by JA Low
“Thank you, man, for looking after her. I was so worried when I heard and couldn’t find her. Thanks for being there for her.” He pats me on the back. First time in my life I’ve felt guilty for lying to my best friend. I don’t say a word. Oscar walks in and sits down in the living room, on my couch. My mind wanders for a split second about what I did to Isla on that couch last night after I had her in my bed, in my bath, on the kitchen bench. “So, how are we going to take this guy down?” Oscar folds his large arms over his chest.
“No, there will be no taking him down,” Isla jumps in.
“Issy, he hurt you. He must pay.”
“He’s right, I think we need to talk to him.” Isla glares at me for agreeing with her over protective brother. She places her hands on her hips and points to the both of us.
“No, you will not do a thing. He is not worth it. Plus, think of the press. Vanessa would kill you both.” This is true, she would, but I also think she would totally be down with us kicking Liam’s ass.
“Have you not seen the press?” Oscar asks. We both shake our heads. “What the hell have you been doing?”
Is this how I die? There is no way I can hide on my face the answer to that question, and I know Oscar is going to totally see it and kill me for touching his little sister. He will probably bury me next to Liam.
“We chilled. Finn took my mind of Liam, we went for a swim, I had a bubble bath, we literally did nothing and it was fantastic.” Isla answers his question.
Oscar looks between us and I think this is the end. “Well good. I hope you are well rested because the press has a hold of the story of you busting him with someone, that you tossed your ring at him and stormed off.”
“They forgot me punching him and breaking his nose,” Isla adds. Oscar gives Isla a high five.
“I’m guessing you didn’t see who was around while you were leaving the studio?” Isla shakes her head. “Well according to the tabloids the husband of Liam’s co-star made a surprise visit to set just after you arrived.” Isla’s eyes widen. “He saw the commotion and well I guess put two and two together. He was financing the movie and has now shut it down. The movie’s finished.”
“Oh shit. My stuff. He’s probably going to destroy it all.” Isla looks frantic.
“It’s okay, Vanessa is organizing that. You won’t have to ever see him again. I’ll make sure you get all your stuff back in one piece.” Isla gives him a hug.
“Thank you so much.”
“Anything for you,” Oscar adds.
Oscar took Isla back to his house, so I’m surprised when a couple hours later he turns up on my door step.
“Hey man. How is she?”
“She’s sleeping. I think she’ll be okay. But I just wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Yeah, what?”
“Isla is out of bounds, okay?” I stare blankly at my best friend. I stumble over my words back to him.
“What?”
“Look, I know you and Isla had the hots for each other in school, it was pretty easy to see, but now…” He stares me down. “Now she’s in a vulnerable state. I don’t want you to take advantage of her.”
“Excuse me?” What the hell did he just say?
“Come on. I’ve seen the way you look at her over the years and it’s not the way I look at my best friends. I’ve let it slide recently because she’s had a long term boyfriend and would never cheat on him…but now…” He looks me up and down as if trying to work out if anything happened last night between us. My heart is thumping in my chest; he can probably hear it, which is probably a dead giveaway.
“You think she’s going to jump straight into bed with me?” I hate that he’s right, it’s pissing me off but I’ll argue until I am blue in the face that nothing happened between us last night. I won’t give him the satisfaction of being right. Oscar bristles at my statement.
“I would hope you would have more respect for me than to jump into bed with my sister when she’s at her most vulnerable.” Those blue eyes narrow at me.
“We’re not kids anymore. She can sleep with whoever the hell she likes.” Oscar grabs me by the t-shirt and pushes me up against the wall.
“She can sleep with whoever the fuck she wants as long as it isn’t one of my best friends.” Oscar’s pissed. I’m really surprised that he’s so upset at the thought of Isla hooking up with me. Maybe he doesn’t think I’m good enough for his sister.
