by JA Low
Evan
Two weeks later
“Hey, Charlotte how are you doing?” I answer my phone after a hard session at the gym.
“Great, I'm just getting ready to photograph Yvette's show.”
I can hear the excitement in her voice; Charlotte was so worried after Sienna and I broke up that Sienna would kick her off the show, but apparently Sienna contacted Charlotte and told her that whatever happened between us had nothing to do with her and her ability to do a job. I know most women probably would have been a bitch to Charlotte to get some revenge on me, but Sienna wasn’t like that. Fuck, I miss her.
The last two weeks being apart from Sienna have been tough, especially the media attention. It’s been a blessing and a curse. I have been able to see pictures of her in Paris. Seeing how pale she was and that she had lost some weight made me feel sick, but how could I trust her after what she had done. I just keep reliving that photo of her and Beau over and over again.
“Evan, Evan, are you there?” Charlotte shouts down the phone.
I’d totally spaced out on her.
“Hey I have to go, but when you get a chance check your emails, I sent some pictures from the tour. Okay, I have to go, wish me luck.”
Axel has been impressed with Charlotte’s photography and asked if I would be okay if we hired her as our new in-house photographer for the label. Having my sister back in LA with me; shit yeah I was happy about that.
Christian had finally dragged me out of my cave to some party. It was your typical Hollywood party, packed full of celebrities, hangers-on, groupies, wannabes, socialites; you name it they were here. The thought of moving on from Sienna made me feel sick; this startling realization made me laugh at how pathetic I had become.
“What’s so funny?” A female voice asked as I stood by the bar.
Turning toward the woman, who was gorgeous, her large over enhanced breasts were the first thing to grab my attention and the dress that barely covered her pert ass and legs. Her long, peroxide hair falling in waves down her back, her chocolate eyes looking at me with lust. She knew she was gorgeous and any other time she would have been my type, but not anymore. All I could see was a petite blonde with jade-green eyes and great tits.
“Just realizing that I'm not over someone,” I state, taking a sip of my beer.
“That Australian girl who cheated on you?” the blonde asks.
Of course she knew who I am. All I can do was nod in agreement.
Her hands skim my arm as she says, “I can help you get over her if you like?” Her glossy red lips puckering up for me.
“Thanks, but no.”
Genuine surprise crosses her face. I'm guessing she's not used to men saying no to her.
“I could make you feel so good,” she continues as her hand slips down to feel my crotch.
I seize her hand, pushing it away from me. “Like I said, no thanks.”
“That’s just sad, pining after a woman who doesn’t want you.”
Turning and giving her a murderous look, I shout, “You don’t know anything about me, I suggest you find someone else to bother.”
Flipping her hair over her shoulder, she walks away.
“Can I get a bourbon?” I ask the barman, who nods and walks away.
“Women like her are a dime a dozen in LA,” the barman mumbles.
Slamming back my drink I had to agree that none of them were Sienna.
It must have been a couple of hours that I sat at the bar hanging out with Tony, the barman, he listened to me complaining about Sienna. While he's busy serving other patrons, I open up my emails to see what Charlotte has sent through. Clicking the email, I see the gallery of pictures. She caught one of Sienna watching me on stage. That’s when I saw it; I saw the love that was radiating from her and the realization that I had fucked everything up because my pride was hurt. Maybe I could fix this; maybe we could make this work.
There was a second email from Charlotte, the subject line written in capitals.
READ THIS!!!!!!!!
It got my attention.
Evan, I spoke to a photographer friend and asked about photos from the day Sienna met with Beau and they sent me this. Thought you should look at them; you might find it interesting.
Love you, Char xoxoxo
Opening up the photo gallery, pictures of Sienna and Beau flash at me. They are from every moment of that that day; frame by frame; from the time she arrived until the time she left. Sienna didn’t look happy when she entered, her arms crossed in front of her, Beau’s face had a large smile plastered across it but Sienna didn’t seem impressed. Then the next set was of her leaving; it showed her walking out first with a scowl on her face. Then Beau’s hand grabbing her arm and turning her around. The look of shock written all over her face; followed by the pictures of that kiss.
I can see it clearly now; she doesn’t seem like she is enjoying it at all. I see her hand coming up and slapping Beau’s cheek. The shock on his face as he takes it. She looks like she is screaming at him, waving her finger in his face then she turns on her heel and leaves. Beau slumps against the door, tears in his eyes as he watches Sienna walk out of his life. Fuck, I got it wrong. I rub my hand over my head in frustration. She was telling the truth; I should have listened.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! I frantically reach for my phone to send her a text, the first one in two weeks.
Evan: I’m sorry, Sienna. I’m coming for you. Please forgive me.
Would she want to talk to me again? Have I blown it for good? Fuck, I still love her. Leaving a generous tip for Tony I make my way from the bar. I have to get to Paris. I need to get my girl back.
36
Sienna
“I had such a great night, thanks for talking me into coming.” I smile at Derrick. Yvette’s show was a success. Sitting there in the front row watching the beautiful designs go down the runway was exciting. I was so happy for her.
