Hitman's Hookup: A Bad Boy Romance (47 page)

He stared out into nowhere for a moment, lost in thought. Then he put his hands on my shoulders and leaned down to kiss my cheek.

"I don't do makeup though," he said. "I have to draw the line somewhere."

I turned my head to kiss him. His lips lingered on mine for long enough that I thought we might start something. Then he pulled away.

"We can't put this off forever, Liv," he said. "I'll go distract them while you finish getting ready."

"Are you sure you can't just go on your own for the entire outing?" I asked him with a pleading look on my face.

Wilder laughed. "Nice try, your highness," he said, stepping out of the bathroom and shutting the door.

I set to work painting my face. Maybe if I layered on enough makeup my mom would forget that she'd seen my boyfriend naked. Wait.
Boyfriend
. Was he my boyfriend? I shook the thought out of my head.

One thing at a time. Besides that, they didn't know.

And I didn't want them to.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

WILDER

My dad couldn't stop stroking Penelope's hand. I was staring at their tabletop embrace so hard I thought that flames were going to shoot out of my eyes.

I wished they would. Lighting the table on fire would end this unbearable meal swiftly. I found myself praying for a meteor strike.

"So how did you two meet exactly? Somewhere in the last week or so? What happened to your most recent fiancé?" Olivia asked awkwardly.

Penelope blushed slightly. She was a beautiful woman. Olivia was nearly a carbon copy of her. But there was a sadness in Olivia's eyes that wasn't present in her mother's. I wondered about that; what had caused it. I squeezed my hand into a fist. I was angry thinking that someone - possibly this woman - had caused Liv pain.

"Liv.
This is Garrett.
” She paused like that was supposed to mean something.

Olivia howled. “Wait. I’m sorry.
You
are Garrett?
The
Garrett?” She laughed some more and shook her head but didn’t elaborate. “So, again: how did you two meet?”

Penelope cleared her throat merrily. “Well, your alma mater called me and asked if I could donate a few paintings to the silent auction for the alumni night last month. So I did, and I decided to attend just for fun since they gave me a free ticket. And I got there and saw Garrett across the room. It was like-" she snapped her fingers in the air. "An instant connection. He found his way over to me during the next slow dance. It was...magical!"

A misty look went across her eyes. I dashed a look over to Olivia to see how she was taking this news. She looked deeply skeptical.

My dad was peering at Penelope with something like affection. The look put me off. I'd never seen him look at my mother that way. I raised my fingers into the air and waved over one of the servers. He appeared almost at once.

"Whiskey, please, and keep them coming."

"
Si, signor
," he replied, bustling off quickly.

"I just couldn't believe the news when I heard that you two were in a movie together. I mean,
my
Olivia! I must have received a hundred emails from people with links to the stories about what was happening over here!" Penelope gushed.

Olivia sipped from her glass of water, her eyebrows raised. “Really. Well, you could have called to tell me. You weren’t even returning my calls.”

Penelope waved her hand at her. “Oh, Liv, you know how busy I am. I was keeping up with you through the news!”

“Wait, so you trusted news about me - your daughter – written by
bloggers
? So you think that I broke up Hailey and Wilder’s relationship?” Olivia tapped her fingers on the tabletop impatiently.

I couldn’t tell which one of us was having a worse time.

Penelope grimaced. “Livvy, I figured that was just idle gossip and rumor. I wasn’t worried, honestly.”

Olivia raised her eyebrows. “But you didn’t think it was relevant to tell me that you were dating my co-star’s father?”

Penelope laughed. “I wanted it to be a surprise! Isn’t it more exciting this way?”

There was silence at that pronouncement.

The only person who seemed happy right now was Penelope. My father was gnawing at the inside of his cheek, his fingers twitching slightly. I knew my dad well enough to know that he was itching for a cigarette.

I downed the glass of whiskey the waiter put on the table in front of me in one deep, quick gulp. Thankfully, a second glass appeared rapidly. I grabbed that one as well, trying not to stare too hard at my father's face while I did so.

