Thirteen Years Ago

The rat-a-tat-tat on my trailer door stops me in my tracks, and I grin. Isaac knocks the same way, every time. What time is it? Late. Some people just finished filming. Was Isaac one of them? I can't remember what was on the call sheet.

"Come in." No matter the time, I'd answer the door for him. I drop my phone into my purse and check the rest of the trailer for anything else I'll need overnight.

When Isaac enters, he pushes his hands in his pockets. His grin splits his face. "Hey, Ellie. We're heading out to Club Cobra tonight. You in?" His almost too-white teeth glow in his brown face. How do I work with such beautiful people?

"Club Cobra?" I frown and check the clock above the desk. "What's your call time tomorrow?"

"Six."

"At night?" I throw the last couple things in my bag. Not that it matters, I'm back on set at eight in the morning.

"Ah, no. In the morning. You in short stuff or what?"

He was a child star, so he can get away with a lot more than I can. Isaac is beautiful, rich, and has a wicked sense of humor. Everyone loves him. This movie is my big break. I can't screw up. "I'm not sure I should." I bite the tip of one of my overly long nails.

"I'll cover your ass tomorrow if we're tired, I swear." Isaac's grin widens.

It isn't my ass I'm worried about, it's my job. We're only two weeks into filming, and I've heard enough about my co-stars to know that there is a good chance they aren't going to sleep at all.

"Come on. Last week in Cali before we head to Spain. Live a little," he cajoles me.

"Oh, fine." With a small shake of my head, I loop my arm with his. Whatever we get up to tonight, I need to keep a level head so I'm good for tomorrow. Should be easy enough. In the two weeks I've known Isaac, we've become good friends. He's a magnet for people.

We head to the lot where Isaac has called for a limo. He maintains a running stream of inappropriate but hilarious jokes. Up ahead, a gaggle of models, extras and crew are standing around at the edge of the lot.

"Where is everyone going?" I whisper into Isaac's ear.

He laughs, rocking back on his heels. "Oh, Ellie. We're all going out. We're gonna make it rain money." He throws his hands up in a flamboyant fashion. I suspect he's already high on something, but I can't be sure.

My stomach flips. The money from this job pays my rent until I get another job. There is no guarantee for me that there will be another job. I slow my pace beside him and consider changing my mind. What am I getting myself into?

"Isaac!" Wyatt jogs up behind us, emerging out of the darkness into the streetlights like a myth come to life. "Man, I thought you were going to leave without me." He laughs and slaps him on the back.

"Would have, but I had to convince Ellie to come." Isaac steps to the side so Wyatt's view of me is clear.

Was I hiding from him? I think I was hiding. Heat fills my cheeks.

"Ellie Cooper is finally coming out?" Wyatt sweeps me up into a big hug.

My heart thuds at the warmth of his embrace. If Isaac is beautiful and classy, Wyatt is dark and dangerous. He's a storm, thundering in off an ocean. Everything about him makes me anxious when we aren't acting together. He's too unpredictable when someone isn't directing him.

My laugh sounds nervous to my ears, and I ease away from him, shifting my purse higher on my arm, second-guessing my choice to come again. Wyatt made me sound like a prude. Finally coming out? I know how to have a good time.

Wyatt's deftly rolls a joint, the paper crinkling softly in the stillness around us. He lights it, takes a deep drag and then passes it to me. Without hesitating, I accept it, take a drag, and grin at him before passing it to Isaac. See? I'm fun.

Isaac waves me off. "Nah, man, I got better stuff than that."

Wyatt's brow furrows, and he gives Isaac a dark look. "You keep that stuff away from her, okay?"

Isaac laughs. "You're one to talk. I bet you're loaded to the gills." Isaac howls, a wolf in sheep's clothes.

Wyatt takes the joint back and chuckles. "We don't want to ruin her on the first night. Also, they could still fire her ass." He peruses me, amusement dancing across his features. "And I like working with her."

Heat races into my cheeks. Thank God it's nighttime, and he can't see the impact of his words. I'm like a schoolgirl desperate for a compliment from a cool kid. "Gee, thanks."

Wyatt tips his chin at me in challenge. "What have you done?"

"Like, acting?" I pluck the joint from him again and take a deep drag. Maybe this will help suffocate my nerves.

"No, like, drugs." His voice is mocking.

My stomach flips. I don't know why he always unnerves me so much. He must think I'm so ridiculously boring. "Weed, that's it." I inhale again. No point in lying. My parents would have murdered me when I was younger for even touching marijuana.

Wyatt's eyebrows lift in silent communication with Isaac.

"Point taken." Isaac gives Wyatt a rueful glance.

"Well, what have you two done then? If you're both so hard?" I glare at them both and take another drag from the joint.

Isaac loops his arm around my neck and pulls me to him as smoke billows out of my mouth into the midnight sky. "Name anything and I bet we've tried it. Wyatt and I go way back to the Clubhouse days."

"You weren't doing drugs when you were on a Disney show," I scoff. Adults wouldn't have allowed that to happen.

They both burst into laughter. "How do you think we survived Disney?" Wyatt asks.

