Riley
"Oh my God. That was so fucking good." Charlotte wrapped her arms around her as we walked out of the theater with the rest of the glassy-eyed women we’d shared the last two hours with. I had to blink a few times to make sure no one could tell that I was completely lost to the handsome bastard too.
"He's nothing like that in real life." I tossed the popcorn in the trash and shoved my hands into my pockets.
"Hey!" Some girl moved up in front of me as I zipped up my light-weight jacket. "Aren't you the girl from the Trident commercial? I love that gum."
"Yeah." I smiled. "Good stuff, right?"
"Oh my God. Can I get a picture with you?" The teenager moved toward me and I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, feeling stupid, and yet not willing to deny her. "Thanks so much! So cool."
"You bet." I turned back to Charlotte who was smiling. "What?"
"You know what. You're going to be as big as Ethan Lewis one day. I just know it." She slid her arm into mine and chuckled. "And then there will be a room full of dudes with hard-ons for you."
"No thanks." I rolled my eyes and pulled out my keys. "I love acting, and pray like hell that it's going to be part of my future, but having adoring fans is a-whole-nother conversation.
"True." Charlotte released me and pulled her hair up into a ponytail. "Why do you think Ethan is different in real life than what we see on the big screen? I mean, I get that he's not an international spy and shit, but he's still got the same warm brown eyes, those defined abs and that huge bulge in the front of his pants."
"That bulge is fake." I pressed the key fob. "No one has a dick that big."
She laughed as we got in the car. "Why are you being such a hater? Are you jealous of his success?"
"What? Hell no. He's probably worked his ass off to get where he is. He doesn't have famous parents or wealthy siblings or anything. He's done it all on his own." I shrugged. "I'm just saying. He's an actor. They make him extra attractive, put a cup over his cock and force him to do some push-ups before the scene starts."
"And? I still can't imagine him being much different in person." She buckled up. "You think he's shy and withdrawn?"
"Nope, but I bet the last twenty dollars in my checking account that he's a total jerk." I pulled out and waited for the large group of people filing out of the theater to pass by us. "I don't know that for sure, but it would be my guess. Really wealthy people have to fight against themselves. It makes them bitter and bitchy. It would me or you too."
"Fight against themselves? What the fuck psychoanalytical bull crap are you spewing?" She turned on the radio and gave me a look.
"I'm serious. If you were worshiped by half the people in the world, you'd have to work hard not to believe them too."
"What's wrong with believing them?" She leaned back and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.
I yanked them from her and rolled down my window, throwing them out as she tried to wrestle me.
"Stop. I'm driving." I pushed back at her playfully.
"Those are expensive, and I'm broke. Damn, Riley." She pushed at my shoulder softly.
"Then stop buying them. Paying to die isn't something I'm willing to support." I popped her in the chest and she reached over to pinch me, but I jerked out of her way, accidently pulling the car with me.
The driver beside me honked and sped up, flipping me off as he drove by.
"Sorry, buddy!" I flipped him off and smiled.
"You're ridiculous. I'm going to find a way to get that audition for Ethan's next movie, and then you'll see. You're far more talented than any of those ditzes they've had across from him in the other movies."
"Good luck. I've been trying to move up to sitcoms, which is the stop before movies. It hasn’t happened and it's not looking very promising." I pulled onto the freeway as my phone buzzed. "Besides... I'm not nearly sexy enough to star across from Mr. Lewis."
"Ah, so you admit that he's insanely hot." She picked up my phone from the cup holder.
"I totally agree with that, but anyone is with loads of make-up and a cock cup." I laughed and reached for the phone.
She pulled it from me and shook her head. "You're stunning and you know it. I cannot imagine what they could do with you if you sat down in their chair and let them have at you. You'd be the next Marilyn Monroe."
"Right. That's why guys are busting down the door to take me on a date. Give me the phone before I slap you."
