“Damn, and blast that fucking idiot!” Alex shouted as he marched toward me, disturbing my peaceful thoughts.
“What’s wrong? Who did you call?”
“I called Megan. I want Sam sued for what he’s saying about you.”
“Alex, it’s best just to ignore him.”
“No, Ella. I want him sorted out. I’ve told Megan I want him stopped. He is nothing, was nothing, and he will remain a nothing!”
I hated that he was so angry about something that was best forgotten about. “He’s just tweeting. Unfortunately, it’s a free country—we can’t stop him.”
“Well, I’m gonna try.”
He sank down next to me at the edge of the pool, dipping his own feet in the water.
“Forget about him,” I encouraged. “The more you try to find ways to stop him talking, the more he’ll feel that he’s winning.”
“I don’t like it, Ella.”
I kicked my feet in the water.
“Alex, you are starting to piss me off. We came here to get away from all this, and you seem to want to sort everything out that is building around it. Please, can’t you just forget about it?”
He placed his arm around my waist. “Ella, it’s so hard. I want to protect you.”
“From Sam?”
“From everyone.”
“Well, you can’t.”
“But—”
“Alex, stop it. I don’t need protecting. I just need you to be here for me. And I think that, so far, you are doing a wonderful job.”
His head dipped. “I think I’m doing a lousy job.”
I nudged him with my shoulder. “Well, you’re not.” I kissed his cheek, and leaned against him.
“Ella, will you seriously think about our future together?”
“What?” Where had this come from? And what exactly did he mean?
“Well, for starters, when we get back to London, I’d like it if you moved in with me.” He moved his hand to the side of my face and cupped my cheek. “I think It’d be perfect.”
I wanted to scream 'yes' several times at the top of my voice, but was prevented from doing so as his lips pressed against mine. All I managed to do was mutter my agreement into his mouth as he continued to kiss me.
The whole day flew by as Alex and I relaxed. We alternated between swimming in the pool and reclining on the sun loungers, listening to music that Alex had selected. The whole villa was set up with speakers so that the music could be piped around every room, and outside.
After Alex’s dance in the kitchen this morning, albeit one he hadn’t realised I’d seen, I had decided to give him one of my own. I’d been calmly floating in the pool on my back whilst he had been sitting on his sun-lounger, reading one of the many scripts he’d brought with him, when an up-tempo track started playing through the speakers. I couldn’t help myself, and gradually crawled from the pool before dancing for him. I dripped water all over his scripts as my dance turned into an erotic form of a poolside wet lap dance.
We never made it back inside. We made love on Alex’s sun-lounger, fast and impatient, but the ensuing session in the Jacuzzi had been slow and sensual.
In the evening we had sat in the sunken lounge area, cuddled up on the floor in only our bath robes. Alex read a book out-loud as I listened to his dulcet tones. It was heaven. I never wanted to leave.
We’d gone to bed and cuddled, our first night of not indulging in sex of any kind. Not only were our bodies desperate for a night off, but we were both completely satiated.
We both woke earlier than normal the next day. Alex was worried about what reaction the public would unleash after reading his interview that was published today. He’d fidgeted all night, and even now, three hours after we’d woken up, he was rubbing his hands over his face, and unable to sit still. I wasn’t as worried as him, but I was anxious to read the interview that Anthony had handed over to his editor. I was more concerned that Amy would have some sort of counter attack planned with the other reporter, Michael. It would only be a matter of time before she hit us again with a bucketful of lies.
“I can’t bear it any longer,” Alex grumbled as he reached for his phone. We were both sitting in the kitchen, playing scrabble. I’d won every single time. He wasn’t concentrating, his mind was elsewhere.
I sat back in my chair, watching and waiting for his reaction.
“Morning, Megan,” he greeted. “Yes, I know you said you’d ring, but I’m going fucking crazy here. What’s the damage?”
I steadied myself, ready for him to blow. He was so fired up, like a fuse was lit within him and the charge was slowly heading toward the bomb.
“You’re fucking kidding me? Cute? People think we’re cute together?”
Alex nodded as Megan continued to talk.
“Yeah, well, I’m glad he did a good job of it all. What are the fans reactions? Any news from Bitchface, or is she keeping quiet?”
A smile gradually crept across his face.
“Yes. I’ll download it. Naaa, don’t keep a copy. Although, if the picture of Ella and me is a good one, I’d like a copy of that.”
I moved from my seat and headed to the kitchen. I didn’t know about Alex, but I fancied either a cup of tea or a very stiff drink. I thought that tea was the best option for ten o'clock in the morning.
“So, he’s sorting Sam?” Alex said.
My ears pricked up. Who was sorting Sam?
“Well, I suppose Anthony is pretty intimidating up close.” Alex chuckled before continuing. “If it doesn’t work, I need you to find another way Megan. I’m not putting up with his shit.”
I rolled my eyes. I just wished he’d forget about Sam.
“Have you cleared all of Amy’s shit out of my house like I asked you?”
I stared at Alex, surprised that he had made the decision to get rid of her things after all this time.
