by M. S. Parker
Except, what Carly and I had going was real. I’d never had anything more real in my life, and I knew it with every fiber of my being. I knew Carly felt it too. I could see it shining in her eyes every time she looked at me, feel it in her touch.
But I knew that, no matter how real it was, revealing it to people had to be orchestrated, controlled.
As he went over everything for the hundredth time that day, I tuned him out. When he jabbed me hard in the shoulder and told me to pay attention, I just rolled my eyes at him.
“Ry, if you tell me one more time to kiss her, I’m going to pop you in the mouth, I shit you not.”
He studied me for a minute, and then cracked a grin. “I guess you’ve gotten the kissing her thing down, considering how often you two have been ‘practicing’ the past two weeks, huh?”
“Practicing,” Carly echoed, her eyes wide. She gave me an innocent look. “Exactly what we’ve been doing, right, Bobby?”
“You were practicing?” I lifted a brow. “I thought you were trying to memorize the feel of my tonsils.”
She blushed, her cheeks going a shade of pink that almost matched her top. It was strapless and snug, tucked into a skirt that showcased her butt to perfection. I would have a hard time keeping my hands off that butt when the car door opened, but Ryan had been specific. A solid but passionate kiss. No groping.
Carly started to respond, but Ryan cut her off. “Okay, you two need to get moving. Remember, Dave will stop the car at the gates, get out, look under the hood, then tell you two to get out while he calls up to the house. Cameo will bring the Range Rover down and, while you’re waiting, you two start getting...familiar with each other...”
“They’ve already done that.”
The hostile voice came from across the hall and one by one, we all looked at Ridley.
I’d suspected it before, but these last two weeks had just solidified my suspicion that Ridley’s problem with me was that he had a crush on Carly. Maybe it was just physical, or maybe his emotions were involved, but whatever he felt for her, he didn’t like that she’d chosen me.
I made the wise decision to keep my mouth shut. One of these days, that boy and I were going to come to blows. It was fast approaching too. Personally, I would have very much preferred to just get it over with, but Ryan had put a lot of work behind staging whatever this was. This ‘expose’ of our relationship. Why it mattered so much how the public found out about it, I didn’t know, but I hadn’t lived and breathed Hollywood for more than half my life. Both Carly and Ryan said it mattered, that they needed to stay in control.
Since it wasn’t going to speed the time table along to get into it with Ridley, I focused on running my knuckles up and down Carly’s half-naked back. That served several purposes – I enjoyed it and so did she. If it pissed Ridley off, then so much the better. I could sympathize with Ridley’s unrequited feelings, but that didn’t mean I had to like him being an asshole.
“Ridley, do you have a problem?” Ryan asked, moving between us.
The other man took a moment to answer. “I just don’t see why we’re playing this fucking game.”
“Several reasons and none of them concern you,” Ryan said easily.
“Since I’m a part of this security team, I’d feel better about it if I understood those reasons,” Ridley snapped.
“Ridley, lighten up,” Carly said. She was getting aggravated. She caught my hand and tugged me along toward the door. “Come on. I’m getting hungry.” As she strode toward the door, she shot an annoyed look at Ridley. “The VMAs are coming up and everybody is already talking about how I’m supposed to be mending things with that jerk-off, Mendoza. We all know that’s so not happening. This kills two birds with one stone. The news about Bobby and I will come out sooner or later, and I don’t want to hide it. Plus, we can plan on him being with me at the VMAs now.”
I shot Ryan a questioning look, and he gave a slight shrug.
I didn’t know who Mendoza was. I barely knew what the VMAs were – music awards of some kind, I thought. Then I processed what she’d said and gaped at her. “You plan on taking me?”
“Who else would I take?” She kissed my cheek. “Come on. We’re supposed to meet Max in ninety minutes.”
The drive from her front door to the elegant wrought-iron gates seemed to take ten times longer than normal. My stomach churned. The thought of putting myself in harm’s way for her didn’t even make me blink. This, however, was freaking me out.
Even though I knew the media had been tipped off, it was still something of a surprise to realize there were photographers hiding. Some of them poorly, some of them fairly well. I’d already counted four of them when the car came to a stop and Dave made a very good impression of a frustrated driver. Even though it was just us in the car, I got the impression he wasn’t acting solely for us.
“Sorry, guys. Something’s not running right.” He opened the door and climbed out.
“That’s fine,” Carly said, leaning against me. She grinned up at me. The look on her face was adorable. She was clearly having fun.
I felt half-sick.
She smoothed a hand up my arm in a soothing gesture. “Relax,” she whispered, her breath soft against my neck.
Ridley leaned against the seat across from us, although leaned wasn’t really the right word. His body was rigid. He looked about as uncomfortable as I felt, really. For a moment, I almost felt sorry for him. I knew what it felt like to want her and not have her.
Knuckles rapped on the window and that was our cue to open the door. Except Ridley didn’t move.
Knuckles rapped again.
I looked away from Carly’s smiling face to look at Ridley. He was staring at me with pure loathing on his face.
We had a stare-down that lasted maybe ten seconds, and then he opened the window, had a terse conversation with Dave before looking at us.
