No Matter What (7 page)

She walked over to where Michael had told her to stand and still their eyes were locked, until Michael spoke again and she broke the gaze, leaving Kenny a little confused.
 
He pushed a hand through his dark hair and stared down at his feet for a few seconds whilst he gathered himself together.
 
How could someone you’d never met before walk into a room and make it feel as if you’d always known them?
 
Always known that one day they were going to turn up, always known that they were out there somewhere, someone you knew you could tell everything to, someone you knew you could share everything with.
 
He’d never believed in all that fate crap before but, as he looked back up at
India
, watching her as she followed Michael’s instructions intently, he kind of believed it now.

***

India
felt her stomach turn yet more somersaults, although quite how it was doing that when it was all tied up in knots she didn’t know but it was doing something.
 
And she felt slightly nauseous again as she followed Michael Walsh into the small, square room, checking the script she was holding onto for dear life, her hands shaking with nerves.
 
She knew he was there - Kenny Ross - she knew he was there, she could feel him.
 
And then, as if someone else instead of her had taken control she looked up, looked right at him, right into those deep, brown eyes and she couldn’t look away.
 
She couldn’t break that stare.
 

It was the strangest feeling, something she never thought could be real but she felt as though she was looking at a long lost friend, somebody she’d known all her life.
 
He was standing there, leaning back against the wall, wearing a tight white t-shirt, black leather trousers and biker boots, his dark hair pushed back off his face - which was sporting slight stubble - one hand in his pocket, and he looked amazing.
 
But she wasn’t feeling how she thought she’d feel.
 
She wasn’t feeling like some love-sick, star-struck groupie who was finally coming face to face with her idol.
 
It was like she was seeing a friend and it was freaking her out slightly.
 
But then he smiled, that movie-star smile she’d seen so often up there on the big screen, and she found herself smiling back, every little ounce of nerves and tenseness leaving her body so quickly she felt almost light-headed.
 
This was only adding to the whole surreal experience.
 
It was a crazy feeling but one she suddenly felt totally in control of.
 

“Shall we go through what’s going to happen here,
India
?”

Michael Walsh’s voice snapped her back to reality and she broke the gaze, still smiling inside.
 
Maybe crazy things happened for a reason after all.
 
Maybe Charley was right.
 
Maybe she
should
just throw caution to the wind for once in her life and roll with it.
 
And that’s exactly what she was going to do.

***

Michael couldn’t help but see what was going on.
 
He watched Kenny’s eyes as they met with
India
’s, watched what was going on between the two of them and he could see it, he could see it all and it wasn’t what he needed.
 

He’d known it was going to happen from the second he’d seen her picture, he’d known it even more once he’d seen her in person.
 
He knew Kenny Ross, he knew his reputation and he knew what he was capable of.
 
This is what he’d feared, what he’d blindly hoped wouldn’t happen, but he should have known it was inevitable.

There was something about Kenny Ross he couldn’t trust.
 
He was a great actor, one of the best of his generation, he couldn’t deny that.
 
But Michael couldn’t trust him.
 
It felt as though he was standing in the way of something Michael wanted, something he needed, and Kenny was stopping him from getting it.
 
He’d felt it last night and he was feeling it even more now.

Calling
India
over made her break the gaze and Michael found himself breathing out and relaxing as she made her way over to him, listening as he explained what was going to happen.
 
She looked at him, but the look she was giving him was one of pupil/teacher and he felt his heart sink.
 

Sending her back over to Kenny, it was impossible not to notice the way her body language changed in an instant, her face breaking back into a smile as she approached her young and handsome would-be co-star.
 
That had been Michael not so long ago.
 
He may never have been quite as handsome as Kenny but he’d always been able to attract the women, any woman he’d wanted.
 
In an instant he’d just had proof that those days were well and truly over.

***

“You ok?” Kenny asked as she came back over to him, still clutching her script but this time in hands that were no longer shaking.
 

“I’m fine.
 
I’m really fine,” she laughed, and she was.
 
Amazingly, after a night of nerves she’d never, ever felt before, and never wanted to feel again, she was absolutely fine.

Kenny laughed too, instinctively reaching out and touching her arm to reassure her.
 

A cough from the other side of the room made them both look around to see that Michael was in position by the camera and waiting for them both to get started, so Kenny kicked the script he’d thrown down on the floor away from him and gave
India
another smile.
 
“You ready?”

She just smiled back and threw her script down onto the floor beside his.

***

She had the part, as far as Michael was concerned.
 
Without a doubt this young lady was the one they’d been looking for, the one they’d been waiting for.
 
Out of the blue had appeared the leading lady of his dreams but, despite this, Michael’s heart sank even deeper as he watched Kenny and
India
together.
 
