by Tasha Black
He copied the text and carefully visited as many news and gossip sites as he could, emailing it to their news tip inboxes.
All he really needed was for one of them to catch it on video but the more that were there the more Katie would be humiliated.
The thought of her big, frightened eyes gleaming in the flash of the cameras had his cock throbbing, so he tried to think about his trap instead.
The witnesses were lined up now. He had taken care of that part of it nicely.
He slipped his cell phone out of his pocket and sent a message to Cecily. He’d gotten her number from one of his dad’s producer friends a couple of months ago when he found out she and Katie were friends. She had told him not to text her anymore about Katie, but she would love this message.
* * *
Spencer:
Hey Cecily. I was up all night thinking about my behavior with Katie and I feel really bad. I didn’t want to bother her in front of anyone today and I don’t want to text her since she asked me not to. But I have something of hers I want to give back to her as well as an apology. I’d like to meet her at 7:15pm at the west entrance for like two minutes. She can bring her bodyguard with her so she won’t have to worry that I will ask anything more than the opportunity to tell her I’m sorry and get some closure, for both of us. Would you please tell her?
* * *
He waited a few minutes and at last the phone buzzed again.
* * *
Cecily:
I’ll mention this to her. No promises.
* * *
Shit.
* * *
Spencer:
I’m leaving town tonight, so this is kind of my last opportunity.
* * *
Cecily:
Why don’t you write her a letter and drop it off with her stuff at my booth?
* * *
Spencer:
I need to apologize in person and can’t give this thing to anyone but Katie. Please stop breaking my balls. Just make sure she’s there.
* * *
There was no response, but he was pretty sure that meant he’d won.
Women loved apologizing men. Katie would be there all right, with her bodyguard and all her friends too. She would be hoping to get her rocks off by humiliating him in front of everyone.
Well she was in for quite the surprise.
Now he just had to get upstairs and figure out how to deliver the bait.
24
Kirk
Kirk stood in the green room at the end of the day’s activities, only a few feet away from Kate as she discussed matters with her roommates.
The short distance between his body and hers pulled at him like the Earth’s gravity. It was almost too cruel to have been so close to her and now be banished from her side.
“You don’t have to do this,” Cecily said to Kate.
“Spencer wants to apologize,” Kate said evenly. “If he’s ready for closure, so am I. And if he’s after something else, Kirk will be with me.”
“I thought I was your bodyguard,” Solo said.
“I want Kirk for this,” Kate said.
Kirk’s heart expanded in his chest and he managed to catch her eye.
She smiled at him and there was sadness in her eyes, though he had done everything she asked.
“It would be my privilege,” he told her.
“So we’ll head out there and if anything goes wrong I’ll text you guys right away,” Kate said.
“No way,” Beatrix said. “We’re all coming with you.”
“You want to watch him apologize?” Kate asked.
“Seriously?” Beatrix asked, shaking her head.
Cecily elbowed Bea in the ribs.
“You don’t really think he’s going to apologize do you?” Bea asked Cecily.
“He owes her an apology. But what does he have that’s yours?” Cecily asked Kate.
Kate got an uncomfortable look on her face.
It suddenly occurred to Kirk that they had been so hypnotized by each other and then so shocked by the photographs that Kate had never told everyone about last night.
He could tell by Kate’s expression that she was worried about telling them.
“He was in the apartment last night,” she said slowly. “He could have taken something then.”
“You let him come over?” Cecily asked.
“I told you we should have made them go to the party with us,” Bea said.
“I didn’t let him come over,” Kate said. “He came in on his own and he was gone by the time Kirk and I got there. He left flowers in my bed.”
“He broke in?” Cecily asked.
Kate nodded.
“Did you call the police?” Cecily asked.
Kate shook her head.
“I didn’t want to get the guys in hot water. And I planned to talk to building security today. I would have told you guys if our morning hadn’t been so… unusual.”
“It isn’t safe for you to meet with him, Kate,” Cecily said. “He’s already demonstrated that he doesn’t respect boundaries.”
“What do you think he took?” Bea asked.
“I’m not sure,” Kate admitted. “And you’re right, I wouldn’t meet him if not for the fact that this is in public. And if there’s any chance that I can get him off my back, I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try. You said he’s leaving town, right?”
Cecily nodded slowly.
“We will all come with you, Kate,” Solo said. “Not just Kirk and your friends. Buck and I will be there too.”
“It’s 7:13,” Bea said.
Cecily shook her head.
“I’m doing this,” Kate said.
Kirk headed out by her side, placing one protective hand between her shoulder blades.
He glanced behind him and was glad to see that the entire group was following, even Cecily, though she did not look pleased.
They headed down the hallway, out past the incoming security checkpoint and down the elevators.
