Unravelled (Revealed #2)

by Alice Raine

  ‘So, this is where I’m living. Temporarily,’ Sean emphasised as he drove up a curved driveway towards a large, white, low-level house. Once we pulled to a stop I climbed from the car and pulled in several breaths to calm myself. Running my eye over the house again, I was vaguely reminded of my childhood holidays in Spain because it resembled a villa, with arched windows, tiled steps, and terracotta roof slates. It was lovely, and huge. Obviously.

  Now we were well away from prying eyes, Sean came around the car and pulled my cap off, chucking it in the back seat along with his. Placing his hands on my shoulders, he grinned, not seeming at all bothered by his hat hair, but then again, it looked all ruffled and spiky and basically gorgeous. Mine, however, felt like I’d just spent the last hour in a wind tunnel, and I quickly ran a hand through it, hideously conscious of the fact that I was about to meet a virtual supermodel. Stopping my agitated movements, Sean gently smoothed my hair for me, running his fingers through the long strands until my eyes fluttered closed from the pleasure spiking through my scalp. If he was trying to relax me by targeting my soft spot, then it was working.

  ‘I can’t wait until all this is sorted and I can show you the place I bought over here. You’re going to love it, Allie.’ As soon as Sean’s fingers stopped their wondrous touch, I opened my eyes and immediately felt my nerves return when I eyed the house behind him.

  ‘Mmm-hmm,’ was all I could manage. Yes I was excited about seeing his new place, of course I was, but right now my focus was on the impending meeting with Savannah.

  Chuckling, Sean took my hand in his and began to lead me towards the house. ‘Come on, Savannah won’t bite. Plus she’s expecting us, I called ahead to check she was home.’ Using some fancy key fob to open the front door, Sean led me from the heat of the day into a large, bright, cool entrance hall. The floors were polished marble, and the scattered furniture was all expensive-looking, but it felt quite sterile, and lacked any warmth or homeliness. There were no knickknacks, photographs, or personal belongings, no coats over the ornate bannister, nothing. It felt very much like a show home. Which I suppose it was; they were ‘showing’ the world they lived together, even though it was a sham.

  Leading me through the extensive property, we passed a large lounge fitted out in beiges and creams, past several closed doors, and then into a huge, brightly-lit kitchen. Wow. This part of the house was amazing – a beautiful, modern kitchen complete with granite work surfaces and shiny black cupboards that ran seamlessly into a dining area. This section had a wooden table large enough to seat ten, and continued through to a small seating area with leather sofas. All this was lit by daylight flooding in from the wall of windows that ran along the entire rear of the property, almost making it feel like we were in the garden. It was incredible.

  ‘Savannah must be out on the deck,’ Sean commented, pointing at the opening in the glass that led to a wide decking area strewn with loungers, and then down to an immaculately kept garden. I was quite speechless. Talk about how the other half live – this place was stunning.

  ‘Would you like a drink? Coffee, tea, perhaps some juice?’ Sean questioned as he opened the fridge.

  ‘Water please,’ I replied, and then I heard padding footsteps behind me and turned to see Savannah Hilton – clad only in a tiny leopard print bikini and knee-length see-through sarong – making her way through the doors towards us. She gave me a cursory inspection before sweeping her face towards Sean and smiling broadly. ‘Something cool for me too, darrrling, it is so hot out there today.’

  Frozen to the spot. That’s how I felt, because I had gone totally rigid from head to toe. Even my scalp felt taut. First of all, if she knew we were coming then she was clearly displaying her perfect body on purpose, and secondly, the way she called him ‘darrrling’ with that irritating roll of her tongue made it sound overtly intimate, and I immediately wanted to punch her.

  So here she was in the flesh. Savannah, Sean’s co-star, but more important in my mind – Sean’s ex. Even if they hadn’t actually slept together, they had dated, which probably meant they had kissed and maybe fooled around a little. Ugh. The thought of their hands being on one another made me sick with jealousy.

  Turning from the fridge with a bottle of juice, Sean took one look at her lack of attire and sighed heavily, as if he was used to her flaunting displays. Placing the juice on the counter he walked over to the sofas, picked up a white shirt, and tossed it to her, barely sparing her a glance in the process. ‘We have guests, put some clothes on.’

