“Hi,” he says flatly.
“My cell’s dead,” I tell him. “What does he need me for?”
“Not sure.” He shrugs, shutting the trunk.
He’s acting a little weird. He won’t even make eye contact. Seemed a bit off with Charly just then.
“Everything okay?” I ask him.
“Uh-huh. Let’s get you back to the hotel.” He holds open the back passenger door, waiting for me to get in.
I climb inside, sitting beside Charly and taking her hand. Aiden shuts the door with a soft clunk. A minute later, we’re pulling out of the airport.
I rest back in my seat. The peace I always feel after I’ve been home starts to ebb away, like it always does when I come back to work. Back to the reality of my life.
But having Charly here beside me makes it feel easier somehow. She makes everything feel easy. Better.
We drive through Vegas and reach the hotel in good time. As we drive up, I notice the press is loitering outside.
“For fuck’s sake,” I sigh.
“What’s wrong?” Charly asks, leaning forward to look at what I’m looking at.
“Press is out front of the hotel.” I wonder if they’ve found out I’m staying here. Or it could be for a number of reasons. This is Vegas after all.
“We’ll go in through the underground garage,” Aiden says.
He drives around and pulls in the parking lot, taking a spot close to the elevators.
I climb out. Charly gets out behind me.
“I’ll bring your bags up,” Aiden says.
“Okay. See you up there.”
We walk toward the elevator, and I catch hold of Charly’s hand.
“Weekend’s not over yet,” I tell her. “Not until we get upstairs.”
She smiles warmly at me. I press the call button and wait.
The elevator’s empty. We get in, and I press the button for the penthouse. Then, I get my private access card and swipe it. The doors close, and the elevator starts to ascend.
I turn, taking her in my arms, and I press a soft kiss to her lips. “So, I’ve been thinking.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
“Funny. Look, I know we’ve talked about this before, and I know all your reasons for wanting to keep our relationship private, but I don’t want to anymore. I want the world to know that you’re mine. I’ve just had the best weekend of my life with you. I’ve had the best few months of my life with you. I want to take you out on dates. I want to kiss you in public. Yes, I initially asked for us to be a secret, but things have changed now. I didn’t know we would become more…this. I know I’m asking a lot. I’m asking you to give up your privacy to be with me. But…” I take a deep breath. “I love you, Charly. I’m in love with you.”
She’s staring at me with a mixture of emotions on her face. I can definitely pick out happiness in there, but there’s fear, too, and that worries the shit out of me.
“God, Vaughn. I…” She squeezes her eyes shut.
“Okay, I’m gonna be honest here, Pins. Not the response I was hoping for.”
She opens her eyes. “I’m sorry.” And she really looks it. “There’s just something you need to know. Something I need to tell you before we go any further. It’s important.”
“Okay.” My head starts to ring with warning bells. I step back from her just as the elevator reaches our floor. “We can talk inside.”
I turn to step out of the elevator, and Jack is standing there, waiting for me.
“Jesus, Jack! You scared the shit out of me. What are you doing here?”
His eyes flicker past me to Charly. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for hours.”
“My cell is dead.”
“I called your mom, but she said you’d already left.”
“Well, I’m here now. What’s the problem?”
His eyes go to Charly again, who’s still standing behind me. I don’t like the way he keeps looking at her.
Did the press find out about her and me? Do they know that her dad murdered her mom?
Would make sense with the way that Jack has a face like thunder.
“Let’s go inside and talk.” Jack jerks his head in the direction of my suite.
“How did you get in?” I ask, following him.
Charly is lagging behind me. I reach back and take hold of her hand, pulling her to my side. I give her a reassuring smile. She gives me a tight one in return.
“Alex let me in. He’s here, too.”
He looks at me holding Charly’s hand, and his expression tightens.
Guess the cat’s out of the bag. Oh well.
We step inside, and I shut the door behind us. Alex is sitting on the sofa. He stands when he sees us. I jerk my chin in greeting at him.
His smile is tight.
“Okay, so what’s the problem? I’m guessing you know Charly and I are together—”
“Vaughn.”
“I’m not just fucking her. I’m in love with her.”
“Jesus.” Jack rubs his face. “He doesn’t know, does he?” He’s looking at Charly.
I feel her tense beside me, and I hate that Jack is making her feel uncomfortable.
“Jack, let me stop you there.” I hold a hand up. “If you’re talking about Charly’s dad, then I already know everything.”
“Do you want to tell him, or should I?” He’s talking to Charly again.
“Tell me what?” I look down at Charly, and she’s paled. The expression on her face makes my stomach sink.
Then, her words in the elevator ring clear in my head.
“There’s just something you need to know. Something I need to tell you before we go any further. It’s important.”
Releasing her hand, I step back to face her. “Charly? What’s going on?” My voice betrays me and wobbles, giving away the fear and dread I’m feeling inside because I know for certain that, whatever this is, it’s not going to be good.
“I, um…” She runs a hand through her hair.
