Once Friends Read online

  Once Friends

  A Hollywood Love Story (LOVE in the USA Series)

  Z. L. Arkadie

  Z.L. Arkadie Books

  Copyright © 2018 by Z. L. Arkadie Books

  Cover Image © Deposit Photos – zastavkin

  Cover Design © Designed With Grace

  Editing - Joy Editing by Cassie Cox

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or critical articles.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or, if an actual place, are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN: 978-1-942857-21-1

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Also by Z. L. Arkadie

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Jay West

  Jay West heard a jingle. Caught between the end of a dream he was already forgetting and consciousness, Jay slowly blinked until he was mostly awake. The stark daylight that filled the room stung his eyes. He turned his heavy-lidded gaze toward the noise. His cell phone was playing a song he didn’t recognize, and the ringtone made his already excruciating headache worse.

  “Damn it,” he muttered as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and bent to rub his aching sinuses. The damn smog was going to kill him one day. What in the hell happened last night? Hell if he could remember.

  The phone quieted then chimed and vibrated again. He clutched his stomach, wanting to hurl, but then the bed shifted, so he turned his stiff neck to look behind him. A naked woman, lying under the top sheet, was snoring gently. The phone, the strange woman, his headache, the angst Jay had felt about facing the rest of his day—something had to give.

  First things first.

  He swiped his cell phone off the nightstand and scowled at the screen. It was Jim Neely, his agent.

  “Yeah,” he whispered, wishing he had let the damn call go to voicemail. Again.

  “Where the hell are you?” Jim barked.

  Jay closed his eyes to let the extra ache the volume of Jim’s voice had caused pass through his head. He tried to remember where he was supposed to be but drew a blank.

  “God damn you, Jay. Are you hell-bent on killing your fucking career?”

  Jay’s dead gaze fell over the hazy city beyond the tall windows his bed faced. Normally he would close the curtains at night so he wouldn’t wake up to so much light. But at the moment, he couldn’t remember how in the hell he’d made it to his bed in the first place. He looked at the lower half of his body. At least his pants were on.

  “Okay, I’ll bite. Where am I supposed to be?” he asked, rubbing the inside corners of his eyes.

  “Are you fucking kidding? You’re fucking kidding me, right?”

  Jay exhaled. “Does it sound like I’m joking?”

  He could feel Jim’s disappointment and frustration in the moment of silence.

  “Why haven’t you hired a new assistant yet? I had Carla send you the resumes. Why in the fuck haven’t you fucking picked one yet?”

  The sleeping girl groaned. Jay quickly looked behind him to stare at the back of her head, waiting for her to turn around so he could get a look at her face.

  “I’ll get one,” he barely said.

  Jim scoffed, perhaps because he knew that Jay was only trying to pacify him. Jay hated assistants. He’d never had one he could trust or hadn’t fucked, which had proven to be a gold mine for the celebrity gossip rags that brought entertainment to those who loved to see big stars like him fall from grace, and boy, was he on a downward spiral.

  “Just tell me where the hell am I supposed to be,” Jay grumbled.

  “AMTA. Get your ass here now.” Jim hung up.

  Finally the girl twisted until she flipped over, turning in his direction. He studied her curves and the features of her face. She was young, maybe in her early twenties—he hoped not younger. She was also pretty, just like any other girl who stepped off the bus from somewhere else in America and came to Hollywood to make it big only to discover that there were way too many other pretty fish in the city’s enormous pond. The fine lines branching out at the corners of her eyes and puffiness beneath them showed the stress of chasing that elusive stardom.

  “Good morning, Jay West,” she purred, beaming as she reached to rub what was between his legs.

  He guided her hand away. “Sorry, um…” He didn’t know her name. “You gotta go.”

  The glow in her eyes dimmed. He could tell that her hopes of nailing a big-time movie star boyfriend had been thwarted and now she felt cheap.

  He hopped spritely to his feet. “Listen, it was fun. But I have a meeting that started an hour or so ago.”

  The girl glared at him. Jay knew she thought he was bullshitting her, and normally he would sell her a load of crap to get her out of his house as quickly as possible, but it just so happened at the moment, and thankfully so, he was telling the truth.

  “Don’t worry, I’m glad to go,” she said, flinging herself to the edge of the bed. She bent over, snatched a tiny dress off the floor, and then tugged it over her head to put it on.

  “Sorry to be so—” Jay said.

  “Just shut the hell up already,” she snapped. She bent over again and Jay heard the heels of her shoes scraping the hardwood.

  He folded his arms, desperately trying to recall how the girl had ended up in his bed in the first place. The last thing he remembered about the previous day was meeting two buddies, Davey Lyons and Rich Brisbane, at the Hot Spot, which was a club in Malibu. It had been a while since he’d hung out with the two avid partiers, who were also former child stars, only their careers hadn’t taken off like Jay’s.

