“It was Austin who held our group together. He was the glue. Things changed after he died,” Bean interjected. I shook my head. I knew exactly what he meant.
Ace is a cameraman for a local news station. Jewel laughed and said I have probably seen some of his work since I have been in the news lately. I was surprised to hear he has been married twice, has two children, and is engaged to be married again. Jen and Lynn seemed to fall out of touch years ago. The last anyone heard, Jen married a lawyer who was retained on a permanent basis for a Wall Street firm. No one knows where Lynn is; they guess Lynn is in France somewhere since France is where her girlfriend was from.
Around eight, I admitted I would need to get back. Jewel explained how she had to break me out of hiding without going into any real details. Everyone laughed at the bizarreness of the whole thing, and I could tell there were more questions lurking, but Jewel agreed to take me back to “jail” as she called it.
I helped Claudia and Jewel gather up our plates, glasses, and the remains of the angel food cake we snacked on before we all said our goodbyes and agreed to stay in better touch. I was unsure I could really promise to stay in touch the way they would like, but again my friends decided not to ask me any further questions, so for that I was grateful.
Jewel and I exited out of the elevator into the main lobby area of the apartment building. All hell broke loose. All I could see was flashing lights, blinding me with speed. It was an ambush, complete with screaming people flinging questions at me, pressing into me, and knocking Jewel down. The cameras clicked in rapid succession. The sound of all the voices, along with the bright flashing of all the flashbulbs, became overwhelming. It took me a second to gain my bearings. I grabbed for Jewel’s hand. I pulled her up while trying hard to back into the elevator for escape.
“What’s wrong with you people?” I shouted out. “Can’t you see you knocked down my friend?”
A deep voice rang out, “Tell us, Ms. Wells. Where is Chandler?”
“Can you tell us how the filming is coming on Cayden’s movie?” Another voice screeched out over the rest.
Someone else asked, “What are your upcoming plans?”
Another more muffled voice added, “Tell us about Cayden. Is it true you were staying in the same hotel as him over the weekend?”
“Can you tell us why you use a pen name and not your real name? Would you rather we call you Ms. Perri or Ms. Wells?” someone else bellowed.
Each question seemed to hit me, knocking me back further and further. It was like being hit with bricks. Each question bruised my skin, left a mark. Jewel and I made it back into the elevator, stumbling over our own feet. She flipped someone the bird before the doors closed.
We were stuck. My hands shook, not in fear but in total and complete anger. I wanted to bust out of the elevator like the Tasmanian Devil and beat down the first person I could get my hands on.
“I am so sorry, Winter. This is all my fault,” Jewel said.
“No. I knew better. It’s just…I really didn’t think we would have this kind of a problem.”
“How the hell are we going to get you out of here?” Jewel said with sheer panic covering the entirety of her usually jovial face.
I reached into my bag and pulled out my cell phone. “Don’t stop on the sixth floor, or they will bombard Claudia and Bean. Stop on any other floor,” I said. Jewel pushed the button to the fourth floor. “Crap!” No signal.
“Who are you going to call?” Jewel asked.
The bell to the elevator rang. Jewel and I stepped out onto the fourth floor. I walked toward the window in the hallway, trying to gain a signal. I had no choice. When I had four bars on my screen, I flipped open my phone, dialed and waited two rings….
“Jayden,” I said when he answered.
“Winter! Where the hell are you?” Jayden replied. He was not his usual calm cool self.
“I am so very sorry. I can explain later, but for now, I am trapped inside of a building. The press, they are everywhere. Jayden, they are swarming like ants. They even knocked down my friend trying to get to me. They have been doing their homework, too; they know my real name now.”
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“I guess. I don’t know how to get out of here,” I confessed.
“Tell me where you are.”
I told him the address.
“Stay away from the crowds as best you can. Langdon and I will come get you. Langdon is closer to you than I am so he will be there first.”
