by Lia Violet
She nearly spilled the tea when her hand missed while picking it up. She didn’t look at him.
“I know you are writing some of Hunter’s shows, that you’re the fixer he brings in. I can always tell when you’ve written the episode.”
Now she looked at him. “So? I got paid. I just didn’t want to get in that world again officially.”
“You’re still not over Evan.”
She met his gaze. “You mean I’m not over finding his body? Or having to film the show after his death where we did the fake funeral and my hysterical crying that wasn’t acting was captured for everyone to watch forever? Hell, I was at the real funerals — plural, as his mom wanted to scatter ashes in several places. I kept reliving the last, angry words I said to him, over and over. No one even noticed that I had a bruise on my face, and that was fine.”
“I did.”
“Because you saw it.”
“Yes. I see everything about you.”
“I haven’t talked to you in years, Gary. Maybe the movie is a mistake. Maybe I can’t keep going over all this again.”
He covered his hand with hers, and she felt it throughout her entire body. “Maybe I was afraid of this, Tori. I could smell you last night when I went to shift, but thought it was wishful thinking. Werewolves can scent their mates. I always knew you and I would have something special. When you kissed me that night in my trailer, it was all I could do not to take it all the way with you right then. But you were a kid. Then you were with Evan — and I couldn’t.”
“Mates?”
“Mates. I suspect that you and I are a match, but I never planned to press it as I knew you weren’t a shifter. But lately I’ve had dreams about us together. Have you had any?”
She could feel herself blushing, and ignored the dream question. “What does that mean – a match?”
“Gary Sandler! And he’s with Victoria Sweeney!” Two women to their left were watching them.
It seemed like only seconds from when they smiled and waved at the two fans to a crowd of people taking photos, asking them questions, and pressing in.
“I’ll call my guard.” Gary talked into his Apple Watch. “Okay, he’ll be here soon. Take my hand.”
But they couldn’t move from their table. Victoria couldn’t see how they were going to get out of this. He pulled her by the hand and pulled her against him, the crowd moving a bit to see what they’d do.
“Gary, what are you doing?” she mouthed, wincing at another question about the shooter in Evan’s costume.
He lifted her up, and the crowd went wild, cheering, and taking pictures. When she looked in his eyes, she saw something that scared her. He seemed to be fighting himself. She felt the hand holding her back change, somehow. Oh no, he was changing.
She lifted her head to his and kissed him on the mouth, putting her hand on his face to draw everyone’s attention. The cheering and picture taking continued, but the questions stopped, and she saw his bodyguard and another person start to clear a path.
Soon he was pushing her into his SUV. “I’ll take you to my car,” he said.
“No, I took an Uber. I was going to cab it to the venue after meeting you.”
“Perfect.” The SUV took off with a screech, and she was jostled into his side. The two guards in the front were conferring about which entrance of the venue would have the fewest press. “Tori, why did you kiss me?”
“I felt that you were going to, you know,” she gestured to his hand, and lowered his voice. “Change.”
“You felt that?”
“Your hand.” She touched his hand this time, and he captured hers, interlocking their fingers.
“Thank you. That would have been hard to explain. My agent is talking about coming out as a werewolf, supporting other shifters, but that will be in about six months. She wanted it to come out on the heels of something big and positive, like an awards nomination.” He brought their hands to his mouth. “Are there any other reasons you kissed me?”
“You’re coming out as a werewolf?”
He grinned. “So you didn’t kiss me for any other reason?”
She just looked at him.
“Let’s see.” He moved his mouth to hers slowly, giving her a chance to say no.
She felt his lips cover hers softly at first, with little kisses around her lips. She couldn’t move. Every sense was on alert. She wished he would deepen the kiss, and on the heels of that thought, he did.
His growl only made her want to get even closer as he explored her mouth with his tongue. She shivered as his tongue ran lightly over the roof of her mouth. He pulled back after a minute, while they both caught their breath. He ran his mouth along her jaw to her ear. “Tell me you feel this too, Tori.”