“Go do your thing.” The words were sharp, brittle. “Put on your show.”
Carly frowned, but by the time we got out of the car, she was smiling. I tugged her up against me, determined I wasn’t going to be the reason behind her next frown. I’d do whatever it took to make her smile.
She came to me and curled her arms around my waist. “Smile pretty, handsome,” she said, her voice almost inaudible.
I knew I couldn’t, but in my head, I heard the clicks of a hundred, a thousand cameras as the shutters clicked. I brushed a kiss across her lips instead and she pressed her hand to my cheek. It felt like a lover’s caress, but I followed the gentle pressure she applied.
Angling my head for the cameras, I assumed. Then she pulled back slightly to smile up at me, I returned her smile, mechanically at first, but it didn’t take long for the warmth she always filled me with to spread through me. Without thinking about it, I reached up and brushed a flyaway curl from her face. I forgot about everyone watching us and thought only of her. I cupped her cheek, wondering again what I’d done to deserve her.
She covered my hand with hers and said quietly, “Nobody has ever looked at me like you do.”
“Yeah?” I rubbed my thumb across her skin. She was so soft. “And how’s that?”
“Like all you see is me. Like I’m all that matters to you.”
I frowned. Didn’t she understand? She was all that mattered. But I didn’t ask her that. “What else am I supposed to see?”
She sank against my chest. “Maybe that’s why it’s so special, Bobby. Because that’s the only way you’ve ever thought to look at me.”
Dave’s voice cut into our personal moment. “Head’s up, folks. Cameo’s almost here with the Range Rover.”
I’d almost forgotten that we were doing this on purpose. As one, Carly and I looked up, watching the big SUV eating up the distance left between us. When the car came to a stop, Carly glanced over at Dave.
“Give the keys to Ridley. He can take the car back and make sure it gets fixed.”
Ridley opened his mouth, an expression of shock o
n his face. Carly gave him a cool look.
“You heard me. Go.”
“I’m assigned to escort you today,” Ridley said, the pulse of fury in his voice undeniable.
“Dave can cover for you,” Carly said smoothly. “Since you obviously don’t want to be a part of the team today, you can stay here.”
I caught a glimpse of the hurt on his face, and then it was gone, hidden behind his usual mask of hostility. I had a fleeting moment where I thought I might want to talk to Ryan about it, and then Carly was leading me over to the Range Rover and all I could think about was getting into that backseat and getting my arms around her.
***
We didn’t even make it to the restaurant before some of the pictures hit the internet. Carly laughed as she regaled me with some of the headlines.
“Check it out! The PRINCEss has found herself a new boy-toy!” She wagged her eyebrows at me. “Are you my boy-toy, Bobby?”
Blood rushed to my cheeks. “That’s not funny,” I muttered.
“It’s just people being stupid,” she said, her voice soft.
“I don’t care what they say about me,” I said. “I’ve been called worse.”
She gave me a confused look.
“I don’t like them thinking it about you.”
She leaned up and kissed my cheek before snuggling back down against me. “You should take a look. A lot of them are really quite amusing.”
Curious now, I tugged out my phone with my free hand and started to search.
“Oh, please,” Carly said, her voice scathing. “Seriously? Listen to what Hollywood Steam is going with: ‘Like Mother, Like Daughter. The Scion of Music Legend Phoenix isn’t following her father’s footsteps like many had hoped. Instead, she’s taking a page from her mother’s book and playing fast and loose with any man she can get her hands on, including her sexy, but shadowy bodyguard, former inmate Bobby Cantrell.’”
“Carly...” I looked up at her, swallowing around the shame in my throat.
She shot me a look, her eyes spitting fire. “My mom only wishes she could get her hands on a man like you. Her last boyfriend tried to take her for everything she had, and I warned her it would happen.”
I started to shake my head, but she reached up and caught me behind the neck, pulling me down to press a kiss to my lips, fast and hard.
“Stop it,” she whispered, her voice fierce. “This is going to get ugly, we knew that. But they don’t matter. We do.”
From the other side of the limo, Cameo snorted. Dave was driving, so she was in the back with us. We both looked at her.
“Man, some of these people aren’t pulling any punches.”
“What, someone else comparing me to my mother?” Carly asked, her voice thick with scorn.
Cameo glanced up, wincing as her gaze slid to me for the briefest moment. “Not...exactly. This is from the 360: A Hollywood Princess has Fallen to an All-Time Low Carousing with a Con.”
Carly wrinkled her nose and rolled her eyes. “You’re right. Dating a guy who served his time is the absolute worst thing a woman can do. Never mind that A-list movie star from last week who started dating the producer who’s a known child molester. And the woman has a kid, for the love of all things decent!”
“Yeah.” Cameo sighed, toying with a pendant on her blazer. “I saw that too. The crazy chick keeps saying he wasn’t found guilty, so people should give him a chance, even if everyone knew it was just because his lawyer had gotten evidence thrown out on a technicality.”
I stared down at the carpet. I was guilty. And not just because a jury said so. I’d done the crime I’d gone to jail for. Was there really a difference between that other guy and me?
Carly took my hand. “It’s not the same thing, you know.”
