Rumor Has It: A Bad Boy Romantic Comedy (12 page)

14

“Are you sure about this?” Shonda asked me for the hundredth time.

I gave her a look that let her knew I was done messing around.

“You’ve been through more than anyone should be forced to endure. You’re also injured. That head wound is probably nastier than you realize. I think we should head back to Theo’s. You can rest there and I’ll sort out this mess with Louis’s people,” she said.

“No. We’re taking care of this now.”

I was determined to make a fool out of Louis and his people. They’d overstepped their bounds with me for the last time. They were exploiting a traumatic event in my life just so they could promote some stupid movie.

It was sad it took being kidnapped by a lunatic to open my eyes to how shallow and empty my life was. I was going to change everything. My eyes were wide open now. I could see more clearly than ever.

I looked to Theo. He sat beside me in the backseat of Shonda’s car. His eyes darted over the crowd of people lining the street outside my hotel. He was always on the lookout for trouble. I was lucky to have him.

Shonda started to turn down a side street and head towards the parking garage entrance.

“No,” I said. “Stop here. We’re going in the front.”

“Absolutely not,” Theo said. “Head around back.”

“I want them to see what that man did to me.”

Blood caked my hair; my dress was torn and dirty. I was barefoot and my legs were covered in scrapes.

“No,” Theo said. His tone of voice left no room for argument. “This is not secure.”

“Theo, I-”

“I said no,” he said raising his voice. “I won’t have you shot in front of the hotel. I’m not going to watch you die at my feet.”

Shonda turned the car down the backstreet and into the parking garage. Theo kept his eyes trained outside the window.

“Theo, I just wanted them to see that this isn’t a game, that there are real world consequences, that I’m an actual human being and that you saved me, not Louis. You’re my-”

“You’re what? You’re hero? I’ve failed you twice. You’re lucky you’re not dead. You think you understand the real world now, but you don’t. You need to step back and take a hard look at your life. You’re still playing games. You want to parade around in front of the press and your fans so you can make some stupid point. None of it matters if it costs you your life.”

His words left me speechless. Theo stepped out of the car and pulled his gun.

“Get her up to her room,” he said to Shonda.

She helped me out of the car and led me to the elevators. Theo kept close by, his gun drawn and ready to shoot. The parking garage was empty though.

Feeling worse than ever, I stepped on to the elevator. We rode in silence to the top. Shonda wrapped an arm around me and led me to my hotel room. It was of course full of people. When I walked in, they gasped. Everyone ran at me at once, shouting questions and telling me how worried they were. My stylist was aghast at my appearance and said: “Your hair… you look terrible. You’re so lucky Louis was there to save you.”

It was the last straw. I snapped. “Stop it! All of you just shut up. You have no idea what you’re talking about. Louis is a coward and a phony. He did nothing to help me. I hate you all.”

I pushed through the crowd, nearly knocking my makeup artist to the floor. I ran to my bedroom and slammed the door shut behind me. I stood with my back to the door taking in the room. The bedroom was empty and dark. I felt like I was back in the cellar. I grabbed my wrist. For a second, I could feel the ropes digging into my skin.

I ran for the bathroom. I turned the light on, slammed the door shut behind me and locked it. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. The space inside the bedroom felt too big; the bathroom felt too small. The walls closed in on me.

I slid down to the floor and cradled my knees to my chest. I tried to imagine myself somewhere safe. My mind went blank. There had never been a safe place in my life. After my mother died, I bounced around from relative to relative. I was treated like a burden. I had no home. Then I turned eighteen and headed to Hollywood. I lived in hotels while crisscrossing the world to film movies and attend red carpet events. I had no home. There was nowhere for me to go. No one was waiting for me to walk in the front door. No one loved me or missed me. I was all alone.

There was a soft knock on the bathroom door.

“Jamie…?” Theo called.

“Go away.”

“Sweetheart, can I come in?”

“I’m not your sweetheart.”

“I’m sorry I snapped at you back in the car. Will you let me come in and explain?”

I thought about opening the door, but I couldn’t make myself stand. Instead I laid down on the bathroom floor and curled into a ball. I hugged my knees to my chest and thought about the cellar. The knuckles of my right fist were coated in dried blood. Did it belong to me or my kidnapper?

“I lost my wife in the war,” he said.

