“Mr. Keys? Mr. Savage?” The blonde, blue-eyed receptionist with the big tits had returned. “Mr. Hart is ready to see you now.”
~ ~ ~
Fanny
“You’ve read his note about a hundred times, Fanny.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“Ok fifty.”
“Yeah, that seems about right.”
“Stop pacing. It’s not going to change anything. And you’re making me antsy. You could have walked to LA and gotten this,” she did air quotes, “‘important talk’ over by now. Let’s go up on the roof. Do some yoga. You’ll feel better.”
“I don’t feel like it.” Didn’t feel like doing anything. My limbs were sore from surfing. Muscles unaccustomed to such use now protested. My eyes felt grainy from staying up all night and crying through a lot of it. And over all of those physical ailments lay an oppressive heaviness. About the lawyer. About Samuel. About Hollie. About Ash. Emotional concerns I hadn’t felt as keenly troubled by in the last few days.
Because of him.
Because he had taken on a lot of those burdens for me.
Because I had trusted him to handle them.
But that had been a mistake. Trust had to go both ways in a relationship and that wasn’t what we had. What he had been willing to offer me.
Back on my own, all that crushing weight bore down on me again.
“That’s when you need yoga the most.” Hollie gave me a sharp look. Yeah, I knew that. But knowing and doing what was right, what was better for you in the long run was rarely an easy thing to do.
“C’mon.” She snatched the note from my hand. “I’m going’ and you’re coming with me.”
“Hey, hold up there, Mini Minion.”
“Diesel, don’t start.” She glared at our chaperone for the day. He stared back indifferently from the kitchen. He rubbed Hollie the wrong way. Majorly. I wondered if her suggestion that we go up on the roof was partly to get some distance from him.
“Just following orders.” The glass jars in the refrigerator door rattled as he slammed it closed. “Not sure if the roof’s an approved safe zone.” He moved toward us, withdrawing his cell. He had texted Ash several times already.
“Not likely my stepfather’s going to scale walls or fly by in a helicopter and land on the roof.” She stamped her hands to her hips.
“Not worried about shit like that Holliewood. You ever think someone might spot you on the roof, call the hotline and collect that reward?”
Just then a helicopter appeared outside the penthouse hovering so close the percussion from the rotor blades rattled the glass windows.
Holy shit.
“Get behind me,” Diesel yelled, stepping in front of Hollie and me almost like he cared.
But it was too late for that. This wasn’t a random event. This wasn’t a sightseeing helicopter. It was a CBS News 8/KFMB-TV one sporting an orange eye logo and a blue ‘8’ riding an aqua wave. The lens of a video camera glinted in the sunlight as it pointed our way.
I didn’t know how they had found us.
I didn’t know what would happen next.
But I knew our hiding days were over.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Ashland
My cell vibrated it my pocket with a text. More bullshit from Diesel I was sure. It had started nearly as soon as Linc and I had gotten in his car.
Diesel had wanted to know how late he should let the girls sleep.
If it was ok for him to knock on the door to check on them.
If he could drink the OJ in the fridge.
If it was ok for Fanny to cook him breakfast.
Ashland: Yes.
Lucky bastard.
Ashland: knock off the bullshit
Diesel: I’m only trying to look after her like you would.
In other words, he was giving me shit. Probably because I’d asked him to help out when he had plans to screw some random chick. Or just because he was Diesel, and he was bored, and messing with me amused him.
Regardless, I clicked the ringer off as Linc, and I entered the attorney’s personal office.
“Let’s start with the probable cause.” In a dark custom suit that probably cost him what some people spent on a car, Andrew Hart rolled his big leather chair up to his massive desk and reached for the large file that lay atop it. He flicked it open, perusing it briefly before he lifted his determined gaze.
“We have a source in LAPD.” Finger moving down the page, he nodded his grey-haired head soberly. He looked up. “Got one of the detectives to speak to us off the record. Samuel Lesowski didn’t kill his wife.”
