One Wild Ride: A Hollywood Chronicles Novel

by Jackson, A. L.

  “How could I ever say no to that? Not when I love you the way I do.”

  The softest smile played around his mouth, and he was pressing into me. So big, he was the only thing I could feel, stealing my breath the same way he’d stole right into my life.

  He grunted in pleasure as he filled me full, and then he was wrapping that big body around me, curling his arm over my head as he began to rock. Passion blistered between us, his movements slow, his love intense.

  “I love you, Elle Ward. I love all of you.”

  And he made love to me. Our bodies in sync. Our moans soft, captured in our kisses like treasures. I’d hold on to them forever.

  I cried out when an orgasm rolled through my body, the intensity of it shattering something inside me. The last chip gone. Kas chasing all the old hurt away.

  He followed, his shoulders curling as his muscles bunched, as his forehead dropped to mine, as his body pulsed and throbbed and shook.

  I’d never felt closer to anyone, not in all my life. I didn’t want to let go, and I got that he didn’t want to, either, because when he pulled out, he just rolled me onto my side and wrapped me up from behind.

  His breaths panted and his heart pounding.

  He squeezed me tight, and I could feel his smile at the back of my neck. “You really are trying to kill me, aren’t you, Princess?”

  I bit back the laughter, though, the smile that took to my face was impossible to contain. I nestled deeper into his hold. “You kill me, in the best of ways.”

  His hand smoothed down my belly and he tucked himself tight against my bottom. “Plan on it. Every. Fucking. Day.”

  Twenty

  Elle

  Sunlight poured in through the bank of windows and basked the bed in a pool of warm, morning light. I stirred against it, stretching beneath the sheets, so deliciously spent I couldn’t stop the huge smile from spreading to my face.

  I reached out, feeling beside me, only to grin wider when I realized I could hear the shower running from the attached bathroom.

  Instantly, my mind was back to last night to when Kas had taken me again and again. Hard and rough and slow and languid and everything between. Every time we’d drift off, he’d be reaching for me again, filling my heart and my soul with whispers of adoration. Telling me over and over how much he loved me. Dreaming about how our lives were going to be.

  My spirit drummed.

  I couldn’t wait.

  A vibration stole my attention. I shifted so I could look up behind me to the nightstand on Kas’s side of the bed where his phone was going off with a text.

  Kas’s side of the bed.

  I nearly squealed.

  Was this real? The satisfied ache throbbing between my thighs promised it was really, really real. Oh, the things that man had done to me.

  I rolled around in the covers, hugging them to my chest, pressing them to my nose. Just relishing in the promise.

  The promise of forever.

  His phone vibrated again.

  Bliss streaked through my body as I rolled over, figuring I’d grab it and take it to him in the shower considering whoever it was must need to get in touch with him since it kept going off.

  The text preview flashed across the top, and I wasn’t trying to be nosy, but there was no missing the name the text had contained.

  Roger Ward.

  Brow furrowing, I sat up on the side of the bed, hand shaking as I reached out when yet another text came through. I felt like a nosey jerk for opening the screen, but found I couldn’t stop myself.

  I clicked into the waiting messages.

  Dominic: Holy shit, Cowen, you dog.

  Dominic: You told me you’d do anything to make it.

  Dominic: But snagging Roger Ward’s daughter? Brilliant. Deviant, but brilliant.

  Dominic: At least I heard she’s hot.

  Dominic: It was the in you needed. Script is coming your way today.

  Dominic: Don’t fuck this up by growing feelings. Remember what we talked about. Live it and you’ll own this town.

  I didn’t realize I was shaking. Shaking and shaking and shaking. Unable to see through the blanket of tears that poured down my face as I stared at the words.

  Don’t fuck this up by growing feelings.

  How could he do this to me? After everything? After everything I shared with him? After everything he’d told me last night?

  I could feel all the healed pieces inside me splintering. Cracking under the weight. Devastation and hurt and betrayal.

  I should have known. I should have known.