“I’m glad you are feeling better, you had me worried there for a second,” Derrick declares, putting his arm around me as we move through the crowd making our way backstage to congratulate Yvette. I smile when I see Charlotte running around taking photos. I'm happy I was able to help her with this. The photos she took while on tour were fantastic.
There was a break in the crowd and Yvette waved us through.
“Congratulations,” I greet, giving her a kiss on each cheek.
“Thank you so much. The reaction has been crazy.”
“Some of those dresses are going to be on the Hollywood red carpet this season,” Derrick says with a huge smile.
I can see the pride in Yvette's face. She has done such an amazing job. It’s not long before someone else grabs her attention and she’s off again. I’m sure we will catch up at the after party, I think to myself as I make my way over to where Charlotte is.
“How did it go?” I ask her. Her blue eyes remind me so much of her brothers, it hurts.
She pulls me into a hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she squeals, excitedly.
Charlotte naturally was on her brother's side but when she asked if she still had the job with Yvette and I told her, of course, she melted a little more toward me. I would never hold something like that against her.
“Spoke to Evan earlier,” she mentions, her eyes trying to gauge my reaction.
“Yeah, how is he?” I ask, plastering on a smile.
“Good. He was off on his way to some party tonight.”
My stomach sinks. He’s a single guy again, of course he can do what or whoever he wants.
“Oh well, I'm sure he will have fun.”
Derrick makes a choking sound beside me while Charlotte frowns at me. “You can be upset.”
Shaking my head at her, I reply, “No, I can’t. We broke up, he is a single guy.” But the thought of him taking someone else home makes me nauseous.
“Well I'm hoping he checks his emails in time because I sent him something that he might find interesting,” Charlotte continues wit
h a big grin on her face.
“What did you send him?” I ask, worry curling around my stomach.
“I may have made a couple of calls to some photographer friends and found the sequence of photos from that day, between you and Beau, showing everything that happened. It showed you slapping your ex.”
Covering my mouth with shock, I can’t believe Charlotte would do that. “Why?”
“Because my brother is miserable and because something didn’t seem right. The last couple of months I watched you and Evan together, you were different to all the others. You loved him. I know you did, and maybe still do. I just wanted to know that you were telling the truth so I could maybe help you get back together.”
Tears build in my eyes. “Thank you, Charlotte, but I think your brother and I just had a great summer romance.”
Shaking her head, she disagrees. “Just you wait, when he sees those photos he will realize.”
I love that she has such faith in me and faith that this will change what has happened between her brother and I, but I know it won’t.
“I’m going to head home, think I’ll skip the after party, just not feeling well,” I announce.
Derrick looks at me and says, “I’ll come with you.”
“No, D, stay and have fun, I’ll grab a taxi, I’m just too tired.”
I give him and Charlotte a hug before I head out the front and jump into a cab.
37
Evan
There is banging on my bedroom door. What is it with my friends and their need to bash my door down? They didn’t even wait for me to get out of bed to answer it before barging in. Christian had a funny look on his face.
“You alright, Chris? It’s a bit early for you to be busting my door down,” I comment, while he shakes his head.
“There’s been an accident, Evan.”
My stomach sinks, my mind fills with dread. “Who, who is it?” I can see Christian take a moment before he continues.
“It’s Sienna, her taxi was hit by a drunk driver.”
My world stops. No! No fucking way. I jump out of bed in a panic, throwing on some clothes.
“She’s alive, Evan, she’s alive,” Christian quickly adds. “But I think she is pretty banged up, broken bones and shit. Vanessa is getting ready to fly to Paris; did you want to go?”
I frown at my friend.
“Of course I want to go,” I say, rubbing my hand over my head. “I should've been there.” I called Kane, our pilot, last night to organize the plane but we gave him time off after the tour to be with his family otherwise I would be half way over the Atlantic now. “I booked myself on the first flight out of LAX for today. Fuck! I should have been there, Chris”
Christian puts a hand on my shoulder. “You will be. Isla is getting the plane organized. I think some of the boys are coming along. Is that okay?”
I nod because I’m not thinking clearly at the moment. I don’t care who comes for a free ride to Paris as long as I am on that fucking plane that is all that matters.
“I love her, man, I fucking love her.”
“Yeah I know.” Christian sadly smiles at me as he leaves me alone in my room.
“Sienna I'm coming for you, baby.” Grabbing my bag, I stuff my shit into it. A pair of Sienna’s underwear she returned to me in London falls out of the box sitting in my closet. My stomach sinks, I fucked up, I need to make it right. My girl needs to be with me. Picking up my phone I call Charlotte, I need to know if Sienna is okay. It rings out. I try again and finally she picks up. “Char, I just heard about Sienna. Tell me, is she okay?” There is crying on the other end of the phone.
“It’s my fault, I upset her. She wouldn’t have left the show if I had just kept my big fat mouth shut. I was trying to help.”
“Sweetheart, no, from what I hear it was an accident, don’t blame yourself.”
More sniffling. “I told her I sent you the photos, she didn’t believe me that you would forgive her.” She cried into the phone, sounding heartbroken.
“I got the pictures, Charlotte, and I’m on my way. I’m coming to get her.”
