Fade to Black (16 page)

“I love you, Lily.”

She smiled at him. “I love you, too.”

~^~

Once Lily fell asleep, Devlin climbed out
of bed and threw on a clean pair of pants before grabbing his cell phone and
leaving the room. He knew if he looked back at her, he’d want to climb back in
bed. They hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, and nothing relaxed him
more than having her in his arms.

Checking his email as he walked down the
stairs, he smiled. Everything was coming together perfectly. He’d been planning
this for weeks now; thankfully she’d agreed to go with him. This was going to
be perfect for her. After making a quick note in his office, he walked out onto
the patio and sat down, knowing someone would be out in a few minutes with
something to drink and snack on.

He wondered what Hayden was doing here. It
was always a goal of his to remain friends with his exes, but with Hayden she
had made it difficult. He had the impression she wasn’t as happy about the
breakup as she let on. She wanted more than he was able to give; he thought
he’d never be able to give a woman all she deserved, but after falling for Lily,
he knew differently. All the other women were the wrong ones. He was thankful
Hayden didn’t end up ruining things for him and Lily. Smiling, he couldn’t wait
to show her what he had in store for her. He knew she’d love it.

Chapter
Nineteen

Hayden
paced back and forth in the room she’d created for Devlin. Things hadn’t gone
according to plan. He was in love with the whore, which was apparent. There was
no way he was going to leave her now, and it would appear the whore wasn’t
going to leave him. And why would she? She had a catch with Devlin. She could
spend the rest of her miserable life being waited on hand and foot.

She walked to the wall and head-butted it,
welcoming the pain to keep her focused. It was her destiny to be with Devlin,
not this two-bit whore. She was the one who’d spent her whole adult life
becoming exactly what Devlin wanted, only to be tossed aside. It wasn’t fair.
Not fair, not fair, not fair.

When the pain from squeezing the remote in
her hand registered, she looked down at it as if seeing it for the first time.
A smile crossed her face as she turned on the TV, which was mounted behind
bulletproof glass. There, filling the
screen,
was her
and Devlin making love. She had recorded each and every time they were together
and looped them together so it would keep playing endlessly.

Slowly sinking down to sit on the floor,
she never took her eyes off of the screen. She said the words at the same time
Devlin said them on the screen. She knew each and every word of every time they
were together. Rocking back and forth, she knew what was coming and was
becoming more excited. She wouldn’t allow herself to touch herself. She needed
to be strong; she needed to learn not to do things impulsively because she
wanted it.

When she felt enough hours had passed, she stood
up and walked to the bed where she had created a life-sized doll of Devlin.
Crawling under the covers with it, she caressed the side of his face. “I know
,
I love you so much, too. I feel like there’s only the two
of us.
Us against the world.
We can do anything
together.”

She laughed. “I know, I think I am using
every cliché in the book, but darling, I can’t help it. You’re
my everything
.” She kissed the tip of the doll’s nose.

“Oh really, you want to show me how much I
mean to you?
By all means.”
She moved the doll down
and flicked a switch on the back of its head. The vibrating tongue came on and
her nipple became hard as it moved across it. “Oh, Devlin, you know I want you.
Oh yes, taste me. Make me come.”

Moving around, she shoved its head between
her legs. The tongue could barely move she had it pressed so hard against her.
As her orgasm ripped through her, she quickly flipped the doll over and
straddled it, sliding its cock in her, deeper and deeper. She moved faster,
pushing the button on the remote and throwing her head back, she grunted
through her teeth when it started vibrating in her.

“That’s it, my darling. Fuck me. Fuck.
Me. Hard.”
She shook her head back and forth, and with every
thrust she said, “Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Fuck.
Me. Hard.
Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.”

Shaking, she came and collapsed on its chest.
She kissed its cheek. “Oh, my darling, you know exactly how I like it.”

She played with the hair on its chest. “Our
wedding is going to be so beautiful. I can’t wait until you see me in my dress,
it’s perfect. Oh, that reminds me, the caterer is giving me fits about my menu.
I keep telling him it’s my wedding, my menu. This is what I want, and this is
what I’m going to get.”

Propping herself up on her elbow, she
looked at the doll.
“Really?
You spoil me, darling.
You know I don’t want to be a pain. Besides, I think it’s really too late to
change. I’ll work it all out; it’ll be perfect so we can start our perfect life
together.”

She laid her head back down on its chest.
“I love you so much, darling. Promise me you’ll never leave me. I don’t think I
could survive without you by my side.” Closing her eyes, she fell asleep in its
arms, dreaming of their life together as the video continued to play.

Chapter
Twenty

Lily
knew what Devlin was doing. They’d spent the past two days going around Los
Angeles on a special old Hollywood tour. He knew how much she loved old movies
and the actors. There were guided tours on different studios and were even able
to tour homes that the general public couldn’t even look at through the gates.
She’d met a lot of interesting people who worked on the movies, getting the
backstories on some of her favorite movies.

Then there were the movie stars. He’d set
it up so she could meet some of them, the stars that were still around from the
golden age of Hollywood. She was touched by his thoughtfulness, trying to make
her see that there was more to this than the current latest and greatest,
hottest gossip.

Scrolling through the pictures on her phone
she had taken with the crew and stars, she smiled, happy she had this memory,
thinking of what she could do with it. She thought she could create a book of
the stories she was told and match them with the pictures. It’d be something
she could keep forever and reminisce at how wonderful it was to remember
yesteryear.

When Devlin’s phone rang, she didn’t pay
attention to what he was saying. She was lost in planning out the type and
style of book she was going to put together. It wasn’t until she heard the word
‘Hayden’ that she started focusing on what he was saying, but by then the call
was over. “What’s up?”