“Good, give it all to charity or dump it outside her house. I don’t care. I just want rid of it. See if Hazel will be prepared to help redesign it. Okay. Yes, I’ll look. I promise. And if what you say is all true, then I owe Anthony a huge thank you.” He laughed. “No, not my car, Megan. He’s already got my sister, he’s not having my fucking car as well.”
Not only did the article in the paper seem to have had a great response for Alex, but he was organising for Megan to clear all of Amy’s junk out of his house, and Anthony was going to visit Sam.
Alex said his goodbyes to Megan before hanging up, and then turned to face me.
“It seems we have some celebrating to do. But first, I’m getting my laptop out, and we are going to have a look at this article. It seems to be having quite an amazing effect on people. Everyone is talking about it, and everyone is bowled over by us being together. I think it’s because you were on work experience when we met. It’s appealed to so many people. They love you, Ella. They really do.” He paused for a few seconds before adding. “But not as much as I love you. That’s just fucking impossible.”
I logged on to my twitter account whilst Alex sat opposite me, setting up his laptop.
“I thought you didn’t bring that with you,” I said as it whirred to life on the kitchen table.
“I didn’t. I keep this one here. It’s the same model as the one back home. God, I hope it’s safe at yours.”
“I think so. We have the best guard-dog around living in the downstairs flat, remember?”
“I hope you’re not referring to my sister?”
“I meant Anthony.”
Alex laughed. “Seriously, Ella, I think my sister’s bite it worse than Anthony’s.”
I reached across the table, and playfully punched him.
He rubbed his arm and then patted the chair next to him. “Come sit here,” he said. “We’ll look at this together.”
My twitter account was forgotten as the front page of the newspaper filled the screen.
'Exclusive: Loved up Alex Denton reveals shocking truth'
The headline dominated
the page, along with a large picture of Alex and myself. The photograph had been taken by Anthony after the interview. It was a relaxed pose, taken on the internal stairs that led up to my flat. I was seated between Alex’s legs, on one step lower than him, resting back onto his body. One of my hands was on his knee, with his hand on top of it, our fingers entwined. Alex’s other arm was wrapped protectively across my chest. We both looked happy and relaxed, smiling genuinely for the camera. Alex was lightly tanned, with three days of beard growth. I’d had no make-up on when the photo was taken, but my skin was luminous and flushed. I hoped no-one knew it was the way I looked after I’d had a lot of sex. The one thing I noticed more than anything else was that Alex looked happy—in fact we both did. I wondered if this was the picture that Megan had mentioned on the phone.
There were two other photographs. One of Alex and me from when I greeted him at the airport on Tuesday, and another of Alex and Amy at the Sunspark Premier. Anthony must have had a good search through old photos to find this one. Alex looked miserable and pissed off. Even though he had his hand on Amy’s waist, their upper bodies were leaning away from each other.
The article read as such:
Today – In Alex Denton’s exclusive interview to the press, he has agreed to talk about an event that has caused him a lot of grief over the past few years. He wants to tell people about the real Alex Denton. He wants people to know the truth.
It’s not often that I meet two people and instantly know how much in love they are with each other. It’s an incredibly rare thing in our world these days with so much happening around us. But when it’s staring you right in the face, it’s hard to ignore. And that’s exactly what I faced when I sat down with Alex Denton, and Ella Summer.
Alex Denton—famous actor, heart-throb and heart breaker, has found true love with Ella Summer, a student, who he met whilst on the set of Starshine. Ella was granted the prestigious place of a four-week work experience on the set of Starshine, working with Rowan Busby, renowned director of Starworld and Sunspark, the first two films in the Starshine saga.
Alex said that he knew from the moment he saw Ella, that she was special. “It just took me a while to sort everything out in my head,” he told me.
They constantly look to each other for reassurance throughout the interview, and it’s obvious how much support Ella gives Alex. He craves her affection. His mood lifts when she speaks, and their bodies seem to move in unison.
It all seems a million miles away from what he’s about to tell me. A story of young love, deceit and emotional cruelty that would create a movie in its own right—and the two central characters? Alex Denton and Amy Strickland.
“We fell in love on the set of Starworld. Amy was only seventeen and I was twenty-two.” Alex explained. “The acting threw our characters together. We were put in situations that forced us to have feelings for each other that I now realise were completely fabricated and untrue.”
When I asked him if he meant that he now realised that he had never been in love with Amy, he responded with a strong reaction. “I now know that I never loved her. I don’t know what you could call what I felt for her, infatuation maybe, but it was never love, even if I thought it was at the time.”
There seems to be no love for Amy at all, and when I mentioned the interview that I’d had with Simon Hurst, his face tightened even more. He looked annoyed, confirming his anger when he spoke. “Let’s get this straight once and for all. I have no interest in Amy and the baby, or who the father is. I know I’m not the daddy, and that’s all I care about. She is nothing in my life, and never will be. What I want to say though, is that her and Simon practically ruined my life a couple of years ago.”