Though he was very concerned for Kate’s safety, Kirk trusted her judgment. He felt a cool calm settle around him as they walked.
He was prepared to do whatever it took to protect her. If the man tried to touch her, Kirk would put a quick stop to it.
They reached the metal exit door to the west entrance.
Kirk stepped in front of Kate to push it open.
The sun was setting, its flames reflecting madly against the glass of the surrounding buildings. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust.
People were gathered on the sidewalk below the stairs, dozens of them. They were all standing and facing the building as if Kirk and his friends were putting on a play.
He scanned the crowd for Spencer as he descended the stairs from the Convention Center, but didn’t see him.
By the time he realized that Spencer really wasn’t there, the whole group was on the steps.
He turned back to Kate to tell her, and then he saw it.
Glass was exploding out of the window over her head.
Something massive tilted and began to fall with the twinkling shards.
Kirk saw its trajectory and his blood went cold.
He had less than a second to decide - his mate’s safety or his own.
But there was no decision to be made, not really.
He was already closing his eyes, reaching his consciousness out to envelope the big thing and the glass, releasing it from the reach of the law that pulled it downward…
25
Kate
Kate arrived on the steps just in time to hear a terrific crash from above.
She looked up to find the source, but what she saw didn’t seem real.
A storm of shattered glass fell toward her upturned face.
A baby grand piano tilted downward to follow it.
There was no time to move - no time to even think.
Kate barely managed to close her eyes before impact.
But nothing touched her. She’d
heard about the sensation that time slowed down during a crisis, but had never experienced anything like this.
The gasp from the crowd at the bottom of the stairs made her open her eyes.
The piano was frozen, hovering a foot from her head.
The glass shimmered, motionless in the air around her.
“Move away, Kate,” Buck said, offering her his hand.
She allowed herself to be dragged to the side of the steps.
Kirk stood beside her, eyes closed.
“It’s okay now,” Buck whispered to him.
Kirk’s eyes opened and there was a melodious crash as the piano fell the last six feet from the air to the stairs and the glass rained down around it.
“Did you… did you stop that from hitting me?” Kate whispered to him.
He nodded, eyes wide.
“I’m sorry. There was no other way to save you.”
Kate’s mind was a whirlwind.
There were people below, so many people, and they had all seen it. Kirk would be in danger now, all his brothers, Rima…
Unless…
She had a decision to make.
But she was already stepping forward, smiling and clapping her hands.
There was no decision, not really.
“Ladies and gentleman,” she called to the onlookers. “I hope we didn’t scare you too much. We owe the scene you just witnessed to the amazing special effects of Cecily Page and friends.”
Cecily took the hint and gave a little bow and a wink.
“The point of this little stunt was to let you all know that Beatrix Li’s graphic novel, Door to Everywhere, is going to be made into a movie.”
A murmur went through the crowd.
Kate started to recognize more faces. These were all reporters and bloggers. And they were the same journalists who had been writing stories about Kate not taking on any film roles.
She had no idea what they were doing there. But she knew the one thing that would make them forget all about the piano.
“And I will be starring in it,” she added.
Chew on that.
She glanced over at Beatrix, who observed her with her eyebrows lifted in question.
Kate grinned at her and nodded.
Bea’s face blossomed into a genuine, happy smile.
Kate felt good helping so many friends at once. She had saved the aliens, and Beatrix would get to make her movie.
“Bea is going to answer your questions about the film now,” Kate said. “I hope you’ll all be sure to come out and support it. It’s going to be epic.”
Bea gave Kate a dirty look. She wasn’t much for public speaking, but Kate figured it was high time for her to come out of her shell.
Buck walked over to stand by Bea’s side and Kate smiled at the look of relief Bea shot his way.
“You’re amazing,” Kirk breathed to her as he walked her back into the building. “You saved me.”
“I think you have it backwards,” Kate said. “What did you do out there?”
“I have a… gift,” he told her. “All my brothers do. We each have a sort of superhuman power. We think it’s the byproduct of our strengths from back on Aerie.”
“So you can move things with your mind?” she asked.
“Not exactly,” he said. “I can manipulate the way an object’s mass interacts with fundamental physical forces exerted by other aggregations of matter.”
She gave him a dubious look.
“I can control gravity,” he said.
“You can control gravity?” she echoed helplessly.
“When the object is nearby,” he said. “And only for a short time.”
Kate tried to imagine having such a power and couldn’t. It was completely unbelievable. Except for the fact that she had literally just witnessed it in action.
“I used it in the confrontation with Spencer last night,” Kirk admitted. “I had hoped he hadn’t picked up on it, but I think he figured it out.”
“So he wasn’t actually trying to kill me with that piano,” Kate said. “He was trying to get you to show yourself as an alien.”
That explained the gaggle of reporters.
“We don’t know that it was him,” Kirk pointed out.