More crying on the other side of the phone. “You are? Oh my God, Evan. I haven’t seen her yet, not sure how bad she is. Hurry, okay?”
“Isla’s getting the jet ready. I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay.”
Charlotte’s sniffling stops. “Okay, Evan.”
I hang up the phone, throw some more shit into my bag, grab my toiletries from the bathroom and race up the stairs to where Christian and Vanessa are. Vanessa's crying and Chris is comforting her; her red eyes look at me as she walks across the room and pulls me into a hug.
“I can’t lose her, Ness; I can’t. I fucked up.” I feel my tears flowing for the first time as I hold Vanessa tight against me.
“Don’t worry, Evan, you’ll get a second chance with her, I’m sure of it.”
Sammy arrives and announces that the car is ready and it’s time to head to the airport. It is going to take us nearly half a day to get to Paris. Vanessa, Christian and Chance and Blake, from Sons of Brooklyn, are all coming with me. To say I was happy with Blake coming was an understatement but he said he was worried for Sienna and thought he could be of some support to Charlotte as I would be busy with Sienna. The kid had a point, but still, I didn’t like it, and Chance, not sure why he is coming. I guess he had nothing to do and a free trip to Paris seems like a good idea. Trying to keep myself busy was hard. Every single time I fell asleep I would dream of Sienna in some mangled wreck of a car.
“Here have this,” Christian says, handing me some bourbon. “It will calm you down.”
“What if I’ve lost her, Chris,” I almost sob, my heart racing with the realization that she might not want me anymore.
“You haven’t lost her; she’s alive. You are going to get her back.”
“What happens if she doesn’t want me? I was a dick to her. I left her in London. I said things that I can’t take back.”
Squeezing my shoulder, he gives me his advice. “You grovel, man. You do whatever you have to do to get her back. It may not be today or tomorrow, but it will happen.”
I hope Christian is right because knowing I might have lost the woman I love, the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with, it is tearing me apart. Two weeks without her in my life and it’s been torture. I don’t want to ever feel that way again. No way in the world.
The flight continues as we all try to distract ourselves from the reason we are traveling to Paris. The boys and I managed some writing. Annoying as this is to say, but Blake is a damn good songwriter. They worked on their second album and were having problems with it, so Christian and I helped them tweak it. Keeping our minds occupied, it wasn’t long until we were touching down in Paris and rushing to see Sienna at the hospital.
Derrick and Charlotte stand outside of Sienna’s hospital room, looking like they haven’t slept in days. Looking up from their hushed whispers, seeing us for the first time, Derrick runs toward Vanessa and embraces her. Charlotte runs toward me, and fuck, I am so happy to see her. Then I see Sebastien walking back with some coffee. What the fuck is he doing here? Calm down, Evan, they are friends.
I turn toward Derrick and ask, “How is she?”
His tone is a little frosty toward me, but he replies, “The doctors are just talking to her. She is lucky.”
Fuck, if he isn’t happy to see me then maybe Sienna isn’t either. Doesn't matter, I am here now and I will make sure she sees that I'm not going anywhere, not until she is mine again.
“Thanks for coming.” Derrick’s eyes look over my shoulder and widen in surprise. Turning to see who has caught his attention, I see Chance who is standing away from everyone looking rather awkward with his hands in his pockets. Derrick moves away from the group toward him giving Chance a shy smile. Looking at each other, they embrace in a hug. I turn to Christian with a questioning look. Chris just shrugs but I see Vanessa has a huge smile on her face. Maybe something is going on be
tween Chance and Derrick? Nah, that kid is straight.
Looking over to where Charlotte is sitting with Blake, he has her hands in his as they whisper to each other. Maybe I'm wrong about Blake; he seems like a bit of a playboy yet jumped on a plane to see Charlotte, to be there for her, knowing that I am not a fan. Maybe I need to leave those two alone to sort whatever it is that is going on between them. Shit, am I mellowing out in my old age?
“She’s going to be okay,” Sebastien says, giving me a smile. The last time I saw him, I was threatening to pummel his face into the ground.
“I hope so,” I say.
“She will be happy to see you,” Sebastien adds.
“I don’t think so,” I reply as I shrug my shoulders. I don't really want to be talking to him about Sienna and me.
“She loves you. The rest will sort itself out,” he states, matter-of-factly.
The doors to Sienna’s room open, the doctor and nurses file out. Their eyes widen when they see us all sitting in the waiting room. I can see a couple of the nurses getting excited as they realize who we are as their eyes look us over; we must look like a sight. Big, bulky, tattooed guys and one Spanish hunk.
“Who is Derrick?” the doctor asks.
Derrick steps forward. “You can go in, only you for the moment,” the doctor announces.
My heart is pounding, shit!
38
Sienna
“Miss Hayes, we have received your blood work, did you know that you are pregnant?” the doctor states in broken English. I had Yvette beside me to help translate as my French was not up to scratch in terms of medical talk.
I look at him blankly. Excuse me, what the hell did he just say?
“You are ten weeks pregnant. Now you have the cast on your arm we would like to take you in for an ultrasound.”