The Pretend Girlfriend (36 page)

And then a buzzing sound became apparent, just at the edge of hearing. Except Gwen got the distinct impression that it was getting louder. And closer. It intruded on her happiness and tranquility, cutting through her Zen like an annoying fly that won't stop landing on you while you're trying to sleep.

With the way the buildings were, she couldn't tell at first where the sound came from. "What's that?" she asked.

Aiden peered over the guard rail and examined the sky around them, squinting against the sunset. "I'm not sure. I think it might be a..."

The buzz turned into a deafening roar as a helicopter climbed into view in front of them, the rotors slicing through the air and buffeting Aiden and Gwen with wind. Instinctually, they crouched low. The chopper rotated to expose its long side, and Gwen understood.

A man slid the door open and pointed a big, shoulder-mounted camera at them.

Aiden touched her shoulder and she looked at him. All the wash from the rotors sent his perfectly-tousled hair into a wild dance. He mouthed one word at her (yelling was useless; helicopters are
loud
).

And that word was: Henry.

Then he grabbed her hand and they retreated to the elevator, both of them leaning against the back of it as they descended, relieved to be out of the noise and wind.

"Time was pretty much up, anyway," Aiden said, trying to joke.

Neither of them laughed. Worry twisted in Gwen's gut. She'd been daring to hope that maybe Henry had finally decided to leave well enough alone, that maybe he'd given up trying to pull his son into his influence and get rid of Gwen.

She hated him for spoiling that perfect moment with Aiden. A deep regret ached inside at the loss. She was sure they'd been close to another big milestone, but it had been snatched away. "How did he know?" she asked.

"I don't know. He probably has a GPS on my car, or my phone. Or both. Maybe he's having me followed; I wouldn't put it past him. Who knows what he's willing to do? Let's just be happy we got away so easily."

"Yeah..." Gwen said, that anxiety in her stomach not going away. That really had been an easy escape. Almost as though Henry had sent in the helicopter as a ruse.

"The lobby!" Gwen said, lurching forward so that she could jam her finger against the button for the second floor. It lit up at her touch.

"What? What is it?" Aiden replied.

"I'll bet you a million dollars he's got something waiting for us down in the lobby. Think about it."

"That makes sense," Aiden replied, not looking happy about it. He nodded at the buttons. "Good thinking."

She smiled mischievously at him, "And I didn't even need to go to Harvard to figure it out!"

This earned her a roll of the eyes. "Yes, yes. Can we save our gloating until we're out of here?"

The second floor was quiet. When the elevator chimed and the doors opened, Gwen had been half-expecting for Henry to anticipate this move, too, and have more news crews ready and waiting.

Aiden took her hand and led her down the hall, towards the door with the big red EXIT sign and arrow, which quickly led them to the stairs. The switchback staircase echoed as the door slammed shut behind them and they started down.

"We have to go quickly; they'll figure it out soon," Aiden said.

They reached the ground-floor landing quickly, and Aiden put his shoulder into the door. They found themselves in an alley. Just as the big steel fire door closed behind them, the door leading into the stairwell from the lobby banged open. Gwen could hear many people yelling. Probably all asking each other where Gwen and Aiden could have gotten off to.

Rather than going to the front of the building where the car had first dropped them off, Aiden guided them a couple streets over. Gwen managed a quick look near the front entrance to the building and saw it crowded with photographers and journalists. An overworked traffic cop got into an argument with a news van trying to double park as Aiden pulled her away. They blended in with the rest of the pedestrians.

"Do you think we've lost them?" Gwen asked, trying to peer over the heads of the crowd but not succeeding.

Aiden was nice and tall, however, and he glanced back the way they came. "I think so. Let's just keep going for a few blocks. I'll have the driver meet us and we can get back to my place." He offered his hand, which Gwen accepted gladly.

There were a lot of stores down the street. Fancy, expensive ones that Beatrice liked to window shop if they were in the area. Gwen also thought that Tiffany's was somewhere in the general vicinity, and that it might be nice to visit with Aiden. However, her paranoia overpowered her urge to shop. She kept looking over her shoulder, or glancing at the street every time the sun caught in the window of a passing cab like the flash of a camera.