  But I had. I was the fool who just hadn’t listened.

  Knowing it didn’t mean it hurt any less.

  Because I could feel it ripping through me.

  Agony.

  Torment.

  The pieces he’d brought to life in my heart completely crushed.

  And I swore I could hear his voice, calling out to me, could feel the blaze of his touch on my skin.

  “Elle!”

  “Elle!”

  Finally, my eyes snapped up. Kas was there, both hands on my shoulders as he shook me, trying to break through the torment that filled my eyes.

  Which was such bullshit.

  Such bullshit.

  As if he didn’t know why.

  His phone was clutched in my hand, and I jolted to standing, still clinging to the sheet as if it might protect me from what he did.

  He stumbled back, nothing but a towel wrapped around his stupid-hot body.

  “How could you?” I seethed.

  Kas blinked, panic flooding from his mouth. “What are you talking about? What is going on?” His eyes darted between my face and his phone. “Why do you have my phone?”

  Busted, asshole.

  “I thought we shared everything?” I taunted, wishing it came out hard instead of coated in tears.

  In heartbreak.

  Because that was what he’d done.

  He’d broken my heart.

  “We do,” he stammered. “What’s going on? Just tell me.”

  I held out the phone. “I trusted you.” It was a pained gasp.

  Kas grabbed the phone, his face falling when he read what was on the screen. “Elle . . . baby . . . this is my idiot agent. He doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about.”

  Disbelief huffed from my lungs. “Don’t . . . just don’t. Pack your things and get out.”

  Kas took a lurching step forward. “No, Elle . . . no, listen to me. He doesn’t know anything. He didn’t know we were together. He’s just making assumptions.”

  I squeezed my eyes closed to protect myself from his lies.

  He reached for me.

  Singeing me with his touch.

  I couldn’t. I couldn’t.

  “Get out!” I screamed. “Get out! I can’t believe I trusted you. You’re just like every other asshole in this city. I can’t believe I fell for it, but you can bet I won’t ever again. Now get out!”

  Pain streaked across his features.

  No.

  I was just another stupid girl getting played by an actor.

  “Elle,” he whispered quietly. “I love you.”

  My eyes squeezed tighter. “Go.”

  Twenty-One

  Kassius

  What the fuck just happened? I run my hand over my face as Elle slams the door behind me, and the sound of her sobs coming from the other side of it? It guts me.

  "Elle, please!" I plead with her through the barrier between us.

  "I said, go away!” Her voice trembles through her sobs.

  "Talk to me, Elle. Let me explain."

  "There's nothing to explain. I said, go away!"

  "Fuck!" I slap her door with my open palm before I turn down the hall and walk to the elevators. I hold my phone, Dom's name flashing across my screen with an incoming call, and I want to break the stupid fucking thing. A stupid misunderstanding because of Dom's fucking idiotic text messages and his shitty humor—a misunderstandi
ng that feels more like an ending now thanks to him.

  I punch the button on the key pad to take me to the parking garage and I bang my head back against the elevator wall in frustration. I have no idea how I'm going to make this right, no idea how I explain what a jackass Dom is. Guilt pools in my stomach as I recall the look of hurt on her face. She thinks I betrayed her. Lied to her. Fuck!

  The elevator doors slide open, and I step out into the parking garage on a mission, headed to my bike and straight to Dom's office. Fucker is going to help me make this right if it's the last thing he does for me.

  I start my motorcycle and crank the throttle, revving the engine loudly as I take off. I'm angry and being reckless, and as soon as I realize this, I reel it in, both my temper and my careless driving. By the time I get to Dom's office in Burbank, I'm even more on edge. Less than a minute later, I'm busting into the reception area, ignoring his administrative assistant and her warning that he's on a call.

  "Not now, Annabelle," I bark at her and push through his office door. "Hang up!" I announce as I slam the door closed behind me and right in Annabelle's face. I'll have to apologize for that, and my outburst, later. Dom shoots me an annoyed look and covers the mouthpiece of his phone, trying to drown out my disruption.

