Hollywood Fairytale (Fairlane Series Book 2)

by Harlow Layne

  “Yeah,” Leo answered. “You can show us and then I’ll show you where Sweden is while Luke shows your mom what he’s done to the house.” He winked at Luke, but quickly turned his attention back to Mason.

  After lunch was finished, we all let Mason lead us to his room where he showed Leo and me the room Luke had made for him. It was amazing all the work that he’d put into making Mason a space of his own.

  Crooking my finger, I beckoned Luke to me. He gave me a small smile as he slowly walked to me. Once he was in arm’s reach, I wrapped my arms around his neck, giving him a hug and kiss. “Thank you. I can’t remember the last time he was so happy. This means a lot to the both of us.”

  Pulling my body flush against his, Luke kissed my forehead. “I’d do anything for the two of you. Get used to it.”

  “Where’s your room, mama? My bed’s so big you can share with me if you want.”

  Biting my bottom lip, I was unsure what to say. Luckily Luke saved me. “When you’re here your mom and I will share my bedroom and when I’m in Fairlane, your mom will share her bedroom with me.”

  Mason looked confused for a moment and I got worried that he wasn’t ready for this step in our lives. If that was the case, I was going to be heartbroken. I couldn’t imagine spending another night not in Luke’s arms.

  “If that’s alright with you. We should’ve had a sit down with you and asked how you’d feel about me moving in with the both of you and sharing a bedroom with your mom.”

  When Luke stayed the last time, he slept in my room, but maybe Mason hadn’t paid much attention. I knew for a fact that he’d found us asleep in my bed together.

  “You’re moving in with us?” His little eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “But you live here.”

  “It is confusing and for that I’m sorry. My job requires that I be here to shoot the show that I’m on, but when I’m not shooting it or have another project, I would like to live with you and your mom. I would also like for you to consider this house yours too.”

  Mason’s eyes grew large as he looked from Luke to me and then scanned his room before coming back to Luke again. “I’d have two houses?”

  “You’d have two houses,” Luke answered with a twitch of his lips.

  “Can I come here whenever I want?”

  “Most of the time. If you have to be with your dad or in school, then you have to stay in Fairlane.”

  Mason sat down heavily on his bed and his little bottom lip stuck out. I felt the same way, but there was nothing I could do since his father had joint custody and there was no way he’d let us live here because then our lives would be happy without him.

  Sitting down beside him, I hugged my sweet little boy to my side. “When you’re not in school or with your dad we can be here with Luke. Would you like that?” Mason nodded his head but didn’t say anything. “Do you not want Luke and I to share a room? Is that it?”

  “You should share a room, so you can be happy. Maybe then you won’t cry as much.”

  Shit. Obviously, I hadn’t done a very good job at hiding my crying. With my head hung, I spoke quietly for only Mason to hear. “Baby, I’m sorry you heard me crying.”

  “Were you crying because of Luke?” he asked for everyone to hear.

  Looking up, I saw that both Luke and Leo were watching us intently. I couldn’t lie about why I’d been crying. “Yeah, baby, I was crying because I missed Luke and wanted to be with him.”

  “Sometimes when I’m with dad, I cry because I miss you and wish I was at home. Is that bad?”

  Clutching him to my chest, I hugged him as tears began to build. “It’s not bad. When you’re gone I miss you too.”

  “Do you cry when I’m gone?”

  Smiling sadly, I nodded. “Yeah, I do. I always miss you when you’re gone.”

  “He can move in with us.” He nodded resolutely. “I don’t want you to be sad anymore and I like Luke. Are you going to get married?”

  Clearing my throat of all the emotions that had built up, I still sounded a little hoarse when I spoke. “Someday. Maybe. He has to ask me.”

  This time it was Luke who cleared his throat from across the room. “I have it on good authority that your mom will say yes when I ask her to marry me.”

  Clapping his little hands, Mason beamed up at me. “I think he’s going to ask.”