“I’ve always been attracted to you, Gary.” But she knew this was more. She felt a pull in every cell to connect with him. She wanted to slide over him, kissing and touching until they were skin to skin. She kissed him again before he could say another word, moving to straddle him on the seat. She barely felt the pull of her sore leg as his hands clamped down on her thighs.
“Tori.” He rested his head against the back of the seat as he seemed to fight for control.
How had she never heard the wolf in his voice before? She ground against the erection she felt in his jeans. She started unbuttoning his shirt so she could run her hands over his chest and abs before his mouth found hers again for a searing series of hot, wet kisses.
She nearly jumped off of him when she felt his hands close over her bra, under her sweater. It felt so good. His large, warm hands stroked her, squeezing gently, his fingers seeking her sensitive nipples through the lace.
“I need you.” And it was true. She wanted to talk to him more about what he meant about mating but she wanted to join her body to his, urgently. She couldn’t think of anything beyond being with him.
“Fuck.”
She would have laughed if she could think past the burning desire she was feeling. Gary never swore, not really, beyond the occasional “shit.” He kept the unruly teens in line both on the show and whenever they were in public for media appearances. More than once he’d scolded her for using fuck when she thought she was mature and a big star.
“Approaching the venue.”
“Fuck.” Now Victoria was swearing.
She felt his teeth along her neckline, giving her a light bite. “We’ll get back to this later,” he said.
Within half an hour, Gary’s security got them to the changing area.
Maddie was waiting for her. “Hey, word came down that you all are not going out in makeup today. Something about the photos of you and Elise being shot and made up yesterday. Too soon.”
“Maddie. My costume was destroyed. The leg was cut off in the ambulance. It’s gone.”
“Victoria, come on. Someone’s already paying for groceries from that scrap on eBay. You know I have this covered. We’ve saved the original costumes under lock and key. I gave one to Evan’s mom but we didn’t even have any of his that weren’t ripped. That kid got into everything, I swear. I think I had to repair something on his costumes every single day; we turned them into a design feature.”
“I remember that,” Victoria smiled. “It did look awesome with those lines in the dark scenes.”
“I wouldn’t even let those costumes be rented to the museum the tourists go through so they wouldn’t fade under the lights. No, I wouldn’t part with those. We made copies for all of you for this event. Plus Gary’s bulked up, and Hunter — well let’s just say he wouldn’t still fit in the old costume.” The makeup artist and costume assistant smiled at her. “But I do have some cool jackets for all of you with the logo for the new movie. We took a chance that Gary would join you. I even have one for Elise.”
“She’s coming for this?”
“Yeah, her mom called a while ago. She’s in.” At Victoria’s shocked look, Maddie smiled. “Don’t you remember back in the day? We all knew Rosalind was a force of nature. Noth
ing was going to get in the way of her kid becoming a star.” She frowned. “I miss that kid. I was just looking at the picture of all of you when you came in. Did you bring it to remind all of you? That’s a nice touch.”
Victoria felt wheels turning in her head, but it was all too much. Something was trying to surface. The picture looked familiar. “I didn’t bring that, it must have been one of the guys. I have a copy of it in my office somewhere though. The frame even looks similar.”
Maddie pointed to the chair in front of the mirror. “But damn, girl, you do need some makeup. Did you sleep at all? Hurry and put on your costume, and then I’ll fix you up.”
An hour later, Victoria answered another fan’s question asking if she missed Evan. She was feeling too much today, too too much, when she felt her eyes fill with tears. She swallowed, hard.
She felt Gary’s arm go around her, and Hunter stood up. “Evan was like our real brother. We loved him. We did an intervention to get him to help, but addiction demons are strong. Acting is a crazy life. It’s one of the reasons I went to directing, and Victoria to teaching, and I’m sure Gary does something, too.”
Everyone laughed.
