She thought for a moment, still not feeling right about this. In Calabasas, when she had picked up the phone, she hadn’t been sure who she was going to call. Her fingers had automatically dialed his number. When he hadn’t answered that number, she dialed one that he had given her for emergencies. “Thank you,” she told him softly.
“That’s not to say I’m gonna let you stay here without asking some questions first.”
The fierce glint in his eyes told her that she wouldn’t be able to talk her way out of it this time.
“What do you want to know?” she sighed, wringing her hands together.
“Do I look like the type of man that does anything half-assed?”
Those words scared her, and she ran her tongue over suddenly dry lips.
“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable,” he assured her. “But you came here for some reason, and I need to know what I’m facing. You have got to be honest with me, Jessica.”
Since the night the two of them had met, he’d called her Jessica a handful of times. “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you…” she started.
With a voice that could only be described as one used by a drill sergeant, he cut her off. “Then tell me.”
Fighting for the words, she opened and closed her mouth.
“Tell me,” he commanded again, his tone growing harsher.
“I wanted to disappear.”
“But why?” He ran a hand over his head. The peach fuzz was left over from his Army days. He couldn’t tolerate to have hair as long as the rest of them. “I’m gonna tell you this once and once only. You can’t be honest with me; you can take your shit and leave. I don’t put up with liars.”
His words shocked her. She had never known him to speak to anyone that way.
“Don’t look at me like you’re scared of me. I’m being honest with you. Now you be honest with me.”
Her face burned. “Tomorrow a story is going to drop in gossip magazines and on gossip sites along with some pictures.”
“Pictures? All of this over some pictures? Give me the whole story, Jess.”
“They’re nude pictures,” she blurted out.
His eyebrows were almost touching his hairline. “Seriously?”
If Jessica wasn’t mistaken, Layne looked interested. “Yes, seriously.”
“Those pictures are a dime a dozen. Most of young Hollywood has them now.”
“They do,” she nodded. “But there’s a problem with mine.”
He rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “There’s always a catch where I’m concerned. What is it?”
“Two things, actually. One, I have a morality clause in my contract with the studio that’s produced my last four films, and there are a handful of sponsorships that I’m going to lose. The contracts that my dad signed for me before I got emancipated have not been able to be voided. Not only am I screwed, but he’s also going to lose a lot of money. Two, I had the only copy of those pictures, and three days ago my home was burglarized—those pictures were stolen along with other personal items and writings.”
The way she said personal items caused goose bumps on his arms. “What do you mean personal items and writings?”
“Underwear, my date book, a private notebook or two.”
“So whoever this is knows a lot of information about you, as well as where you’re supposed to be for the next few months.”
“Yes,” she nodded. “It scared me.”
Layne could see exactly why she was scared. He wasn’t sure she had a stalker, but someone was very interested in her personal life. “No need to be scared here.” He put his hand on her arm. “Anybody who comes after you while you’re with Heaven Hill will have to go through me.”
That was exactly what she had counted on, and for the first time in days, she breathed easier.
Chapter Three
The room was still and quiet, the only sound coming from the bed where Jessica slept. Most people wouldn’t be able to hear her breathing, but it was the only thing he could hear. At night when he had been overseas in the military, that was the one sound that kept him grounded—that let Layne know he was still alive. He clung to that sound again tonight; not sure why, just needing a sense of familiarity.
Rolling over onto his side, he used his arm as extra support. The pillow he had for this chair wasn’t that great and again reminded him of his time in the Army. There were a lot of things he had learned during his time there that he wanted to completely forget, but there were some things he also coveted. One of those things slept in the bed across from him.
“C’mon, some chick got Justin Timberlake to go to her ball. Why don’t you ask Jessica Shea? You’re a good lookin’ guy, I’m sure she’ll say yes.”
Layne laughed, shaking his head. It was a late night in Fort Benning, Georgia, and the whole group had been drinking more than they should have. That had to be the answer as to why they wanted him—of all people—to make a YouTube video asking an actress to come to his military ball.
“Why me?”
“You’ve got that dark, brooding thing going on. You don’t smile often, and women make it their mission to make you have a good time. Imagine what kind of a good time this woman could give you.”
One of his fellow recruits threw a magazine at him with Jessica on the cover. He wouldn’t lie and say that he’d never watched one of her movies or looked at her and wondered what it would be like to meet her. With red hair and green eyes, her looks were striking. If he wanted to be completely honest with himself, he would admit she was fucking hot. But actresses just didn’t go out with men in the military from backwoods Kentucky.
Somehow during that night, as they took more shots of Southern Comfort and got more daring, he ended up making a video that invited her to his Ranger ball. Miracle of all miracles, she had accepted his invitation.
Layne still wasn’t sure why she’d accepted. Maybe it was fate, maybe it was a divine plan. He figured he would never be able to know for certain. The friendship had completely changed his life, and he would always question what had made him different from every other guy who had asked her to other events. Never before and never again had she said yes.
“I can hear you thinking over here.”
