Authors: Michelle Betham
***
‘You have got to be kidding me, Charley!’ Kenny exclaimed, running a hand through his hair, staring at Charley because he couldn’t believe what she was asking him to do.
It was like history repeating itself in some different yet uncannily similar kind of way.
‘Why the hell would you want to do this when Vince is taking care of everything?’
‘But he isn’t, is he, Kenny?’
‘He’s trying.
What else do you expect him to do?’
Charley sat down on the edge of Kenny’s oversized cream sofa, wringing her hands together, staring straight ahead of her.
‘I know he’s trying, Kenny.
But we’re dealing with Jimmy Cash here, and whatever Vince and our lawyers throw in his way he’s just going to ignore it, don’t you see that?’
She stood up again, facing Kenny head on, a determined look in her eyes that almost scared him.
‘You can’t deal with a man like Jimmy in the same way you’d deal with anyone else.’
‘And you think talking to him, just you and him, face to face, you think that’s gonna help, do you?’
‘It’s my only option.’
Kenny laughed, a cynical laugh, throwing his head back, turning and walking away from her but she followed him into the kitchen, determined that he was going to help her.
Because he was the only one she could turn to.
The only one who
could
help.
‘No, Charley.
Your only option is to walk away and let Vince deal with this.’
He turned to face her.
‘You don’t go near him, do you hear me?’
‘Find out where he is for me, Kenny.
Please.’
‘Oh no.
No, Charley.
No way!
Jesus, Vince will fucking kill me if he even thinks I’m…’
‘Please, Kenny.
Forget Vince, he doesn’t need to know, but
I
need to do this.
I really need to do this.’
Kenny leant back against the kitchen counter, pushing his hand through his hair again, looking at the ceiling, sighing heavily.
‘Shit!
Charley, I don’t know…’
‘Don’t make me beg, Kenny.
Because I will, if I have to.
And if you don’t help me then I’ll just find out where he is on my own.’
Kenny looked at her.
‘That’s tantamount to fucking blackmail.
Throwing that at me really isn’t fair.’
And it really was like history repeating itself now as memories of Terry and what had happened when
he’d
taken things into his own hands flooded Kenny’s head.
He really didn’t want to go back there, but he didn’t want to call her bluff either.
Because he didn’t think she was kidding.
‘For fuck’s sake, Charley…’ Kenny sighed, throwing open the refrigerator door and grabbing a beer.
‘This is bad news, honey.’
‘I can’t see another way, Kenny.
I just thought that, maybe, if I try talking to him, face to face, just me and him…’
‘You think he’s gonna roll over and give in?’
Kenny pulled the bottle top off with his teeth, spitting it out into the sink behind him.
‘Is that what you think he’s gonna do?’
Charley sighed, part of her knowing he was right, but another part of her knowing she had to do this.
For the sake of her own sanity.
‘I just know I have to try, Kenny.
That’s all.
I just have to try.’
Kenny took a long drink of beer, his eyes on her all the time.
‘I don’t agree with you doing this.
You need to know that.
And if I
do
find him?’
‘Then I go talk to him.
That’s all.
I’m just going to talk to him.’
But, where Jimmy Cash was concerned, there was no such word as
‘just
’.
And all Kenny could get from this whole situation was one hell of a bad feeling, but what could he do?
If he told her no, he wouldn’t help her, he had every inkling that she’d just go out there and find Jimmy herself and that could turn into a whole bigger mess than anyone could anticipate.
So he had no choice here.
He couldn’t let what had happened to Terry happen to Charley.
But, either way, no matter what he chose to do, he wasn’t going to be able to sleep at night, that was for sure.
He wasn’t going to be able to sleep well at all.
CHAPTER 29
India
turned the piece of paper over and over in her hands, part of her wanting to tear it up and throw it away, get rid of it forever, and another part of her scared to let it go, because letting it go really would signal the end.
Of another chapter in her mixed-up, crazy life.
‘Are you alright, honey?’ Martha asked, sitting down next to her on the steps of her trailer.
They were on location out in the
Nevada
desert, and even though the sun was fiercely hot, so hot
India
could feel it burning her shoulders, she didn’t want to go back inside.
She wanted to be out there.
She looked up at Martha, trying to return the warm smile she gave her.
‘I’m fine.’
‘You sure?’
She looked at the sheet of paper in
India
’s hands.
‘Your dad told me, sweetie.
About the divorce.’
‘It’s all final now,’ India said, looking straight ahead of her as people ran about laying cables and positioning cameras, the busy film set doing nothing to make her feel any less lonely.
‘JJ Foster.
Ex-husband number three.’
She looked back at Martha.
‘How do I manage it, Martha?
I mean, Joe is a wonderful man.
He’s beautiful and kind and romantic… He’s a fantastic father to Ellie, he did everything he could for me, he loved me so much, y’know?
And all I could do was throw that back in his face.’
