by Naomi West
Bishop tensed, both at his recollection of the interview and at his worry about keeping her safe from crazy fans. He hadn’t liked the way Chris acted around her, but Bishop was the one cuddled up naked with her. He had to let that part go for now. “Maybe it’s time to get rid of your team and get a new one. If you can’t figure out who’s giving out information, then the problem is only going to get worse.”
“But then how do I know I’m hiring someone who’s reputable? I guess what I’m saying is that I would rather at least have someone I believe I can trust. And I still don’t want to discount the possibility that it could be a wide network of people who happen to spot me and release the information. People gossip about celebrities online all the time.”
“I know.” And he did. Bishop had never been one to keep up with the lifestyles of the rich and famous, but he had become far more aware of what happened in the online message boards since he’d met Lola. As soon as one of his men had told him the rumors were flying that she was coming back to Rolling Hills, he’d been glued to his screen. “Still, the timing seems a little bit too perfect.”
Lola hesitated for a moment, and he could feel it in her body. She tightened up just the slightest bit, letting him know that she was nervous about what she was about to say. “To be honest with you, I’ve started to wonder if it’s Chris.”
His body responded with tension of its own. “Why do you say that?” he asked carefully. He wanted to bring up all his doubts about the man, but he didn’t want to scare her off or make her feel that she couldn’t talk to him.
She sighed once again. “I’ve just found out that he has his own little scheme to get himself famous. He wanted to take credit for rescuing me, and if I had let him he would have claimed that he and I are involved. It’s all just part of his dumb little plan to get into the spotlight so he’ll start getting hired for acting jobs instead of just being a bodyguard.”
Bishop sat up, pulling her with him and looking into her blue eyes. The news wasn’t a surprise, but it bothered him in a deep way. “He wants to use you,” he said coldly.
She shot him a nervous look and then glanced away. “Yes, but I’ve already told him it’s not going to happen. However, it would make sense if Chris was the person telling everyone my schedule. Then the camera crews would all be in place, and he would have his chance at getting attention. It’s ridiculous, really.”
“No, it’s not.” Bishop’s mind was far from sex now. He only wanted to think about Lola’s safety. Chris should have been concerned about it, too, but it seemed obvious that he wasn’t. “He seems like the perfect suspect. Why didn’t you fire him when he told you all this?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. It all just seemed so silly, and I had enough going on. I didn’t want to have to look for another bodyguard. Chris is annoying, and he has his own agenda, but I don’t think he’s genuinely a bad guy.”
“Maybe there’s a way we can set him up so we can figure out if he really is ratting you out.” Lola might have been willing to let this go, but he wasn’t. As far as Bishop was concerned, it was his job to protect her now. He and the Cobra Kings could be her bodyguards. “You could tell him you’re going one place, but then do something completely different at the last minute. If the online forums report what you’ve told him, then you’ll know for certain.”
She waved off the idea and stood up, picking her clothes out of the pine needles and shaking them off. “It’s not a bad plan, but I just don’t think I can do it right now.”
Bishop got dressed as well, realizing that he’d completely ruined the moment they were having. He never should have brought up the mysterious informant, even though it had been weighing heavily on his mind. “Why not?”
Lola pulled on her shirt. The loose folds of fabric hid her curves and that tiny waist, but he still knew what was underneath it. “The whole town knows I’m here, but does anybody know why?”
He thought back, trying to remember. “I don’t think so. I’m not sure anybody even cared just as long as you were coming.”
“My dad had a heart attack,” she admitted. “I’m from this place, and that’s why I was here a month ago. I knew my father was having issues with his heart and I wanted a chance to see him. And maybe make things right with my parents again.”
It was hard to believe that a girl as perfect as Lola would have issues with her parents. “How did that go?”
“Not so well. I dropped out of high school to pursue my career and they never forgave me for it. I thought after all this time that we could talk like adults and everything would be okay, or at least okay enough, but I was wrong. They were angry at me for coming home. Why the hell are you laughing?” She looked up from where she had leaned against a tree to tie her shoe, hurt in her eyes.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He composed himself, took her by the hand, and held her close. “It’s just that you seem so perfect to me. It’s hard to imagine you as a high school dropout when I know that I was, too.”
“Oh.” She looked more curious than angry now. “Why did you leave school?”
Bishop ran a hand through his hair. He had done a good job of quashing the memories of his past, but Lola was bringing them all back in a flood. There had been so many angry fights, so many harsh words, and even the life of a biker was a pleasant and easy one compared to what he had lived as a kid. “You could say my dad and I didn’t get along. He was very conservative. He didn’t like the crowds I was hanging out with, and I was getting in trouble at school all the time. He beat me just about every day that I came home from school. Sometimes he had a good reason. The other times, he said he just figured I deserved it. For a little while, I started to think I deserved it as well.”
