“I’m not going to waste your time on projects that won’t work for you. This is what you pay me for.”
“Maybe not for much longer,” I snapped, irritated. How many great movies had I missed out on because I was only told about the roles that Sam thought I should take instead of the ones I would have really wanted?
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He sounded wounded, and I felt guilty. Sam had been my manager for a long time, and I believed that he had my best interest at heart. I just didn’t like the way he went about it.
“It means that I want to see everything that comes across your desk for me from now on. And get me in this movie. The Professor one. I won’t do anything else.”
“Bowen—”
“I’ve got to go,” I said, knowing there was nothing he could say to change my mind. “Call me with the details when it’s done.”
I hung up the phone, and took a deep breath. I needed to take charge of my own career, that much was clear. If I kept leaving the decision-making up to Sam, I’d be stuck in the same type of roles until I was too old to pull it off, then I’d fade away into nothing. I needed to show the world that I had real acting chopsnow,while I was still relevant.
I looked over at Marlee to find that she wasn’t waiting for me alone. She was in the middle of a conversation with a tall blonde woman. I walked over, hoping that I wasn’t interrupting anything. When I reached them, I moved in close to Marlee, putting a hand on the small of her back to show her and everyone else around that I was with her. I wanted there to be no doubt about it.
“Holy smokes, are you Bowen O’Neal?” the blonde woman asked, whipping out her cell phone so fast that my eyes could hardly track the movement. “Can I get a picture with you? What are you doing here on the island? Are you shooting a movie?”
Ignoring Marlee for a moment, the woman came to my other side and moved in close, holding out her camera to take a selfie of the two of us before I’d even responded to her request, or questions. I tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. It was easy to talk to Marlee’s friend Faith this morning, but this woman was just obnoxious.
“Bowen, this is Ashley Ray,” Marlee said, introducing us. “She’s an old friend of mine and Faith’s from high school. She just arrived today.”
“Are you here for the wedding, too?” Ashley asked, looking a little too excited at that idea. “Who do you know? Faith or her fiancé?”
“Neither,” I said, stepping even closer to Marlee as I curled my hand around her hip. “I’m here on vacation and I’ve been spending time with Marlee.”
“Oh, wow.” Ashley looked shocked, and I didn’t like that. It seemed to imply that she was surprised to see me with Marlee, but there was no reason for that. She was turning out to be the perfect girl for me. “I just invited Marlee to dinner tonight. I hope you guys didn’t have plans.”
Disappointment swept through me, but I wasn’t going to deny her a chance to spend time with an old friend. The time to take things further with Marlee had passed for now, and it was my own fault. I shouldn’t have taken Sam’s call.
“No, that’s fine,” I said, swooping in to place a chaste kiss on Marlee’s cheek. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow, okay?”
Marlee just nodded, looking slightly dazed. I enjoyed knowing that I had that effect on her. I’d get another chance to take her to bed, and soon. Now that I’d had a taste of her, I needed more. I needed itall.
CHAPTER9
Marlee
“Alright everyone, it’s time for our last game of the evening,” the woman in charge of entertainment at the bachelorette party announced into a microphone so that she could be heard over the music that we were all dancing to.
She was a representative from Midnight Passions, a company that produced sex toys and lingerie. They hosted parties with fun, sexy games that promoted their products.
“This one will be a contest to see who is the fastest at putting a condom on a banana while wearing one of Midnight Passion’s black satin blindfolds.”
I followed the other women to a long table where everything was set up for the game. I’d won the last one, a ring toss using a dildo. It was fun, but I might have had a slightly unfair advantage as one of the more sober women here. I had a few jello shots at the beginning of the party, but quickly switched to drinking regular soda. I didn’t want to overindulge in alcohol after my hangover yesterday. That was an experience I didn’t want to repeat any time soon.
We were in the same banquet room on the ground floor of the hotel where the welcoming party was held, so no one had to worry about traveling in the night while intoxicated. Tatum had been smart to consider that when she planned this party.
Most of us were playing, but there were a few party guests that chose to sit this one out, pulling out their cell phones to record the game being played. I put on the blindfold, along with everyone else and waited to start. Sober or not, I wasn’t feeling very confident about my chances of winning this one, but it didn’t matter. We were all having fun, and winning was just a fringe benefit.
“Three...two...one...GO!”
I reached out blindly to the table in front of me and grabbed the banana sitting there, but the little foil packet containing the condom was harder to find. I could hear laughter, and I figured we must all look ridiculous as we scrambled around to complete this task without our eyesight. Finally, my fingertips brushed against the condom wrapper and I snatched it up. Ripping open the package was easy, but I fumbled as I tried to figure out which way to roll the condom onto the banana and dropped the thing. By the time I’d picked it up again, I heard a loud cheer.
“We have a winner!”
Taking off my blindfold, I saw that it was Faith. She was beaming as she held the banana up above her head in victory, the condom in place. I let out a whoop of happiness for her. It was the perfect way to end the party.
People started to leave after that, heading back up to their rooms, and I approached Tatum.