by Cara Dee
*
Noah ended up being just one in the crowd when it came to commenting on Sophie's outfit. Brooklyn, Daniel, and Zane thought she looked fabulous, but they didn’t like her reason for going so…conservative.
It was nothing Sophie could help, though. She was terrified of what kind of rumors would circulate if she showed more skin.
"Is this gonna be a problem, darling?" Daniel asked quietly as he placed his napkin in his lap. They'd been seated and had ordered and, unfortunately, the others were busy chatting about Noah's next film location. Sophie couldn’t get out of this one. Sigh. He squeezed her hand under the table. "I know you don’t like the attention anymore, but I don’t want it to hold you back."
"Don’t exaggerate." She played it off with a kiss to his cheek. "You're like the best big brother I could ever have, but I'm fine. Let's enjoy dinner before we gotta go home and pack."
At this point, she didn’t even know where she was going, but since Daniel was still trying to build up his clientele, he had the flexibility to travel with her most of the time. It meant he took care of all her schedules. He told Sophie where and when to show up, and she went.
What she did know was that she had a meeting and a PR event in Sydney coming up, so she'd have to make sure she could see Tennyson before then. Hopefully, he could fly out to LA, or she'd go to overrated Texas.
"The doctor said one glass of wine here and there is fine." Daniel held out his. "Want some? It's really good."
She smiled and shook her head. A glass might be fine, but being called an alcoholic in the press wasn’t.
"I think we went to that vineyard in Napa last year," Zane said and reached for the bottle. "Remember, love?"
"How could I forget?" Daniel smirked wryly and placed his arm along the back of Zane's chair. "You did that spread for some fashion house and got recognized by a whole group of flaming boys from San Francisco. Fun times."
Sophie and Brooklyn exchanged a grin.
Daniel was head over heels in love with Zane, but he worried. Zane was ten years younger, and Daniel feared his boyfriend would get bored. Which couldn’t be further from the truth, and Daniel would know that if he only opened his eyes and saw the way Zane looked at him. But jealousy could cloud the best of judgments, Sophie guessed.
"Yeah, but who took me home?" Zane shot back with a mischievous glint in his eye.
Noah flicked his gaze between the two men. "Am I watching foreplay here, or…?"
Sophie chuckled and took a sip of her water as she glanced out over the large restaurant. She preferred smaller, more intimate establishments these days, but the food here was supposedly orgasmic.
"I got to watch foreplay today at work," Brooklyn said. "We were minding our own business on set when a studio rep came down to fire one of the girls in wardrobe. She'd had an emergency the day before—got called away because her son was sick and got sent home from school, and this douche tried to fire her."
"How is that foreplay?" Noah asked.
"Because you should've seen how everyone teamed up against the suit. It was pure pleasure," Brooklyn continued with a grin. "Two actors had overheard him, and they didn’t mince words. My girls and I got into it, too. Asshole. But at least she wasn’t fired."
Sophie frowned. "So just because this woman had to pick up her child—who was friggin' ill—they wanted to let her go? How the fuck is that fair?"
"I see that shit all the time." Daniel shook his head. "One of my assistants thought I was gonna fire her when I learned she had lied on her resume. She'd listed a friend's downtown address instead of her own, which makes her daily commute two hours. Add the fact that she's a single mom… Not many would hire her."
Sophie didn’t understand that at all, and she said so.
Noah explained it to her. "Fair has no business here, I'm afraid. Single parents are unreliable. Hell, you don’t even have to be single."
"That’s ridiculous." Sophie scoffed. This crap angered her, maybe because it was personal now, but she'd really had no idea. "They should look at it the other way. I'm no expert, but isn't it more likely that a single parent will work harder in order to support her child?"
"Preach, sister," Brooklyn agreed.
Okay, maybe this hadn't been a bad idea, after all. It felt pretty good to be out like civilized people and having dinner and meaningful conversations with her friends.
Her stomach tightened in hunger as she saw their waiter and another heading toward them. Her spirits lifted a little. But before she could shut out the world and focus solely on her meal, she spotted a few people she'd never wanted to see again.