“You’re my best fucking friend. Isla is one of my closet female friends, she’s like a sister to me. I would be a total dick if I took advantage of her while she’s in this vulnerable state. I would never go there.” Lie, lie, lie, lie. The Lord will strike me down for this lie but I don’t care if it needs to be told. Oscar lets go of my shirt and starts pacing.
“I’m sorry, man. I know you would never do that to me.” Guilt turns in my stomach at his apology. “This whole Liam thing has made me crazy. I’m her brother. I’m supposed to protect her, but instead I let her get her heart broken by a guy I knew wasn’t good enough for her. That I knew was cheating on her, but she wouldn't listen to me and now, now she is curled up in bed crying because some stupid fuck face broke her heart.” Oscar is really hurting over this.
“She needed to find out for herself. Isla is stubborn, she was never going to listen to you.” Oscar nods.
“True, so true. Anyway, um…sorry I just wigged out on you like that.” I pull him into a bro hug.
“It’s all good. I promise Isla and I are just friends.” Oscar nods.
“Good, she is going to need her friends at this moment.”
189
Finn
One month later
Finn
I have something you want and you have something I need.
Meet me at Laurel Canyon Park, tomorrow at noon.
If you tell anyone or bring anyone I will make sure that Isla’s sex tape is released to the world. I have nothing to lose.
L
I want to rage out. Never in my life have I ever wanted to kill someone like I do at this very moment. Not only is Liam St James a cheating fucking scumbag but he’s now a blackmailer too. For someone who supposedly loved this person, he sure is hell bent on fucking her over. Isla is just getting back on her feet after what he did to destroy her. She thought she had gotten rid of him after he disappeared from the Hollywood scene a month ago, but like a damn fucking cockroach he had never really gone. If the attachment wasn’t real, I would have deleted his fucking email and told him to go fuck himself. But the black and white image of Isla’s naked back, her face turned to the side, riding, I can only assume is Liam, is the only thing keeping me from calling the police and arresting this scumbag. I know he will release whatever footage he has of her if he doesn’t get his way. Like he says, he has nothing to lose. I feel utter rage that he wants to do this to her. I pick up the closest thing to me, a tumbler of bourbon, and hurl it across the room. It hits the wall, the crystal smashing, leaving a brown stain against the white walls. I’m guessing he’s run out of money, the lavish lifestyle he used to live has probably dried up. His reputation taking a bit of a hit. Probably wasn’t the smartest move screwing some Hollywood bigwig’s wife. I slam my fist against my wood desk feeling utterly helpless. If Oscar found out Liam is blackmailing Isla with sex tapes he will lose his shit. Honestly, I’m not sure what he would be capable of doing; all I know is bail money would be needed. No, I have to do this myself. I have to work out what the hell this fucker wants, then get rid of him.
Stepping out of my SUV at the park, my eyes scan the horizon trying to work out where the scumbag is. But all I see is hundreds of dogs running wild with their owners chasing behind them, sweaty people splashing their bright red faces with water after a strenuous hike. No low life scums yet. I walk along the dirt path and take a seat under the only tree in the area and wait and wait. The midday sun is beating down on me when I feel a presence beside me. Turning around, I see him. Before I know what I’m doing I laun
ch myself at him and we roll around in the dirt.
“You motherfucking bastard! How could you, how fucking could you?” I get in a couple good sucker punches to the guts before pushing myself off him. The little fucker is groaning in the dirt; people walk past averting their eyes from the drama.
“You only get one shot, Finn. Next one sees me pressing send on the sex tape to all major news outlets.” I stop, realizing my error, my blind hatred for this man has made me lose my mind for a moment. He stands up and brushes the dirt off his clothes. “I knew you would come to her rescue.” A sadistic smirk crosses his face. I snarl. Hatred swirls between us.
“Why are you doing this to her?” I’m alarmed that a man that planned to spend the rest of his life with a woman would want to destroy her as badly as he does.
“Because she owes me.”
“She owes you?” I repeat back because I’m damn well confused at his logic. “You’re the one that got busted screwing around with your co-star, not her.” I pace back and forth, the adrenalin making me jittery.