I turned towards the door. I had no idea Theo had been married.

“Actually, she wasn’t my wife. We would have been married though,” he said as if reading my mind. “I met her while I was deployed. She was a photojournalist. The first time I saw her I knew we were meant to be together. I had no idea how little time we’d have. She was covering my unit in Iraq. My team was conducting a raid on a building. She was supposed to wait outside until we’d cleared the area. There was some sort of miscommunication, or maybe she just decided to go in on her own- I don’t know. She could be stubborn and strong-willed just like you. When she decided she was going to do something, she just did it. No one got in her way. She died in that building. She was shot by a gunman hiding on the first floor. I held her in my arms and watched her bleed out. She died in some abandoned building, half the world away from her home and family. And for what? To cover a war that never should have been fought to begin with? So people at home could see what was really going on? No one cared. She died for nothing.”

Silence stretched out between us. I felt like I should say something, but I didn’t know what. I wanted to take his pain away. I would have gladly carried his suffering for the both of us if it meant Theo could be happy again.

“I wasn’t there to protect her and she died. I wasn’t there to protect you either and you barely made it out with your life. I can’t lose you too.”

“She didn’t die for nothing,” I whispered. “She never would have put her life in danger if she didn’t think it was important. People need to see what goes on in war. It’s important that the truth is known, that the real stories of soldiers and civilians caught in the middle are told.”

“You sound like her.”

I sat up and opened the door. Theo sat on the other side, staring at his hands. I crawled to him. When I touched his shoulder, he jumped. His eyes looked glassy as if he was on the verge of crying. Afraid he’d reject me, I pulled my hand away. To my surprise, he grabbed me and pulled me close. I rested my head on his chest. My hands started to tremble again. I tried to hide them, but Theo was too quick. He took my hands and brought them to his lips. He kissed them sweetly, then hugged me close. I curled my body around his. Theo ran his hand up and down my back.

“Now I understand why you hate me,” I said.

“What are you talking about?”

“My life- it’s so vapid and empty. You were a soldier. You were face-to-face with death every day. So was your fiancée. She died for something she was passionate about. If I’d died in that house it wouldn’t have mattered. You think your fiancée died for nothing? Well, I
really
would have died for nothing.”

“You wouldn’t have died for nothing. You’re passionate about acting. You’re an artist.”

I laughed. “Would an artist star in a superhero movie? Or action films? Or cheesy romances? They’re just paycheck movies. I haven’t been an artist since… well, since I starred in Last Glance. That was the movie he was obsessed with- John I mean, or whatever his real name is. He was obsessed with my character in that movie. He thought we were meant to be together forever- that I was going to be his Mistress or something.”

The memory made my skin crawl. I felt like a million invisible spiders were crawling over my arms, legs, back and stomach. I hugged Theo tighter.

“What John doesn’t know is that I’m a fraud. I’m just a two-bit actress chasing fame and money.”

“That’s not true.”

I scoffed. “It’s not? You’ve seen how I live. My whole life is fake. I have a phony boyfriend, phony friends; my whole career is built on lies. Look at me. I can’t even be myself. I have to dress and look exactly how they want me to.”

“No, you don’t. You can do whatever you want. If you don’t like your life, then change it.”

“Easier said than done. The consequences would be severe. The studio would be pissed. I signed a contract when I started ‘dating’ Louis. If I break our agreement, they can sue me.”

“Sue you? For not playing the part of his girlfriend? From what I’ve seen of your life, everything ends up in the press eventually. Do you really think they want to walk into a courtroom and sue you for failing to be the perfect fake girlfriend? They would essentially be outing themselves.”

Theo had a point. They couldn’t punish me without severe repercussions for Louis’s career. The world would learn the truth if they tried to sue me. Still, I had no desire to out Louis as gay. That was his personal choice. It wasn’t my place to out him.

“Even if I managed to get out of my contract with Louis, what am I left with?” I ventured a look up at Theo. He was staring straight ahead, deep in thought. “I’ll still be all alone.”

“No, you won’t. You have to make a life for yourself. Star in the movies you want to act in, dress how you want to dress. You’ve lost your identity. And for God’s sake, stay away from the paparazzi and the tabloids. They’re not doing you any good. You’re obsessed with manipulating the media narrative. It’s not good for you.”

