For the Night: Complete Box Set (74 page)

‘So pass the information to the authorities, my
team were already prepped to go ahead with my statement in the morning
regardless of what you found out.’

‘What?’ I stuttered, totally thrown.

‘Lucas, this is the sort of news that journalists
would fight over, especially if my career grows, it could be headline news all
over the world. We can’t keep it buried for ever. At some point someone will
unearth it and it will come out. I don’t want to be constantly looking over my
shoulder wondering when that will be. Worrying that my parents may find out
before I have a chance to tell them. I’m going ahead with the announcement. If
it kills my career then so be it. I’ve still have gained so much more, I’ll
still have you.’

‘I can’t believe I’ve failed you,’ I uttered, my
insides twisting in agony at letting my woman down.

‘Lucas, please don’t, you haven’t failed me.
You’ve done everything in your power to try to protect me from this coming out.
But at the end of the day you were just doing your job, I’m the one who sought
you out, I booked you, I paid you. I need to take responsibility for that. And
I told you before, I’m not ashamed of it. Even if everything goes to shit
tomorrow, if I was offered a repeat of my life, I wouldn’t change a single
thing.’

‘Do you really mean that?’ I asked quietly,
wondering how the hell I’d got so lucky.

‘Actually, no. I wouldn’t wait fourteen months to
agree to date you. I’d agree that Sunday morning you gave me that note and said
you’d be holding your breath for me to call you.’

‘
Angel
,’ I whispered, my voice choked up
with emotion.

‘We’re going to take that leap Lucas Steel,
freefall together and if one of us gets hurt by the fallout, we’ll breathe for
the other until they can breathe on their own again.’ I closed my eyes and
smiled, she loved me as much as I loved her.

‘That was a beautiful speech, Summer. But what
about your parents.’

‘I’d already asked if I could go and see them
later, they said they were in all day. I’ll go and see them straight after I’m
finished here.’

‘No!’ I snapped back quickly. ‘
We’ll
go and
see them when you’re finished there.’

‘You can come on one condition, I tell them and
you respect whatever decision they make as to whether they accept us in their
lives still or not.’

‘They’ll always accept you, you’re their daughter.
They may be upset for a while, but they’ll never cut you out of their life. I’m
a whole different matter. Can you live with a man that your parents hate?’

‘Lucas Steel! I’m not leaving the man I’m in love
with regardless of how my parents react and if you think I would, then you
don’t know me very well. Now pack up and get your sexy as hell arse down here
and we’ll go and face them together, with
me
doing all of the talking.
Do I make myself clear?’

‘If your acting career is over, I’m thinking you’d
be perfect as a dominatrix,’ I smiled, amazed at how strong she was being over
this.’

‘See, now you and your perverted mind and
insatiable sex drive is what got us into this mess in the first place,’ she
teased.

‘Says the woman who booked a man whore to pop her
cherry,’ I ribbed in return.

‘Please don’t speak about the man I love in that
way.’

‘You’re sure about this?’ I asked, suddenly
becoming serious. Not that we really had a choice, but I needed to know she was
going in with her eyes wide open.

‘I’m sure. Come and get me. Let’s get this over
with early. I’m kicking arse in these sessions anyway.’

‘I’ll be there shortly, Warrior Angel,’ I smiled.

‘I’ll go and clean up.’

‘Alone! Bailey waits outside the damn shower room
door.’

‘Yes, Sir,’ she giggled. ‘Go, or it will take you
even longer to get here.’

‘I love you, Summer. We’ll get through this.’

‘I know you do and I know we will.’

I sighed as I put the phone down and waved Ian and
Mason back in, filling them in. Ian smacked me on the back as he nodded, his
way of saying sorry. Mason told me to go, that he’d ring Lulu and call off her
girl. I asked them to prepare the bill for their time and services and send it
to me.

I pulled up on the leafy street in Chelsea, and
glanced over at Summer looking radiant, even without any makeup, her freshly
washed hair tumbling around her shoulders. She’d dressed in her jeans and a
black eyelash jumper, with her converse trainers. She’d said she wanted to be
comfortable for the most uncomfortable discussion of her life. I squeezed her
hand, as she just stared up at her parents’ glossy black front door.