It hadn’t escaped his attention that she had stopped her deep breathing and was now awake.
“Can’t help it. At night I tend to think instead of sleep like normal people do.”
“That must be thanks to your overseas service. You weren’t like that when I first met you.”
She’d hit the nail on the head with that one. It was thanks to his overseas service that left him one fucked up individual, even to this day. On impulse, he asked. “How did you see me when you first met me?”
The silence from her told him just how surprised she was to hear that question. “You sure you want me to answer that?”
“I don’t ask anything I don’t want an answer to; it’s a waste of time.”
“All right. When I first met you, you had this air about you. It was dark, much like you are now, but it wasn’t deadly. It was obvious that you could do what Uncle Sam asked you to, that you could get yourself out of any situation that you found yourself in, but there was still a sense of innocence about you.”
He snorted and interrupted. “There’s never been a damn thing innocent about me.”
“Yes, there was,” she argued. “When you came back, you were a completely different person. Now, you’re different than even that.”
“I had to be,” he answered, his voice flat. He didn’t tell her that being different was the way he made it through his days—it was how he kept himself from going crazy. Most people didn’t understand it, but then again, most people he hung out with hadn’t known him before his military time. They didn’t know how much he really had changed.
Jessica sat up, and with his eyes adjusted to the dark, Layne could make out every feature. Her shirt slipped from her shoulder, showing an expanse of creamy white skin. The purity he s
aw there made him feel like a piece of shit.
“I had to do things that I wasn’t proud of there,” he continued. “Then I decided to just keep doing those things when I came home.”
She licked her lips, not sure of how she wanted to say this, she wanted to use her words carefully. “I don’t think you’re a bad person at all. You made decisions you had to, to deal with things you saw.”
He closed his eyes, seeing some of those things again. “You make it sound so heroic,” he spat.
“It is. You fought for our country.”
“Tell me, Jessica…out of all the men, boys really, that asked you to come to their balls, why did you pick me?”
“I just liked you.” She shrugged.
“No, I’ve never asked you this question before, and I want a serious answer,” his voice was hard. Waiting for her to speak made him nervous. He tightly gripped the blanket that covered his body and waited to hear what she would say.
“You looked like you needed a friend.”
“So it was pity?” The word tasted bad in his mouth. His heart kicked up a beat, and he began to feel sick. This whole friendship was based on pity? This fucking sucked, and for just a moment he wished that he had never given voice to the question.
“No, not at all.” Jessica shook her head and sat up fully so that she could push her legs over the side of the bed. “I saw something in you that I needed too.”
It took everything he had not to cuss her. “Don’t try to pacify me. I got enough of that in the military.”
“I’m sure you did, but I’m not pacifying you. We’ve been friends for years, Layne. Do you think I would have kept this going over a damn ocean if I felt bad for you?”
He shrugged and turned so that he didn’t face her anymore. “I’m sure it was good publicity.”
“Don’t insult me, Layne. It pisses me off. You know I never told anybody about our relationship after that banquet. The only people that knew about it were people that were close to me. I didn’t use you in any way. I was too scared to. Scared that they would target you. I did everything that I could to protect you.” She got up and walked over to him, touching him on the shoulder.
She must have been quieter than she thought because in the blink of an eye, he had her on the ground, his body over hers, her hands trapped at her side. Breathing heavily, she looked him in the eyes. “That was uncalled for.”
“That’s what happens when you fucking sneak up on me. Another residual effect from being overseas.” He got up off her and sat on his bed.
“That doesn’t scare me.”
“Then you’re a damn fool. I don’t know why I agreed that it would be a good idea for you to come here. Much less sleep in the same room as me. I’m a live wire.”
“You’re not going to hurt me, and I want you to stop talking like you’re going to.”
“Then stop talking like you don’t pity me.”
She rolled her eyes, getting frustrated. “Think about it, Layne. I could have gone anywhere in this world to get away from the scandal that’s about to erupt. I didn’t. I came to bum-fuck Kentucky because this is where you are. You, out of everyone I’ve ever known, make me feel the safest. Don’t act like our friendship doesn’t matter. It does.”
“I’m not saying that it doesn’t,” he argued.
“Saying that I’m your friend out of pity says our friendship doesn’t matter.”
They were quiet after those words left her mouth, both of them lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Layne spoke.
“Sorry. I’m kind of rough when it comes to certain things, and I really don’t know how to be any other way. I’ve always wondered why you picked me.”
“I just did,” she whispered. “Even though you smiled and looked happy in the video, I could see in your eyes that you weren’t happy. I could see you needed a friend, and so did I.”
“I did,” he admitted, swallowing hard. “I still do.” Those words were hard to say. The admittance about killed him.
“Then don’t turn your back on me. Let me be here for you.”
That was so hard for him to do with people besides the members of this club. He didn’t really have any female friends. Bianca and Meredith didn’t count as far as he was concerned. Since he had come back from Iraq, he hadn’t even allowed himself to spend the night in the same bed as a woman. Having her here scared him.
