“You’ll hear from me.”
“If I don’t, just know how much I’ve enjoyed our life together over the last six months.” She walked up, kissed me, and then walked out the door.
“Kei,” I yelled after her.
She turned to me.
“I love you, and I’ll see you in thirty days.”
•••••
Six hours later, I was leaving Kei behind.
She’d finally come out with it, told me about her father hurting her and her mother’s sick attempt at putting the child out of her misery. I didn’t tell her that I already knew. I wasn’t sure I ever would. I don’t know. Maybe one day, when the conditions are right and I knew that if she got angry about it, she would find a way to understand my dilemma.
The important thing was that she told me and she didn’t leave any of it out. It was out of the darkness and into the light. It couldn’t do any more damage to our relationship, or a relationship that I hoped would be a reality in thirty days, thirty torturous days.
Somehow, I managed to make it through the airport without anyone noticing me. Nobody had been expecting me to be in North Carolina, so their radar wasn’t on. But as soon as I stepped foot in Los Angeles, life went back to normal. As I walked through the airport, people turned and stared. Some screamed, while others jammed pieces of paper in my face and asked for autographs or asked me to pose for a photo with them. I obliged the requests and put on the show. I laughed, posed for photos, and thanked people for their support. It was the best acting job I’d ever done on set or off.
The paparazzi were bunkered down outside the airport and starting snapping away as soon as I walked out the automatic doors. It wasn’t until I was alone inside the limousine that I let myself relax.
I was back to being completely alone, only that time, it was worse. I didn’t just hate being alone; I hated being apart from the person who made feel anything but alone.
C H A P T E R
30
Some of the other cast members and I sat around a table, eating our high-protein, low-taste meals. Oliver and his production team had been smart. They stuck us all together, barely giving us any time apart. If I’d had one meal alone, I would’ve gone crazy and eaten nothing but bread and sweets. Other than Kei, carbohydrates were all I thought of.
Actual shooting of the movie was beginning in a matter of days, and even though we’d been in Vancouver for fight training for almost a month, my body still ached if I sat still for any amount of time. I was working muscles that I never even knew existed, and my body wanted to make sure it knew that it didn’t like the strain.
I listened to the guys talk about protein drinks and cut into my chicken as a flash of red caught my eye from across the room.
My heart rate increased. I’d know that red anywhere.
“David, this is Kei, an intern.” Oliver was introducing her to our trainer.
I looked up and watched her profile as she reached out and shook his hand as Oliver spoke.
“I hired her to come document the filming of the movie. We’re thinking of using the footage on the DVD set when it comes out.”
“Sounds great,” David said.
I waited for Kei to look my direction, but she didn’t.
“Welcome, Kei. Make yourself at home.”
“I appreciate that,” she said softly.
Finally, Oliver prompted her to turn our direction, and within moments, her eyes met mine but looked away just as quickly.
“Gentlemen, mind if I interrupt and introduce you to someone?”
“Of course not,” Steven said, standing.
The rest of us stood too.
“This is Kei. She’s going to be photographing and videotaping the shoot over the next few months. I’d appreciate it if you gave her access to your world, within reason, of course.”
I watched her greet each person as Oliver introduced them.
“And you remember Cab.”
“Yes. Hello,” she said with a nod. Her eyes flicked to me and then right back to her uncle.
“Everyone be nice to her. I had to drag her here kicking and screaming as it was.”
“You don’t like Tuscany, Kei?” Zander asked.
“I’m kind of a homebody,” she whispered.
“No, she isn’t,” Oliver announced. “It’s called a lack of self-confidence. She doesn’t realize how good she is, but she’ll figure it out soon enough.”
I started to speak, but Oliver kept going.
“Anyway, I’m going to go show her around the set. Maybe you’ll see her out here on Monday.”
Oliver turned and walked away as Kei said a quick good-bye and then followed behind. She didn’t look back at me.
I jumped up from my chair and ran after them, catching them just outside. “Kei?”
I could tell she didn’t want to, but she turned my direction. She wouldn’t look at me. “Um…”
She looked back at Oliver. He finally got the hint and walked away.
“I’m so sorry I showed up out of the blue. I know it hasn’t been thirty days. And I know this probably looks bad or like I’m stalking you or decided not to give you the thirty days or that maybe I’m trying to pressure you not to change your mind about us. I don’t know. All of this must be very awkward for you. It certainly is for me. Oliver and my parents worked it out and then sprung it on me last minute and didn’t really give me a choice. They literally shoved me on to the plane with hardly a word about where I was going or what I’d be doing. It was only upon arriving that Oliver fully clued me up on their plan. I—”
“Can I see you tonight?”
Her eyes widened. “Pardon?”
“Can I see you tonight?”
“Cabot, I assumed you’d—”
“You assumed wrong.”
“Bollocks. You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“Yeah, I do. You were going to say that you figured that the information you shared about yourself changed my mind about us and that I’d moved on with my life and completely forgotten about you. But it didn’t, and I haven’t, and I want to see you tonight.”
She looked down at the ground. “Oliver’s got the rest of the day planned. I don’t know when I’ll be back. And besides, it hasn’t been thirty days yet.”
“Screw the thirty days.”
“Cabot—”
“It’s been twenty-five. Close enough.”
“I’ll see you on Monday.” Turning on her heels, she was gone.
