Moving out to a sink-or-swim place like Hollywood didn’t help matters any. That city was like a drug in the way it amplified a person’s character. Like that Bill Cosby bit. During one of his standups, he made a joke about talking to some guy, asking what was so great about being on drugs. The guy said, “It intensifies your personality.” Cosby responded, “Yes. But what if you’re an asshole?”
Ladies and gentlemen, please observe Devin Fields overdosing on Hollywood.
His ambition had been enlarged to epic proportions and he was letting it dominate everything, destroying reputations just for a little extra cash in his pocket.
Trip, on the other hand, had used that Hollywood drug to become a mega-star. A generous philanthropist.
And I… well… I found out my insecurities were alive and well, bigger than they ever were.
Devin was staring me down, trying to hide his intrigue. He mirrored my pose, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against his desk again, an incredulous look on his face, a lip snarling above his teeth.
“What kind of deal?”
Chapter 26
TWIST OF FAITH
“You’re letting your ex-fiancé publish my biography?! What the hell are you thinking?!”
Trip was feeling uneasy enough as it was that I’d gone to see Devin without telling him first. I’d told him the whole story, explained why I was there. But by the time I told him about the book, he just about blew his top.
“It’s a memoir, not a biography, and I was thinking I was arranging for our life together to be a little more private. I was thinking that you’d be grateful to have him off your back. I thought I was protecting you, protecting us.”
“I already told you that the crap in those rags doesn’t bother me.”
“Well, it bothers me! I’m sure it’s real easy for you to wash your hands of it when it wasn’t your ass on the cover of that thing!”
Trip opened his mouth to respond, but must have thought better of it. He knew there was no way to excuse such an intrusion into our lives.
“Are you even going to do anything about it? Can’t we call your lawyers or something?” I asked.
“There’s no case, Layla. They covered up most of your body and they weren’t on my property when they took the picture.”
“How can that be legal? How can you be okay with it?”
“I’m not okay with it, but what do you expect me to do? I’m also not okay with your ex-fiancé getting a book deal out of the situation.”
Was that… jealousy I was hearing? “Are you serious? He means absolutely nothing to me. To us. He can hit the lottery or get hit by a bus. It doesn’t matter. He’s on my pay-no-mind list. So, it shouldn’t really matter if he’s the one to turn this book into a raging success. If it does well, that will only mean that we benefit from it. Understand?”
“I could give two shits about the money he’ll make off it.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Trip raked a hand through his hair and looked at me, a line drawn between his brows, a muscle twitching in his jaw. I gave him a moment to gather his thoughts, but when he did nothing more than let out a breath through clenched teeth, I filled in the blank space.
“Look, Trip. Don’t you see how this makes everything work out? Diana still gets the fiction novel to auction off to the highest bidder and she gets to option the built-in deal for the memoir. Devin calls off the dogs because he won’t want any bad press leading up to the release. The Backlot is the only magazine writing all that negative stuff, and now they won’t do that anymore. You go back to being Golden Boy in the tabloids. I sell lots of books. Everyone wins.”
Trip finally found his voice. “Especially Fields!”
“What?”
“Oh, I’m so sure he’ll hate every moment of working so closely with his ex-fiancée.”
That wasn’t the case at all. And wow, yeah, I guessed Trip actually was jealous. It was kind of strange to see him getting so angry just from the mere mention of Devin’s name. I didn’t do anything that would warrant suspicion on Trip’s part. And where did he get off being such a hypocrite? “He’s not my agent. He’s not my editor. He won’t be working with his ex-fiancée at all!” I should have just shut up after that. I should have just let the comment stand on its own. But in true brain-vomit fashion, I had to go and add, “Unlike some people.”
“Oh, Jesus. Don’t start in with this again.”
“Are you going to do this movie with her?”
“Stop changing the subject.”
“Are you?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“What’s to think about?”