  Jay had seen a lot of people he knew at the Hot Spot, and of course they were still into the same shit—mounds of cocaine, lots of poppers, ecstasy, and all kinds of other shit. Against his better judgment, Jay had had a few drinks, and although he couldn’t remember taking a hit of coke or anything else, he must’ve and perhaps had taken too much of it.

  The girl snatched her small purse off the floor and jumped to her feet. “Have a nice day,” she said coldly and rushed out of the room.

  Jay shot to his feet and followed her as he scratched the back of his neck. He wished he could remember meeting her and bringing her back to his place. Before leaving for the party, he questioned whether he had the resolve to go and not get into any trouble. But goodness, he couldn’t believe he had fallen off the wagon in such a big way.

  He followed her up the hallway, down the floating stair, and into the foyer. She was almost gone, but he still had a lot of questions to ask her about last night.

  “Can I call you an Uber?” he asked in his efforts to at least not make her feel cheap.

  She snorted facetiously and jerked the door open. “I drove.”

  “Wait,” he said before she stepped out into the bright day.

  The women turned and scowled at him. />
  “Why can’t I remember meeting you or getting into bed with you?”

  She grunted and rolled her eyes as though his question had offended her. “Don’t worry. You couldn’t get it up.” She rushed out of the house, slamming the large and heavy door as best she could behind her.

  Jay knew her comment was meant to belittle him, but his lifestyle had been affecting his sex drive for quite a while. He felt numb inside as he watched her skip down the white stone steps and get into the driver’s seat of a black car with dark tinted windows, which happened to be parked along the circular driveway behind his Roadster.

  Jay kept his narrowed eyes on his car. “What the hell?”

  The girl’s car rolled slowly down the driveway, heading away from the house. As the gate opened, Jay turned his attention back to his car. Had he driven it home last night? And if he had, then he must’ve been sober enough to do that. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying hard as hell to remember something, anything. Then suddenly and out of nowhere, a familiar and strong urge to run as far as he could away from his life hit him.

  Jay closed his eyes and kept taking deep breaths as he thought about waking up next to the girl, the call from Jim, and the fact that he wished his whole body would do something miraculous like disappear into thin air and never return.

  When he opened his eyes again, he knew exactly what had to be done. So he sighed briskly and turned away from the window, deciding to forget about last night so that he could focus on what would be from that moment forth.

  Before zooming down the hills on his Harley, Jay had showered but didn’t shave. He didn’t remember any details about the meeting he was in a rush to get to until he made a left off Santa Monica Boulevard onto Avenue of the Stars. An agent named Mike Gillespie wanted to meet with Jay and his agent, Jim, to see if he would be a good fit to play the leading role in The Red Scream, which was touted as the next big blockbuster.

  Jay wasn’t all that excited about the project. Actually, he had been having a hard time concentrating on work lately, which included remembering his lines and becoming whatever character he was playing. No one said it to his face, but behind his back, the crew, cast, and executives were calling him the line eater because he always needed his lines fed to him. But fuck the part—Jay didn’t want it or any other role. He wanted time off and away from Hollywood, and he was going to get both.

  Jay made a left hand turn into the driveway of the tall reflective glass building and stopped his motorcycle at the valet station. As soon as he took off his helmet, he heard the gasps, oohs, ahs, and his name, and he also felt all the stares upon him. The abundance of attention never failed to make him feel initially shy and undeserving. Regardless, he stood up straight, lifted his head, and pretended as though he was worthy of the adulation.

  Once he was inside the building, his footsteps crashed against the glossy white linoleum at a rapid pace. He found himself fighting the urge to go back home, crawl into bed, and pull the covers over his head. He recalled the look in the woman’s eyes that morning as she stood at the door, glaring at him. His heart tightened and a chill ran down his spine. She’d looked at him as if, unlike everyone who was making a big deal about him being in the building, she knew the truth about him. Jay West was a lost and lonely man.

  He put his head down as he walked past the receptionist desk. The young blonde didn’t bother him. That was the rule. He was top-tier talent and it was her job to make sure she knew it. His foot mounted the first step leading to the elevators, which would take him up to the twenty-eighth floor. As Jay looked up again, he caught sight of a beautiful woman watching him with the same sense of recognition.

  Suddenly he was frozen stiff.

  “Jay, is that you?” she said with her cell phone still pressed against her ear.

  “Elaine?” he said.

  “I’ll call you back,” she told whomever she was speaking to, and then opened her arms wide. “Jay? It’s you!”

  When they hugged, he held her as though he was hanging on for dear life. It helped that she squeezed him tightly too.

  “You’re looking good,” he said.

  “Thanks, Jay.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. He knew Elaine well enough to know she wouldn’t return the compliment if she didn’t think it was true. She rubbed his shoulder like she used to do sometimes when they were kids. “I was wondering when our paths would cross.”

