Beautiful Abyss (California Dreamers #3) Read Free Page B

things,” I tell her. “But I’ll come back at noon. If you can get things sorted out I’ll take you to China Moon.”
    She licks her lips. “I haven’t been there in a while.”
    “Neither have I. It’ll be fun. I promise.”
    She smiles. “You haven’t even told me your name yet.”
    It’s just one dumb thing after another with me isn’t it ? “Chris Rhodes.”
    She looks at me for several long moments. I can still see the hesitancy on her face.
    “What’s your last name Abby S.?” I ask. 
    “Sullivan.”
    “Abby Sullivan.” I like the sound of her name on my lips. “I’ll see you at noon.”
    ***
    “Dude, I need to borrow twenty bucks.”
    Roscoe is typing away on this laptop. He doesn’t even react to my request.
    “Did you hear me?”
    He stops typing and turns to face me. “Why do you need twenty dollars? We give you food and shelter. What else do you need?”
    “I sort of have a date.”
    He raises an eyebrow. “You don’t date. You pick up chicks and bang them. You don’t even give the illusion of ever wanting to see them again.”
    “This is different.”
    Now I have his full attention. “I’m listening.”
    I take in a deep breath then exhale. I really didn’t want to tell him about Abby until things were further along. Just in case they never actually got any further along.
    I think that’s a strong possibility once she gets to know me. I don’t exactly have a lot to offer. I’m an unemployed actor who owns nothing but the clothes on my back. In a town where net worth means everything, I’ve got none.
    “There’s this girl who works at the nursery. I want to take her to lunch.”
    He glances over at the twelve plants I’ve purchased over the last few weeks. “That explains a lot.”
    He reaches into the pocket of his jeans and pulls out his wallet. He removes two twenty dollar bills and hands them to me. “That’s so you can leave a generous tip. Really impress her.”
    I need something to impress her. I definitely won’t be doing it with my conversation skills. I barely made it out of high school. The only thing that saved my skin was being the star of our high school’s football team. No teacher wanted to be the one who kept me from taking the team to the state championships.
    “Thanks, Cuz. You know I’ll pay you back when I get paid for the commercial.”
    He waves away my offer. “Don’t worry about it. Do you really like this girl?”
    I nod. “I think about her all the time. And it’s not just about sex, which is weird.”
    “For you it is.”
    I roll my eyes at him. “Like you didn’t get a lot of snatch before you met Nellie.”
    “That’s how you know you’ve met the right one. You don’t want anyone else.”
    “I haven’t even thought about going to a yoga class in weeks.”
    Yoga studios were the places I knew I could always pick up easy girls. Not that there aren’t easy girls all over LA, but yoga girls are also flexible and have a lot of stamina.
    “We’re going to have to think of something else to do with the sparkling vitamin water. We’re running out of room in the fridge.”
    Sparkling vitamin water is like my trademark. I was given a lifetime supply by the manufacturer and I gave it to all of my overnight guests.
    When I had ladies over every night and two guests on Sundays, it put a dent in my supply.
    Since I’ve been pursuing Abby I haven’t been scoring as much.
    Okay, I haven’t been scoring at all.
    I really haven’t wanted to.
    And then there’s the situation with Penny. I know she dates guys in the business. Powerful guys who can help her career. But she and I don’t date. I’m more like her plaything.
    Even so I don’t know how she’d feel about me being with anyone other than her. The subject hasn’t really come up. But something tells me that she doesn’t like to share her toys.
    Nothing is going to stop me from going out with Abby now that I have the chance. Especially not Penny Wagner.
    As I run a brush