  Rolling her eyes – her perfectly made up eyes, complete with smoky eyeshadow – Savannah shrugged into her shirt, closing just one button over her stomach, and then finally turned her attention towards me, her eyes narrowing a fraction as she soaked in my appearance.

  ‘You’re probably right. I’m all sweaty, I must look such a state.’ From the snide look she gave my outfit, I took that comment to mean that she thought I looked a state. Which I probably did.

  Even with the slight sheen of sweat on her skin from the sun she looked flipping perfect. In fact, it probably just improved her overall sexiness. Her waist was miniscule, stomach flat, arms and legs toned and tanned, and hair as sleek and shiny as if she had just walked out of a salon. If I were being bitchy, which clearly I was, then I’d have said that her boobs were almost definitely fake.

  I’m a laid back person, and can usually get along with pretty much everyone, but Savannah? I took an immediate dislike to her that was so strong it was causing my stomach to roil and churn and my skin to prickle with the urge to move away from her. She practically reeked of falseness.

  Coming around the counter, Sean handed me my water and Savannah a glass of orange juice, slid his free hand around my waist, and made the introductions. ‘Allie, this is Savannah Hilton. Savannah, Allie Shaw, my gorgeous girlfriend I’ve been telling you about.’ Savannah’s expression was unreadable, slightly pouty and sour-looking, but perhaps that was just what Botox looked like. My insides warmed from his words, and the feel of his fingers sitting possessively on my hip grounded me to the point where I could actually manage words.

  ‘Savannah, it’s a pleasure to meet you.’

  Her eyes noticeably ran up and down my body a few times before returning to my face. For a second, it looked like she was decidedly unimpressed with what she saw, before her expression suddenly cleared, becoming almost friendly. ‘And you, Allie. I’ve heard a great deal about you.’ OK, well that was polite enough, perhaps I’d misread her initial look.

  Sipping her drink, Savannah suddenly screwed up her face and almost retched. ‘Eww. God, Sean, how many times do I have to tell you I drink the low fat juice, not this sugar-ridden stuff?’ Turning to me, she rolled her eyes conspiratorially as if we were best friends and then sashayed across the kitchen and towards the sink. I’m fairly sure the exaggerated roll in her hips as she walked was for Sean’s benefit, but rather satisfyingly I noticed that his eyes were still glued to me. Dumping her juice down the sink, she refilled it with the right juice, giving another eye roll and an irritated click of her tongue as she did so. What a diva!

  ‘So, how are you finding LA, Allie?’ Savannah asked, slipping her lean body up onto one of the bar stools and giving a nod of satisfaction when she took a drink of her new juice. I noticed this new positioning allowed one of her long, lean legs to escape from the sarong, and couldn’t help but wonder if the display were accidental, or once again for Sean’s benefit. My inner bitch suspected the latter.

  Polite conversation with Savannah Hilton in a mansion in the LA hills was not how I’d expected this afternoon to pan out, but I did my best to appear calm and casual, even if my insides were still a little clenched at the forced nature of our meeting. ‘It’s great. Nice and warm compared to the UK.’

  And so it went from there – we all talked pleasantly for the best part of half an hour, Savannah and Sean briefly discussing their busy schedules over the coming weeks but making me feel very much a part of the conve
rsation until I was surprisingly relaxed. This was turning out to be fairly pleasant. Savannah was a bit over the top with some of her mannerisms, but the more we chatted, the more I started to think that perhaps I’d been too quick to judge her. She was a drama queen, yes, but she seemed to like me, and her intentions towards Sean appeared friendly, and not overtly territorial as I’d expected.

  ‘I’m just popping to the toilet,’ Sean said, placing a quick kiss on my shoulder as he left the room.

  ‘Would you like any snacks?’ Savannah asked, standing up and coming around the counter towards me where she opened a small cupboard to my left.

  Sipping my water, I shook my head and smiled. ‘I’m fine, thanks.’

  Closing the cupboard door empty-handed, Savannah looked down at me and returned my smile, but this time it seemed tinged with sympathy, which confused me. ‘I think you’re taking this all very well,’ she said, her face softening with almost exaggerated concern and her tone consoling as if she were speaking to an injured child.