“We all got tattoos.” Aaron stood up, pulling his pants down an inch so people could see the small wolf claw and the E on his hip. The yells and cries for the rest of them to strip made them all laugh.
“Where’s Victoria’s?” This fan wouldn’t quit.
“Nowhere you’ll see.” She felt her performance façade kick back in.
“We’ve all seen a lot of Gary in his movies. Come on, show us!”
Gary leaned forward to say something she suspected he’d regret when the cheering started again. They all turned to see Elise, in costume, enter the stage.
When she hadn’t joined them previously, everyone assumed she wasn’t up to it. Now Victoria realized, her late entrance was on purpose for maximum effect. She studied her young friend’s stiff walk to the chair on the end of the panel. Today her costume looked different. It had lines throughout the legs.
She sat up straight, pulling Gary and Aaron’s gazes as she looked at Elise. In her mind Victoria was seeing the shooter from yesterday again. That person had lines all over the legs, too. That was Evan’s costume. She remembered Maddie saying that Evan’s mom got one of the costumes, though it was repaired. Rosalind had it. She must have shot at them.
Elise was frowning at her. She must have asked her a question.
“Sorry, Elise, I was admiring your costume. It’s one of Evan’s, isn’t it?” The other guys turned to look at Elise too.
“Yes. The studio gave it to my mom after he died.” She looked out in the crowd. “It makes me feel like I know him a little, you know? Since I was born after he died.”
Victoria thought about the acting lessons she gave, and things she told actors to do under stress. She pulled herself into the moment and pretended this panel was a scene, though she couldn’t help looking around to see if Rosalind was around.
The fans asked Elise about her new character, and Victoria admired how she deflected any questions about the shooting. She had all of Evan’s charisma, she thought, and hopefully not his demons.
Elise laughed at a question. “I think I’m a better actor than him, actually. I’ve seen the tapes. I’m nineteen. He was sixteen. And,” she said, leaning forward, “I learned from him what to avoid.”
“We will keep you in line,” Hunter said, though Victoria could see he was serious.
“We won’t lose anyone else,” Victoria added, hoping Evan’s mother was listening.
Elise gave them each a one-armed hug afterwards, as her sore arm was in a sling. “I can’t wait to start filming.”
They all gathered in Victoria’s changing room so Maddie could get them ready for some pre-movie photos.
“I think they are afraid you’d back out, man,” Aaron said to Gary.
“Not a chance. I’m looking forward to seeing what Victoria will do with the script.” Gary said.
Hunter looked at her. “I asked you all those times to help, or even to write the damn thing, and he walks in here and you do it. You always worshipped him.”
Victoria snorted, though she could feel a blush. “Speak for yourself.”
“Come on, admit it. You want me.” Gary wrapped an arm around her middle and pulled her back from going to push Hunter.
“You two are together?” A high-pitched voice cut through the noise. Rosalind was staring at Gary and Victoria from the doorway.
Gary kept his arm where it was. “It’s really new, Rosalind, but yes, Victoria and I are together.”
“Finally. It only took all these years,” Aaron muttered as Maddie smoothed his long hair.
“You were with Evan. He loved you.” Rosalind shook her head, and bent down for her designer bag, rummaging through it.
“I was with Evan, and I loved him. We were very young.” Victoria’s worry must have translated itself to Gary, who had gone tense behind her.
“I won’t Elise ruin her chances, like Evan did. He couldn’t handle it. He probably would have killed himself anyway. He wouldn’t stop the drugs, the drinking, I couldn’t count on him. I had to stop it before he ended up in jail, humiliated. She’ll be my big star.”
“Mom?” Elise looked at her mother. “How did you stop it?”
Hunter pushed Elise out the door and closed it. “Rosalind, I think you need to calm down. Elise will be a big star. We will all look out for her.”
“Like you looked after Evan?” She stood up, a gun in her hand, moving closer to Victoria.
