No Matter What (16 page)

He turned round and leaned back against the fridge, closing his eyes for a second.
 
This wasn’t in the plan, this shouldn’t have happened.
 
What an idiot he’d been.
 
He should have known getting her away from Kenny would be the most difficult thing he had to do, he just hadn’t imagined
how
difficult.
 
He’d stalled for too long, he’d let them get too close and look what had happened!

He grabbed a cup of coffee and went into his study.
 
Opening the drawer of his huge ornate desk he pulled out a large black photograph album, sat down and opened it up, flicking through the pages.
 
In it were hundreds of pictures of
India
.
 
Photos from magazines and newspapers, official casting photographs and ones Michael had taken himself – without
India
’s knowledge.
 
He had every article, every press release; he’d built up quite a collection.
 
Some nights he’d come in here, switch on the CD player, open a bottle of bourbon and just sit and look at her pictures, wondering what she was doing and wishing he was with her.
 
He’d watch videos of her many TV appearances, he had all her movies in his own private cinema, and all the time, in the back of his mind, he’d always carried that hope that she would soon be his; it was what kept him going.
 
But now …

He took the bottle of bourbon that was on his desk and added some to his coffee, leaning back in his chair, slamming the album shut.
 
Now she was married.
 
Pouring another small measure of bourbon into the black coffee and taking a large swig, he suddenly felt a renewed sense of hope.
 
What did this marriage actually mean anyway?
 
Kenny Ross had a reputation for avoiding any kind of commitment, who’s to say that hadn’t changed?
 
This was obviously a spur of the moment thing, a stupid idea that they’d got carried away with and it probably wouldn’t even last the month.
 
Maybe it was the best thing that could have happened.

He slid the album back into the drawer and locked it, leaving his mug on the desk as he headed back into the kitchen.
 
She was due back on set today, they had scenes together.
 
She was back to reality, back to work, back to spending all day with him and that made him smile for the first time that morning.
 
Later today Michael Walsh was going to get his chance to kiss India Steven, even if it
was
only for the cameras.
 
Maybe then she would start to see something in him she hadn’t noticed before.

 
He held onto that hope as he looked at his watch, waiting for his car to arrive.
 
The stakes had been stepped up yet again, the battle made even harder, but one day she’d see who she really should be with.
 
Kenny was a phase.
 
She needed to get him out of her system and then she’d be free to love
him
.
 
No, all hope wasn’t lost, it had just got a bit more complicated, that’s all.
 
And there wasn’t a complication Michael didn’t know of that he couldn’t get around.

***

Terry threw a handful of clothes into his suitcase, scrabbling through the drawer by his bed for his passport.
 
He’d made up his mind.
 
India
marrying Kenny Ross in what was obviously a not-thought-through Vegas wedding had sealed his fate.
 
Football didn’t love him right now and he didn’t particularly love football, so he’d taken some time out and stepped away from that world to go and spend some time in India’s, because it was obvious she needed him.
 

What had made her go and do that?
 
Marriage was supposed to be something taken seriously and here she was, running off to Las Vegas with her movie star boyfriend, turning the whole thing into some kind of circus!
 
He hadn’t even realised they’d been that serious.
 
India
had never told him how she really felt about Kenny and he’d always assumed it was just a bit of fun for the both of them.
 
He blamed Kenny for all of it, of course.
 
It had to be his influence;
India
had never been the kind of girl to act on impulse like this.

He hadn’t told her he was coming to
Los Angeles
.
 
When he’d read about the wedding in the paper he’d immediately called Reece, who’d booked him straight on a flight to L.A. where Terry then had every intention of finding out just what was going on with his sister.
 
Although, if he thought about it for long enough, he started to wonder if he wasn’t just using this as an excuse to run away from what was happening in his own life.
 

For whatever the reason though, he was going.
 
Maybe interfering with
India
’s life would help take his mind off his own, and that could only be a good thing.

***

Charley couldn’t believe it.
 
Kenny and
India
- married!
 
It wasn’t the news she’d wanted to be woken up with that morning, that’s for sure.
 
So,
India
was still winning the game.
 
For now.

She looked in the mirror and wiped away the dusting of white powder from under her nose.
 
She’d needed that fix more than anything.
 
She just wished it had actually made her feel better, but it wasn’t kicking in like she’d hoped it would.
 
She was tired too, the lack of sleep and partying until all hours was starting to catch up with her and she had bags under her eyes that weren’t attractive.
 
Brad had warned her on more than one occasion about over-doing things but she hadn’t listened.
 
Now it seemed she should have.

Rummaging around in her bag for her concealer, she dabbed some under each eye, adding a bit more mascara for good measure.
 
She was on her way to see Brad and had just stopped off in the toilets for a quick pick-me-up.

“
That’ll have to do,” she sighed, zipping her bag shut and sliding it up onto her shoulder, adjusting her skirt and top to show just the right amount of leg and cleavage.
 
