Rose and my eyes locked, and she rushed over and planted a serious kiss on me. She and I’d done a shoot for Range Sports. Mr. Happy instantly remembered this Hispanic beauty and how much fun she was. Rose pulled away and got a playful look as she glanced down at my bulge.
“I see you miss me,” she said, which caused me to groan. “I sure hope you’re single.”
“He’s not,” Brook said, appearing out of nowhere.
“We warned you about bringing your girlfriend on recruiting trips,” Tim said.
We all laughed when Brook popped Tim in the nuts and immediately got a sweet look on her face. I was afraid she planned to make Rose a frenemy.
“Be nice. I told you about Rose,” I reminded Brook.
“Sorry, I didn’t know he wasn’t single. I just got out of a relationship and was hoping he was free,” Rose explained.
“Any other time, I’d introduce you to my friends, but I think they’re all dating,” I said.
“I’m single,” Matt blurted.
Matt’s a good-looking guy at six-two, about 200 pounds, and athletic. He was Rose’s type. I saw her check him out, but Brook ruined Matt’s night when she invited Rose to meet the other girls. Personally, that wouldn’t have stopped me from joining the girls if I were Matt. It would have been better than listening to this bunch rag on him.
I left the guys talking football when I spotted Halle, Trip, and Sandy Range coming out the back door. Sandy bounded up and jumped into my arms.
“Hello, Stranger. I’ve missed you.”
“Me, too. How’s college life treating you?” I asked.
Sandy had enrolled at Berkeley, an almost seven-hour drive from here. I was impressed that she drove down.
“I love it there, even though I get homesick. Sometimes I wish I’d gone to school closer to home so I could go home on weekends.”
“How’s Devin doing?” I asked.
Pam had told me that he and her sister were doing better now that Cora had figured out that if she divorced him, she wasn’t getting anything. They were rapidly approaching their first anniversary. I’d given them six months, tops.
“He’s good. I told him I was driving down to see you, and he said to tell you that he has some new toys he wants you to kill yourself on. I told Devin you’re a daddy now and to forget about it,” Sandy said, ruining my night.
“Devin has new toys,” I whined.
“Get over it. I promised Pam I wouldn’t let Devin try to kill you again.”
I huffed but knew she was right. Plus, Devin never seemed to test his toys thoroughly before I tried them. The memory of spinning on the last toy before plunging thousands of feet still made my stomach queasy. It was probably best that someone else be their crash-test dummy. I personally thought that Devin should step up and risk his own life. I cringed at the implications of what I’d just thought. Was I growing up? Probably not, I decided.
Sandy and I found a quiet spot back by the pool and caught up.
◊◊◊
When we came back, I saw that both my Star Academy and The Secret Circle castmates had arrived. I also noticed that Sage and Isabel Alexandra had come. I was happy to see that my attempt at mending fences hadn’t blown up in my face. Bill was by the bar talking to Sage, and Ben Doman and Isabel were kissing. Zak, the cause of Ben and Isabel’s breakup, had wisely found Bec and had her sitting on his lap.
Halle was talking to The Secret Circle group: Leah Johansen, Tanya Hendricks, and Jessica Chase. I waved Brook over because I wanted her to meet my acting friends.
“Did you hear the final tally on ticket sales?” Leah asked.
“$77 million domestically and $255 million in international sales. We crushed the Far East when they changed the campaign to feature David. It seems he’s big over there,” Halle shared.
“Word is you have another movie coming out,” Jessica said to me.
“The Royal Palm was filmed in Cuba over the summer.”
“How was that?” Jessica asked.
“Cuba was a learning experience. You don’t realize how good we have it until you travel to somewhere like that. If you ever get the chance, I’d recommend it as a vacation destination. The people are friendly and are making the best of a bad situation. I’m glad I did it.”
“I heard the director was a piece of work,” Tanya said.
That brought back some unpleasant memories. I shook my head.
“Honestly, he was a dick. I felt bad, though, when he had his accident.”
I explained how he’d shot himself with a blank and died. We then turned to more pleasant topics. Brook shared with them our trip to Japan, where I shot the J-drama and some commercials. Halle filled them in on baseball. They caught me up on the projects they were working on or auditioning for.
“There’s a rumor going around that there may be a sequel to The Secret Circle. Have you heard anything?” Leah asked Halle.
There was a whole series of books, and only one had been covered in the first movie. I could tell by Halle’s body language that she knew something but didn’t want to say.
“Leave the girl alone,” I said with a smile. “Rita will let us know when she has something firmed up.”
“Then it’s true!” Leah said, getting excited.
“I didn’t say that. I haven’t been told anything, and my agent hasn’t said a word. If it were out there, he would have been pushing for us to negotiate a contract.”
They all knew that was true, but that didn’t keep them from getting a little excited. Halle, Brook, and I left them to gossip and strolled over to the Star Academy group, where Trip held court.
“Were you scared?” Bree Steno, the actress that also starred in the vampire TV show, asked.
“You have no idea. It’s not like in the movies. I thought he would never stop shooting,” Trip said.
Halle tightened up as they talked about Trip being shot, and I was sure the next topic would be Craig’s death. It wasn’t something I wanted to talk about at a party.
“Can we talk about literally anything else?” I begged.
I could see both Trip and Halle relax.
“Did you see Ben with Isabel?” I asked to help change the subject.
That got the girls talking. Trip and I walked over to the bar to get them all drinks.
“Thanks, man. I hate talking about that night,” he said, referring to the terrorist attack.
“Do you know Doug at all?” I asked.
Doug was Craig’s little brother and currently renting my house.
“Why do you ask?”
“I bought Craig’s house, and Doug is renting it. We’re about to renovate the place and, to be honest, if he’s anything like Craig, I’m not sure I want him living in it once it’s fixed up.”
“As much as it pains me to admit you’re probably right about Craig, Doug is the complete opposite. I doubt you have anything to worry about. Doug hates the whole party scene. Watching Craig while he grew up might have cured him of all that.”
I glanced over and didn’t see Halle or Brook.
“Where’s your sister?” I asked.
Trip looked around the party and didn’t see her either. I decided to err on the side of caution and pressed my phone’s panic button to bring both Flo and Fritz from outside. We hurried over to the Star Academy cast.
“Where are Halle and Brook?” I asked.
“Last I saw them, they were going inside with Zander Lewis. Why? Is something wrong?” Elizabeth Jenks asked.
“I hope not,” I said and met our security as they came running out the back door.
“Halle and Brook are missing. They were last seen with Zander Lewis,” I told Fritz.
He got his phone out and used the ‘Find Me’ function. We followed it to the downstairs bedroom that Zak had mentioned. There were two security guards at the door, and I could hear Halle and Brook’s voices through the closed door.