I nodded. “Me too.”

We sat there in a comfortable silence. Nik and I didn’t need to speak to communicate. We have been best friends since second grade. We knew each other’s darkest secrets. I was close to Drake and Shane, but Nik and me were different… Of course that hadn’t stopped me from beating his ass when I found out he had gotten Emmie pregnant. Hey, what was I to do? He had respected me more for it when I was finished stomping him.

Not that Emmie knew that.

“Nik!” Emmie yelled from inside the house. The door leading out to the patio opened, and she came out with a fierce glare on her face and a phone in her hand. “You told me you weren’t going into the studio until next week!”

He raised a brow at her, calm in the face of her fury. “That’s right. Rich scheduled it for next Tuesday.”

She waved the phone at him. “Then what the fuck is your producer doing calling wondering why your ass isn’t already there?”

“What?” He jumped up and took the phone from her. “Look, I don’t know what is going on. Rich said next week.” He put the phone to his ear and walked off, speaking rapidly to whoever was on the other end of the phone.

Emmie glared after him, dropping carefully down onto the lounger beside of me. I scooted over to make room. Her belly seemed to get bigger every day now. Seven months pregnant and she was nothing but stomach. It was crazy, because from behind you would never know that she was carrying a load up front.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Fucking Rich either told Nik wrong or Nik wrote it down wrong. You guys were supposed to be at the studio an hour ago. And I know that you guys will end up going in. Which means that I will be stuck here, dealing with the movers. Plus I have three housekeepers coming over from Perfectly Clean for interviews.” She gave me a cute little pout as she wrapped her arm around my waist.

I grimaced, knowing that she was right. Studio time was a precious commodity these days. If we wanted to get to work on our new material then we would have to go in today. I hated to leave her to deal with all of that on her own, but I also knew that she had handled worse. Fuck she has been managing our lives for years now. Movers and a few interviews should be a piece of cake compared to that shit.

“Emmie, can you wake up Drake and Shane?” Nik came back outside. He stood as far away from my lounger as possible out of safety for himself. Emmie was bound to beat his ass if he didn’t. “Jess, can you be ready in twenty minutes?”

Emmie got slowly to her feet. We had learned over the summer that standing too fast could make her dizzy. Once she was on her feet, she stormed back into the house, shooting Nik murderous glares. “I’ll make it up to you, baby,” he called after her. “Please don’t be mad!”

“Fuck off, Nik!” she yelled over her shoulder.

I couldn’t hide my snicker as I went into the house to put my coffee mug in the sink. From upstairs I heard her yelling at Shane, then shouting at Drake to get his ass in the shower. I shook my head as I climbed the stairs to get dressed.

Chapter 2

Layla

I was up before the alarm went off. I already had my shower and was in the process of putting on my lipstick when it started beeping. I glared at my reflection and moved into the bedroom to turn it off.

On the bed Lana and Lucy moaned and cuddled closer to each other. Both needed to get up so that I could drop them off at school, Lana at the high school and Lucy at the Elementary. School had started last week, but both seemed to still be on their summer time schedule. I pulled the covers off of my sisters and clapped my hands together.

“Get up, you lazy heads.” I smacked Lucy lightly on the rump. “Times a-wasting! Lana, shower. Lucy, breakfast.” I left them to get up, confident that they would follow through with my commands. Ever since they came to live with me two years ago, after the death of our mother, they hadn’t given me one second of trouble.

Back in the bathroom I finished putting on my makeup and then dressed in my usual uniform of black dress pants and a white button down. Slipping my feet into a pair of flats, and I was done. With one last glance in the mirror to make sure that I was presentable, and then I was walking into the kitchen where Lucy was eating a pop-tart.

“Good luck today, Layla,” she told me around a mouthful of pastry.

I dropped a kiss on top of her curly dark head. “Thanks, sweetpea.” I had an interview today. If all went well I would have a permanent job as a housekeeper instead of just as a temporary replacement here and there. We needed this, because a job here and there wasn’t covering the bills. If this didn’t work out I would have to go back to my old job…

Lana walked into the kitchen with a backpack over her shoulder. It weighed her slight frame down with all the heavy AP books in there, but that was the price she had to pay, and one I was willing to make her keep paying. I was determined that she was going to make something of her life. She was going to have all the chances that I never had. If I was a hard ass when it came to making her study and keeping her nose clean, then that was just too bad.

“I’m ready.” Lana sighed as she took a pack of pop-tarts from the cabinet and pulled a bottle of water from the fridge.

I dropped Lana off first then Lucy because it was on my way. My cellphone chirped, giving me the directions that my boss, Stan, had promised me last night when he had called to tell me he had put me on the list for an interview as a permanent housekeeper. The woman had asked for his three best housekeepers without a permanent position. I wasn’t sure that I was one of his best, but Stan knew that I needed the money.

When I got to the gate, I began to wonder who the hell these people were. When the guard asked for my driver’s license and then took a moment to consult his list before making a phone call, I was really starting to worry who they might be. Who needed this kind of protection from unwanted guests? Sure this was Los Angeles County, but there were celebrities everywhere here. Whoever it was had to be someone ridiculously famous, important, or dangerous to need this kind of protection from the outside world.

After a few minutes, the burly looking guard waved me through. I followed the directions he gave me all the way to the end of the beach. When I pulled into the driveway right beside of some sports car that I knew cost more than I could ever make in ten lifetimes, I nearly passed out. I was home in bed, still dreaming… Right?

Behind the sports car was a little coupe that was a few years older. I figured it belonged to one of the other housekeepers interviewing. My stomach filled with butterflies and anxiety. This was too good to be true. It had to be. Whoever lived here wasn’t going to hire me. They would want someone older, with more experience, someone respectable.