I wandered around for about five minutes without finding King, but I wasn’t concerned. I had no idea where I was going, but I had to bump into King eventually.
“Ma’am, did you need help?” a voice behind me asked. “You look like you’re quite lost.”
I turned around to face this fine, tall chocolate brother. Without being obvious, I took in his outfit: he wore fitted jeans, a raggedy button-down, a fitted cap and a big cord wrapped around his right shoulder.
I smiled, because he looked so nice and because I did want to know which trailer belonged to King. “Yes. I’m looking for King Stevens. I’m his girlfriend, Heiress Montgomery.”
“Really?” he said, as if he was surprised. He looked me up and down quickly, as if he needed to check out King’s girlfriend, and I was glad that I looked good.
Not only was my outfit fly, but my hair was flat-ironed and laid, and my new fitted coat was tied around my waist, emphasizing my shape.
The guy nodded, as if he approved. “Okay,” he said. “King’s actually filming at the moment, but I can take you to his trailer and have you wait for him there.” Without saying anything else, he turned and started walking away.
It took me a moment to realize that he wanted me to follow him, and I trotted behind in my four-inch heels. “Wait,” I said, calling behind him. The brother turned to face me, and I asked, “Is it possible for me to see his scene? I mean, I’ve never seen an actual shooting, and I would love to see everything.”
He paused, as if he was hesitant.
“I promise nobody will even notice me,” I said.
“Okay, but you have to be invisible. When they say, ‘Quiet on the set,’ they mean it.”
“Okay,” I said and tried not to grin too hard. I didn’t want him to think that I’d get over there and act up.
We walked around a couple of corners, and soon we faced a set that looked like the main street of a little town. I saw King first and smiled. Then I saw the actress that he was talking to.
It was Tonya Winters, the beautiful soap opera actress. This was my first time seeing her in person, though there had been a lot of publicity about her playing this part. This was her first major role away from television, and the tabloids were already speculating about what kind of chemistry King and Tonya would have.
I wanted to get closer, but the guy motioned for me to stop where we were. He held his finger to his lips, as if he felt he needed to remind me to stay quiet.
I nodded, then turned back to the set. I was too far back to hear what was being said, but I could tell this was a dramatic scene. Tonya was crying, and King was comforting her. Just watching the two of them made me shift from one foot to the other. I didn’t really know what this movie was about. I think that was one of the things that King loved about me. I loved him, not what he did. So I didn’t pay a lot of attention to his movies, or who he was acting with, or even to all the things that were said about him in the magazines. There was no one out there who knew my man better than I did.
But now, as I stood there, I wondered if I should’ve taken more of an interest. It was weird standing there, watching him be so passionate with another woman. But even with that, I had to admit that King Stevens was mesmerizing.
“So this is your first time?”
I turned just a little to see the brother who’d escorted me over here. Just that quick, I’d forgotten that he was there.
“On the set?” he added, clarifying matters. “This is your first time on the set, right?”
“It is,” I whispered. “Is it always like this?” I glanced around at the people behind the set. While those who were in front of me were quiet and were not moving, behind us, the madness continued.
“Believe it or not, this is actually an easy day. It’s usually ten times more hectic when we film bigger scenes.” He paused and extended his hand. “I’m Travis, by the way.”
“Heiress,” I said as I shook his hand, surprised that he was talking to me. He was the one who’d made such a big deal about me being quiet.
“I remember that from earlier.”
I was about to open my mouth to say something else but was interrupted by my arm being grabbed. I must’ve been all into talking to Travis, because I hadn’t even realized that they’d stop shooting. And King had snuck up behind me. I turned and grinned at him, so happy to see him.
Travis said, “Well, I guess that’s my cue.” He laughed. “It was nice meeting you, Heiress.” Then he nodded to King. “Nice job.”
When he stepped away and we were alone, I swung around to face my man. I was still in bed when he’d left this morning, before the sun had even come up. Maybe that was why King looked so good to me in the khakis and button-down shirt that the wardrobe department had him in.
“Baby, that was so good. I really couldn’t hear what you were saying, but the emotion was there. I could feel . . .”
That was when I noticed that King was still holding on to me. But not in the way I was used to. His fingers grasped my arm, and he was squeezing me to the point that he was hurting me. I couldn’t even speak.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he snapped .
“What?” I frowned. “Why am I here?” I just knew that I had heard him wrong. I had to be reading this whole encounter wrong.
“You heard me,” he said, pulling me over to the side and away from those around us. Even though he was whispering, I guess he wanted to make sure that no one heard him. “What are you doing here?”
“I . . . I got bored at home. I wanted to do something else, and I thought I’d come and see you.” When he twisted my arm slightly, I winced. “King!” I said his name as softly as I could through the pain. “You’re hurting me.”
He stared at me for a second, and I wondered, What is that that I see in his eyes? Anger? But why?
Then he gripped me tighter and pulled me across the lot. People still hustled and bustled all around us, and even though he was King Stevens, no one seemed to notice this man dragging me toward his trailer.