“Yeah, I know…”

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed by Theo’s answer. I wanted to hear him say, ‘You’ll never be alone, because you’ll have me.’ Maybe it was too soon for him. The death of his fiancée had left a wound that cut deep. Maybe he just wasn’t ready to move on. Or maybe he just didn’t have deep feelings for me.

I nestled in closer. I wanted to steal his warmth, confidence and control. How could he act so calm after everything that had happened? I was a nervous wreck. The answer was obvious: Theo was a soldier. He’d been through worse and survived.

“I’m going to find the piece of shit that took you and end this.”

“Then what? You’ll leave and I’ll be back where I started: alone.”

“I can protect you from your stalker. What I can’t do is give you self-respect. And I definitely can’t fix your career. You have to figure those things out for yourself.”

“Since you came into my life…” I started, but couldn’t finish.

I couldn’t be honest about how I felt towards Theo. I knew he didn’t feel the same way about me. The truth was that since meeting Theo I felt alive. The last time I felt this way was when I first came out to Hollywood. I was full of ambition and dreams. When I looked at Theo I saw the future. When he looked at me, he saw the past.

I was nothing to him but a reminder of the dead fiancée he couldn’t save. I didn’t want to hurt him. I just wanted him to be happy. And if my presence was a reminder of the bad times, then maybe it was best we parted ways. I knew Theo wouldn’t leave me as long as my stalker was still out there, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t put distance between us. I pushed Theo away.

“I should get cleaned up,” I said. “Then get some rest.”

I rose and was surprised to see my legs weren’t shaking anymore. Theo gave me strength. Already the idea of life without him was starting to sink in. He wasn’t gone yet, but I could feel the loss. It made my chest ache.

I stepped back into the bathroom and closed the door. A long, hot shower would wash away my problems. Wouldn’t it?

15

The next morning I dragged myself out of bed feeling as if I’d been hit by a car. I walked into the living room in my robe. The previous night I fell asleep with my hair wet; now it was a mess of curls. I didn’t bother to comb it or put on makeup. I was beyond caring.

I was relieved to see the hotel room was empty except for Connor and Shonda. They sat at the dining room table, drinking coffee and whispering intimately to one another. Any other day I would have found this interesting. Lack of sleep, mental and physical exhaustion combined with a sore body and a throbbing headache, meant I didn’t really care. If Connor and Shonda were hooking up, then good for them.

“Hey,” Connor said, “how are you feeling?”

“I could use some coffee.”

“Right away.” He jumped up to pour me a cup. He moved a bit too quickly, as if he was nervous to be caught alone with Shonda.

As I sat down I raised an eyebrow at her and nodded towards Connor. She acted as if she didn’t notice the gesture which only served to confirm what I suspected: they were definitely hooking up.

Shonda’s phone rang. She looked at the Caller ID then hit Ignore. The call went to her voice mail.

“So, how are you really feeling today?” she asked.

“Well-” I was cut off by the annoying ring of her phone. She glanced at the number on the screen, then again hit Ignore. “Who’s calling you?”

“Nobody.”

“Just tell me. At this point, my life can’t get much worse. So just give me the bad news.”

“It’s Harry.”

“Who?”

“Harry Lovejoy, the editor of Gossip Guru. He’s called me at least ten times this morning. He wants to meet in person. I told him it was out of the question. I’m not going to sit down with him- not after he published those nude photos of you.”

“What does he want?”

“I don’t know. He claims to have info on the kidnapping.”

“Shonda, that’s huge. Send Theo or Connor to talk to him.”

“Girl, I know you’re not dumb enough to actually believe that man. It’s a trick. He doesn’t have anything. He just wants an exclusive. Pretending to have info on your kidnapper is just bait to get us in his office.”

“But GG has sources everywhere. Their private detectives are really good. They dig up dirt on everyone. He might be telling the truth. What’s the harm in sending Theo or Connor to talk to him?”

Shonda shook her head. “He’ll only meet with me and you. And I’m telling you this guy cannot be trusted.”

Connor set a cup of coffee down in front of me.

“Maybe we should meet with them,” I said.