She had an image to keep up, no matter how rough she felt inside.
 

When she reached Brad’s office she noticed he wasn’t alone.
 
There was a man that Charley thought she recognised sitting on the sofa flicking through a batch of photographs, but she couldn’t put a name to him.
 
She definitely knew his face, though.

“Ah, Charley, there you are,” Brad smiled, greeting her with his usual kiss on both cheeks.
 
“You might know Jimmy Cash here.
 
He runs ‘The Wood Shed’.”

Realisation hit Charley.
 
She knew she’d known Brad’s visitor from somewhere.
 
She’d often heard some of the other girls talking about him.
 
‘The Wood Shed’ was one of the most notorious hard-core porn companies around and Jimmy Cash had a reputation for pushing the envelope as far as he could, but people still wanted to work with him.
 
They really wanted to work with him.
 
Many of the other girls, and some of the guys she’d worked with, had expressed a desire to do just that, if only because the amount of money you could potentially make was huge.
 

Charley had seen one or two of his movies and they were pretty full on.
 
So why was he here?
 
Brad didn’t deal with the harder side of the industry, he was strictly soft porn, or so she’d thought.

Jimmy got up and walked over to Charley, smiling and holding out his hand.
 
She took it and he gripped her hand firmly as he shook it.
 

He was a tall and very good-looking man in his late 40’s, all dark hair, green eyes and dazzling smile, infact, he looked more like a movie star than a porn baron.
 
She knew he came from
Dallas
originally and had made his money from magazines before moving into movies.
 
He’d always sold sex, but so what?
 
If that’s what people wanted then why not give it to them?

“Charley Miles,” he said, still smiling that smile.
 
“Pleased to meet you.”

Charley smiled back, thinking he was holding onto her hand for slightly longer than was necessary.

“Jimmy’s my new business partner,” Brad said.

Charley swung round to look at him but he just smiled at her.
 
Business partner?
 
What was going on here?

“We needed to expand,” Brad went on, coming out from behind his desk and perching on the edge of it, folding his arms. “We need to branch out, get a little more ... adventurous.
 
Jimmy’s just what we need.”

Charley sat down in the chair beside Brad’s desk.
 
She felt a little dizzy.
 
Maybe that coke was starting to kick in after all.

“Now, we both realise that the harder side of things may not be for everyone, but we think
you
can handle it, Charley.”

She looked at Brad again.
 
She’d trusted him in everything he’d said and done so far and he’d never let her down yet.
 
So she was willing to listen to whatever was coming next, although she already knew what that was.
 
It was obvious.

“We think it’s time you moved up another level.”

“We?” Charley asked, slowly crossing her legs.
 
She noticed, out of the corner of her eye, Jimmy watching her intently.
 
She liked him, she’d already decided.
 
She liked him a lot.

“Jimmy’s seen a lot of your work, Charley,” Brad went on.
 
“I told him you’re one of my best girls and he agrees.
 
You could make a lot of money, sweetheart.
 
A
lot
of money.”

Yeah
, she thought.
 
But what would I have to do for it?

She looked at Brad then at Jimmy, who just smiled at her, but Charley read exactly what was intended in that smile and she returned it.
 
She couldn’t help it.
 
Maybe Brad was right.
 
Maybe she
did
need to think about moving up a level in this business, move onto a new challenge.

“Let me take you to dinner tonight,” Jimmy said, still smiling that smile.
 
“We can talk about just what a star I could make you, Charley.”

A corny line but she could handle Jimmy Cash.
 
She could see beneath that business-like exterior, she could see the man underneath.
 
What harm could it do to see what he had to offer?
 

She looked at Brad again, who just nodded.

“Ok,” Charley smiled at Jimmy, slowly crossing her legs one more time.
 
“Why not?”

Maybe her day had just got better after all.

***

“I’m not sure we really thought this through, Kenny.”

Kenny rolled over onto his side, propping himself up on one elbow, watching as India read through the papers and magazines that seemed to carry nothing but the news of their shock wedding, as they were putting it.

“Kenny?”

He just gave her a huge grin.

“You’re not helping, Kenny.”

“Oh, come on,
India
.
 
You knew this was going to happen.
 
There was no way on earth that we could have run off to Vegas and done this in secret, it was impossible.”

He was right and she knew it.
 
She just hadn’t thought, at the time, about the publicity that was going to follow.
 
Proof she was still slightly wet-behind-the-ears in this business.

“Do you regret it?” Kenny asked.
 
“What we did?”

India
lay down beside him, stroking his cheek gently, smiling at him.

“No.
 
I don’t regret any of it.
 
I love you, Kenny, and in reality I don’t care
who
knows we’re married.
 
Even if that
is
all anyone is going to talk about from the second I step out of that front door today.”

He kissed her slowly, pushing the shirt she was wearing gently off her shoulder.
 
“It’s all part of the package, baby.
 
We put ourselves out there, people want to know everything.
 
That’s the deal.”