Page 55 of Such a Good Girl

As much as I bitched about Joey, as much as he irritated me, I knew I couldn’t get much done without him.

And for once, at least, he was right. The house was perfect.

“Good job, man,” I said, nodding. “I love it. Let’s lock it down. Check with the production company and get the schedule first, then negotiate the rental.”

“I already took the liberty of doing that,” he said, looking more than a little cocky. “I hope you don’t mind. I was convinced you’d love it, and I’m glad I was right.”

“You know me well, Joey,” I said. “You know once this film is done, we should look at getting you a better job. I could pull some strings at one of the studios.”

“What?” he asked, his eyes clouding over. “Why would I do that?”

“Don’t you want to advance your career? Make more money?”

“No,” he insisted. “I’m happy working for you, West.”

“That’s great,” I said. “But I’m still going to look out for you. I’ll think of something.”

“Really, West, I’m not interested. Thank you, though,” he said, standing up and nodding firmly. “I’ll get to work on this and text you later.”

“Okay, sounds good,” I replied, wondering if that was anger I saw in his flashing black eyes.

I watched him walk away in confusion. Nobody stayed with me very long. I was the first to admit that I could be difficult to work with sometimes. I could definitely be an asshole, too. Most of my assistants used me as a stepping stone and I was perfectly happy with that. But maybe Joey was different.

Theo and Rian joined me a few minutes later while I was flipping through more headshots the casting agency had emailed me.

“Hey, brother.” Rian sat down next to me with a beer in his hand.

“S’up?” Theo asked.

“It’s fucking hot today,” I said, wiping my forehead with a towel.

“Those chicks are hot,” Theo said, gesturing to a group of bikini clad women giggling while they took selfies under a red canopy. They all looked exactly the same — same lanky bodies, same long beach waves, same makeup styles, same Botox, same boobs, same butts, same lips. Like photocopied cut-outs of some trendy doll.

“You think everyone’s hot,” I said.

“And so did you before you got yourself all tangled up with our new hire,” Rian reminded me. “I haven’t seen you with anyone else since she walked in the door.”

“Yeah, dude, I noticed that, too,” Theo said.

I shrugged. “Rosie’s great. She’s not like all those women over there. She’s got personality. She’s smart.”

“Not to mention a great pair of tits,” Theo said. “But still, I thought you were all about sowing your wild oats after all that shit with Danika. Not settling down with anyone. What happened to that?”

“Rosie happened to that,” Rian said, laughing as he took a swig of his beer. “Have you seen the way he looks at her? Have you fucked her yet?”

“You’re so fucking crude, dude,” I said.

“Is that a yes?”

“For your information, no, we haven’t slept together yet.”

“That makes it even worse. What are you getting yourself tied up in, West? What are you waiting for? Pound that pussy and get on with your life. You don’t need to get hung up. You know what happened last time. Danika damned near destroyed you.”

“Pound that pussy? Did you really just say that, Rian? No wonder you can’t keep a woman around.”

“Hey, man, some women like that kind of talk. Speaking of pounding, how is it that Rosie’s roommate is fucking Violet Vanderbilt, the supermodel? That was a surprise.”

“It’s a small town, you know that,” I said.

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