“Who else would push a piano out a window onto my head?” Kate asked.
“Will the police catch him?” Kirk asked.
“The Convention Center is full of security cameras,” Kate said. “I’m sure one of them caught this. But since we said it was a publicity stunt, they won’t really be looking.”
“Who will pay for the damages?” Kirk asked.
“I’ll text Carol to have it taken care of,” Kate said. “Times like this, it’s nice to have TV star money. I’m just glad no one was hurt.”
“Television stars make a lot of money?” Kirk asked.
“Yes,” Kate said. “I’m not a billionaire or anything, but I can handle replacing a piano and a plate glass window.”
“Are you really going to be in your friend’s movie?” Kirk asked.
Kate nodded.
“But you don’t want to be known for outer space movies,” Kirk said sadly. “You want to make a difference in the world.”
“You’re a good listener, did you know that?” Kate asked.
A smile lit up his handsome face.
“I’ve learned a lot about myself and what’s important to me this weekend,” she said slowly. “And I think I can actually make a difference as Katie. I might rather be Kate in my real life, but Katie has influence in ways Kate never could. I’m going to embrace that instead of fighting it. I like being Katie sometimes.”
Kirk smiled and nodded.
“But you already saw that in me, didn’t you?” she asked.
“I see so much in you, Kate,” he said, stopping to take her hands. “I know you’ve changed your mind about some things today. I hope that I might be one of them.”
She looked up into his handsome face, losing herself in those cool gray eyes.
She had known him for such a short time, yet he had shown her so much of himself. He had shown her parts of herself, too. Was it really so strange that she felt she had known him for an eternity?
She looked up at him, unsure what to say.
“I chose you as my mate the day we met,” he told her. “You do not have to answer me now. But I want you to know that my heart is yours if you ever decide to accept it.”
“A mate is forever,” she said.
“Yes,” he told her solemnly.
Instead of feeling the heavy burden of the decision, she felt a sudden lightness in her heart.
“Are you doing something to me?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Are you… messing with my gravity?” she asked.
“No,” he said, looking mystified. “Why? Is there something wrong with it?”
“More like something right,” she said with a smile. “My answer is yes. I accept you as my mate.”
He bent to kiss her and, she finally understood what people meant when they talked about time slowing down.
Kirk’s mouth was warm against hers.
She went up on her toes to put her arms around his neck.
He wrapped his arms around her, one hand spreading wide between her shoulder blades, pressing her closer.
Kate was lost in his embrace, waves of desire pounding through her body as he kissed her carefully, thoroughly.
“Um, hey, guys,” Beatrix’s voice seemed to come from far away.
Kate managed to pull away from Kirk.
“Hi,” Kate said, running a hand through her hair as she turned to her friends.
Beatrix stood before her with Buck at her side. Cecily and Solo were behind them.
“Thank you so much,” Bea said. “You don’t have to actually do the movie.”
“Oh, I can’t wait to do the movie,” Kate said. “I mean, if you want me for it. I’ll play any part you want. I could do a cameo if you have someone
else in mind for the lead.”
“Are you kidding?” Bea asked. “If you’re willing to do it, I’d kill to have you as the lead. But… you know I can only pay you SAG minimum, right?”
“I knew that,” Kate said. “And I’m fine with it. I’m really excited to work with you, Bea.”
“Me too,” Bea smiled.
“We’re going to get something to eat,” Cecily said. “Want to join us?”
“I um, I think Kirk and I want to go home and talk,” Kate said.
“Talk, huh?” Bea teased.
Cecily elbowed her in the ribs.
“If you keep elbowing me, I’m going to take a self defense class,” Bea muttered.
“See you guys at home later,” Cecily said. “And great job, Kirk. I’m glad Kate has someone to look out for her since she’s clearly hell bent on putting herself in harm’s way.”
Kate watched as the four of them headed down the hallway toward the north exit.
Just then, there was a commotion as two security guards dragged someone down the hall.
Kate turned to see Spencer Carson trying to break free.
“Gentlemen,” she said to the guards, turning on the charm. “You can let him go. He only did it as part of a publicity stunt.”
“We weren’t informed of any publicity stunt,” one of the guards said.
“I’m very sorry,” Kate told him. “We made this plan at the last minute, and didn’t think it through, or of course we would have made sure you were informed. My manager has all the necessary permits from the convention center,” she lied. “I’ll be sure to ask that you be compensated for your trouble.”
“He hasn’t been cooperative,” the other guard said. “We’re going to escort him out of the building regardless.”
“That’s fine,” Kate said. “Would you mind giving me a moment with him first?”
The first guard shrugged.
“Sure, Katie,” the second one grinned. A fan. Thank goodness for small favors.
They let go of Spencer, who shook himself like a golden retriever who had been yanked out of the pool.