He watched her smiling as she talked to people they’d only ever seen on a movie screen before, watched her talk to these people with so much ease, like she’d been doing this all her life, like she’d been born into this world, all the time holding tightly onto Michael’s hand. This famous, older man seemed to be making her the happiest he’d ever seen her and over the weeks it’d made him relax somewhat. Although it was also making him wonder what it must be like to have someone love you so much, and be in love with someone in that way. He’d never really felt it, never really known what it was like. Maybe it could have been there with Charley, if they’d had the chance.
He shook his head, almost as if to get rid of that thought because it did no good to go back to that. Charley was bad news. Whatever she was up to now, whatever was going on with her, he really had ceased to care. She could get on with it. He had a new life now, and he had no intention of re-visiting the past.
***
India grabbed herself a drink and headed towards Kenny. Tonight he was on his own. Usually he was always accompanied by one or two aspiring actresses or up-and-coming models firmly attached to either arm but tonight he’d come to the premiere alone. India hadn’t had a chance to talk to him yet, and she really wanted to catch up with him. She hadn’t spent a lot of time with him lately and she’d missed him.
Seeing him sitting alone at a corner table she walked over to him, sitting down next to him. He looked over at her and smiled.
“Hey, you.”
“Hey, you back.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek. This was the first time she’d seen him clean shaven for months. He also had much shorter hair and it suited him, but it was all for a movie, of course. It wasn’t how he usually chose to look.
“You’ve let go of him for five minutes then,” Kenny said, indicating towards Michael, who was now talking to Reece.
India looked at Kenny, not quite sure what he meant by that. “Don’t say hello and then start, Kenny. Please.”
He ran a hand through his shorter hair, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his thighs, clasping his hands together.
“Sorry. No, I’m really sorry, India. I’m happy for you. Really.”
“Are you?”
He looked right into her eyes. “Yes. I am.” He sat back in his chair and picked up the bottle of beer on the table beside him, taking a long swig from it. “Is he looking after you?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe. He’s a really good man, Kenny, and it would mean a lot to me if you two made an effort to get on with each other.”
Kenny looked over at Michael again. There was still something about him that he couldn’t quite get his head around, something he just couldn’t trust. Maybe he should get to know him a bit better, then at least he’d be able to keep a much closer eye on him.
“You’re my best friend, and he’s my boyfriend, the two of you really should at least try and be civil. For me, if nothing else.”
“Boyfriend seems like such a strange term to describe him, India. He’s so much older than you.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, he’s forty-four! What’s the big deal?”
Kenny took another drink and turned to India, taking her hand and squeezing it gently. “Ok, ok, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Just ignore me.”
“Yeah, I might just do that.” But she was smiling as she said it and he couldn’t help but smile back.
“So, what’s he like then? For an older bloke I mean?”
“Jesus, you’d think he was some kind of pensioner. He’s actually really fit, if you must know. He keeps himself in great shape.”
“Is he any good in bed?”
“Kenny!”
Kenny just shrugged and smirked at her, but he actually really wanted to know. Was he as good as he’d been? Did he make her feel like he had? Just what was it about this guy that had her acting like some lovesick teenager?
“Come on then. Tell me.”
India looked over towards Michael. She was aching to get back to him, just wanting to feel his hand holding hers again. She felt safe when he was next to her.
“He makes love to me like I’m the most precious thing in the world,” she said quietly, still looking at Michael.
Kenny felt his stomach lurch and his heart sink. It wasn’t so much what she’d said but the way she’d said it, and there was no doubt about it now. He’d lost her. To a man he wasn’t altogether sure was completely right for her.
“That good, huh?” he said, finishing his beer and putting it back down on the table.
India looked at him, deciding it was time to change the subject. “I’ve had a call from Charley.”
Kenny couldn’t hide his surprise. “Charley?”
She nodded. “She contacted Alice’s office. They asked me if I wanted to talk to her and I said yes. She called me this evening, just before we came here.”
“Why? Why would you want to talk to her now? After all this time?”
“Because I figured that the only reason she’d be contacting me is if she needed me ...”
“Or your money.”
“She’s in trouble, Kenny.”
He pushed a hand through his hair again and sighed. “What sort of trouble?”
“I’m not sure. She was calling from a payphone, said something about not being able to talk for long because they were watching her ... she said could I tell Terry she was sorry for everything, but she really needed help.”
“Jesus, India, don’t get involved. She could be mixed up in anything. You know who she’s living with, don’t you?”
“Jimmy Cash. He’s a businessman, isn’t he?”
“And you know as well as I do that he’s a lot more than just a businessman.”
“I know she works for him. I know what she does, Kenny, but she said she needed help.”
“It’s a different world, babe. One we shouldn’t even think about going near, not when Jimmy Cash is involved.”
“I’m worried about her, Kenny. Worried about what she’s got herself into.”
“Leave it, India. Please.”
“Should I tell Terry?”
