Tessa waves down a taxi and slips inside, giving myself and Larsen a moment. I wish that I could kiss her, but she knows why I can’t. Those damn photographers feeling like slimy roaches encroaching on our space.
“Don’t forget about me,” I whisper, my hands longing to stretch out and hold her.
Behind her smile, I watch as the tears build, ready to wash away the fake exterior. “How can I? You’re going to text me incessantly.”
Shrugging my shoulders, I nod.
I answer her smile with my own; wishing that we had more time, there is so much more I want to show her, to tell her.
“Hey, lover boy,” Tessa exclaims as she peeks her head back out of the open door. “She has a plane to catch.”
Regardless of the photographers and fans surrounding the hotel, I can’t leave her like this. My heart feels as if it’s about to burst within its cavity. Leaning forward, I press my lips against her right cheek, against the scar that she hates, against the mangled skin she tries to hide. The injury that I think is the most beautiful part of her.
“I could love you, Larsen,” I whisper against the skin, praying that she can hear the words over the pounding of my heart.
As I pull back, I know that she listened to every word, read every silent meaning. Her eyes and mouth hang wide in shock and she casually slips inside the car with minimal effort on my part.
My hands rest on the top of the door and hood of the car, unwilling to close off my connection to her.
“Devyn!” Tessa shouts from the bench seat and I nod.
But her exclamation must shake something free inside Larsen because she shakes her head and in a flash reaches out to hold the door open.
“Me too, Devyn. Me too.”
Unable to let her go like this, I bend my body into the car and meld our lips together once more. Her tears soak the skin of my cheeks like a melting ice cube left out in the warm sun.
“Gross,” Tessa grumbles beside us, and I pull out of the car.
“Call me when you land, okay?” I beg.
“I will. Bye, Devyn.”
“I’ll see you soon,” I promise as I close the door and tap the roof of the car.
That’s one promise I intend to keep.
“Oh, darling. You must be so sad.” Elena’s voice prickles down my spine as she approaches. She’s flanked by her two security guards, all three wearing athletic gear. I’m surprised the man usually attached at her hip isn’t close by.
“Good morning, Elena.”
She takes a step closer, tilting her cheek toward my face expecting a kiss, but with Larsen still lingering on my lips, I take a step back. I’m not tainting what little I have of Larsen with this farce.
Elena humphs and dismisses her guards, leaving the two of us alone on the sidewalk.
“Well, lover, what time will you be picking me up for the party this evening?”
“What party?” I ask as she slips her arm through mine.
“Tuinn Productions is holding a Chicago cast party as we finish up filming on this location. I’m told it is a small intimate affair.”
“Tessa must have forgotten to mention it.”
“Yes, well, what time?” she reiterates as she takes us through the doors into the hotel lobby, my daze of the morning making the movement effortless on her part.
Hurriedly her assistant rushes over and whispers something in her ear before departing just as quickly.
“I’m sorry, I am due for a fitting. I will see you there, I suppose. We will have to be photographed leaving the party together. At least that is what I was just informed.” She rises onto the balls of her feet since we are almost equal in height and presses her lips to my cheek. The sounds of the cameras going off is almost deafening even though I seem to be the only one to hear them. “Until then.”
I’m left standing in the lobby, surrounded by people checking in and out of the hotel, bellman pushing carts around filled with luggage, valets escorting guests to their cars, but I’ve never felt so alone.
~
The party is in full swing when I arrive, many of the attendees too far gone to even notice my appearance. But Elena sees, as do Quinn and Tessa. My fake girlfriend leaves her assistant and makes a beeline toward me.
But I sidestep her and head toward Tessa instead.
“Glad to see you could make it.” She reaches up to adjust the collar of my shirt, one of the lapels tucked into itself in my hurry when I received her text.
“Sorry. I wasn’t really in the mood.”
Her sorrowful smile doesn’t ease the pain. “I know, but you’re the lead and need to be here. Also, good news, I hear that you’ll be attending the premieres with your true love.”
At first, I think she means Larsen, until I realize that it’s said in jest.
“Great.”
“I know it sucks, but the buzz is already going strong. I believe we’re going to have a blockbuster on our hands.”
It’s what I always wanted – the spotlight. The go-to lead actor is known to draw in the crowds. But then why doesn’t my heart feel in it?
“Focus, Devyn. You’re almost there. Then, so long as there aren’t any screw-ups, you’re set.”
“Yeah. You’re right.”
We stand together on the outskirts of the crowd taking everyone in with their suits and ties, sparkling dresses, glittering jewels. I should feel like I belong but I’ve never felt more distant from my colleagues, from the world I crave to be a part of again.
As if Tessa knows where my head is at she leans in and murmurs, “She should be arriving in about fifteen minutes. There was a long layover.”
Grabbing my phone from my pocket, I ready for her call and as if summoned from a higher power an unknown number with a Colorado area code flashes across my screen.
I look at Tessa wondering if I should wait to answer or leave to take the call, not wanting to rock the boat with my agent and the team more than I already have.
“Go, I’ll handle it.”