“How can they be sure?” I protested, suddenly regretting the huge non-refundable retainer I had put down. I could tell that Linc wasn’t too pleased, either. He had sat up straighter in the chair next to me. “The affairs,” I continued. “The paternity issue. He’s abusive. He had a motive.” Fear was why Fanny and Hollie had run.
“He has a temper. He’s a volatile man. He’s also a pompous, philandering, power-grubbing asshole. But frankly, he’s not a murderer. Lesowski admitted to the argument with his wife. But he was distraught by the time police arrived. Half drowned himself. After she slipped, hit her head and went overboard, he dove in that dark murky water after her. He tried to find her. He searched for her in three-to-four-foot swells for over an hour. Staff on the boat saw the whole thing. Samuel Lesowski is everything I said he was, but based on the evidence and the accounts from eye witnesses that night, it appears he did everything in his power to save his wife. That’s not our case. Now using his position to sexually harass his adopted daughter and dozens of other women?” His heavy bulldog jowls shook as he vehemently tapped the thick stack of papers in the file with his thick fingers. “Plenty of sworn statements to attest to that effect. That’s how we’ll take him down and bury him, Mr. Keys. That’s why I wanted you to come in before I talked to the ladies. I won’t pursue the other. It’s a waste of my time and yours.”
“But he’ll continue to be a threat to Fanny and Hollie.”
“Perhaps. But unlikely once he sees the breadth of the accusations we have against him. He can’t silence everyone, even if he is stealing money from his daughter’s funds as they suspect. No doubt to keep other women than the ones we found quiet. I understand your concerns given who we are dealing with. But I’m sure with the proper precautions the two young ladies will be safe.”
Only they weren’t.
Not safe enough for me.
Not with only one security guard and Diesel Le in charge.
~ ~ ~
Fanny
I paced in earnest now while Diesel and Hollie sat side by side, uneasy allies scouring the internet trying to figure out how we had been discovered.
It didn’t matter.
What mattered was what always mattered.
Keeping Hollie safe.
If the media knew, he knew.
“Hols?” I called trying and failing to keep the panic from my voice.
“Yeah?” She turned her head, her distracted expression transforming to one of concern. “Get your things. Whatever you want to take with you. We need to get out of here.”
“Alright, Fanny.” She jumped up. Quick and immediate trust. I didn’t deserve it. Dinner parties. Writing love songs. Surfing. I’d been so distracted. So selfish. I had to make this right.
But I knew in my heart it might already be too late.
She stopped on her way to the bedroom and u-turned. “I don’t know what to get. Where are we going?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, starting to tremble. “Grab a couple of outfits. No more.” We needed to travel light. “Find something to stuff them in.”
Grey eyes wide, probably mimicking mine, she nodded and practically flew down the hall.
I turned to Diesel. He had his cell to his ear.
“Who you calling?” Suspicion made my voice thread thin.
“Ash.” He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “It
wasn’t me. I didn’t tell anybody anything. It was the OB cam by the pier. Got video of you and Ash kissing. It’s all over the internet, along with a bunch of crazy speculation. But the gist of it is, they must’ve figured out that if you’re here, then so is Holliewood. And everyone wants that reward.” He took his cell away from his ear. “Fuck! Busy signal. My calls aren’t going through.”
Ash wasn’t reachable. Ok. Alright. Not that I could rely on him anymore. Who knew what had happened with the lawyer? It was weird how he had wanted to meet with Ash first. And anyway, it seemed too risky to wait. Too much unknown. In my mind I made a list. A very short one.
1. Run.
2. Get Hollie and myself somewhere Samuel couldn’t find us.
I didn’t have any money. But I could buy some time.
“I need to borrow your phone,” I told Diesel.
“I don’t know.”
“I’m not asking.” My bravado was shit with tears in my eyes and my outstretched arm and hand shaking. But for whatever reason, he gave it to me.