I looked up at her, startled. “You read minds now?”
“Just faces. Especially yours.” She laced our fingers together and brought our hands up so she could kiss the back of mine. “I know your face almost as well as my own sometimes. And it’s not the same. You admitted to what you did, and you served your time. You didn’t do it for some selfish reason, or because you wanted to hurt someone. You’re trying to change your life. And I think you’re doing a damn fine job of it or you wouldn’t be here. It’s not the same thing.”
“I agree.”
I looked up at Cameo, surprised by the defense. She gave me a shrug and went back to flipping through whatever sites she’d found on her tablet.
“I’m not even into your pretty bedroom eyes or broody good looks.” She flashed a quick look at Carly and winked. “If I was going to be into anybody, it would be the Hollywood princess, but she’s not quite my type, either.”
Carly had been in the middle of taking a drink from her juice and she choked, mid-swallow.
“Nice,” I said, glaring at Cameo.
“Sorry.” She grinned, and then shrugged. “It’s the truth. Carly knows. Ryan knows. I play both sides, and I don’t lie about who’s my type and who isn’t. So know I’m not saying this because I’m attracted to you. You did your time, Bobby. I read your case. If I hadn’t known you before, I think I probably would have been predisposed to dislike you on the spot, because you sound like you were a thug. But you’re not.”
“I was, and some part of that guy still lives in me, too.”
“Good,” Cameo said firmly. “That dangerous part of you is what makes it possible for you to protect her and still be...” She waved a hand between us. “Like that. I’ve known too many people who tried to have a relationship like this, and it never worked. I think you two have a chance, but it’s because you still have that edge to you.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
I was still mulling over it when we arrived at the restaurant to meet Max.
“The two of you have something you need to tell me?” Max asked as we approached his table.
Ryan and Max had carefully staged the pictures, just as they’d carefully staged this lunch. We were meeting in one of the busier restaurants in downtown. There were movie executives, musicians and movie stars, from the A-list on down. There were people there to see and be seen.
Carly liked coming here to see. She loved sitting around and watching people. She’d spent more than a few afternoons telling me stories that I still didn’t entirely believe. She only came here to be seen when Max or Ryan told her it was time, like today. No matter why she came here, she loved the food. She told me more than once that she didn’t waste her time going to a restaurant where the food sucked, although she said that more than a few people did. That, I didn’t get.
She was right though. The food here was good. The booze was even better, and I desperately needed a drink as I let Carly nudge me closer to a seat.
My head was still spinning.
There had been cameras outside when the Range Rover came to a stop. Ryan, Ace and a temp named Mike were already there, waiting for us. Even though this was about the growing relationship between me and Carly, I still had an earbud in and I heard everyone check in. Ryan was up front, Ace in the back, and Mike stayed with the second vehicle.
Now, as Carly and I sat down, Cameo and Dave were both near the bar less than two dozen feet away. This place was considered low-risk security-wise, but with what we were doing, we wanted to have people available, just in case. No media was allowed inside and the restaurant was damn good at maintaining that rule. We’d witnessed them hustle would-be rule breakers out more than once. Outside was a different story.
Even though inside was safe, out of habit, I skimmed the interior even as my mind tried to come to terms with what had happened outside.
Bobby! Bobby Cantrell! Are you and Carly Prince having an affair? What would the family of the man you killed think about this–?
“Well?”
Carly none too subtly jabbed me with her elbow and I looked up as a couple was seated at the next table over. The maître d walked stiffly away without looking at either party. No media was allowed...e
xcept when it was pre-arranged and tightly controlled.
The gorgeous redhead at the table next to ours looked nothing like the sharp-featured brunette who ran the biggest entertainment blog online, but those cheekbones were pretty much unmistakable. They should be. She’d paid enough for them. She casually placed her purse on the table, pointed it toward us, and then focused on her companion.
Max lifted his eyebrow the faintest bit and I took that to mean it was time.
“I’m still waiting for an explanation.”
He pushed his phone across the table toward me.
The image on display showed me with my back up against the car, one hand low on Carly’s hip, while the other gripped her back. She had her hands fisted on my chest and we looked pretty much like nothing else mattered.
So, that was what we looked like together.
“Ah...” I looked over at Carly. I knew Max already knew what was happening, so I felt sort of stupid telling him what he already knew.
She pressed her lips together, and I realized I wasn’t going to get any help from her. I looked back at Max and he raised an eyebrow.
I gave him a sheepish smile. “Oops?”
A smile jerked at his lips, but he got it under control quickly. “Oops?” he repeated. “That’s the best you can do? Just how long have you two been involved?”
Carly pursed her lips. “Do we count the six months we were keeping it cool because Ryan and Jake asked us to?”
Max made a show of dragging his hands down his face. “Six months?”
“We haven’t been involved for six months,” I said, shrugging. “Not really.”
He perked up a little.
“Well. We had a thing,” Carly said. She smiled a little sadly as some truth came into the story. “Then, after Jake fell, he asked Bobby to wait a while. He figured it wasn’t the best time for me to get involved with anybody. So Bobby waited. Now?”
She looked over at me, and the moment our eyes met, it was clear to me that I’d never stood a chance.