“Thank you,” I say as I turn on my heels and brace myself to hear her voice.
“Larsen?” I answer once I step into the abandoned hall. “God, I wish that you were still here.”
CHAPTER TEN – LARSEN
Same letter, different day.
As expected, images of my time in Chicago surface, and the sullen fan letters began to occur more frequently. Some with fake return addresses, some without any. They mostly say the same thing.
That I’m not good enough.
That he’ll tire of me.
That my end is coming.
As requested, I make sure to send Devyn a snapshot of each before I take them to Officer Tawny. She’s gone so far as to ask the postal service to keep an eye out when they retrieve the letters. But that seems to be a dead end as well, they’ve been coming from various mailing locations.
Everyone is stumped, except me.
I chalk it up to a fan eager to gain Devyn’s attention, and by paying these letters more attention than they are worth, we’re only feeding the fan’s desires.
“How’s it going?” Cole asks as he settles into the booth across from me instead of his usual perch at the counter.
I look up from my nursing textbook and smile. Since my return, Cole has become a good friend. Always checking in to make sure that I’m okay. Classes have just started back, so I’ve been busy immersing myself in my studies.
“Hey. It’s good. Just reviewing Anatomy and Physiology before my exam tonight. How are you?”
“Hanging in there. I’m coaching volleyball this year and teaching, I don’t have much time for much else.”
I nod in understanding. Outside of working at the diner, helping Jeff at the shop, stocking the convenience store shelves, and studying I don’t have time for much else either. I have managed to carve out extra time for my calls with Devyn in the evenings he’s available. Texting makes it much easier to figure out when we’re both free.
“So, I don’t know if you
saw this,” Cole adds as he slips a magazine in front of me. Looking down I take in the new picture of Devyn and Elena leaving a popular restaurant in L.A. His hand is resting gently on her lower back as he ushers her to the car. They look stunning together. There is definitely a reason why the casting directors paired them.
The headline reads: “Two of Hollywood’s Hottest Stars are Heating Up Off Set.”
It’s the lie they’ve chosen to feed the world, and normally it would hurt, and maybe there is a pang in my chest at seeing them together, but I understand.
“Thanks, but you didn’t have to do that. It’s from last Thursday. He told me that they were having dinner.”
I put the kibosh on the rest of the conversation by sliding the magazine back toward him and turn my attention back to my book. But my focus is lost and as I look back up I notice that the diner has grown silent. Even the Fishes are staring at me in wonder.
“What?” I ask harshly.
“We just don’t know how you do it. How can you let him treat you this way?”
“Easy, because we aren’t anything. Sure, things would be different if our lives allowed it, but they don’t. We’re never going to be anything more than friends. And furthermore, he isn’t in a relationship with Elena.”
“Are you sure about that?” Cole presses. “They look awfully cozy to me.”
“He’s an actor. He’s just doing his job,” I defend.
“Exactly. That’s my point. How can you believe that he’s being truthful to you?”
Unable to listen anymore, I slam my book closed and stuff it into my bag. Standing from the booth, I look at him pointedly in the eye. I ignore the fact that my scars are burning beneath the heat of my anger.
“I trust him. That’s all you need to worry about.”
Without a backward glance, I stomp away from the diner, hating the chaos I’m leaving in my wake.
I feel like I am being put on trial and the jury has already come to their conclusion, not that I need to defend my relationship with Devyn. Our worlds won’t allow us to be anything more than what we already are.
As if summoned by my thoughts my phone rings – Devyn.
At least my walk home with Devyn on the other end of the call will ease my tension.
And when I grab the mail, looking over another anonymous letter within the stack, it doesn’t dampen my mood.
“I got another one, Devyn.” I say it no differently than if we were discussing the weather.
“What is that? Fourteen?”
IT’S TIME TO TAKE YOU OUT
“Sixteen. But this one is a little different.”
“How so? Send me a picture.”
“It’s not the text but the snapshot with it. This time it has both of our images X’d out. And it’s an edited photo. Like we weren’t together at the time. You’re on the phone in one half, and I’m on the phone in another.”
“Send it to me now. I want Tommy to look at it. He’s a retired cop.”
I shrug my shoulders, forgetting that he can’t see the movement. “Larsen?”
“Yeah, okay. Hold on a second.” I flip the phone around and send him the image before putting the phone on speaker as I enter my apartment.
“When was that image of you taken?” he asks urgently. I can hear his whispers to another party on my end of the call.
“Um. . .maybe four days ago? I was leaving the Community College in the next town to take a proctored exam. I had just called you to tell you that I saw that an entertainment channel was airing a story about you.”
“That’s right. Okay, mine was taken almost two days before that. I was on set listening to a voicemail from you. Shit, I wish that I was there with you.”
“I know. Oh, hey, I saw that news article about you and Elena being Hollywood’s hottest couple.”
His answering groan sends shivers down my spine, but the good kind, the kind that leaves your panties melting in its wake.
“That dinner was a nightmare. She sent back two different dishes. I wish it had been you there.”