Vince was right.
 
They were lighting up the screen, sparking off each other.
 
It was working.
 
It was working far too well but he couldn’t deny that this partnership was going to make this movie.
 
The two leads needed to have chemistry; they needed to look like they belonged together and, no matter how much Michael hated the idea, Kenny and
India
were, as Vince had put it, the perfect couple.
 

He stood up, still watching the two of them together.
 
He’d already called ‘
Cut
!’ but they were still talking, laughing together as if they’d known each other for years instead of less than half an hour.

The perfect couple.
 
As long as that stayed just on screen Michael figured there wouldn’t be a problem.
 
He had plans for India Steven.
 
And they didn’t involve Kenny Ross.

***

India
had already pinched herself a dozen times until her arm hurt but she was still here, still standing on a sound stage in the middle of
Los Angeles
after being told, by Michael Walsh no less, that she’d just landed the leading role in a
Hollywood
movie!
 
Just over a week ago she’d been making her way through the
Newcastle
rush hour to another day at ‘Wheatman and
Rogers
’ and now she was going to be an actress!
 
Where the hell had
that
come from?
 
This kind of crazy shit didn’t happen to people like her, it was like a fairytale and she couldn’t stop smiling.
 
Who did she tell first?
 
Reece was already somewhere finding champagne to celebrate with … yes, Reece Brogan, Hollywood movie star was celebrating with
her
, India Steven!
 
It was beyond mad!
 

She wanted to tell Charley but what was the time over there in
England
?
 
She began counting on the fingers of one hand, concentrating so hard she didn’t hear Kenny come up beside her.
 

“Can I help?”
 
He leaned back against the wall beside her, now wearing a black leather biker jacket over his t-shirt, his hair falling over his eyes.
 

She looked at him, unable to believe that she was standing right next to Kenny Ross, that she was going to be in a
movie
with Kenny Ross.
 
Knowing her luck she’d wake up any minute now and find out she’d just had some elaborate but extremely graphic dream, so she sneakily pinched herself again, just to make sure.
 

“I’m trying to work out what time it is back in the
U.K.
 
I want to call my friend, tell her the news.”

He smiled at her again.
 
He couldn’t stop smiling at her.
 
Kenny Ross wasn’t feeling like Kenny Ross anymore.
 
“It’s about twenty-past five in the morning.”

“Far too early to be calling her then.”

Kenny looked straight ahead of him, his hands in the pockets of his jacket.
India
couldn’t help staring at him, at the outline of his jaw, the stubble on his chin.

“You did good in there,” he said, turning back to look at her again.

“Thanks.
 
You made it easy.”

Another smile.
 
Was she really standing here having a conversation with Kenny Ross?
 
And feeling like she could talk to him for hours, too.
 
She felt so comfortable in his presence.
 
She couldn’t explain why, she just did.

“Come out with me.
 
Now.”
 
Kenny hadn’t been able to stop himself; the words had just fallen out.
 

India
looked at him.

“We’ll go celebrate,” he went on, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets, scuffing the heel of his boot against the wall behind him.
 
“I know a great little place on the beach.
 
We can grab something to eat, have a couple of drinks ...”

“I don’t know ...”

She suddenly felt nervous again and started looking around for Reece.
 
But then she remembered that feeling she’d had when she’d first looked at Kenny, that overwhelming feeling of safety.
 
She’d already taken one hell of a chance in coming here to
L.A.
in the first place so why shouldn’t she take another and spend some time with him?
 
Getting to know him better wasn’t going to hurt, and she was old enough to look after herself, wasn’t she?
 

He was inwardly begging her to say yes.
 
He couldn’t forget how he’d felt when they’d first looked at each other.
 
He needed to find out if she felt the same way.
 
It was playing on his mind and if she didn’t come with him he’d never settle.
 
He needed to find out what was happening here because he had no idea what it was he was feeling.
 
He had no idea at all.
 
He only knew that he wanted to be with her, for just a little bit longer.
 
He wanted to be with her.

He held out his hand and almost instinctively she took it, his fingers closing in around hers, making her feel instantly safe again.
 
Whatever it was that was going on here, she wasn’t going to fight it.
 
She wasn’t going to fight anything anymore.
 
She was going to follow Charley’s advice, stop analysing everything and just live life.
 
No matter how weird that life was turning out to be.
 
She’d just got on the merry-go-round of one crazy ride and the first day of the rest of her life was starting right here.

CHAPTER 6

Charley closed the magazine and threw it to one side, still unable to avoid the image of her best friend on the cover, all long blonde hair and Californian tan.
 
She looked nothing like the
India
that had left
Newcastle
all those months ago.
 
She looked incredible!
 
Who’d have thought she could ever look like that?