By the time he pushed me inside his trailer and then slammed the door behind us, I was pissed.
I rubbed my arm where he had accosted me and glared at him. He stared back at me with the same fury. I had no idea why he was angry, but at this point, I didn’t care.
“What in the hell just happened?” I asked. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“If I don’t ask you to come to my job, you don’t come to my job.”
I guess he wasn’t worried about anyone hearing him, because now his voice was so loud, I was sure that the trailer vibrated.
“What?” I asked. Who did he think he was? As if he could tell me what to do.
But then he grabbed my arm again and flung me across the room. I felt like I was flying through the air before I landed on the couch, one shoe slipping off my foot as I hit the leather cushions.
I sat there for a moment, frozen and stunned. “King!” I said, looking up at him. “I . . . I wanted to see you.” The tears were already stinging my eyes.
“Don’t we see each other at home?” he asked. His anger was still so apparent. “This is my place of business. I don’t need you here.”
I was completely speechless, not having any kind of clue about what was going on with King. How many times had he shown up at my job? How many times had he taken me away when I was supposed to be at work?
When he came to me, I was always so glad to see him, and I’d expected his reaction to be the same for me.
But this was what I got instead, and I had no idea why. “King,” I began.
Before I could say anything else, he said, “Just go home, and I’ll be there when I’m done.”
I studied King for a little longer as he stood over me, his fury almost coming in flames out of him. As he huffed and puffed, I gathered my composure. I smoothed out my pantsuit, slipped my foot back into my shoe, and fought like hell to keep the tears behind my eyes.
If there was one thing that I didn’t
want to do was let anyone outside this trailer see me break down. I walked past King with no words, not even a look, and stepped out into the bright sunshine of the day.
Like before, the people moved across the set as if everyone had something important to do. I walked out the same way I’d come in—with dignity. But by the time I got in the car, I let the tears flow. I tore out of the parking lot as if I was fleeing the scene of a crime. In a way, I was. . . . King had just stolen my innocence.
What had just happened? And why? Not that the answers to my questions mattered. There was no way I was going to let anyone treat me that way.
If it had taken me ten minutes to get to the set, it took me only five minutes to get home. I dashed up the stairs, rushed into the condo, and grabbed my suitcases. I wasn’t thinking about folding clothes and packing neatly. All I wanted to do was get out of there.
I had never seen that side of King before in my life, and I wasn’t about to stick around to see it again. If he didn’t want to see me, I was going to make sure he didn’t see me. Not that I wasn’t hurt. I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing, though I didn’t try. I had thought King and I would be together forever. Well, I guess it was best that I found out about this side of that man now. It was better now than later.
In less than an hour I had all my things together, my clothes, my toiletries. I’d done so much shopping while I’d been here that not everything fit into my suitcases. But that was okay. Anything I was leaving behind, I didn’t want anymore . . . including King.
The tears were still coming as I rolled my suitcases into the living room. I knew I’d be crying for many days, but I’d get over it. I just couldn’t figure out why. Why?
Rushing back into the bedroom for my shoes, I decided that I’d take a cab to the airport, then worry about getting a ticket there. But just as I walked back into the living room, the front door opened.
My heart pounded as King walked in the door. What was he doing here? He hadn’t been home before dark since we’d arrived in Connecticut.
He glanced at me, then down at the suitcases, then back up at me. “Heiress, baby. What’s all this?”
My eyes opened so wide, I was sure that I was going to hurt myself. Was this man serious? How could he be surprised that I was leaving after what had just happened?
In the trailer my shock had left me stunned and silent. But after an hour of crying and thinking about this, I was going to speak my mind now.
“You’re surprised?” I asked as I crossed my arms in front of me.
He frowned. “Yeah. What is this?”
I chuckled, though I didn’t find anything funny. “I would’ve thought you would’ve been more surprised that I wasn’t already gone.” I stopped and looked at my watch. “It took me an hour. I should’ve been gone thirty minutes ago.”
“I still don’t know what’s going on.”
“You can’t possibly think that I would stay here after the way you treated me.” I took a step closer to him so that I could look into his eyes. I wanted to feel his answer as well as hear it. But his eyes were squinted, as if he was confused.
I kept on. “You humiliated, belittled, and physically hurt me.” Without thinking, I touched the top of my arm, where I could still almost feel his fingers. “I’m not about to stick around here to see you do that to me again.”
King held out his arms. “Baby, today was just a bad misunderstanding.” I guess he thought I was supposed to just fall into his arms, but he was going to be waiting forever. He said, “I was having a bad day. I kept forgetting my lines. The director made us do a million takes. Believe me, it had nothing to do with you. I was just surprised that you were there, that’s all.”
I stood in place, not planning to move. There was a little part of me that felt better that at least it wasn’t me. But still, wasn’t that worse? I mean, that meant that whenever he had a bad day or something happened that he didn’t like, King would take it out on me. And not only did I not deserve that treatment, but I also wasn’t going to stand for it at all.
“I understand having a bad day, but that’s no excuse.”