They passed a Starbucks, and Gwen got a sudden rush of nostalgia, remembering seeing Aiden at the one near her apartment. If she somehow got the ability to go back in time and tell herself that in a few weeks she'd be running from the paparazzi after a romantic rendezvous at the Empire State Building, she knew Past Gwen would have laughed at her.

Funny how life can be,
Gwen thought.

A few blocks later, Aiden pulled them to a stop in front of a deli while he dug his phone out to get in touch with the car. The mouth-watering smells wafting from the place every time the door opened reminded Gwen that she hadn't had anything to eat in a while but a few handfuls of popcorn back at the theater.

"He'll be here shortly," Aiden said, watching the lights at the intersection change.

"Good," Gwen replied. Her toes started wriggling in her shoes, and the restless muscles in her legs flexed. Standing still like this invited trouble. It made it easier to be found.

Every time a taxi honked, or a passing pedestrian coughed, Gwen jerked.

Noticing her unease, Aiden squeezed her hand. "Don't worry. We'll be on our way very soon."

She smiled at him, and he turned his attention back to the street. Poor Aiden, he didn't understand what these people could do. There were so many stories about how the nosy press ruined people's lives, sent them on the run, destroyed their reputation, denied them their privacy. Gwen had only been a little girl when the paparazzi chased Princess Diana to her death, but she still remembered all the news stories.

And if Henry really was behind the push, which she knew he certainly was, then she knew things were probably about to get much worse. And of course Aiden wouldn't know about that sort of thing. Gwen loved reading the tabloid headlines while in the checkout line at the grocery store, or checking out TMZ online for gossip and photos.

Aiden squinted, blocking out the sun with one hand. "I think that's him down there."

Following his line of sight, Gwen saw the shiny black Town Car at the other side of the intersection, stuck behind a red light. It was pretty easy to pick out in the crowd of yellow cabs.

"Aiden Manning?" someone said behind them.

"Yes?" Aiden started, turning around to see who it was.

Gwen did likewise. As soon as they did, a camera flash went off in their eyes. Gwen threw her hands up in an instinctual shield against the sudden brightness. The purple afterimage etched onto her eyeballs kept her from seeing much. All she noticed was a baseball cap and a leather jacket. And then more flashes.

"This is great," the paparazzo said, going down on one knee to take some low-angle shots, "I thought you guys might make a run out of that fire exit. Lucky me, yeah?"

"That's enough..." Aiden said, blinking and squinting, trying to get his vision back. He made a grab for the camera, but the paparazzo jerked it away from him.

"Oh, that's good. Give me more of that angry face..." The guy danced back away from Aiden's grasp expertly, having honed his skills at taking pictures of those who didn't want them taken.

People began stopping to watch the display, pointing and talking among themselves. A few pulled out cell phones and began taking their own photos, figuring that she and Aiden must be some celebrities caught with their proverbial pants down. A couple of Chinese tourists hoisted their big DSLR cameras up, their flashes almost as bright as the paparazzo's.

Gwen looked back just in time to see the light change. The driver must have noticed what was going on, because he chirped the tires in his haste to get over to them faster.

"Hah!" Aiden said. He'd managed to grab the camera somehow. Except the paparazzo had it on a lanyard.

"Hey! You can't do that!" the paparazzo said, his arrogance somewhat deflated, "I'll sue you! This is freedom of the press, man!"

Gwen thought Aiden would smash the expensive camera against the sidewalk, but he didn't. Despite the paparazzo's attempts to get it back, Aiden found the slot for the memory card, ejected said card, and stuffed it into his pocket.

When he let the camera go, the paparazzo fell back on his butt, nearly knocking over those Chinese tourists.

"Bill me," Aiden said.

The crowd clapped. At least, the ones who weren't busy snapping photos or recording video with their cell phones.

"Come on!" Gwen said, snagging his hand and pulling him through the crowd. More and more people kept gathering around, and she found it difficult to push through with her narrow shoulders.

"Break it up! Break it up!"

A couple of beat cops, their black caps noticeable above the heads of the crowd, had noticed the gathering and had come over to see what all the commotion was about.

