Andie closed her eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m so sorry. There’s no excuse.”
“I can’t even go to church anymore,” her mother complained. “I send the aide out to the grocery store. Your money helps. It really does. But I wish you hadn’t gone to LA. We could have scraped by. Promise me you’ll repent of what you’re doing. Find a church and pray.”
“I repent. I do.” Tears welled in her eyes and she wiped her nose. “I just went a little crazy. Tell Dad I said ‘hi’ and that I miss him. I miss you, too. And when I get a break here, I’ll come home.”
“Sure, darling. You do that. Whatever you do, Andie, I hope you’ll respect yourself first. I love you.”
“Love you too, Mom.” Andie hung up as tears streamed down her face.
Was it worth it? Coming here to LA? What about being an actress? It wasn’t anything she’d ever expected she’d be doing, but the way Ronaldo had presented the opportunity and the amount of money he offered were so alluring.
Andie dug a tissue from her purse and crumpled it, dabbing her eyes. She had a preliminary lesson with an acting coach this afternoon. She couldn’t screw it up now, not when she’d already signed the contract and gotten the bonus.
The old saying about Hollywood consuming souls floated around like whispers in the breeze. Andie dried her tears and stiffened her upper lip.
She’d never be caught in a compromising photo again, and she’d make her parents proud someday. She’d seize the moment. After all, how many greenhorns without acting experience got a shot at a role on a major production?
It was too late to go back now. She had to suck it down, er, bad pun, and make it work.
# # #
Cade was sore from the morning weights and workout. Things were going great. Andie and Roxanne seemed to get along, and the coach had all but promised him the starting position.
He glanced at his cell phone after getting an ice bath to chill his sore muscles as well as bring his body temperature down after the scrimmage. Sure enough, his mother had left a message asking him to call.
“Have you gotten the paternity test results?” she asked after greeting him.
A cold itch niggled between his shoulder blades. Why was she suddenly concerned? True, she kept remarking on how big Bret was, but Cade himself had been a huge baby, almost ten pounds, and little Bret was only six pounds when he was born.
This second-guessing pissed him off. Sure, he’d get the test as a formality, but his heart told him Bret was his.
“Rox says he’s all mine. We already had the prenatal test done and I was named the daddy.”
“Then how come there are reporters outside your door? They’re pounding on the door and shouting questions like who’s the father and stuff like that.”
Reporters? At his house? They’d better not be there when he brought the baby home. Last night, after the dinner, Rox had agreed to move in with them. She was eager to get back to her job. No way would he allow the reporters to disturb his newborn son.
“I’ll send a security guard to tell them to go away,” he growled into the phone.
“That’ll be great,” his mother said. “I’m barricaded in here. Have you seen the internet? It’s exploding.”
“I’ve been too busy to check.” Cade resisted the urge to roll his eyes. His mother was so old school. She still spoke about web surfing and acted like the internet was a real live beast.
“I know you said you were going to do something illegal the other night, but seriously? Having your girlfriend lollipopping in your lap? Thankfully, it was fuzzy, and they blanked out her face and your, uh, parts, but there’s no mistaking that flash of flaming red hair glinting off your thighs.”
Leave it to his mother to describe the images in gory detail. But shit! Someone had caught the blowjob on camera? What must this be doing to Andie?
“Look, Mom, I have a team meeting. Just don’t answer the door. The media frenzy will die in a day or so when someone else does something notorious.” He crossed his fingers, hoping for a wardrobe malfunction by any of the currently hot reality stars.
“Let’s hope so, I mean, sheesh. What would Andie’s parents think about you now?”
Thank you, Mom, for making this worse.
“How’s Andie taking this? Does she know?” He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut to relieve the twitch over his brow.
“No clue. She’s at work. Just send the guard, okay? The dogs are going nuts.”
“Sure, talk to you soon.” He hung up and banged his fist on the locker.