"Fuck." She dropped her gaze and set down her glass. Anxiety rose in her, and instinct told her to flee. Quick exit, drive home, hide under the bed.
Screw her previous thought. This had been a horrible idea.
"Something wrong?" Noah asked her.
Of course, that got everyone's attention, but Sophie couldn’t speak yet. The waiters came with their food, and she had to pretend she wasn’t wishing the floor could swallow her whole.
"Motherfucker," Daniel rumbled in a low growl. One glance at him told Sophie he'd seen what she'd seen. "Peter's here."
It was more than that. Her father and his wife were here with the Whittingtons, including their daughter Cassandra, a party princess and former friend of Sophie's.
"Shit, I'm sorry, hon." Brooklyn reached over the table and grabbed Sophie's hand. "Want us to leave?"
She shook her head minutely. She wanted to be home, but the getting-there part could get tricky. It didn’t look like Dad or her ex-friend had seen her, but they were only some twenty feet away. If Sophie and her friends stood up to go, it might get their attention.
"Let's just…" She let out a nervous breath and picked up her fork.
Dinner was effectively ruined, and she cursed herself for it. Her friends tried to engage her in conversation, but it was hard hearing past the ringing in her ears.
She picked at her food and wondered where the hell her balls were. Her dad and Cass could only destroy her if she allowed it.
I'm stronger than this, damn it.
"Okay, give me that." She reached for Daniel's wineglass and took two large sips. "I'm not gonna let Dad and some diva ruin my evening."
"Diva?" Noah looked over his shoulder.
"There's my girl," Daniel praised.
Sophie nodded at their table. "The blonde. Cassandra—we used to be friends. Our dads play golf together."
Noah snorted and returned to his vegetarian chili. "Whenever I see those skinny girls, I just wanna force-feed them." He smirked wryly at Sophie. "I thought the same when I met you."
In response, she flipped him off at the same time as she blew him a kiss.
"You've been spotted, babe," Zane said quietly.
Fuck.
It was like the pep talk got sucked out of her, and she swallowed nervously. Taking another bite of her pasta was impossible.
"Who?" She pulled forward her acting skills and smiled as she reached for her water. Under the table, Daniel gave her leg a squeeze.
"All of them now," Brooklyn muttered. "Jeesh, I feel like a circus act."
"Imagine how I feel." Sophie chuckled and discreetly eyed the other table. Sure enough, Dad was watching her, and Cassandra was looking awfully busy with her phone. "Uh, we might wanna leave, after all. If the paparazzi aren't already nearby, they will be soon."
Cass was known for alerting the press. Back in the day, Sophie had loved it. Now, not so much.
"Fine by me. This chili's shit. Just because I'm a vegetarian doesn’t mean I want an overabundance of beans." Noah turned in his seat and was quick to flag down a waiter. "Yeah, hi. Can we get the check, please? And some to-go boxes, if that’s all right."
Sophie was grateful for her friends reacting so quickly. The waiter left, only to return a minute later, and those who had enjoyed their meal placed the food in fancy containers.
"Want me to ask if we can take ano
ther exit?" Daniel asked.
"No, it's okay." Sophie reached for the check, but Noah snatched it up first. "What're you doing?"
"Paying, of course." He fished out a few bills from his wallet. "I'm the only one who prefers to use cash these days, and it means we can leave right away."
Sophie had every intention of arguing over the bill later, but for now, she wanted a quick getaway.
As they all headed toward the exit, she cursed internally. Something was going on; otherwise, there wouldn’t be a handful of dinner guests bringing out their phones to take pictures of her.
She assumed Cassandra had said something online. It only took seconds for gossip rags to pick up the news and spread it like wildfire.
Daniel and Noah handed over their tickets to the valet outside and then returned to the interior vestibule to avoid being spotted.
The girl at the coat check eyed Sophie.
Being an actress was all Sophie knew, and she'd grown to love it and be very passionate about her job. But during times like these, she wished she weren't a public figure. It was like living under a magnifying glass, and everyone was waiting for her to make a mistake.
Her son chose that moment to kick her a bit. "Really, baby?" She looked down at her belly and quirked a grin.
"Is he kicking up a storm?" Zane asked.