“That was Hayden, it seemed after she left
yesterday,
she
remembered she still had an old script
of mine.”

“
Okay,
and…”

“I always sign my old scripts and donate
them to a children’s charity. She remembered there was an auction coming up
soon. She looked it up for me and the deadline is tomorrow to turn it in. We
need to stop by there and pick it up so I can sign it and get it over there.”

“Well, that was nice of her.” Lily wasn’t
sure what was going on. “Does she know I’m with you?”

“That shouldn’t matter.”

“I don’t think she likes me that much.”

Devlin shrugged. “She is a bit shy.”

“Isn’t she an actress?”

“Sure, but she always said it was easier
for her to pretend to be someone else and be outgoing than her usual shy self.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Lily wasn’t
buying it; somehow she thought Hayden showed Devlin a different side than the
rest of the world.

“I’ll be quick. I’ll run in, get the script,
and then we can continue our night. I have plans for you.”

“Oh really, Mr. Cross?
What
kind of plans?”

“The kind where you’re screaming my name so
loud they’ll call the cops on us.”

“Oh gee, Cross, you’re so romantic.” She
rolled her eyes.

“You want romantic? I can be so romantic
I’ll make your head spin.”

“You always do. Well, there was this one
time…”

He looked at her quickly before turning
back to the road. “What?”

“Ha-
ha,
got you.”

“Oh, I’ll be getting you later, you can
count on that.”

“I totally am.” She grinned at him and
loved the look he gave her as he squeezed her knee. He was going to get her
good.

~^~

Devlin turned to Lily. “I’ll be a minute.
You don’t mind waiting here, do you?” He kissed her quickly.

“No, that’s fine. I don’t think I’m her
favorite person, and she’s not mine.” She kissed him back. “Get back here quick
so I can let you have your way with me.”

“Sounds perfect.”
Getting out of the car, he walked to the front door. Remembering the last time
he’d been there, he’d forgotten how steep it was getting up to the door.
Typically he’d only picked her up from this house on rare occasions; they’d
never spent any time there. She had an apartment in L.A. for when she working
or going to events.

He turned to look at Lily in his car, happy
everything was going perfectly. She was enjoying herself, they were getting
closer,
and most importantly, she wasn’t dwelling about Dory
twenty-four hours a day. When the door opened, he turned back around and smiled
to Hayden. “Good afternoon.”

“Hello, darling.
Come on in. I’m so glad you could come on such a short notice.” She walked back
further into the house.

“No problem, anything for the kids.”

“I was going through my backroom and there
it was. I have no idea how it got there.” She paused at the door, cocked her
head, and looked back. “Oh dear, I think that’s my phone. Would you mind going
and getting it? I left it on the bed.”

“Sure. Go ahead, get the call.” He walked
into the room and crossed to the bed. Something vaguely familiar niggled at the
back of his mind. He spun around when he heard the door slam behind him. Racing
over, he tried the knob. When it didn’t turn he started banging on the door.
“Hayden! Hayden, unlock the door.” Ramming his shoulder into it, he realized it
was a reinforced metal door. Looking around, he noticed the light coming from
behind the curtains. He rushed over to them, and his heart sank when he saw the
bars on them. He shook them, but they were immovable.

“It’s no use, Devlin. You can’t escape.”
Hayden’s voice came through a speaker.

He turned around and saw her silhouetted in
a window. “What’s going on?”

“Devlin, darling, we were meant to be
together, forever. Once you realize that, we can begin our life together. Until
then, you’ll be locked away.”

“You can’t do this.”

“Oh, but I have. I even have a nice little
note I wrote here for that whore you’re seeing, breaking things off with her.”

Devlin’s heart sank; Hayden must not have known
Lily was in the car. His only thought was getting out of there and getting to
Lily. He had to keep her safe at all costs. “Hayden, honey, let’s talk about
this, face to face.” He walked to the window and placed his hand on it.
“Please, you know I’ve always loved you.”

She placed her hand on the window by his.
“Yes, you’ve always loved me, but it was never enough, you never loved me
enough. I’m going to change that, but I know it will take time. Don’t you see,
darling? We have all the time in the world now. Everything is going to be
perfect. Just you wait and see. I have it all written down here.” She lifted up
a huge binder. “This is our life. This is our future.”

“Why don’t you show it to me?” Devlin was
trying to keep his voice calm when inside of him a storm raged. He needed to
get out of there and protect Lily, as she had no idea what was coming. He could
only imagine what Hayden would do to Lily if she got ahold of her.

Hayden sighed. “Do you really think I’m
stupid? Haven’t I played it perfectly so you never saw this coming? I know you
aren’t going to forget about Lily quickly. It’s going to take time for you to
realize I’m the best one for you. I can wait. Now, I have some things to do,
like move your car from out of my driveway. You might want to go lay down on the
bed, otherwise you’ll end up with a crick in your neck when you wake up.”

“Wait!” He banged on the window. “What do
you mean? What are you going to do? Hayden!” A strange odor filled the room and
he became lightheaded. He raised his fist to bang the window again when it
limply fell without connecting, and he crumpled to the floor.

~^~

Lily looked at her watch for the tenth time
in as many minutes. Placing her hand on the door handle, she started to pull it
and then decided not to. It hadn’t been that long since Devlin went into the
house. She pulled her phone out and tried to check the news, giving her
something, anything, to do to pass the time. Pushing the app button, she waited
for it to load. “Dammit. No signal. How could there be no signal in this day
and age near Los Angeles?” Looking at the door, she willed it to open. Sighing,
she closed her eyes and tilted her head back. This was taking too long. She
should go up to the door and find out what was going on. So what if Hayden
didn’t like her?