Here All Along (20 page)

“ ‘No, they weren’t. I meant everything I said.’ ” Gideon’s plea sounded so heartfelt, she wondered if he was being sincere or a really good actor. “ ‘And if you give me a chance, I promise I’ll protect you. I’ll make things right.’ ”

And just like Rae in the script, she wavered. She wanted to believe him. She wanted to have that happily ever after. She wanted to believe in true love. But there were too many reminders that everything around her was fake. The crew. The lights. Even the gun in her hand. It was nothing more than a story, and she was nothing more than a player for people’s entertainment.

“ ‘I wish I could believe you.’ ”

“ ‘Rae, please.’ ” Gideon lunged for her, and as the script directed, she pulled the trigger.

The soft click was barely audible, but it could have been a real blast for all she knew. Gideon recoiled like he’d been shot. Panic seized control of her as she watched him fall. Even though her mind told her it was all make-believe, it was as real to her as it would’ve been for Rae. The gun fell from her hands, and she covered her mouth in horror over what she’d done.

“ ‘Colt, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.’ ” She took a step toward him, swallowing back the bile that rose into her throat. “ ‘Speak to me.’ ”

He moaned to let her know he was still alive, but before she could learn anything more, the sound of the director shouting “Cut!” broke the silence.

The second she lifted her head, she fell out of character, yet she couldn’t shake Rae’s feelings of betrayal.

Gideon got up and ran to her. “You were fabulous, Red,” he said, his expression a mixture of pride and regret.

Her heart twisted, and she didn’t know what to say.

Gabe joined them and gave Gideon a congratulatory shake. “She blew that screen test away. I told you our plan would work.”

Her confusion evaporated, and she was back to being on guard. “What plan?”

Gabe’s mouth fell open, followed by a few incomprehensible sounds. “I—I—I mean, we—”

“Save it, Harrison.” She shoved the gun into Gabe’s hands, her eyes locked with Gideon’s. “What was this plan of yours?”

“It doesn’t matter, Red.”

“On the contrary, I think it does.”

As the silence stretched on, she started putting the pieces together. Gideon wanted to be more than friends with her, and now they were married. But clouding the picture were the film and the screen test he didn’t tell her about and how that sprung up from the kiss that forced her to question their relationship…

“You tricked me,” she whispered once everything fell into place.

“No, it’s not like that.” He reached for her, but she evaded him.

“No, you and Gabe tricked me. The day we ran the lines and the videos and the press leaks—you two were both behind it. And like an idiot, I allowed you to manipulate me.”

Like ripples in the pond, the consequences of each act grew larger and larger. If she hadn’t run lines with Gideon that day, he would’ve never kissed her, and the scene would’ve never ended up all over the Internet, and her phone wouldn’t have been bombarded with the calls that caused her to start drinking the other day.

And if she hadn’t gotten drunk…

She yanked off her wedding ring and forced it into Gideon’s hand. “I can’t do this, not with someone who can’t be honest with me.”

Then she grabbed her purse and ran for the door before her courage faltered.

Chapter Fifteen

Shock held Gideon motionless as Sarah shoved the ring into his hand and ran away. An odd sense of déjà vu enveloped him.

Sarah, angry at him after an argument, blindly running away.

A crowd of reporters gathered around to record every detail, trying to corral her as she ran toward the street.

And an oncoming car.

His heart stopped, and the tightening noose of panic strangled his voice. He couldn’t watch her get hit again, not after last time. What if they weren’t as lucky as before?

It was enough to propel him past his fear. He ran after her. “Sarah, stop!”

A squeal of slammed brakes and skidding tires answered him, and the reporters filled in the gap between them, blocking his view.

Please let her be safe
, he prayed while pushing his way through the throng.

When the crowd parted enough for him to get a glimpse of her, she thankfully wasn’t sprawled out on the pavement like before. But the sight of her climbing into a taxi and speeding away did little to cheer him up.

“Tough break, Kid,” Gabe said behind him.

He’d been close. So close.

And now it was blowing up in front of him.

“I told you she wanted the part,” Gabe continued. “Way to screw up my plan.”

Gideon curled his hand into a fist and swung. His knuckles connected with his co-star’s jaw, and a jolt of pain shot up his hand into his wrist.

Gabe’s head snapped back, and a second later, he was the one sprawled out on the ground.

Gideon shook his hand out, wishing doing so would stop the throbbing under his little finger. Two crewmembers moved to either side of him to keep him from throwing a second punch and dragged him back while two more retrieved Gabe and slammed the set’s doors closed before the reporters could record any more of the fight. “You just couldn’t keep your mouth shut.”

Gabe moved his jaw from side to side before spitting out blood. “That was a little uncalled for.”

A string of four-letter words exploded from Gideon’s mouth as he wrestled the two men restraining him, but they kept hauling him toward the set. The cameras outside had probably captured the punch, but he was beyond caring. He wanted Gabe to hurt as much as he did. He wanted him to feel the same desperation, the same frustration, the same ache in the center of his chest. “Keep your goddamn nose out of my business.”

Gabe followed him inside and waited for him to calm down before replying. “Fine, but if you had any common sense, you’d be chasing after her instead of yelling at me and giving the reporters enough drama to fill an entire issue of
People
magazine.”

Gideon stopped struggling long enough for the words to sink in. Damn it! Gabe was right. The crewmembers released him, and he raked his fingers through his hair. “Any idea where she went?”

Gabe pointed to the direction the taxi drove off in. “That way.”

“Ha-ha.” The pain in his hand intensified, but it could wait.

