Page 36 of The Devil’s Detail (The Greystone Family: Greystone Brothers #2)

Carter

I know they’re due back today. Ash has been keeping updated on the itinerary. Kasey is here, and he’s full of the joys of spring. Evie and the children are accompanying Jackson back to LA to see her husbands.

“Kasey, she’ll be in LA for a few weeks, at least. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to go see her.” I point to the sofas for him to sit. He’s anxious to go see them all and use his son Cole as the cover story.

“Cole can’t wait to see them. He loves the twins, and Evie said I can take him over.”

You’d think she was his wife the way he talks about her. No wonder everyone is confused about him, them. But I know from Evie’s side it’s just friendship. Nothing more.

“You need to chill out. Get too pushy and Marcus and Xander will stop you at the door. Plus, you need to give them time to see their damn kids.”

He huffs a laugh. “They won’t care. They do as she says. We all do.” He eyes me speculatively. “Anyway, enough of me. Have you spoken to Jackson?” He fixes me with his navy-blue-eyed stare.

I’ve sort of spoken to Kasey about my feelings for Jackson, but not confessed the whole turkey shoot. Or the debacle of me spilling my guts and him running out on me. How fuckin’ embarrassin’.

“I’ll wait. I’ve called him a few times while he was in Ireland, but they were busy trying to figure out the thief business, and then Jonno went and got married. Did you hear?” I watch him, trying to gauge what he actually knows. Most of the time he works on hearsay or things he makes up.

“Fucking crazy, if you ask me. Why would he want to do that? He could have just let her have the baby and given her some cash.” He’s so cold.

So blasé about serious issues. “From what I’ve been told, the woman didn’t really want a husband.

But to be honest, I don’t actually think Jonno Greystone is sane.

Everyone treats him like he’s some sort of bomb about to go off.

” He throws his hands up in an exploding motion, and I giggle, because that’s not far from the truth.

That brother is a bit scary. I remember his tone of voice on the phone in the park.

“Even Marcus and Xander are afraid of him. I think the only people who aren’t are the Greystones themselves,” Kasey finishes with a flourish.

“I’m not convinced of any of their sanity.

James and Bucky’s antics at the restaurant when we went for dinner shows how few fucks they give.

They go anywhere to do anything.” I smile at that though.

I’ll be forever grateful to Jackson and the boys for that.

In fact, I’d like to show my appreciation somehow, but that ain’t gonna happen either.

“Are you going to chase Jackson down? Beg him to go on a date?”

Clearly my face might be giving me away.

“No, I’m fuckin’ not.” I must sound convincing as his head shoots up and his mouth pops open in surprise. “I’ll call him first, and then chase him down and beg him.” I smirk at Kasey and he rolls his eyes.

“Should you bother? I mean, you asked him and he bolted. Is he worth it? It’s not your usual story.

It’s normally them chasing you and you bolting, after you’ve hooked up of course.

” He’s grinning at me like he has room to talk.

He’s the ultimate one-night stand. Well, we were both the ultimate one-night standers.

“Yeah. He is, sugar. If he wants me to leave him alone, I need him to specifically tell me to get lost. If he does, then fair enough, and I will. But my heart will be heavy. My tears will be welling in my eyes.” I close my eyes, tilting my head to the side, theatrically touching my middle fingers to my eye sockets and opening my mouth in a pretend silent cry.

He shakes his head at my dramatics, holding out a beer for me to drown my sorrows.

My phone rings and it’s Freddie calling. “I’ve got to take this,” I tell Kasey, flashing him the screen. He waves me away as I stand and walk out of the room.

Freddie starts talking a mile a minute the moment I answer.

I listen, and my breath stutters in my throat.

I need to go back to England. I have a final callback for a role, and it may be the decisive meeting.

I’ve been going through the motions on this project with no real hope of ever getting the role.

But the more interviews, auditions, and screen tests I did, the more I felt like I was born to play it.

It will be the best ever, a dream come true.

The fact that Freddie is telling me to get my ass over the pond immediately is major.

“Ash,” I shout as I hang up the phone. I need to go pronto. Where is he? I need my passport. “I need to go to the UK. London.” Instead, my assistant comes into the room, and she has our passports and all my shit together and ready to go. Clearly I was Freddie’s second call.

