Heartbeat Page 5

  “Chloe, I’m serious. I don’t bite. Lie down and chat with me.”

  Johnnie actually sounded a little wounded, so I brought my legs up onto the bed and smoothed my skirt down over my thighs, but I didn’t lie down.

  “Should I even ask why you’re in here?” I asked.

  “I think you know the answer to that.” His innocent smile turned plain indecent.

  “Where’s Faith now?”

  He shrugged, then frowned. “She’s not the type to stick around. Usually that’s my move.”

  Nice, I thought, but I liked that Faith had kept the upper hand in this instance. “You sound upset by that,” I observed.

  “Nah, not upset. Just surprised and kind of in awe. She’s a firecracker.”

  “I really don’t want to know.”

  “Aw, go easy on a guy. I’ve just been blindsided by a vixen in a gold dress. I’m doing my best to recover.”

  I stole another glance at him. Johnnie did actually look genuinely stupefied. His hair was all messed up and he had a dazed look in his eyes.

  Go Faith.

  “I doubt I’ll see her again,” he said.

  “What? Why?”

  He shrugged again. “Let’s just say it takes one to know one.”

  I couldn’t help myself and turned to face him. “Do you want to see her again?”

  “Hell—see her, feel her, touch her. She’s amazing.”

  “I don’t think she does relationships,” I told him, not to wound him but because it was probably better if I was honest.

  “Yeah, neither do I. Still. I’d do her again, anytime.”

  “How romantic.”

  “What? You’ve never been so hot for a guy you’d let him use your body?”

  “I—” I closed my mouth and willed my complexion to stay a neutral color. Gabe’s stormy eyes popped into my mind and I bit my lip.

  Johnnie propped himself up on his elbow and studied me with interest. “Sweet, innocent Chloe,” he said softly. “It’s not all an act, is it?”

  I cleared my throat and avoided his gaze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just seem innocent in comparison to Faith, that’s all. We’re very different.”

  “So you didn’t have Gabe tonight?”

  I sucked in a breath and shifted away from him. “Excuse me?”

  “I’ll take that as a no, then. Not that Gabe’s easy to get into bed, but I thought he would make an exception for you.”

  I didn’t know where to look, or what to do, but the obvious thing seemed to be to finish this conversation before it got more out of hand. I scooted across the bed and dropped my legs over the edge.

  “Wait.” Johnnie caught my arm and crawled on all fours so he was next to me.

  I swallowed at his proximity. He didn’t have the same effect on me as Gabe, but having his dark brand of masculinity focused on me was still distracting.

  “So he didn’t even kiss you?” His voice was a low rumble.

  I shook my head and tried to free my arm but he held onto me—not hard, just enough to make it clear he wanted an answer.

  “No, he didn’t kiss me.” Why was I even telling him this? It was none of his business.

  He muttered an oath and let go of me. I couldn’t understand why he was so upset.

  Instead of getting up and leaving the room, I turned to face him. “Why does it matter to you, anyway?”

  Johnnie frowned, his dark eyebrows troubled. “You’re the birthday girl, Chloe. Doesn’t seem right I’m in here with Faith and you don’t even get a birthday kiss.”

  “I’ve had a great night,” I assured him. “And I’m not the least bit bothered by you and Faith.” In fact, as far as I knew, it had been a long time since Faith had been with a guy, so I was happy she’d enjoyed tonight. It was hardly the relationship I secretly wished for her, but it was better than nothing. I went to get up again.

  He caught my hand, more gently this time. “Still. It doesn’t seem fair.”

  “I’ve had a great night, Johnnie. Really.” And for what it was worth, the moments I’d spent in Gabe’s company I knew I’d remember for years to come.

  He grinned at me. “I’ll give you a birthday kiss.”

  It was my turn to frown. “No, that’s not necessary.” God, he was such a flirt. And it seemed weird and a little wrong given he’d just been with Faith.

  I stood up and straightened my dress. “Thanks for a great show tonight, Johnnie. Oh!”