“Five years I stuck with her when I knew she was in love with someone else.” His blue eyes are filled with rage as he glares at me. “Five years I lived in your fucking shadow.” He moves toward me; we are almost chest to chest. “I gave her everything, yet she couldn’t give me her heart.” I shake my head. That’s not true.
“She loved you,” I tell him. I see his face soften at my statement.
“But it wasn’t enough,” he tells me.
“We’re just friends. Nothing ever happened between us while you were together.” This makes him laugh.
“Bullshit. The way you used to look at each other, it drove me crazy.”
I shake my head and reiterate again, “We are just friends. Only ever friends.”
“You weren’t in high school,” he adds. Shit she’s told him.
“That was a lifetime ago. Men and women can just be friends.” He paces around shaking his head.
“No. They can’t. Not once you’ve fucked. You can’t go back. You just can’t.” Is he on some kind of medication and he hasn’t taken it in a while? He paces around mumbling to himself. “Hollywood fucks with your head.” I nod in agreement because he’s right. “The fame, the fortune, the girls. You can do and have anything you desire in the world at a click of the fingers.” Fame and fortune is seductive. “For someone who grew up with nothing…” He shakes his head again. “Temptation is hard to say no to when you feel invincible.” He’s right. Having everything you could ever want in the world is hard to get your head around. Plus, having people that will cater to your every whim, tell you how amazing you are, women throwing themselves at you, all that lifestyle is hard to say no to. “I thought because I failed at being faithful that she would as well.” Liam’s fingers rake through his brown hair, pulling the ends in frustration. “Every time she went away it broke me. I thought she was hopping straight from my bed to yours.”
“Because that’s what you were doing?”
“I thought I was strong, that I would never cheat, never become who I’ve become, but…” He shrugs. “Here I am. I love the attention, especially from women. They worshipped me, they would drop everything to be with me. I was their world, their everything. I wanted that from Isla.”
“But you were.” If this guy couldn’t see that he was Isla’s everything then too bad for him, he fucked up. “Do you have any idea how much she spoke about you while on tour? The countdown apps she had on her phone letting her know how long until she got to see you again.” Liam’s face turns a little pale. “You got so blinded by your ego that you threw away the best thing that happened to you.” Liam looks up at me, that’s when I notice the tears falling down his cheeks, he sits down on the chair, placing his face in his palms.
“I fucked up,” he sobs. “I don’t know what happened to me, but I fucked up.” Is he having a breakdown now? Shit, did I push him too far?
“Make this right then. Delete all the images, the sex tape, everything that you have of Isla. And next time don’t screw over the woman you love.” He nods. “Look, this scandal will blow over, but only if you’re not being a fucking asshole. This entitled attitude you have needs to stop.”
“You’re right.” I stare at him in shock. “I’ll delete everything I have. I promise.” Not sure if I believe him.
“Send me all the originals, I will put them in my safe. That way I know that you have done what you have said you have done.”
“Okay.”
“And if you do that…” I can’t believe I am going to say this. “I’ll pull a favor with some friends in Europe and you can start again over there and maybe once more time has passed you can come back to Hollywood.” He turns and looks at me dumbfounded.
“You would do that for me?”
“I don’t want to because you’re a fucking dick.” Liam glares at me. “But I also don’t think you should lose everything because you’re a dick either.” He gives me a faint smile. “Look, Hollywood can be the greatest and the worst thing in the world. It can turn good guys into bad ones. As long as you learn from your mistakes…and you don’t fucking dare try and blackmail anyone, then we are good.” Liam stares at me.
“I promise,” Liam adds. “I really did love her.” He looks at me sadly. “There’s no chance is there?” As if I’m going to tell him to go and try again with Isla. Over my dead fucking body.
“Oscar would kill you first before you ever got close enough to Isla.” This makes him chuckle.
