Page 7 of Hollywood Undercover
Chapter 3
ALEXANDRA was exhausted.It was a less-than-satisfying afternoon of retail therapy. She sped up the long, white concrete driveway of her home in her cherry red Maserati sports car. Her shopping trip was less than satisfying because she spent most of the time fending off rabid paparazzo. They all prompted and probed her for a statement about Wilkes’ cheating. By now, she took it for what it was—a neatly executed media stunt by his publicity team, with extra juicy benefits forWilkes.
Pressing her remote garage door opener, she parked in the garage. Moments later, she pushed open the door of her Beverly Hills mansion with a sigh of relief. She was happy to be in one of the two places she didn’t have to put on a show. Truth be told, she would rather be with her father at her childhood home in Tucson. For now, this place would have todo.
Alexandra called out to her housekeeper, Lilly. She was the only other person in the massive, emptyhouse.
“Did I get any calls, Lilly?” sheasked.
It wasn’t that she was hoping for Wilkes to call her back, but deep down, she was disappointed about how easily he blew heroff.
The short, older woman came in from the kitchen, balancing a glass and bottle of water on a tray. Lilly shook her head. “No, Ms.Lexxi.”
Alexandra took the bottle and sighed out herfrustration.
Is an apology so much to askfor?
“You’re home early,” Lillysaid.
The kind woman had a way of knowing how to cheer her up with sarcasm. She had spent the entire dayshopping.
“That’s because I couldn’t find anything I didn’t already have.” She opened the bottle for asip.
“Well, you do have it all, love,” Lilly added, smiling pleasantly. “I’m glad I put a casserole in the oven earlier. It’s ready now, if you’d like. Or would you prefer towait?”
“Just put aside a plate for me, Lilly. I’ll drum up an appetite at somepoint.”
Shaking her head and voicing her disapproval with a “tsk”, Lilly nodded and strolled back to the kitchen. Alexandra smiled as she heard her housekeeper mutter something about her “needing to eat”. She didn’t mind. The woman had become more than her employee over theyears.
She climbed the stairs and walked the long hallway to her bedroom. Once inside, she went over to the center of the room and threw her body back across the massive bed. She stared up at the ceiling, wondering where things went wrong. By all accounts, she had it all, except where it mattered—on the most basic of levels. This was why she wasn’t completely happy with what others saw as her glamorous, flashy life of a rock star. It was because love hurt, and she was sick of being acasualty.
Only four years before, she was just another girl with a guitar and a notebook full of hokey songs she would sing in coffee shops and at any open mic night that would have her. Now, she was Lexxi Rock, the world-renowned recording artist and songwriter, playing in sold-out arenas all over the world. A row of seven Grammys lined the mantel in her third floor entertainment room. There were two framed platinum albums, and numerous photos taken with her childhood music icons. Some said she was quickly becoming a legend in her ownright.
Popular rock and celebrity magazines had named her Most Prolific Female Rock Performer of the Year, and she had more than a cult following. It was the stuff of her sixteen-year-old fantasies, but she had never imagined it could really happen. At twenty-four now, sometimes she still couldn’t take it all in. Her dream of making it in the music world had come true right before her eyes. Now, she had no good reason to be a brooding, moody artist holed up at home—except for this recent Wilkeschaos.
Back then, she was the one in her circle of artistic Tucson friends who would speak out against such ungrateful celebrities, portraying fame and fortune as hardship. It turned out she had been wrong. Everybody had their share of problems. People in the public eye were no different. She had been wrong about so, so many things, and so manypeople.
LikeWilkes.
The cold-hearted, cheatingbastard.
“Ugh!” she groaned painfully, taking a pillow and dragging it over herface.
She didn’t bother turning on the TV. All the mainstream gossip networks were covering her breakup and Wilkes’ cheating. It was hard to believe that after more than a year of dating her, the seemingly wholesome, dreamy-eyed cowboy had the capacity to be this cruel. It wasn’t that he had cheated on her with starlet Lydia Daniels. No, that fact had its share of initial embarrassment, but what got her in the gut was he had orchestrated the breakup just for the media hype. It meant he had likely been dating her for the samereason.
Just thinking about it made her want to throw a full-fledged tantrum, and crawl into a hole to wallow in depression and angst for a few months. Alexandra had never stooped to that level in her career or dating history. Yet here she was, with another broken heart, now that the fantasy of what she thought was a decent relationship fellapart.
“This is ridiculous,” shehuffed.
She swiped the waves of purple hair out of her face and sat up. It was time to get overthis.
Not another evening sulking,Lexxi.
If she took an objective look at what had happened, it was probably for the best. Maybe she was turning into a drama queen. Her best friend wouldagree.
Grumbling at the realization, she dug around for her smartphone in the ridiculously large bag she referred to as a purse. What she needed was straight up girl talk. The only problem was her best friend was stuck in some small town, filming an upcoming movie. She had been out of touch for the past three weeks. Alexandra had tried phoning her all morning, just like she tried all of last night. Still, it didn’t hurt to try face-time with Evangelineagain.
“Please pick up,” she begged, listening to itring.
