03
another picture her hand was on his ass! Oh, and the last one
04
was them in a hotel lobby. After the event.”
05
“What did he say about them?”
06
“Say? Like I needed to ask? I saw the situation with my own
07
eyes. I packed my shit up, drove his car to town, rented a car
08
and came back here. He’s probably still working and hasn’t
09
noticed I’m gone yet.”
10
He sighed, holding her and rocking just a little. If this was
11
true, Damien Hurley was in for a healthy dose of fi st meeting
12
face. He just hoped for her sake that it wasn’t true. Because he
13
knew how much his sister loved the guy.
14
“Why don’t we go back to your house?” He kissed her fore-
15
head. “You’re cold. Let me make you some tea. I’ll liberally
16
dose it with whiskey. We’ll get drunk and you can call the
17
others.”
18
“I can’t face anyone, Cal. They were right. I told them they
19
were wrong and they were right.”
20
He held her back at arm’s length. “No. I don’t want you
21
to even think that. Do you truly believe any of us wanted this to
22
fail? Or that any of us would say I told you so? He loves you. If
23
he doesn’t, he deserves an Academy Award because I sure as hell
24
believe he does.”
25
He stood, pulling her to her feet. He held her with one arm
26
while he managed to get her chair collapsed. “Come on.”
27
She sighed but let him boss her around, which worried him.
28S
She wasn’t one to allow such behavior.
29N
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Lush
Daisy stood on Mary’s back porch and she moved quickly
01
once she caught sight of the two of them.
02
“What? Oh my god, what is it?”
03
“She tells me Damien cheated on her.”
04
He handed Mary over to Daisy as he got them all inside.
05
Daisy ushered Mary into the living room and onto the couch.
06
“Why are you here? God, Cal, when did you have the time
07
to call everyone? I can’t take all this nice. Please just go and
08
leave me alone.”
09
Daisy looked to Cal and then back to Mary. “Tough shit. I
10
seem to remember you bursting into my house, yanking my
11
blankets off, taking away my pint of Chunky Monkey and mak-
12
ing me shower when Levi broke my heart.”
13
“I’m opening your mail. I want to see these pictures myself.”
14
Cal dropped another kiss on the top of her head. “Water’s on
15
for tea.”
16
Jules burst through the back door and it only made Mary
17
cry harder.
18
“Shhh. Oh baby, honey, stop. Stop crying.” Daisy hugged
19
her tight, and Jules landed on the other side, hugging her as well.
20
“I need to be alone.” Mary pulled her knees to her chest and
21
buried her face. She hadn’t thought she had any more tears left
22
but there they were.
23
“Bullshit.” Jules brushed the hair from her eyes.
24
Daisy pressed tissues into her hand and a shot glass into the
25
other.
26
Gillian came through the back door moments later. “What
27
is that prat on about?”
S28
N29
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Lauren Dane
01
Mary laughed through her tears. “You all should go home.
02
Gillian, you don’t need any upset. Jules, you have to work tomor-
03
row and, Daisy, you have Levi waiting for you. You all tried to
04
tell me and I thought I knew better. This is what I get.”
05
“This is most assuredly
not
what you get! He loves you. I
06
know it. I don’t know what the hell happened in New York but
07
I know what I know. I know what I saw every time he looked
08
at you.” Gillian sat next to her on the couch, kissing her temple.
09
“What does he say?”
10
“Nothing. I left. I didn’t . . . I couldn’t. I just left. I saw
11
enough. What can he say? I blocked his number from my cell.”
12
Cal cleared his throat. “These are some pretty damning pic-
13
tures. But . . . I think you should see what he says.”
14
They all got up to look, clucking and arguing amongst them-
15
selves. Mary lay on the couch pulling the blanket up and over
16
her head.
17
Gillian simply moved her over and pulled the blanket back.
18
“Baby, remember the night that whole business with Adrian
19
went down? You and Jules picked me up at the ferry? I cried
20
and cried until I nearly threw up. You said to me that you knew
21
Adrian loved me and you asked if we couldn’t work it out. I’m
22
asking you the same right now.”
23
Jules snorted. “Why should she? Gillian, he cheated on her
24
with a panty model. My god!”
25
“We don’t know that. I’m saying, Juliet, I know from expe-
26
rience now that the paparazzi sometimes makes things look like
27
they aren’t. They catch a certain angle or a moment that is com-
28S
pletely innocent but it doesn’t look it. I know Damien. I spent
29N
a lot of time with him on the tour and I just—Mary loves him.
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Lush
You know it. I know it. What’s the harm in hearing his side of
01
the story?”
