arms and hide there.

How bizarre. One night playing his baby girl and she’d actually turned into the child he wanted her to be.

God, if she’d didn’t watch out, he’d rip the very fabric of her identity from her.

But she could sort through that later. Right now, she didn’t want to have any conversation with her mom, and Joel seemed to be backing her up on her escape.

“We’ll be swinging by Marissa’s place to pick up some of her things because she’ll be staying with me during the remainder of the filming,” he said.

“Oh,” her mother said, her wide blue eyes blank. She could see her mom’s bitchy side warring with her star-worship of the great Joel Sutherland.

Marissa kept walking briskly, imitating Julie’s confident stride. She didn’t look back at her mother or Joel, but she felt Joel’s presence right behind her. She climbed in his car the second he hit the unlock button on his fob.

He sat down beside her and dropped a hand on her knee. “Are you okay?”

She exhaled. “Yeah. Let’s just get going, though, okay?” She didn’t want her mom toddling over to her window and wanting to “talk.”

He put the car in reverse and backed out.

“Just so we’re clear, if you ever give me that passive-aggressive line about your phone being dead when you really just didn’t want to call me, I will bend you over my lap and spank your bare bottom until you can’t sit down.”

She gaped in surprise.

“And when I’ve finished paddling you raw, I will put a plug in your naughty ass and you’ll stand in the corner with your panties down and your red cheeks on display until I’m sure you’ve learned never to play games with Daddy.”

Heat flushed down her neck, across her breasts and to her core. Her bottom prickled at the threat. “It was true,” she said in a small, babygirl voice.

He lifted an eyebrow and she shrank in her seat. “I will spank you for lying, too.”

She chewed on her lip, trying to figure out if he meant it as a warning or if she’d just earned a spanking. “You would spank me, or you will ?”

One corner of his mouth tugged up. “Consider it a warning, little girl.”

She couldn’t decide if she was relieved or disappointed.

Joel followed Marissa’s directions to her house and pulled into the circular drive. The mansion was enormous, three stories of balconies and marble fountains spitting water out front. It didn’t really seem like Marissa, but he didn’t say so. Probably her mother had picked it out.

He followed Marissa inside to find last night’s party still going on. Music blared on the stereo and beautiful drunk and stoned people stumbled around in partial nudity.

“There you are,” her sister exclaimed, zipping over.

Her pupils were tiny, her skin pale and the muscles around her mouth pulled taut.

Definitely coked up. She directed her gaze at him, reaching out to touch his chest. “Joel,” she purred, “so nice to see you at our humble abode.” She swept an arm out, almost knocking over the girl who’d come up behind her.

“Hi Marissa, hi Joel,” the girl said. He recognized her as the supermodel Marissa’s boyfriend had left her for.

He put his hand on Marissa’s hip.

“What’s going on?” her sister Bev asked.

“I just came to get some stuff. I’m going to stay at Joel’s while we’re shooting the rest of the movie.”

Bev arched a plucked brow. “Oh? Well, where’s the car? I needed it this morning.”

“Where’s my car?” Marissa asked, the tendons in her neck straining.

He rubbed his hand up and down her side. “It’s at Joel’s,” she said.

Seeing her inability to be direct, he said, “Marissa’s going to need her car while she’s staying with me.”

Bev stiffened. “Is that so?”

“Well, I’d better get going,” Marissa said.

“Aw, you’re leaving?” the model said. “I was hoping we could hang out.”

Marissa’s brow wrinkled and she opened her mouth, then shut it again.

“Sorry,” he said, propelling Marissa forward, “but we have to rehearse for the movie we’re filming.”

Marissa took the steps two at a time, as if she wanted to leave it all behind. He caught up with her on the landing, trailing her into what must be her room, although it didn’t appear to be the master bedroom of the house. She slammed her purse down with a loud huff.

“Hey,” he said, “what has you so riled up?”

“Are you kidding me?” she snapped, whirling to face him. “Did you see the state of the house? Those same people have been in my house for like, three days now.”

“So why didn’t you ask them to leave?”