No Matter What (86 page)

“I know it’s what you
should
do.”

“That’s not what I asked,
India
.
 
I asked if you
wanted
me to go.
 
Tell me to leave and I will, I’ll go.
 
Just say it.”

“I can’t,” she said quietly.
 
“Because I
don’t
want you to go, Kenny.”

He pushed her robe down over one shoulder and leant forward to kiss it gently, moving up to her neck, his fingers in her hair, her body still warm and damp from the shower she’d just had and he was as turned on as hell.
 
He needed her now, he needed her right now but this was on her terms, she called the shots, and he’d go with whatever she wanted.
 
He just hoped she wanted
him
, because he didn’t know how much longer he could hold out.

But
India
was sinking fast, deeper and deeper under his spell and everything she’d tried to avoid was happening all over again, despite the fact she was in love with Michael.
 
And she kept telling herself that, she kept telling herself she was in love with Michael.
 
But how could that be true when she was here?
 

“I’m doing this for every wrong reason there could ever be,” she whispered, holding onto Kenny’s hand as he pulled her into the room.
 
“And you should stop me, Kenny.
 
You should stop me, as a friend, you shouldn’t be letting this happen.”

“I can’t do that,
India
.”

“That’s a really selfish attitude,” she whispered, letting him unfasten her robe and pull her into his arms, every ounce of resistance now slipping away as she felt her naked body press against his clothed one, his fingers running up and down her back.

“I’m in a selfish mood,” he said, kissing the base of her throat as she threw her head back, her eyes closing, giving in to his touch, giving in to everything she should be pushing away but once again she couldn’t find the strength to do it.
 

He was kissing her slowly now, every move of his mouth on hers making her forget about Michael, forget about the man she was married to and she needed that, she needed to put him out of her mind if she was going to do this.
 
She wanted to concentrate on Kenny.
 
This felt so right but it was so, so wrong but she was too far down the road to turn back now.
 
She was weak.
 
As she always was where Kenny was concerned.

Laying down on the floor she stared up at the ceiling as he ran his fingers up and down the length of her body, the guilt coming back and washing over her again and she bit down on her bottom lip, trying once more to find a reason why this was happening, a reason she was willing to accept anyway, but she couldn’t.
 
Or she didn’t want to, she didn’t know which.
 

Kenny pushed her legs apart, lying over her, his skin warm against hers, and any last lingering ideas she might have had about stopping this were over now.
 
They were useless, pointless.

“Forget about him,” Kenny whispered, sliding his fingers between hers. “Forget about him and be with me.”

She looked up into his eyes.
 
She’d loved him so much, once.
 
Had she ever really stopped?
 
“You’re not leaving me any choice, Kenny.”

But she knew, as she closed her eyes and pulled her legs up around him, she knew as she felt him make love to her, she knew she could have stopped it if she’d really, really wanted to.
 
This wasn’t Kenny’s fault, this wasn’t Kenny’s problem.
 
It was hers.
 
She’d wanted this, she’d wanted
him
.
 
And she was going to have to deal with the consequences.
 
Whatever they turned out to be.

***

Vince was certain now.
 
He was 100% positive.
 
His security team were the best, he trusted them and he knew they’d gone about this in a way that had been nothing but discreet so he believed what they’d told him.
 
And now it was time to end it.

He stood outside the hotel, leaning back against the wall, his arms folded, watching everything going on around him as he waited for Michael to arrive, knowing that the first thing Michael would want to do when he got there was go and see India, but Vince had other ideas.
 
There were things that needed sorting first, whether Michael liked it or not.
 
So, when the car pulled up and he got out, Vince was there.

“Hey, Vince, good to see you,” Michael smiled, looking around as he closed the car door.
 
“Where’s
India
?”

“She’s busy filming, out on The Strip.
 
Can I have a word?”

Michael looked at him.
 
“What’s up?”

“I want a word, that’s all.”

“And I’d like to see my wife, what the hell is wrong with you?”

“My office.
 
Come on.”

Michael followed him, irritated by Vince’s mood and angry that he was dictating to him when he could and couldn’t see
India
.
 
What the fuck was up with him tonight?

“Are you gonna tell me what’s going on here?” Michael asked, kicking the door of Vince’s office shut behind them, throwing his bag onto the floor.

Vince sat on the edge of his desk and looked at Michael.
 
“It stops right here, Mike.
 
It stops, now.”

Michael looked at him, narrowing his eyes and folding his arms.
 
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.
 
What
stops?”

“Call them off or I’ll do it myself.
 
I know who it is, I know what they’re doing, and I know you’re behind it.”

Michael continued to look at Vince.
 
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit, Michael!”
 
Vince stood up and walked over to his desk drawer, pulling out some photographs and throwing them onto the desk in front of Michael. “Private detectives, Michael.
 
That’s fucking low.”

