No Matter What (73 page)

She felt the tears start to fall down her face as all the memories came flooding back.
 
Memories of her brother, of him lying there in that hospital bed with the machines and the tubes and the heartbreak of watching them turn it off, the memory of lying there holding him as he took his final breath, all because he’d wanted to save Charley.
 
The memory of losing her and Michael’s baby, the agonising pain they’d all felt over losses they couldn’t control and she just wanted Michael to hold her and he couldn’t and that hurt.

“Baby?
 
Are you ok?
 
India
, honey, are you ok?”

“It’s the memories, Michael.
 
She’s brought back all those memories and … and I don’t know what to do.”

“
Jesus
,
India
, don’t cry, please, don’t cry.
 
I’ll call Vince, I’ll find out what the fuck’s going on but, please try and stay strong, baby.
 
Try and stay strong.
 
For me. Please.”

She took a deep breath and tried to stop the tears, at least until she was off the ‘phone.
 
She really shouldn’t have called him but he was the only person she’d wanted to talk to.
 
Now she had to pull herself together and get on with things, until she worked out just what it was she was going to do next.

Michael snapped his ‘phone shut and leaned forward, putting his head in his hands.
 
He was angry.
 
He was fucking angry.
 
There was enough shit going on here in
L.A.
with Layla Boyd and now this with
India
and Charley.
 
He’d though that was all behind them, he’d thought they were moving forward.
 
Oh, he wasn’t angry with Charley as such, not really, she had as much right as anyone to be in
Las Vegas
.
 
No, he was angry with himself for not being with his wife when she needed him.
 
He knew the things
India
would be feeling, he knew that night she’d tried so hard to put behind her would start to haunt her again – the night her brother had died.
 
The night she’d lost their baby.

He stood up, kicking the chair he’d been sitting on, banging his fist down hard on the table in sheer frustration.
 
He didn’t want her remembering the past, remembering the pain of losing a baby.
 
He wanted her to feel the joy of knowing a new life was on the way and how could he start to help her get her head around that when
this
was happening?
 
When
he
wasn’t with her.
 
And what made it so much worse was knowing who
was
there.
 
The one person he didn’t need anywhere near
India
when she was emotional and fragile.
 
Kenny Ross.

***

“It just happened, Vince.
 
I couldn’t do anything about it.
 
I couldn’t avoid it, she was just there.
 
Please don’t be angry with me.”

“Jesus, Charley, I’m not angry with you, sweetheart, I’m angry with myself.
 
I should have said something a lot earlier, it was stupid and naïve of me to think that this wouldn’t happen eventually.
 
Kenny warned me.”

She looked at him.
 
“
Kenny
knows I’m here?”

Vince nodded.
 
“He saw you the other night, in one of the bars.
 
He knows everything.
 
About us.
 
About us being together.”

“Vince ...”

“Come on, Charley, I had to tell him.
 
It’s all this secrecy that’s got us where we are now.
 
It had to come out sometime.
 
I only wish it hadn’t been this way.”

Charley sat down.
 
She felt drained, dejected even.
 
“She wouldn’t even talk to me, Vince.
 
It was like she was looking at a stranger.
 
It was horrible.”

Vince crouched down in front of her, taking her hands in his. This wasn’t a situation he wanted either Charley or
India
to have to go through but they were in it now, and it was something they were going to have to deal with.

“She went through a lot, Charley.
 
Oh, I know you did too, baby, I know you did too, but
India
...it hit her so hard.
 
But she doesn’t blame you for anything.
 
I know she doesn’t.”

“Doesn’t she?”

He shook his head.
 
“No, she doesn’t.
 
But you have to understand that you’re a reminder, that’s all.
 
A reminder of everything that happened that night.
 
It almost broke her, Charley, it took so much out of her and it took her a long time to get over it. It almost cost her and Michael their relationship.”

“I had no idea,” Charley whispered, tears starting to fall down her cheeks.

“Hey, don’t cry, come on.”
 
Vince sat beside her, pulling her into his arms, holding her tight.
 
“It’s ok.
 
She came through it, we all did, didn’t we?”
 
He kissed the top of her head then tilted her chin up so she looked at him.
 
“We all went through a lot, Charley.
 
But you and
India
, you both had more to deal with than anyone and you both came through it.
  
She’ll come round.
 
She will, I know she will.”

“And if she doesn’t?
 
She just walked away from me, Vince.”

“Listen, baby, you have to understand that
India
is a huge star now.
 
I’ve got an entire team of security employed solely just to try and keep the paparazzi under control and any unauthorised reporters out of the hotel because everybody wants a piece of her.
 
All it takes is for one of them to spot the two of you together and it’s all over the papers, everything dredged up in public again, and you know how they’d make it all sound.
 
That’s why she walked away.
 