  He cut a tiny smile. “Yeah, you have a reputation around these parts.”

  She chuckled proudly. “It’s all true.” She winked.

  A moment of silence fell between them. He was waiting for Elaine to mention her, but she hadn’t, so he figured he should.

  “So how is Sonja?”

  Elaine grunted as she rolled her eyes. “Sonja is Sonja. Actually, she’s the reason I’m here.”

  He was still wondering what she meant by Sonja is Sonja. But he was also shocked to hear that Elaine was at AMTA doing business on Sonja’s behalf. “So she has an agent here?”

  Elaine rolled her eyes. “Had. And he was barely an agent to her.”

  She went on to explain how four years ago, Sonja had won a contest and her prize was being saddled down with Mike Gillespie, or as she called him, “the laziest creep in the building.”

  “He sat on her screenplay for four damn years. And if his assistant hadn’t called while I was in the room with Sonja, discussing the details of my upcoming wedding…” She touched his hand. “Have you heard?”

  He cocked his head and narrowed an eye. “Heard about Mike Gillespie representing Sonja?”

  “No, about my wedding?”

  “Oh, no,” he said.

  She turned her head slightly. “Riley didn’t tell you?”

  Riley was his older sister. “We don’t talk much.”

  “I see.” Elaine studied him for a few uncomfortable moments. “Well, if I hadn’t heard the conversation between Sonja and Mike’s assistant, then I would’ve never known that jackass held her work for four years without paying her.”

  “Then she’s still writing?” Jay asked, elated to hear it.

  Elaine slapped herself on the chest. “I’m her sister. This is what I do. And she never consulted me.” She huffed as though she had been waiting all morning to get that off her chest. “Anyway, I got her a nice big fat check. She can thank me when it comes in the mail.”

  He could see that after all these years, Elaine was still prone to overreact and always looking for a fight. Jay also remembered that she liked to win, and even though she had worked herself up, he could see in her eyes she was satisfied with her victory.

  But Jay figured he’d take another stab at the question he had already asked. “Then Sonja’s still writing?”

  “Uh, no,” Elaine said with another cynical roll of her eyes.

  “Oh.” His curiosity had tripled. “Is she married? Kids?”

  “Ha!” She chuckled some more. “No, and never. Frankly, I don’t know what the hell Sonja does these days. But”—she raised a finger—“I heard Riley’s divorced again though.” She leaned back to search his eyes as though she was waiting for him to comment.

  He shrugged. “As far as I know, she’s still married to Winslow.”

  She shook her head definitively. “No. That relationship wasn’t working. They have to be divorced by now.” Again, she seemed to search his eyes for a response.

  When he threw his hands up, she sighed briskly, signaling a change in subject. “Well… so Jim Neely’s your agent?”

  “Yeah.”

  “He’s another burglar.”

  A laugh escaped Jay. Not until that moment had he realized what had been missing in his life—the Hester girls. “Burglar? I haven’t heard that word since I was kid.”

  She scowled toward upstairs and said loudly, “This whole agency is filled with them.”

  Two agents Jay had seen before were walking downstairs but pretending as though they didn’t see or hear her. Jay should’ve been embarrassed, but he wasn’t. Elaine
had always been crazy in that way, and holy hell had he missed her brand of insanity.

  She reached into the side pocket of her suitcase. “Listen, I’m glad I ran into you. I’ve been meaning to call you and offer you my services, but these assholes keep me busier than I like by constantly railroading every single one of my existing clients. However”—she shook her finger at him—“you’re like family and I want to help you. And to be honest, you look as though you need me.”

  Jay pictured the face that had stared back at him in the mirror that morning. His eyes were sunken and the skin around them was dark. He had been losing a lot of weight because he often missed meals, so his cheeks were becoming hollow. Jay could accept the truth. Without the makeup, lights, and post-production fixes, he looked like shit.

  When he took her card, he felt as though he was accepting his final lifeline. “I’ll call to set up something.”

  She reached out and patted him on the shoulder. “You do that.”

  Damn tears—Jay fought them as they hugged and held them even after they parted ways. He watched Elaine as she whipped her cell phone out of her leather briefcase and made a call.

  “It’s me again,” she said while walking. “As I was telling you, that’s a bad deal, but getting a better one means cleaning up your act.”

  That was the last thing he heard her say before the sound of her thin heels beating the floor overtook her voice.

  Jay was now skipping up the steps, grinning from ear to ear. Running into Elaine had made him change his plans, and what he was going to do next was as clear as a bell. The elevator door opened. People watched him with excitement as they exited and he entered. He crossed his arms as the door closed, cutting off their wide-eyed stares. Up he rode to the top floor, satisfied to know that soon he would be laying eyes on Sonja’s beautiful face once again.