Chapter 7 - Brooke

As I snuck down the winding road to the meeting spot, I was so excited I hardly felt any guilt about the little fib I told Jenna. She hadn’t asked too many questions, not ever suspecting I’d lie about getting together with an old friend, and had warmly told me to have fun. As much as I wanted to blurt out the truth, there’d be plenty of time to do that once we were back in San Francisco and I was back to real life. Right now, I didn’t want any fuss that might get back to Max.

The last thing I needed was another display of jealousy, not that he was actually jealous, but it was nice to imagine. All my life I’d never been anyone’s choice and now there were two men vying for my attention, both of them handsome, charismatic, and successful. The absolute top of the heap and for some reason they both wanted to spend time with me. It was still hard to believe I wasn’t dreaming all of it.

I never really considered myself having a “type” and Luca and Max couldn’t have been more different in looks, with Max being taller and bulkier with muscle and Luca being more lean and rangy. Max was dark while Luca was golden, Max’s black coffee eyes simmered while… I hadn’t really noticed Luca’s eyes doing anything special when we were chatting and dancing. Well, there was time for that tonight.

It had to be both of their confidence and maturity that did it for me, rather than anything specific about their looks. I’d always been attracted to older men, at least in theory, since I’d never had any kind of relationship before to test it out.

Luca didn’t keep me waiting, pulling up in a sleek black sports car as soon as I reached the crossroads. He gave me a wolf whistle as his eyes raked over me in the nicest thing I’d brought with me, since I couldn’t wear the dress Max had bought me again. The simple green sundress that skimmed my knees and showed off my newly tanned shoulders seemed to meet his approval, and I smiled as I got in the car.

He zoomed off before I even had my seatbelt fastened, and I had to refrain from clutching the door handle as he took the winding road at top speed.

“I’m sure glad you don’t belong to Max, since I’ve been thinking about you nonstop since last night.”

I tore my eyes off the road, whizzing by to glance at him. “I don’t belong to anyone,” I said, irritated. Then, flustered when, he turned to give me one of the soulful looks I’d been swooning over on the big screen since I was in middle school.

“Maybe you’ll change your mind by the end of the night.”

Did he want me to belong to him? I swallowed hard, barely able to keep up with the conversation on our way into the city. We pulled up at a swanky restaurant, and he tossed his keys to a valet. He then smoothly came around to my side to open my door for me. He hadn’t done that when he picked me up, but now we were surrounded by people waiting around outside the place. I kept my head down, sick at the thought of ending up on a gossip site as some faceless nobody for people to pick apart.

Thankfully, we were inside in an instant, but I had no time to relax because we were led to a completely private room. I was overcome with shyness, losing all the vacation fantasyland boldness I’d been gliding by on the last few days.

Luca waved away the waiter, saying the chef knew what he liked. He turned to me. “Trust me?” he asked. “It’s going to be delicious.”

I was sure it would be, and thankfully, I had never had the luxury of being a picky eater, but what if I was allergic to something? I’d seen in old movies where the man ordered for his date, which was supposed to be chivalrous, but it seemed a bit controlling to me.

“Okay,” I said, perversely wanting to turn to the waiter and ask for grilled chicken to see what Luca would say.

Then, as soon as the waiter was gone, Luca captured my attention with some anecdotes from his last film set. I was being feisty for nothing, and when the appetizer arrived, it was a shrimp dish that was to die for. Of course, I should have trusted a worldly man like Luca to pick delicious food.

“Tell me you’ve thought about modeling,” he said as the appetizers were removed and replaced with a salad with some thinly cut fish on top.

“Never, not even once,” I said. I waited for him to ask what I wanted to do instead, or what I was studying, but he launched into a tale about his early days and having to take modeling jobs in Milan when the acting work wasn’t materializing.

It was interesting, but I knew about it from past interviews, and as the evening progressed, I started noticing he hadn’t really asked anything else about me, or when he did ask something, it was always as a springboard to start a new story about himself. He didn’t make me laugh like Max did, and if I was honest, he was a little overbearing and… boring.

The more I compared him to Max, the more irritated I got, mostly at myself. Why was I thinking about him at all? He was only toying with me, having some fun. And yes, showing me a very good time while he was at it, but it meant nothing. There was no reason to keep thinking about Max, not on a date with Luca Ross.

But then, Luca himself brought him up, almost as if he’d been biding his time to do it. He had been talking about old friends in the industry, and I snapped back to attention when I heard Max’s name.

“You should be careful around him. Keep your distance,” he said. “All of the Fokins, for that matter.”

I laughed. “He said the same thing about you.”

Instead of joining in on the joke, he got a hard look in his eyes that gave me a shiver, and not the good kind that Max doled out. Luca was normally so expressive in movies, but now his entire face was a complete blank.

He snapped out of it so fast that I questioned what I saw. Laughing, he told me that he and Max were old college buddies. “Rivals,” he said, back to Luca from the big screen. “And apparently, we have the same taste in women.”