I see that it’s shaking. She glances over at Alex and Jack.
“Charly?” I say her name.
But she doesn’t look at me.
So, I say it again louder this time, “Charly.”
Her eyes snap to mine.
“Just tell me what the fuck is going on.”
“I’m married.”
The words drop in the silence of the room, and they hit me like a wrecking ball. I feel pain in every part of my body.
“What?” I breathe.
“She’s married,” Jack pipes up.
“I fucking got that!” I yell at him. My eyes swing back to her. “You’re married?” The words fall out of me.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you.”
She steps toward me, and I step back.
“Preferably before you let me fuck you!” I roar.
She visibly flinches.
“It’s all over the news, Vaughn. The press got pictures of you two together in Oregon. Intimate pictures. They somehow found out Charly’s name, and they looked her up. Digby exposed it on his show a few hours ago,” Alex says quietly.
“Oh no.” Charly covers her face with her trembling hands.
“I don’t fucking believe this!” My hands are in my hair, and I’m pacing.
Jack says, “We need to get on top of this, Vaughn. Put out a press release straightaway—”
“Stop! Just stop right fucking there.” I point at Jack, silencing him.
I turn back to Charly. “You’re actually fucking married?” I can’t believe I’m saying this when, moments ago, I was telling her that I was in love with her.
“I am, but it’s complicated.”
“Are you separated or getting divorced?”
She briefly closes her eyes, biting her upper lip hard. “It’s complicated,” she repeats.
My head explodes.
“There’s nothing complicated about the question! It’s a simple yes or no answer!”
I see her eyes flicker to J
ack and Alex.
“Don’t fucking look at them! Look at me!” I yell, grabbing ahold of her by her upper arms, forcing her to look at me. “Are you separated or getting divorced?” I repeat.
There’s this awful, painful silence where her eyes fill with tears, and her bottom lip quivers.
She shakes her head.
And my heart breaks. I actually feel it break in two.
I drop my hands from her like she’s burned me.
Because she has.
“Then, we have nothing else to talk about.” And I turn around and walk out of there to the sound of her crying out my name.
Chapter 37
Charly
Four years ago, I made the best decision of my life.
I married my best friend, Nick.
Not because we were in love—though I do love him. I love him like a sister loves her brother. But I married Nick because he needed a visa to be able to stay in the country.
Nick is from Canada. He was here in the US on a student visa. When he finished studying, he couldn’t find a company to take him on permanently. He was temping, going from job to job. He applied for a temporary work visa, but because he couldn’t get a job with a fixed time period, it was denied.
So, he was either facing deportation or staying as an illegal.
He didn’t want to do either.
You see, like me, Nick is alone in this world. Nick’s parents were deeply religious. When he took the risk and told them he was gay, they rejected him. They threw him out of the only home he’d ever known. Nick couch-surfed for a while, staying with friends. Then, he made the decision to come to the US. So, he applied to some colleges and was accepted into The Art Institute of New York City. After being accepted, he was granted a study visa.
So, he bought a plane ticket to New York and left for the US.
I met him a month later.
I guess that’s why we gravitated toward one another when we met. Two lost and lonely souls looking for something…looking for a home.
We found that home in each other.
From the moment I met Nick, he became my family, and I, his.
When it was looking like I could possibly lose him, I panicked. I couldn’t lose Nick. He was all I had. I loved him. And, selfishly, I didn’t want to go back to being alone.
So, I came up with the idea of Nick and I getting married. That way, he’d be able to stay in the country. When I told him about my idea, he shot me down. He said he wouldn’t let me do that for him.
But I argued that it was no big deal. I was twenty-one, so it wasn’t like I was going to be getting married anytime soon. And we just needed to stay married for two years until he got his permanent residency visa.
Okay, we were breaking the law. But keeping Nick in New York was more important. For me, the reward far outweighed the possible consequence. And, like I said to Nick, we were practically married. We lived together. Spent all of our time together. Knew each other inside and out. We were best friends.
We just didn’t have the physical aspect that came with a relationship.
It would be easy for us to convince an immigration officer that we were in love. I adored Nick, and he adored me. We knew everything about each other. Convincing someone we were marrying out of love wouldn’t be hard because we were. It just wasn’t the kind of love that people usually entered into marriages for.
So, after a lot of talking and me convincing Nick, we decided to do it.
We also agreed to stay married for four to five years to make it seem more real to the authorities. And we decided to keep our marriage to ourselves.
We were both temping at different jobs, so it wasn’t like we had work colleagues that the immigration office could interview to find out about us. And we didn’t have any other close friends, so it was easy to pass off.
A week later, we bought some cheap plane tickets to Vegas, left, and got married.
Nick got to stay in the US. He applied for permanent residency two years later and was approved.
We could have divorced then, but like we had agreed, to make it appear real to the authorities, we decided to stay married for another two to three years.
