I kiss her and hold her tighter against me. "You have to trust me, baby. This is my crazy, out of control world; but you're part of it. And you are going to be for the rest of my life. I promise you, I'm going to do all I can to show my love and earn your trust again, ok?"
"Ok," she answers, and I take her hand and guide her back through the crowd towards where we are all set up for filming. The first thing I notice is Scott flirting it up with Krista, and she's flirting right back.
"Ugh, sorry about that, she thinks he's reeaally cute, and those are her exact words."
I laugh and pull her closer to me, "Doesn't look like he's minding too much, babe. He's eating right out of her hand."
Katy laughs and I enjoy the feel of just holding her for a minute. It feels like nothing ever happened, and we're the same couple we were four years ago, young and in love. Now, though, we're jaded. There's still the hint of what we had, but I know I'm on thin ice.
"I'm going to go rescue him so that you can get to work," Katy says with a smile and starts to walk towards where Krista and Scott are talking.
"Do you have to?" I ask with a frown and try to grab her for another kiss, but just get a laugh from her.
"Uh-huh--none of that, Mister," She sticks her tongue out at me and whispers something in Krista's ear.
Krista says her goodbyes to Scott and then Scott leans down and kisses her cheek. That really surprises me. He has a no touching in public rule.
Before I can process that more, Katy comes back towards me with a reluctant Krista in tow. "Have a good day. Try to not incite the wrath of Ms. Dalton, hm?"
"I try to, believe me, I try." I lean down and kiss her before she can protest and smile to myself. "So, what are you two up to today?"
Krista links her arm with Katy's and answers for them. "We are going to try and find a spot that you guys haven't taken over on the beach and sunbathe."
Narrowing my eyes I look their tiny little outfits over and cross my arms. There is no way my wife is going to lay around on a beach in barely anything when there could be any kind of sleazy camera man there to take as many pictures as he pleases.
"Oh really? I’m guessing you have swimsuits on under those barely there outfits?" I ask them with a raised eyebrow.
Both girls smile and Katy gives me a quick wink, "Of course, bikinis. What else?"
I step closer and grit my teeth. "I don't want a bunch of college frat guys leering at you."
"Yeah, well, I don't want millions of women all over the world ogling at you, but I don't get a say in that," Katy says with a look and turns on her heel, pulling Krista behind her. As they leave, I growl at their retreating backs. Katy knows exactly what buttons to push with me; she's been doing it since we were kids.
Scott comes to stand beside me and I take a breath to calm myself down. "Enjoy your chat with Krista?" I ask him and point towards some empty chairs to sit in.
He gets a smile on his face. "I did. I know she's a fan just as much as the next girl, but there's something different about her." He shakes his head as he messes with his hair. "She didn't throw herself on me, or try to get me to sign some unmentionable body part or anything. She didn't even come to me, I came up to her after you and Katy took off. By the way, are you ok?"
I sigh and slouch back in my chair. "Yeah, Alexia got real close to getting punched though. I don't even care that she's a girl and her face is probably insured into the millions."
Scott laughs, shaking his head. "She really has a thing for you."
"I've noticed." I cover my face and sigh. "Katy told me that somehow Alexia knew where to find her, because she went there last night and told her that I was taking part in the activities at the Excite party." I give him a pointed look.
"Oh. Sorry I got you mixed up in that trouble."
"Not your fault." I shake my head. "I feel like I'm being torn in two different directions. Like sometimes, I'm the Liam on camera that all these women think I am, air brushed, make-upped and a fake smile on my face. But when Katy's around, I'm not him, I'm the theater guy again, nervous and trying to be something more, ya know?"
He nods and leans back watching everyone walking around. "I get it. She's the link between what you used to be and who you are now. The person who reminds you of what you had before and what you could possibly have now."
"Exactly, how am I going to be good enough for her?"
"You'll figure it out. But I think if you weren't 'good enough' then she wouldn't have stepped foot on this set today. But I'm glad she did, because I got to meet Krista," he smirks, and I bump his shoulder.
"Don't do anything stupid with her, she's Katy's best friend. If you hurt her, you make Katy mad, and she'll be mad at the both of us."
He puts his hands up in a sign of surrender. "I'm not. She's a good girl. I mean, she's going to be a psychologist or counselor or something some day. She could do me good."
"Don't get too ahead of yourself."
"I'm not. But she's cute, right?"
I laugh. "Yeah, she is cute."
"See? She'd look good walking with me down the red carpets." He stands up and starts backing away, "Nothing wrong with thinking big."
I just shake my head as I watch him walk towards makeup to get ready to film, and can't help but wonder just how big he's really thinking.
Chapter 6
"Cut!" the director yells, and walks up to me and Alexia quickly. I take a step further away from her. I meant what I said to her earlier--as far as I'm concerned, she doesn't exist.
"Great job," Mr. Johnson starts off. "We'll probably only need one re-shoot and this scene will be done."
"The love scene is soon, right?" Alexia asks as she eyes me over.
"Yes, but it's not next. It's in a few days." He waves her off distractedly.
