A lot of this didn’t sit right with me. Selling off pictures of the wedding. Making Gael rehearse all of these answers for interviews. Putting him through this, in general. Nat was right. I hadn’t thought this completely through. I had been on a selfish train, figuring this would help both of us. It wasn’t helping anyone, though.
It was only putting more undue stress on the two of us.
“Now, we have to talk about all the lovey-dovey stuff the papers are going to ask,” Madison said.
I furrowed my brow. “What?”
“You know, the shit they always ask women. Are you going to have children? Where are you two going to live? Have you already moved in together? Things like that.”
“Children? Living together? Seriously?”
Madison groaned. “I get it. You had no idea what you were getting yourself into. Except, you did. Because both Nat and I warned you. Now, you can stop complaining and figure this out with me, or you can get the marriage annulled, tell the truth, and hope this shit goes away. Which do you want?”
“I want you to tone your voice down with Syn,” Gael said.
“That’ll be enough out of you,” Madison said.
“So long as she’s at my side, I’ll protect her. Even if it means from you,” he said curtly.
My heart fluttered with pride in my chest. He really was a good man. And I was putting a good man through hell with my bullshit.
Yeah, a real relationship wouldn’t work between you two. He’s much too good for you.
“I think we should all take some time to be quiet until the plane lands,” Nat said.
“I think what we should do is—”
“Stay quiet until the plane lands,” Nat said as she interrupted Madison.
I sighed. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Let’s take a break.”
“Just know the media isn’t taking a break,” Madison said.
“We get it,” Gael grumbled.
The rest of the plane ride was a blur. I think I fell asleep, but I’m not sure. One minute, I’m arguing with Madison, and the next minute we’re descending into LAX. Thankfully, the airport terminal was private. Just like the jet we chartered. So, there were no paparazzi and no cameras to contend with. “Gael, do you want us to give you a ride home?” I asked.
“No offense, but I’d like to be alone for a bit. I’ll find my way back,” he said.
I nodded slowly. “I understand. Take your time.”
“Just remember the rules, Gael. No giving interviews, no talking to the press except through my office, and absolutely no being seen out with other women. At all,” Madison said.
“Loud and clear, boss lady,” he said sarcastically.
Then, he walked past the town car waiting for all of us and made his way for the exit gate.
“And we’ll see you on set in the morning!” Madison called out.
He waved his hand in the air without looking back, and it broke my heart. I stood there, watching him walk through the swung-open gate doors and over toward the road. It didn’t take long for a cab to pull up beside him, and he got in without looking back. Not back at me. Not back at Madison. Not back at anyone.
They simply drove off.
“What have I done?” I asked softly.
Nat rubbed my back. “You’ve done the best you can. It’s time to let us fix this now, okay?”
Madison opened the car door. “And we will. If you’ll just stop fighting us and let us do what we do best.”
“Now, we have to see the stylist about your hair. It’s a mess, and it hasn’t been cut in a while. You need a revamp of your highlights as well. Maybe a nice layered look to give your hair more volume. Come on, we need to spruce you up a little bit. You’re a blushing bride, not a desolate wasteland of loneliness,” Madison said.
“Give us that game face of yours. Because whether or not you two are together, you’ll be bombarded,” Nat whispered.
And my only hope was that Gael didn’t get cornered nearly as much as I knew I was about to.
15
Gael
“Yo! Dude! How the fuck were you hiding something like this from us?”
“I didn’t even know she knew your name.”
“Come on, you can tell us. What was the honeymoon like?”
“Do you have a thing for bitches? Or is that hard-ass persona just for the public?”
“You’re so fucking lucky to have those legs wrapped around you every night.”
“That’s my wife you’re talking about,” I said curtly.
“Well, give us something, man. You’ve been hiding this big-ass secret from us, and we want details!”
“Talk to my publicist, Madison,” I said.
And just as the words flew out of my mouth, I heard Hunter chuckling in the background.
I waved the throng of stuntmen and prop guys away as I walked onto the set that morning after the whole fiasco, and everyone kept patting me on the back. Giving me “atta boys” and high fives, like I had just scaled Mt. Everest. It was disgusting and piggish, but I went along with it. I wanted to punch most of them in their faces for the questions they asked, though.
“Holy hell, Gael. You’ve gotten yourself into some shit,” Hunter said.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“What I want to know is how the honeymoon actually went. Because for a newly wedded man, you look fucking miserable.”
“Shut up dude.”
“Oh, come on. I saw you in that bar with that woman, and I thought you were putting the moves on her! No doubt a girl like her would’ve never been caught dead in a place like that. I thought you invited her there. Put some sort of smooth move on her. But holy fuck. How the hell did she talk you into marrying her?”
“Talk to my publicist.”
“Oh, really? That’s how it’s gonna be now?”
“Talk to my publicist.”
“You sound like a sock puppet.”
“You can talk to my publicist about that, too.”
He smiled. “What about your therapist? What does she think about this?”
I punched his shoulder. “I don’t have a therapist because I’m not crazy.”
He groaned. “You’re crazy enough to go along with whatever stupid plan she’s—damn it, dude. That hurt.”
“Good.”
