Page 14

chapter

thirteen

Seven

I t was nearly lunchtime when Jerry finally left. He planned to meet with Ollie and the lawyer before they went down to the police station. Gem fucked off to work after giving me a dirty look, like I’d been the one to make his little fuck buddy leave.

Clearly, she wanted an out and she took it. One of the cleaners stuck her head into the library.

“Sorry to bother you, Mr. Harrison,” the girl said. I couldn’t remember her name, but she was one of the younger cleaners. I was pretty sure she’d only started here a month ago. Not more than two months.

I shook off that meandering thought. It really didn’t matter except I couldn’t recall her name, if I’d ever been given it. Rather than make her feel bad, I just went for a neutral, “Yes?”

“I usually take care of the library right about now, but I don’t want to interrupt you.”

A couple of more caustic remarks popped into my head. Like you’re interrupting me right now and you’re implying you want me to decide what you should do if you aren’t cleaning in here. Still, I swallowed the responses and shook my head.

My bad mood had nothing to do with her. She was doing her job. A job I was currently blocking because I’d parked it in here.

“It’s fine, just skip in here today. If you’re done otherwise, go ahead and leave.” Not that the staff reported to me. One of the best parts about having a house manager was he oversaw the staffing indoors and out. He also handled any maintenance, so we could focus on our jobs.

The blonde frowned down at the dark blue caddy in her hand. It was laden with cleaning supplies. “I don’t mind waiting…” She trailed off when I glanced back up at her.

To be honest, I hadn’t expected her to still be there. “No need to wait. I’m going to be in here for a few hours. I have work to do.” I met and held her gaze. “You can go. Thank you.”

No need to be rude to her, but also I wanted to be clear—I actually did have work to do. Jerry left me a stack of scripts to review. Most were probably going to be declined, but then I liked to vet the possibilities myself. Sometimes a job would appeal to me.

Carriage Pictures negotiations were ongoing. The holding pattern was irritating but a six-picture deal could set us up for a long time. It would definitely be worth it. In the meanwhile, I could afford to pick and choose from other projects.

I was skimming through a script when the intercom buzzed. It took a moment for me to process the sound. I checked the doorway first, but the girl was gone. The buzz sounded again and I rose. Script in hand, I headed for it. I needed the stretch anyway.

Pressing the button, I blinked at the woman in the pale blue car staring up at the camera. The sunglasses hid her eyes, but very little would disguise that smirk.

“You’re back,” I said, after connecting to the security box at the gate.

“So it would seem,” she said in a lazy drawl. “Are you going to let me in?”

“That’s a damn good question. What’s my incentive?” Particularly since she’d been so cagey earlier. “Last time I checked, you wanted to leave so badly, you accused me of kidnapping and extortion.”

She scratched her cheek with her middle finger. “Now I’m back and I want to come in.”

Right. I studied her on the screen. It wasn’t that high definition, and it didn’t really reveal anything about her thoughts. Like why did she want to come in.

“Tick tock, Demon Spawn, the day is getting older.” She gave an exaggerated check of her watch. And I was the actor here?

Demon Spawn. “That’s not my name.”

“No, but it was your role in last year’s popcorn flick. Too bad it tanked.” She blew a raspberry and gave a thumbs-down to the camera.

I scowled, unamused. “It didn’t tank.”

Her shrug was all indifference. “I didn’t see it. I actually have good taste.”

“So how do you know it tanked?”

“Because, Demon Spawn,” she said, lowering the sunglasses and looking into the camera like she was locking gazes with me. It was uncomfortably intimate and direct. “I can read and it was all over the trades. Everyone knows what a flop it was, honey, even you.”

I wanted to curse, but I just shook my head. The movie had the unfortunate timing of opening up between two major blockbusters. If it had opened first or opened later in the summer, it would have done fine. As it was, people just didn’t watch it until it hit streaming.

Then we broke records. Yippee.

“Now, are you letting me in or am I driving away?” She revved her engine like she was considering ramming the gate. Crazy bitch probably would do it too.

Still…I couldn’t make it too easy and have her think I was a pushover. “Give me one good reason to do it.”

“Just one?” A dare and a challenge. Whatever game she was engaged in, I didn’t want to play, and at the same time…

“Your turn, Stray, ticktock. One good reason or I’m hanging up.”

She gave a dramatic sigh. “I’ll let you persuade me to sign your silly little NDA.”

Well, shit. That was not what I expected to hear. I leaned back from the screen like she could see me, even if I damn well knew she couldn’t. It wasn’t like I could argue that wasn’t a good reason.

“Fine. Come up to the house,” I told her, activating the gate to open for her. She gave a mock salute before she pushed her sunglasses back into place and then she was heading up the driveway. As if she was going anywhere other than the house after being granted access, but a silly part of my brain convinced me she was following my orders like a good girl.

I waited until the gate closed and no one tried to sneak in behind her. Then I made my way to the front door, more curious than anything. She’d been adamant about not signing and yet, here she was.

Opening the door, I waited as she parked in front. The car was a beauty and a hell of a classic. It looked even better in person. As much as I wanted to admire it, I made myself track her as she climbed out from the driver’s side.

She was dressed exactly as she had been earlier, down to the wrinkles in her shirt. So she left with the cops and didn’t even have time to change before she came back. Each new detail just added another layer to my suspicions.

“Is Gem here?” she asked as she approached. I gave it a moment, letting my gaze linger over her form. She gripped a bag that was over her shoulder, but there was no phone or camera in her hands.

“No,” I told her. “If you came here looking for a story, you won’t find it.”

“Not why I’m here. I’m a photographer, not a journalist,” she retorted. The tartness in her voice was as sharp as her smile. “Like I said, I’m here to do you a favor.”