Everything was his fault. He should never have seized the fucking moment with that stunt at the cemetery. It wasn’t like he hadn’t gotten head in public before, except Andie wasn’t one of his playgirls, and now, her reputation was toast.
He should have known better. Hollywood had a way of eating people alive and spitting them out.
Chapter 18
Andie’s fingers trembled as she searched for herself and Cade on the internet. Sure enough, she was there in the Hollywood Cemetery, or rather it was a grainy image, thank goodness for the dark. But the implications were clear.
She had her head in Cade’s lap, tenting up from under the beach towel. Her mouth and his groin were blurred out. At least that was the saving grace, but the caption spilled it out.
Star quarterback getting ahead?
Cade Prescott flashed a flaming redhead cowering under cover at the Pet Sematary screening while his baby was being born prematurely at the hospital. What’s with that?
Andie turned off her phone and retired to the ladies’ room. She looked like a total and complete slut. And it was all her fault. Cade had tried to stop her, but of course, she’d seized the fucking moment and went for it.
The bathroom door thumped as a horde of chattering females entered. Andie shut the door of a stall just in time to avoid her coworkers.
“Can you believe Mr. Silver signed her?” Jill, one of the copy editors, said. “She has no acting ability whatsoever.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Sylvia replied. “The entire internet’s buzzing about her, and Mr. Silver’s a genius at exploiting free publicity.”
“True, that,” another voice, Monica who worked in production, said. “Especially since we signed her husband. I mean, the ink’s not dried on the divorce papers, and I’m sure she hasn’t filed it yet. Doesn’t she have to wait six months before the divorce is final?”
“Oh, yeah, anything can happen, and hopefully we’ll have the first part of the series ready,” Kim, one of the marketing ladies, chipped in. “Imagine the hay we can make with the scandal.”
All the women laughed and giggled.
“She’s got some balls to be sucking him off in public.”
“Oh, yeah, this is bigger than any Kardashian wardrobe disaster. I actually admire her. I wish I had the guts.”
“Or the stupidity,” Jill huffed. “I’ve always wondered about those quiet librarian types.”
“Aren’t you one of those quiet librarians?” Sylvia asked.
“Uh, no. Hipster, big difference,” Jill said. “I would never parade around in those stupid power suits. She really needs a wardrobe update. I don’t see what that Cade Prescott sees in her.”
“Bet you wish you got your mouth around that big stick.” Monica guffawed. “I say, more power to her.”
“Yep,” Sylvia agreed. “Especially if she can handle Cade Prescott’s huge appetite. Remember the night of the Super Bowl? He had Candy, Trina, and Belinda all at the same time. Gave them gifts and goodies. He’s a real gentleman.”
“Have you ever done him?” Kim’s voice was sparked with curiosity.
“I wish,” Sylvia said. “But Andie’s a friend of mine. Besides, ever since he came back from New York and found out Roxanne was pregnant, he dropped out of the party scene.”
“Big loss, oh well.” Kim sighed. “Gotta get back to work. We have to redo the movie posters and add Andie. Lucky she’s jus
t a maid-servant, otherwise, she’d have to lose twenty pounds. As it is, it’ll take my awesome photoshopping skills to fit her in the background.”
Photoshopping? Andie pinched her upper thighs. She wasn’t that curvy, was she? Sure, she wasn’t model thin, but darn it all, at least her ribs didn’t show, unlike other actresses who walked around like concentration camp victims in bikinis.
She snuck out of the restroom after her coworkers cleared out. What could she do and where could she go? By now, everyone who knew her had seen the photo or had heard about it.
Her stomach heaved with nausea as she slunk out the side door. A group of guys were standing outside near the ashtray, having a smoke. They stopped chatting and stared at her, their mouths curved with knowing grins.
Andie turned on her heels and headed for the parking garage. She couldn’t face anyone, least of all Cade, now that the entire world knew what a slut she was.