I hated keeping this from him. I didn’t want to, either. Hunter was my best friend. And if I couldn’t talk to my best friend about this, then who could I talk to? So, I grabbed his shirt and pulled him off to the side, into the darkness and down a corridor that tucked us away from cameras and microphones and anyone else that might want to eavesdrop on the conversation.
“Oh, nice and covert. I like it,” Hunter said.
“When I saw you at that bar, I thought you were playing a damn prank on me,” I murmured.
He paused. “You’re shitting me, right? I’d never be stupid enough to talk to Syn Sycamore about some dumbass prank.”
“Well, that’s what I thought. I got the text, saw you give me that thumbs-up, and I thought that’s what was going on. So, when she started talking about getting married and shit, that’s why I went along with it.”
“Not because you wanted to sleep with her?”
“The hell makes you think I’ve slept with the woman?”
“Dude, guys can tell. You’ve slept with the woman. Way to go, by the way. That’s a serious score.”
I shook my head. “Not the damn point. We got all the way to that fucking wedding chapel and through the ceremony before I realized it wasn’t a prank. That she was serious about this whole marriage idea. And you know why?”
“To piss off her ex, I guess?”
“Well, yeah. That, and she overheard us the other day talking about my little dilemma with Elizabeth.”
“Oh, shit. Mutual benefit, and all that stuff. I can dig it.”
“You can dig it? Seriously?”
He shrugged. “The hell you want me to say? Have a happy life? The marriage
is fake. And you sound like a puppet with all that publicist talk.”
“It’s all I can say at this point.”
He paused. “Come to think of it, I wish I would’ve thought of that joke. That would’ve been fucking epic. No one could’ve topped that. I’m flattered you thought so highly of me.”
“I’m going to kill you.”
He grinned. “You love me too much.”
“Syn!”
“Syn, can we talk?”
“Syn, I want to know everything.”
I sighed. “She’s here. I gotta go.”
“Run like the wind, little puppet!” Hunter exclaimed.
I raced out of the corridor and back onto set. People were swarming Syn as she adjusted her massive sunglasses on her face. She looked tired. Her shoulders were slumped. Her gait wobbled. She clutched her to-go coffee a bit too hard in her hand. And yet, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about that night—our night of unbridled passion. Just thinking about it forced my hand down my pants so I could rearrange myself. Because every time I looked at her, all I saw was her flushed skin. Her puckered nipples. Her lips painting my cock with that ruby-red lipstick.
The lipstick she had on now.
“Go get her, lover boy,” Hunter said.
He clapped my shoulder before jogging off to the props department.
They hadn’t been wrong about the media hassle, though. Even the cab driver back to my place was asking me questions about shit. I ignored him well enough, but the second I stepped out of that cab and onto the curb, people struggled to get their phones out. No doubt we’d have to come out and say something about our living arrangements sometime soon. And I had a feeling I knew what the answer would be.
With our whirlwind wedding, we haven’t had a chance to move yet. But, rest assured, it’s in the process. I can’t wait to wake up next to her every day for the rest of my life.
I didn’t mind the thought, though.
Waking up next to her more often.
My phone vibrated against my hip, and I watched Syn dig around in her purse. When she pulled out her phone and walked off into a corner, I knew exactly who was messaging. I pulled my phone out and groaned when I saw Madison’s number. I’d saved Nat’s into my phone, and of course Syn’s. But Madison I could’ve lived without.
Until I opened the text message.
Sending a picture. This dropped just now. Right now, the general consensus is that you two are in the process of moving in together. Preferably, into Syn’s place. Stay tuned.
Then, a link rolled in behind the message.
I clicked on it and started fuming. It was a picture of me, last night, walking into my apartment alone. And the caption? Bullshit.
Marriage Already On The Rocks?
I looked up to find Syn staring at me. Her chest heaved with a sigh before she slid off her sunglasses, and when she did, the bags underneath her eyes were bigger than I’d ever seen them. The article did have a point—it didn’t look good to come back from a honeymoon and go back to separate dwelling spaces. But Madison was also right. If it was a last-minute wedding, then we wouldn’t have had enough time to coordinate a move.
So, I messaged the publicist back.
It’ll be the safe route to tell everyone that the whirlwind wedding interrupted our moving plans. I can pack up a couple of boxes and be seen taking it over to Syn’s place for pictures’ sake.
Then, I slipped my phone back into my pocket.
This is going to get a whole lot more complicated.
Every time I tried approaching Syn, she’d shake her head, as if I wasn’t allowed to approach her on set. That didn’t make sense to me. I mean, I was her husband. Wasn’t I supposed to dote on her at work? But it made my work easier. Not being able to smell her perfume every second of the workday kept my cock in check. Which made my stunts a hell of a lot easier to pull off.
Every time Syn did a scene, though, I was riveted.
The woman was a hell of an actress, talented beyond her years. I stood there with my arms crossed, watching her work, saying her lines and doing her own damn fight scenes and stunts like the badass she really was. It made me grin, seeing her work like that, throwing men over her shoulder and pointing guns in their faces. Sometimes, I wasn’t sure Syn knew how strong she really was, both physically and on the inside.
