by Unknown
“You want to know the truth?” He took another long swallow. “It’s kind of not.”
The server came by and Leo snagged her arm. “We’ll have two more.”
Kim tried to protest, but Leo stopped her and gestured for the drinks. He waited for the waitress to go before he leaned toward her. “I figure we don’t have to drink ’em, but we should let Carl pay for them anyway.”
For the first time in a long time, Kim let loose a real smile. “I do love that way of thinking.”
“See? I’m not such a bad guy,” Leo offered before he tossed back the last of his drink.
“You are a very bad guy,” Kim corrected, but Leo hit her with another one of his smiles and she didn’t care. She took another swallow instead.
Leo quit drinking halfway through his second seven and seven, but he ordered a third round for them both anyway. It had taken a ton of coaxing to get Kim to take even a sip of her first drink, but she’d slowly polished off the whole thing. The more she drank, the more she let loose and the less he had to work at making her smile. He should’ve gone home an hour ago. He’d planned to. He hadn’t bargained on running into the blond bombshell from Nathan’s office, nor had he planned to sit down and talk to her. Usually when he encountered one of those that believed everything they read in the paper or the tabloids, he stayed as far away as possible. But tonight he’d been so lonely that even talking with someone who hated him seemed better than going home to his empty house.
Kim took another sip of her drink and looked around the bar. “I can’t believe the limo isn’t back yet.” She reached for her phone. “I want to text Stephanie real fast. Sorry.” With speedy fingers she typed out a message. A second later, her eyes widened. “Oh shit,” she muttered. “I hope that wasn’t what I think it was.” She lifted her bag and picked something up. “Stephanie’s purse is here.” She reached inside and fished for something. “With her phone,” she added, showing Leo the phone with the new text flashed on the screen. “I knew I felt it vibrate. Son of a bitch. I can’t believe Stephanie left this here.” She gathered both bags. “Look, sorry to bail on you, but I’m worried about her now.”
Leo edged out of the booth and let her out. Her short red skirt matched the black and red patterned silk top. The outfit screamed party girl and showed off long toned legs. She swayed on her stilettoes when she stood up. “Whoa,” he said, steadying her by her shoulders. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Sorry. I knew those drinks were strong.” Her gaze flitted away. “I just need to call a cab. I haven’t seen Carl and I don’t want to talk to him anyway, the asshole. I’m not waiting for that limo anymore.” She took another wobbly step and Leo hooked her arm with his.
“Tell you what. Let’s go with my original offer. I’ll drop you off. Where does Carl the Asshole live?”
Kim giggled and Leo would’ve bet big money that she didn’t do that often. “Holmby Hills. But I don’t want to impose.” She looked as deadly serious as a drunk woman could.
“You’re not. I offered. Besides, we’re practically neighbors.”
Kim looked up at him with wide, green, very untrusting eyes. “You’re sure?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely. Yes.”
She nodded. “Okay then. Let’s hit it.”
The waitress brought their third round and Leo tossed a twenty-dollar bill on her tray. “Thanks, Marly. This is for you.”
“You’re leaving? Don’t you want your drinks?”
“Nope. We’re calling it a night.” Leo wrapped an arm around Kim’s waist since she didn’t look too steady on her four-inch heels. Once outside, he gave his ticket to the valet and they waited for his car to come around.
Photographers stood behind a red rope and a line to enter the club stretched about twenty people long. The murmur of people recognizing him whispered through the crowd. A limo pulled up to the curb just as Carl the Asshole came out of the club.
“Kim! There you are,” Carl said. “I was looking all over for you.” The driver of the limo got out and opened the back door. “I just got word that the limo returned so Phillip can take you back to the house.”
Kim didn’t make a move. “Where’s Fido?” she asked.
Who the hell was Fido?
“Who?” Carl asked. Apparently Leo wasn’t the only one in the dark. “It doesn’t matter.” He took Kim’s arm and tugged her toward the car.