It wasn’t the right place or time.
 
She couldn’t have done anything out there, not really.
 
She couldn’t.
 
She was right to walk away.”

Charley knew he was talking sense.
 
This wasn’t something that could be fixed straightaway.
 
It was going to take time.

“That’s my ‘phone,” Vince said, going over to his jacket that was hanging over the back of a bar stool and retrieving his ‘phone from the pocket, looking at the caller ID.
 
“Michael.”

Charley sat back into the sofa, closing her eyes.
 
“
India
’s obviously told him then, hasn’t she?”

But Charley couldn’t blame her.
 
She knew now, now that she’d finally found someone that she loved and trusted, she knew that if
she
was upset, that if
she’d
had a shock like this, then the first person she’d want to turn to would be Vince.
 
India
loved Michael.
 
He was her husband.
 
Of course she was going to turn to him.

She sighed and got up, leaving Vince to it, going into the bathroom and splashing cold water over her face, checking her reflection.
 
She’d worked so hard to get where she was now.
 
She’d regained her looks, got back her confidence – all things Jimmy had stripped away from her.
 
Now all she wanted was her friend back too.
 
All she wanted was for
India
to talk to her, for her to know that she cared.
 
To understand that she was sorry.

She went back into the living room.
 
Vince was off the ‘phone and making some coffee.

“Is he ok?” Charley asked, standing by the breakfast bar as she watched Vince, her arms folded.

“He’s fine.”
 
He looked at her.
 
“He’s ok, Charley.
 
Really.
 
He’s just upset because
India
’s upset, he’s not angry with you.
 
He’s angry with
me
.
 
And he’s got every right to be.”

“What do we do, Vince?”

He came over to her, pulling her close.
 
She looked so tired, and so sad.
 
He wasn’t looking forward to facing
India
after this.
 
He wasn’t happy with the way things were, and he could totally understand Michael’s frustration with the situation.
 
But he loved Charley and nothing was going to get in the way of that.
 
He wouldn’t let it.

“We get the truth out in the open, Charley.
 
Once and for all.
 
No more secrets, no more lies, no more hiding anything from anybody.
 
I’m going to tell the world I’m in love with Charley Miles.
 
And they’re just going to have the deal with it.”

***

Layla wanted to be a star.
 
She wanted to be as big a star as India Walsh, if not bigger.
 
She wanted the fame and the attention and everything that went with being famous.
 
What did the critics know?
 
They’d said she didn’t have the talent to become the next India Walsh, they said she just didn’t have the personality, the X factor, whatever
that
was supposed to be.
 
They said she didn’t have anything that made her stand out from the crowd, nothing that made her different.
 
But Layla knew they were talking crap.
 
Her mother had told her so anyway, and she knew everything.

Sofia
had been through it all before, she knew exactly what Layla had to do in order to achieve her dream and it didn’t entirely consist of having talent.
 
Would India Walsh have been as big as she was if she hadn’t been best friends with Kenny Ross, or married to Michael Walsh?
 
So Reece Brogan was her dad, nice little story that had been.
 
Well, her mother was Sofia Vincelli so
India
didn’t have the monopoly on famous parents.

Layla sat at the side of the set and watched Michael as he talked to one of his assistant directors, a young and eager-to-please film school graduate who Layla knew had a crush on her and who she found extremely attractive, but she couldn’t get distracted from what she had to do here.
 
Once she had the fame she so badly craved she knew she could get the pick of whoever she wanted.
 
But right now, like
Sofia
had told her, there was no time for getting involved with who she
wanted
to be involved with, it was a case of who she
needed
to become involved with.
 
And, according to
Sofia
, right now that person was Michael Walsh.

She crossed her legs and continued to watch him as he examined something on the monitor.
 
She waited for him to look over so she could catch his attention but he seemed very focused today.
 
He wasn’t the type Layla usually went for at all.
 
He was far too old for starters, and she just didn’t get what people saw in him, especially
India
.
 
India
was gorgeous, and why she’d gone for Michael Walsh when she was so close to Kenny Ross Layla simply couldn’t understand.
 
Kenny Ross was certainly more Layla’s thing, but if getting close to Michael was what it took to get her where she wanted to be then she’d do it.
 
If only he would take the bait, show her some attention, what was wrong with him?
 
Didn’t he find her attractive?
 
Wasn’t he lonely with his wife out of town?
 
She was sure she could help him take his mind off
India
.
 
After all, Layla was a lot younger, maybe she could show him a few tricks that he’d never get at home.

She sat up straight in her chair as she caught sight of him walking over to her, immediately flashing him the smile she had specially reserved for him.
 
He wasn’t proving to be an easy target but
Sofia
said she could achieve anything with that smile of hers.
 
Michael was just going to take a bit longer to win round than others, that’s all.