When he saw, the driver helped, coming over and yelling at people to get out of the way. He pulled the back door of the car open and motioned for them to climb in, nearly slamming the door on Aiden's foot.

As the car pulled out onto the street, the paparazzo jumped out behind them and started taking more pictures. The cops came after him, barely able to haul him back onto the sidewalk and out of the way of an oncoming taxi.

Aiden and Gwen watched the display through the back window. Gwen kept gulping down air, her whole body shaking. Now that it was over, she was coming down from her adrenaline rush.

"That was..." Aiden began.

"Shocking? Startling? Crazy?" Gwen said, her mind going a million miles per hour.

"Unexpected," Aiden finished, giving her knee a comforting squeeze. It didn't help. "Come on, let's get back to my place and we can figure this out."

That sounded nice. A quiet evening at his condo, high above the street and the cameras.

Except that proved no safe haven, either. As soon as the Town Car pulled up to the curb outside his building, the vultures moved in. The driver forced his way around the car to their door and hauled it open. Aiden doubled as boyfriend and bodyguard as they fought their way to the front door.

The doorman looked terrified, practically shaking in his nice cap and jacket. He opened the door just enough for the Gwen and Aiden to squeeze in through the gap, then battled against two or three other sets of hands to finally pull it closed behind them.

"Thanks," Aiden said, giving the man a pat on the shoulder.

The gesture bolstered the man's nerve. He straightened his back and said, "No problem, sir. Don't worry, none will get inside. Not on my shift, at least."

"Good man," Aiden replied, his voice tired.

When they reached his condo, they both collapsed onto his couch, neither having even bothered to kick their shoes off.

"Oh my God!" Gwen said, rubbing at her eyes. Her whole body ached like she'd been working out all day. It was amazing how much this sort of attention could take out of you. It was no wonder that celebrities hated these people. She didn't know how they managed it.

"I don't think the limelight is for me," Aiden said, rubbing his temples.

"How are we going to get out of here? Do you think they'll stay all night?" Gwen said.

"Hopefully not. Maybe Miley Cyrus or Justin Beiber will come to New York and take all their attention... Besides, would it really be so terrible to stay here with me all night?" He reached over and pulled her body against his. Her shoes dragged across the couch, leaving the dust of the street behind, but he didn't care.

"No, I guess it's not
so
terrible," Gwen said, letting her head fall back against his shoulder.

"You..." he said, kissing the top of her head.

Joking around helped a little. But even as Gwen snuggled into him, she couldn't help worrying. He might have food in the fridge, and they could get stuff delivered, but they would need to leave eventually. Aiden for work, Gwen for school. They couldn't stay forever.

And she could be sure that Henry wouldn't give up until he got what he wanted.

"H
ey, look at this," Aiden said.

He sat shirtless in his office chair. Gwen wore that shirt, a light blue button-down that set off Aiden's eyes so nicely, and nothing else. It felt nice against her skin, and hung most of the way down her thighs. She came up behind him, kissing those broad, naked shoulders. His skin broke out in gooseflesh at the touch of her lips.

"Oh, you like that, do you?" Gwen replied, her voice sultry.

Shortly after they'd arrived, Aiden had made certain to close all the curtains over those big windows. Then he'd made them supper (spaghetti with a sauce of his own making). And then they'd settled in for some cuddling time in front of the TV.

Of course, cuddling time became something that could be better termed as naked fun time, followed by naked sleeping time with a couple fun time interruptions thrown in.

All that fun came at a price, however. Every muscle and fiber in Gwen's body ached like someone had wrung them all out one at a time like they were wet cloths or towels.

Still, Gwen figured she could work through the pain if Aiden could. Her lips traveled up his neck and she nibbled lightly at his earlobe.

Aiden succumbed to her charms quickly, pushing himself out of the chair.

He put his arms around her and pulled her close, ready to go in for the kill, Gwen waiting as his willing prey.

And then she got a glimpse of his computer's screen. It was a picture of the back of a yellow cab speeding away down a New York street. Gwen could make out her own face, as well as Aiden's, staring out the back window of that taxi.