“What the hell is going on?” Karl shouted, his face turning an unhealthy shade of violet. “You have a lot of explaining to do, Kelly.”

“Later,” he fired back. First, he needed to stop Red before she disappeared completely. He focused his attention on Gabe. “You can come along or you can stay behind, but you’re going to stay out of my way from now on. Got it?”

He started for the door. A pair of footsteps trailed behind him, and he offered a silent thanks that Gabe wasn’t a complete asshole.

When he stepped back outside, though, all he saw was a horde of reporters with a barrage of questions.

“Gideon, what’s going on between you and Gabe Harrison?”

“Gideon, why did you punch Gabe?”

“Gideon, is it true Sage Holtz is replacing Mackinzie Donavan?”

“Gideon, is that a wedding ring on your finger?”

“Gabe, can you confirm the rumors?”

Gabe grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back inside. “She’s long gone, Kid.”

“No, she’s not. She’s just a few minutes ahead of us.” He pulled out his phone and started texting Jason. “Make yourself useful and get us a cab, Harrison.”

Knowing Red, she was on her way back to the villa to get her things. If Jason and Raul could hold her there long enough for him to catch up, then maybe there was still a chance he could beg for forgiveness.

“I have a car coming,” Gabe said a minute later.

“When?”

“Five minutes. It’ll be enough time to get out of these costumes.”

Gideon cursed under his breath. It was five minutes he couldn’t spare when it came to the woman he loved.

***

Sarah had no idea how far she’d sprinted to get away from the reporters. She just kept her eyes fixed straight ahead and her feet moving. As luck would have it, though, she stumbled right into an empty cab. She jumped in and ordered the driver to take her to Caesar’s as quickly as possible.

Sweat dribbled down her cheeks, mingling with the few tears she let escape. She had no idea what she would decide to do in the end, but one thing was certain. She needed to get away from Gideon if she wanted to have any hope of thinking clearly.

Anger throbbed through her veins, but she couldn’t tell if it was directed more at him or herself.
How could I have been so stupid?

A lump formed in her throat as she remembered how close she’d come to admitting that she loved him last night.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

She didn’t know Gideon half as well as she thought she did.

What was even worse was that she couldn’t understand his motives. If he wanted her to replace Mackinzie in the film, why didn’t he tell her about the screen test? None of it made any sense.

The cab skidded to a stop at the VIP entrance to Caesar’s, and she tossed a wad of bills at the driver. “Give me ten minutes.”

The security guards flanked her from the moment she got out of the cab and escorted her through the casino to the private elevators. Once she was upstairs, she slipped into the villa as quietly as possible and grabbed her half-packed suitcase from the other day. In less than three minutes, she’d managed to stuff all the essentials—including her designs—into it and bolted for the elevators.

As the doors closed, she got a glimpse of Raul and Jason chasing after her.

Shit! Gideon must’ve alerted them
.

She held her breath and jackhammered the close button until the elevator started its descent. One hurdle down. Plenty more to go.

She managed to fix the emotionless mask in place before the doors opened again. This time, she gave the reporters nothing. Just a cool demeanor as she followed the security guards back to the VIP entrance.

Thankfully, the cab was still waiting for her. The driver loaded her suitcase into the trunk while she climbed inside, ignoring the voices that were calling out her name.

“Where to now?” the driver asked.

“The airport.”

She was done with Vegas. And if luck continued to be on her side, she’d be back in LA by sunset and clearing out the garage apartment that had been her home for the last three years. As much as her heart ached from the way things ended, she knew what needed to be done.

She covered her eyes with the cheap sunglasses Gabe had given her and let the first tears fall.

It was time to leave Gideon for good.

Chapter Sixteen

As much as Gideon appreciated the driver’s urgency, he could’ve done without the white-knuckled ride along the back roads of Vegas. His right hand had doubled in size, and every sharp turn caused him to inadvertently whack it against something. He gritted his teeth and reminded himself why he was enduring all this.

The car slammed to a stop at the VIP entrance of Caesar’s, earning him another eye-stinging jolt to his hand.

“You should have that looked at,” Gabe said way too casually before opening the door.

The scene at the hotel was just as bad as the set. Maybe worse. The reporters hounded him from the second they spotted him. He kept his eyes down, his steps purposeful, while Gabe guided him inside. None of them mattered. He only wanted to catch Red before she left.

But it was the one voice he didn’t want to hear that halted him.

“Gideon Michael Kelly.”

He snapped his head up to find his mother standing a few feet away with her arms crossed and wearing a perturbed expression that only meant one thing.

He was in deep shit.

He forced a smile on his face. “Mom, what are you doing here?”

She arched one brow in response.

“Mrs. Kelly,” Gabe said, swooping in between them and shaking his mother’s hand, “so good to finally meet you. Why don’t we take this upstairs?”

“Sounds like a great idea to me.” His mother cast one more glare at him before falling into step beside Gabe, her shoulders squared in a way that told him he’d better follow or else.

Lovely. Can this day get worse?

Maureen Kelly kept her back to him until they were safely behind the locked doors of his villa. When she turned around, she grabbed him by the ear in a way that would’ve made Catholic school nuns proud and dragged him to the nearest chair. “You have a lot of explaining to do, young man.”

“Mom, I’m not six.”

“Then stop acting like you are.” She dropped him in an armchair and stood in front of him. The sharp cut of her cream-colored suit mirrored the tone of her interrogation, and Gideon couldn’t help but feel he was on the witness stand getting cross-examined.