  With the grace of a panther, Johnnie leapt up beside me and I was in his arms.

  “Johnnie,” I cried, out of breath.

  “Just on the cheek,” he pleaded, like it really did matter to him.

  I rolled my eyes. “Seriously, why is this bothering you so much?”

  “Because a beautiful girl like you deserves a birthday kiss on a night like tonight.”

  I shook my head at him and pointed to my cheek. “Fine. Plant one here, but that’s it, alright?”

  He grinned like a kid who’d just been told he had free reign over the cookie jar.

  “Just one,” he whispered.

  Chapter 8

  “You and Johnnie Walsh?” Ally’s expression was upset and a little accusing.

  “No!” I protested, cringing as I watched the footage again on the laptop open in front of us. Ally and Lena stood either side of me at Lena’s kitchen table. Ugh, I didn’t want to watch, except I couldn’t look away because I still didn’t quite believe it.

  The video was dark and poorly lit but there was no mistaking the figures of myself and Johnnie locking lips.

  “Sure looks like it,” Ally said. “What’s Faith going to say, Chloe?”

  I hated hearing the disappointment in her voice. Of our little group, I knew Ally understood my views on relationships better than the others. She was a good Italian girl who’d grown up in a big family in New England. Like me, she wasn’t one for casual flings.

  “I don’t know,” I whispered. I hadn’t had the courage to contact Faith yet, but I had little doubt she’d already seen it. The thirty-second video was all over the internet.

  I collapsed into the chair closest to me. “What am I going to do?” My voice was pleading, but I didn’t care. Nor did I care about the tears pooling in my eyes. “Can I get one of my lawyers to demand they remove the footage?”

  Lena gave me a sympathetic look and sat down beside me. “You could, I suppose, but in my opinion, the damage is done. It could take months of legal battles, plus you don’t even know who this ‘SleazyCeleb105’ is who posted it on YouTube.”

  I sniffed and swiped at my eyes. “Surely we can find out?”

  “Maybe, but it could take weeks to get to the bottom of it. If it were me, I’d let it die down.”

  “Die down! They’re saying we had sex!”

  Lena sighed. “I know. And you’ll have to brace yourself because they’ll say a whole lot worse besides—even if you do manage to get the video removed, that won’t change.”

  “Mama’s going to kill me,” I practically sobbed.

  I’d all but fled the house when I’d seen the footage. My publicist had contacted me about it first thing this morning when I was still suffering a mean hangover from the night before. Mama had been calling and messaging me ever since, but so far I’d been too shocked and overwhelmed to talk to her. Instead I’d escaped to Lena’s house where I’d found Ally was visiting, too.

  “No, she won’t,” Ally said. “They can say what they want but it’s pretty clear it’s just a kiss. Can I ask you something though?”

  I sniffed again. “Sure.”

  “Why did you kiss him?”

  “I didn’t kiss him!” I screeched.

  Ally and Lena shared a look over my head.

  I felt like I was the naughty child who’d been caught out, but the stupid thing was, I wasn’t. I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. Even if the whole world thought the worst of me, I needed my two closest friends to understand.

&nb
sp; “It wasn’t like that. He was disappointed when he heard Gabe and I hadn’t got together—not that it’s my style—and insisted on giving me a birthday kiss. I figured there was no harm in it, even though it seemed kind of odd after he’d just been with Faith. But he seemed really upset for me so I told him he could kiss me on the cheek.”

  Ally bit her lip. “Um, I know the video is dark but that’s not your cheek he’s kissing and that’s his hand down your—”

  “Yes, I know, alright! He kissed me on the cheek and the next thing I knew his lips were on mine, his tongue was in my mouth and, and—”

  Ally frowned. “His hand was down your front.”

  “No!”

  Ally gave me a reproachful look.

  “OK, fine. I was still a bit drunk and I might have kissed him back for just a second!”

  “Video goes for thirty seconds.”

  “And what that video doesn’t show is that a second after he groped me, I slapped him, alright?”

  For the first time since we’d watched the video, Ally smiled. “You slapped him?”

