“Massey.”
“Luke Massey. Al thinks he may be behind this.” Tim concluded his conversation, and I called into work, letting them know I wouldn’t be there. Tim and I stayed in the apartment, entertaining Kenzie for the day.
I made it to the weekend, flanked by two body guards and a blacked-out SUV. If I didn’t feel ostracized in the office before hand, I did the next time I walked through the door. The attention caused me to be unproductive, and my manager and I were both in agreement that it would be best if I took a leave of absence.
By the time the weekend rolled around, Maggie had taken it upon herself to make plans for the evening. While there were still a few photographers lingering outside of my building, they weren’t as interested in shots of just me and Tim had been keeping his distance until he was able to conduct the interview his publicist had in the works. Maggie’s night out couldn’t have come at a better time, since not having Tim around on top of everything with Luke had me in a sour mood.
“Are you ready?” Maggie asked, waiting in the living room. She was wearing a light pink sundress that looked amazing with her bright red hair. “I can’t wait to get out and have a few drinks.”
I couldn’t agree more. Sarah had willingly signed up for babysitting while the two guards sat in the living room. The plan had been for one guard to stay with Kenzie and the other to come with us. Although I didn’t feel like I required one, I knew it would make life easier if anyone chose to pull out a camera or wanted to pepper me with questions.
We pulled into the parking lot at ten-thirty. The pub we were going to had a live band on stage from eleven to one, so we were sure to be there early enough to find a decent table. The guard that was with us found a seat a few feet away, where we were still visible, but he wasn’t drawing attention. God, I had hoped the attention would die down soon, so I could get back to some normalcy in my life.
Maggie and I were two drinks in and were watching the band take their places when Luke walked in with a group of guys. Maggie noticed him at the same time I did.
“Shit.” I ducked my head, hoping he wouldn’t notice us.
“Do you want to leave?” Maggie was already collecting her purse, prepared to make a beeline for the door.
“No, I don’t want to leave. I have no reason to leave.” We lived in a small town, it was inevitable that we would run into each other from time to time, plus I had a bodyguard only feet away. I could handle this.
We remained invisible for close to an hour. The band was just finishing their set, and I was braver than I should have been, assuming I could make it to the bar for a drink refill, undetected. The bartender was just handing me my change when I could feel someone too close for comfort.
“Well if it isn’t the Queen of Deception.” Luke lowered his icy glare to my level. “Here to rip out more hearts?” The bartender looked at us, before walking away, preferring to avoid the drama.
“Hi, Luke.” I ignored his comments, and turned with drinks in hand, back to my table. His words hurt. I had never meant to be deceptive, and I certainly never intended to rip any hearts out. I couldn’t fault him for being emotional, but he was unnecessarily cruel, and it didn’t warrant a reaction.
“What was that about?” Maggie took her drink and motioned back to the bar.
“He was just saying hello.” I covered, no reason to ruin the evening.
“Maybe you should let Rambo over there know he’s here. That way he can keep an eye out.” Her suggestion was valid, but not something I wanted to do. If I let him know, we would be back in the SUV and on our way back to the apartment.
“No, I’m sure it’ll be okay. I don’t want to make a scene.”
The band completed their set and started the tear down while a DJ took over. Maggie and I nursed our drinks, enjoying a few more minutes of our evening out.
“Are you really to call it a night?” Maggie asked as she set down her empty bottle.
“Yep, just let me run to the bathroom first.” The guard stood up with us. “You two can head out to the SUV. I’ll be right out.” We parted ways as I headed to the washroom.
When I exited the washroom, Luke stopped me in my tracks. He was leaning up against the wall across from the woman’s restroom.
“Ally, can we talk for a minute? I don’t want to work things out; I just want to apologize. I don’t want to leave things like they are.”
“Luke, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” There was nothing left to say, and apologies were pointless after everything that had happened.