He took her hand again and rubbed her fingers with his thumb. There was no way he was going to let her get involved in whatever trouble Charley was in, it was too dangerous. She had too much to lose. Charley had lost it already.
“That’s up to you, I’m only telling you what I think. And I think we should leave well alone. If she calls you again tell her you can’t get involved.”
“She was my friend, Kenny.”
“Was, India. She was your friend.”
India knew he was right, she knew that she owed Charley nothing but it still didn’t stop her from worrying about her. Her voice had sounded shaky and scared, and so quiet. Nothing like the confident, outgoing Charley she’d known before.
“Go on, get back to Michael, enjoy yourself.”
She smiled at him and leaned forward to kiss him quickly. “Give me a call soon, ok? We’ll go surfing, get a burger down at Venice Beach and hang out. I miss that.”
He smiled back. “I miss that too, kiddo. And please ... forget about Charley. She isn’t worth your time anymore.”
But India was already working out a way to find out what was wrong, and just what kind of help it was that Charley needed. Because she knew she’d never be able to live with herself if she didn’t at least try.
CHAPTER 17
Work on India and Michael’s movie was going well. It was almost ready to wrap and India had loved every second of working on it, mainly because the director was Michael, but also because it was such a fun film to be part of, and that was all due to Michael too. He’d thrown himself totally into the movie and he knew just how to make it fun for everyone involved, as well as making sure everything got done. To be able to be with him every day was heaven for her.
The ‘Viper’ shoot had also been a success. They’d been really good about fitting everything in around her and her filming schedule, so much so that they
’d done the interview on set and shot the photos at her home in Beverly Hills, pictures that had turned out beautiful, tasteful and sexy. They didn’t show too much – even though she was quite obviously naked - but they gave away enough for people to see that she truly was an incredible woman, a woman who, as Michael had so eloquently put it, most men would kill to fuck. She had an amazing body and those pictures showed it all off to its perfect extent. Michael had even had one of the photos blown up and hung up in his office and she knew he carried at least three smaller pictures around in his wallet.
Things had been so busy over the past few months, and with Christmas just around the corner, India really hadn’t had much time to think about Charley. She hadn’t been in contact again since the night of the premiere and, for some reason, that made India nervous. If she really was in trouble just what could be happening to her? She’d also made the decision not to tell Terry anything just yet. He loved his new job, he was settling into L.A. life, slowly, but he was getting there, and she didn’t want anything to spoil that. So she’d decided to wait and see if Charley got back in contact, because that’s all she really could do now. Wait and see.
Tonight Michael was taking her out to dinner. No real reason, there didn’t have to be a reason anymore, not like when she’d been that girl back in Newcastle, when they’d usually only gone out to eat when they’d had something to celebrate. Here they ate out often. Money being no object anymore had given India that luxury, but it was something she still never took for granted. And luxury it certainly was tonight.
They were on their way to one of the most exclusive restaurants in one of the most exclusive hotels in Bel Air, something India could only ever have dreamed about before. It was a place that she never thought she’d ever visit, and if she’d still been with Kenny she suspected it was somewhere they’d never have come to. Or anywhere like it. It just didn’t seem his kind of place. Maybe once it hadn’t been her kind of place either but with Michael, he wanted to give her the romance and the dream, and with him everything just felt so different. She felt like a princess when she was with him.
Pulling up outside the hotel, India took Michael’s hand as she stepped out of the car, the flash of paparazzi bulbs that seemed to accompany them everywhere these days clicking away, all desperate to get yet another photograph of the two of them together. It was something she was fast getting used to, the fact everyone seemed to want to know their every move. It wasn’t always something she liked the idea of, and there were times when she really didn’t feel like having her photograph taken, but it was part of the package. It came with the territory. And she was dating one of Hollywood’s biggest stars so there really was no hiding place. So, as usual, she dealt with it like the professional she was.
She clung onto Michael’s hand as they were guided inside, the sudden tranquillity of the place a welcome relief from the shouting of the paparazzi out front, and she stopped, just for a second, to take everything in because sometimes just getting the few yards from the car to wherever they were going could feel like an uphill struggle, and she needed to get her breath back.
Once inside, a very polite and friendly member of staff was there to greet them, leading them through the hotel to the famed restaurant via what India could only describe as some kind of fantasy land, like closing the doors on the world outside and walking into a fairytale. There were tropical gardens with the most incredible coloured plants and flowers, jacaranda trees and palms that seemed to sway in a make-believe breeze as a waterfall cascaded into a bluer-than-blue stream and she couldn’t take her eyes off the beauty that filled the place. It was breathtaking! She’d never seen anywhere like it before, and she’d been to Vegas.
She squeezed Michael’s hand tight as they were taken to their private table in the elegant and romantic dining room, and he smiled at her, watching her face light up as she looked around her.
“This is ... it’s beautiful. This place is just incredible!”