Later that day, just as I was about to approach the front desk and ask for Kei’s room number, I saw her getting onto the elevator with Oliver and several other people.
I ran through the lobby and squeezed through the doors as they closed.
“Room for one more?”
When Kei saw that it was me, she tried to hide behind the man in front of her.
“Excuse me.” I shoved through the men and slid behind her and up against the wall. I was so close that I could see her hair move when I exhaled.
My hands shook, and the inside of my chest vibrated so fast that it felt like my lungs were flapping like birds wings taking off in flight.
“New clothes?” I asked.
“Oliver and Mariah purchased them for me.”
“You look amazing.”
“Zip it,” she whispered angrily.
“I e-mailed you a dozen times after I left,” I whispered back.
Oliver glanced at us over his shoulder and then started talking to the men surrounding him.
I moved closer and placed my face between her right ear and the wall of the elevator. “I’ve thought about you every day, practically nonstop.”
“Shh.” She reached over and slapped the palm of her hand against my forehead and pushed my face away from hers.
I leaned right back in.
“Oh, for the love of Pete,” she groaned.
“Why didn’t you answer my e-mails ?”
“We agreed not to contact one another.”
“Not true. You agreed.”
“We needed to get back to reality.”
“What we have is reality.” My whisper had grown in volume to the point that Oliver noticed and started talking even louder.
She turned a little to face me but didn’t look me in the eye. “Cabot, this is not the time or the place to discuss this.”
“Maybe if you would’ve answered your e-mails, I wouldn’t have to discuss it here.”
The elevator buzzed, and the door opened.
“Eighth floor,” Oliver announced. “Kei, this is you.”
She squeezed through the men and exited. I was right behind her.
“Cabot,” someone asked, “didn’t you get the penthouse?”
“Yep. But uh…uh…she’s going to interview me for the video…and…”
She hurried to her room while I lied to the group of men until the door closed back and then chased after her.
“Come on. Come on,” she muttered as she fumbled to try and get the key card into the slot and the door opened before I caught up with her.
She failed.
As soon as the door unlocked, I opened it, grabbed her around the waist, lifted her a couple of inches off the ground, and carried her inside. It wasn’t something I’d planned, but in my excitement to see her, it was all I could think to do. I couldn’t wait to be alone with her, to pick up where we left off. When the door shut behind us, I put her down, spun her around to face me, and hugged her.
“God, I’m glad to see you.”
When I pulled her to me, her body was stiff and her arms hung at her sides.
Refusing to let her go, I tightened my grip around her body.
She didn’t respond.
“Have your feelings changed from what you told me back in Asheville?” I asked.
“No.”
I finally let go of her and took a step back. “Then what’s the problem?”
“I suppose there isn’t one. I’m highly shocked. That’s all. Highly, highly shocked.”
“Shocked is good. As long as your feelings haven’t changed, then I’ll take shocked.”
“My feelings haven’t changed, not a smidgen.”
“Good, ’cause I wasted money on your plane ticket if you would’ve ended up saying no.”
“My ticket?” She shoved me away and threw her hands on her hips. “Wait. You arranged all of this?”
“Of course.”
“When?”
“The day I left. You were trying to walk away from me, but I set my mind to winning you over, so I’ve been working on it ever since. I told you that I didn’t give up easily.”
“How did you get Oliver to go along, or my parents?”
“Well, first, I had to swear within an inch of my life that I wouldn’t take advantage of you or do anything inappropriate. I even had to agree to have Millie with us as sort of a chaperone. She gets here later tonight. Then, after some begging and pleading, Oliver said yes and then set out to convince your parents. How he did that I have no idea. You’ll have to ask him.”
“I can’t believe Oliver even agreed.”
“To him, I’m still Cab, and Cab gets what Cab wants.”
“And Cab wants me?”
“Cab and Cabot both do.” I reached into my pocket, pulled out my cell phone and dialed the phone, and then kissed her on the forehead.
“Hello?” Andrew answered.
“Go ahead and move her stuff.”
“Right now?”
“Yep.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“What was that about?” she asked.
“You’re moving to my floor.”
“This is moving too fast, Cabot. Moving in together is not an option.”
“We’re not moving in together. I said you were moving to my floor.”
“Oh.”
I headed for the door and then stopped, turned back around, and grabbed her and hugged her. “You won’t be sorry you said yes. I promise. This is going to happen, and it’s going to be great.”
Andrew arrived, grabbed the bags, and led us out into the hallway and onto the elevator. Kei stood between us and listened to Andrew give her instructions.
“Here’s your key. You need to have it to access the upper floors,” he explained.
Her hands were shaking. “Upper floors? Okay.”
“The best thing to do is wait until everyone else is off the elevator and then insert your key and push the button. That way, nobody knows what floor you’re going to.”
“But don’t you know?”
“I’m paid to know, and I’m paid to keep it a secret.”
“We’re not nobbing,” she announced.
Andrew looked over at me with a confused expression on his face. I shrugged.
He looked back at her. “Excuse me?”
“I don’t know why I just told you that. I guess I felt you needed to know. Because we aren’t…nobbing.”
“I never assumed you were… nobbing.”
“Really? Thank you.” She smiled at him, looked over at me and then looked back over at him. “But still, just so you know, we aren’t nobbing. And we won’t be.”
He nodded. “Understood.”
“I’m not that kind of girl.”