“Hey, Andie, you headed out for lunch?” Scriptwriter Leroy Chan hurried toward her. Today he was dressed in the green fatigues of an Israeli soldier, complete with ammo belt and canteen.
“I’m not feeling good. Think I’ll take the rest of the day off.”
“Hey, don’t sweat it.” He chewed on his lower lip. “I know what’s going on. It’s all everyone’s talking about, but trust me, it’ll blow over in a day or two.”
“Not for me, it won’t.” Andie groaned as she extracted the car keys. “I can never go home to Itasca. My mother doesn’t even want me anymore. Small towns have long memories, and I’ve embarrassed my parents.”
“I’m sorry.” He folded his arms and regarded her steadily. “Are you coming back to work tomorrow? We still need to do research on servant master relationships in the time of King David, especially now that you’re playing the part of a concubine.”
“I don’t know if I can do it anymore. I’m so confused. I only came out to California to help my family, and now my parents are turned against me and my dad’s depressed again.”
Leroy patted her shoulder. “They’ll be proud of you once the movie comes out. We’re thinking of rewriting everything from your point of view. You know, the humble serving girl who knew the man before he became great. You’d be in the perfect position to retell his story since you’ll be in the background and no one worries about what you’ve seen or heard.”
Andie’s stomach twisted. This was exactly what she’d always wanted, to be the fly on the wall wherever King David was concerned. This was her golden opportunity to rewrite the script and relive the story of David and his lovers.
But she couldn’t face anyone. Not her parents. Not Cade’s mother, not any of her coworkers. Oh, no. Even worse. Roxanne had to be feeling way superior to her right now. Even though she partied hard and had an active social life, she’d never been stupid enough to be caught on camera.
Andie unlocked the car Cade let her drive. “See ya, Leroy. I’ll text you later. Right now, I need to be alone.”
A few minutes later, she turned down Cade’s street, but stomped on the brakes at what was blocking the road. Reporters had set up a news van in front of his house. A cameraman and a news crew milled around the gate where the two dogs were barking up a storm.
There was no way she could get past them without being swarmed. Oh no, they’d spotted her. A reporter tapped the camera man and the entire horde marched toward her.
Andie tried to do a U-turn, but the street was too narrow. The fastest reporter reached her car window and tapped on the glass. Meanwhile a camera lens pressed against the windshield.
Andie put the car in reverse and tried to back up, but people were behind her.
The tapping and shouting surrounded her. Sweat prickled her face, and her pulse thundered through her veins. Her breath came in panicked gasps and every muscle in her body spasmed.
She stepped on the gas and the car spurted back. Had she hit someone? Hopefully not.
Putting the car into drive, she depressed the horn and drove the car over the curb to turn it around. The cameraman with the long lens on her windshield fell onto his butt, and the reporters jumped out of the way, shouting and shaking their mics.
Something crunched under her tires as she completed the turn. What was it? Her heart was thudding like a pounding bass drum. Had she run over someone? Should she stop?
Before turning from Cade’s street, she glanced in the rear view mirror. A few of the reporters were jumping into their cars to chase her. The cameraman was being helped up, so he was okay.
The sound of sirens wailed, approaching her. Shit. She was going to be arrested for reckless driving. At least no one was hurt, but she wasn’t going to stick around to be questioned.
Gunning the engine, Andie tore out of the neighborhood, right past the police cars going the opposite direction. Her tires screeching, she caught the first freeway entrance she saw.
Chapter 19
“You better get over here,” Cade’s mother said on the phone. “There are policemen out front. They’re pounding on the door, but I’m not letting them in.”
“What happened? Did you call them?” Cade zipped up his gym bag and ambled from the locker room.
“I was peeking out the window, of course I didn’t want anyone to know I was home, so I had to keep the blinds drawn, but it looked like they jumped over the hood of a car and tried to stop it, but the driver panicked and almost plowed them down.”
“Anyone get hurt?”
“No, there’s no ambulance. Just a bunch of guys pointing up and down the street, talking to the cops.”