“Shit, you’re right.” He leans back against the chair and stares up into the sky. “I really wish I hadn’t fucked it all up. I’m never going to find a girl like Isla ever again.” No he’s not. He then stares at me. “I don’t think we would have ever worked.” No shit, you were cheating on her. Liam understands my silent comment. “Even if I was the perfect boyfriend, I didn’t have her entire heart. She was settling, I know she was.” Liam stares at me again. “The fact that you can’t see how in love she is with you blows my mind.” I shake my head at him.
“We’re just friends,” I tell him again. Yes, we have slept together since they broke up but just the once and she has gone back to treating me like her friend again. Liam shakes his head.
“You’ve gotten so used to telling yourself that, that you actually believe it. You nearly lost her once, not sure if you will get a second chance if someone else comes along.” He looks at me slamming his point home.
“Isla has always maintained we are friends, only friends.” I can’t believe I’m even talking about this with him. “She is the one that doesn’t want anything more.” Liam’s eyes widen and he nods in understanding.
“Guess we are both messed up over Isla Eriksen then.” The thought that I have anything in common with this dickhead turns my stomach, but maybe he’s right, maybe we do have more in common than I thought.
190
Isla
Two months later
“Welcome to paradise, boys,” Christian yells as we enter the private house we have rented in Mexico for Evan’s thirtieth birthday which falls on New Year’s Eve. I found this amazing, paparazzi free zoned home in Mexico, so the boys could party hard for Evan’s birthday. It’s a gorgeous, all white modern home, with a turquoise pool that sits in the middle of it, wings of the house wrap around the pool which meets the pure white sand of the beach. The high pitched giggle of women pierces my Zen. Standing in the foyer of this beautiful home is a couple of women in bikinis, holding a tray full of tequila shots. This is going to be one long ass weekend. I groan internally as the boys lap it all up.
“Hope they are my birthday presents,” Evan chuckles, making the girls blush as he takes a shot from the tray.
“Actually, man, your presents will get here a little later and I think you might enjoy it a little bit more.” Christian’s face says it all, he has something up his sleeve and I know I’m not going to like it. Why did I say yes to coming to this stupid event? Oh that’s right, Vanessa pulled out t
he favor I owed her and made me chaperone this dickfest.
“You guys are disgusting!” I call out to them. That’s my bit of chaperoning done for the day. I grab a shot of tequila from the tray and walk out toward the pool.
“Your sister is such a buzz kill, man,” I hear Christian groan to my brother. I mentally flip him the bird which makes me feel better.
This place really is paradise. The turquoise water that disappears to the horizon, the white sandy beach that reaches as far as the eye can see and large blue skies that meet the turquoise of the ocean on the horizon meshing into some kind of blue abyss. This was such a great recommendation from my friends who stayed here a while ago, total seclusion, no way paparazzi can find you. Well, I hope they don’t because I’ve had enough of them to last a lifetime. I take my key and make my way toward my cabana which is at the far end of the beach; far, far away from the boys. I may have to be here, but I don’t need to see it or participate in it. I walk back outside and take a seat on one of the daybeds out the front of my cabana by the beach, the tension slowly leaving my body as I relax and enjoy the stunning scenery before me. I could really use a cocktail right about now, but I doubt the bikini babes are going to wait on me like they will the boys. Instead, I close my eyes and let the quiet wash over me.
“Hey.” Finn’s voice pulls me from my nap. I rub my eyes, the sun beating down on me, he’s just a dark silhouette at the moment, my eyes unable to focus. “I thought you might want one of these.” I see the bright, beautiful cocktail in his hand, my mouth literary salivates.
“Thank you, I so needed one of these.” Taking the ice cold drink from his hand, our fingers briefly touch sending an electronic current through us both. Finn smiles down at me before joining me on my daybed, his long limbs stretching out. Ignoring the electric buzz that hums around us, I relax and enjoy my refreshing drink. “How are things going in there?” I point behind me. He arches his eyebrow. “Okay. I don’t want to know then.” He shakes his head smiling.