I dialed his number before I could lose my nerve. I needed to know where he was and what he knew. I needed to redirect him. Then I needed to get going in the opposite direction.
“Hello,” he said hesitantly, likely not recognizing the number on his personal cell.
“It’s me. Fanny.”
“Fanny,” he spit.
Ok. Shit.
“Maybe we can meet somewhere and talk.”
“Yeah? You wanna talk now? All of a sudden. Why?” I could hear the suspicion in his voice.
“You want to meet or not?”
“Fine.” I’d think later on why he was so quick to agree. For the moment I took the inch he gave me and tried for more.
“Where and when?”
“Well, I’m stuck on the PCH right now. My driver had to reroute us. The Five is a parking lot. Almost like all of Southern California is heading to Ocean Beach.”
I gasped.
“You’ve got nowhere to run, Fanny. Nowhere to hide. You see, I’ve always known how you think.”
Shit.
“And I see you now, too. Live on San Diego’s most watched television news station. You and Hollie. The limo has excellent reception for its information center. I know exactly where you are. It’s on the screen. Ashland Key’s penthouse. You look scared, Fanny dear. Hollie, too. Both of you do.” He laughed. “You should be.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Fanny
“C’mon. We’re going.” I grabbed Hollie’s hand, taking one last look around and feeling it all rip away inside my heart. The kitchen where I had cooked for him. The living room where I had sat in his lap. The couch where I had watched him sleep. His bedroom where I had slept, and where the-oh-my-gosh action had happened. The hall where he had teased me. The rooftop where I had hung out with him and his friends. Being here had felt real. Like somewhere I finally belonged. Like home.
But it wasn’t what I thought it was.
And neither were we.
Tears pricked my eyes.
“You ok, Fanny?”
“Maybe.” Someday. I’d weathered a storm named Ashland Keys once before. Surely, I could manage it again.
“Maybe you should wait a fucking minute,” Diesel said, his jet-black hair disheveled from running his fingers through it as he had repeatedly tried to reach Ash. “So your stepfather knows where you are? There’s security here. You should stay. You’re acting impulsively.”
“Security is relative.” I yanked open the door to the penthouse. He pushed it back closed.
“Fanny. He’s gonna kick my ass if I let you go out that door. C’mon. Be reasonable.”
“No. You be reasonable, Diesel. The stories. The lies Samuel’s telling. The false kidnapping allegation. She’s my sister. I love her. She’s all I have. What if they take her from me?” I wouldn’t be able to look out for her if they separated us. “Haven’t you ever had anybody that mattered to you that much? Someone you would do anything to protect?”
His dark eyes turned troubled. “I have.”
“So let me do what I need to do. Please.”
He nodded and opened the door again.
I let out a breath. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. I still think this is a huge mistake.” He gestured for us to proceed and followed us out. “But I’m coming with you.”
I tried to talk him out of it as we crossed the hall to the elevator. Hollie tried, too, on the way down. He folded his arms over his chest.
“You’re both wasting your breath.”
When the elevator doors opened, we realized we had all miscalculated. Maximillian was practically overrun. At least twenty reporters plus camera technicians were crammed into the small space in front of a desk and chair he usually sat at while guarding the penthouse elevator. He wasn’t sitting now. He was standing right beside us near the elevator entrance. News cameras switched on. With the blinding lights came a cacophony of questions.
“Holliewood, are you being held against your will?”
“No. I wanted to leave LA. I asked my sister to come with me,” Hollie stated firmly shaking her head, her strawberry hair swishing her tensed shoulders.
“So why the reward? Why are you here in Ocean Beach? Is this all just some publicity stunt gone wrong? Who’s this man?”