“Please Al. I’ll only take a minute.” Luke looked sad and empty, so I caved. Only weeks ago, I had thought I loved this man, so closure may not be a bad thing.
“Two minutes.” I held up two fingers. “Maggie is waiting.” I followed Luke out the back door, which led to an area just below the parking lot, where people went to smoke. There were a couple of smokers out there when we arrived.
The ground was littered with broken beer bottles, shards of glass sparkled under the dim lights that lit up the stairs to the parking lot. Pieces bounced off my shoes as we walked to an empty corner for some level of privacy. I concentrated on the odd and irregular shapes of glass.
“I’m sorry I lost my temper the other night.” Luke started. “I jumped to conclusions and let those take hold. I should have slowed down and listened to your side of the story.”
“And I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about everything in the first place.”
“Ya, that would have prevented all of this.” He chuckled, more out of sadness than anything else.
“Yes, it would have. But I think breaking up was the right thing to do. I need to focus on getting things right for Kenzie, and I wasn’t able to do that and handle our relationship.”
“You wanted to break up?” Luke raised his eyebrows.
“Well, not at first, but when it happened, I realized it was the right choice.” I wanted to be sure that Luke walked away from this conversation understanding that our relationship was over. “Luke, I should go.”
I started walking away, thinking of Maggie and the bodyguard who were probably wondering where I was when it hit me. “Luke, did you talk to the tabloids?” There was no response, which was more than enough of an answer to me. “I hope they paid you well, considering you’ve put Kenzie and me through hell.” I took the steps two at a time, ready to put distance between us.
“Ally, you owe me the answer to one question.” Luke had caught up with me at the top of the stairs. I turned to face him. “Did you sleep with him?”
“I’m sorry.” My lips quivered as I turned to run to the SUV. The pull on my arm was so fast, and hard I hadn’t even registered what was happening as I lost my balance. My body hit the ground hard, as I rolled down the stairs. The only awareness I had, was that I was unable to stop whatever was happening. My vision blurred, taking in the shiny brown pieces before everything went black.
My head hurt as I regained consciousness. I vaguely remembered losing my balance and the impact of each hard, rough concrete step, as my body plummeted to the bottom. I vaguely remembered the shards, remnants of broken beer bottles burrowing into my skin, the pain emanating from my arms, legs, and stomach. I vaguely remembered the warm, sappy blood, trickling down my face, blurring my vision.
Voices were mumbled and panicked. I couldn’t see anything other than murky, red blood. Where was Maggie? Where was Luke? Had I fallen down the stairs or had Luke been the catalyst? I could hear sirens as I faded back into the darkness.
The lights were bright, too bright. The gleaming white walls were heavenly. I squinted hard, which hurt my face. I tried again to focus on my surroundings, attempting to figure out where I was.
“Hey, Al.” Maggie smiled weakly by my side. “How are you feeling?” I wasn’t sure if her question was meant to be rhetorical or if she honestly wanted to know how I was feeling.
“I’m not sure,” I responded, closing my eyes again. “What happened?” My memory was haz
y, I could remember bits and pieces, but what actually happened versus what I thought happened could be entirely different.
“Luke pushed you down the stairs at the bar. You hit your head pretty hard.” I winced. That made sense considering how badly it hurt. I reached up to discover a cotton bandage taped over my forehead. “The doctor said you have a cracked rib and a fractured wrist.” Her statement caused me to look down, confirming my arm was indeed in a cast. “You have thirty-two stitches.”
“So overall a good night?” I joked. The laugh that escaped hurt.
“Not funny. I should have been there.”
“Where is Kenzie?” I ignored her statement. The incident wasn’t her fault. Besides, I needed to know where my daughter was.
“Sarah has her, and she’s fine.” Maggie dropped her chin to her hands. “Ally, why were you with Luke?”
“He wanted to talk.” I grimaced, suddenly feeling sharp pains shooting up my arm. The pain caused me to check out the damage, only to find my upper arms covered in white bandages. “Where are all of the stitches?” I put forth my best effort of self-discovery, lifting the thin blue hospital blanket.