02
“The pictures came from that dude who threw you under
03
the bus.”
04
Gillian exploded with a string of curses as she rose to her
05
feet. Her accent got so thick Mary couldn’t understand more
06
than a word or two in every sentence. “You can’t trust this man.
07
Or his motives. Mary, he’s an awful, petty, destructive little
08
worm. He probably saw you that night at the club and wants to
09
mess with you. I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s a terrible human
10
being and I bet his mother cries herself to sleep every night.”
11
There followed much drinking of heavy- handed whiskey with
12
a little tea in it. Cal went to return her rental car. Jules made
13
dinner and they all stared at her until she managed to eat a few
14
bites. Mary forced Gillian to leave at ten to go home and rest.
15
Daisy refused to go until Mary retreated into her bedroom. Cal
16
had been very stubborn but he and Jules left with a promise that
17
they’d return fi rst thing in the morning.
18
Daisy got in bed with her. “You’re going to get through this.
19
I know it doesn’t feel like it right now. I know your heart is bro-
20
ken and you’re sadder than you’ve ever been. I love you. We all
21
do, and we’re here for you. No matter what happens, you will
22
get through this.”
23
“Go home. I want to be by myself to cry and go to sleep.
24
Thank you for being here for me today; I mean that.”
25
Daisy kissed her forehead. “All right. But I’m coming back
26
tomorrow. You will call me if you need anything. Even just a
27
shoulder while you cry. If you don’t, I will be very mad at you.
S28
As you can tell, this is about me so don’t hate America, Mary.”
N29
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Lauren Dane
01
She managed a snort.
02
“I’ll be back. I love you.”
03
At least someone did.
04
She lay there in the dark, listening to the sound of the rain,
05
feeling totally and utterly exhausted and empty.
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28S
29N
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01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
23
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
D
16
ude, we can hold off until this is all settled. Get your
17
girl.” Paddy handed him a cup of coffee.
18
“I’m going to call Adrian shortly. They’re up, but
19
he takes Miles to school early so I don’t want to catch him until
20
after that.”
21
“Have you tried calling her from someone else’s phone?”
22
He looked up. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
23
“Because you’re the pretty one.” Paddy handed him his cell
24
phone.
25
“I’m going to let you get away with that one as a gift.” He
26
dialed her number and she answered. Her voice was thick and
27
hoarse, like she’d been crying and his stomach clenched.
S28
“Curly, what is going on?”
N29
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Lauren Dane
01
She sucked in a breath and disconnected. He called back but
02
it went straight to voice mail.
03
“She’d been crying. Sounded like shit.” He opened his laptop
04
and the mail client.
05
She hadn’t replied to him. He poked around as he’d planned
06
to last night. Most of it was crap. Until he opened one and noticed 07
it was also cc’d to her e-mail address.
08
“Well, I think I might know why your lovely Mary did a
09
runner on you.” Paddy looked at the screen over his shoulder.
10
“What the hell, Damien?”
11
Nausea rolled over him. “What do you mean, what the hell?
12
Nothing happened! You assholes were there with me.”
13
This reporter had sent these pictures to Mary precisely to
14
fuck with her and make her think something had happened.
15
After he dealt with this mess with Mary, he would be sure that
16
reporter got payback. No one could be allowed to do this to her
17
again.
18
“Well, you’ve got to explain. Get up there right now. We’ll
19
come with you. I was there that night. Nothing happened.
20
Though the lobby picture?”
21
“She tripped going up the steps; I reached out to steady her.”
22
“By putting her hand on your ass and her head on your shoul-
23
der?” Vaughan shook his head. “This angle does you no favors.”
24
She had put her head on his shoulder. At the time it had felt
25
like an affectionate gesture, but in an
old times
sort of way. He’d 26
just stopped her from falling after all.
27
Looking at her face now in this photograph, in all the pho-
28S
tographs and he saw she may have felt differently. And if he
29N
could see it, Mary could.
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Lush
He scrubbed his hands over his face. “I don’t even remember
01
her hand on my ass. I swear!”
02
Vaughan moved him out of the way and enlarged the photo
03
several times more, peering at it from several angles. “She may
04
not actually be touching you here. I can’t tell for sure. But while 05
her hand is over your ass, I don’t know if it’s on your ass.”
06
“Even so, what are you two doing in the lobby of the same
07
hotel after the event? Can you not see how this would look to
08
Mary?” Ezra was infuriatingly calm and reasonable.
09
“I saw her in the lobby for like a minute. Lots of people stay
10
in that hotel. I saw her, paused long enough to say hey and then