"Did you two know each other in college?"  Penelope asked with a smile, sipping her fizzy water.

It struck me as odd that Olivia had never mentioned me to her mother. Well, not
odd
exactly, but my ego felt slightly bruised that I hadn't merited at least one off-handed comment.

Olivia spoke up first. "You could say that."

"We were in a play together," I offered. Olivia stiffened next to me. I suddenly wished that I had kept my mouth shut. Why had I said that? That wasn’t true.

Penelope looked at Olivia curiously. "Livvy, you never told me about any play."

Shit.
"Oh, it was...more like a one-scene thing for a theater class. We were paired up," I lied hastily.

I looked around to see if the water was returning with another glass for me. I saw him at the bar loading up a tray with three separate glasses of amber-colored liquid in crystal tumblers. I hoped against hope that all three were for me.

Penelope seemed to accept this answer. "Well, what a wonderful coincidence!"

"Not as coincidental as the two of you meeting up at an alumni event of all things," I offered. "That seems like one hell of a coincidence."

Penelope looked at my father, who smiled. I wasn't used to seeing his face light up like that. It made me uncomfortable.

"Well, everything happens for a reason," he said, tapping her hand.

I bristled. The waiter reappeared. I intercepted the glass on its way down to the tabletop.

"Interesting. Really? So you cheating on mom when she was sick was also ‘for a reason’? Can't wait to hear what that reason was since you’ve never gotten around to explaining that little fucking bit of indecency."

Olivia reached under the table to squeeze my leg once. It felt like a warning. I ignored it and barged forward with my train of thought.

"And what brings
you
to Tuscany, dad? Surely it can’t just be to see your son.” I finished off that glass and held up my hand to signal to the hovering nearby waiter that I was ready for another. I felt that the alcohol was finally, slowly starting to affect my brain.

Olivia squeezed my leg underneath the table once again. She wanted me to slow down. But I didn't want to. There was no way I was making it out of this lunch sober. Or even just pleasantly buzzed.

"I had business over here. Vintage motorcycle parts to pick up,” he said quietly. “And Penny mentioned wanting to visit her daughter, so I tagged along to Tuscany. I need to leave tomorrow. Hopping a plane to Rome for a few days."

He jiggled his leg and tapped the table. I wondered if he still smoked or if he was antsy out of habit. My mom had begged him to stop; he never had when she was still alive.

"But you had to know I'd be here," I said, my voice shaking. "And you didn't think to give me a head's up? What, did you expect that you could just sneak in here and hope that we didn't cross paths with one another? That you would have lunch with your new girlfriend's daughter and then sneak back out again?"

My father took a steadying breath and started rolling back the cuffs of his button-down shirt, revealing his colorful tattoos. “I’ve been trying to call you for weeks. You never answered the phone.”

I vaguely remembered telling Harrison to block the number.
Fuck.
“And what the hell was that about?”

My father leaned forward with a stern look in his eye. “Well, we hoped that this announcement would take place in a slightly better atmosphere.” He squeezed Penelope’s hand. “We’re getting married.”

I nearly dropped my glass of whiskey.

Olivia was silent.

Penelope was trying to rally her energy on behalf of the entire table. “We’re really getting married. In about six months; we’ve booked the venue and everything. We hope you can both make it to New York.” She gazed at my father lovingly. “I’ve already moved into Garrett’s loft in the city.”

Olivia stared from me to Penelope to my father. “You left Ohio?”

Penelope smiled and nodded. “The movers are delivering my things as we speak!”

“So you lost the deposit on your apartment. The one that I gave you.”

Penelope shifted. “I’m happy to pay you back, Livvy. You know that.”

“You mean
Garrett
will pay me,” she scoffed. “No, keep it. It’s fine.”

The waiter appeared with our food. We all sat in silence as he placed the plates in front of each of us. I suddenly wasn’t hungry.

“Another whiskey, please,” I asked him. He nodded and picked up the two crystal tumblers that I’d emptied.

Nobody moved to grab their forks. Penelope smiled. “You two will be step-siblings! Isn’t that something? Meeting in college, then starring in a movie together, and now you’ll be related.”