She nodded. "He's always more active at night. I may be giving birth to a night owl."
Zane chuckled and moved his palm over her stomach. "Oh, I felt that one."
"Sophie?"
Sophie's head snapped up at the sound of that voice, and the last thing she wanted was to turn around. Brooklyn and Zane were sort of frozen, and Daniel and Noah were standing by the exit, waiting for their cars.
Help me.
"Sophie, don’t be a child. Face me, damn it." Dad sighed and came to stand in front of her.
She clenched her jaw and made sure her discomfort didn’t show. "What do you want? As you can see, I'm not crawling back to you, so there's no reason for you to speak to me."
She had to admit it was nice throwing his words back at him. Dad had been so fucking arrogant and confident, sure she'd be back with him in no time. Joke was on him.
His eyes flicked between hers and her baby bump, and for the first time in Sophie's life, she could see beyond his stony expression. Actually, it had been over ten years since she'd thought he was more than a business tycoon, but he didn’t look all cold and detached right now.
He almost appeared…older. Peter Pierce had always been handsome, but it looked like he was running ragged nowadays.
"I underestimated you," he conceded, frustrated. "But you have to agree that you've taken this way too far. You belong at home, where people can take care of you—especially in your condition."
Sophie was fuming, but she couldn’t help but let out a hard laugh. God, how delusional was he? "I can't believe you, Dad." Her humor faded as soon as she'd said Dad. It didn’t feel right to call him that anymore. He'd stopped being her father a long time ago.
Taking a step forward, she glared at him and jabbed a finger at his pristine suit. "First of all, I'm not a business deal you can estimate. And my son isn't a condition. Second of all, we're so done. Do you even remember how to be a parent? There's no way I'm letting my child near you."
Daniel and Noah had noticed Dad by now, but before they could reach Sophie, she stalked toward them instead, so fucking ready to leave. Her blood was boiling, and she was both panicky and happy she'd gotten that off her chest.
"Sophie!" Dad called after her. "I'm just—fuck. Listen to me!"
Nope. Not going there. Sophie let Daniel usher her outside, but maybe that was a mistake.
"Holy hell, they got here fast," Noah said irritably.
Half a dozen photographers had gathered on the sidewalk outside the restaurant's property, and they were crowding Daniel's and Noah's cars.
As the cherry on a shit sundae, Sophie soon heard a nasal voice behind her.
"Hey, Pierce! You're not going to say hi to your BFF?"
"For the love of God," Daniel muttered. "I'll handle this. Noah, you get Sophie home—"
"Wait." Sophie placed a hand on his arm. She couldn’t believe she was about to do this, but she wanted closure. A swift one. So she turned to face Cass and hoped they were out of earshot of the paparazzi, who were shouting questions from left and right.
Cassandra grinned sardonically as Brooklyn flanked Sophie. "I see you've replaced your friends with the help. One makeup artist, a former PA, and…" She waved a hand, dismissive about Noah and Zane. "Couldn’t handle all the attention I got, huh?"
"Yeah," Sophie replied dryly, "that was the problem." She was shaking with anger and her gut twisted with nerves, but she needed to do this. "Look, I just want to be left alone—"
Cassandra cut her off with a laugh. "Oh my God, who are you? The Sophie I remember never wanted to be left alone. What happened to you?"
"I grew up," Sophie bit out. "Some of us do that. Now, please—just…fucking stop, okay?" There was no forgetting the fact that Noah and Brooklyn sometimes kept an eye on things online and found that Cassandra and Sophie's other former friends liked spreading rumors about her. "Pretend we never met; I don’t care."
Cassandra grinned and took a step closer. "Where's the fun in that?"
Her response sparked a venomous rage inside Sophie, and she forgot about the ramifications. "You really wanna go there with me, Cass?" She inched close too, and then she grabbed Cassandra's hand and practically dragged her closer to the street where the paps were waiting. "You forget that I know you." She ignored Brooklyn calling her name and forced a smile for the reporters, all while speaking for only Cassandra to hear. "Smile for the cameras, babe." Sophie squeezed Cass's hand. Hard. "We used to do this all the time. And then in private, we shared shit we never wanted to get out in public."