  “Hey, buddy. How about you and I go to the office and I show you where Sweden is while your mom and Luke talk?” Leo could barely keep his face straight as he led Mason out of the room, and to the office wherever the hell it was in the house.

  “I don’t even know where the office is.” I stated as Luke pulled me from the room and down the hall.

  “It looks over the pool. I thought you’d like that. It’s relaxing.”

  “You’re really going to have to give me another tour after we talk. I hardly know where anything is.”

  “Yes, after we talk.” He turned on me, locked the bedroom door, and looked serious instead of ready for me to jump him.

  My hands turned clammy and shook from the look on his face. “What’s going on?” I asked suddenly nervous.

  “Why did you say maybe we’d get married?” The hurt was evident in his eyes.

  My heart broke seeing how sad my words had made him. Pulling him to the bed, we sat down, and I kept hold of his hand. “I said maybe because even though I truly believe that one day we’ll get married, there’s no guarantees in life. If for some reason we didn’t get married and I told him we were, it would break his heart.” I took in a shuddering breathe. “I don’t want him to think that I lied to him. He’s already lived a hard-enough life because of his father.”

  Luke didn’t understand, and I’d unintentionally hurt him. I watched his pained face look outside and I fought desperately not to cry. I needed to stay clear headed and not break down.

  “In theory I understand.” He stated as he continued to look away. “If I asked you to marry me today would you tell him we’re getting married?”

  “If we were engaged I’d tell him, but this isn’t a scheme to get you to ask me to marry you. Hell, he just found out today that we’re living together.”

  “Why didn’t you tell him?” he asked, hurt again.

  Fuck me. I was really falling down on the job at being a mother and girlfriend.

  “If I’d told Mason that we were living together he wouldn’t have understood why you weren’t there. He’s only seven. Even after all this time he’s still getting his head wrapped around the idea that his parents no longer live together, and that he has to go be with his dad every other weekend when he doesn’t want to.” Rubbing my thumb over the back of his hand, I felt tears prick at the back of my eyes. “I promise you that I didn’t do it to hide or hurt you. It’s killing me to know that I hurt you. I’m so sorry, Luke. I hope that you know that I’d never intentionally hurt you.”

  Smiling sadly at me, he pulled me onto his lap. “Maybe I’m overreacting. I never thought of any of it from your point of view. I’ve been shouting it from the rooftops that when I finish filming that we’re going to be together and living in Fairlane.”

  Straddling him, I brought my lips to his, my arms around his neck as I spoke. “This isn’t how I planned our reunion. I was going to jump you the minute we got in here. Now, I feel like I’ve let you down and I’m a failure.”

  Resting his forehead to mine, he sighed. “If anyone’s a failure here it’s me. Not once did I think about Mason and what he’d make of our relationship. We slept in the same bed when I was there last.” He shook his head. “I never thought that he wasn’t ready or might have a problem.”

  “I don’t blame you and as you saw earlier he doesn’t have any problems. He really loves you. Every day for the last two weeks he’s been asking when we were leaving to come here. He missed you.”

  Holding me tighter, he rested his head against mine. “Sounds like he wasn’t the only one.”

  “I never denied that I missed you.” Closing my
eyes, I soaked in his body heat, his smell, and the fact that I was in his arms once again.

  “No, you told me, but not that you were crying.” Kissing the side of my head, he rearranged us until we were laying down on the bed with me cocooned by his body.

  “You knew I cried some, but no, I didn’t tell you every time because what was the point. It would only make you feel worse and I didn’t want that.” I closed my eyes as a tear escaped and dropped to his shoulder. “It was much harder than I thought it would be, even talking every day. There were so many times where I wished I could kiss you or even hold your hand. I just wanted your touch. To feel your presence.”

  “We have a whole week together, but I promise we’ll do better this time around. I’ll try to get a work schedule while you’re here and we’ll make plans and book plane tickets. At least once a month, we’ll either be here or in Fairlane. Deal?”

