by Jillian Dodd
I close my eyes and try to pretend I’m dancing with Aiden. But Knox doesn’t move the way Aiden does. His leg doesn’t fit between mine like it should. His hands don’t grip my hips like he owns them.
“Uh, I need to pee,” I say, suddenly coming up with a way to get off the dance floor and quickly fleeing.
I don’t even think about my safety or Vincent until I’m rushing out of the bathroom and a brick wall of a man is standing in front of me, blocking my way.
“Where’s a pretty little thing like you going in such a big hurry?” he says, taking a step toward me.
I back up as warning bells go off in my brain, the hair on the back of my neck stands on end, and my stomach feels sick. This man is dangerous, and I’m not sure even with all of Cooper’s training that I’d stand a chance against him.
I look behind him, hoping someone else will need to use the bathroom, but there’s no one coming. He takes another step toward me, but this time I don’t step back. Instead, I move toward him, letting my shoulder bump into his and say, “Excuse me.”
He doesn’t move, so I speak louder. “I said, excuse me!”
He grips my shoulder tightly and pushes me against the wall, setting off visions of being raped in the bathroom.
“I’m going to say it one more time. Excuse me.”
The guy laughs at me, so I do what I’ve practiced over and over. I curl my fist, punch him in the throat, sweep kick his kneecap with my heel, and then stand back up quickly, using my leg strength for leverage as I thrust my elbow up under his chin.
He groans and falls to the floor, clutching his knee. I step over him and run back to the VIP section in tears.
Knox is out dancing, surrounded by women, but his bodyguard rushes toward me. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong is you suck as a bodyguard. I was attacked by a huge man coming out of the bathroom and you were nowhere to be found. Tell Knox I said goodnight.”
I pick my handbag off the couch and storm out the door, completely forgetting about the cameras until they start flashing.
“Keatyn! Where’s Knox?”
“Why are you crying?”
“He’s a cad, isn’t he?” a girl without a camera says. She has a wild look on her face, and I’m sure she’s the stalker he spoke of.
I cover my face with my hand, turn around, and run straight into Knox, who wraps me in a hug.
“I’m sorry,” he says as the cameras flash around us.
He pulls me back into the club as the valet waves our driver forward. It’s then that Knox’s bodyguard finally does something worthwhile, working with the club’s bouncers to shield us as we get into the car.
“Tell me what happened,” Knox says, still holding me protectively.
I shake my head. “I just want to go home.”
“They’re following us,” his driver says.
“Then take us back to my place.”
Once we’re safely back in his hotel, I take out my phone and call Cooper. “I need you to come get me, but there’s paparazzi everywhere.”
“They’ll be out there until morning,” Knox says. “Waiting to get the morning after photos. So they can say you spent the night. They can see if I walk you to the car. If it’s a walk of shame or if we get coffee together.”
“What happened?” Cooper says in my ear. “You sound upset.”
“We’ll talk about it later. It sounds like I’m stuck here.”
“Aiden wants to talk to you.”
“Boots, are you okay?” Aiden’s silky voice comes over the phone, which makes me start crying.
“No.”
“I’m coming there.”
“You can’t.”
“Keatyn, no one knows me. I’ll look like any other guest checking in.” I hear Cooper talking in the background. “Cooper says he’ll bring your wig and some clothes.”
I take a deep breath. “I need a minute to think about what I want to do. I’ll call you back when I figure it out.”
“You just told me you weren’t okay.”
“I wasn’t. But now I am.”
“What changed?”
“I talked to you.”
I swear I can feel him smiling through the phone. “Okay. Call me back.”
I end the call and set my phone down.
Knox sits down and hands me a bottle of water. “I’m sorry. I didn’t tell Hugo to watch you. He doesn’t normally watch out for the girls I’m with.”
“It’s okay. I handled it.”
“The bouncer said you took some big guy down. Wiped out his knee.”
“When I came out of the bathroom, he wouldn’t let me by. I asked nice twice. Then he grabbed me by the shoulder and tried to force me into the bathroom. I don’t even want to think about what he wanted to do to me in there.”
“So you punched him?”
“Yeah. Jab to the throat. Heel to the knee. Elbow to the chin. Cooper taught me well.”
“What do you want to do? We’re in this far. If you really want to play it through, you let me kiss you and put you in a car in the morning.”
“I have to finish shooting a music video tomorrow at the studio. Why don’t you come with me?”
“Sounds like a plan. Do you want to watch a movie?”
“I’d really just like to go to sleep, Knox.”
“Come on then, I’ll show you to your room.”
I tell Knox goodnight, wash my face, lie in bed, and call Aiden.
“Can you put me on speakerphone for this part, so Cooper can hear?”
“Uh, sure.”
“So, I’m going to spend the night here. I was wrong not to bring you with, Cooper. He told me his bodyguard was the best, but he was wrong. I sort of almost got attacked by a huge guy at the club.”
“What do you mean, almost attacked?” Riley says.
“I didn’t know you were on too, Riley. How’s the video coming?”
