We have an emergency – I’ll be there ASAP. Get the wine ready.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Beckett
I glance down at my phone that’s ringing yet again and silence it with the push of a button.
John raises his eyebrows at me in question and I shake my head at him.
I don’t want to talk to Jamie right now – she’s going to want to know where the hell I’ve got to and when I’m coming back, and right this minute, I don’t have the answers for her… not the ones she’s going to want to hear at least.
“Alright then,” he says in response.
“Did you find a guy?” I ask, and for the first time in months, I feel a thrum of excitement racing through my body.
It’s all down to her.
“I think I’ve found the perfect one,” he tells me as he holds out a scrap of paper with a name and number scrawled on it.
“I’ve been told there’s nowhere in the world someone could hide from him.”
I eye him curiously. “Who’s your contact?”
He shoots me a sheepish look. “If I told you that, I’d have to kill you.”
I chuckle. “Alright then,” I say, mimicking his earlier choice of words.
“He doesn’t always operate on the right side of the law, and pretty-boy actors aren’t his usual clientele, but hey… I guess money can buy you anything after all.”
“I’m filled with confidence,” I drawl as I transfer the number to my cell phone. “Nothing like putting a criminal in charge of finding a woman you have feelings for.”
He shrugs. “We can find you some overweight ex-cop that makes half-assed attempts at tracking people down if you’d prefer?”
“I’m good. Thanks for this, John.”
“You’ve got about thirty minutes, lover boy. I can’t hold off your interviews any longer.”
I nod in understanding. “I’ll meet you downstairs in twenty.”
He doesn’t answer, just turns and leaves the room.
I hit the call button on my screen. This dude better be available right fucking now, because now that I’ve decided to find her, I’m not sure I can wait much longer.
The phone rings four times, before a deep, gruff voice barks one word at me. “Yeah?”
“Hey, ah this is Beckett Thorn.”
“Mr. Thorn.” He chuckles. “I was told you’d be getting in touch.”
“Yeah, I need some help tracking down a woman.”
“The handsome ones always do,” he drawls, a slight edge of a chuckle to his tone.
“So you’ll take the job?”
“I haven’t hung up on you yet, have I?”
I huff out a laugh. “It would seem not.”
“Tell me what you know about her…”
“Her name is Blaire.”
“Good start. Last name?” he prompts.
“No idea.”
“Well that’s incredibly helpful,” he drawls, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Where does she live?”
I tell him the name of the small town that I wound up in and describe the area where I ran in to her.
“Alright… nothing like a challenge. Do you know anything else? Her age? Where she went to school? Where she works?”
I close my eyes momentarily, ashamed with myself. I don’t know shit about her.
She’s basically a stranger – one I’m obsessed with. I’m pretty much a stalker at this point.
“I only spent one day with her, man… and it was a year ago. She’s blonde, killer body – legs for days, she’s a designer… websites and stuff… self-employed… she’s married and drives a black SUV which she keeps in a total fucking mess. She’s got two sisters and a friend that works as a barber. That’s all I know.”
He whistles low. “Must have been one hell of a day.”
“It was.”
“Is there anything else you can give me?”
“If there was, I wouldn’t need you now, would I?” I deadpan.
“I’ll get back to you in a few days,” he announces, his voice clipped.
“That’s it?”
“Unless you’ve got anything else for me after all?”
I shake my head. “Nope.”
“Well then, I’ll send you the bill. Half now – half after I find her.”
I don’t even ask how much, it’s probably a small fortune, but I don’t care. It’s just money and I’ve got plenty of it.
People always say you can’t buy happiness, but I’m hoping to prove them wrong with this operation.
“Okay.”
“Okay,” he repeats.
“Wait, who are you?” I question. I don’t even know his name.
“Trevor,” he replies.
“Thanks, Trevor.”
“I’ll talk to ya,” he says before the line goes dead.
I glance at my watch, stuff my phone back into my pocket and jog for the door.
All of a sudden, the obligations I have don’t seem so suffocating.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Blaire
“Oh my gawwwd… let me read it again.”
I roll my eyes and hand her back my phone. “It still says the same thing it did two minutes ago.”
Her eyes scan over the screen before she shrieks gleefully again. “Oh. My. God. The hottest guy on earth is in love with my best friend.”
“You’re over reacting.”
“Nah uh. He wrote you a song.”
“That could be about anybody. It’s not about me. It can’t be. It was for a movie – it’s not about anyone.”
I don’t know if I’m trying to convince myself or her, but either way, it doesn’t seem to be working.
This isn’t the conversation I imagined myself having with Jen after I broke up with my husband. I imagined lots of wine and ice cream, but I guess that sort of thing must be reserved for people that are actually heartbroken – and I don’t feel that way in the least.