Crap, Langdon. You have gone and done it now, Winter.
I ended my call and threw my phone back into my bag. No doubt Cayden was going to go insane when he heard this, and he would hear about it. There would be no way to keep it from him, especially since Langdon was his personal bodyguard.
I looked back at Jewel and knew I had to find a way to get her out of this mess.
“Jewel, you need to get back into the elevator. Stop on several different floors then either go back to Claudia and Bean’s or take the fire exit to your car. You need to get out of this mess. My bodyguard and Cayden’s bodyguard will be here soon. They will get me out of here.”
“No, I am not going to leave you,” she said with tears in her eyes.
“Listen to me. I do not want you involved any more than you already are. You do not need to worry about me. Do what I am asking for me, please.”
Jewel looked at me for a long moment and shook her head in agreement. She hugged my neck and stepped back into the elevator. I watched when it stopped on the fifth floor before it went up to the eighth floor. I stopped watching the numbers and stood in complete silence, beyond mad at myself as well as a little dazed. When my cell phone rang, it startled me.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Winter, this is Langdon. Where are you? I am almost at the apartment building now.”
“I’m on the fourth floor. The press was swarming the lobby, but I don’t know where they are now.”
“Winter, is there an elevator or stairs?”
“Both. I took the elevator, but there is a stairwell for fire exits.”
“Get back into the elevator,” he said. “Stop on more than one floor then go to the second floor. Find the fire exit and wait there. Do not go into the stairwell,” Langdon instructed then the phone went dead.
I walked toward the elevator. I heard the bell, the doors opened. I watched in horror. Three men exited with cameras in position. They had already started taking pictures of me before they stepped out of the elevator. I held my hand up to my face and froze.
“Please,” I said. “I am not interesting at all. You are wasting your time here with me.” It seemed my voice was small.
“Winter. Can I call you Winter?” A large dark curly-haired man asked while still snapping pictures. I ignored him and tried to cover my face. I backed up from the camera lenses that were extremely close to me.
“Don’t be that way, we just want to ask you a few questions,” another voice rang out.
“I do not have anything to say,” I replied, hoping to buy some time.
I wasn’t going to make it to the second floor. All I could do was hope Langdon would finally find me here. At least three people were much more manageable than the horde of press I ran into down in the lobby.
The third man joined in. “We are trying to do our job here. You are making things much more difficult than they need to be.”
“You know, breaking into apartment buildings and evading people’s privacy is not what I would call a job!”
The dark curly-haired man laughed a breathy sound. “When you decide to hook up with famous people, you should know what you are getting into.”
“Just because someone is famous does not give you the right to every piece of their life.” I was really getting pissed off. All I could think about was how hard things were for Cayden due to these people.
“What can you tell us about Chandler? Why is he not here with you?” the dark curly-haired man ask
ed. “It seems you two are quite cozy.”
“It is none of your business why I am here or where Chandler is!”
The third man with red hair asked, “How do you feel about Cayden Cain? We hear rumors you two were staying in the same hotel without his brother Chandler. Wouldn’t you like to set the record straight?”
“No,” I said.
“No, you weren’t staying at the same hotel, or no, you don’t want to set the record straight?”
“Or maybe you are interested in having a little brother action.” The dark curly-haired man smirked, trying to bait me. “Playing both brothers, huh? Share and share alike, is it? Acting out some of those hot steamy love scenes you write?”
“You’re sick.”
“Well, I can give the Cain brothers some credit, they always surround themselves with grade A tail,” he returned. “Cheryl Lynn’s a piece of prime cut which Cayden sinks his teeth into and then there is that Victoria’s Secret model he was out and about with a few months ago.”
“Shut up!” I yelled.
“Touchy when it comes to Cayden I see. How about Chandler? He’s procured more Hollywood pussy than a porn star.”
“You really are twisted,” I said.
