Make Believe (21 page)

Chapter 14

As we approach the bottom of the stairs, we can hear everybody still talking. But the instant we enter the lounge, everybody stops and looks.

I scan the room to see where Henry is. He’s standing next to Louise. He scowls at me. Shit, he knows exactly what we’ve been up to. I feel my cheeks turn red under his glare, my two worlds colliding with a bang.

Charlie smiles. “I guess you must be Elliott?” he says whilst walking over to us.

“Yes.”

Charlie holds out his hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Charlie, Jessica’s big brother.”

Elliott takes up the offer and shakes. Everyone else is still deadly quiet.  Elliott puts his arm around me and turns to face the room. He looks directly at Henry.

“Hey, everybody. How you all doing? I’m Elliott Tate. I’m just visiting your beautiful little country while spending some quality time with my beautiful girlfriend, Jessica,” he announces.  I pull my hand away. I’m so cross at him. How dare he state his claim on me?

Everyone starts whispering and pointing. This is a terrible situation, poor Henry. He walks directly past me, not looking once, as he heads towards the front door.

My mum starts to chase after him.

“Henry, oh Henry…” I hear the front door slam.

“Charlie leans in, “Subtle, Jess, subtle. You’ve got to love the Yanks.”

I just roll my eyes at him.

I pull Elliott’s arm down and whisper in his ear, “Was that really necessary? I think the fact he heard us shagging would have been enough.”

Elliott smirks.

“Just making a point, Jess. It’s fair play, that’s all.” 

“Well at least it broke the silence,” I sigh.

Pretty much all of Dad’s family come over and introduce themselves to Elliott. Some ask for photos and autographs. I’m sure they will love going back to their towns and telling the story of how a big Hollywood star attended the funeral.

I wish the time away waiting for the last ones to leave. I really hate all the pretentious crap that goes with a family you don’t know.

My mother is being an obnoxious cow by totally ignoring Elliott. She hasn’t said one word to him since he arrived.  I decide the best way to deal with this would be to stay with him at his hotel. I quickly collect my things from my room before Elliott has a chance to find me. I rummage through the bin looking for Henry’s necklace. I pick it out and place it in my purse. How could I be such a bitch to him?  We finish up and say our goodbyes, then head out to Elliott’s rental car.

I stand there with my mouth open. I’m greeted with a red Ferrari.

I burst out laughing.

“Could you not have picked something less ostentatious?”

He just looks at me.

“What? You don’t like it?”

“It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just very LA, shall we say. It’s probably not the most discreet car to have, especially in Dorset!”

He glides into the driver’s seat.

I climb in next to him. It’s all leather and silver dials. Just like his cars.

“This is a 458 Italia Spyder. I think I need one of these back home, it’s so fast.” He smiles.

He turns the engine on and it roars. He puts his foot to the floor and I’m thrown back into my seat. I hold on tight to the edges as he flies us around the country lanes.

When we hit the motorway, every other car that passes us slows down to admire it. Or is it Elliott they’re admiring? They are both gorgeous.

We head towards the most luxurious hotel in Hampshire, the Chewton Glen. It is 5 star pure luxury. It even has its own helipad for the more exotic visitor.

“So, have you been here before?” I ask Elliott.

“What the UK
or here in Dorset?”

“Both.”

“Yes and sort of. I’ve stayed here before, a while back. Hudson had organised a press junket. But I’ve never explored the area, and London several times. It goes with the job, babe.”

My heart races a little with excitement. Maybe, just maybe, if he’s over here often then our fling isn’t doomed like my mother said!

We pull into the long curvy driveway of the hotel. The noise of the car vibrates throughout the quiet surroundings.

“I bet they love you,” I smile.

“More than you can imagine, Jess.” He rolls his eyes.

We are greeted at the front door by the valet. They open the car doors immediately; you have never seen service like it. Elliott hands the key over to the man who cannot contain his excitement. As we head inside, another car pulls up at the same time - a black Mercedes with blacked out windows. Elliott pauses and waits for them to get out of the car. I stand, holding on to his hand, hoping it’s not going to be a problem. The driver’s door opens and out climbs Simon. He walks round the car and opens the passenger door and Tara joins him.

It takes me by surprise. Why does he have his entourage with him? But of course he can’t travel alone. He’s too much of a national distraction. 

“Good evening, Jessica.”

“Good evening Simon, Tara. How was your flight?”

“Very good, thank you,” Simon replies, but Tara totally ignores me.

Simons walks over to Elliott and whispers something in his ear. I can’t hear what he’s saying but Elliott’s expression changes dramatically.

He grips my hand tighter and leads me up the stairs.

“Is everything OK, Elliott?”

“It’s nothing, babe.” He seems distracted.

He leads me into this amazing suite which is in a tree house.

“Whoa, this is your room?”

He laughs.

“No Jessica, this is a tree house suite. I have the whole lot so I’m not disturbed.” He smirks.

“Why, are you planning on having company then?” I tease.

“Only yours, beautiful.”  He glares at me with that dark smouldering stare.

“Stop it, I know what you’re doing, Elliott.” I giggle.

“And what’s that?” He smirks.

I turn and look into his eyes.

“I’m familiar with that look now, Mr. Tate. It’s one that I’m very happy to engage in unless we have plans or Simon’s sharing the same suite.”

