Hollywood Homicide by Gemma Halliday

Author:Gemma Halliday [Stoddard, Gemma Halliday & Anne Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gemma Halliday Publishing
Published: 2018-04-25T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur, possibly due to the Chardonnay. After Ice and Apple's turn in the hot seat, Apple ran crying to her room, and Ice came out swearing a blue streak that used all of George Carlin's seven forbidden words. Several times. In ways I never thought they could be used. Honestly, it was the most creative thing I'd ever heard him do.

Joanie and Antoine's stint with the doctor ended much the same, only it was Antoine huffing away outside to cool off and Joanie charging for the bar.

By the time we gathered for dinner, the group had shrunk considerably and those of us who were left were either sulking, drunk, or both. I picked at my food, the uncertainty in my gut growing with each passing moment that Trace was absent from the group. While part of me desperately wanted to go after him and be reassured that this had all been for the cameras, my pride held me back. He'd humiliated me on national television. And, worse yet, he'd been right. I had violated his privacy. But my motto had always been that the celebrities we photographed needed us just as much as we needed them. It was an unspoken agreement we had. We took scandalous, embarrassing, and yes, sometimes nude photos of them, and they tolerated us doing it because it kept them in the news and in the public eye.

How many times had celebrities used us in publicity stunts to promote their latest movies or in "impromptu" photo ops to reveal their latest beau or baby bump? Plenty! So had I crossed a line in publishing those photos of Trace? Possibly. Would I do it now? Never. Which of us was currently exploiting the other for career gains? Trace!

And how many glasses of wine had I had? I was afraid that in my current state I couldn't count that high.

By the time dinner was over and Mr. Reisner came in announcing there would be no evening drills, we heaved a collective sigh of relief. The emotional day had taken a toll on us all, and everyone mumbled excuses to go up to their suites and retire early.

As soon as I opened the door to ours, I spotted Trace pacing the floor while talking on the phone.

I swallowed down a lump of trepidation as he turned and spotted me. I did a little wave in his direction and attempted a smile.

He didn't smile back.

"I gotta go. I'll call you later," he told the person on the other end of his call before hanging up.

"Hey," I said. "Who was that?"

"My agent."

"Oh. Cool. Got a new offer?"

"No. He's doing damage control."

"Over what?" I asked, sitting down on the bed. Admittedly, the room had started a spinning a little.

"Over my girlfriend showing up on the ED website looking like death warmed over."

I cringed. "Oh yeah. I forgot about that." I paused. "'Death warmed over'? Isn't that a little harsh?"

Trace ran a hand through his hair.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.