The rush of questions became a deafening roar of noise. There was no way we could answer them individually, much less press through the throng to get out. Diesel put his arms around both of us pulling us back into the cart as they advanced. Maximillian moved in front of the elevator glaring and barking at them to move back, but there were just too many of them. I stepped to the side and reached for the keypad while Diesel and Hollie filled the open gap. He still had his arm around her. A few questions about the nature of their relationship filtered through the din. He puffed out his chest and drew her closer to his side posing for the cameras. The moron.
“Hollie is underage,” I warned him in a hiss even though I knew he was just being Diesel and fooling around. I quickly keyed in the code.
“We’re friends,” Diesel announced loudly. “Just friends.” His hold loose, he scrubbed the top of my sister’s head and pinched her freckled cheek, maybe a little too harshly. Hollie winced. “I adore Holliewood like an annoying little sister.” Finally, the doors started closing. Unfortunately a diminutive woman slipped into the narrowing gap and got trapped inside with us just as they closed.
“Hey Diesel,” she said.
“Oh fuck,” the bassist returned. “Ash isn’t here, Renee.”
My blood ran cold. His arrangement. Had he called her last night after we argued?
“I know he’s not.” She gave him a saccharine smile.
“Open the door back up now, Fanny.” He sounded almost as panicked as I had been after talking to Samuel.
“No don’t, Fanny.” Renee slapped her small hand over mine at the panel and turned her head to face me. When I heard her name my stomach had only twisted. Seeing the malice dripping from her moss green eyes, it dropped precipitously even though the elevator had started to rise. “I didn’t come to see Ash.” Her bubblegum pink lips formed a frosty fake smile. “I came to talk to you.”
~ ~ ~
Ashland
“Let me out at the gas station,” I told Linc. I was out of patience. He probably was, too driving his Porsche Macan in stop and go traffic while I had sat beside him trying to deal with the escalating drama. First with Renee who had returned my call from last night. She had not been pleased when I reiterated that our arrangement was at an end. I was taking the steps I could to show Fanny that I could do the couple thing. Then I had called the security company. Several times. The circuits had been busy. But I had finally gotten a recording and put in an order requesting more guards. Then I had attempted to get ahold of Diesel again since I’d missed several calls from him. And even though those call were probably only him giving me shit they still worried me. Then my worry became
a reality and tension spiked after an incoming call from Simone. She explained why the streets of Ocean Beach were flooded. Then more attempts to reach Diesel to no avail. My cell was currently a useless brick. My mind had been so wrapped up in Fanny last night that I’d forgotten to recharge it. I had switched over to Linc’s phone and called Ramon. Unfortunately, he had been at the doctor with Karen in downtown San Diego. He was in route back to OB. He and Karen had heard the news, but they were having the same difficulty with traffic congestion as Linc and I were. After that I’d called Simone again. She had been manning the surf shop for Karen, but she was shutting it down even though business was brisk, to head over to my place on foot to check on Fanny and Hollie.
Which brought us to now.
“I don’t know if I can even pull in, Ash.” Linc shook his head and gripped the steering wheel tighter. “There’s no room.” There were cars and people everywhere. Sidewalks and street similarly congested. Pedestrians were passing us on foot as we inched along the steady stream of traffic pointed toward downtown. I knew the reason for all the craziness now, of course. Holliewood was a huge deal and the situation with her and Fanny, the reward and now me thrown into the mix, the circus had grown to epic proportions.
“Fuck it. I’m getting out right here.” I reached for the handle.
“Got it. I’ll find somewhere to park, then meet you at your place as soon as I can.”
“Okay.” I popped open the door and climbed out. “I’m leaving your cell on my seat.”
He glanced at me and nodded as the car behind him laid on their horn.
I slammed my door closed and broke into a run. The thoughts that pursued me made me run even faster. If the media knew where Fanny and Hollie were so did Samuel. All that talk about silencing people at the attorney’s office did not have me in a mellow frame of mind. And then there was Fanny and me. Us. What I’d hoped to be an us. But where we were with a closed door and an ultimatum between us was not a good place.
Oceanside Page 26
