No Matter What (115 page)

Well, India may have managed to snare herself a nice little toy boy but Layla had plans for someone from her past, because once Michael Walsh got wind of his ex-wife and her new boyfriend, he was surely going to realise she wasn’t ever coming back to him.
 
And Layla was going to make sure that she was there to make him feel a whole lot better about that.

***

“You sure you’ve got no regrets?” JJ asked, lying on his side, resting up on one elbow as he lay beside
India
.

It had been a long night, but not long enough to stop either of them from wanting sex as soon as they’d got back to the hotel.

She lay facing him, smiling.
 
“No regrets whatsoever.”

“What do you think your ex-husband’s gonna say?
 
I mean, he’s gonna find out now, isn’t he?”

She looked away for a second.
 
Why had he mentioned Michael?
 
He’d been on
her
mind, for sure, but why should it bother JJ?

“It’s been three and a half years, Joe.
 
It’s got nothing to do with him.
 
Nothing I do, unless it concerns Ethan, has got anything to do with him.”

“Hey, come on.
 
I’m sorry.
 
I didn’t mean to upset you.
 
I’m sorry.”

She looked at him.
 
“I just don’t want to talk about him, Joe, ok?
 
I don’t want to think about him and I don’t want to talk about him.
 
Me and Michael, we were over a long time ago.”
 
But were they?
 
Were they really?
 

JJ stroked her cheek, kissing her gently.
 
“What did he do to you,
India
?
 
What made you hate him so much?”

“I want to look forward, Joe, not back.
 
Please.”

“Ok.”
 
He smiled and she couldn’t help but smile back.
 
“I’ll quit with the questions.
 
No more questions.”

She stroked his arm, running her fingers lightly up and down his smooth, tanned skin.
 
“I just don’t want to damage the future by talking about the past,” she said, following the trail of her fingers with her eyes.
 
“What he did ... it’s taken me a long time to get over him, that’s all I’m going to tell you, but ... just know that it was
you
who helped me do that.
 
You showed me the way and
you
made me forget.”

He reached out and touched her cheek.
 
“Forget what, baby?
 
What did I make you forget?”

“You said no more questions, Joe.”

“I know … I know but, I care about you,
India
.
 
I don’t want there to be any secrets.”
 
Secrets.
 
She knew plenty about those.
 

She looked into his dark eyes, eyes that were so different to Michael’s, so much more trusting.
 
She hadn’t realised that none of that had been there with Michael, not until it was too late.
 
And that still hurt like hell.

She felt tears prick at the back of her eyes and he could see this was upsetting her so he pulled her close, kissing her gently and slowly, just wanting to make it better.

“Ok, baby.
 
That’s it, I promise, no more questions now.
 
I promise.”

She pulled away slightly, running her fingers slowly over his jaw line, touching his mouth.
 
“Make love to me again, Joe.
 
Please.”

He smiled that smile, a smile that made her stomach flip over and her heart dance.
 
A smile that made her forget about the questions and the secrets and the things she was keeping from him.
 
Things she still
had
to keep from him.

“If that’s what my princess wants, then that’s what my princess gets.”

She smiled too, the whole night finally catching up with her and all she wanted was to feel him make love to her again and then fall asleep in his arms. Because, once they arrived back in
L.A.
tomorrow, the questions would start and reality would hit them, and she just hoped that reality was kind enough to give this relationship some kind of a chance.
 
Because she could easily fall in love with JJ Foster, and that thought scared her to death.

***

Michael Walsh was tired and fed up but glad to be back in
L.A.
after what had to have felt like the longest time away filming, or maybe it just felt like that because he’d missed his little boy.
 

Ethan was his world, his only reason for staying in a town that he’d quite happily move far away from if he could.
 
Being close to someone who didn’t want to be near him, someone who wouldn’t even talk to him on the ‘phone or speak his name without it killing her was killing him.
 
He could have done with distance between them, something to try and help him forget her because to say that he still loved his ex-wife was an understatement, and the memory of what he’d done to her still haunted him every day.
 
He’d done so much wrong, so much to make her hate him and he couldn’t blame her for shutting him out.
 
But at least their son, their amazing little boy, meant that there was always going to be that bond, that link, that hope that one day things would get better.
 
Michael wasn’t letting go of that.

He threw his jacket over the back of a chair, put the mail down on the table and switched the TV onto a news channel for some background noise as he sat down, reaching out for the bottle of bourbon in front of him and pouring himself a large glass as he began opening envelope after envelope, not really taking any notice of what was inside any of them he was so tired.
 
Another half an hour and he’d think about bed.
 
He was having Ethan at the weekend and now he’d finished filming and had a few months off he’d be able to spend a lot more time with him, something he’d been looking forward to for months.
 
He’d grown into such a fantastic kid, a beautiful little boy, and Michael was so proud of him.

He sat back in his chair and turned up the volume on the TV as the showbiz news came on.
 