  “Deal. Now, how long do you think Leo can entertain Mason?” I asked looking up at him through my lashes.

  “I think he can handle him for a little while longer. Why? What were you thinking?” he smiled mischievously.

  “I’m thinking I need you inside of me. I want you in my mouth and for you to stop the need that’s been building since you left. Having the real thing is so much better.”

  Sliding down, I unzipped his pants, taking him in my mouth, and finally letting Luke sate me for the first time in two long months.

  15

  The bed dipped on my side, slowly rousing me from a deep sleep. A soft brush of lips woke me even further. “I’ll be back as soon as possible. Leo’s coming with me today and maybe tomorrow you can visit.”

  “I’d like that,” I whispered, closing my eyes as I started to fall back to sleep. “Love you.”

  Luke brushed the strands of hair from my face. “I love you, too, beautiful.”

  The next thing I knew, I sat upright as a shrill alarm woke me. What the hell was going on?

  Mason’s little feet pounded down the hall along with him crying.

  Jumping out of bed, I ran to meet him and swooped him up in my arms. I had no idea what time it was, but it had to be early because Mason never slept late, and the sky was barely beginning to show a small amount of light through the downstairs windows.

  Luke had installed blackout curtains in his bedroom, so it was impossible to tell what time it was in there without a clock.

  Closing and locking the door to the bedroom, I raced to the security panel by the bed to turn off the alarm. I could barely think from the shrill noise and I hoped that once it stopped Mason would calm down.

  My phone rang, and I scrambled to pick it up once I saw it was Luke calling. “Hello? Luke?”

  “Alex,” he said my name in a calm but tense tone.

  “I’m here! The alarm’s going off. It’s so loud I can’t even remember the code. Can you walk me through it, please?”

  “Is Mason with you?” he asked with a strained but composed voice.

  “Yes, we were still asleep, but we’re in your bedroom now and he’s crying.”

  “Okay. Great. I want you to do everything I tell you. Take Mason into the closet with you and close the door. Go now and tell me when you’re in the closet.”

  Gathering Mason in my arms, I followed Luke’s instructions and told him when we were in the closet. Up until that point, I’d thought the alarm going off was a mistake, but there was no reason for us to be in the closet if it was a false alarm.

  “Good. Now I need you to look behind the clothes on my side. Feel along the wall until you find a rectangle like indentation. When you find it, I want you to push in on it. Okay?”

  “Okay,” I answered shakily. My hands searched every inch behind his clothes, going over and over it, and not finding what I was supposed to find. I was ready to give up and cry when my fingers hit an indentation. “I found it!”

  “Push on it.” I heard some other voices that sounded like they were talking to Luke, but I ignored them. My sole focus was on his voice.

  Pushing on the wall a hiss sounded as a door opened into a separate room that I had no idea existed. “There’s another room,” I stated the obvious.

  “Yes, grab Mason and close the door. Once you’re inside and press the red button on the panel no one can get in from the outside. One thing before you close the door. Your cell phone will cut out, so I want you to call me on the phone in the room. Can you do that?”

  “I think so,” I answered as I looked at what looked like a bunker inside a house. It wasn’t fancy, but there was a cot to sleep on and a chair to sit on along with a small refrigerator in the corner. Along one wall were monitors showing the security cameras. Taking the phone from the wall, I realized I didn’t know Luke’s phone number.

  “I don’t know your number. I’m going to pull it up on my phone and call you.” I sagged onto the cot with Mason on my lap, my hands shaking.

  “Call me back,” he demanded. “I love you, Alex. Everything’s going to be fine. You’re both safe.”

  “I want you to know that I love you so much.” It took everything in me not to say that I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want Mason to be scared more and I didn’t want to admit to myself that there was a possibility we were in that kind of danger, but what other danger made you hide in a secret room.

  Hanging up, I pulled up Luke’s contact information and quickly dialed his phone. “Alex,” he sighed in relief. “Now hit the red button to lock yourselves in.”