I had to push him for further details. Even though he obviously has reason enough to dislike Amy, he seems reluctant to share the information with me. “I was forced into a situation by the Starshine promoters to be labelled as the guilty one at the end of my relationship with Amy. I was made out to be a womaniser. I had to agree that the split was all my fault as I couldn’t remain faithful. None of that was true. Amy and I split up at the end of the first film, but they made us continue to pretend to be together. The truth is that Amy had found another man, Simon Hurst, and she had also been seeing him behind my back. It had gone on for four months before I found out. If anyone deserved the blame for our split—it was her.”
Not only was she seeing Simon behind Alex’s back though, he had even more shocking facts to tell me. “She told me she was pregnant a few days before I found out about Simon. The baby hadn’t been planned, and I was incredibly stunned about the news. But whatever our crazy world had thrown at us, I was prepared to support her and the baby. As I said earlier, I thought I loved her.”
I clarified the facts with him before asking how he found out about Simon.
“I came home one evening, and she was in the hall way with him. That was the first time I’d ever met him. Her bags were packed. She left me. She had no idea whether the baby was mine or Simons.”
Even after this bombshell had been dropped, Alex still wanted to support her. “I told her that it didn’t matter if the baby was Simons. I was prepared to bring the child up as my own. That all seems a bit crazy now. But back then, it was how I felt.”
The next fact will surprise many fans of Amy’s, and potentially cause the biggest upset, as a week later when filming started on Sunspark, Alex went to Amy’s dressing room to talk to her. “I’d tried calling her all week, but she had refused to answer her phone. When I saw her that morning, I wanted answers. I hoped she’d changed her mind. But she greeted me with the news that she’d aborted the baby. She didn’t want there to be any risk that the baby could be mine. It devastated me.”
Such a cruel way to treat a man who she claimed to have loved with all her heart. Many of you will remember the newspaper interviews that Amy gave several months later, when she claimed to be broken hearted over her split with Alex, but his womanising ways had proved too much for her to deal with any longer.
“There were no other women. I’m not the sort of guy who jumps from one relationship to another. I’ve always remained faithful in my relationships. It’s important I have that trust.”
I believe him.
I asked him about his recent stay in America when he spoke to Stella on her show, and his declaration of love for Ella on live television. It seemed so out of character for him, a man who fiercely protects his private life and those in it. “Hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t have done that. But hey, what can I say now to change the situation?” He kissed Ella on her cheek. Again, I am reminded of their affection for each other. His action leads me nicely into asking about the sex scenes that he also told Stella about.
I wanted to know how Ella found herself in bed with him on the set of Starshine, filming the eagerly anticipated sex scene.
“Amy rang in sick, and the scene needed to be completed that day. Initially, Ella didn’t want to do it, but I persuaded her.”
I asked him whether the scenes will be as explosive as everyone is anticipating.
“Oh yes. They’ll set the cinemas on fire! They’re so hot!”
So we have an amazing sex scene to look forward to, and hopefully many happy pictures of Alex and Ella out and about. I asked him if his opinion on love has changed at all.
“Oh, definitely. I know what love is now. I believe in love. And with Ella, I think I’ve finally found it.”
Just for the record. I think he has too.
I stretched my hands above my head as I yawned, and turned to Alex, but he wasn’t there. The sheets were flung back on his side of the bed, and I presumed he had got up to cook breakfast. He was quickly becoming an expert in the kitchen, and he had promised bacon and eggs this morning.
I lay still, listening to the birds singing as a light breeze brushed through the open doors of the bedroom. But the peacefulness never lasted long. Alex was shouting in the kitchen, and from what I could make out, he wasn’t happy. It sounded like he w
as arguing with someone. I propped myself up on my elbows, frowning as I tried to catch the other person’s voice. Who was here? And why was he arguing with them?
As quickly as the shouting had started, it stopped. There was a deathly silence which was suddenly broken by several loud crashes. I sprang from the bed, and pulled my robe on as I ran into the main room. Alex was sitting on the sofa, his head in his hands. I glanced around the room, checking to see if anyone else was there. But there wasn’t anyone, just Alex and an array of broken plates scattered across the floor.
“Alex?” I asked softly as I approached him.
He looked up, his face one of despair, a look that I’d seen too many times in the past.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I sat next to him on the sofa. I placed my arm across his slumped shoulders.
He shook his head and concentrated on the floor.
“Alex?”
He pulled his hands through his hair before standing up. “Remember the sex scenes that we did for Starshine?”
I offered a smile before nodding. “How could I forget?”
“Well, it seems that they are already circulating the internet. They’ve been leaked, Ella. Someone has leaked them to the media. Apparently, it’s all anyone back in England is talking about. It’ll hit America as they wake up, and then the rest of the fucking world. We’ve even made the news headlines in the UK!”
My eyes widened. “But how? The only people who’ve seem them are me, the two production staff, and . . .” my voice trailed off.
“Rowan!” Alex snarled. “Exactly. Fucking Rowan Busby!”
“Alex, you don’t know that for certain.” I didn’t believe that Rowan could be so spiteful, but then again, if he was still involved with Amy, then maybe he could do this.
“Who else can it be?” he asked.
I frowned and tried to think of anyone else who would want to hurt us, and who had access to the footage that had been leaked. There was no-one.
Starshine Page 34