“Then it’s not our business. Don’t let them know you’re home and they’ll probably leave. It isn’t as if there’s anything interesting going on. Has Andie come home?”
“Nope, like I said, there are reporters everywhere. Besides, I just saw the video of Andie kissing Declan at the office. I’m betting she’s not going to want to come home and explain that to you.”
“What video?” Cade’s heart jolted to the roof of his mouth. “Is this recent?”
“Pretty recent. Sounds like she’s going to be a costar with Declan on that movie they’re making, and she was celebrating.”
“Celebrating? She didn’t even tell me Declan had signed. Are you sure? Which website?”
“I’ll text it to you. I’m really sorry, Cade. The other day she seemed all happy because she got— Oh, wait, never mind.”
“What aren’t you telling me?” Cade’s nerves sizzled like an egg on hot asphalt.
“Nothing, she said she’d surprise you herself.”
“Surprise me? With kissing pictures? This sucks.” Cade clenched his fist. “Listen, I have to go. I’ve got a baby coming home and I have to get rid of those reporters.”
“Okay, hopefully they’ll leave after they get a picture of the baby coming home.” His mother didn’t sound convinced. “See you soon.”
“You too.” He hung up and texted Andie, Are you finished with work? We need to talk. Want to come to the hospital with me to pick up Bret?
Even with the news of the latest kissing video, he wanted to keep his promise to open up and talk to her. Maybe she could explain it, or it was part of the publicity stunt for her new movie role. But why hadn’t she told him? He’d give her a chance to explain before flying off the handle.
By the time he got to his car, she still hadn’t replied.
Either feeling guilty, or trying to come up with a story. Cade didn’t want to push and text her again, so he got into his car and drove toward home.
Sure enough, two police squad cars, a news van, and a group of reporters blocked the way to his house.
Cade lowered the window as an officer walked up. “Glad you’re here, Officer. These people are trespassing and I’d like to get into my home.”
The policeman propped his hand on Cade’s Porsche and lowered himself so his face was level with the window. “We’re investigating a hit and run with a vehicle belonging to you.”
“Me? I’ve been out all d
ay at the stadium.”
“You’ve a Chrysler 200? Personalized license plate GOFLASH?”
Cade’s stomach dropped. That was the car he’d lent Andie now that she no longer needed a driver.
“Yes, but what’s that got to do with all the reporters staked out on my property?”
“The vehicle was involved in a hit and run right over there.” The officer pointed to the sidewalk in front of his neighbor’s house.
“Wait, let me see.” Cade unlatched his door and the officer pulled it open. “Anyone hurt?”
“Nope, but she knocked down the cameraman and ran over his video equipment.” The officer led Cade to a pile of debris. “See the tire marks over the grass right there?”
“Yeah. Sure. So, no one’s hurt. What do you want with me?”
“The name of the person who was driving the car and whether you authorized it or not. If not, we’ll report it stolen and put out an APB on it.”
The reporters who’d been hovering around shouted. “Was the driver the same woman you took to the Hollywood Cemetery? The redhead?”
“What’s her name? Where’s the mother of your baby?”
“What does the paternity test say? Is the baby coming home?”
Cade drew the officer aside. “I’ll answer your questions down at the precinct, not in front of these vultures. In the meantime, please clear them from my property or arrest them for trespassing.”
“Fine, have it your way.” The officer spoke into his shoulder mic, asking his partner to clear the property. “Follow me.”
Cade got in his car and called Andie. She didn’t pick up so he left voicemail. “Andie, where are you? Policeman says you’re involved in a hit and run. What’s going on? Let me know.”
Then he called his mother. “I’ll be back after talking to the police. They’re getting rid of the reporters.”
“Sure, Roxanne called. She’s waiting for us. Have you gotten your blood drawn for the paternity test yet?”
Boxed Set: Intercepted by Love (The Complete Collection): Books One - Book Six Page 31