“It’s coming fine,” Aiden says. “Tell us what happened.”
I tell them what the guy did, what I did, how we left, and how the photographers followed us here. “So, my plan is to just go with it. I mean, I went through all of that to make people think we’re together, I might as well let them think I spent the night. I can’t come home. I don’t want to risk it. We’ll both come to the studio tomorrow, as if he’s filming. Then, later, he can go home without me, and I’ll go home with you guys.”
“It’s good to know you can handle yourself under pressure,” Cooper says. “But you shouldn’t have had to.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’ll see you all in the morning.”
“I’m taking you off speaker and going in the bedroom,” Aiden says sternly. “We aren’t done talking.”
“Good,” I say. “Because I’m not finished talking to you.”
“Where are you right now?”
“Lying in bed, wishing I was with you.”
“I’m kind of mad at you.”
“I know. Aiden?”
“What, baby?”
“I’m not that good of an actress.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I was fine pretending to be into him when we got out of the car at the club. He even kissed me on the lips for the cameras. Didn’t faze me. I was just playing my role. Inside the club, I pretended some more. Until he took me out to dance.”
“And then what?”
“I couldn’t pretend anymore. Dancing with him felt so—wrong. So foreign. Not the way it feels with you.”
“How does it feel with me?”
“Don’t you know?”
“Of course, I know. We fit together perfectly. And not just when we’re dancing. In every single way. I told you: BK. Before Keatyn. You’ve ruined me.”
I smile, thinking about all the ways Aiden has ruined me. With his lips. His tongue. And even some other parts. But it’s not just physical. It’s not just the way we fit together on the dance floor. Or the way our bodies mold to each other when we’re in bed. It
’s the way he talks to me when he’s upset. His unwavering faith in us. In me.
“I’m sorry I have to play these games, Aiden. Don’t lose faith in me, okay?”
“Am I going to see a picture of you kissing Knox in the papers tomorrow?”
“Hopefully.”
“And you think that will help your situation?”
“Hopefully. I’m tired, Aiden,” I say. Not just because I’m sleepy, but because this whole ordeal is wearing on me.
“I’m tired too. Night, Boots. I love you.”
“I love you too, Aiden.”
“Rise and shine,” Knox says, bouncing on my bed early in the morning.
I open one eye. “What time is it?”
“Seven.”
“Why are you up so early? And so happy about it?”
He pats his firm stomach and flexes a bicep. “You don’t think I look like this naturally, do you? I work hard for it.”
“At seven in the morning?”
“Yes, ma’am. Wanna go work out with me? Show me some of those moves you used on that guy last night?”
“I don’t have any workout clothes. And I’m not really awake.”
“I ordered some clothes for you to wear. They’re being sent up when the store downstairs opens up at nine.”
“Really? That was sweet of you.”
“If I’m right about things, we’re going to be starring in a lot of future movies together. I need to protect your reputation.”
“Protect it? It was your idea that I spend the night.”
“Yeah, but if you leave in last night’s dress, it looks like a one-night stand. If you leave in something else, it looks planned. Subtle difference, but still.”
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”
“And maybe I’m trying to be nice to you.”
“Why?”
He pulls a newspaper out from behind his back and tosses it on the bed. “Page six.”
I flip the paper open.
Knox Daniel and Keatyn Douglas: Hollywood’s new couple?
Rumors are flying this morning after resident playboy, Knox Daniels, and the daughter of Abby Johnston, Keatyn Douglas, shared a night out. Onlookers at the club say the couple kept to themselves in a large VIP section, snuggling and kissing when they weren’t glued to each other on the dance floor. “She pouted and called him baby when a group of girls tried to crash their party,” a waiter said. Knox, who is a regular at the club, usually keeps the section filled with gorgeous women. “He only had eyes for her,” a clubgoer tells us. Friends of the couple say the two met when Keatyn visited her mom’s long-time beau, Tommy Stevens, on the Trinity: Retribution set before the holiday. Although, if these photos are any indication of the volatility of their relationship, we’d say this pair is in for a bumpy ride.
The accompanying photos are of Knox and me, looking perfect upon arrival at the club. He’s holding my chin and giving me an adorable kiss. There are two grainy photos of us in the club, one of us in the VIP section and the other on the dance floor. But then there’s a photo of me from when I rushed out of the club in tears.
“I look horrid!” I screech.
“You don’t look horrid. I mean, it’s not the most flattering angle, and you do have mascara running down your face, but you look pretty in all the other ones.”
“Oh, and look at the caption under the photo of you hugging me and helping me into the car. Knox knows how to make up.” I roll my eyes until I see a smaller photo of Damian and Peyton below this article. Peyton’s face is partially obscured by Damian’s arm as he leans in to kiss her. There’s a little story about the normal girl from Napa Valley who caught the rocker’s attention. I decide that one bad picture of me is worth burying the story of their date.
“So, all in all, it was a good night. We planted our relationship seed.”
“Are we having a relationship? I thought you were into one-night stands.”
“Normally, I am. But I can see the value of this. For us. Long term.”