"It's your personality that needs an overhaul, not your make-up. You’re a hood rat in a Cinderella body." She handed the phone to me as I scoffed at her.
I did have quite an attitude problem, she was right there. Where she was wrong is on me being something special. I looked like a child and would be carded for a beer for the next ten years.
"Hey, Mom." I pressed the phone between my cheek and shoulder and pulled off the freeway to head to Charlotte's apartment.
"Hey. No need to go to the house."
"What? Why?"
"It's not ours anymore." My mom let out a long sigh. "The bank repossessed it today. Just stay with Charlotte until I figure out what to do."
"What? What about all my clothes, Mom? My stuff? My freaking toothbrush?" Heat raced up my center and coated my neck and cheeks.
"What's wrong?" Charlotte put her hand on my shoulder.
"I got everything out. I dropped it off at Charlotte’s earlier. The landlord pulled up my name on her list and let me in, but watched me like a hawk.” My mom's voice was tight and filled with weariness.
Life just wasn't going to cut us a break, and why would it? It never had before.
Ethan"Smile. It makes you look human," Deza whispered as we walked toward the premier party."I don't want to look human. That doesn't sell movies." I glanced over at my agent and denied her the smile she wanted from me. The party was a week late thanks to a few fuck ups by some of the dip-shits we'd hired to help us manage my ever-growing list of things to attend. To say I was pissy would have been a massive understatement."Ethan! Ethan, over here! Please!""Ethan! I'm your biggest fan."I turned and smiled, waving at the large group of women that had gathered outside the theater we'd rented out for the preview of my latest movie. It was staged to be the box office hit of the weekend. I wasn't so sure about it, but then again, I was forever critical of my skills. I needed to be. No one else was anymore."Hey guys. Thanks for the support." I forced myself to play the humble college frat boy that most of them believed me to be. A cute child star that now worked hard every day and pra
Ethan"I'll tell you when I get back." She pocketed the phone and walked out, leaving me there wondering what the hell was going on.She returned a few minutes later with the cute blonde from the second list beside her. "Ethan, this is Amber Mills. She's a big fan of yours, and head of your fan club back in Seattle. She won these tickets tonight.""Awesome." I stood up and dusted my slacks to get rid of the excess popcorn I seemed to be collecting there. I extended my hand, but the girl rushed me, wrapping her arms around my waist and giggling loudly. The sound made me want to cringe, but I locked my jaw and glanced up at Deza. It would seem that my 'date' for the event was going to be a choice I would soon regret."Oh my God. I'm totally in love with you." She squeezed hard, and I worked to pull her arms from me."That’s great. Sit down here and let me and Deza finish our conversation." I looked down at her. "And then you can ask me three questions. Any three you want to.""Oh my God
One Week LaterRiley"Oh God. I hate accounting." Charlotte pressed her hands to her face and let out a long groan as we sat at the table together."Then why are you studying it?" I glanced up from the lines I was working to memorize. I'd scored a side part in the next school play at UCLA. My best bet for snagging a real agent and dropping mine was to grab someone’s attention in one of the college productions. Sadly enough, it was more about who you knew and not what you were capable of."It's part of my business degree." She closed the book and leaned back. "Guess what I heard this morning, or rather saw.""What?" I reached for my Coke and took a quick sip as it spilled onto my papers. "Shit."I got up and grabbed a few paper napkins as she continued like nothing happened."They're having open auditions to a big time movie coming up." She wagged her eyebrows and took a sip of my Coke."Oh yeah? What? Elves in Wonderland three?" I lifted my eyebrow and gave her a cheeky grin as I clea
RileyI laughed and turned back to the bar. "I had to set up the experiment. Now, let's introduce the possibility of sex and see if he bends.""Bends? How? There aren't any limes." She pressed her arm against mine and shook her head at me."Sure there are. He's working in the biggest bar in L.A. They have limes. Just bite your lip and look innocent when I glance over at you."The guy headed back as Charlotte started to ask another question. I nudged her and squeezed my shoulders together, forcing my breasts to rise a little.His eyes moved down me like he hadn't been standing in front of me five minutes before. "Here's your beer, pretty girl. Looks like it's on the house tonight.""Thank you." I took the beer and pressed it to my lips as I watched him closely. "What time do you get off?"His eyes widened a little. "Tonight?""Mmhmm." I took a sip and put the beer down before licking at my lips as if trying to capture every. Last. Drop.He swallowed and shrugged. "Around three.""Good.