“Hey!” Kim snatched her arm back. “Do not touch me, Carl. I’m not very comfortable with this.” Flashes of light split the darkness as photographers caught the exchange.
Carl clenched his jaw. “You’re staying at my house and I’m making sure you get there safely. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.”
Green eyes narrowed dangerously. “Is that right?” Kim said softly. She might have had one too many drinks, but the insult hadn’t gotten by her. “Leo, does your offer still stand?” Her gaze never wavered from Carl the Asshole.
The valet pulled up with Stella in perfect movie timing. “You bet it does.”
“Wonderful. Thank you.” A second valet opened the passenger door and Kim slid into the seat, her miles of leg gleaming in the streetlight. “Goodbye, Carl. See you in the office tomorrow.”
“Not likely,” The Asshole muttered and, with a dismissive look to Leo, strode back into his club.
Leo slipped the valet a ten and got behind the wheel. “Let me guess,” he said, pulling into traffic and happy to leave the circus behind. “I was the lesser of two evils.”
Kim turned in her seat and faced him. “If we’re being honest, yes. But if I were to be even more honest, I’d say that I’m not sure why you’ve gotten such bad press. Unless you’ve been on your best behavior tonight. Or maybe you’ve turned a new leaf and no one’s caught on.”
“Or maybe this is my usual MO and I become a real asshole like Carl.”
She nodded. “True. Good point. But I really hope that isn’t the case. Because so far, I like you a little.”
Leo huffed a laugh. “A little?”
She canted her head and studied him. “I don’t know you well enough to like you a lot.”
He glanced over to find her watching him closely then set his eyes back on the road. “Fair enough.” He had her put the address into his GPS as he drove toward the freeway. A few silent minutes went by as Leo passed downtown skyscrapers and late night traffic. “So just how much do we hate Carl the Asshole?”
She laughed and the pure delight in the sound hit him like a club. It had been so long since he’d enjoyed anything in life that he’d forgotten the feeling.
“A lot. We hate him a lot.”
“Why? I should know so I can trash talk him appropriately.” He slowed for a red light.
Kim exhaled a burst of air. “He treats his wife like shit. As far as I can tell he treats everyone like shit and apparently he’s having an affair. I’m not a fan.” That last line she directed at him and Leo didn’t want to be on her wrong side.
“Hey, don’t look at me like that. I’m one of the good guys.”
“You do tip well. I saw that. But was it for my benefit or is that your norm?”
This time, he laughed as the light turned green and he accelerated. “I’m guilty of tossing tens and twenties at valet attendants and restaurant and bar servers. They work hard and they don’t get paid nearly enough, so quit with the evil eye.”
“Honey, if I was giving you the evil eye, you’d know it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Leo passed a slow moving Nissan on the right. “Tell me why you’re so worried about your friend.”
“I don’t like that she didn’t say anything before she left. I mean, I know we’re both big girls, but a woman doesn’t leave a restaurant or club without her purse or without saying goodbye to the person she came with. It’s just not done.” She shook her head. “I don’t have a good feeling.”
“That could be the Jack Daniels in your stomach.”
She didn’t argue.
“Wow,
look at that.” She pointed off in the distance where the giant harvest moon looked like a huge ball of fire in the sky. “Is it the smog that does that?”
“Probably,” Leo said. “I’ve never seen it that orange before. It’s like it’s on fire.”
“Yeah. A giant round bonfire in the sky. It’s amazing.”
Leo cringed at her reference. “I’m not a fan of fire unless it’s contained in a fireplace.”
“Why?” Kim asked, amusement in her tone. “Been burned?”
Leo nodded. “Yep. Senior year. Bonfire got a little out of control. No need to relive that experience.”
“I think that’s one of my biggest fears…dying by fire.” She shuddered. “That and drowning.”
“If you use the water to put out the fire, you can knock out both fears in one shot.”
She chuckled. “If it were only that easy, right?” She faced him again, one long leg stretched out toward the console. “What about you? What are you afraid of? Besides fire.”
