Page 121 of Hollywood Undercover
Chapter 47
ALEXANDRA hissed into her phone.
“Where are you, Eva? I’m down in the lobby. You may want to get down here so we can leave before a crowd forms,dear.”
She rushed past people milling around in the hotel lobby. For now, the huge shades that covered a third of her face, and the big floppy hat with the purple wig tucked underneath were low profile enough not to attract major attention. She ducked around behind a leafy front of a plant andwaited.
“Ha! You soundtense.”
“Maybe I should have waited in thelimo.”
“Beauty takes patience, darling,” Evacooed.
“I don’t have any patience at the moment, Evangeline Reese, and things are about to get ugly. I just got out of a game-changing meeting with the label. They’re taking over everything! They even want to push the release date back to squeeze in more promo time. I’m ready to punch something! Maybe someone. Anyhow, get down here soon if youcan.”
“Willdo.”
Before Alexandra hung up, she heard a familiar voice behind her that said, “Well, I’d better make sure I stay out of arm’s reach if you’re looking for a punchingbag.”
The familiar Southern drawl stunned her. She spun around, eyes widened under the largesunglasses.
Holyfuck.
“What the hell are you doing here,Wilkes?”
“Throwing caution to the wind, my love,” he answered, dragging her into his arms in a tight squeeze as though they were stilltogether.
Alexandra forcefully pushed away from his chest and gave him a disapproving scowl. “Really, Wilkes? I mean seriously? What part of ‘I won’t marry your low-down, cheating ass’ did you not get? Now you think you have a right to show uphere?”
On the phone, Eva gasped. “Is that Wilkes? Here in Tucson? What in the name of—Lexxi Rock your life is quickly becoming my favorite soap opera. I’m coming down rightnow!”
Eva hung up and Wilkes dropped to bended knee in the middle of the lobby in front of everybody, drawing the attention Alexandra had been desperately trying to avoid. She peeked around the tall houseplant and noticed several people were now peering in their direction to see what was goingon.
“You can call it whatever you want, Lexxi,” Wilkes replied. “I’ll follow you into the sunset, and it’ll never be the end for me. I had to come and see you. God, I wish I could show you how good it is to see yoursmile.”
“This isn’t a smile, Wilkes. This is distress…and I’m sure you’ve practiced that little speech of yours, so you can saveit!”
She hissed a warning for him to stop. The rascal boldly grabbed the hand she tried in vain to jerk away fromhim.
“Lexxi, baby. Don’t make me beg,” hecrooned.
His eyes glistened. His voice was smooth and raw like whiskey, but he didn’t hit a single sincere note, not in Alexandra’sbook.
“I guess trying to make a fool of me by cheating on me wasn’t enough for you. You have to come back and make a fool of yourself now,too!”
Alexandra was already having a shitty day, with no time for Bash, or Dad now that he was out of the hospital, and the label was now about to put a cookie cutter around her and keep her on a leash. Her soul belonged to the devil now, with that contract with the label hanging over herhead.
I don’t need this crap from Wilkes on top of everythingelse.
She snatched her hand away again and turned to leave, only to come face to face with a freelance photographer who had some run-ins with her in the past. He snapped a picture, a candid shot of Wilkes in the background holding his pose on one knee and Alexandra’s face twisted in contempt or blurred with surprise—she wasn’t entirely sure how it looked but she could imagine. All she knew was he caught her off guard. Already she could damn near hear the sordid headline likely to accompany the image. Growling, she pushed past himtoo.
The elevator ahead dinged, and out walked Eva. “Where’s theasshat?”
The photographer chased after her as she rushed toward Eva, the light from his camera flashing incessantly for pictures of Alexandra and Eva in oneshot.
“Please leave us alone!” she begged him. Well, the plea was directed at both the photographer andWilkes.
She and Eva hurried towards an exit at the end of the corridor, avoiding the main entrance of the building. Her driver was outside, ready to take them to her father’s house. She threw up a hand to hide her face, simultaneously holding up the middle finger infrustration.