The only person who laughed was Penelope.

“Fuck this,” I said, standing up. “I don’t know what
this
is, but it’s clearly bullshit. You two won’t make it another month from what Olivia’s told me.”

The words left my mouth on a river of alcohol-soaked thoughts.

Penelope looked stricken. Olivia’s mouth had gone into a firm line.

“Nicholas, please,” my father intoned, giving me a pleading look. I’d never seen that face before. I shrugged it off.

"Yeah, well, sorry I can't play pretend for your new piece of ass." The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"Wilder," Olivia whispered under her breath. "Stop it. People are staring."

"I don't fucking care, Olivia!" I yelled, feeling my anger surging out of control. I stood up, knocking my chair over. I was officially drunk. "This is bullshit. I don't want to fucking
see you
, Dad. How do you still not get that? Not - not after what you fucking did." I knew I was yelling.

The entire patio had stopped to stare. A few of the patrons were recording video with their phones.

Olivia covered her face with her hands, reaching down to grab her bag and leave. But still, I couldn't control my rage. Everything just came pouring out of me in a rush of drunken emotion.

"You're an
asshole
, Dad. I'm never going to
fucking
forget that. Have fun fucking your new squeeze here. I heard she likes the rich ones, so your time is swiftly running out.”

Olivia had fled already, and I let her go. I went another direction to get back to my room. I didn't want to deal with anyone. Besides, I'm sure TMZ would know what had happened within a matter of minutes.

Bad news always traveled at the speed of fucking light.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

WILDER

"CUT!" Fox ripped off his headset. "Everybody take five minutes." He pointed at me and Olivia. "
Except
for you two. Come with me."

He pulled us over to the side of the vineyard a good hundred yards away from the main production area where everyone was milling around. Nobody even bothered looking over at us to see what we were doing. I knew that was a bad sign.

The last five days of shooting had gone horribly since meeting with Olivia’s mom and my dad. Olivia and I had been shooting scenes separately until today. I knew each take was going over like a lead balloon. Olivia could barely look at me.

And the truth was, I was drunk. Really, really drunk. I could barely remember my lines.

"What is going on between you two?" Fox asked.

I looked at Olivia, who picked at her fingernails but refused to answer. Her hair was pulled back in finger curls, red lipstick covering her plump lips. She looked like a 1950s movie star. I wanted to reach out and pick her up and carry her back to the hotel.

I wanted to tell her that I was sorry.

"I - nothing is wrong, Fox,” I explained. “You know how it goes. It's just the end-of-production slump. This happens with every single movie that we all work on. People are tired, they miss their families-"

Fox held up his hand. "Cut the shit, Wilde." Then he turned to Olivia. "What did he do?"

I opened my mouth to protest, but he gave me a look that told me in no uncertain terms that if I let slip a single syllable he was going to make sure I never worked another day in Hollywood. I glanced at Olivia, who still refused to look at me.

"He didn't do anything," she said. "It's just...family issues. And the press and all the attention. It’s been a lot for me.”

“Bullshit,” Fox said. “You’ve been doing great until today. A little grumpy toward the crew members, maybe, but your solo scenes have been flawless. Now I stick you with this asshole here and you can barely look at each other. What. Happened?”

Olivia stayed silent.

Fox stared at her as if he were trying to read the contents of her brain through her facial expressions. "No, I don't buy that. What did he do? Did he hit you?"

Olivia looked up, startled. "No, no! Oh God, no. Of course not."

Fox stepped back and pulled his hat off entirely, folding it up in his hands. He put his hands on his hips and then stepped close to me like he was going to kiss me. He sniffed the air.

I jerked back. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Jesus Christ on a cracker, Wilde," he said, shaking his head. "You're drinking again. Seriously? Seriously? You're doing this to me. And to
her
? God." He walked away and picked a few grapes off of the vines, squashing them between his thumb and forefinger.

"Olivia," I said quietly. 

But she held up her hand. "Don't fucking talk to me," she replied, crossing her arms and turning her back to me.