She nods and smiles at me before Scott jogs up to us, waving his phone around, and I can't understand what he's saying.
"What? What's wrong?" I ask, pulling him away from everyone else.
"You're not going to like this."
"What?" I ask again, even more confused.
He shoves his phone into my hand, and when I see what's on the screen I come really close to chucking it far away so no one else can see the pictures. But they're on the internet--Katy and Krista on the beach in their tiny bikinis. There's several different shots where Katy looks just scared and nervous, and then some of her and Krista running towards their car.
"I told you that you weren't gonna like it," Scott says as he pries his phone back out of my hand.
"Those damn photographers." I groan and run a hand through my hair, frustrated. "She can't just go out like that anymore. They want to find her doing something wrong, or heck, just dressed wrong, so they can put her in the next magazine they print out!"
Scott frowns as he looks down at his phone and scans through each picture. "Even Krista looks freaked out. Those girls are totally clueless to what these kind of guys are like. It's about more than the picture. I bet they'll have some kind of dirt dug up on the both of them in the time for the nightly stories." He glares at the screen and shoves it into his pocket.
"I'm getting Katy security, that's all there is to it." I pull my phone out and scroll through, looking for the number to my security guy.
"Raden Security," he answers after just one ring.
"It's Liam. I need to hire security detail for my wife."
"And I want it for Krista, too." Scott pipes in, glaring at where his phone is.
I raise an eyebrow to that but nod. "Ok, for my wife as well as her best friend, Krista Quinn."
"Yes sir, when would you like it started?"
"Tomorrow."
"Yes, sir," And with that I hung up the phone.
"You sure you want to bring Krista into your life like this?" I ask him.
"Yep, I told you Liam, she's different, and I like her. I don't like seeing that freaked out look on her face either, not when I could have someone there to protect her as well as Katy. Now, call and
tell the girls." He shakes his head and yanks his phone out again. He curses at the pictures and I get worked up again as I start dialing Katy's number.
"Damn photographers, if I was there they would have gotten a broken camera..." I mutter until I hear Katy's voice on the other line.
"Whoa, whoa, slow down. What?”
I close my eyes and try to calm down but just see the image of the girls freaked out and running for the car. "What the hell happened today?” I ask her through gritted teeth.
"What are you talking about?"
"The beach!” My temper gets the best of me. What if those guys followed to see where they live? What if they get trailed all the time now?
"How in the world do you know about that?” she asks in a small, confused voice, and I try to make myself calm down a notch.
I laugh dryly. "Oh, I don't know. Just about all the gossip mags have pictures of you girls in your barely there bikinis lounging on the beach."
"There was only like three guys there though..." I hear her gasp and try to make sense of it.
"Doesn't matter, they must have shared them with their buddies."
"Well, I can't very well control what those people do, Liam!"
"No, but you can damn well control where you go, Katy."
"Why are you getting mad at me? I'm not going to hide for the rest of my life!"
I close my eyes and take a deep breath before blowing it back out to settle my mind and emotions down. Blowing up isn't going to change anything about this situation.
"I know, I know, ok? But you being out among all those vultures really put me in a bad place. I could tell in the pictures you were freaking out, Katy. And I hate that I wasn't there to, at the very least, shield you from them."
"I'm fine, ok? They surprised me, I figured they'd be camped out watching you guys film or whatever and we wouldn't be a blip on their radar....but I guess I'm a big blip now, huh?" Her attitude reassures me and I let the anger go as I focus on her light-hearted voice.
"Yeah, and I want to have security with you 24-7."
"Liam, really, that's not necessary."
"Oh, yes it is. Those people don't care about the person, they only care about the picture. And I'm not going to let my wife be injured, or worse, because they want to keep a camera in your face and put you at risk."
"This is one of those arguments that's just going to go round and round isn't it?”
"You bet, babe. Expect for a security advisor to meet up with you, and, if the way Scott reacted to those pictures says anything, Krista, too.”
"Wait, back up a minute. Scott wants to hire security for Krista?" she asks me. I think she's just as surprised with that turn of events as I am.
"He seems really taken with her, honestly. He usually avoids the girls that dote on him other than signing and autograph here and there, but Krista really talked to him. About normal things, not interview questions."
Katy makes an hmmm sound and it makes me smile. "I'm sure she'll be ecstatic to hear this turn of events in the morning. Except for the security detail being attached part, anyway."
"Yeah, well, we want you girls protected and safe. That's all there is to it."
She yawns and I glance at my watch. I didn't realize it was getting so late.
"Yeah, ok. I'll learn to ignore them, I guess."
I smile at her sleepy, sarcastic attitude. God, I've missed her. "Good girl, goodnight, baby."
"Goodnight, Liam," she whispers before hanging up the phone. I take another deep breath and turn to Scott, who had been standing just a little ways away while I spoke with Katy.
"Are they ok?"
I nod. "Yeah, they're good. Not happy about having new babysitters, but they'll deal."
He nods. "Good, ready to call it a night? "
"Now that all that's settled, yep."
"Good, you owe me another round of video games."
I laugh and slide into the driver's seat. "You really wanna keep on your losing streak?"