That was easy. His biggest fear was people finding out about Megan. He didn’t want her ending up on some tabloid cover with some horrific headline about her affliction and the fact that he’d kept her a secret. He’d lived his whole life outrageously so that her privacy remained intact. He’d walked the line of making enough money to ensure she always had the care she needed without letting his fame touch Megan.
“I’m waiting,” she prodded. “Fears?”
He chuckled at her curt order. Of course he had more than one fear, so he went with number two. “I’m afraid of being stuck…of losing my freedom.” He instantly regretted the admission.
“You and most every other man, but at least you’re admitting it.” She faced forward. “I don’t know if that makes you stupid or brave. Most guys don’t cop to that one. They lead us along to get what they want then just bail with the first sign of emotion.”
Her body language said he’d lost her. Not that he’d intended anything happening with them tonight or ever. Yes, she was very pretty, but it took more than a pretty face to get him hot and bothered these days. In fact, he wished like hell he knew what might get him hot and bothered because he needed a release of some kind. It didn’t have to be sexual, he’d take a soul destroying workout right about now.
“I’ll go with brave,” he said. “Fits my image better. Stupid is so…”
“Stupid?” Kim supplied.
“Yeah.” He glanced at her as she leaned her head on the seat rest.
“I shouldn’t have had that Jack. I blame you.”
“Not feeling so hot?” he asked.
“Not so much. There was a reason I quit drinking and now I remember it.”
The familiar pressure of guilt crushed Leo’s chest. “I didn’t just push you off the wagon tonight, did I? That would make me feel like total crapshit.”
She smiled with closed eyes. “No worries. I’m not in AA. I was on the verge of a drinking problem, but I recognized it and nipped it in the bud. I don’t have to drink. I usually don’t, which is why after one drink and two sips of a second, I’m so buzzed.”
“As long as I wasn’t the bad influence.”
“Stephanie probably would’ve had me drinking with her if she’d stuck around.”
“Aha, so you can’t blame me.” He took the freeway on-ramp and hit the gas. The car zoomed like a comet into traffic. “It’s all Stephanie’s fault.”
Kim shot him a one-eyed glare.
The subject of Stephanie brought to mind a lot of questions. “So Stephanie is a good friend of yours and she’s married to The Asshole.” Kim nodded. “And she wanted to marry a guy old enough to be her father because…?”
“Because she was piss poor broke her whole life and decided early on that she didn’t want to die the way she was born.” Kim cracked open her eyes and shifted her head along the seat rest to watch him. “I don’t blame her. It’s a cruel world and people have to do things to survive.”
“You don’t have to sell your soul to the devil.”
“Maybe you do before you figure out you shouldn’t and by then it’s too late.”
With one sentence, she probably told him more than she realized. “You sound like someone who speaks from experience,” Leo said. He eased into the left lane and passed a semi along with a dozen other cars. Stella loved to let it out.
“Not the same experience as Stephanie. Let’s just say we all travel our own journey and we learn as we go.” Her forlorn expression said more than her words.
“This conversation is way too deep for me.” Leo cruised along the empty road, traveling way over the speed limit. The dialogue quieted until they got closer to Holmby Hills.
“Is that smoke?” Kim asked.
Leo thought she’d fallen asleep. He glanced up where she pointed. Smoke drifted against the giant harvest moon. “Someone lost something tonight.” As Leo made his way closer to their destination, he realized they were headed straight for it.
“Oh my God,” Kim said. “That’s their neighborhood.” She sat up straighter in the seat. “That is totally their neighborhood.”
Leo turned down the street, expecting to see fire trucks but an empty street greeted him instead.
“Oh, shit. It’s Stephanie’s house!” Any alcohol high Kim had been riding seemed to vanish as she stared at the mansion. Smoke poured out of nearly every window and an orange glow lit the interior of the house. “Stephanie! She’s in there! Where’s the fire department? We need help!” Leo stopped the car and Kim scrambled out, teetering on her stilettos, digging through her purse. “Code, code, what’s the code?”