"What about your parents?" Who'd been looking out for them? My parents insisted I get a degree—any degree—before moving to Los Angeles. Massage therapy has proven to be a good choice. Until I landed this movie, I gathered clients in between auditions and smaller jobs. Flexible schedule. Decent money. At the end of the movie, I'll start over with clientele, but this paycheck is worth the hassle. Massage clients are Plan B. If this movie does well, maybe there'll be no need for Plan B again.

Isaac shakes his head. "My parents tried, I think. Sooo long ago. Too many other people around me saying yes for their voices to matter much." He waves a dismissive hand. "I'm doing fine."

Wyatt laughs. A layer of dark stubble covers his jawline. What would it feel like to run my hand along his face? He catches me looking at him and winks. Another blush rises in me. At this point, he's going to think my face is naturally tomato red.

"My parents tried to get me into rehab. I had myself emancipated." Wyatt raises his hand to the limo entering the lot.

"Oh." The ground vibrates under my feet. Loopy—I'm feeling loopy, not quite right. I'm familiar with weed, but I've never done so much of it all at once. "Emancipated seems...excessive."

Wyatt glowers. "Drugs or my family—choice seemed easy. One of those things was always there for me when I needed it." He ducks into the limo, followed by Isaac.

I hesitate at the door, scanning the other people still waiting. The limo is big. Shouldn't we be taking more people? "What about everyone else?"

"Cabs," Isaac says. "They don't have enough money for rain."

Something about that doesn't seem right to me, but I'm not in the right frame of mind to argue. I give a small wave to everyone else as the limo driver closes the door behind me. Am I an asshole for leaving them all standing there? I think I might be. "Is that normal?" We streak out of the parking lot, everyone else staring after us.

"No." Wyatt takes a small vial out of his pocket. "Normally we would have piled a bunch of those models in here, too. Maybe some of the hotter extras. I resisted. You're welcome." He gives me a sideways glance as he opens the vial. He taps out and divides the white power. With one finger covering a nostril, he snorts one row and then Isaac does one, too. Isaac raises his eyebrows in silent question. Wyatt, but he shakes his head.

"Nah, man. Buzzed, not annihilated. I told you, I don't want Ellie getting fired." He shuts down Isaac's unspoken suggestion.

"Why would you doing drugs get me fired?" I clutch my purse in my lap. They seem to be able to handle it just fine. Maybe I would too. I should try it, just to shock them. The reality is that I need this job. I'm not sure what'll happen to me if I try cocaine and my brain goes all wrong. Isaac said he'd cover for me, but I'm not sure how much he's prepared to cover if I go completely off the rails.

Isaac laughs a deep, hearty, drug-fueled laugh. "Why would they get your fired? Cause Wyatt is a beast and comes up with all kinds of bad ideas when he's lit up."

The intensity of Wyatt's blue-green eyes when they meet mine makes Isaac's comment ring true. He hasn't asked me to do anything, and I already think I'd do anything he asked. Those eyes. The shade is fascinating, and I lean forward.

"They're real." Wyatt smiles, holding my gaze.

"They're such an odd color." Something in their tugs at me, yanks me under. I am so focused on figuring out his allure that I don't notice how much closer we've gotten. We haven't had a lot of scenes together yet. His lips quirk up and my gaze is drawn down. They're the perfect mix of firm and full. A little closer and I could touch my lips to his. A taste. Would one taste be enough?

Isaac clears his throat. "You two will be practicing your love scenes off camera before you know it." There's a quick flash of his teeth as he smiles.

The bubble is burst, and I sit back. "You have to admit, his eyes are amazing."

Isaac's smile turns into a grin of amusement, and he takes on a falsetto voice. "You should see his other body parts. He's simply to die for." His smile fades, and he removes a beer from the cooler in the armrest. There's a cooler stocked with beer in the armrest. Who's paying for this? "Sexiest Man Alive last year. Who crowns a twenty-five-year-old the sexiest man? They must have been desperate."

Wyatt leans over and swipes the beer from Isaac's hand. "Jealousy doesn't suit you." He downs half of Isaac's beer.

"Pfft." Isaac chuckles and gets out a second beer without missing a beat. His dark brown eyes meet mine, and they sparkle with amusement. "The three of us are going to light this town on fire. You'll see, Ellie. You'll see." He passes me the opened beer.

I take it with an answering flare of amusement. As long as we weren't literally lighting the town on fire, that sounded like a lot of fun. Pictures and gossip columns I'd read floated to the surface of my memory.

Wyatt gives me an appreciative glance. "A beer drinker?"

"Not too much I won't drink." I take a long gulp.

His lips quirk up again. "We'll see." He points his beer across the limo at Isaac. "Remember she said that, Isaac."

"So, you'll get me really drunk but not high?" I scan his face, puzzled by this strange moral compass.

"The shoot is months—months, Ellie. You gotta learn to pace yourself." Wyatt bumps his shoulder with mine, and this time his smile reaches his eyes.

My breath catches. His eyes immediately go down to my mouth. In the space between us, electricity zips.

From across the limo, Isaac calls out in a sing-song voice. "Pace yourself, Wyatt."

Without breaking eye contact with me, Wyatt jerks his beer bottle in Isaac's direction, sending a brief spray in his direction.

We all burst into laughter, and I chug the rest of my beer. Excitement courses through my veins.

This is going to be a lot of fun.