He narrows his eyes at me. "We'll see about that."
I just shake my head and laugh at him most of the way back to the hotel.
Chapter 7
After staying up way too late playing video games, Scott and I slept into the afternoon the next day, very thankful that we were off for the day.
"So, what are we gonna do all day?" Scott asks as he sips his coffee.
"I dunno, the girls have class all day so we can't go see them."
He frowns thinking about it, and then a look crosses his face that lets me know he's got some kind of idea running through his head.
"What?" I ask him, raising an eyebrow.
"They don't have night classes do they?"
"Just during the day I'm pretty sure, why?"
"We can take them on a date." He smiles to himself.
"Like a double date?" I ask him, drawing my eyebrows together.
"Yeah, so it's not like one of those really awkward first dates. Krista won't feel too on the spot if Katy's going too, and it would be yours and Katy's first 'date' since everything right?"
"Right, if we're gonna do this, then we need to go out and get a stylist or something, man. We've kind of been lax on the whole wardrobe thing since we got into Georgia and out of the Hollywood eye."
He frowns looking down at his clothes and sniffs his shirt. "Yeah I think you're right. I don't want to scare her away, might as well use some of the Hollywood powers that be to make us look good."
I laugh shaking my head. "I'll put in a call to Mitchell and see if he has some kind of stylist person we can steal for a few hours, and see if he knows somewhere in this town that is kind of low key we can take them to."
"Sounds like a plan. Did you find out if Raden had guys meet up with the girls today?"
"Yep, Katy sent me a text that two big muscle-y guys came knocking on their door this morning and are sitting in on their classes with them."
He smirks. "I'm sure that went over well."
I just shrug and go through my phone until I get to Mitchell's number and hit send.
"Mitchell Fallon speaking," he answers, and I roll my eyes knowing he's likely using a blue-tooth instead of checking to see who is calling.
"Mitchell, its Liam, I have a favor to ask."
"Alright, shoot."
"Is there a stylist or shopper person available today?"
"Yes, I believe Anna is free today. When do you need her?"
"Um, an hour, hour and a half tops. Scott and I need new clothes, and probably a little bit of a hair trim and all that stuff."
"Nothing drastic though, Liam, you can't come back to film with your hair all different."
I roll my eyes, "I know, just a trim up. Scott and I are going out tonight, is there somewhere here that's a little bit low key we can go to?"
"I'll have to ask around, but I heard some of the interns talking about a club downtown with private rooms that would probably be good, especially if you two are going around there with the girls. No cameras are allowed inside at all."
"Good, good, see if we need reservations or anything, please. We'd like to do that."
"I'll see about getting everything set up."
"Great, thanks Mr. Fallon."
He hangs up quickly and I slip my phone back into my pocket. "Everything's good to go. He's going to send Anna over to help us with clothes shopping and setting up a place to get our hair fixed, and he said there's a club with private areas downtown. No cameras allowed."
Scott grins. "Great! When can we tell the girls this plan?"
"Uh, we'll tell them tonight, after they've gotten done with their classes for the day."
"You sure they'll be good with that?"
"It'll be a surprise," I smirk, and stand up. "Katy doesn't need a bunch of primping time anyway; she never has."
Scott laughs as he stands and follows me down the hall. "But I have a feeling Krista does."
A few hours later, we have gone through just about every clothes shop within 50
miles. I've tried on more clothes than I think I have in my whole life, and then some. Anna takes her job very seriously; she won't settle for anything less then perfect.
"Ok, Mr. Warren, you have an appointment at the hair salon in 15 minutes. Mr. Adams, you will be right after him," Anna tells us as we pull up in front of what I assume to be the hair place.
"Great," I smile at her. "Thanks for setting all this up on such short notice."
She smiles and I roll my eyes when she looks Scott over from head to toe. "It's my pleasure, Mr. Warren. Is everything to your satisfaction, Mr. Adams?"
He shifts a little ways away from her and nods. "Yes, everything is great, Anna."
She smiles and leans toward him just as the driver comes around and opens the door. "Mr. Warren." He nods at me and I quickly jump out, while Scott fumbles out taking a quick look at Anna.
"Would you like for me to wait for you?" Anna steps out and leans against the limo door.
I look at Scott then shake my head. "No, you've been a great help. But it's getting late and after we leave here we'll just swing by the girls' place."
"Ok." She walks over and slips a card into Scott's hand. "This has my cell phone number on it if anything...comes up."
He clears his throat and nods. "Right, thanks again, Anna."
She waves and saunters away down the sidewalk and I turn to Scott. "What was that about?"
He runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head, "Long story, a night when I had a little too much to drink and was at one of Excite's parties. She was there and yeah...she wants a repeat."
"You let things get that messy?" I ask as we walk inside the building.
"Like I said, I was drunk. I don't really remember much about it. You've been there with Alexia, you know how it is." He shrugs.
I glare and turn towards him. "Don't ever bring that up again. I don't want that getting around." I look around to make sure no one is listening in. "It's bad enough that Katy had to find out the way she did. I don't want it blasted around in every magazine on top of that."
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