“What, are you friends with Ryan or something? Funny, he never mentioned hanging out with any dumb jocks.” If Ben’s going to patronize me, I don’t feel bad for insulting him.
“Huh, that’s funny,” he says, clearly mocking me. “I’m smart enough to figure you out.”
“But why are you being so hostile toward me? The only way I see it is that Ryan put you up to it because I never did anything for you to attack me like this. You don’t have all the details. You don’t know what really happened.” I can’t stop my voice from shaking, and he immediately picks up on it. It’s not cool to upset a pregnant woman, no matter how much of a thug he is.
“Well then, why don’t you tell me the whole story and maybe I can help. My last name isn’t Price but my word carries some weight in our town. I am the star quarterback, after all. But I need to know what you’re not telling me. I’m not going to vouch for you if I don’t have all the facts.” His eyes bore into mine and I can tell he’s being serious. He’s a handful, but I don’t think he’s malicious. He doesn’t know me. I’m pretty much a stranger to him. Of course he’s going to take Ryan’s side over mine.
Ben is an alpha male so he’s not led by the pack mentality that runs our town. He wants to think for himself. Maybe I should give him a chance. We’re probably just butting heads because he’s not used to being around a girl who speaks her mind. He’s more about the eye candy and getting down to business than having any real, meaningful conversations with a member of the opposite sex. All right, let’s take it slow and see how it goes.
“What’s the deal with you and Ryan? Are you friends with him?” I begin, feeling him out.
“He’s the punter on the football team this year, and he’s been talking a lot of smack about you in the locker room. The guys eat that shit up. At first, I think he only did it to get a rise out of me because he knows I work for Eric. But when I didn’t bite, he kept at it because the other guys were pumping him up, making him feel like he’s such a player when they’re really laughing at him behind his back.” Ben drops an arm onto his knee, driving with one hand. “You see, the Prices may be feared, but they’re not respected. People put up with their shit and kiss their asses to get a job or win an election. Stuff like that. But nobody really likes them.”
“Why am I not surprised?” I remark bitterly. “I’m ashamed to say I did the same thing.”
“Yeah, but when you’re put in the position of not having any other choice, you do what you gotta do whether you want to or not.” Ben’s more practical than I thought. He has a handle on how the town operates.
“But you’re probably wondering how I went from being lifelong friends with Ryan to being enemy number one.” I run a hand through my hair, nervous about what I’m going to reveal.
“The thought did cross my mind, and I assumed it had to do with your relationship with Eric, but there’s something else, isn’t there?” Ben is dying to know. I might as well tell him.
“Ryan tried to rape me then cover it up by having Lauren slander me in the Gazette by saying I was going to be arrested on some trumped-up charges. But it was all a smoke screen to get me away from Eric. Will was the one who let us in on their plan before it was too late. If not for Will, I’d probably be pregnant and alone somewhere. That’s why I’m dropping everything and flying across the country. I owe Will big time for what he did for me and Eric.” A light of understanding flickers in Ben’s eyes, like something I said just clicked with him.
“Eric found out what Ryan tried to do to you and beat the crap out of him, didn’t he?” Ben asks, even though he doesn’t need my confirmation. “Because Ryan was walking around town looking all banged up after the film festival, but no one could figure out what had happened to him. He said he fell down a flight of stairs but no one bought it.”
“Yeah, I gotta admit that I didn’t see it coming. I thought Ryan was my friend. I still can’t believe what he tried to do to me. I don’t think I ever will.” I wipe away the tears welling in my eyes with the back of my hand. I refuse to let Ben see me cry.
“So you didn’t hear about the girls’ swim team then?” Ben cocks his head to look at me.
“What about it?” I sniffle, afraid of where he is going with this.
“Ryan got caught spying on them when they were changing after a meet. He was almost suspended, but his father got him out of it. The coach who squealed on him lost his job, but that didn’t stop him from telling anyone who would listen. He didn’t keep quiet because he feels Ryan’s a threat.” Ben eyes me warily, waiting for me to figure out the implications behind his statement.