He shrugged. “Maybe? Being around as long as I have been, I’ve seen some twisted things. But writing the books you do, I imagine you are acquainted with twisted.”
Langdon’s voice leapt across my senses as he told the photographers to get back. His deep voice a welcome sound. He barreled through them, hurling his arms around my shoulders. He moved quickly, walking with me to the fire exit. Once we were inside the stairwell, he shut and busted the security breakaway mechanism, locking the door behind him.
“Come on,” he said, taking me by the hand and pulling me down the stairs.
“How are we going to get out of here?” I asked.
Langdon stopped on the lobby level, placed his ear to the door, obviously listening. He must have heard commotion outside the door. He broke that security mechanism, locking that door as well. Langdon pulled out his phone….
“Jayden, we are kind of stuck here. The lobby is covered. The parking garage is covered and the bastards are on the move. I’m going to take Winter up to the second floor. We will be going out the exterior fire escape. What’s your ETA?” There was a pause then Langdon said, “I’ll have Dave pick us up in the alley.”
“What?” I said.
Langdon was dialing as fast as he hung up.
“Dave, head to the alley,” Langdon said then flipped his phone shut.
Langdon took my hand and pulled me back up the stairs to the second floor. He opened up the fire door and looked down the corridor before we walked to the back window at the end of the long hallway. He opened up the window, which by the way was no easy task. It was an old wood-clad window. By the look of it, I would guess it hadn’t been used in years. Once the window was up, he stepped out onto the exterior fire escape as if this was nothing, and he exits every building this way.
“How did you get here so quickly?” I asked.
Langdon helped me through the window onto the landing. He pushed the iron stairs down. When they extended out, I heard them squeak and creak, hitting the ground below. It sounded like a rusty spring uncoiling.
“We were on location, filming not too far from here,” he replied. “Come on.” He tugged at me. “We need to get to the ground.”
Langdon stood at the base of the stairs waiting for me to get closer to him then he picked me up and sat me one the ground. Evidently, my pace was much too slow.
A dark blue Mercedes rounded the alley. It stopped next to us. I looked up. There were at least two photographers hanging out the second floor window snapping pictures. Langdon pushed me into the backseat. He followed in behind me.
“Seat belt,” Langdon snapped at me. I strapped myself in.
I gazed out the window. Shocked. Amazingly, there were more photographers standing at the end of the sidewalk taking pictures and even more photographers by the Dumpsters.
“Go,” Langdon said to the driver who then backed up the entire length of the alley before whipping around the far corner. Langdon pulled out his phone and made a call. “Jayden.” He paused for a moment. “Yes, I have her. What’s your location?”
I heard a buzz on the other end.
“All right, met us at the turn off,” Langdon said. With nothing further, he snapped his phone shut.
I glanced down to see my shaking hands. In a few moments, the black Mercedes I recognized came up behind us. Both cars came to a stop.
“Dave,” Landon said to the driver, “I’m taking Ms. Wells to the other car.” Dave shook his head but said nothing.
Langdon helped me from the car and into the backseat of the other Mercedes. He quickly entered, sliding beside me.
“What were you thinking?” Jayden asked. He was looking at me with total disappointment on his face.
I wanted to crawl under the seat with more than embarrassment. For someone who avoided attention I sure made a spectacle of myself. I knew there would be pictures of me and Langdon scaling the side of the building, coming down the fire escape.
“I don’t know. I am so sorry for all of this. I should not have left the estate,” I admitted, pressing my face into my hands.
Langdon’s phone rang.
“Mr. Cain,” he said as he answered it.
Oh no, I knew I was in huge trouble.
“Yes, sir, I have her now,” Langdon replied.
Langdon was silent. I heard the low buzz of Cayden’s voice vibrate through Langdon’s phone. Cayden was pissed off, although I could not tell what it was he was actually saying.
“I don’t know, sir. She was in quite the predicament, the press was en mass,” Langdon replied.