Michael quickly ordered champagne then turned his attention back to India, taking her hand and kissing it gently. “An incredible place for an incredible woman.”
They looked at each other, and burst out laughing.
“Sorry, that was a bit on the corny side, wasn’t it?”
She leaned over the table and slowly kissed his mouth. “You’re a romantic, Michael, and I love it. I love you.”
She’d never really said those words to Kenny, not in this way, not meaning them the way she meant them when she said them to Michael. She’d loved Kenny, of course she’d loved him, she still did. Just, not like this. Not this all-consuming, head-spinning love. Even though her and Michael had been together for months now her stomach still did little flips whenever he walked into a room, or smiled that crazy smile he’d perfected in so many of his comedy films. She still loved just kissing him whenever they had a few spare minutes on set and she longed for those evenings when they’d just snuggle up together on her huge sofas at home and watch TV, those evenings when they’d invariably end up making love before they even got to the bedroom, the nights when it felt like they were just two normal people instead of a celebrity couple in a crazy world that spent so much of it’s time wanting to know what they were doing. She couldn’t think of a day when those feelings would go, and she didn’t want to. She could see her future in his beautiful blue eyes. She wanted to grow old with this man. She wanted him in her life, forever.
Michael held onto her hand, looking into her eyes, eyes that were telling him how much she loved him and even now, even after months of holding her in his arms every night and knowing that she loved him more than he could ever have thought possible, even now he still couldn’t believe that she wanted him. He was middle-aged, sixteen years her senior, a divorced-more-than-once man who’d been in and out of re-hab in his past and yet this beautiful, young, incredible woman wanted him.
“I don’t think you’ll ever know how much I love you, India Steven. You’ll never know.”
She looked down at his fingers as they stroked hers gently, his thumb moving back and forth across her tanned hand and she felt that stomach flip again, that feeling of a thousand butterflies flying loose inside her and she just wanted to take him in her arms and hold onto him.
“Move in with me, baby,” he whispered. “Please.”
She looked back up at him. “Michael ... I thought we’d talked about this. Oh, Jesus …” She pushed a hand through her loose blonde hair. “Do you know what? What the hell. What am I doing pretending I don’t want you to be there every second of my life because I do. I do want you there.”
He looked at her with wide, hopeful eyes. “So ...?”
She smiled at him. “So, let’s do this. On one condition.”
He shrugged and smiled that movie star smile of his. “Hey, you can come with as many conditions as you like.”
“I’m being serious, Michael. I’ll live with you, but move into my place, ok? You move in with me. I love my home, it’s my sanctuary. I feel safe there. But if you’re there with me then it’s my perfect heaven, isn’t it? Our perfect heaven.”
He stroked her fingers again, knowing he was now just one small step closer to putting a ring on there, to making her his forever.
“I don’t really care where we live, baby. As long as we’re together.”
She felt like she was going to cry again. This was crazy! He was still doing this to her, still making her feel so emotional that it messed her up inside. Nobody else could understand what she felt for this man – she found it hard to understand it herself sometimes, found it hard to control. He was so much a part of her that she felt as though she’d fall apart if he wasn’t around.
“When did you know you loved me, Michael?” She suddenly felt a real need to know the answer to that.
“From the very second Vince showed me your photograph. Before I’d even met you.”
She looked at him, reaching over the table to touch his cheek, lightly running her thumb over his mouth.
/> “I fell in love with you the second I looked at you,” he went on. “I knew that, because, seeing you with Kenny Ross that day of your screen test, the day I first saw you for real, it tore me apart. And when I heard you’d married him I felt a pain I can’t even describe. It hurt, right here.” He punched at his chest. “All I knew was that I wanted the world to go away because if I couldn’t have you, I was nothing.”
“Oh, Michael ...”
“To see something so beautiful, so perfect, and to know that she was with another man ... I’d never experienced that feeling, India. I never knew what that felt like until you walked into my life, but I wouldn’t change any of it. Because I now know that I had to go through that pain, I had to experience that hurt and that longing to be able to love you like I do now. To know that I will never, ever love anyone like I love you.”
She felt like she was in some kind of perfect, romantic fairytale in this beautiful place with this wonderful man and she never wanted this moment to go away. She wanted to bottle it up and keep it forever so she’d always remember it, always know and feel this strong, intense love, always know it was there.
She leaned into him and closed her eyes as his mouth touched hers. She’d found her dream in the arms of this amazing man and there was nothing in her world that could take that away from her now. Everything in India’s life was just perfect.
***
Reece was getting closer to Terry and that mattered a great deal to him. If he could win over her brother, then, when the time came to tell India the truth, surely that could only make things easier.
Reece still had no idea why he was holding back from telling India what she needed to know. It just always seemed that as soon as the time felt right he’d find himself backing off and bottling out. It was as if he was frightened of losing her, scared of her reaction. Maybe he’d left it too long, maybe he should have told her sooner but he couldn’t go back, could he? He could only deal with the here and now.
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