  "Let me call you back. Have to deal with a problem that just came up," he says, looking right at me, his eyes narrowed in annoyance.

  Dick.

  I reach forward and press the end call button on his desk phone disconnecting his call before he finishes speaking. His eyes widen in surprise and I lean forward on his desk, both hands safely planted so I don't succumb to the urge to reach across the oversized desk and strangle him.

  "What the fuck is your problem?" he barks and pushes himself up from his chair. Dom is smaller in height and lighter in weight than I am. I'd crush him if he came at me, but I wouldn't do that to him. He's been a good friend to me, and an excellent agent, until the texts.

  "The texts." It's all I can barely muster, anger raging through me.

  "Calm down, Kas. The script is right here." He reaches out and tosses me a bound stack of papers that bounces off my chest and lands on the desk in front of me. "Jesus Christ, Kas. I told you I'd have it to you today. Give me a minute to deal with some of my other clients shit before you come busting in here demanding things from me. That Calvin Klein contract is barely dry, and this is how you're going to act now that you're some hot shot?" He sits back in his desk chair and props one foot over the opposite knee.

  Those words sting. I swore I'd never change who I was, and for Dom, my agent, and my one true friend in Hollywood to think that I have, hurts. I drop my head in frustration, the anger seeping from me. "It isn’t about the script, Dom. Elle saw your texts. She thinks I'm using her to get to her father."

  “So?” He shrugs and rolls his eyes.

  “So? That’s all you’ve got to say, so?” I pound my fist against his desk in anger.

  “Well, isn’t that what you’re doing, Kas? I mean you can’t be that serious about her. She’s a no one in Hollywood. I mean, she’s Roger Ward’s daughter, and a complete babe, but she’s a no one in this business. It just makes sense that you’d tap that, get to Ward, and move along.”

  “Tap that?” I repeat. Rage courses through my veins. I can feel my heart throttle in my chest and heat take over my body. “Don’t you ever talk about Elle like that again, do you understand me?” I lean across his desk, almost pressing my face to his, so close that I can see the sweat along his hairline. He leans back, creating some distance, and swallows hard.

  “Shit, Kas. I didn’t know it was that serious.” He rubs his hand down his tie and looks away from me awkwardly.

  “Well it is, and you fucked it all up with your fucking text messages.”

  "Shiiiiit," he hisses and rubs his chin. “I’m sorry, man. I really am.”

  "She won't even listen to me, she won’t let me explain. We finally got to this great place and she admitted to me that she was used in the past by a boyfriend . . . that fucker, Christopher Riley, you know him." Dom rubs a temple and nods as I tell him the story. "She recently told me about him and then woke up and found my phone on the nightstand with your texts on full display. Those texts destroyed her, Dom."

  "You know I didn't mean it like that." Dom huffs, swiveling nervously in his desk chair. "I was just—"

  "I knew what you meant, but Elle didn't. She kicked me out, told me she never wanted to talk to me again, that it was over." I pause. "I can't lose her, Dom. I can't. I actually love her."

  He looks surprised at my confession. I'm not a fall-in-love kinda guy. "What can I do?"

  I push off his desk and pace his large office, stopping to look out the large office windows. "I need to make this right, and I need you to help me."

  "How?"

  "I don't know yet, but she has to understand that those texts from you are not how I feel."

  "Okay, I will help you. But, Kas, I need you to change gears for a minute. You have to read that script, right now. You going to read for the casting agent in four hours."

  I snap my head back, turning my attention back to Dom. "What?"

  He holds up his hands in defense. "I know that the timing is less than ideal. They called about ten minutes before your entrance, and they want you for this project, Kas. They want you bad, but we have to go through the formalities. You have to read for the casting director and they want to do that this afternoon," he glances at his watch. "They highlighted the pages that they want you to read, so read them, study them, memorize them. Own them."