I braced a hand on the open door, not letting her in. Not yet. “You said you were here to sign the NDA.”

Her smirk was downright provocative. “No, you asked me for a good reason to let me up. I responded that I would let you persuade me to sign the NDA.”

The splitting of hairs was so fine, she should have been an attorney. Instead of backing down or changing her tune as we locked eyes, she just smiled and waited with seemingly endless amounts of patience.

What the hell did Gem see in her? Beyond the gorgeous curves, sensual mouth, and hair meant to be fisted—the list popped up so easily, I shook my head. Most of the time, Gem and I did not have the same taste in women. He thought Clara Belle was downright repulsive.

This would not be a good time to break the pattern.

“So what’s it going to be, Spawn? You going to try and persuade me, or am I heading back out?” Her husky voice reminded me we were still standing there staring at each other.

A part of me wanted to call her bluff. It had to be one. She was out, free and clear, so why come back? Unless she needed or wanted something from us. The NDA was just an excuse to get in the door.

With how certain I was that she was up to no good, I couldn’t afford to let her walk without signing the NDA. It was more than just my future riding on it. That deal with Carriage Pictures could really set us all up for the long haul.

With a sigh, I backed up a step and cleared the door so she could come in.

“Thank you,” she said with a too-bright smile. Already regretting the agreement, I shut the door and caught her elbow before she could head deeper into the house.

“Library,” I told her, and escorted her to where I’d set up shop. Fortunately, the paperwork was right there on the sideboard, just inside the door. She didn’t pull away until we were inside the room. I closed the doors behind us and leaned back against them. “Contract is right there,” I told her with a nod.

She gave the room a slow perusal, spending almost no time on the stack of scripts as she turned. Then she looked at the contract before she glanced at me. “You know, I’d have thought that you could be more persuasive, what with being an actor and all.”

“I’m not acting at the moment.” Rather than cross the room and drag her bodily over to the contract, I folded my arms. “This is real life, Stray. My life. Gem’s life. Ollie’s life.”

With a huff, she lowered her bag to rest on the chair nearest her. “You want to negotiate rather than persuade?”

“That would be preferable.” Clearly she wanted something . I needed to know what that something was.

“All right, let’s deal. I’ll sign your NDA for a price.”

There it was. She came back for a payday. I wish I could say I was shocked but I wasn’t. Just kind of disappointed. “How much?”

She raised her eyebrows. “No outrage or accusations?”

I snorted. “Everyone and everything can be bought. I want your silence and to make sure you don’t sell any more stories about my brother, especially after last night. You want money. Equitable exchange. How much is it going to cost me?”

She pursed her lips, then shrugged. “Twenty-five thousand.”

“That’s it?” Now I had some questions. She had that sum right there. Very specific.

“We can make it fifty,” she countered, deadpan. The woman had no tells. “In fact, yes, great idea. Let’s make it fifty.”

“Fifty thousand dollars for your cooperation.” It seemed a bargain at half the price, but I was more than capable of paying ten times as much.

“For me to sign your NDA,” she clarified. “I have no intention of selling any pieces about Gem or photos of him. Like I said this morning, I’m a photographer—not a pervert.”

As if I believed her innocent act. “You expect me to just take your word?”

“I don’t expect anything. You want me to sign that NDA. You want it, you pay for it.” She glanced at her watch, then back at me. “In sixty seconds, the price goes up.”

Shaking my head, I pushed away from the doors and walked over to the contract. “Fifty thousand. Done.”

“Not so fast.” Those three words had me pivoting to face her. “I have a couple of conditions.”

I didn’t grind my teeth, but I still had them clenched and I had to push my words out past them. “Which are?”

“This is an arrangement between you and me. Period, end of story. You wire me the money, Venmo, Cash app, whatever, right now. Once I have it in my account, I sign. You have your NDA and I have the money. You don’t give my name or information to anyone, including your brother.”

I blinked. “What makes you think I’m going to give him your information? Or that he would even want it?”

Her expression chilled. “Nothing. Just like there’s nothing that says I won’t sell you out. But you have to agree to it and put it in that contract that we both sign.”

“You are a fucking headache,” I told her. “Trust me, I don’t care what your name is and I have absolutely no intentions of giving it to Gem. I’d prefer he just forgot he met you.”

“Well,” she admitted with an exhale, “you’re not alone in that.”

Brutal. Was Gem shit in bed? He must be for her to be so adamant he never contact her again. I went for my phone and then eyed her. “Account info?”

She didn’t play games this time; she just gave it to me, showing me her cash transfer info so I could send the money directly from my account to hers. It was my private account and not the business one, so I wouldn’t have to explain it to anyone.

“Done.”

She looked at her phone as it vibrated and if I hadn’t been watching her, I might have missed the relief that spread through her expression. Filing that away, I picked up the pen and scrawled two sentences on the bottom of the contract and countersigned it.

When I held the pen out to her, she took it and skimmed the contract before she filled in her name, address, and phone number, then she initialed each page before she reached the final one and signed there. Stella Charles. The name suited her.

After clicking the pen closed, she straightened the papers and handed them to me. “It was lovely doing business with you, Spawn.”

She snagged her bag and headed for the doors. I debated stopping her but checked through the pages first, verifying what I had seen her do. She was already at the door when I reached the hall.

“Mr. Harrison.” She said it with a small smirk of mockery.

“Ms. Charles,” I said it to be a dick, since her name was so precious to her.

Then she was gone and the door closed behind her. For a relatively cheap fee, I’d gotten exactly what I wanted, what we needed—a signed NDA and that woman out of our house and our lives.

So why wasn’t I happy about it?

I glanced down at her hand-printed name and contact information.

Stella.

None of this felt like a win.