Michael picked up the photographs, pictures of Kenny and
India
, doing nothing more than just walking through the hotel grounds but he knew he couldn’t deny it any longer.
 
He threw them back down onto the desk and pushed a hand through his hair, turning away.

“I had to do it, Vince.”

“You
had
to do it?”
 

“I had to know.
 
I had to know if it was still going on and
you
wouldn’t keep an eye on her for me ...”

“No, I wouldn’t.
 
Jesus, Michael, you’re out of your mind!
 
Hiring a private detective to follow your wife?
 
Do you have any idea what would happen if
India
found out?”

Michael turned round and looked at his friend.
 
He was right, of course he was right, but where
India
and Kenny Ross were concerned he’d lost all power of rational thought.

“She’d leave me,” Michael said quietly.

“And she’d have every fucking right.”
 
Vince came back round the front of the desk.
 
“She’d have every right because what you’ve been doing, it’s crazy!
 
You don’t do that to someone you love.
 
You’re supposed to trust her.”

Michael sat down and put his head in his hands.
 
“I know, but in my misguided, stupid way I did it
because
I love her, Vince, I love her so much and I can’t settle knowing she’s here with him and I’m back in
L.A.
 
I needed to know what was going on.
 
I needed to know if things were happening.”

Vince sat back down on the edge of his desk, folding his arms.
 
“And was it all worth it?
 
Did you find out what you needed to know?”

Michael looked up.
 
“It’s because I love her, Vince.
 
No matter how crazy that might sound to you.
 
And I’m not going to lose her.
 
Not to Kenny.”

“All you’re going to do is push her away even further if you don’t get your fucking head sorted out soon and forget about this obsessive crusade you seem to have with her and Kenny.
 
It’s almost as if you
want
to catch them together.
 
Would that make you feel better?
 
Would it make you feel like you’d got your money’s worth?”

Michael stood up, pacing the floor.
 
“It’s not that simple, Vince.
 
I know it was wrong, I know I shouldn’t have done it but ... but something in my head told me it would happen again.
 
I felt it, I knew from the second this movie was on the cards and they’d be spending all this time together … I knew it would happen again.”
 
He stopped and looked at Vince, pulling a photograph from his wallet, the photograph of Kenny kissing
India
.
 
He handed it to Vince.
 
“And I was right.
 
That’s not from the movie set, that’s real.”

Vince took the photograph and looked at it before handing it back to Michael. “Then you need to fight for her, Michael, not have her followed, not have her spied on.
 
You need to fight for her.”

“And I have every intention of doing just that.
 
He won’t win, I won’t let him.”
 
He looked at Vince.
 
“I’ll call them off.
 
I promise.”

Vince almost felt sorry for Michael.
 
He knew this whole thing with
India
and Kenny had always been there, and it had almost prevented him from just enjoying being married to
India
, but he had to learn to deal with it, otherwise he really would lose her for good.
 
But he wouldn’t want to be in his position.
 
He couldn’t bear to think about how he’d feel if Charley had someone like Kenny so close to her.
 
He didn’t think he’d be able to cope any better than Michael if he was honest, but what Michael had done wasn’t right.
 
It wasn’t the way to deal with it.

“Ok.
 
Look, I care about you, Michael, and I care about
India
.
 
Now, I don’t know exactly what
is
going on with her and Kenny but, whatever it is ... it might be nothing.”

“It’s never nothing.
 
Not where Kenny Ross is concerned.”
 
Michael wanted to tell Vince what he’d seen that morning, what pictures had made their way to him that blew out of the water any chance that it might be nothing.
 
But he just shoved the photograph back into his wallet.
 
“I won’t let it take over again, Vince.
 
Having them followed ...”

“Was stupid.
 
And dangerous.
 
Did you honestly think it was going to get you anywhere?”

Michael sat down again.
 
“I don’t know.
 
I didn’t really know what I was doing I just knew that I needed to know ... I needed to know.”

Vince got up and poured them both a drink, handing a glass to Michael.
 
“Why don’t you just ask her?”

Michael took a long drink and looked up at Vince.
 
“Ask her?”

“Confront her.
 
Ask her about Kenny.
 
Wouldn’t that be the sensible thing to do?”

Michael shook his head.
 
“No.
 
I can’t do that.”

“So what
are
you going to do?” Vince asked, resuming his position on the edge of his desk.

Michael looked at Vince again.
 
“I’m just going to love her.
 
What else do I have left to do?”
 

He finished his drink and stood up, picking up his overnight bag from the floor.
 
“I’m going to the villa to wait for her.
 
And, I’m sorry, Vince.
 
I’m really sorry.”

Vince watched him leave, wishing he could do more, wishing he understood his best friend more but these days he couldn’t get inside his head, he couldn’t work out what he was thinking.
 
All he knew was that it worried him.
 
Michael had a great life, he’d married the girl of his dreams, but all it seemed to be causing him was problems.
 
And it was how he dealt with those problems that worried Vince more than anything.