“You think I’m a coward for not reporting him to the police, don’t you?” It’s clear what he’s accusing me of, and on this matter, I am guilty. I can’t talk my way out of it because Ben’s right. I am a coward.
“I think you’re putting a lot of innocent girls in danger by not coming forward. I get the influence his family has and how they could ruin you, but aren’t they already doing that? What do you have to lose by going to the police?” Here I was, afraid that Ben was going to attack me, but instead he’s lecturing me on the merits of bringing a sexual deviant to justice. It just goes to show how paranoid I’ve become and how every guy’s actions have seemed suspicious to me, even when they’re not. Hell, ten minutes ago I was even afraid to be in his truck.
“I’ll consider it when I get back, all right?” I need Ben to meet my eyes to know I’m serious, but he waits a second or two before turning his head.
“Well, I really hope you change your mind because that coach who got fired was my brother.” The severity of what he’s telling me starts to sink in.
“Oh jeez, Ben. I didn’t know…” I tense up, realizing the ramifications.
“So you better think long and hard if you’re going to continue to keep silent or if you have the guts to tell the truth.” He seems disappointed in me for not doing the right thing, but he’s giving me a second chance to make amends.
I just don’t know if I’m ready to take him up on it.
Chapter Six
Eric
It’s after midnight and I still haven’t heard from Ivy.
I pace back and forth in front of the crackling fireplace, my phone clipped to my belt. I’ve left three messages, and she hasn’t called me back. Ben stopped by around quitting time to let me know that she’d made it to the terminal okay, but that’s about all I know. I don’t have Will’s number, so instead I booted up my laptop. Luckily, I was able to log into her email account since the computer remembered her password settings. I sent Will a quick line asking him to let me know that Ivy arrived safe and sound, but so far he hasn’t bothered to reply.
The woman I love is pregnant, traveling alone, and going to a place she’s never been. Of course I’m freaking out. Where the hell can Ivy be? She promised to call the moment her plane touched down in L.A. which should’ve been hours ago. Maybe I’ll look up the number of the airline and see if they can confirm that her flight arrived. It’s making me nervous not knowing where she is.
What if something happened to the plane? What if something’s wrong with the baby and she got rushed to the hospital? What if Will got into a car accident after picking her up?
Shep whines as I slam my fist against the mantle. Where is she? I slump to my knees, burying my head in my hands, when my phone rings.
Please let it be her.
“Where are you?” I growl into the receiver.
“I know you’re upset. Don’t worry. I’m okay. Everything’s fine.” The warmth in Ivy’s voice flows through me. It’s what I needed to hear. I can relax now. “I was in the restroom on the plane and I was shuffling through my purse when my phone fell in the toilet. The stewardess kept knocking on the door, telling me I had to get back to my seat because the captain had turned on the ‘fasten seatbelts’ sign. But you know how I have to pee all the time. I just couldn’t hold it. I was trying to hurry, but it was so cramped in there. Ugh, leave it to me to do someth
ing like that.”
“Why didn’t Will just let you use his phone when you landed?” I get to my feet and brace myself against the mantle lined with pictures of Ivy and me.
She doesn’t respond right away, and I don’t like it.
“Ivy?” I press her when she remains silent.
“Because he wasn’t waiting for me when I got off the plane,” she says, pissed to have to admit it.
“What?” I roar on the other end.
“He was about two hours late,” she says quietly, no doubt anticipating my reaction.
“Where the hell was he?” I’m furious. How can Will be such a jerk? I’m kicking myself inside. I never should have let her travel alone, leaving her in the hands of that self-absorbed prick.
“He claimed he was stuck in traffic, but I don’t think he bothered to confirm my arrival time. He seemed very preoccupied when he dropped me off at the hotel. Eric, the news he gave me isn’t the greatest,” she reveals, trying to stifle a yawn. I shouldn’t be keeping her up this late. She needs to rest. Even though there’s a three-hour time difference, she must be exhausted.