‘I like this area. Large houses, private gardens.
It would be handy to have one set of grandparents just down the road,’ I
nodded.

‘Are you
trying
to put me in an early
grave?’ she exclaimed, turning around and smacking my thigh.

‘Just breaking the tension,’ I smiled.

‘By adding more,’ she laughed.

‘We need to think about looking for a house
together, one that will accommodate your wardrobe.’

‘And a gym for you and your clients.’

‘I may give that up, I could just live off my
movie star girlfriend.’

‘Or I’ll be living off your personal training, not
that any married women will be allowed to come and train with you when their
husbands discover what you used to do,’ she added. I frowned, that wasn’t even
something I’d considered.

‘Come on then, you know your mum, she’ll have been
twitching the … shutters, seeing who’s outside and wondering why we’re sitting
here.’

‘I know,’ she nodded with a sigh. I picked up her
hand and kissed it.

‘We do this, then we’re going into hiding for a
while, until it all blows over.’

‘I have work, assuming I still have a job. We’ll
have to hole up in my apartment. At least there’s security preventing access
upstairs.’

‘No, regardless of what the film company decides,
you have two weeks off. I rang Brian and asked him to tell them your news, so
they had time to react before the shit hits the fan tomorrow and I negotiated a
break for you while they consider their options. The way the PR firm have
worded your speech, I doubt they’ll fire you. They’ll look totally insensitive.’

‘I have two weeks off?’ she looked up at me
amazed.

‘
We
have two weeks off and as soon as
you’re done here we need to head back to pack. The minute you’ve done your news
feed in the morning we’re going to the airport.’

‘We’re going on the run? Like Bonnie and Clyde,’
she laughed.

‘We’re flying to Scotland. Dan and Ellie are over
in San Francisco, so he’s offered us his house for the next two weeks. It will
just be you and me, on an island in the middle of nowhere. Roaring fires, cosy
blankets, books, films, walks and sex. Lots and
lots
of sex.’

‘Sounds heavenly,’ she sighed with a smile, as she
reached up and gently ran her finger over the scar on my brow. ‘Can we go now?’

‘No,’ I laughed. ‘Two big speeches and we’re done.
Come on, I’ve got your back, and if your dad passes judgement, I’ll just
flatten him for you.’ She laughed again and leaned over to kiss me, her sweet
delicate lips tasting mine softly. I grasped the back of her head and kissed
her back properly, reluctantly pulling away as my cock started to wake up.
Getting caught fucking in a car on the street in Chelsea was the last thing we
needed on top of everything else.

Summer

We were met with open arms, Mum asking why we’d
been sitting outside for so long, I saw Lucas trying to contain a smile. He’d
already sussed her out. She went to put the kettle on, Lucas asking for a still
water, no ice and a slice of lime. She always kept some in the house now, she
knew it was his drink of choice. Dad kept us busy talking about the fight
training, he loved action films and asked if he could come down to watch me
train one day. I gulped, I wasn’t even sure I’d be going back.

‘I’m sure Summer would love that, Mr. Beresford.’
Lucas chipped in, knotting our fingers together as he held my hand.

‘Mr. Beresford,’ Dad tutted with a flick of his
wrist. ‘We’re practically family the amount of time you two spend together.
Call me Charles, or Charlie if you prefer. The Mrs. is Emily, or the old ball
and chain as I prefer to call her.’

‘I can hear you, darling,’ Mum called, as she
reappeared with a tray, setting it down on the coffee table. She sat on the
edge of her new armchair, I could tell that she still didn’t feel at home yet.
I’d taken them shopping for new furniture and fixings and it was taking them
some adjusting to.

‘Didn’t doubt it for a second. Ears like a damn
elephant,’ Dad whispered behind his palm at Lucas.

‘Like mother like daughter then,’ he grinned, as
he squeezed my hand and looked around at me, giving me a reassuring smile.

