Page 71 of The Baller

“What did that mean?” Radley asked as she looked up at me.

“Best not to ask.”

“Okay,” she replied with a smile, twisting enough in my lap that she could wrap her arm over my shoulder. “Thank you for today. I can’t believe how much fun I’m having.”

Craning my neck, I pressed my lips into hers again, stopping short of slipping my tongue in her mouth like I wanted to. First, I didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable. Second, my dick was already twitching with her on my lap. Add anything else to the mix, andIwas the one who’d be uncomfortable.

“How are you doing?” Holiday dropped down next to Radley, picked up one of the many unnecessary couch pillows, and hugged it to her body.

“I’m good, how are you?”

“Fantastic. I have the weekend off work.” Her finger darted between Radley and me. “You know, I didn’t realize you guys were dating. Tanny never said anything.”

“Oh…” Radley’s gaze flicked to mine, kind of panicked at what exactly wewere.

“Yeah, we are,” I interrupted, because we fucking were. Our dates might be unconventional, but they were dates. Therefore, we were dating. “But we’ve been keeping it quiet for obvious reasons.”

Holiday reached for her wine. “You guys are cute together. I like it.”

And suddenly, I liked Holiday so much more than I thought I did.

“I really wanted to reach out when those photos hit, but I didn’t know you then, obviously. I thought it would be too weird,” she said, so casually I almost didn’t catch it.

Radley stilled in my lap. I glanced over to the boys, but they were still arguing over who was more flexible.

“Oh, um…” Radley blinked her wide eyes and began brushing a strand of hair behind her ear over and over, while Holiday sat there waiting for an answer, seemingly oblivious to the way Radley’s face had lost all color.

Maybe I didn’t like Holiday that much after all.

In fact, I was torn between wanting to strangle her and listen for Radley’s answer, because since this morning, we hadn’t had the opportunity to talk. She’d been laughing so much this afternoon I’d pushed the conversation in the elevator to the back of my mind.

“I hope you don’t think I’m being nosy. It happened to me too, it’s why I wanted to reach out.”

Radley shifted forward, almost off my lap, as her voice dropped to little above a whisper. “It happened to you? Someone took… pictures of you?”

Holiday nodded deeply. “Yeah, it was a few years ago. He was a big-time agent and said he’d represent me. He gave me the address of a house in the Hollywood Hills where a movie was being filmed, and told me to meet him.” Her scoff dripped in contempt. “I was so excited, I thought it would be my big break. He said he was running a screen-test, and he needed to see what my body was like. I thought it was weird, but I didn’t question anything… so took my clothes off. Dumb, right? It was only when he started taking pictures of me that I realized no one else was in the house…”

Radley’s hand shot to her mouth, but it didn’t muffle the gasp. Holiday reached out and held her spare hand.

“Nothing happened. I was fucking lucky. A maintenance crew turnedup, and I got the hell out of there,” she sighed deeply, “but a week later, he called and said if I didn’t meet him again to finish what we’d started, he’d send the pictures all over town, and no one would ever want to work with such a dirty little whore. I didn’t know what to do.”

I glanced at Tanner, willing him to stop fucking around and arguing with Parker. I didn’t want to move Radley, but I was so aware of being an outsider to this conversation, as well as the anger bubbling through my veins.

“What did you do?”

“I went to meet him.” A sad smile slanted her lips, and for the first time since I’d known her, Holiday looked small. The volume on her usual deafening personality had been turned way down. “I still question why I did it, but somehow my luck hadn’t run out. He’d chosen a busy hotel in Hollywood, and someone saw me with him.”

“Who was that?”

“Marcy, my agent. She became my agent after… She stopped him in the entranceway to talk – you know, Hollywood types love to network – and when she looked at me, she knew something was wrong. She saved me.”

“What happened to the photos?”

“She got them back.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks.” She shrugged. “I’m sorry for you, too. You know what helps me feel better? I might not be where I am now, because I wouldn’t have met Marcy. I’m only twenty-four, I’ve made six movies, including an Oscar winner, I have my next five movies lined up, and I might not have had any of that – or the fragrance campaign I’m about to shoot, which I’m being paid four million dollars for.” She kneeled and wrapped her arms around Radley. “We can’t let them beat us, Radley. We’re better than that. We’re stronger than that.”

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