  "I don't know if I can do it," I admit, as my stomach turns. "I've got too much on my mind—"

  "It's an emotional scene, Kas. Channel your hurt into this reading. I have complete faith that you can do it. While you're doing that, I'll work on what I can do to make this right with Elle."

  * * *

  "That was exceptional!" the casting director says as she claps her hands wildly. "I really didn't know if you'd be able to pull that off. The intensity of that scene is like none other. I could almost feel your heartbreak and sadness." Blair wipes a stray tear from under her eye. "You have a real gift, Mr. Cowen. To be able to walk in here and read a scene that intense and make me feel it . . .” She puts her hand to her chest over her heart. "You're perfect for this role. Just perfect."

  I nod and swallow against my dry throat. If only she knew how heartbroken I truly am, she might understand how easily it is for me to channel it into my reading.

  "This is a modern-day Romeo and Juliet. A forbidden love story, and you, young man, have nailed it. You have the looks, the passion, the charisma. Everything is perfect."

  "Thank you," I say quietly, wanting to get the hell out of here and over to Elle's.

  "We'll be in touch. Until then," she pulls off her glasses and raises an eyebrow, "I'd consider getting started on that script." She points at the papers I hold in my hand, as I shuffle them around. "There will likely be minor changes, but the more you are prepared the easier it will be for you to step into this role. I'm telling you this unofficially of course."

  I twist the manuscript in my hand and offer her a tight smile. "Of course. Thank you for taking the time to have me read for you today."

  "It was my honor. We'll be in touch . . . soon." She winks and ushers me to the door. As glad as I am to have had this opportunity, my only thoughts are of Elle and how I'm going to make this right.

  * * *

  I park in the garage at her condominium complex and take the elevator up to her floor. Damn near the entire hallway outside her door is lined with vases of roses. I guarantee that was Dom's doing. My heart begins to race as I near her door, juggling the large vase with two dozen roses I brought in my hands. I texted her before I went to my reading, begging her to call me. She hasn't. I just need her to listen to me. To give me five minutes to explain.

  I raise my hand and knock rapidly four times. Blood swooshes through my ears as I wait nervously for her to answer
. When she doesn't, I knock again and wait. Finally, after knocking a third time, I holler through the door, "I know you're in there, Elle. I saw your car in the garage."

  When she still doesn't open the door, I lean forward and press my forehead to cold wood. "Please, Elle, let me explain."

  I wait another minute, and then have to choke down my emotions when I hear the click of the deadbolt. My stomach jumps and my heart stills as the door crawls open.

  "Kas." The voice is firm and cold. It's Lindsay Ward. Not exactly who I was expecting or hoping to see.

  "Mrs. Ward. Is Elle here? I've been trying to get ahold of her."

  "I heard." She purses her lips and crosses her arms over her chest before her eyes go wide as she notices all the roses.

  "Please. I just need to see her for five minutes."

  She holds up a hand and steps toward me. "She isn’t here, and even if she were, she wants nothing to do with you."

  "Please, Mrs. Ward. This is big misunderstanding. I love her. I love Elle. I would do anything for her, and damn it, I'm trying."

  "Sounds to me like you're willing to do anything to land a role in major motion picture." Her eyebrows shoot up and she looks at me suspiciously. My heart sinks with those words. I realize nothing I say is going to change what Elle or Mrs. Ward think about me. They're holding on to the pain and anger of what happened before. They think I'm just like him. Using Elle to propel my career.

  "I am not Christopher Riley." I snap at her. "I would never use Elle. Or intentionally hurt her. What she saw was a series of shitty texts from my agent. Those texts do not reflect how I feel about her or what I would or would not do for her or my career."

  She takes a step back at my outburst and nods. My voice softens, the hurt coming through. "I love her, Mrs. Ward. More than I've loved anything or anyone. She is it for me. She is the only thing I want in this entire world. If I have to spend forever proving that to her, I will. I just need her to talk to me." My voice cracks with emotion, and the anger on Mrs. Ward's face dissolves.