The Last Thing (27 page)

“You did nothing wrong.” Chase wrapped his arms around me
tighter to make me feel more secure.

 “I sat at that bridge.  I thought I could remember what
happened.  I wanted to prove to myself that I didn’t kill Bash. Everyone else
seemed so certain that I had. I decided to recreate the accident so I drove my
car off the side and just sat there as the water filled the car.”

I shook my head because it seemed so childish now. A stupid
idea to begin with, but I hadn’t been thinking clearly. I’d been distraught
with guilt, pain, and loneliness.

“I just sat there, without a care in the world... At the last
moment, I changed my mind. I got scared, but it was too late.  I couldn’t get
out in time. I remember the pain as I inhaled all the water….the struggle to
breathe. Some guy drove by and pulled me from the car. My heart stopped but he
gave me mouth to mouth until the ambulance came. And when I woke up, I knew
that I was being given a second chance. I focused on getting better. I focused
on forgetting the past.  I focused on getting away.”

“You lived for this moment right here. You, me, and our
child…” He securely placed his hand on my stomach.

Yes, I survived twice for a reason, but I could never figure
out the reason. He was right. I was a fighter, and my life had purpose now. I
wasn’t living for the next day, I was living for now. I wasn’t living to
forget. I lived to remember.  I stood strong in the water that I’d avoided for so
long now.  My feet planted firmly in the sand with Chase behind me so that the
current couldn’t knock me down.

Chase

After we left the beach, we made our way over to Barrett’s
house in Brentwood for an impromptu party.

“Do we have to come here?” Quinn complained as I pulled her
from my car toward Barrett’s mansion.

“They wanted us to come over. Be nice.”

“Holy crap, how many houses does Barrett have?” she exclaimed
while looking up at the large two story home.

“This is just one of many, Quinn. His parents are loaded.” I
clasped her hand tightly in mine and led her up the walkway toward the door
made out of iron and glass. Instead of knocking, I walked right in like I
normally did.

“Surprise!”

Everyone jumped out from behind sofas, bookshelves, and
hallways. Quinn gave me a sly look before laughing. From the looks of all the
pink and blue streamers, this was a baby-themed party.

“What is this?” she asked.

“It is a party!” Ginger said stepping over with a huge blue
crown.  “A gender reveal party!” She placed it on Quinn’s head and took a
picture with her camera.  Quinn looked around nervously at the small group of
about a dozen people crowded around her with party hats and confetti. Harlow,
Barrett, Tucker, and a handful of onset acquaintances stood nearby.

“Quinn, this is Tucker,” I said.

Tucker reached out to give her a hug.

“Chase never mentioned how hot you were,” he teased.

“I didn’t realize Chase had mentioned me at all,” Quinn said
between gritted teeth. She looked up at me, and I shrugged. There were only
about five cast members of
Timelines
. The rest were directors and stage
members. I trusted them all not to say anything, but it was clear that Quinn
didn’t feel the same way.

“Ginger, we need to talk.” Quinn grabbed both my hand and
Ginger’s and pulled us into the adjoining kitchen.

“Ginger, what is this?”

“I felt bad for the other night, so I threw together a party.
Surprise!” She threw her hands in the air and struck a sexy pose. I laughed
until I caught Quinn glaring at me.

“Ginger, I don’t know these people,  and I sure as hell don’t
want them to know I’m having a baby…with Chase!”

Frankly, I was relieved to be able to share this secret.

“Calm down, Quinn. I know these people. They all have secrets,
and I trust them not to say anything. We’re planning on telling people here in
a few weeks anyway.” I put an arm out to her shoulder.

“You’re right, and we should be the ones to tell friends, not
through a press release.” She took a deep breath and leaned against me. Well,
that was easy.

Ginger put her hands on Quinn’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I
thought people were finding out. Your mom knows, and Harlow told me that you
told her…”

“Come on, dear,” I told Quinn, pressing my mouth against the
top of her head. “Let’s go mingle.”

We made our way back into the large sitting room where
everyone stood with glasses of champagne.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us you were expecting!” a
few people said, giving me a pat on the back as I walked past.

“Announcement!” I took a glass off a nearby table and raised
it in the air.

“As many of you may have figured out by now, Quinn and I are
having a baby. I would appreciate your discretion until we have made an
official announcement, and I tell my publicist because God knows she will kill
me.”

There was a slight chuckle in the room since many of them
know how controlling Rhea could be.

“To new lives, new babies, and new movies.” Everyone raised a
glass and the sound of crystal clinking rang through the room.

Barrett came up to Quinn and threw a lazy arm around her.

“Ginger told me months ago though I wasn’t allowed to tell
anyone. And I didn’t. I kept your little secret. Aren’t you proud of me? I
think a kiss will be thank you enough.”

My fists tightened in jealousy. Barrett was joking, but a
protective streak still overcame my senses. I opened my mouth to say something,
but Ginger beat me to it.

“She’s my cousin, Barrett. Have some respect.” She pushed
Barrett off Quinn, almost knocking her over in the process.

“Easy now!” I yelled out, reaching out to steady her.

“Sorry.” Ginger mumbled before giving us a fake smile. I
glared at them bickering quietly among themselves and pulled Quinn toward a
table with food on it.

“Are you okay? I had no idea about the party, I swear.
Barrett said we’d just be hanging out, the four of us.”

“No, it’s fine. We agreed that we were gonna start telling
people. I just didn’t think it would be like this. I figured it would be a
bunch of phone calls and text messages.”

“Your family knows.”

