L.A. Fire (32 page)

 
“Hi, Karen,” he said. “Good to see you again.”

 
She playfully narrowed her eyes at him and said, “Liar.” Karen continued to
stare at Julian, completely ignoring me.

 
I cleared my throat and asked “How do you know each other?”

 
At the question, she finally turned toward me and smirked. “We used to be fuck
buddies,” she said. “But I see I’ve been replaced.”

 
I could feel my eyes bulge. The corners of her mouth curled up, and I could
tell she was pleased to have elicited such a strong reaction. “Anyway, best of
luck, hon,” she said. Then turning to Julian she added, “And good to see you
again, Jules. Keep in touch, okay?” She winked at him again, and then sashayed
off toward a man who by the looks of it was her date.

 
I literally gaped after her, feeling completely whiplashed from this
interaction I’d witnessed. “Your fuck buddy?” I asked him. “Exactly how many
more of those am I likely to run into tonight?”

 
I saw Julian’s shoulders tense up. “Karen can be a little crass and pushy. I’m
sorry you had to witness that.”

 
A burly man who I immediately recognized approached us. He was a director of
several well known movies, and he was always on the lookout for new talent.
This was definitely a man it was in my best interests to get to know better.
“Hello, Julian,” he said, holding out his hand. “So good to see you again.”

 
“John. I’ve been meaning to call you,” Julian said, clasping his hand. “I think
I have something that might interest you.”

 
John Silverman nodded. “I’ll get in touch with you tomorrow,” he said. “But
let’s not talk shop tonight,” he added, turning to me and giving me a winning
smile. “Who is this lovely lady escorting you here this evening?” he asked.

 
Julian hesitated for a moment, then said, “This here is Sarah Stevens. She’s
Paul’s brilliant new hire.”

 
John eyed me with benign speculation. “And your new girlfriend, I suppose.
Well, you definitely are a lucky man, Julian. She’s an absolute stunner.” Then
he turned his attention back to Julian and said, “I’ll call you tomorrow about
business.” He gave me one more look and said, “You should consider taking
acting lessons. With your beauty you’re a natural fit for the big screen. In
any case, you’re far too pretty to be wasting your time as a talent agent.”

 
His eyes twinkled with warmth, and I could tell he thought he was paying me a
huge compliment. As he walked away, I felt like I was going to be sick. This is
exactly what I was afraid of happening. Being reduced to arm candy. Not taken
seriously as a talent agent. Evaluated solely on the basis of my looks.

 
“Hey,” Julian said, taking my hand. “Are you okay?”

 
I shook my head and pulled away from him. “No. No I’m not. Did you see what
just happened there? I just got dismissed as your pretty little date by one of
the big shots in the industry.”

 
Julian’s face clouded over. “Sarah, I introduced you as Paul’s new hire, not my
date.”

 
I nodded. “I know,” I said. “It’s not your fault. It’s my fault for agreeing to
come with you tonight. I knew this would happen.”

 
“Sarah,” Julian said, his tone coaxing. “This is not going to make or break
your career. It’s just one movie premiere.”

 
I could feel myself getting flustered. “No, Julian. For you it’s just a movie
premiere. For me it’s going to be a whole series of blown first impressions
that I’ll have to work hard to try and undo. For me this is a mess.” I could
feel eyes on me, and suddenly realized that a few people had stopped to watch
our interaction. I waited for them to pass, then focused my attention back on
Julian. “Listen,” I said. “Why don’t you just go and mingle by yourself. I need
to get some fresh air,” I said.

 
Julian looked conflicted. His expression was one of frustration mingled with
concern. “Okay,” he said reluctantly. “I’ll give you fifteen minutes. Meet me
at the doors to the auditorium. We should be getting seated by then.”

 
I nodded slightly, then headed toward a little nook where it looked like I
might get a few moments of peace and quiet. As I settled into a red velvet
upholstered chair, a waiter came by with a tray of champagne and I grabbed a
glass. I started sipping it slowly, trying to calm my nerves, when out of the
corner of my eye I noticed someone plunk down beside me.

 
“So we meet again.”

 
I looked up into the huge green sparkling eyes of Megan Woods. The breath was literally
knocked out of me for a moment. Up close she was even more stunning than I
remembered her. Tonight her thick blonde hair hung in waves about her
shoulders, and she had on a teal silk Vera Wang gown. She played with the
champagne glass in her hands, every so often taking a couple of sips. I was
feeling too frazzled to talk to her.

 
“Listen, Megan, I don’t mean to be rude, but I came to the corner to get a
breather. I can’t deal with any more drama.”

 
“I’ll be quick,” she said, taking another sip of her champagne. “I just thought
you and I should have a talk. You know, woman to woman.”

 
I looked at her warily. “You mean about Julian?”

 
She nodded. “I think it’s only fair to warn you.”

 
I studied her with a hard expression. “Okay, I’ll bite,” I said after a long
moment. “Warn me about what?”

 
She brushed back a stray lock of hair, then angled herself so she was fully
facing me. “I can tell he’s crazy about you,” she said. “But he was also crazy
about me. But it didn’t work, because he wouldn’t show me who he really was.”

 
I gave her a wry smile. “Funny,” I said. “That’s exactly what he said about
you.”