“Jamie,” she replied gently, “you’ve been through a lot. You have no idea how big this story is. Everyone is reporting on it. CNN had live, commercial-free coverage on your kidnapping for hours. Every news network and major publication in the world is desperate to get an exclusive interview with you right now. My phone has been ringing off the hook non-stop. If Harry managed to get legit info on your kidnapper, he would have published it already. It’s a huge scoop for them.”

Shonda had a point. They wouldn’t wait for our permission to publish their story. Tabloids do what they want, consequences be damned. Still, something about it didn’t sit right with me.

“But we never do interviews with Gossip Guru. They know that. What if he has something?”

“Jamie…”

“Maybe she’s right,” Connor said. “We’re running out of leads. This investigation has hit a dead end. It’s worth checking out.”

“What do you mean it’s hit a dead end?” I asked. “What about the house? Didn’t you learn anything from it?”

“We checked out the owner. It was rented through an LLC. The LLC was owned by a shell company out of South America.”

“South America? What the hell?”

“It’s not uncommon for rich people to hide their money in shell companies in South America or Switzerland. Anyway, the point is that following the money led us on a wild goose chase. We took finger prints from the house and ran them through the police database. We came up with nothing. This guy probably doesn’t have a record.”

“So, that’s it? What about the neighbors?”

“It’s a bad neighborhood. The people there don’t talk to the police or anyone who looks like law enforcement. They don’t want to find themselves in the middle of other people’s problems. Though we did find one guy who would talk. It was an older man who lived across the street. He said the guy moved into the house a couple weeks ago. The description he gave wasn’t useful. The old man’s vision was bad and he didn’t get a good look.”

“So, we’re no closer to finding the guy then before? Great.”

I ran my hands through my hair and winced in pain. The bump on my head had turned into a painful knot.

“We were able to trace some of the… instruments in the house,” Connor said. By instruments I assumed he meant the basement full of sex toys.

“And?”

“They were purchased from a local adult video store. We tried to get the owner to pull up surveillance footage, but he’s not cooperating. He says he won’t turn anything over without a warrant.”

“So, turn it over to the cops. Let them get a warrant.”

Connor and Shonda exchanged a look.

“We can’t do that,” Shonda said.

“Why not?”

“Technically, what Connor and Theo did was illegal.”

“What?”

“We removed evidence from the scene of a crime,” Connor said. “The evidence isn’t admissible in court. When we removed it from the scene, we broke the chain of custody.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The evidence is now suspect because we handled it. It can’t be used as evidence of anything in a criminal trial. It’s essentially useless to the cops. Even if we turned it over to the police, a judge wouldn’t grant them a warrant.”

I groaned. “This just keeps getting better and better.”

“I’m sorry,” Connor said.

“No. Don’t be. The cops have never been much help to me. They never took my stalker seriously. At least you and Theo are working to end this. You two seem to have better connections than the cops do.”

“If it comes down to it, we may send one of our guys to the sex toy shop at night to
borrow
the tapes.”

“You mean steal them?”

“Shh,” Shonda said as if someone was listening in on us. She turned to Connor. “Any actions you and Theo decide to take that may exist outside the law will not be discussed with Jamie. Understood?”

“Why are you cutting me out? You think I’m going to rat you out to the cops? You don’t trust me?”

“It’s not that,” Shonda said. “It’s about plausible deniability. If they get busted, I don’t want you anywhere near it. I’m not going to watch you get hauled off to jail because of something Theo and Connor did. Let them handle the dirty work. You keep your nose clean.”

“You’re just scared it will ruin my career. That’s all you care about.”

The atmosphere in the room changed. Suddenly, things felt much colder.

“No,” Shonda said carefully. “It’s my job to take care of you. I don’t want you to end up in prison or worse. It has nothing to do with Hollywood.”

“I don’t believe you.” I turned to Connor. “I want to know everything. What are you and Theo planning? In fact, where is he?”

“Theo was following up on a hunch.”

I waited for him to elaborate. He didn’t. “And…? What’s his hunch?”

“He didn’t tell me.”

“Fantastic,” I said sarcastically. I trusted Theo, but I was tired of being kept in the dark. We all needed to communicate better. “I can’t sit here any longer and do nothing. We’re going to meet with Harry.”

“But-”

“I don’t want to hear it. This may turn out to be a waste of our time, but so what? I can’t sit in this hotel room for the rest of my life waiting for something to happen. Shonda, call Harry. Tell him I’m willing to talk.”