“We did look after him. We all loved him.” Aaron stood, pushing Maddie down on the floor behind the chair. “You don’t want to do this. You’ll hurt her career.”
“She’s famous overnight from all the publicity, between the break in I staged at your crap acting studio, and shots at the fandom event. I wouldn’t have hit any of you, you know. Evan’s father gave me this gun and taught me to use it. I wasn’t expecting a wolf, and my hand moved. I didn’t mean to hit Elise, you know.” Rosalind stepped closer to Victoria. “Were you with all of them? All of these guys?”
“No. I loved Evan. I still haven’t gotten over finding him like that.” Victoria’s mind was clearing. “I never thought he would do drugs again.”
“I told him he needed to relax. I said a little pot wouldn’t hurt him. He always trusted me, that I knew what was best for him and his career. He was supposed to be the big star, not Gary, but he wasn’t strong enough.” Victoria was spitting the words out. “I’d worked too hard for him to throw it away. Elise will be the big star.” She raised the gun to Gary, who was pulling Victoria behind him.
Several things happened at once. Rosalind launched herself at Victoria, who was pushed to the ground by the shifting Gary. Hunter pushed her arm up, and Victoria pulled the woman’s legs out from under her from her position on the floor. Aaron subdued her. Gary was on all fours, breathing hard next to the screaming woman, shifting back to human form, within a minute.
Victoria could hear a noise coming from the scraps of Gary’s pants. She reached for his phone, and realized his bodyguard was talking. “He’s fine. We had to subdue someone. Can you help?”
Gary had shifted completely back and was wearing a robe by the time the bodyguard came and handed off Rosalind to Rex, who had been holding on to Elise in the hallway.
“She killed my brother?” Elise kept asking, clinging to Victoria. “She shot us?”
“No, your brother died from drugs.” Victoria wouldn’t let go of Elise when the others talked with the police. No one mentioned the werewolf in the room.
Hours later, Gary waved to Hunter and Aaron as his driver took them home.
“I wish they would have stayed.” Victoria started picking up plates and cans from the pizza they’d ordered. After Rosalind’s arrest, they’d sensed that they needed to be together, to talk about Evan and recover from the shock of hearing that his mother helped him die.
&nbs
p; “You always knew it wasn’t a suicide.” Gary picked up the boxes of pizza.
“I don’t know why. I had a feeling about it. But he was acting so strangely.” She dumped the garbage into the can in the kitchen. “He wanted to quit. He had been telling his mom, and I knew she didn’t agree with that. I should have-“
“None of that.” Gary set the boxes down and pulled her into his arms. “No one could have guessed what she did.”
Victoria had been hugged more in the past few hours than she had in years as she reconnected with the guys she had grown up with on the show. She kissed Gary lightly. “Are you sure it’s okay if I stay?”
“I think Elise would be more comfortable.” Gary had insisted the teen stay with him, as he had the best security.
The media were waiting when they left the fandom venue, and Elise was their main target. “I don’t remember the attention being that intense after Evan died.”
“I think it was. The guys and I tried to run interference for you in those days, making sure you were safe. We even hired some security to watch you from a distance.”
She looked in his eyes. “How was I not aware?” She thought back, and realized she’d never been alone while on set. Aaron essentially camped in her trailer. Hunter followed her home some days, and brought her food. Gary called an end to scenes or days when she didn’t think she could go on. They knew what she needed.
“Sweetheart, you found him. You were so young, lost in grief.”
“I knew none of you three killed him, if anyone had. I trusted you three.”
“We lost him together, but you loved him.”
“I did love him, but we were already growing apart. We would have moved on. I think I was meant to be with someone else.”
He smoothed the hair back from her face. “We don’t have to talk about this today.”
“I don’t want to talk, either.” She leaned up and bit his earlobe.
“Tori…I want you so badly but maybe we should wait.”
“I want to celebrate life and being with you. I need to be with you.”
His mouth covered hers in a searing kiss that ended further conversation.