Chapter 3 Three

CLARA'S POV

I sit down next to him and shut the door. If I leave now, he'll end up in another hotel suite or a club. It doesn't matter that he isn't even dressed. This town worships fame and money, and he has plenty of both. The air conditioning inside the car blows over me, and I shiver. My reaction annoys me further. If I weren't soaked, the temperature would be perfect.

"We're going home," I say in my most stern don't argue with me boss voice. "You're going to sleep this off. And you will go to the rehearsal dinner tomorrow."

"Don't want to," he mutters.

"Would you rather attend your father's wedding?" Jace's sixty something father is marrying for the sixth time, and to a woman who is barely twenty and there seems to be an epidemic of matrimony in the family because it's on the same weekend as his cousin's ceremony. "It's not too late to make the travel arrangements."

"Hell no." Jace moans theatrically. "Hey, maybe I'll be too hung over to go to either of 'em."

"Then I'll have a driver take you. Don't worry."

By the time I'm home, it's well after four a.m. I open the door and spot my roommate, Sasha Vance, kicking off her shoes after having finished her shift at the bar downtown. An aspiring actress from Chicago, Sasha is petite with flowing black hair that reaches her lumbar, and pale green eyes that look arrestingly large in her tiny pixie like face. Combined with a pert nose and wide mouth, she creates the kind of mesmerizing beauty you can't look away from.

When I first came to Miami, she more or less took me under her wing. It was pure luck that I found her listing for a roommate online. Her lack of success as an actress bothers me, because she works so hard. Amazingly enough, I've never heard her complain about it. Her upbeat attitude makes me wish I could do something for her, but she's asked me not to bother because stuff like that can jeopardize my job.

Jace is a nice guy, but he's made it clear he doesn't do favors for aspiring anyone, and Ivy is uninterested in newbies.

"Hey," I say.

She turns, and her eyes widen. "Oh my gosh, what happened to you?"

"It's a long story." My clothes are clammy, and I feel gross. I remind myself to leave an extra change of clothes at Jace's place.

"Uh you okay?" she asks, peering into my face.

"No." I don't tell her what happened because my employment contract comes with an NDA. I'm not allowed to talk about anything that happens while I'm working for him.

"You aren't doing anything crazy because of you know Cole?"

"No." Cole Reynolds is my ex. We broke up earlier today. Well, technically yesterday. We met because I wanted to tell him I was pregnant. But he told me I was worthless before I could get a word out. And once he made it clear how contemptible he found me too fat, too unhelpful, too bitchy I couldn't talk about the baby.

"Um. Okay." Sasha's giving me a look that says she doesn't really believe me. "He's a jerk. I never liked him. Neither did Zane."

"I know," I say, although I didn't. Sasha was always friendly to Cole. So was Zane, her twin brother. I sigh. They were probably polite to him for my sake. Who knows? I'm too tired to care.

"Hey, come here." Sasha opens her arms for a hug.

I duck away. "You're going to get wet."

"Whatever. I need to shower anyway." She hugs me tightly. She doesn't say anything. But I close my eyes and let myself enjoy the affection and love from my friend.

It's been seven days since the hotel. Seven glorious, incident free days. I even got the whole weekend off because Jace was away at the wedding, and he insisted that he didn't want me coming with him. He promised he would attend and do all the right things. I've never seen him break a promise, so I stayed home. Read some books and relaxed. Pampered myself a little. I figured I deserved it after finding out that I'm pregnant, getting dumped by Cole and being dunked in a hot tub full of skanks.

And the days following the weekend pass in relative peace. Now why can't we do this all the time?

On Friday, I drive up the road that winds through what seems like miles of lush flower gardens. A giant pool appears to my left, the water sparkling like liquid jewels. I park my six year old Altima and get out. Even after four years, I still can't get over how grand Jace's Star Island mansion is.

The main house is three stories tall, with thick columns between the doors. I go inside without ringing. I am one of a very very few people who can do that at Jace's place. The interior matches the splendor outside. The floor is real marble; huge and glittering chandeliers hang from the vaulted ceiling. The walls have numerous paintings, but not a single photo of Jace or poster from one of his movies. For such a handsome man, he doesn't like to look at himself much.

After grabbing a cup of ginger ale from the state of the art kitchen, I head toward my office on the second level, climbing the winding staircase. It's exactly like the one from Tara in Gone with the Wind.