“I want you to be my friend, but I have to warn you. I could hurt you.”
“You won’t,” she assured him. “I know you won’t.”
He wasn’t sure, and that was the worst feeling in the world. The happiness he felt when she had decided to turn to him for help was now replaced with an overwhelming anxiety that he would do something to run her off. Mix that with the fact that just being around her made him want to dig his fingers into her hair and tilt her head back so he could bury his mouth against her throat, and he knew the two of them were a deadly combination.
“Being mean to me isn’t going to run me off, ya know. I deal with much worse than you’re giving me every day. Producers, directors, tabloid magazine writers—they are assholes. You’re just a guy trying to protect others from himself.”
She was right; he was trying to protect her from himself. “I just don’t know what I’m capable of. The only people I’ve allowed myself to be around are outlaws and whores, to be perfectly honest with you. I don’t know how to be around the public at large.”
Very delicately, she took his hand. She didn’t hold it, but she let it rest in hers, offering him just a tiny comfort. “Then I’ll do what I’ve done every day since you shipped off to the sandbox.”
Those words made him curious. “What’s that?”
A soft smile played on her lips. “Pray for you. I’ve done it every day. It started out as a prayer that you would come home, then as the days got closer to you being done; it was that you would come home safe. After a while, it was that you would sound normal when I talked to you again on the phone, and lately it’s been that you wouldn’t turn me away. Now, I’ll pray for peace, because it’s obvious that you need it. Something is eating away at you.”
It was, but it wasn’t something that he could put a finger on. It was a restlessness in his body, a churning in his gut, a ringing in his ears when he was given a few moments to himself. He had to get a grip on it.
“I won’t bug you about it, just like I don’t want you to bug me about what I’m doing here.”
“That’s fair,” he answered. “But you’re going to have to give me the whole story soon. If you want me to protect you, you’re gonna have to be honest with me.”
Those were the words she had been waiting on. “And if you want me to be honest with you, you’re gonna have to be honest with me. Friends are honest, friends help each other, and friends don’t put up with other friends’ bullshit.”
A rare smile tilted up the corners of his mouth. It stopped right before it became a full one, but she took that little expression and tucked it away in her pocket for later. Maybe, just maybe, the two of them could figure this relationship of theirs out.
Chapter Four
Tyler grunted loudly when Layne landed a well-timed punch to his gut before backing away against the ropes of the boxing ring. “Give me a minute,” he heaved.
“What’s wrong, old man?” Layne taunted.
The only person that was allowed to taunt Tyler like that was Layne while they boxed. Not many people did anything better than the new vice president, but Layne flat out kicked his ass when it came to boxing. That was the only reason Tyler gave him any leeway.
“Not old, you’re just hitting hard today.” Tyler bent at the waist, trying to get air into his lungs.
Immediately, Layne stood up straight. “Am I? Sorry, sir.”
“How many times do I have to tell you to stop with the sir bullshit? I’m a superior, but you ain’t in the Army anymore. You start with that, and I’ll beat the shit out of you just for the hell of it,” Tyler threatened. He wasn�
�t exactly sure he could beat this younger man up, but he absolutely hated the way Layne reverted back sometimes. He no longer had a contract signed with the government over his head, and it was important to make Layne remember that.
Putting his gloved hands behind his head, Layne walked over to the other side of the boxing ring and leaned against the ropes. So many thoughts rushed through his head. He was off balance, and sometimes that could be detrimental to him. “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he told the big man across the ring.
“Now you’re just gonna piss me off.” Tyler lifted himself up off the ropes and walked over to where Layne sat on one of them. Usually his height advantage intimidated people, but he could tell it didn’t this time. “You didn’t hurt me, you winded me. If you hurt me, I’d let you know.”
Layne nodded, swallowing roughly against the panic that was beginning to seize his throat.
“Are you having trouble with Jessica being here?”
His eyes widened as he looked up at the larger than life Native American. It was highly unusual for him to check on others like this. That is, unless you were a certain female about 5’3”, 140 pounds, had dark hair, and a necklace around your neck.
“Kind of.”
Tyler sighed and had a seat on the mat. “Do you want to talk about it? I’m not gonna pretend I even know what the fuck to say to you. But, as your friend, and your superior…I don’t like the look in your eyes. Liam has a new baby, Jagger’s got a new love, and Steele is as busy as ever. So if you need someone to talk to, I’m making myself available to you.”
His first instinct was to be flippant. “It’s not like I’m going to eat my own gun.”
“Nobody said you were. In fact, if you were gonna do that, you probably would have done it when you first came back. Don’t be a shit. I’m being serious here.”
“I just get this overwhelming sense of panic sometimes. It normally comes around women because I’m afraid I’m going to hurt them. I got back from Iraq three years ago. In three years I haven’t had a woman in my bed for longer than it took to get my rocks off. I don’t hang out with women, the exception being the few who are around here all the time. I just don’t trust myself,” he admitted.
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