EthanI woke up early the next morning, hoping to find time to get to the gym before having breakfast with Deza and Frank. Guess the old goat wanted to tell me about the open auditions himself. Funny that he was doing it the day after it was released in the papers.The warmth beneath my covers left me not wanting to move. I groaned at the thought of the chick from the night before. She'd been overly eager to follow me around during the party, making herself look like my girlfriend to everyone with a camera. It was no matter. Deza would set them all straight with a statement about us being good to our fans."Almost too good." I arched my hips as I took myself in my hand and tugged at my hardened flesh. I couldn't get my fingers wrapped around the thickness of my cock, but it was what it was. Most women couldn't get anything wrapped around it. After spending most of my teenage years frustrated over the number of times I'd worked a girl up to being ready to take me only to have her unabl
EthanIt felt cheap and gross to show fake passion on the big screen. All the women watching thought I actually felt the way I portrayed toward my co-star, hell, most of the women playing across from me thought I was in love with them.It was acting. It's what I did."No." I shrugged and glanced up at the waitress as she gave me a shy smile."I'm sorry to ask this, but can you please autograph something for me? My friends are never going to believe I got to wait on you." She bit her lip and gave me a hopeful look. I usually ate in the back room and they had one older woman that waited on me. We were taking a chance today, but it didn't seem like it was going to turn out too terribly bad. An autograph I could handle. Being pawed at? No."Sure." I took the paper and glanced back up at her. "Who do I make the note out to?""Tammy. Thank you so much, Mr. Lewis. I think it's just so incredibly cool that you wanted to have open auditions. My cousin is trying out for the part in the new movi
RileyI never made it to bed the night before, but crashed on the couch instead. After getting the crick out of my back, I walked to the kitchen and yawned so hard I thought my jaw might pop out of socket."Damn," I mumbled and rubbed my face.The front door opened behind me and Charlotte walked in, looking about how I felt."Hey," she mumbled and closed the door before dropping her purse and kicking off her shoes. "What a waste of getting undressed.""Oh yeah? That bad?" I popped the top on the coffee and worked to get it brewing so I could properly wake up."He's gotten worse. I swear he stuck it in and came." She rolled her shoulders as she moved up beside me. "I know I'm good in bed, but come on. Really?""At least you had sex." I moved to the counter next to me and pulled two coffee mugs out. "I think it's been three months for me.""This wasn't the kind of sex that anyone would miss. I promise." She walked to the fridge and got out the creamer. "I saw you dancing with Jace. He d
Riley"Whatever," I mumbled and pulled the bacon off onto a plate Charlotte had gotten ready for me while I was lost to thought."Is this the line you have to record?" She laughed and moved up beside me. "I'm not sure I could get this out without laughing."I glanced over at it and snatched it from her hands. "Do the eggs for us. I jack them up every time, and yes... this is the line.""Say it for me.""No." I walked back to the breakfast bar and picked up my coffee. "Why do they have to make women look like weak sex-hungry creatures in these movies? Ethan is man enough to keep the attention of the audience without having to dim his co-star. It's dumb.""Say the line." She glanced over her shoulder. "Use that sexy voice that got us into the club and got me a handful of limes last night.""You clean the bathroom and the kitchen and I'll do it." I looked up."Just the kitchen. The bathroom is all you. That's your fucking mess." She picked up the plate of bacon and set it in front of me,
Four Months LaterEthanNo matter how many times I went to the premier or opening night, I couldn't help but feel nervous. I was worried about my woman, but knowing her, she was handling it better than me. Deza had her in one of the dressing rooms at the large theater downtown where we did all of our opening nights."She needs to have some time to herself where you're not humping her damn leg like a Chihuahua in heat." Deza had been quite clear on why Riley wasn't coming with me to the premier."You want a turn?" I'd tried to hump her leg a few minutes earlier as she came in to check on me, but it hadn't gone over too well. Something about her big ugly boyfriend out front and him not liking me as it were.His loss. He's eating those words when the two of them finally retied the knot. It was me that got them back together, though neither one of them seemed to want to admit it.It was a thankless job."You know it's weird." Deza moved up in front of me and reached up, adjusting my tie.