  Assuming she meant having to hide my relationship with Sean, I shrugged and nodded. ‘Thanks. It is what it is, we won’t have to hide forever.’

  Laughing dryly, she crossed her arms, suddenly seeming to loom over me because she was standing really, really close. ‘Oh, I didn’t mean that darrrling. I meant me and Sean.’ Her and Sean? What? Now I really was confused. And I still really disliked the way she rolled her r’s. It sounded so condescending.

  ‘You mean living together?’ I asked cautiously, not really sure where she was going with this.

  ‘Noooo.’ She drew the word out long and slow, as if I was stupid and couldn’t understand her. ‘I mean you’re very good for overlooking the fact that he and I still fuck.’

  It took several seconds for her words to infiltrate my mind, and as they did I simply sat there staring at her and blinking rapidly. Still fuck? I didn’t think they had ever ‘fucked’ in the first place. I instantly wanted to vomit all over the sickly sweet smile on her face as she towered over me, her height advantage suddenly that much more noticeable.

  ‘We work together so much, go to events together, and now live together, so it’s understandable, really, that our sexual urges sometimes get the better of us.’

  Urges? Understandable? Flipping understandable? None of this was understandable, what the hell was she talking about? I’d asked Sean this very question and he had stared into my eyes as he promised me that they’d never slept together. He’d looked so solemn, so truthful … had that been an act? Just my fabulously talented actor boyfriend using his skills to deceive me?

  My head was spinning. If it wasn’t for bloody Little Miss I-Fuck-Your-Boyfriend standing in front of me, I probably would have fallen to the floor, but there was no way I was giving her the satisfaction of seeing me crumble.

  ‘I should be thanking you, really,’ she continued, taking advantage of my shocked silence. ‘When you first arrived in LA and had that falling out? Christ, Sean was like a man possessed that night. I don’t think he’s ever taken me that roughly before, or so many times. It was incredible … don’t you just love how dominant he is?’

  She knew about his preference for control? And about our argument? Sean had told her? And then fucked her? That was it. I couldn’t take any more. Jumping up so suddenly that my stool tumbled backwards and crashed onto the spotless marble floor, I stared at her in open-mouthed shock, still unable to formulate words.

  Savannah blinked at me several times before her mouth popped open in a silent ‘o’ shape and she dramatically raised a hand to cover it. ‘Oh God … you didn’t know. Fuck. Allie … I thought he’d told you darrrling …’ Wincing as her irritatingly-rolled word ground its way into my brain, I squeezed my eyes shut for a second just to check that I wasn’t imagining this.

  Sean wouldn’t have slept with her, would he? But if he hadn’t, then how did she know about his tendency for dominance? Suddenly all my insecurities about us, and his celebrity lifestyle, came crashing down upon me. Hard. Really, when it came down to it, I barely knew him. Our entire relationship had been based upon a week of snowbound fucking followed by secretive meetings and forbidden liaisons. I knew the façade he had presented to me, the slightly neurotic, intense, but ultimately caring man, but was that the real him or just a front? Now he was back in the comfortable surroundings of Hollywood, perhaps he’d slid back into his old ways.

  Opening my eyes, I found Savannah reaching out for me, her hands flying up towards my shoulders in a supportive gesture, but the evil glint in her eye completely gave away her glee. She was loving this.

  Despite the fakeness and ugly smirk, I could see that men would find her beautiful. Sean surely would, too. He was impetuous and passionate when it came to sex, he’d proven that with me, so with her constantly around him I’m sure it would have been easy for him to give in to his ‘urges’, just like she’d said.

  The need to vomit reared up my throat again as I stepped out of her reach, half tripping over the bloody stool as I clutched at the kitchen counter for stability. I couldn’t breathe. I was so panicked I was lightheaded, lights bouncing before my eyes until I could barely see.

  Hot tears were burning my eyelids, my nose clogging with the need to release them, but I would not give this bitch the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

  Knowing that I was about to do the one thing I had promised Sean I wouldn’t, I turned from Savannah and prepared to run.

  I had to get away, and I had to get away now.

  The Untwisted Series

  Alice Raine

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  Copyright © Alice Raine 2016

  The right of Alice Raine to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the without the written permission of the publishers: Accent Press Ltd, Ty Cynon House, Navigation Park, Abercynon, CF45 4SN

  All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.