‘What’s wrong, Summer? You seem tense,’ Mum asked.
She was always too astute for her own good. Lucas nodded at me, so I took a
deep breath.

‘I need to tell you both something and I’m not
sure how you’re going to react, but I have to tell you as it will be all over
the news tomorrow.’

‘O my God,’ she gasped. ‘You got married? Without
us being there?’

‘NO!’ I shot back. ‘Of course not. We’ve only been
dating a few months, we’re not getting married.’

‘Don’t tell me you’ve got a bun in the oven
already?’ Dad asked, as he dunked his biscuit in his tea, seemingly totally
laid back about it if I was pregnant already.

‘No, not pregnant either.’

‘Well you’re not wearing an engagement ring, I
check your hand every time I see you,’ Mum nodded, making me shake my head and
blush as Lucas chuckled next to me.

‘Am I allowed to tell you, or are you just going
to keep throwing crazy guesses at me all night?’

‘Well I’m pretty sure we’ll hit the right one
before I’ve finished this mug of tea,’ Dad said, leaning in to grab another
biscuit.

‘O, I seriously doubt that,’ I shot back, giving
Lucas an exasperated look. I’d known it wouldn’t be easy, but honestly.

‘You’ve got yourself a car and you’re taking
driving lessons?’ asked Mum.

‘No.’

‘You’re shacking up together?’ Dad offered. ‘The
real question is at whose house, I’m going with yours, Summer. Lucas doesn’t
have enough room for your wardrobe.’

‘She paid me for sex,’ Lucas blurted out. I gasped
as I shot him a glare and the room went silent for a moment, before Dad burst
out laughing and dunked his biscuit again.

‘You’re funny, always knew I liked you,’ he
chuckled.

‘He’s not joking, Dad,’ I said quietly, as Mum
just stared at us both, aghast. ‘I was scared to let anyone touch me after what
Anthony did, I needed to lose those inhibitions or I’d never have lasted in my
first film role or even had a boyfriend. I heard about an exclusive,
trustworthy male escort and I paid him to take my virginity, to show me what
sex could be like, that it could be a wonderful, tender and romantic thing.
That man was Lucas.’ I took a quick breath in as I looked at their shocked
faces, feeling Lucas’s thumb stroking up and down my hand. ‘He went by the name
Logan back then, his middle name. We spent the night together and he brought me
home. We didn’t see each other again for about ten months, until the night of
my movie premiere, then we were just friends until we started dating last
October.’ I bit my lip as they both sat silently trying to process it. At least
Dad hadn’t leapt out of his chair and punched him. That was a good start, I
figured.

‘You didn’t think my daughter was good enough to
date? You waited nearly two years before you ask her out?’ Dad asked quietly.
‘You waited until she earned some decent money to pull you out of whatever mess
you’d got yourself into?
Then
she was good enough for you?’

‘Dad!’ I shot back.

‘No, Sir. I didn’t think I was good enough for
her
,
that’s why I walked away that first time. But I’d already fallen in love with
her, I couldn’t stay away. I pursued her at the premiere and she said she
couldn’t see me as long as I did that job, so I quit. We became friends and got
to know each other for the next fourteen months, so she could decide if she
trusted me, before we became a couple.’

‘Dad I know you’re disappointed in me, but don’t
judge Lucas. He did something that he’s not proud of anymore, but he has his
own money, he earned really good money from that and his personal training, he
didn’t need me for that, he still doesn’t. We both changed when we met each
other, we fell in love for the first time and we did whatever was necessary to
make sure that we were serious about each other before we slept together again.
He waited fourteen months for me, how many men would do that? I trust him
implicitly. He’s still the same man you both fell in love with too. You told me
that he was the best boyfriend you could ever have imagined for me, you said
that you could see how much he loved me by the way he looked at me, talked
about me, or held my hand all the time. Just because you know some of his past
doesn’t change that.’ I felt tears dripping down my cheeks and Lucas pulled a
tissue out of his pocket and gently wiped my face for me, kissing my forehead
when he was done and grasping my hand again.