“Anyway, I’m gonna go.” Amanda tried to step around Dru, but Dru stuck out her arm, blocking her way. She wondered if Dru could really fight, ’cause she considered knocking her on her ass right then and there.
“Let’s try this again. You work for me and since you’ve been lying to me about hanging out with him you’re gonna make it up to me. You’re gonna introduce me to Sam Pleasant. You’re gonna introduce me to his brothers and his amazing grandmother. Then you’re gonna convince him that he and I would be perfect together. You’re gonna get him to ask me out.”
The thought of Dru and Sam anywhere near each other drove bile to the top of her throat. The thought of Sam being with her, touching her, calling Dru his girlfriend. That was too much.
“The Pleasants are exactly what I need to shoot my career to the next level. Sam can get me real roles. Not this TV shit. Not to mention what rubbing elbows with Leona Lovell will do. Seriously, Mandy. Why didn’t you think of this sooner? You had the golden goose all along.”
Something in Amanda’s brain snapped, a hot rage flashing over her skin, warming her face and scoring the tips of her ears. She felt the words rushing to the tip of her tongue. She knew she was making a mistake but she couldn’t stop herself.
“No.”
“No what?” Dru took a step back.
“No. I won’t introduce you to Sam or any other member of the Pleasant family. You are the last thing he’s looking for in a partner and I would never let you near him just so you could use him.”
“Feeling protective, are we?” she said, mocking her. “Will you lighten up? This is how this Hollywood shit works. You think people get together ’cause they really care about each other?”
“Um, yeah.”
“And how would you know? I bet you’re still a virgin.” Dru really needed to lay off the junior high–level insults, but it didn’t matter. Amanda wasn’t giving her a single thing she wanted.
“I know because I know what Sam is looking for and it’s not you.”
“I—” Dru stared at her, looking at her face very carefully. Amanda could hear her own teeth grinding with rage. “No way. No. Are you dating Sam Pleasant?”
Amanda swallowed again, forcing herself not to blurt out the truth. She owed herself, and Sam, better than for Dru to be the first person they told outside of his family.
“You’re serious? You’re Sam Pleasant’s girlfriend. Sam Pleasant, one of these hottest guys on Earth, is dating you. Like on purpose, not to fulfill some sick promise to a witch.”
“Yes and you don’t have to say shit like that to me.”
“Oh yes. I do. How long has this been going on? And how dare you hold out on me?” A look of disgust swept over Dru’s features as she suddenly looked Amanda up and down. “You haven’t had sex with him, have you?”
Amanda ground her teeth together, refusing to answer again. “That is none of your business.”
“Oh my—what the fuck?” Dru let out a screech of laughter. “Okay. Okay. If he’ll fuck you, I’m sure he’ll fuck me. Hell. I don’t see why he wouldn’t marry me. At least he could take me places and not die of embarrassment. But I’m not sure if I want your sloppy seconds. Yuck.” Dru shook her body with a dramatic shudder.
“Are you done?”
“Oh no. I’m just—”
“I don’t care. I quit.” Amanda grabbed her purse and stormed to the door.
“Oh, you adorable dumbass. You really think this is going to work out. Guys like him sleep with girls like you behind closed doors all the time. What, you think he’s going to marry you or something?”
“Who knows, but he’s not going to be anywhere near you,” she called back over her shoulder.
“Okay, Amanda.” Dru laughed. “Have a nice life, boo-boo. I’ll have a new assistant by noon tomorrow. When he’s finished with you, you’ll have no man. And no job. Good luck!”
Amanda walked even faster, wishing she could slam Dru’s soft-close door behind her.
Chapter 20
Amanda squeezed her eyes closed. The sun had been up for hours. And so had she. On her way home, she’d been such a nervous wreck, actually shaking as she tried to drive back down the hill to her place, that she’d pulled over and called her mom. It took some work to get the words out through her hysterics, but she’d told her mom everything that had happened. She’d had to go back to several different beginnings, just to answer her mom’s questions.
The fact that she’d been keeping so much about Dru and the way she acted from her parents for so many years just made things worse. Her parents had no idea Dru was such a dick. They had a sense that she was somewhat of a diva, but Amanda had never let on how many times Dru had made her cry. How many times she’d put her in the middle of horrible situations with her cruel behavior. She’d never told them just how trapped she felt.
Her mom managed to talk her down enough so she could drive home, but as soon as she stepped inside her little bungalow, she paused and looked around, thinking of the day she’d moved in, sure it would be temporary because one day she’d be a television writer and she’d be able to own a place that actually faced the street and how that definitely wasn’t going to happen. She’d be lucky if she could afford to keep this place for the rest of the year. Silly dreams like affordable, curbside housing and a job she enjoyed were so far out of her reach. When the weight of that pathetic feeling crashed down on her it brought the tears back with it.
She’d spent most of the night crying, but when she’d dozed off, she’d had horrible dreams about screaming matches
