Page 119 of Sugar

“Right.”

As she left, I tried calling Tripp, but there was no answer. It wasn’t a surprise. He never woke up before mid-afternoon. I left him a message, but it was a crapshoot if he would listen to it.

I scrolled the fucking mountain of emails to make sure I hadn’t missed anything else urgent before opening Matt’s notes. I was halfway through when June returned.

“No rabbits, either,” I said without looking away from the monitor.

“Of course not, they’re evil. I just got off the phone with Hullywod.”

At June’s tone, I gave her my full attention.

Hullywod—a reference to the Hollywood sign’s dilapidation in the 70s—was technically considered a boutique talent agency, but it was far from small. Their team represented some major names. If they dropped him, he would bounce back easily with a new agency.

But his ego wouldn’t like the hit.

“They’re fine,” June rushed out. “This is a nothingburger to them. Not even a bump in the road—coke pun intended. But Intrepid Studio is another matter. They want him to sit out theOld Flamepremiere so it doesn’t draw focus away from the film.”

Oh fuck.

I gave her an incredulous look. “The premiere that’s this Friday? And is his favorite part of this bullshit? The one that he’s been especially anticipating because he poured his soul into the fucking film?”

“Yes, that one.”

I grabbed my phone. “I’ll deal with it.”

“Good luck,” she muttered as she left.

I put a call into Hullywod, then tried Tripp again. If his agency couldn’t help, I would call Intrepid myself. I hadn’t negotiated the contract, but I was sure I could throw around enough legalese to get them to back off.

In the meantime, I also needed to reach out to Cohen and Atlas to let them know that he might be in a mood and to be on watch if he came into Gilded.

And talk to Adriana Davies about her case and my dearly, long-departed grandmother.

And try not to let my obsession with Maddie implode the business I’d worked hard for.

I already knew it was the last one that would be the most difficult.

Chapter 25

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

MADDIE

“Maddie, is that you?” Wrenflopped next to me on the comfy couch in the café. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

Since it was barely noon on Monday, she was laying it on a little thick.

And that was saying something coming from me.

I attempted one of Easton’s slow blinks. “It’s been less than two days.”

“So long. Speaking of things that are long…” She waggled her brows, but before she could ask whatever dirty question she wanted, the barista called my name.

I grabbed my bagged cookie and a coffee that tasted like artificial syrup and not actual toasted marshmallow.

First, Easton ruined me for other coffee, and after two nights in his bed, he’s ruined me for other dick.

I took a sip of it anyway because Easton still wouldn’t share his caffeine source, and I needed the boost.