He bursts out laughing.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Jess. I’m not sharing this with Simon or Tara, they have their own suites. They only person I plan to be sharing anything with is you,”  he whispers in my ear, “and I also have plans for us too.” His salacious tone sends a flush of orgasmic receptiveness searing through my body. I am helpless when it comes to this man; even the simplest suggestion flaws me.  His ability to disarm me is incredible.

He wraps his arms around my waist and picks me up and carries me towards the bedroom. I place my head in his neck and start gently kissing him.

“What plans have you made for us then, Jess?” He smiles, knowing exactly the effect he has on me.

“Well, I’ve arranged for us to meet Lou later at Clute’s wine-bar for a drink.  I thought it would be a good way to unwind.”

He smiles.

“I know a better way.” 

I shake my head at him in fake distaste.

He opens the door to the bedroom and it is unbelievable. I would have thought that by now nothing Elliott does would surprise me, but it does.

“Do you have to have the best of everything?”

He raises his eyebrow in that confused way.

“It depends what you’re talking about?”

“Well this, the cars, the shopping, ice skating… Need I carry on?”

He looks at me, a little hurt.

He starts to speak but his tone is very curt.

“Like I’ve said to you before, Jessica, I work damn hard for my money; there are certain things that are expected of me. If I turned up in any old car….it would give them grounds to assume that I couldn’t get work.  My life’s one big stage, I have to be the performer at all times. The only time I can be me, the real me, is when I’m at home. Everything I do is scrutinised down to the last inch. I have to be careful at all times, checking that there are no faults, nothing which could jeopardise my career. Plus I can afford it, so why not?

“But that’s an awful way to have to live. How do you cope with it? If it was
me, I don’t think I could. 

“I’m so used to it by now, it’s seems natural. It’s only when someone new experiences it that it brings the realisation of it home. I did used to find it very difficult to deal with, hence all the shit I got myself into. But now I deal with it through lots of stress releasing activities like running, kung fu and the gym. But the best discovery recently is with you.” He smirks.

He raises his hand to my face and gently touches my hair. He curls it around his fingers, twirling it. I close my eyes enjoying his caress so much. I sense him leaning towards me and he pushes the hair away from my neck then replaces it with his lips. I feel myself falling into him once again, the urgency desperate.

A noise disturbs the moment and I vaguely recognise it as the theme tune to James Bond.

I open my eyes.

“Elliott, what the hell’s that noise?”

He stops kissing me to listen.

“Shit, it’s Tara.”

“Tara?”

“Aha, it’s her ringtone.”

He pulls out his iPhone from his back pocket.

“What?” he answers it so abruptly.

If it wasn’t her I would feel sorry for whoever was on the end.

He stands up and walks out towards the balcony. I try and listen to the conversation as he walks.

“Well, he can’t fucking do that. I’ve already signed the contract on that job.”

“I don’t care, Tara, I’m the one they want. Not him. How’s he still got access to my contracts? You’re not doing your job properly then, are you, if he can still access them.” He runs his fingers through his hair.

“No…oh, for fuck’s sake. We’ll have to go back then, won’t we? Organise the plane for tomorrow, about 12:00.  I will sort the rest of this shit out then. I know you’re sorry, Tara, but that doesn’t help when it’s your job!” He throws the phone onto the bed.

His face says it all as he looks at me.

“Is everything OK?”  I ask.

“No, it’s all fucked up. But it’s nothing for you to worry about. I was hoping to be here another day but I have to go back home tomorrow now.”

I run my fingers across his chest and smile.

“Well, we’d better make the most of this evening then, and I’ll be back in a couple of days too, that way we just have to postpone tomorrow.”

He takes a deep breath and doesn’t say a word.  I’m worried. I’ve never seen him act like this before. I make another suggestion hoping to distract him.

“I think we should get ready to go out. Let’s go let off some steam.”

He looks at me with a smirk on his lips.

“What?” I ask.

“Let off steam? What the hell does that mean? You and your analogies!”  He smiles. The stress disappears from his face.

We arrive at Clute and we are escorted in the back way.

“How did they know we were coming?” I ask Elliott.

“Simon sorted it all.”

How dare he take over
my evening? I wanted to organise this. He should have spoken to me first.

“Hey, baby, you OK? You look really pissed off.”

“I just wanted to organise the evening for you, that’s all.”

“I know, babe, but there is a certain protocol that has to be implemented so no one gets hurt.”

“Gets hurt?”

“Yes, baby. Have you forgotten you’re dating one of the world’s most eligible bachelors?” he mocks. “You should see what some of these women would do to get to me.”

I roll my eyes at him.

“Of course I realise, but will we never be able to just hang out?”

He shakes his head.

“It’s one of the drawbacks.”

The club is busy. It’s dark and the music is loud. It’s not a big club like the ones in LA, but it’s perfectly adequate for normal people. I spot Lou dancing on the dance floor. I turn Elliott’s head towards her so he can see.

We head over to the dance floor. Lou throws her arms around me and then Elliott. No one so far has noticed him.

“Drinks?” he shouts.

I smile and nod. He points to the bar and I head onto the dance floor with Lou.  She’s a really good dancer. We both had lessons when we were younger, but I dropped out. As I move I feel how short my dress really is. It bangs against the tops of my thighs. I turn around to look for Elliott but can’t see him anywhere. But I do notice a man standing right behind me staring at me. I avoid his gaze and continue looking around until I spot him. He’s in one of the VIP booths. I grab Lou’s hand and point towards him. We head off the dance floor to join him.

He’s order four bottles of Bollinger champagne.