RileyWe walked into the wedding dress shop, and everything became real. All of the struggle and strife we'd been through to reach this point.I turned as tears blurred my gaze and reached for Ethan."Baby, what's wrong?" He leaned down and pulled me against his chest as a salesman spoke up behind us."How can I help you, Mr. Lewis?""Nothing. I'm just overwhelmed. I'm sorry." I pressed my hands to my face and leaned against him.He brushed his hair down the back of my head. "My girl and I want to see some wedding gowns. The best that you have. And I'll put down a thousand dollars to have you leave us be back in the dressing room for about an hour once we have a few of your best.""Done, Sir. I'll gather them now."He kissed the top of my head. "We can come back, Ri. We don't have to do this now.""No. I want to." I forced myself to look up at him. "I just feel out of place.""But you fit in at the mall?" He chuckled, but the sound fell flat. He got it. I was out of place there, but a
Ethan"This is Ethan," I mumbled into the phone, trying to keep my voice down, though there was no way in hell anyone could hear me over the noise at the mall."Ethan Lewis?" A woman stopped in front of me.Fuck me. I pointed to the phone and shook my head no, pulling it away and mouthing that I was a look alike."Oh. Never mind." She gave me a snarl and walked on."Deza?" I put the phone back to my ear. "I'm in the mall. Come get me before these crazy bitches tear the flesh from my bones."Deza's laugh filled up my ear, accompanied by Frank’s. "We have you on speaker. What the fuck are you doing at the mall on a Saturday? And a public mall at that.""Riley forced me to." I pouted and watched for signs of my girl in the windows of the store she was shopping in. "She's still wearing rose-colored glasses about this shit.""I'm taking it she didn't see those horrible pictures the Daily Star posted about her being-" Deza started.Frank finished it. "Pregnant with Ethan's alien twins?"The
Two Months LaterEthan"Why did we decide to do this?" I narrowed my eyes and the pretty girl that sat across from me. The one that had my heart racing and body purring every time she walked into the room."Because." She lifted her eyebrow. I knew that look. "You said that we would get to where we could go out in public and do normal things for our age. We're in our early twenties. We're eating at the food court. Period.""At a public mall." I glanced around and realized every-fucking-body was staring and pointing. I groaned and turned back to her. "If it's not bad enough that every tabloid has taken pictures of you and swollen your stomach for you with photoshop. It makes you look like you're pregnant with my alien twins. What more do you want?"She laughed, and I forced myself to sit back and chill out. "Nothing, baby. I wanted noodles at the mall. I'm tired of being in the house or at private parties. I want to live where everyone else does. I want to shop at Old Navy!""They have
Riley"Bumpy?" The little boy's blue eyes sparkled as he wiped at Ethan's hands over his legs. "Bumpy?""Oh jeez. Thank you so much." The mother jogged up and scooped the little guy up in her arms. "I'm so sorry." She paused as her eyes went wide. "Oh my God. You're Ethan Lewis and Riley Phillips. I love your movies," she pointed over to me, "and you were beautiful in the Spring play at UCLA. You're in the next Eon movie together, right?""Yeah, we are." I smiled over at Ethan, but he was too busy watching the little boy. Did he want kids? We'd had a short conversation about it, but I couldn't remember his response. His own upbringing had been as bad as mine, if not worse.Poverty sucked. Not being loved was way worse."Baby." I tugged on his hand."Oh. Sorry. I got lost there in my head for a minute." He reached out and patted the little guy on the head. "Take care, hmm?""Thank you again." The woman turned as the little boy chirped the word, 'bumpy' a handful of times."You want bab