“You’re right.” He bowed his head as if he was sorry and stepped closer to me. His cologne was already surrounding me, making me remember better times. He said, “But you can’t leave me.”
“Why? Because you need me here?” I said sarcastically, slowly releasing my anger.
“No, because there isn’t a plane going back to L.A. tonight.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed, and I was mad at myself for doing that. “There’s always a flight going to Los Angeles,” I said. “What about a red-eye?”
He shook his head. “Red-eyes operate only from the West Coast to the East, not the other way around. Trust me. I grew up in New York and L.A., remember? I know the flight schedules.”
“Yeah, well, all right. I’ll just sleep in the airport and take the first flight out in the morning.”
This time King laughed. “You? Sleep on those hard chairs when you could be sleeping in our comfortable bed right next to me?” He wrapped his arms around my waist, and when he leaned his lips into mine and kissed me passionately, I almost forgot about what had happened just a few hours earlier.
There was no doubt I loved this man. And there was no doubt I knew he loved me. Truth be told, I didn’t want to go home. I never wanted to leave King’s side. So, if I had to stay in this boring condo for the next four months, then that was just what I was going to do.
Anything to be happy.
Chapter 8
If I wanted to be really country, I would have fallen to the ground and kissed it, but I had too much class to do that. That was the only way I could express how happy I was to be back in Los Angeles. I loved King Stevens, but I could truly say that I hated Connecticut. Since I came from a small town in Ohio, you would think I would have enjoyed living there, but it was utterly painful when I wasn’t with King.
The sun was shining brightly, as if it was welcoming us home, as King and I pushed through the terminal doors at LAX. King’s people were gathering our luggage, and all we had to do was jump into the car that was waiting at the curb.
“Welcome back, Mr. Stevens, Ms. Montgomery,” King’s driver, Al, said as he held the town car’s door open for us.
I slid across the leather, then leaned back in the seat. I’d been up late last night, packing all of our stuff. We’d been there for only six months, but we had to buy four new suitcases to accommodate all the new clothes we’d acquired.
Right now all I wanted to do was get in my bed and roll around in it, even though the city was so inviting when we stepped out of the airport doors to head to the car.
I soaked up the scene as we sped from the airport and passed all the hotels on Century. It felt like I’d been away at college and now I was coming home for summer break. Only this time, if I could help it, I wasn’t going to leave. I might not be a Los Angeles native, but Southern California was definitely my home.
For some reason everything felt so new, so exciting. And I felt giddy. Not giddy enough not to realize that we were going the wrong direction on the freeway. When we excited the 405 and got on the 10, I turned to King and asked, “Baby, where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” King didn’t even bother to look at me. He just kept his eyes on his window. But I just figured that he was as glad to be home as I was.
When we got to the end of the 10 freeway in Malibu and drove along the coastline on Pacific Coast Highway, I could feel the temperature cool down. We continued on PCH, and about twenty minutes later Al turned left into the driveway to a home that sat right on the Pacific’s edge.
Dang! I thought as I looked at the huge home. It wasn’t quite a mansion, but that was only because it was right on the beach. I guessed King was taking me to visit one of his friends and he hadn’t even told me. I wished he had; I would’ve worn something besides these jeans.
When Al turned off the ignition, I said, “Baby, who are we meeting here?
Because I’m not appropriate.”
“You look fine,” King said, dismissing my words.
Taking his hand, I sighed. There was nothing I could do about the way I looked now. At the door I stood to the side, imagining who was on the other side of the door. Really, it could be anyone.... King knew everyone.
But King didn’t ring the doorbell or knock on the door. He pulled a key from his pocket and opened the door.
I followed him inside and gasped. It was absolutely gorgeous. A winding staircase greeted us at the door, and our heels clicked against the shiny pure hardwood floors. A crystal chandelier hung in the center of the foyer. And on the other side of the staircase, there were massive windows that faced the ocean.
It was all so breathtaking, and I hadn’t even moved from the front door.
“Welcome home, Ms. Montgomery.”
I had almost forgotten that King was with me. I whipped around to face him when I heard his voice.
“I’m sorry,” I said, then blinked fast, as if that would help me hear him better. “Say that again.”
“Heiress, I enjoyed coming home to you every night and waking up with you every morning. I didn’t want that to end now that we’re back in L.A., so I had my Realtor find us this.”
It was hard for me to turn away from King, but I did for a moment. I spun around slowly, taking everything in once again, this time in total disbelief.
“This is mine?” I whispered.
He nodded. “It’s ours.”
“Wow!” I said, still not able to find the right words. But then I looked at King. “Honey, I’m so . . . I don’t even know the words . . . honored that you bought me a house.”
“Us.”
“Us.” I laughed. “But this is a big step . . . and it’s so sudden.”
“Sudden? How can you say that? We’ve been living together for six months now. It’s not really a step, honey. It’s more like a slide.” He grinned as he grabbed my hands and kissed them both softly. “There’s not a problem, is there?”
Strange Addiction Page 5