There is wine, but we’re celebrating, not drowning my sorrows.
I don’t even feel sad about leaving behind my house. It doesn’t feel like the place I belong anymore.
There’s no warmth there – no love.
Right now, I think flying halfway across the world to a place I’ve never been, to see a man that is basically a stranger would feel more like going home.
I’m staring off into space while Jen coos over my phone when it hits me.
I could do that.
There’s nothing at all stopping me from doing exactly that.
If that cryptic caption is in fact about me, then he’d be happy to see me… wouldn’t he?
“I could go,” I whisper aloud.
“Go where, babe?” she replies absently, her eyes still glued to the screen. I’d be willing to bet my last dollar that she’s found herself some shirtless photos of Beckett to drool over.
“To him. I could get on a plane and go and find out if he still feels the same way.”
That certainly gets her attention. She drops my phone onto a couch cushion and gapes at me.
“Are you for real right now?”
I shrug. Am I?
I think I might be.
“Yeah… yeah, I think I am.”
“Wow,” she mouths the word at me.
Wow is right. I don’t know what I’m thinking – if I’m thinking at all, but I do know that just this one thought alone feels more natural and right than the past year of my life combined.
“I’ll get the flights loaded up,” she yells as she springs into action, flying off the couch and presumably going in search of her laptop. “You pack a bag,” she orders.
I huff out a laugh. “My whole life is packed into bags,” I holler after her. “My life’s a mess, remember?”
She appears after a few moments, from the hallway, her laptop already open in her hands.
“Good point. What a time saver,” she replies hurriedly as she clicks away on the keys.
I laugh as she settles herself on the couch next
to me.
“Big city, here she comes.” She tilts the screen towards me excitedly. “They’re having a sale and everything. Clearly you were meant to go.”
I glance nervously at it.
“You really think I should do this?”
She sits the laptop down and looks at me, a serious expression on her face. “Put it this way, if you don’t do this, you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life… and you’ll have to find yourself a new best friend, because no best friend of mine would turn down a chance at anything with Beckett fucking Thorn, let alone everything, because we both know he was offering you everything.”
A nervous giggle escapes my lips before it turns into full-blown laughter.
This idea is so crazy, but maybe that’s the beauty of it. Maybe my life just needs a bit of crazy right now.
“Book it,” I tell her with a nod of my head.
“Oh, thank god.” She breathes a sigh of relief. “I really didn’t want to have to find a new bestie.”
She grabs the laptop again, does a few more clicks and then hands it to me.
“The next flight leaves in two hours, is that too soon?”
I shake my head. “It’s not soon enough.”
***
My phone beeps as I wait in the line to board the plane.
It’s from Harvey. I open it curiously. I can’t imagine what he might finally have to say to me, but I doubt it’s going to be worth reading, whatever it is.
To: Blaire
From: Harvey
Were you serious about leaving? What am I meant to have for dinner?
I almost laugh. Almost.
He’s a joke. An actual joke.
That text just cements the fact that the only thing I did wrong in regards to leaving him, was not doing it sooner.
I close the message and find the picture of Beckett and me one more time.
Seeing his handsome face steels my resolve. I can do this.
I turn off my phone and hand the woman at the counter my boarding pass.
Here goes nothing.
***
I stare out the window as the ground disappears below me and we level out above the clouds.
I’m really doing this.
Chasing a man halfway across the globe – yip apparently I’m one of those girls now.
I tune in to the droning voice of the captain over the intercom. “With a flight time of twelve hours and fifteen minutes today, please sit back, relax and enjoy your journey with Elixir Air.”
I take in a deep breath.
I can do this.
I’m on the plane… but the reality is, this was the easy part. The hard parts are yet to come.
I still have to catch a connecting flight, arrive at my destination, find my way to where ever the hell it is I need to be, and then comes the really tricky part… tracking down Beckett.
It’s not like I’m going to be able to just text him and ask him where he is so I can come there.
I have nothing. No cell phone number. No email address. Nothing.
I don’t even know how to go about getting in touch with his agent or manager.
Hopefully Jen will have booked me a hotel by the time I arrive, so at least I’ll have somewhere to sleep.
I sit silently, my eyes open, for what feels like hours, going over and over what I’m going to do when I get there, and for the first time since I booked this plane ticket, it doesn’t feel like such a great idea after all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Beckett
“I think I’ve found her.”
The words echo in my ears, like music to my soul.
“Beckett?” he says my name.
I snap out of it. “Sorry, yeah, I’m here. You found her?”
“I think I have.”
I swallow deeply. I don’t want to get my hopes up just yet. Not until I know for sure.
“My contact over there has sent me through some photos; I’m forwarding them to your cell now.”
