A lot.
And when Dash eventually stopped answering, he put in a call to Marin, without even thinking because he had to . . . had to . . .
Well, he didn’t know, but the phone was ringing now. When he saw the time, he almost hung up, but then Marin’s voice, husky and thick, came on the line.
“Sebastien . . . what in the world do you want?”
“I . . . Marin, are you okay?” He felt out of place and useless and he had the strangest feeling she’d been crying. Dash. That son of a bitch.
“No, I’m not, thank you very much. But it’s past two in the morning and it’s a little too early—or late—for this. What do you want?” Her voice rose on the last word and Sebastien started to feel even more like an idiot.
“I . . . nothing. I’ll take care of it tomorrow.”
She hung up without saying anything and he was left standing there, glaring at the phone.
Yeah. Tomorrow.
Damn right he’d take care of it.
Chapter Fifteen
The phone call from Abby wasn’t exactly unexpected. They talked once or twice a week.
It was pretty . . . odd, though. Especially the timing. They were filming in Chicago.
Abby lived in Arizona. So for the call to come in at eight meant Abby was either sharing Marin’s inability to sleep or something was wrong.
So Marin answered, nodding at the woman standing behind her. They’d just finished with her makeup for the upcoming scenes so she had a few minutes.
“Abby . . . it’s early.”
“Tell me about it. Just wanted to give you a head’s up.” Abby’s voice sounded entirely too cheerful.
“A head’s up about . . . what?” Marin’s heart skipped a beat or two, because while Abby sounded cheerful, she also sounded determined. She hadn’t told Abby yet. She had hardly told anybody—her agent, the director. Townsend knew and a few select others had been told. She had a feeling a few more people on set had guessed. But even Sebastien and Dash hadn’t been told—they’d figured it out. She’d been keeping Abby at arm’s length because she felt like she was going to explode—everything wanted to come pouring out but before she told her best friend the whole story, she wanted to confront Sebastien.
And when are you going to do it? That small silent voice jeered at her.
The hurt woman shouted back, The next time he isn’t hiding from me or wrapped around Evie!
“My flight. I tried calling last night but you must have already been dead to the world. Have you seen a doctor yet? You sleep all the time.”
Marin winced. “Actually . . . wait, what? Your flight?”
“Yeah. I just landed. I’ll be over at the set soon. Can’t wait!”
“Abby!”
But she’d disconnected.
Swearing, Marin lowered the phone and went into the texts—nothing.
She checked her voice mail—Abby had called. Once. At a quarter til nine. When Marin had been soaking in the tub. She had a ritual, nightly baths when she was filming. Ninety percent of the time, if she was working, then she would be in the tub by eight thirty, in bed by nine thirty.
Abby knew it, too.
“You sneak,” she said softly.
“Hey, Marin . . . headed out to see you. Talk to you soon.”
A few seconds later, a little message bubble popped up.
You keep dodging me. Something’s up. So I’m ambushing you. The way friends do. Love you, A.
Marin groaned. She went to drop her head back on the chair.
And immediately jerked it up as damnation rained down on her in the form of a diminutive Asian. He came rushing up at her, flapping his hands and fussing. “Your hair, your hair! We spent ages on your hair!”
I’m tempted to just rip it all out. Then we can do wigs. Dropping her phone into her lap, she settled back as the stylist checked her over, muttering under his breath about ungrateful, egotistical celebrities.
***
Thanks to the fact that he’d spent some time sobering up on the way to the hotel to have it out with Marin, Dash wasn’t hungover that morning.
He was still more than a little cranky, thanks to little sleep and next to no sex for, oh . . . hell. He thought he might be looking at a record-long dry spell—almost six months. He would have ended that dry spell with Hank last night, but it was probably for the best.
Hank was adorable, but he had commitment written all over him. Dash wasn’t interested in that kind of guy for the long term. Best to avoid it altogether because he’d hate to hurt the man.