He never usually paid much attention to this section of the news but something had caught his eye that made him suddenly sit up straight and listen intently because, behind the news anchor was a picture of
India
, but she wasn’t alone.
 
She was with her current co-star, JJ Foster.
 
Was this something to do with her work on ‘Covert One’?
 
He’d never understood why she’d wanted to do that show, although he was well aware that her appearances - which had started airing a couple of weeks ago - were gaining the programme more fans by the week.
 
He’d watched her first couple of episodes and he could fully understand why.

He turned the volume up even more, getting up and walking over to the TV, standing in front of it as the reporter uttered words Michael had dreaded hearing for almost three and a half years...

”
India Walsh and her ‘Covert One’ co-star JJ Foster have finally admitted that the on-screen chemistry seen on the hit show has spilled out into real life when they attended a movie premiere in Times Square together last night.
 
Turning up holding hands and sharing a kiss on the red carpet left the world in no doubt that the thirty-eight year old Hollywood star and the thirty-three year old actor were an item, which was later confirmed by the couple themselves when they told reporters that they’d been together for just over a month after meeting on the set of ‘Covert One’ when India joined the cast for a number of guest appearances
...”

Michael stood rooted to the spot, listening to the rest of the report, watching as they showed footage of his beautiful ex-wife and JJ Foster at last nights premiere.
 
He watched as they showed her holding onto the hand of another man, a man who was over twenty years younger than he was and it hit him hard, right where it hurt most, like a punch in the solar plexus and he eventually had to sit down on the arm of the sofa to steady himself.
 
Sure, he’d seen her holding hands with Kenny countless times at events such as these since they’d split up but that was nothing new.
 
She’d always done that with Kenny, that wasn’t news.
 
Kenny was no threat now.
 
It was quite evident that he never had been.
 
Michael knew that if anything had been going to happen between
India
and Kenny it would have happened by now.
 
If she hadn’t run to him in three and a half years when the door was wide open and nothing was standing in their way then she was never going to.
 
But the fact she’d found another altogether new man was something Michael had never – naively - even thought about.
 
He’d always assumed it was a two-horse race between him and Kenny and if she hadn’t gone to Kenny then that had given Michael some kind of hope that she’d one day forgive him and come back home.
 
But it looked like he’d been harbouring nothing but false hope.
 
The way she’d looked at JJ Foster; the way
he’d
looked at
her
- Michael couldn’t bear it, and closing his eyes didn’t get rid of the image, it only made it worse.

He got up, downing his glass of bourbon in one, the burning sensation at the back of his throat giving him an instant hit and he immediately poured himself another one, walking over to the window and looking outside.

He’d been stupid and he’d hurt her in the worst possible way.
 
He’d hurt her more than anyone could ever imagine, and the fact she’d told nobody what had really happened was more than he deserved.
 
But Michael Walsh was no quitter.
 
He didn’t give up without a fight.
 
In his fight to win
India
first time around he’d said there was no obstacle he couldn’t overcome to get what he wanted, and this situation was no different.
 
No, this situation was no different at all.

CHAPTER 56

“I can’t believe you, India Walsh!
 
Why didn’t you tell me?” Charley screeched down the end of the ‘phone.
 
“JJ Foster ... you lucky cow!”

“We just didn’t want anything to get in the way, Charley, not in the first few weeks.
 
Not until I was sure.”

“And?
 
Is he really as gorgeous as he looks on TV?
 
Oh God, I still can’t believe you’re together!”

“He’s lovely, Charley.
 
He’s just … he’s amazing.”

“Have you ...?”

“Frequently.
 
Don’t ask stupid questions.”

India
sat cross legged on the bed, Ethan asleep beside her.
 
She and JJ had arrived back in L.A. just a couple of hours ago and her son had got himself so excited at seeing his mum again that he’d worn himself out, so India was letting him have a nap in her bed.
 
A bed she wished she and JJ were in right now, because she missed him already.

“Any good?” Charley giggled.

India
laughed, pushing a hand through her hair.
 
“Kinda, yeah.”

“Oh God, I am
so
jealous,
India
!”

“How can you say that when you’ve got Vince?”

“Vince isn’t thirty-three with a body to die for and eyes you could drown in.”

“Get out of here, Mrs
Maine
, Vince is gorgeous!
 
And he’s spoiling you something rotten now you’re pregnant; he’s treating you like a princess.”

“I know, but … JJ Foster?”

“You didn’t even know who he was two months ago.”

“Yeah, well, I know who he is
now,
don’t I?”

“Oh, hang on, Charley, I can hear dad talking to someone.
 
Kenny must be here.
 
I’ll call you later.”

She hung up, pulled the covers over her sleeping little boy, kissed him gently, and ran down to the living room.
 
Kenny turned round as she came in and she practically threw herself into his arms.

“Hey, nice to have you home, babe!”

She kissed his cheek.
 
“Thanks for helping mum and dad with Ethan while I was away.
 
I really appreciate that.
 
He loves being with you and I know you don’t have to ...”