Like, Cassandra having affairs with married men. But the biggest scandal was probably that she'd fucked her own father. Stepfather, sure, but Sophie knew the press well enough to be able to guarantee the tabloids would leave out that little detail. If they learned the truth.
"What're you playing at?" Cass gritted out. "Jesus, let go of me."
Sophie pretended she didn’t hear. "I'm just saying you might wanna learn how to pick your fucking battles." She turned to face Cassandra fully. "Don’t use me to stay in the spotlight, and I won't let the world know you like to suck your dad's dick behind closed doors."
Cassandra paled, though she tried to put up a front. "Nobody would believe that."
"Honey, I deleted my old Facebook and Twitter, not my photos." Sophie was bullshitting, but she had a feeling it would be enough. Back in the day, Cass had loved bragging about her conquests. Her dad was no different, and Sophie had received several pictures of kisses and fondling. She'd deleted them as soon as she'd gotten them, but Cassandra didn’t know that. "I know how to protect myself." Sophie let go of Cass's hand and patted her arm. "So do we have a deal?"
The sheer hysteria in the fury that lit up Cassandra's light blue eyes scared Sophie. She'd seen her ex-friend lose her shit in the past, and it was never pretty. She'd been sued for going berserk on waiters, bouncers, and housekeepers.
"You wouldn’t fucking dare," Cassandra seethed right before she shoved Sophie forcefully. She nearly lost her footing.
"Hey!" Noah and Daniel shouted from farther away.
Sophie let the shock settle, momentarily blinded by the flashes from the photographers. It made her sick, and she was regretting everything. Holy hell, what would Tennyson think of her? She was carrying their son and she was getting into a fight with an old friend less than twenty feet away from a bunch of paparazzi?
"Have you lost your fucking mind?" Sophie exclaimed incredulously. As much as she wanted to defend herself and go right up to Cassandra and punch her in the goddamn face, she wouldn’t. She was pregnant, for chrissakes. Besides, there was no holding back her friends now. Noah was quick to pull her close to
him, and Zane and Brooklyn were throwing insults at Cassandra.
"She's pregnant, you plastic piece of shit," Brooklyn spat out.
"Get her home—now," Daniel told Noah. "I gotta call her publicist."
"I'm sorry," Sophie choked out. A dizzy spell came over her, and she couldn’t believe she'd been goaded into a bitch fit like this.
"Don’t even…" Daniel shook his head grimly. "I get it, darling. Trust me. But we gotta get you out of here now, and I'll do my best to clean up. Okay?"
She didn’t argue.
All the way home, she sat stock-still in the car, terrified of the outcome. The media was going to have a field day. It would be a while before it settled. Rumors would fly. Theories. Assumptions. Name-calling. Sophie was back to being a spotlight seeker, and this time she was carrying a baby.
Oh, God.
She barely made it to her loft before she broke down.
Chapter 8
Tennyson couldn’t relax the following day. He'd sent a private plane to pick up Sophie at LAX, and he was there in the hangar at the private airstrip outside of San Antonio when she landed. Everything was about discretion, from smuggling her out of LA without anyone noticing, to getting her to Texas.
Daniel had called Tennyson this morning and filled him in on everything that had happened at dinner last night. Shortly after, Asher's phone had started blowing up. Meetings were canceled, new ones were made, and Sophie's travel schedule had now been cleared.
The only thing Asher requested—if Sophie felt better soon—was that she attend the premiere of Barcelona Quarter in New York. It was coming up soon, but Tennyson made no promises. His one and only priority in this case was the welfare of Sophie and their baby.
Tense and worried, he watched the plane taxi into the hangar. He hadn't spoken directly to Sophie yet, and she hadn't answered any of his texts. He was prepared for pretty much anything, though he took comfort in the fact she'd wanted to come here. Daniel had acted as a messenger between them, which felt ridiculous, but it only worried Tennyson more. Sophie wanted to be here, but speaking to him over the phone was out of the question?
He began walking closer as the door opened and the steps lowered to the ground. Someone in the cabin crew exited the plane first, and then it was Sophie's turn.