Leo called 911 and reported the address. A couple of windows upstairs exploded and glass rained down on the front lawn.
“Stephanie!” Kim screamed. She started punching numbers in the keypad but the gate didn’t open. “Stephanie!” The desperation in her voice sounded shrill. “Pull your car up against the wall,” she ordered.
“What the hell for?”
She waved her hands toward the house. “I need to get her out. She’s in there. I need to get her out!”
“Kim, that’s crazy. You don’t know that. You can’t go in there. The whole fucking thing is on fire.”
Flames shot out of the windows and the loud crackling sounded like a bonfire gone wild. Sirens wailed in the distance.
Kim yanked off her heels and ran for the wrought iron gate. She leaped up and caught the top of the giant W that decorated the bars. She hooked her foot into the bottom of the letter and heaved herself up. The woman had some muscle. Leo hadn’t thought she’d make it, so when she got to the top of the W with no signs of slowing down, he took off to save her from herself.
“Kim! Dammit, wait for the firemen. You can’t go in there!”
She jumped over the side and Leo had no choice but to follow. He got over in seconds and ran to catch up to her. Sirens blared louder as fire trucks pulled up along the gate. Leo didn’t want to hurt her, but didn’t see any other way to stop her. He tackled Kim just as the house exploded in a massive orange fireball, sending debris and ash into the air that rained down on them in a scalding hot shower.
Chapter Nine
The deafening sound reverberated in Kim’s head and the ground shook beneath her as Leo’s weight pressed her down. The smell of green grass mixed with the smoke in the air. Debris and hot embers rained down on them like a freak meteor shower.
Kim struggled to get free, but didn’t have much of a chance with the bulk of Leo on top of her. “I need to help her,” she screamed, clawing the lawn. Panting, she fought to get free, but Leo kept her pinned. When she finally stopped and looked up, all the blood drained from her face.
The house was practically gone, the roof blown off into nothing and the front walls collapsed to the interior. Despair crept up and strangled her chest, her throat. The Jack Daniels in her stomach swirled with vile intent.
“Stephanie.” She barely got the name out. “Stephanie!” She screamed at the top of her lungs
. Maybe she’d gotten out the back or… Kim scanned the expanse of the massive front lawn, but didn’t see any sign of her. She dropped her head on the ground as her stomach roiled more. “No, no, no,” she said, over and over.
“Fuck,” Leo swore and moved off her fast.
She turned to see him scrambling to pull off his shirt, a shirt that was smoking in the back. Rushing to help, she yanked it over his head and tossed it aside. Leo stood there, clenching his fists and his jaw, his eyes closed, his back arched as he clearly fought the pain of the burn. “Here sit down,” she told him, helping him to the lawn. “We need some help here!” she called to the firemen and paramedics still outside the gate. They had the jaws of life out and were attempting to cut the wrought iron. Kim ran to the walk-in gate and opened it from the inside so paramedics could enter. “My friend is in the house!” she screamed over the crackling blaze as they filed in. “Someone’s in the house!” Firemen manning the hoses started dousing the house from the street, but it hardly seemed to make a dent in the flames. Kim started for the house again, but strong hands held her back.
“Get back!” A fireman yelled over the noise. “Stay out of the way!”
The weight in Kim’s chest threatened to crush her lungs. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. The Jack in her stomach finally swirled to the point of no return. She lurched out of the fireman’s hold and ran for the hedges along the front wall of the estate. Violently, she heaved the contents of her stomach onto the hibiscus plants.
Someone approached from behind her and set an arm on her back. “C’mon, come sit over here. I think your friend needs you.”
Her friend was dead.
Kim looked up and realized the man wasn’t talking about Stephanie.
Paramedics had Leo on his stomach as they attended to the wounds on his back. Kim sat near his head and, feeling very useless, she stroked her fingers through his hair as she divided her attention between the burning house and Leo’s blistered back. God, his hair was so soft and thick.