I didn’t think I liked him all of a sudden and realized there was a reason the old adage warned to never meet your heroes. I really didn’t like the fact he seemed to think this date was going to end a certain way. But the main course arrived, and it was delicious. The conversation lightened up, and he finally asked me something about myself. I began to wonder if I was overreacting in my assessment of him. The date still wasn’t going anywhere, though, and I hoped he’d take the eventual rejection okay.

A message pinged on my phone from inside my dainty clutch purse, and I excused myself to go to the ladies’ room, half hoping it was a reason to cut this evening short. Pausing outside the restroom door, I took my phone out and scrolled to the latest message, from a number I didn’t recognize.

It was from Max, and the picture he attached had me smiling from ear to ear as I added his number into my contacts. I jumped when a hand snaked around from behind me and plucked the phone out of my hands. Whirling around, I saw Luca, pale under his Hollywood tan and glaring at me.

“Who are you messaging with on my time?” he snapped.

I tried to grab my phone back, but before I could, he looked down and saw the picture of Max and me, beaming at the camera in front of the Santa Monica Ferris wheel. He scrolled up to see the message. It was completely innocuous, just telling me to have a nice evening, but his face turned absolutely frightening. He had only ever been a good guy or a hero in his roles, but now I knew he’d make a brilliant villain.

Stiffening my spine, though it threatened to turn to jelly under his cold gaze, I stared him down. “I’d like my phone back,” I said. “And my time doesn’t belong to you.” When he didn’t answer, he just kept glaring at me, I thanked him for the meal. “I’ll get a cab back home,” I said, voice finally wavering.

With a slight shake of his head, he gripped my wrist and pushed me down the hall, past the restrooms, and out a back exit. A moment after we were outside in the balmy night air that felt like a hot, damp blanket, he had me pushed up against the stucco wall of the restaurant.

“Who does your time belong to?” he hissed.

I was so disgusted, that those feelings bled over to Max. Damn these men, thinking they owned me because they offered a little bit of charm and a few smiles. Was Max’s interest only piqued because of his rivalry with Luca? After all, his arm was twisted to take me out for a while on the first day, and maybe he only kissed me because of Luca’s initial attention. I wasn’t just pissed; I was getting scared because no one was out behind the restaurant, and Luca was getting more menacing by the second.

“My time belongs to me, silly,” I said, grossed out at my cajoling tone, but knew well enough how to act when someone seemed on the edge of violence. All I wanted was to get back to other people.

“Holy shit,” he said, stepping back with wide eyes and an apologetic smile. “Talk about immersion. I’m actually taking on a new role soon, as a bad guy for once. I guess I’m taking the whole method thing too far.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” I nearly exploded with relief.

Actors were freaks; that was a valuable lesson I wouldn’t forget, but he wasn’t actually going to murder me behind this restaurant.

“I’m so fucking sorry, Brooke. But, how did I do? You’d think I can snap my fingers for a role at this stage of my career, but they’re making me work for this one.”

I let him guide me back inside, shaking my head and scowling at him. “I’d say you have it in the bag. That was terrifying.”

I pushed out a weak laugh and back at our table; he told me I had to have the cheesecake; it would blow my mind. He was back to giving out his heart-stopping smiles, but my heart was still racing too fast from his performance.

“I think I’m full,” I said. “I just want to go home.”

“Agreed,” he said easily. “Great idea. It’s been a harrowing week, and I’m exhausted.”

He apologized again on the way to the valet station, and I assured him I was fine. For a brief moment I considered asking the valet to call me a ride, but didn’t want to make a scene when Luca was back to normal now. Or as normal as possible, considering he didn’t seem to have an actual personality of his own. Once in the car, he aimed it in the proper direction, so I relaxed.

“Brooke, you have to let me make this up to you,” he said, handing me a bottle of water from a silver cooler in the back. “I’ve been under a hell of a lot of stress. How would you like to come see me do this damn audition that’s got me tied up in knots?”

“Sure,” I said, taking a gulp of the cold water.

Two hours ago, that would have sounded like a dream come true. Now, I meant to block his number and ghost him like I’d never ghosted anyone before. I took a few more sips, absently agreeing with whatever he was saying. As we got closer to Katie’s house, I realized this would really be some story to tell the future grandkids, although they wouldn’t know who Luca was since I was done being his fan, and I’d never let them watch any of his movies.

The further we got into the hills, the more relaxed I got. Surprisingly relaxed, nodding along to the soothing lull of his familiar, rich voice. I was so relaxed all of a sudden that I had to fight off a yawn. My arms and legs felt tingly and too heavy, and I glanced over at Luca to see he had a strange smile on his face as he looked at me. Then, I looked down at the water bottle held loosely in my hand.

It was half empty. I realized much too late what he’d done as I fought to keep my eyes open. My hands seemed like they belonged to someone else as I struggled to reach for the door handle. The world whizzed by outside the car in a blur of darkness and flashing lights, then everything was completely black.