 
Her eyes glimmered with an emotion I couldn’t quite place. “Maybe I didn’t let
my guard down,” she said. “But neither did he.” She paused for a moment, and
stared at me hard. “He’ll never let you see who he truly is,” she said. “He
wanted me to trust him. But he couldn’t trust me.” She took another sip of her
champagne, keeping her eyes trained on me. “Julian needs to have control. It’s
just the way he is. As soon as you start trying to pry into his layers, figure
out who he really is, he’ll shut down on you. And then replace you.” She kept
looking at me, presumably waiting for some sign that what she had said was
sinking in.

 
I felt fear gnaw at my gut as it dawned on me that she might be right. Julian
was so self-contained. He was used to holding his cards close to his chest, not
letting anyone else see what hand he’d been dealt.  And hadn’t he just
completely shut down on me in the limo when I tried to get him to open up to
me?

 
Maybe he wasn’t a player. Maybe he genuinely wanted an intimate relationship
with me, but he’d wanted one with Megan as well, and their attempt at getting
close to each other had failed. Would Julian shut down on me too? Then replace
me with a fuck buddy until he found someone else who laid herself bare without
expecting the same in return?

 
I threw back the rest of my champagne and got to my feet. “Thanks for the
warning,” I said. “It’s been interesting. But I’ve really got to get back to
Julian.”

 
Megan shrugged her shoulders and stayed seated. “Do what you’ve got to do,” she
said, leaning back into her chair.

 
A large crowd was building by the doors of the auditorium. I had to get on my
tippy toes to see between the bobbing heads, but then I spotted him. My heart
stopped, and my blood ran cold. Julian was leaning up against the auditorium
door, talking to a curvy brunette in a slinky low-cut black cocktail dress. She
was standing close to him. Too close. Her body language was flirty and
familiar, suggesting to me that they’d once been intimate. I took several deep
breaths to steady my nerves, and then stormed up to him. He turned toward me,
and looked taken aback when he saw the expression of fury on my face.

 
The brunette ignored me completely and flashed Julian a smile that dripped with
sex. “Anyway,” she said in a breathy voice. “It’s been a while. We should
totally catch up. Have lunch or something.” Julian shrugged noncommittally, but
she winked at him, which made him smile. Then she slinked away, not once
acknowledging my presence.  

 
Julian’s face was once again totally unreadable. I continued to stare at him accusingly
until he asked, “What’s wrong now?”

 
I let out a harsh laugh. “What’s wrong? I’ll tell you what’s wrong. You’re
unbelievable. I’m not even allowed to look at another guy, but you think it’s
alright to have girls crawling all over you right in front of my face? Do you
even realize how humiliating that is for me? Both of those sluts treated me
like I wasn’t even there, and you let them have the satisfaction of getting
away with it.”

 
Julian’s face became serious. “Those girls don’t mean anything to me, Sarah.”

 
I glowered at him. “Then why the hell were you flirting with them?” I asked,
trying to keep my voice down so that I didn’t cause a scene.

 
A glimmer of an emotion crossed Julian’s face, but it was too subtle and too
fleeting for me to get a proper read. “I was just making harmless conversation.
Those girls like to play hard, and they flirt with everyone. I had no intention
of taking them up on their invitations.”

 
“Oh, so there were invitations,” I said. “And instead of dismissing them
outright and telling them you had a girlfriend, you continued to indulge your
ego by letting them flirt with you.”

 
Julian’s lips twitched slightly. “I didn’t quite see it that way,” he said, his
tone completely neutral.

 
I smirked at him. “Yeah, well I did. And so did everyone else here who has a
pair of eyes in their head.”

 
Julian reached for my hand. “Let’s go take our seats. We’ll talk about this
later.”

 
I felt my blood start pumping harder through me veins, and my whole body tensed
up. “No,” I said. “I’m leaving. Enjoy the show.” I spun on my heel and started
storming toward the front door. I was worried about people witnessing my little
outburst, but I knew I had to get out of there. I no longer felt safe with
Julian. I couldn’t trust myself with him right now. I was on the verge of
having an explosion, and I couldn’t let all of these people in the industry see
me lose it. That would literally end my career. It was bad enough that I was
leaving. But I had no choice. I heard Julian call my name, but I ignored him
and started moving faster. I noticed an exit to the side of the building. If I
went that way, I could avoid all the paparazzi drama. Right before I reached
the door, an arm swooped around my waist and held me tight.

 
“You’re not going anywhere without me,” he said, his voice almost a growl.

 
“Let go of me,” I said, freezing in his grip. “You’re going to make a scene,” I
said.

 
Julian tightened his grip around me and said, “I don’t give a shit. I’m calling
the car to come get us at the side exit.”

 
I shook my head. “No, Julian,” I said, both angry and close to tears. “You’ve
got to stay, okay? Think about how bad this looks.”

 
Julian’s expression became ferocious. “You’re more important to me than some
stupid premiere. And if anyone asks, I’ll say you were feeling sick so I
escorted you home.”

 
Still holding me tight, Julian pulled out his phone, called his driver, and gave
him instructions regarding where to meet us. When he ushered me through the
door then into the limo, I was still livid, but I realized getting a drive home
was really my only option. I didn’t have enough money in my purse for a cab,
and I was on the verge of sobbing violently. In fact, as soon as Julian pulled
shut the limo door, my whole body started trembling hard, and I covered my face
with my hands. Then the sobs wracked my frame, and I just let go. Julian pulled
me close, and started rubbing circles into my back. I pulled away from him, and
got some control over myself.