“What’s this role you keep hopping on planes for? You’ve racked up a shit-ton of frequent flyer miles jetting all over the world for it.” Kasey, the ultimate nosey bitch, is yearning to know. He’s fluttering around behind me as I get my personal items together.

But I signed multiple NDAs regarding anything to do with this project. Not unusual for a huge film. Doesn’t mean he’s gonna be happy with that answer.

“I can’t say. You know how it is, Kase. No info on this, buddy. Sorry.” I shrug and he smiles.

“You got this,” he assures me. “I can feel it.”

To be fair to the guy, as an actor himself, he’s never jealous.

Never treads on my toes. Always pleased for me, as I am for him.

We work well as friends. Have even talked about doing something together, before we get over the hill.

He wants to do more directing and producing in the future.

I’m more into the producing side. I shiver at the thought of directing.

Too many people to organize, too many crazy actors to lasso into position.

And thinking of lassoing people into positions… I’m sad that I won’t see Jackson before I go, but I can’t. My focus needs to be on this. If I see him and he tells me to fuck off, I’ll fall to pieces. And pieces ain’t gonna cut it for this rodeo. I need to be all in.

But it’s also a double-edged sword. This role is one of the biggest, the most well-known in the world.

It’s iconic. I’m big enough to merit it now—world famous—and that’s not me being a braggart or big headed.

It’s the fuckin’ truth. If I do this, there won’t be a single person in the world who doesn’t know who I am.

It will push my star from global to stratospheric.

And the guy I want to date? Well, he’s trying to hide from my limelight now. This will push me—and by default, him—into the headlights of the world. I would be everywhere. Which would mean he would be everywhere, too.

Story of my life. Although, to be honest, I’ve never had anyone say no to a relationship. Ever. Not since I started seriously acting at sixteen.

Now I’m here. Paid my dues on small films and built from there.

The fact I’m stellar looking has helped, but also hindered.

I had to get down and dirty to be taken seriously.

I was a movie star from the start, but not a serious actor.

I had to change that narrative. Even I knew that.

Don’t get me wrong, being a movie star pays well.

But you can get typecast real fast, and all anyone wants you to do is look pretty. And I do that real fuckin’ well.

Since my star took off, everyone I’ve asked to be in a relationship with me, however brief, has said yes.

I’ve always been out, never hid my sexuality from the world.

I’d seen some actors do that. And as they got bigger in terms of star status, the more important it seemed to them to hide who they really were.

As if the fact that they’re gay, or bi, or however they choose to live and love, makes a difference to how they act. Who they are.

But then the gossip sites over the years have been littered with people who have been outed. These days, no one bats an eye. And I say hallelujah to that. I still look the same, sound the same, hell I am the same, because I’m me. And to be fair, so were they—they were just ill advised.

I’d rather have not ‘made it’ than lived a fuckin’ lie. But I don’t judge others that have gone a different route. People have their reasons, and I respect that.

But the spotlight is harsh, fleeting at times, unforgiving. It lets you bask in its glow, but there’s always a price to be paid.

I just hope that, for the first time in my life, getting the role of my dreams is not going to cost me the man of my dreams.

I’ve got a sneaky feeling it might. And my heart sinks into my boots at that. If I do get this part, in this mega fuckin’ film, I won’t be able to tell him. I’d be lyin’ like a hairy ass saying I can protect him from the cameras I know are comin’ my way, like a fuckin’ freight train.

But I also know Jackson, I’ve seen the man.

He’s as unforgiving as that fuckin’ spotlight.

He won’t put up with all the shit that will swirl around me.

He doesn’t need it. He’s not in love with me.

And you need to be in love, in so fuckin’ deep you can’t get out, to weather this shit storm.

I actually consider for a nanosecond not going to England.

Head instead to Jackson’s, and beg the man to love me.

But I don’t. I know myself too well. I’m a selfish fucker as well. Ruthless in the pursuit of what I want.

Well, time to put that ruthlessness into full gear. I am gonna have it all, sugar. The whole fuckin’ nine yards. The whole pie with the cherry on the top. Him and this fuckin’ film, even if it kills me.