And the truth was that he still did. No matter how many men followed him at the club or how much money he made, Bishop was never truly certain that he was worth anything. He had wondered before if it would matter to anyone whether he lived or died, and the answer had always been no up until now.
“That must have been difficult.”
“It was, but I only made things even more so.” Bishop didn’t know if he should be telling her all of this. If Lola—sweet, clean Lola—knew all about his dirty past, she might not want to have anything to do with him anymore. But it wasn’t fair to keep it a secret from her. After all, she had already told him her secret. “I just kept rebelling against him until neither of us could stand it anymore. I ran away from home, and that was the beginning of my career as a Cobra King. It was a little scary at first, being a kid and all. I was only sixteen. But they took me in like a new family, one that didn’t mind my past or my behavior.”
There were other vague memories, less important ones, that he had nearly forgotten about until now. Bishop had had a crush on the girl next door since he was a little kid. Jane had become friends with him despite what her parents thought about the rowdy neighbor boy, and he had knocked on her window the night he’d left. She’d begged him not to go and to work things out with his father, but she’d refused to go with him. “You and I … we’re just too different.” Jane had been right, but Bishop could see now just how much Lola reminded him of her.
“Did you ever think about going back?” Lola asked. Her face was dark now, her angled brows drawn down.
“I thought about it, but never seriously. It wouldn’t work.”
“I’d like to tell you that you’re wrong and that you should go home to see your father, but I can’t. My parents hate who I am. They always have, even when I was doing my best to be their good little girl. They don’t see their daughter in me at all anymore, but a stranger.”
He touched her cheek with the back of his hand, feeling the loneliness that he knew came with that territory. “Even if they don’t like who you are, I do.”
Lola smiled up at him then. “At least I have one good reason for coming back to this town.”
Chapter Sixteen
Lola
Once she had answered a few concerned texts
from Butch and Brittany, Lola let Bishop give her a ride back to town. She didn’t want to. It would have been so much easier to just stay out there in the woods all day, or even just to head straight to the airport and go back west. But she had to face this and get it over with.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come in with you?” Bishop asked when he pulled his bike to a stop in front of the hospital entry doors. “I don’t mind.”
It was a very tempting offer, and one that she would have liked to take him up on. Lola knew she would need a shoulder to lean on or a supportive hand on her back, but she had to do this on her own. “That’s okay. They’re going to freak out enough just that I’m here, and seeing you at my side might just send him into another heart attack.” Lola dropped a quick kiss on his lips. “I’ll call you later.”
He zoomed off and Lola turned for the automatic doors. They opened with a soft rushing sound, spewing antiseptic-scented air. Pausing for a moment to make sure her outfit was straight, she stopped at the desk in the lobby. “I’m looking for George Dodson’s room, please.”
The attendant was a woman in her thirties with her auburn hair resting in a long plain braid down her back. She automatically nodded and began typing away on a computer, but she paused and looked up at Lola. Her eyes widened but she kept her voice low and her body calm. “You’re her, aren’t you?”
“Her who?” Lola asked dumbly. If this woman or anyone else figured out that she was her father’s daughter, then the media would be at her parents’ door 24/7. In a way, it seemed fitting revenge from the daughter they no longer accepted as their own. But they were still her parents, and she couldn’t do that to them.
“Lola. Lola Lennox. I heard you were in town, but what are you doing here?” The attendant fiddled her fingers over the keyboard, no longer typing or trying to find the correct room.
Shaking her head and flipping her fingers in the air, Lola took on the southern accent she had done such a good job of ditching at the advice of her manager. “Oh, honey! You’ve just got celebrity fever! I’m not anybody important at all, but you certainly flatter me by thinking so. I just wanted to stop in and see my uncle.”
The woman looked at her skeptically but finally nodded. She consulted the computer but her hands shook as she manipulated the keys. “Okay. He’s in room 405. If he’s not in there, then just ask at the nurses’ station. He might be out of his room for testing.”
Lola hoped not. She didn’t want to hang around here any longer than she had to. Her baggy shirt and jeans wouldn’t fool people for long, not if they really looked at her. She smiled to herself as she realized what an awful outfit she had been wearing when Bishop had swooped her out of the airport and made love to her in the woods. Clearly, he hadn’t minded her dressing like a housewife on her way to buy groceries.
Making her way up the elevator and around the corner, Lola took a deep breath and knocked on the door for room 405. Her mother’s voice responded, “Come in.”
She pushed open the door. It was a private room with a large window, and several vases of flowers had been delivered for her father. He lay in a hospital bed with numerous wires and monitors hooked up to him, staring tiredly at a wall-mounted television. Mrs. Dodson sat in a nearby chair, flipping through a magazine. She lifted her head to address the newcomer, her face almost pleasant, but her visage fell into a sour one as soon as she realized who had come in the door. “Oh. It’s you.”