‘Hey, come on, sweetheart.’
Martha took her hand, squeezing it tight.
‘I really did love him too.
No matter what anyone says.
I loved him so fucking much sometimes.
Before… before I had the accident I was falling apart, and I was falling apart because I thought I’d lost him.
I’d thought that was it, that he was never going to love me again and yet he was there when I woke up, the first person I saw; the only person I really wanted to see…’
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, finally screwing up the sheet of paper, throwing it behind her, back into her trailer.
‘I messed it up, Martha.
I threw all of that away, and for what?’
Martha pulled her in for a hug, stroking her hair as she clung onto her.
‘Things happen for so many different reasons, sweetheart.
We can’t always control them, we can only follow what our heart tells us to do.’
India
pulled away slightly, looking at Martha.
The woman she’d told everything to, so she must know how confused she really was about all of this.
‘You know why I couldn’t stay with Joe, don’t you, Martha?
You know why.’
Martha nodded, reaching out to wipe a stray tear from
India
’s cheek.
‘Yes, I know, honey.’
‘Michael Walsh – forever destined to fuck up my life.’
Martha smiled at her, squeezing her hand again.
‘Only if you let him, sweetie.’
India
smiled back.
‘Yeah.
Only if I let him.’
‘Is everything okay?’
India looked up to see Dominic standing there, his hands in the pockets of his worn-out, faded jeans, his dark brown hair all messed up and unruly, his ice-blue eyes concerned as he noticed India’s tear-stained face.
‘Everything’s fine,’
India
said, smiling at Martha as she squeezed
India
’s hand before leaving them to it.
Dominic took her place on the trailer step.
‘It’s the divorce.
JJ and I… it’s official now.
Another marriage – over.’
Dominic looked down at the ground for a second before finally meeting her eyes.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be.
I mean, I’ve got no right to be upset really, have I?
Not when it was me who instigated the whole thing.
Me who decided the marriage was over.’
Dominic looked straight ahead of him, resting his elbows on his slightly open knees, clasping his hands together.
‘I can make it better.’
He turned to look at her.
‘If you’ll let me.’
She couldn’t help smiling at him.
They hadn’t slept together the night before, they’d gone their separate ways after filming had finished.
India
had spent the evening with Kenny at one of their favourite bars inside The Mirage, and as far as she was aware Dominic had stayed in The Amber Palace, a guest of Vince’s at the casino.
But she’d missed him.
Despite what she was feeling now – that ridiculous, empty feeling at the thought of not having JJ around in that way anymore – she’d missed Dominic.
Missed sleeping with him beside her, missed waking up with him there.
She’d missed morning sex and a shower together.
She’d missed all of that.
‘You sure you want that job?’ she asked, her stomach doing a million tiny somersaults as he turned to look at her, that movie star smile coming into full effect.
‘Well, it’s a tough call, but somebody’s gotta do it.’
‘You think you’re up to it then?’ India went on, the heat of the Las Vegas desert sun matched by the heat of his body as it closed in on hers.
‘Because, the hours can be tough.
And the work can be pretty gruelling.
I’m one hell of a task master.’
He smiled again, and
India
had to bite down on her lip to stop herself from gasping out loud, so active were those butterflies in her stomach.
‘Well, y’know, that’s kinda what I like,’ Dominic whispered, his mouth almost touching hers now, those piercing blue eyes boring right into her.
‘A tough task master.’
She smiled too, reaching out to touch his face as his mouth finally met hers, kissing her so slowly and so gently it made her skin tingle and her heart race.
‘Then you got the job, mister.’
He ran his hand lightly up her thigh, up under the leg of her cut-off denim shorts and she didn’t stop him.
She didn’t want to.
All last night she’d missed being touched by him so she was going to grab what she could while she had him here.
‘So, when do I start?’ he smiled.
She burst out laughing, throwing her head back.
‘Jesus, I really missed you last night.’
‘Come here,’ he whispered, pulling her astride him, his fingers sliding up under the tight white T-shirt she was wearing.
‘I missed you too, beautiful.
All I could think about was you, naked and sexy-as-hell…’
He kissed her again, a little harder this time, a little longer, her fingers buried in his hair, his hands stroking her skin, sliding down the back of her shorts.
‘So, we on for tonight then?’
‘Yeah.
Why not?’ she smiled, suddenly feeling a whole lot better than she had done a few minutes ago.
Was this man finally going to be the one to really make everything better?
Who could tell?
Maybe it was just time to kick back and see what happened.
He smiled too, feeling ridiculously happy that he’d managed to make her smile, because he didn’t like to see her sad, didn’t want her to be unhappy.
And all of a sudden he realised that this incredible lady wasn’t just someone he wanted to be around because she was amazing to look at or because he needed her for the out-of-this-world sex they had.
He just needed her.
End of story.
Dominic MacDonald finally needed somebody.
***