RileyButterflies danced in my stomach as we drove along the coast and finally pulled up to a white castle that overlooked the water. A maroon Lexus convertible sat in the driveway.I glanced down at my clothes and gave Ethan a look. "Really? Why didn't you tell me to dress up? Whose house is this?"He laughed and pulled behind another large moving truck. "Ours, baby.""What?" Shock raced through me as he got out of the van and left me sitting there. "Ours?"Did he buy a house on the beach? I'd just mentioned wanting one the day before. Late in the day on the day before.I got out and jogged to catch up to him as a bunch of guys I didn't know walked out of the house."Alright. Just bring everything in from the garage, and Riley will tell you where it's going." He reached back and took my hand, half-pulling me into the house. I'd never seen anything like it in my life. I was majestic. Huge. White."Ethan." I was breathless, and my heart hurt in my chest. "Did you buy this place yesterd
EthanI knocked on Charlotte and Riley's apartment door and moved back, the red flowers in my hands holding one white rose.Riley opened the door rubbing her eyes. "Baby? What are you doing? It's before ten."I handed her the flowers and pulled her into my arms, laying a few kisses on her lips and smiling down at her. "Get dressed. We got shit to do.""This early?" She blinked and looked around as if confused. I'd never seen anything more perfect in my whole life."Yeah." I moved away and pointed to the moving truck. "Our trucks waiting right there. Let's get your stuff and get moving. This day isn't going to wait much longer for us."Her eyes widened, and she turned her attention back to me. "Wait. I'm moving in today?""Yep." I walked past her and winked at Charlotte. "Jace coming to help?""Already here, man." He walked out from the kitchen and extended his hand to me. "I never thought I'd see the day where I'd help someone steal Riley from me, but I guess it's come, hm?"Charlotte
EthanRiley wasn't too thrilled when I took her back to her apartment after we got sloshed at the party, but I told her my stomach was upset and I would see her the next morning. Not a good thing to do with a possessive woman in love.I turned off my phone an hour after getting home and took a long shower as excitement bubbled up inside of me. I had big plans for the next day and had been texting on my phone all fucking night to get it all set up for her.She was going to be blown the fuck away. Just knowing that it would be my fault had me giddy as I rolled out of bed the next morning. It was still early, but I was good with it. I wanted everything to be perfect.I pulled out my phone and texted my brother, Deza and Riley’s best friend, Charlotte to make sure everyone knew where they needed to be and what part they were playing."And here you thought I was just sitting on my hands." I glanced down at my phone. The picture of us eating ice cream like two little kids always made me smi
RileyI laughed and got dressed quickly as excitement bubbled in my stomach. I'd never been to an end of production wrap up party. Obviously, because I'd never wrapped up a movie before. It sounded like fun, and if we were going to be drinking and dancing with all of our friends, how could it not?Darren is coming.Worry raced through the center of my chest as I thought through how that could be good or bad. It seemed that there were a lot more chances for things to get messed up than go well.I forced myself to stop thinking about all of it and went back to feeling grateful. Ethan and I were spending almost every night together at his place, and he was dropping hints all the time about us getting married or having kids, or at the very least, moving in together.It was going to happen soon. I could feel it in my bones.I checked my hair and lipstick one more time before walking out of my dressing room and taking the long way over to studio six. I passed by the practice rooms where Cla