Clearly, the ratty clothes weren’t enough to fool them. Lola ignored her mother and crossed the room until she stood at her father’s feet. “Are you feeling all right?”
He gave her a worn-out look that could almost have been a smile. “I’m hanging on.”
“Do they know anything yet?”
“They’ve been doing tests all day,” her mother responded, slapping the magazine down onto a nearby table and glaring at Lola. “He’s going to be fine, but I already told you that.”
She stared at her mother for a moment. “I just wanted to come and see him.”
“Oh, of course you did. And you wanted to drag half the country with you just so you could make a show of being a good daughter. Well, your publicity tactics won’t work on us. We’ve already informed the hospital security that we might have unwanted visitors, and they’ve promised to remove anyone we don’t want in here.” She stuck her sharp chin in the air, daring Lola to push her further.
Was her own mother really threatening to have her kicked out of her father’s hospital room? This had already gone too far. “I didn’t let anyone know I was coming. Someone else did. That’s the way things are for me these days. Is it so wrong to want to come and visit my own dad in the hospital?”
“When you’re the one who caused his heart attack, then yes!” Mrs. Dodson was on her feet now. “Didn’t you think you’d done enough by being such a disappointment to us? And then you came back to town last month and stirred up all that ruckus? Why, your dad was convinced that the paparazzi would be trying to take pictures of us in the shower after that!”
“Angela …” Mr. Dodson said softly from the bed.
“No, George. I’m going to have my say. Laura, you have no respect for anyone but yourself. You never have, and I don’t imagine you ever will. You’ve caused enough trouble here. I suggest you remove yourself from this room right now, or I’ll have a man in a uniform do it for you.”
Lola opened her mouth to argue, but she could see there was no use. Her mother didn’t want her here. If her father did, then he wasn’t fighting very hard for it. She wasn’t welcome. You could never go home again, no matter how shitty of a home it had been in the first place. “Fine.” She turned on her heel and yanked the door open, blinking back tears as she headed for the elevator.
* * *
Brittany was waiting for her at the hotel room, so Lola headed straight there after she left the hospital. She had planned for this to be a short trip, and she was grateful that she only had one more day before she could get on a plane and leave Rolling Hills permanently. This would be her last visit, no matter what.
Chris was waiting for her outside the hotel room door. “The prodigal celebrity returns,” he said with a smirk. “That was some move, ditching us at the airport.”
She glared at him but didn’t reward him with a reply. It had been a shitty enough day, and she was just going to continue with that theme for the moment. “Just let me in. I don’t have time for this.”
“All right, but we’re going to talk sooner or later,” he promised, holding the door open.
Brittany sat on the bed, filing her nails, but she jumped up as soon as Lola walked in and wrapped her arms around the singer. “Holy shit! You can’t scare me like that again! When you disappeared at the airport, I assumed you had found Butch. But he came back from the security office without you and we had no idea where you’d gone. Where have you been?”
Lola wanted to tell her friend all about her tryst with Bishop, but the girl talk would have to come later. “I went to see my parents at the hospital, but that didn’t go very well.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I knew it wouldn’t,” Lola said with a shrug. “There’s no use in being disappointed. Did you go to the pharmacy for me?”
A wicked smile took over Brittany’s face, and she tossed her ponytail. “I did. It’s waiting for you on the bathroom counter.”
“Good. I’ve already had a horrible day, and I have a feeling I’m about to go make it worse.” She stepped into the bathroom and shut the door, staring at herself in the mirror for a moment. Lola had made far too many mistakes in her life. She had plenty of money, and everyone in the media wanted to interview her or snag pictures of her, but that didn’t necessarily make her life a good one. Now, she knew exactly what the pregnancy test was going to say even before she took it out of the wrapper. Lola could feel the difference in herself, and it was more than just the argument with her parents or the attraction she had for Bishop. She wasn’t just one person anymore.
> A minute later, she sat on the little bench in the bathroom, holding the plastic stick and watching as two lines slowly appeared in the result window. Positive. Lola’s hand slid unconsciously to her still-flat abdomen, silently apologizing to the life she was bringing into this world. It was a harsh place, where people couldn’t enjoy being themselves.
A soft knock came on the door. “Lola? Are you doing all right in there?” It was Brittany.
Lola reached over and opened the door, holding up the pregnancy test for her friend to see.
Brittany looked at it for a moment, her jaw dropping open and her eyes widening. She jumped up and down before scooping Lola into a hug. “Oh, my God! This is so exciting! Who’s the father?”
Lola frowned. There was a chance this child wouldn’t even have a father. Bishop was fun, but he was a biker. “Just a guy.”