His words seep through my ear to my beating heart. I know that he means the truth. Devyn hasn’t made it a secret that he wishes things were different and that he wants to see me the moment he can get away.
“Ah, but I wouldn’t know what to do at a fancy place like that. You looked good, though.”
“Did I?”
“You know that you did. Don’t fish for compliments.”
“How’s your uncle?”
“You should know, you speak to him just as much as I do.”
It’s the truth, Devyn calls my uncle every day, whether to check-in or to ask about me.
“Did he hear back from the bank?” Jeff went to the bank to request a business loan to cover the recent expenses and bills we’ve incurred. Devyn has tried to give him money, but the stubborn man refuses to have any investors.
“They denied his request. They saw the steady drop of income and compared it against the rising cost of expenses and they just couldn’t see him being able to make the payments.”
“I could help if he’d let me.”
“And you know he won’t.” Jeff has too much pride. Allowing Devyn to pay my medical bill was one thing, but he won’t take a cent from anyone to help the business.
“Shit, I’m being called to set. We’re filming until midnight. Same time tomorrow?”
“Yep. Be safe.”
“You too, Angel.”
He’s started using a new nickname for me – Angel. And I secretly love it. When I asked him why he chose that moniker, he said when I showed up on set in Chicago, I looked like an Angel from Heaven.
It was sweet and since I’ve never been called anything other than my name or some insulting term, I happily accept it.
Despite our fear of having to shut down the diner and small store next door, a steady stream of traffic increases for the next two weeks. Where there would typically be open tables and booths, we have a line forming down the sidewalk.
Uncle Jeff believes that he may be able to salvage the businesses after all. Things are picking up. I only wish that Devyn could be here to see the joy on the community’s faces.
Walking into the diner through the back entrance, I toss my bag onto the hook in exchange for my apron.
“Busy morning?” I ask Tucker and Joanne as I pass by heading toward the counter, smiling at the customers as I grab a glass of water.
“Been non-stop since open. Larsen.” Joanne grabs my arm as she comes to stand next to me. “There are quite a few people here asking for you. I don’t know if they’re fans or reporters, but we all think that you should probably stay in the kitchen today. Karen offered to work the tables for you.”
“What?” I whisper in shock as I look around the space. All eyes are trained on me, inspecting me, measuring me, and to most, I don’t add up. People are curious, those that don’t know me. The only ones paying attention to their food are the regulars. The Fishes and the gossipers are the ones seeming as if they can’t turn away.
“I don’t understand. What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure. But I think you may need to lie low for a while.”
Nodding I tuck myself back into the kitchen just as my phone starts vibrating in my apron. Glancing down I see that it’s Devyn calling. My hand pauses halfway in reach of the device. I’m so shaken up from walking into the diner that I’m not sure that I can speak to him right now when I’m not even sure that I know exactly what’s taking place. It vibrates again before finally silencing.
A few hours pass and I stay tucked away, but it doesn’t stop the people harping the staff to get a good look at me. Or more or less my scars.
It doesn’t take long for the murmurs to escalate. And a quick peek at an internet search shows the media turning their attention away from Devyn and Elena, but instead to the monster trying to tear them apart. Apparently, up until my visit in Chicago, no one realized the severity of the damage to my body.
The repo
rters are curious and doing their damndest to dig up dirt on the mysterious woman. Only one column put two and two together from the previous images on social media of Devyn in this diner.
That surely explains the rise in the crowd. Everyone wanting to clamor for a glimpse of me.
The ringing of my phone starts up again and I leave the cooking to Tucker as I head to the corner to answer.
“Hey,” I respond to Devyn’s hello.
“Angel, are you okay?”
“Um. . .I don’t know. I’m not really sure what’s going on.”
“I don’t. . .I just. . .they’re piecing it all together, at least into a story that their readers believe.”
“Why, Devyn? What did I do?”
“You were seen with me. And now with the movie and things with Elena, they’re just. . .tearing you apart.”
“What. . .what are they saying?” I whisper, my mouth so dry that I can barely form the words.
“God, Larsen. . .I’m trying to fix this -”
“What are they saying!” I shout, cutting him short.
“Shit, Larsen, I need you to get out of there. Three people are running a live feed on social media right now.” I stop and glance around the kitchen wall just as he shouts, “Not now, Tessa. Give me a minute.”
That’s when I spot them. Two are sitting at a table with a direct view of the kitchen where I’m standing, their phones poised in the air. The other stands outside the diner, his phone pressed against the window.
On impulse, I slap my hand against my mouth, but I can’t turn away from the onlookers.
Like a superhero, I watch as Cole jumps over the counter and rushes into the kitchen, his eyes darting around until he lands on me. Speaking into his phone, I hear him say, “Yeah, I see her. I’ll take her somewhere safe.”
“Are you talking with Cole?” I ask Devyn.
“No, your uncle. . .who is talking with Cole. You and Jeff trust him, so will I. Let him get you out of there, okay? At least I know that he’s big enough to protect you.”
The Scene Stealer: A Hollywood Romance Page 15