“You have four in this arm.” Maggie pointed to my left arm. “And seven in this one.” She helped me pull off the blanket. “There are four here.” Her finger pointed just below my right breast. “Six down here.” She moved down to my right hip. “Nine on your leg and two on your forehead.” She retracted her finger and folded her hands in her lap. “I am so sorry Ally. I shouldn’t have gone outside without you.”
“It’s not your fault.” Who knew small pieces of glass could do so much damage? “The glass.” Without meaning to, the words slipped out. “That’s what did this.”
“No, Luke did this.” Maggie clarified. Only then did I realize how red her eyes were. She had been crying for awhile, meaning my injuries were more severe than I had thought.
“Oh.” I felt defeated. “I’m not going home today am I?”
“No.”
One simple word hurt so deeply. I wanted to be home with my daughter. I was separated from her against my will, and it was the most helpless I had ever felt.
Chapter 14
Consequences
Every time I walked away from the girls, it was hard. It left me depressed and lost the second I pulled out of the parking lot. This time I not only felt the dread, I felt fear. I was worried about my girls, and despite leaving them with two bodyguards I trusted, Kane and Rich, I still felt uneasy. I could kill Ally’s ex for putting them in this position. His ‘tip’ was causing my usual two-day separation to be extended to at least a week, while my publicist, Charlie, was lining up an interview for my announcement. My plan was to wait until it was released so that the heat would land only on me. I wanted to keep this as far away from my girls as possible.
Aside from the pressure of the news release, I also was tasked with figuring out how to tell Allison. Unfortunately for me, Hallmark didn’t offer a card that said ‘Hey Honey, I have a baby and it’s a girl. P.S. – I’ve been sneaking around behind your back to visit her at my ex’s. P.P.S. – I cheated on you’. Ya, that card just wasn’t in circulation yet.
I had two days to figure it out, and I had to convince Allison to come to me because this wasn’t a conversation I could have over the phone. My daughter wasn’t going to be an easy topic to discuss, especially given the tight timeline forced upon us by ‘Luke the leak’. Charlie was doing an incredible job keeping the tabloids quiet, but that dam was going to break.
By seven in the evening, I was anxious and antsy. I had just gotten off the phone with Ally and Kenzie, my daily fix of heaven. It was now time to move on to calling Allison, and I was flying by the seat of my pants for this conversation.
Allison picked up on the third ring and sounded winded. “Hey, Tim. What’s up?”
“Hey, Allison.” ‘Al’ no longer seemed fitting. “Are you available to fly down here tomorrow?” I needed her to agree because I couldn’t do this over the phone and the outcome of waiting would be her finding out with the rest of the world.
“Um… I suppose I could catch a flight tomorrow night.” She sounded hesitant. “Why?”
“Please do.” I pleaded. “I have an interview scheduled, and I wanted to run a few things by you before hand.” If running things by you meant turning our relationship on its head.
“Okay.” She perked up. “I’ll book it now.”
It turned out the flight she booked occurred on the morning of the following day, which meant she was scheduled to arrive only an hour before the interview, and with a delay on her landing and road construction on route, I had reached the studio before ever seeing Allison.
I knew the oversized plush chair was meant to make you feel comfortable, and the lights were dimmed slightly to detract from making a guest feel exposed, but nothing was going to take away the fact that I was laying everything out on the table. The world was going to know my edited version of events.
The host, her name was Hannah, sat across from me, her bleach blonde hair perfectly styled in a short bob. I couldn’t wait to get this over with and head back to Texas. I was going crazy without my girls. Two makeup artists approached us for last minute touch ups before the cameras started rolling.
I had practiced my lines several times over, but I still had nerves. Hannah cleared her throat before asking me if I was ready. Part of the deal with this interview was that no one knew what my announcement was. I wanted to avoid questions and comments, and by not revealing the topic it reduced the possibility of research.
