Page 12 of Love Me Gently

Everything he said was factual, but there was an edge to his words, to the tone in his voice that didn’t thrill me. It sounded laced with mockery, the merest hint of it though so I wasn’t certain.

“Yes.”

“And how’s it going so far?”

He exhaled again and little smoke rings puffed out of his mouth. They grew larger and larger in the air above us before drifting away into nothing.

“It’s going.”

It was. I was. I had plans and ideas and ways to move things along, I just needed an in. For someone to not only see my talent or my physical appearance but to see my drive.

“Stella wanted me to talk to you about your modeling. I can help you, if you want it.”

His lips thinned, and he dropped his cigarette to his side, flicking the ash to the cement. I took a step back, almost plastering my back along the railing. He hadn’t moved toward me in the least, and yet his dark eyes, the glint in them and the tone of his voice all set me on edge.

Perhaps I was doing what Stella had scolded me for before—judging people who were different from me because I hadn’t been around so many kinds of different people in my life.

“How?”

He shrugged and pulled out a business card from his tight jeans that were faded and old and ripped. His flannel shirt he’d been wearing earlier was now tied around his waist, and his V-neck white T-shirt showed the curves of his chest. He wasn’t built like Cole, but he wasn’t a slouch, either. “I have a friend who works with an agent. Works with new models, helps get them their portfolios started, small parts until he can get agents to notice them. He does this work on the side, without any up-front costs. He takes a percentage of the jobs you get through him.”

“Seriously?” I snagged the card out of Zane’s hand and stared at it.

It was white card stock. Simple lettering. Something that could have been printed at any print shop and didn’t have the professional sheen I’d seen on most modeling agencies’ logos. But Zane had said this guy, Robert Madrid, was doing this work on the side.

“It sounds too good to be true.” My thumb ran over the letters of Robert’s name again, then the phone number.

Zane shrugged, took a puff of his cigarette, and dropped it to the cement as he exhaled. “Women seem to like him, haven’t heard complaints about him getting them work. My advice, Deer Creek?”

I cringed at the way he said and knew my hometown name. “What?” The card stock in my hand crumpled from my tight grip.

“Take any help you can get, it might not always look pretty, but no one breaks through in the business without sacrificing their morals every once in a while.”

I flinched at his advice. It sounded… questionable. I was going to ask him what he meant when he pulled open the door and before he could step inside, Stella jumped out.

“There you are!” She rushed me and grabbed my arms. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Come on. We have to party! This year is going to be fantastic!”

For the first time in my life, I was beginning to hope it would be. With Robert Madrid’s card burning a hole in my hand, I tucked it into the pocket of my jeans and followed Stella back inside, Zane closing the door behind us and following.

We partied for the next two hours, where I eventually had to wrap my arms around Stella’s waist since she was too drunk to walk by herself. I hailed us a cab and took us back to our apartment where I tucked her into bed and provided a bowl in case she woke up sick during the night.

Then I curled up in my own bed, back against the wall, legs crossed, and studied the business card again.

I needed a breakthrough, something to help pay the bills more than waiting tables.

I desperately needed to prove to everyone back home that moving to New York wasn’t a mistake but my destiny.

And I really, really needed help.

Had I been older, I would have heeded the warning bells. I would have run far away from not only Zane but Robert Madrid. I would have listened to the whispering, small voice in my mind telling me not to pick up the phone and call.

But I was young. I was naive.

I was too hopeful with stars in my eyes blinding me to the truth.

Looking back, that one poor decision cemented the rest of my downfall.

Seven

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