  Standing up on shaky legs, I moved in front of the panel and slammed my hand against the red button as if hitting it hard would make the door close quicker. I watched as it slowly closed with a hiss letting me know that we were now sealed in. Sliding to the floor, I looked up to find Mason watching me with wide eyes. He was scared and so was I.

  I got up so that I could comfort him and be able to see what was going on with the monitors. I sat down once again, holding Mason tight and scanning the screens.

  “Alex! Alex!” Luke screamed through the phone that I’d placed down when I went to shut the door.

  Picking it up, I tried to look for what had set the alarm off and not cry into the phone. “I’m here.”

  “Thank God! You went silent and I didn’t know what happened. Did you get the door closed?” I thought I heard tires screech in the background.

  “It’s closed. I’m looking at the monitors trying to find what set the alarm off.” As I tried to see if someone was in the yard or inside, I saw a large rock thrown through one of the floor to ceiling windows that were in the living room overlooking the pool. I gasped, “Oh my God! Luke!”

  Someone was trying to get into the house and whoever it was meant business. Didn’t they hear the alarm? Luckily now that we were in the hidden room, we couldn’t hear the alarm, but it was still going off when I closed the door and that person had to have heard it.

  “What?” He asked, worry strong in this voice. “I swear I’m going to have a heart attack before I make it there.”

  “You’re coming? Please be safe. I couldn’t bare it if something happened to you. Someone just threw a rock through one of the windows by the pool.”

  “I’m on my way and so are the police. They should be there any minute now. Remember no one can get to you in there. You and Mason are both safe. I promise.”

  A lone body slipped from the broken window into the house with a baseball bat over his or her shoulder. I watched the person slowly creep up the stairs heading straight toward the bedroom. How did this person know where to look for us?

  “Someone’s coming,” I whispered into the phone as I held Mason tighter.

  “Where is he?”

  I couldn’t answer as the figure tried the handle but got nowhere since I’d locked it. Raising the bat to knock on the door, the figure stopped short and turned its head to listen.

  Sirens?

  Up until now the figure had kept its head down so I couldn’t tell who it was except whoever it was, was skinny and short. Now I got a g
ood look at her face as she turned to the camera and it was Ashlyn Jade.

  Ashlyn was in Luke’s house.

  She had broken in.

  Did she know that Luke was gone or was she hoping he was here? Did she know that I was here? She had to, because why else would she have brought the bat?

  “Luke.” In that one word, I was telling him that I was scared, that I didn’t want us to die, and I wanted him here with us.

  A flurry of fast spoken Swedish came down the line both from Luke and Leo.

  On the monitor, her head swung from the door that she wanted to get into and down the hall. Was she hearing sirens? Could she hear them over the shrill noise coming from the alarm? I wasn’t sure, but if it would make her leave I was all for it.

  “Luke,” I gasped out. “It’s Ashlyn.”

  My heart pounded in my ears so much that I couldn’t hear what Luke was saying. It was almost deafening. Mason sat in my arms hugging me back just as tightly as I held him. Keeping his head down so that he wouldn’t see something that he could never unsee. Somewhere deep within me, I knew that we were safe but seeing her out there overrode that thought process.

  “The police should be there in one minute. You’re doing great. Just a little while longer and it will all be over. Do you hear me?” he asked when I didn’t respond.

  “Yes,” I managed to say faintly.

  Ashlyn turned with an evil grin on her face and knocked on the door twice with the bat. Her body weight going with every hit. She meant business. When nothing happened, she turned around in a circle with her head thrown back, her mouth wide open. She was yelling. Even though I couldn’t hear it, I knew she’d been screaming. The question was, who was she after?

  Stopping abruptly, she swung one last time before racing down the hallway and out the window she previously broke.

  “She’s gone,” I choked out. “She went out the way she came in.”

  “Stay on the line with me, Alex. I’ll be there in less than five minutes. Are they there yet?”

  “Who?” I asked confused.

  “They’re pulling up now,” I heard in the background.