  “Yes! Hard. It made my hand sting.”

  “Awesome.” Her smile didn’t last long and her brown eyes filled with concern. “Please tell me he didn’t try anything after that?”

  I inhaled a shaky breath. “No. No, he didn’t. He apologized profusely actually. I think we were both still a bit drunk to be honest and he just got carried away.” Like I had, for a brief moment. I was only human. Having Gypsy Hour’s front man kiss me passionately had given me leave of my senses—but not for long.

  I shot the laptop an offending look like it somehow had something to do with my downfall. “But the video doesn’t show that, does it?”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Lena said softly. She was looking past us out the window to her estate’s perfectly manicured grounds. “Which makes me wonder about the person who posted this. Surely they saw the whole thing but they chose to upload only the kiss.”

  “Can you ask Marc to look into it?” Ally said. “I know he doesn’t do the investigative stuff anymore, but he’s so good at it.”

  Lena’s gaze returned to us. “I know he’d make an exception for you, Chloe. If you wanted him to.”

  I nodded, feeling immediately reassured at the thought of having Lena’s partner, Marc Romero, look into this horrible mess. Marc was a former Marine who’d served in Afghanistan. Upon his retirement he had worked as a security specialist for Hollywood celebrities. That was how he’d met Lena, because she’d been the victim of a stalker. More than one stalker, in fact. For a long time Lena had claimed she’d disliked Marc. But when things had gone horribly wrong on the set of a recent movie, she’d been forced to work more closely with him. Somehow in all of that, they’d fallen in love. I think the whole thing still mystified Lena in some ways. Marc was brooding and quiet, and at times terribly stubborn, but I’d always thought they’d made a good match.

  “Please,” I told her. “Please get him to look into it. I’ll do whatever he needs.”

  “Of course.” Lena smiled and released my hand. “I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but it will be OK.”

  “Yeah, I’ll get back to you on that.”

  Ally stood up and walked around the counter. “Right. This calls for food. What’s it to be?”

  I smiled in spite of myself. Ally’s cooking was legendary. She used to run her family’s Italian restaurant back in Providence and found it therapeutic to feed us whenever she could.

  “It’s barely ten in the morning,” protested Lena, probably thinking about the latest movie she was starring in, which required an intense workout regime.

  “So, brunch then,” said Ally. “Let’s see what I can come up with.” She turned and buried her head in the refrigerator behind her. “Got any bacon in here?” we heard her say.

  “God, I hope not,” said Lena, making me giggle. Lena’s smile faded as she contemplated me. “I take it you didn’t get the chance to know Gabe better last night?”

  I shot her a look of despair. “I got to know him a little, but what chance do I have after this?” I’d been trying so hard not to think about Gabe. When he found out about the video I was pretty sure any respect he had for me would be gone. Gosh, I’d been there and I knew it was all a horrible misunderstanding, but I still felt ashamed.

  “I’m sorry, Chloe. Just let things settle down, you’ll see.”

  I wished I had Lena’s patience and experience. Instead all I had was a major PR disaster and a hopeless crush on a guy who was now unlikely to give me a second glance.

  Chapter 9

  “Absolutely not,” I repeated for what felt like the hundredth time.

  This was what came from having the same publicist as your mother.

  “Now, sweetheart,” Mama said. “I know this all seems like the end of the world right now, but if you can just step back a moment and see it for what it is . . . ”

  “I’m not agreeing to it, Mama. Nothing you say will change that.”

  Mama gave Alana Cohen, our publicist, a reassuring look. Alana sat down the other end of the kitchen table, sipping a coffee while observing our discussion.

  “Your mother’s right, Chloe,” Alana said, setting her mug down. “Right now you’re thinking about this emotionally. With some perspective, you’ll see this for the great opportunity it is.”

  I bit back a groan. Alana didn’t view anything emotionally, as evidenced by her neatly tailored power suits and severe bun. I’d often wondered what her blond hair would look like out, but I was pretty sure the bun was set in a layer of hair spray so thick it would take a team of chemical specialists to remove it.