“I don’t think they care. My mom did nothing but blame me and
then started in on Ginger.”

“My mom will be excited though.”

She nodded.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the couple of the hour.”

I knew that voice, and as Quinn spun around to see who was
talking I groaned. Lena.  She stood there with her black hair falling across
her tattoo covered shoulders. She used her tongue to twist her lip ring as she
took in Quinn.

“Hi, I’m Quinn.”

Lena rolled her eyes at Quinn’s outstretched hand.

“So you’re the new girl.”

“Lena….” I warned. Quinn’s eyes widened when she recognized
the name. I couldn’t have Quinn getting stressed out, and Lena didn’t look to
happy to see me. She was still a little pissed at me for not returning her
calls or messages.

“Lena?”

Lena looked Quinn up and down slowly, distaste showed clearly
in her eyes. Who had invited her? I knew for a fact that she and Ginger didn’t
get along.

“Who invited you, Lena?”

“I’m here with Tucker,” she stated while looking down at her
black painted nails. I glared at Tucker, who only shrugged.

“Good luck with that,” I mumbled. I could feel the tension in
the room rise as I tried to pull Quinn away from Lena before Lena got even more
catty.

“Couldn’t convince her to get rid of it? That’s too bad,” she
yelled out. An eerie silence filled the room; everyone stopped what they were
doing to watch Quinn’s reaction.

“Oh. Hell. No,” Quinn said, drawing out each word slowly. She
turned around poked a finger into Lena’s chest. “Don’t you ever talk about my
child that way.”

“We all know exactly who you are; some gold-digger who
successfully knocked herself up and landed herself a movie star baby daddy.

Quinn dropped her finger, and I saw her confidence begin to
waiver.  “You stupid bitch!”

I jumped in between the two girls as Lena opened her mouth to
retaliate.

“Get her out of here,” I said to Barrett, nodding my head
towards Lena. Barrett reached for Lena’s arm, but she stepped out of his reach.

“Don’t touch me! You’re all thinking the same thing. I was
the only one with the guts to say it!”

“Get the hell out of here!” Ginger pointed toward the door
and watched Lena stomp out.

I looked around at my friends who all stood silently with
that gossipy look on their faces. I suddenly felt uneasy entrusting them with
this part of my life.

Quinn’s eyes scanned the room, uneasy with being the center
of their attention. I sensed that she was about to have a breakdown in front of
everyone so I bent down and spoke into her ear.

“Calmly walk to your left. There is a bedroom at the end of
the hall.”

She held her head high as she walked through the crowd with
me at her heels.

“What is everyone staring at?” I heard Ginger yell from
behind us. “This is a fuckin’ party, so party!”

When we made it into the bedroom, I shut the door behind us.
Quinn faced the other way, but I could tell from the way her shoulders were
shaking, she was upset.

“Are you sure you can handle this?”

She nodded, but still wouldn’t turn to look at me.

“Because,” I persisted, “this won’t be the worst thing
someone will say about you. Girls will be jealous that I’m off the market. I
need to know you can take this.”

“I’m fine. I just wasn’t expecting all of this today. Can you
leave me alone, please?”

I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to hold her, but something
in the way she stood told me that she needed some space.

I silently left the room and made it out to all of my friends
who were chattering again.

“Lena is crazy,” Tucker said when I appeared.

“Damn straight.”

“Will Quinn be okay?”

“I hope so.”

Quinn

 “Quinn, Quinn,” the voice just wouldn’t stop. I groaned and
tried to turn over on my stomach.

“Quinn. You need to see this. It’s all over the gossip
websites.” It was Ginger. Why was she bothering me? It had taken me forever to
get to sleep after that disaster of a party she had thrown yesterday.

I put my head under my pillow and said, “I told you to stop
reading those. You shouldn’t care about those liars.”

“It’s about you,” she told me. Her words made me sit straight
up in my bed. Rubbing my eyes, I tried to look at her to see how serious she
was.

“What?”

“They have a picture of you and Chase kissing at some
restaurant, they don’t know who you are yet, but it’s only a matter of time.”

My heart thudded against my ribcage and my breath caught in
my throat. I knew this would happen eventually. Tears threatened to spill but I
blinked them back.

“Show me,” I demanded.

She grabbed her laptop and sat next to me on my bed. Sure
enough, there on the front of the website was a picture of Chase and me leaving
the doctor’s office after our appointment that morning, then us kissing on our
first date, having lunch with Harlow, and then a picture of us driving in the
car. How did they get all these? I cried out when I saw the photo right below
mine. It was of Chase and his blonde co-star. They were holding food in their
hands and she was all up on him. The headline read:

“Chase Crowley Cheats on Chloe James with Pregnant Mystery Girl.”

The article didn’t state my name, and the picture wasn’t even
that close up, but it made me look like the other woman. They would soon know
who I was, and then I would look even worse. I needed to talk to Chase and
fast. Why was there a picture of them looking so cozy?

I should have stopped at the article, but I didn’t. The
comments were hateful, with people stating how ugly or horrible I was for being
the other woman. Even though no one knew it was me, it still cut just as deep.
I scrolled down the bottom where it listed related articles about Chase. I
gasped when I read the headlines. I’d known that Chase had a reputation in
Hollywood, but I never actually sat down to read what the tabloids said about
him.

Once the floodgates were open, I couldn’t stop. Chase got
around. He left a trail of broken hearts behind him and was spotted out in LA
clubs almost every night. Dozens of pictures were of him and that Lena girl
partying.  After looking at a few photos with him dancing up on her, I slammed
the laptop shut and laid back on my bed crying.