I pull my phone from my ear and hit the speaker button so I can see when the message comes through.
I’m like a crack addict in this moment – looking for my next hit.
She’s my fiercest addiction and my biggest weakness all rolled into one.
My phone beeps in my hand.
“That’ll be them,” his voice floats through the space around me.
I drag in a deep, hopeful breath and click the link.
Four pictures appear on the screen and I know without even having to zoom in that it’s her. Undoubtedly.
It’s really her, and fuck, she is so beautiful.
She’s got on a mini skirt, flaunting those sexy legs as she walks down the street.
“It’s her. Holy shit it’s her.”
“That’s what I was hoping you’d say.”
“How’d you get these pictures?”
“I have an associate who scours that corner of the world for me. He came through with the goods.”
“Do you have her number? Or a contact? Where does she live?” I fire the questions out in rapid succession. She’s so close now, she’s finally within my reach and I’m impatient as hell.
“Calm down there, handsome, we needed to confirm with you first – I instructed my colleague to wait until we had a positive I.D.”
“You have it. It’s her. Tell him to do his thing.”
He chuckles. “You’re lucky you’re paying me well – you famous types have no idea about patience.”
He’s not wrong, not when it comes to this woman anyway. I’ve endured a year already; my patience is all run out.
“I’ll be in touch.”
“Wait,” I say before he can hang up on me.
“Yeah?”
“When were these taken?”
“Yesterday.”
I breathe a sigh of relief. She’s got no round belly – no baby in tow – so the chances of her having had a child in the past year seem a lot less likely – that’s what I’m allowing myself to believe anyway.
“Is she wearing a wedding ring?”
I try to zoom in on my phone, but it’s no use, the files aren’t high enough quality.
“I can’t see her left hand,” he replies.
“Alright.” I nod in acknowledgement, knowing full well that a wedding ring won’t stop me from looking for her anyway. “I’ll hear from you then.”
“That you will,” he says before the line goes dead.
***
I sigh in relief and lean back in my chair. That’s the last god damn one for the week – the last interview on this press tour that seems to have lasted half of my life.
I’m sick to death of smiling, answering the same questions, and fawning all over my co-stars.
Don’t get me wrong – they deserve any and all praise, I’m just sick to death of it having to come out of my mouth.
I’ve got a string of public appearances locally over the next few days and then I get a break for a couple of days before flying out for another press tour.
“Are you okay? You seem stressed.”
I open one eye and glance at Jamie sitting next me.
She’s right, I am stressed, it’s been nearly forty-eight hours since I heard from Trevor and I’m starting to think that maybe this contact of his isn’t so great at his job after all.
“I’ve just got some things on my mind.”
She slides her hand across the seat and wraps her fingers around mine.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
I shake my head and tug my hand out from underneath hers.
The interviews might be over, but there are still reporters and cameramen everywhere.
Half the planet thinks we’re together. Hell, Blaire probably thinks we’re together too, and the truth is, if I had never met Blaire, I might have given it a try with Jamie – lord knows she made no secret of her interest in the beginning – she’s a beautiful woman, talented, funny, interesting and charming… but she’s just not the rig
ht woman, and that’s all there is to it.
I’m not one to play around with women, or their feelings, and I made that clear to Jamie from the very start.
To her credit, she accepted it without challenge, and we’ve formed something of a friendship since then – even if John doesn’t believe that’s all there is to it.
He thinks we’re friends with benefits, and once upon a time, I might have been down for that kind of thing – but not now.
I want something real in my life. So much of my existence feels like a fantasy already – I want something, someone, real to come home to at the end of a long day… I want a woman in my life that has the ability to bring me back down to earth when the whole world is trying to throw me sky high.
Blaire could be that woman and it would be as easy as breathing.
I may not know where she went to school or how old she is, but I know she wouldn’t put up with any of my bullshit.
She’d keep me as grounded as a pair of lead boots.
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” Jamie presses, pulling me from my thoughts.
I shake my head again. “Nah, I’m fine. Just looking forward to those days off.”
She giggles softly. “Aren’t we all.”
We sit in a fairly uncomfortable silence for a few beats.
She opens her mouth to speak again, but is swiftly cut off by the shrill ring of my cell phone.
I slide it from my pocket and see Trevor’s name on my screen.
“Finally,” I mutter to myself.
I turn to Jamie. “Sorry, I need to take this.”
I don’t wait for her response as I push up out of my chair and hit answer.
“Trevor, I was starting to think she’d given you the slip.”
“She has,” he grumbles, sounding thoroughly unimpressed with the admission.
My heart sinks.
“My guy found an address for her, but when he went there he got some guy that said he didn’t know where she was.”
Mr. April: A Celebrity Romance (Calendar Boys Book 4) Page 11