“Do you want to tell me now or wait until tomorrow?” I don’t want to push her if she’s tired.
“We might as well talk about it now while I’m all worked up. But don’t get mad if I fall asleep on you. I don’t know how long this spurt of energy is going to last,” she chuckles softly in my ear, making me want to kiss her so bad. I run my fingers over the glass of one of the photo frames, wishing she was here with me now, stretched out in front of the fire. It’s only been a few hours, but I miss her so much it hurts.
“I could never get mad at you,” I whisper, closing my eyes and imagining her next to me. “Tell me what he said.”
“To make a long story short, Lauren’s uncle, the one who’s a producer, found out that I made her the villain of the script and he’s threatening to sue or at the very least make sure the project doesn’t see the light of day. He knows who I am and how I’m living with you, and he’s out for blood. I guess he’s livid about the whole situation after seeing you make out with Lauren at the film festival. He read what I had written after Will started shopping the screenplay around, and he put two and two together when Will listed my name as the co-writer. Her uncle already thinks I upstaged Lauren once. There’s no way in hell he’s going to sit back and let me do it again.” Ivy sighs heavily as the full weight of what she’s telling me begins to sink in.
This is bad. Very bad. Now I know why Ivy didn’t let me read any of her drafts. She knew I wouldn’t approve of what she was doing. And boy, was she right.
“Ivy, what were you thinking, huh? How could you be so naïve?” I don’t mean to go off on her, but she quite possibly jeopardized our entire future doing what she did. If Lauren’s uncle goes on the attack, we certainly don’t have the means to fight him. We could lose everything—the house, the garden center, the little savings I have left. There’s no way we could mount a capable legal defense against some big, hotshot lawyer. We’d probably be run out of town on a rail if word got out that Ivy was writing about Lauren. People already feel sorry for Lauren after Ivy supposedly stole me away from her. Why give them any more ammunition?
“I honestly believed that no one would find out. I never in a million years thought that Will would submit the project to Lauren’s uncle after everything that went down. He’s just so desperate for someone to pick up the script. If he can’t get a producer to green-light it, he has nothing else to fall back on. He’s screwed. And the producers who were supposed to take it developed a case of cold feet when they heard about the trouble Lauren’s uncle’s threatening to stir up. No one is going to want to touch this project with a ten-foot pole if it’s only going to drag them into court.” I can hear her roll over in bed as she tries to get comfortable. After such a long day, all of this added stress isn’t good for her. I want to be there to massage the tension out of her shoulders and rub her aching feet, but I’m not. I’m three thousand miles away on the other side of the country. Why did I ever agree to let her do this?
“Ivy, you have to back out. Tell Will to take your name off the script and scrap it. There’s no way you can go forward now. It’s too risky.” I hope I’ll be able to talk some sense into her. I know Will is just going to be looking out for himself. Ivy can’t be blinded by the massive guilt trip he’s sure to unload on her. She has to worry about herself and not get caught up in his problems.
“That’s why Will wanted me out here. The producers who were interested in the script before all this controversy are giving us one more chance to turn it around. We have five days to come up with a brand new screenplay that has no mention of Lauren in it. There’s no way we can come up with something so fast off the top of our heads. It took us months to write the first one. So Will pitched them another idea, and they went for it. Problem is, I don’t think you’re going to like it.” I hear her toss and turn again, obviously distraught. I feel a knot forming in the pit of my stomach. Oh no, what did Will do now?
“Do I even want to hear this?” I groan, raking a hand through my newly trimmed hair.
“Probably not,” she responds, her trepidation apparent. “I’m not sure I want to do it…let alone tell you about it.”
“That bad, huh?” I ask jokingly, trying to ease the tension.
“Eric, they want me to write the story of you and Cassidy,” she blurts out, whether I’m ready to hear it or not.
I don’t say anything for a good three seconds.
“You’ve got to kidding me.” It’s like she just sucker-punched me to the balls.
