Center Stage (Bright Lights Billionaire #2) by Ali Parker Page A

Deza could find love. It was a fleeting emotion for me, but like anyone with a beating heart, I wanted love to win somewhere in my world. Even if it wasn't directly connected to me.
    "We were kids when we got married, and he honestly pulled me up out of a bad situation. I'd gotten into drugs and sleeping around, and his younger brother was my boyfriend at the time. Awkward, I know." She smiled.
    "Wow. And was he into that stuff back then too?" I glanced up as the guys huddled at the front. Frank was standing near the cockpit with them, which was a good sign. I had to assume everyone else on the crew was taking a different flight, or was already out there, which wouldn't have surprised me much. There was a ton of work that went into setting up the scenes before we ever stepped foot on the sand.
    "No, he graduated with his degree in criminal justice. He was going to be a cop." She let out a shaky sigh as her eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry. So many good memories."
    "No, it's okay." I reached out and ran my hand over her arm, squeezing softly. "I love getting to know more about you guys."
    "I just wish I'd made some different decisions back then. Once he got me cleaned up, we both found out that we had a love for drama. We would go to plays all the time, and one thing kept emerging that forged our future."
    "What was that?" I released her, but leaned in a little.
    "The actors in those small independent films were sometimes so much better than the ones in the A-list movies. It was crazy. Getting noticed, as you know, is almost impossible. Darren and I fell in love with this one kid that played most of the lead roles in the community center back in Detroit where we were from, but couldn't catch a break. I don't know, we just came together... the three of us and figured it out. After that, Darren and I picked up and moved here to LA with the guy and started our careers as agents. He was with us until he died in a plane crash on the way to a set." She gave me a look. "Sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have-"
    "No, it's fine." I awarded her with a warm smile. "I figure if this thing is going down, there isn't much I can do about it."
    "True dat." She laughed. "Anyway, after that, I contracted another big name actor, and because of the hours we were spending together, I fell in love with him. He was good at what he did, if you know what I mean. Acting the part, that is." She glanced down as shame filled her face.
    "It's easy to be fooled by someone that doesn't have skills. Someone that does? Impossible to get away unscathed, right?"
    "Yes." She wiped at her eyes. "Anyway, I left Darren for him, and when that relationship fell apart a few weeks later, I decided I was working with females of any age or boys only from then on. No more seductive men for me."
    She glanced up and smiled as Ethan walked toward us. "This turd was the first one they handed me, and seeing that he's still a kid... I'm safe."
    Ethan sat down across the aisle from us and leaned forward to look at Deza. "You'll always be safe with me. Duh."
    I chuckled and let myself relax a little more in the presence of the strangers who would soon become like family. I turned my face back toward Deza. "Did Darren not give you another chance?"
    "What? You told Riley about you and Darren and you didn't tell me?" Ethan let out a childish sigh, and I chuckled, but kept my eyes on Deza.
    "He was heartbroken, as he should have been. We couldn't even look at each other for four or five years, me from shame and him from anger." She shrugged. "Life became a competition after that for a while where we were going after the same performers. After a while, I backed off and mostly focused on Ethan."
    "Smart move." Ethan leaned forward, and I turned to let my eyes run over his handsome face.
    "I'd say so." I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my seat as the pilot came over the loud speaker and asked for his co-pilot to get in there and Frank to sit down.
    I laughed and closed my eyes, letting out a