“Knox, when things go down with the stalker, I’m not sure if I’ll survive it.”
“Even better. I can be in mourning. Imagine the sympathy sex I’d get.”
My eyes get huge. “Knox!”
He pats my shoulder and smiles. “I’m just joking. You can untwist your panties now.”
“You’re horrible.”
He laughs. “Now that you’re awake, do you wanna go for a run?”
“A run? But you said the reporters will still be—”
“Exactly.” He points to a little pile of running clothes. “Before you go off on me, these are my sister’s. She visits a lot and keeps stuff here so she never has to check a bag.”
“Does your bodyguard run with you?”
“Does he look like he can run? No, I go by myself. Part of why I run. Gotta be fast enough to get away from the hordes of women who chase me.”
“I’m calling Cooper and having him meet us.”
“Cooper looks like he’s in pretty good shape. Sucks at poker, but could probably kick my ass.” He sizes me up. “Although, from the sound of it, you probably could too. Do you think he’d teach me to fight?”
“Maybe.” I grab my phone off the nightstand and see some texts from Aiden.
Hottie God: Good morning, beautiful. I miss sleeping with you.
Hottie God: And waking up with you.
Hottie God: I just miss you.
Me: I miss you more.
I’m smiling as I call Cooper. “Hey, Knox and I are going running in the park. I’d like you to join us. Just come over to his place and we’ll meet you in the lobby.”
“Does Knox go for a jog in the park every morning?”
“Um, I don’t know. Let me ask. Knox, do you go for a run in the park every morning?”
“No. I usually run on the treadmill. Especially in the winter.”
“Did you hear that?” I say to Cooper.
“You’re in the paper this morning. We don’t want to do anything routine. Make sense?”
“Yes, it does.”
“But it is a beautiful morning. I’m assuming there are photographers who will see this run?”
“That’s the plan.”
“I’ll be right over,” he says before hanging up.
With Los Angeles three hours behind New York, it’s hours later when Vincent arrives at his office and overhears his assistant and one of the girls who works in accounting gossiping about Knox Daniel and Keatyn Douglas.
He goes into his office, locks his door, and searches for the story.
And wonders just what she’s up to.
Why now after all the hiding is she going out with a high-profile actor and getting photographed? He thinks about the hostile takeover. How Hondo discovered the ownership of one of the shell corporations. How it is owned by none other than her poor, dead daddy’s father. How Hondo suggested sending one of his guys there to send them a little message.
The question is, who is fighting back? Abby or Keatyn?
It’s got to be the whore, he decides. She’s always been adept at manipulating the press.
That’s when it hits him. He does another Internet search, finding all the tabloid articles about Abby Johnston in the last six months.
He glances in his calendar to verify the date he sent her the photo of Tommy getting his head blown off.
Son of a bitch!
She’s playing him. She wants him to think that she doesn’t love Tommy any more, so he won’t go after him. She’s ratting out her daughter to the press, to keep Matt safe.
He closes his eyes, quickly doing another rewrite. One that includes them both.
On the morning of New Year’s Eve, he learns from one of the surfers that Brooklyn Wright is back in town—and is throwing a party.
One that he will be attending.
It’s a rowdy affair. Beer keg condensation puddling on the expensive Brazilian cherry floor. Pizza dripping with sauce consumed on the all-white living room furnit
ure.
Vincent hasn’t been inside this house since the night of Keatyn’s birthday party, and on that night, he didn’t really have time to look around. He was on a mission.
Tonight, he’s on a different kind of mission. He’s sure that Lacy will show up to be with her Matt. What young couple doesn’t want to kiss the one they love at midnight?
It’s nearly midnight in New York, Vincent knows, based on the big screen television that is turned up almost as loud as the music thumping through the whole house speakers.
“It’s almost time for the ball to drop!” one of the surfers yells out, cranking it up higher as Brooklyn turns down the volume on the speakers.
“That means Twisted Dreams should be up!” Brooklyn says. “I may have gotten a little preview from Damian. You guys are gonna love this video! Our favorite little surfer girl is in it!”
Vincent’s ears perk up, and he moves to the wall adjacent to where Brooklyn is standing, so he has both a good view of both him and the television.
Before he knows it, Keatyn is on the television smiling directly at him. She’s wearing a white mini dress with bold black and chunky rhinestone trim.
An announcer interviews the band, asking them about this song, about the creation of the video, and how they will be airing the world premiere in just a few moments.
Damian, the band’s front man and Keatyn’s best friend says, “The guys and I love to surf, so this song is about that. Chilling on the beach. Hanging with your friends.”
“And that special girl,” another member says. This guy he recognizes as the DJ at the club the night they took his Lacy away in a casket.
The reporter grins and puts his microphone in front of Keatyn, who has her hand firmly wrapped around Damian’s bicep. “In the video we’re about to see, you are that special girl, correct?”
She laughs. “I guess you’ll have to see for yourself!”
“Well, on that note, let’s roll it! Just for our viewers! The world premiere of Twisted Dreams’ new single, ‘Meet Me at the Beach.’”