  “See, here’s the thing,” I said. “Not everything in my life is a promotional opportunity, especially when it relates to my personal life.”

  “It’s hardly personal when it’s all over the internet,” Alana pointed out.

  I imagined bumping the table so her coffee would spill all over today’s navy pinstripe pants and white blouse. “Yes, I’m aware of that, but I was hoping if I just let it die down then maybe it would go away.”

  “It’s the internet, nothing ever goes away. That’s why you need to make the most of this.”

  Alana picked up her coffee again and I gripped the edge of my seat so I wouldn’t be tempted to touch the table.

  “Mama, please can we just drop this?” I tried to keep the pleading note out of my voice.

  “It’s because you like the drummer, isn’t it?”

  My eyes widened and I shot Mama a ‘don’t you dare’ look, but it was too late, Alana was like an eagle circling her prey.

  “The drummer? But you were kissing the lead singer, weren’t you?” she asked.

  I closed my eyes. “Yes,” I replied between clenched teeth.

  “This would work better if you were interested in the lead singer. It would make the video more authentic.”

  “It’s not authentic!” The women both jumped at my raised voice. “How many times have I told you that? The video is taken out of context.”

  Alana shrugged. “The media and public don’t care about context. They care about two celebrities getting together.”

  “We were never together,” I hissed.

  Mama patted my hand. “I know, darling. It was a moment of weakness and who can blame you? But just do this one music video and you’ll see, everyone will love it.”

  Before this nightmare had happened, I would have given anything to star in a music video for Gypsy Hour. Being asked to dance to their latest release for the cameras would hardly be a chore. Until I’d kissed Johnnie. Now I could think of nothing worse than being in the same room as Johnnie and Gabe.

  “You don’t have to kiss Johnnie again if that makes you feel any better,” Alana told me. “I’ve reviewed the proposal your agent sent through and the concept for the video is really quite clever. Promise me you’ll at least consider it for twenty-four hours before you say no.”

  Alana pushed a document to
ward me. I looked at it but didn’t pick it up. “You’re not my agent.”

  Mama flashed Alana a confident smile. “Don’t worry. I’m sure Chloe will review it when she’s had the chance to calm down. She’s inherited my feisty Southern demeanor, I’m afraid.”

  First I’d heard of it. Until today, I’d always been the peacekeeper between my mother and father, or my mother and brother. More likely it was just my mother feeling it was necessary to make excuses for my less than receptive behavior. Keeping up appearances was more important to her than most.

  “Are we done?” I said, standing.

  Mama nodded toward the script sitting on the table. Dammit. I grabbed it and forced a smile onto my face or I’d never hear the end of it. “I’ll get back to you,” I told Alana, then left the kitchen as quickly as I could.

  I SAT IN MY TRAILER feeling sick with unease. Today would be the first time I’d seen Faith since the night of the party. Why, oh why, did I have to be filming a movie with her right now? Acting as her student, no less?

  I’d been so excited by the prospect of working with Faith. Like me, she had been a child actress and I knew there was so much I could learn working alongside her.

  The movie we were currently filming was an adventure film. In the story, Faith played a university history lecturer and I was one of her students. When Faith’s character received a series of letters hinting at previously unknown facts about the Second World War, it would send us on a quest to discover the truth. It was part Indiana Jones, part the Da Vinci Code, and it was exciting to be cast as one of the female leads.

  Only now I’d ruined everything. Faith wasn’t one to trust easily and with that video all over the internet, our working relationship was in jeopardy.

  So that’s why I was cowering like a scared kid in my trailer and leaving it until the very last minute to arrive on set.

  I jumped when the door to my trailer slammed open.

  “What the hell are you doing in here?”

  I edged back in my seat as Faith strode toward me. She looked more intimidating than usual. Her character, Samantha, liked to wear suits that weren’t unlike Alana’s. Faith’s dark hair was even pulled back in a harsh bun like Alana’s. Her dark eyes glowered behind the black glasses that wardrobe had decided suited her character.