My gaze flitted toward Jayden. I am sure I looked wide-eyed and shocked like a deer caught in the headlights.
“No, she is not harmed, a little shaken up but not harmed,” Langdon said. “Yes, sir. Our ETA twenty minutes.”
This was bad, extremely bad. Cayden did not ask to speak with me. He must be far too angry to speak to me right now.
“I am sorry, Langdon. I hope you and Jayden are not in as much trouble as I am,” I said. “How mad is Cayden?”
“He is very upset,” Langdon said.
“You guys will be okay, right? I didn’t get you or Jayden in trouble, did I?”
“Jayden and I are fine. You do not need to worry about us, but you do need to be careful in what you do and where you go.”
I shook my head in agreement. It was quiet for the rest of the ride back to the estate.
Chapter Two
He Might Just Kill Me
When I walked through the doors, entering into the foyer of the estate, Zander and Melissa were waiting for me. Chandler popped out of the media room, glared at me with a scowl as if he was mad, shook his head in obvious disappointment, and walked back the way he had come.
“Winter, are you okay?” Zander asked.
“Yes. I was stupid, and I know it. I really owe everyone an apology. I am sorry for making such a scene. I feel horrible. It’s just, I really did not believe anyone would notice me or even care if they did notice. I was wrong. I should have listened to everyone.”
“I’m glad you are all right,” Melissa said softly.
“Zander, how mad is Cayden?” I asked.
Zander looked at me for a moment without speaking then said, “I do not know if I have ever seen him so….” He seemed to be pondering his words. “Upset.”
“Cayden is here,” Melissa interjected in a quiet voice.
I glanced down at the floor and shook my head. “Here?” I echoed quite flatly.
Zander shifted his weight, relaxing a bit before he said, “Yes, we called off the shoot for today. When you did not answer Cayden’s phone call, he called here to the estate. Jayden started looking for you and, of course, he did not find you. Cayden went a little bit nuts hearing that news. When you cal
led Jayden well…let me just say that was very difficult. Cayden has been here at the estate for a little while. I believe he is in your room, waiting for you.”
“Zander, why did you call off the shoot? That cost you money and further delays.”
He raised both eyebrows as though my question was ridiculous. “We were all worried about you, and there was no way Cayden could continue. You better go show him you are all right.”
I shook my head in agreement. “Okay.”
My hand was shaking like a leaf when I reached out for the doorknob to my room. The knob was warmer than my hand when I touched it. I was freezing cold, probably due to the fact my blood seemed to stop pumping from fear I hurt Cayden. I tried to steady my hand. No use. I’d been shaken up by the event, but this shaking was fear I had disappointed Cayden at the very least.
I took a deep breath and turned the knob. Cayden stood at the balcony doors, his back to me. He ran his left hand though his hair, anxious.
“Cayden,” I said in a whisper, not sure I could find the strength for my whole voice.
I threw my bag and my coat. They hit the ground at my feet. Cayden’s shoulders seemed to stiffen before he became motionless. The palms of my hands felt clammy, so I swiped them down my hips, using my jeans to remove the dank sensation from my skin. I wondered if Cayden would turn around, then slowly he turned. The cowardly part of me wanted to back out of the room, while the more logical grown-up side knew I needed to stay. Face the music, so to speak, but when Cayden looked at me I saw the appearance of a destroying angel. Beauty and ferocity, the only words to explain his demeanor.
Cayden’s lips were pressed together in a hard straight line. Jaw clenched. It looked as though he was biting down on steel and would spit bullets. Cayden’s dark eyebrows pushed together in an angry brow creasing configuration. The expression seemed livid. I watched as the dark blue-gray color of Cayden’s eyes flashed before he closed them. He pinched the top bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb. He didn’t move. I experienced the beating of my heart in my throat. Each beat counting down the time in excruciating slow motion. Cayden finally seemed to take a breath as he dropped his hand and gazed down at the floor.
Eternal Page 3