“I wish I were. But they latched on to the idea and they won’t let go. Will didn’t even discuss it with me before he approached them. And now that he has me here, he’s going to keep me writing day and night until we’ve got something to show them. I don’t know what to do, Eric. Should I just come home?” She’s close to tears, realizing the horrible position Will’s placed her in.
“If you do, what happens?” I need to know all of the details before I can offer her any advice. Will’s too smart not to have covered his ass.
“Then Will’s going to move ahead with the Lauren version of the script in the hope that he can find someone willing to battle her uncle in court. I guess people in the industry are already buzzing about it, and Will’s looking to capitalize on the notoriety, even if it’s not necessarily positive. He’s giving me this last chance of working on the rewrite as a way out. I either do it and he calls off the dogs or I don’t and he throws me headfirst into a legal shitstorm. Either way, I’m going to end up hurting you.” This time she can’t hold back her tears as she begins to sob.
“Ivy, I don’t want to see all the pain I went through marketed and sold like I’m trying to profit off Cassidy’s death. I couldn’t live with myself if I agreed to something like this. It makes my skin crawl.” I shouldn’t be so tough on Ivy, but there’s no way I can bite my tongue. Not when it’s about Cassidy. “But if I don’t comply with Will’s demands, then how in the world am I going to provide for our baby? Lauren’s uncle has the power to take everything away from us, everything I’ve worked so hard for.”
“Eric…I’m…so…sorry.” She can barely get the words out through her tears.
“I’m sorry too, Ivy.” I can’t deny that I’m disappointed in her. I should’ve made her show me the script. Maybe I could’ve prevented all of this if I had known what she was up to. Now my personal tragedy is once again going to be heralded as the nation’s favorite sob story. The agony Cassidy endured will be memorialized as nothing more than a stupid chick flick. I never thought I’d have to betray her memory like this. That’s why I stayed out of the limelight. That’s why I retreated into seclusion. That’s why I don’t speak to the media. I hate to even think like this, but if I’d never agreed to that Gazette interview with Ivy last summer, I wouldn’t be going through this right now. I let her in. Little did I know that I’d be giving up my right to privacy…as well as
surrendering my heart.
“I can’t go through with it, Eric. It’s not right. I messed up and you shouldn’t have to pay the price for my mistake.” She’s trying to rally my spirits, but it’s too late. The damage is done. I’m just going to have to suffer through this somehow.
“Ivy, stop. I don’t like it. I don’t agree with it. But it’s happening. There’s nothing we can do about it now. My only consolation is that I know that Cassidy’s memory is in good hands if you’re the one writing the script. I know you will honor her story and tell it the way it needs to be told. If you fight Will on anything, I want you to maintain Cassidy’s integrity in how she is portrayed. Please don’t let them tarnish her image.” I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from crying. I never expected things to unfold like this. I feel like someone just whacked me over the head with a two-by-four. Man, I need to sit down.
“Eric, I promise you that I’ll do whatever it takes.” The conviction in her voice is the only thing that’s sustaining me as I collapse onto the couch. I can’t take this out on her. She got caught in a bad situation. I love Ivy with all my heart, but sometimes she makes life so difficult. I thought with her I’d have a fresh start, but she keeps bringing me back to Cassidy. It’s like there are three people in this relationship instead of two. I have to try and get things back on track. I can’t end this call on such a sour note. I don’t want Ivy to fall asleep, thinking I’m angry with her. Despite it all, she needs to know I still love her no matter what.
“I wish this call had gone differently. I didn’t even get a chance to ask you what you’re wearing.” All I want to do is flirt with my sexy girlfriend and forget about everything else. We’ll deal with it in the morning. Now I want to put Ivy to bed—the right way.
“I’m in one of your shirts, of course…and I stole a pair of your boxers from your drawer before I left.” I can hear the smile in her voice. I grip the armrest of the couch, instantly hard. I know deep down we’re both still upset, but right now she’s giving me exactly what I crave.
Meant for Me (Take Me Now) Page 5