“Good evening, I’m Hannah Beaumont, and tonight I am bringing to you a rare release from Hazed’s own Tim Lawson.” Her white teeth gleamed as she gave her best fake smile. It was only two in the afternoon. The show wouldn’t be aired for hours. I gave a small wave to the camera. “Tim, I hear you have a personal announcement you wanted to make, and I am thrilled you chose our program to air it.”
“That’s right Hannah. I wanted my fans to hear this information from me.”
“Well by all means then, please take the floor.” She waved her hand toward me, basically passing me the mic.
“Thank you, Hannah.” I turned in the chair to look directly into the camera, just as Charlie had told me to. “For sixteen months, I have been keeping a pretty big secret.” I grinned to indicate that it was a good secret. “An adorable, brown haired, blue eyed baby girl kind of secret.”
Hannah’s eyes widened, but she let me continue without interfering.
“Her mother and I had decided we wanted to keep her out of the public eye, especially when she was first born. So today, we have decided to let our fans know that there is a mini member of Hazed, who will be around quite a bit more.” I turned to Hannah, allowing her to ask a few questions.
“Well, that’s quite the announcement.” She exclaimed. The teleprompter flipped to a question for her to read. “If you wanted her out of the public eye, then why tell the world now?”
Charlie was a miracle worker. These were the drafted questions he planned to supply to the station; he must have managed to convince them to use his script.
“As she gets a bit older, it’s becoming harder to stay hidden away. Her mother has had a bit more privacy, but I don’t. So, the last thing that I want is to be out with her, photographed and then plastered on a tabloid with some crazy rumor as the headline.” I smiled, trying to sell that point.
“Understandable. So, when did the two of you decide to keep everything private?” Two for two. A bonus for Charlie was in order.
“Pretty early in the pregnancy. We both knew we didn’t want to share her just yet.”
“Well, I think I only have one more question. When can we meet your daughter?” Kenzie’s gorgeous face lit up the screen behind us.
“World, meet Kenzie.”
Allison was waiting for me in the dressing room once the recording had concluded. Shit, had she watched the interview? One look at the grin on her face let me know she ha
d no idea of what had just occurred.
“Hey, baby.” She sauntered over, with a slight sway in her hips. She was beautiful, in the traditional way and she owned it. That beauty no longer affected me in the same way. “Sorry that I’m late.” She batted her eyes at me. “It might be too late to run it by me, but can you give me the play by play?”
My nerves ramped back up. Time had run out, and this was my only opportunity to have this conversation. “You may want to sit down for this.” I rubbed the back of my neck.
“Oh?” Her eyebrows knit together, but she took my advice and sat back down. “Tim, what’s going on?”
“Allison, I’m sorry we didn’t have this conversation sooner, and I’m sorry that I have been keeping things from you.” I paused only to take a deep breath. “I have a child.”
Allison was standing as soon as the words left my mouth. “You cheated on me? And knocked her up?” Her complexion paled with shock.
“No, no.” I raised my hands. “My daughter is sixteen months old. This happened way before you.” I wasn’t going to admit to her accusation of the cheating.
“What?” She huffed. “How the hell did that happen?” I opened my mouth to explain before she cut me off. “Oh my god, how much money does she want? Fucking bitch. The baby probably isn’t even yours.” I was dumbfounded, trying to think before I spoke. I had to remember I was unloading a lot on her out of the blue. “You need to have a paternity test done.”
I let her pace the room, shaking off her outburst. “Can I speak now?” She didn’t answer, so I assumed that was a yes. “I don’t need a paternity test. I know she’s mine. And Ally isn’t asking for a dime. I know this is a lot to take in, and that it’s not what you signed up for, but I needed to let you know.” I gave her a moment to digest. “I’ve been spending every couple of days with my daughter; not looking at beach houses.” Her head snapped to me.
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