There wasn’t any rush for us to divorce. Neither of us had met anyone special. We dated other people, of course. It was probably risky. But we figured, if we did get found out, then we would pass it off that we were swingers or had an open marriage. There’s no law against that.
So, the time passed, and everything was great. We were actually approaching the time when we had agreed to get divorced, but it wasn’t something that was at the forefront of my mind.
And then I met Vaughn.
And everything changed.
I didn’t expect to fall in love with him. Or for the press to find out about us and expose my past before I had the chance to tell Vaughn the truth.
It was naive of me. I know that now.
I just didn’t know marrying Nick all those years ago would cost me the love of my life today.
I don’t regret marrying Nick. I wouldn’t change what I did. I would marry him again in a heartbeat.
What I would change is telling Vaughn. I would have told him sooner. The moment I realized things were serious between us.
Because keeping it from Vaughn is ultimately what caused me to lose him.
I guess my only excuse is, apart from my cowardice, that being with Vaughn felt like a fairy tale. Too good to be true. Especially for someone like me.
But it was real, and I’ve lost it. I’ve lost him.
And, even now, he still doesn’t know the whole truth. He left before I could tell him.
I felt trapped in that moment with Jack and Alex there. I couldn’t tell him the real reason I was married in front of them and risk putting myself in jail and having Nick deported.
So, I had to let him believe the worst. I had to watch him walk out the door and leave, thinking that I’d betrayed him in the worst way possible. Just like Cain had.
And, now, Vaughn is gone. Took the car from Aiden, and I don’t know where he is or how to reach him because his phone is still off.
But I do know one thing. I have to speak to him again. I have to tell him the whole story. Even if he doesn’t forgive me, he needs to know that I didn’t betray him in the way he thinks I did.
And that I’m sorry.
And that I love him.
Chapter 38
Vaughn
I take the elevator straight down to the parking garage. If Aiden’s not there, then I’ll go out on the street and get a cab if I have to. I just need to get the fuck out of here.
When I exit the elevator, I see Aiden standing by the car, his cell phone pressed to his ear.
He looks up at my approach. “Jack wants to talk to you.” He holds the phone out to me.
I take the phone from him and disconnect the call. Then, I hand the phone back to him.
“Key,” I tell him.
He doesn’t seem surprised that I want to leave.
He knew. Everyone knew. Everyone, except for me. Yet again.
Vaughn West, the dumbest fuck on the planet.
God, the press must be laughing their asses off at me right now.
My hurt and anger burn even hotter. “Give me the fucking car key, Aiden.”
“Jack won’t like this.”
“I don’t give a fuck whether Jack likes it or not. And Jack doesn’t pay your wages. I do.”
Aiden hands me the key. I get in the car, slam the door shut, turn the engine on, and squeal out of there.
I hit the street. Not knowing where I’m going or what the hell to do with myself.
I can’t fucking believe this. She’s married. Married! All this time, and she never said a word. How could she do this to me?
I’m so fucking stupid. First, Cain and Piper. Now, Charly.
I must have Dumb Fuck written on my forehead.
I took her to my home. Introduced her to my family. I let her in my bed. I fell in love with her.<
br />
And, all that time, she was married.
“Fuck!” I slam my hand against the steering wheel. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”
Breathing heavily, I grip the wheel tight with both hands, trying to get a handle on my emotions.
How could she look me in the face and lie to me like that? Was she fucking me and then climbing out of my bed and calling him up? Telling him she loved him?
Because she sure as fuck doesn’t love me.
Jesus.
I don’t even know who her husband is. But I’m guessing he knows about me by now.
The whole world probably fucking knows.
Embarrassment covers me like a dirty black cloak.
I can’t stay in Vegas. I need to get away. I need to go back home.
I turn the car in the direction of US-95, heading north to Oregon.
Once I’m on the highway, I turn on the radio.
“And, in entertainment news today, pictures are circulating of Hollywood sensation Vaughn West, who has been caught in an intimate moment with a married woman. The woman has been identified as Charlotte Michaels, a wardrobe assistant on the set of West’s current film, The Lament.”
I reach out to turn it off when the sound of her husband’s name stops me.
“Ms. Michael’s husband, Nick Sharp, an interior designer, resides in New York with her. They’ve been married for four years. When approached, Mr. Sharp wouldn’t comment on if he had any knowledge of the relationship between his wife and Vaughn West. We reached out to West’s publicist, but we have yet to hear back.
“And, in other news, Patrick Dean is back in rehab—”
I turn the station off.
Nick Sharp.
She told me that Nick was her gay roommate, whom she’d known since college. God, she’s a better fucking liar than me, and I get paid to do it for a living.
My head feels like it’s going to explode. I can’t think about it anymore.
I need music to fill my head, but Aiden doesn’t have any CDs in here. I turn the radio back on, search through until I find a heavy metal station, and turn it up loud.
Twelve hours and two gas stop breaks later, I’m finally driving into Keno.
It’s late. I’m tired. And my fucking head aches.
Keep This Promise Page 110