“Hey, Gael.”
Nat’s whispered voice caught my ear, and I turned toward her voice.
“Hey there, what’s up?” I asked.
“After this scene, we need you and Syn in her dressing room.”
“Everything okay?”
“Just get her and come on, okay?”
I nodded. “Got it.”
Nat walked quickly off, and I turned back toward set. I saw a look of worry flash over Syn’s face, but she fell back into her role the second Voxx called “action.” Twenty more minutes of going over the scene and we were all ready to break for lunch. So, I walked onto set and stood beside Syn for the first time that day.
“Nat wants us in your dressing room,” I murmured.
“That’s not good. Thanks. Come with me,” she said.
It didn’t shock me to find Madison in there with Nat. What did shock me is when she made me lock the door behind us. I felt something prickling the hairs on the back of my neck. Syn’s shoulders stiffened as Madison’s lips downturned into a frown. Something had happened. Something bad.
“Spit it out,” Syn said.
“We have to move onto phase two quicker than I expected. Because the paparazzi following you this morning have loads of pictures of you coming out of your place unaccompanied by Gael. And with the article of him going to his apartment alone? It’s already casting a bad light on you guys,” Madison said.
I shrugged. “I gave you a solution to the issue.”
“And it’s not going to be good enough. You have to move in together, for real.”
“What?” Syn asked.
“The two of you are married. What the hell did you think was going to happen? You have to be seen together as if you’re married. He has to completely and fully move in. He has to cancel his lease, too,” Madison said.
“What?” I asked.
“They’re digging deep. There are already questions on the blogs surrounding his green card. They’re digging up this information faster than we can combat it. We have to move, and quickly. Syn, you have to help him monetarily cut his lease—”
“I can handle that part. I’m not poor,” I said.
Madison waved her hand in the air. “Whatever. Cut the lease. Do it as quickly as you can. Move him in. Be seen coming and going. All lovey-dovey. All that fun marriage stuff. I don’t care what you guys do in Syn’s place, but you have to be in Syn’s place. This is the only way we’ve got at this point to make sure no one catches wind of the face that this is—”
I nodded. “Yeah, yeah. We’ve got it. These walls aren’t soundproof.”
Syn sighed. “He’s right. The less we can talk about this here, the better.”
“It does sound a bit extreme, though,” Nat said.
“And I’m not sure how I’d feel having him in my space all the time,” Syn said.
Her words stung. But I glared at Madison. I wanted her to swallow the words coming up her throat, because I knew what they were. And if she spat them out, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep my cool with her any longer.
I really didn’t like the woman.
“I don’t like the way any of this sounds,” I said.
“Neither do I, actually,” Nat said.
“Well, take that up with Syn. She’s the one who got us into this mess in the first place,” Madison said.
“Thanks,” Syn said flatly.
I wanted to see her around the house. Eat meals with her. Spend time with her. If we were going to move in, I wanted to really move in. Not just be some roommate shoved into a corner somewhere. If we were living together, could we really avoid one ano
ther that much? And even so, if she didn’t want me like I wanted her, living in the same space would be torture. It would affect her work. Mine as well.
“Look, if Syn isn’t going to go for this plan, it’s not going to—”
She held up her hand. “I’ll do it.”
Madison nodded. “Good. I’m glad you’re on board. Now, onto the next thing. This interview coming up tomorrow is going to be…”
I tuned Madison out and looked down at Syn. The hesitation and emptiness on her face had me worried. I wondered what kind of harm this would bring to her. Certainly more harm than good, at the very least. I was nervous about this. Nervous about what this might do to her. To me. To us.
We could just as easily blow this out of the water with bad tension.
So, make sure she doesn’t feel uncomfortable in her own home.
I simply had to figure out how the fuck I was going to make that happen.
16
Syn
Madison nodded. “Good. I’m glad you’re on board. Now, onto the next thing. This interview coming up tomorrow is going to be a doozy. I’ve already got a majority of the questions they’ll ask, and the two of you already know the answers. But, there’s always offshoots to those questions, and one of those offshoots will be whether or not Gael’s moving in. So, we need to make this move happen as quickly as possible. Maybe get some of his things over there now so the two of you can come to work together tomorrow. Syn, you can go with Gael to his place after work to get a couple of bags of his things. Be seen going to your place. And the two of you can slowly move him in like that to give him time to arrange severing his lease.”
“I won’t cut my lease,” Gael said.
“We’ll talk about that.”
“I won’t cut my lease.”
“And like I said, we’ll discuss it. But we have to sell this, which means covering our tracks.”
I nodded rhythmically as Madison spouted off the plan. I didn’t care if Gael cut his lease or not. We’d find a way to cover that up. I was still reeling at the idea of having him at my place. Having him there wasn’t something I’d thought through. I should have. We were married. That’s what married people did. It was a necessity for the story, of course. But however large the space I had was, it would make everything difficult. Gael dominated any space he was in. He was so muscular and so tall and so commanding that no space would be “too big” for him. Even standing beside him, I felt his heat and his strength radiating out to me, gripping control of me, even though I hadn’t done or said anything.
His Secret Baby Page 9