Playing His Game (The Reynolds Brothers) (17 page)

"You can tell
me anything."

Her eyes open and
she looks my way. "I think I might be pregnant."

"OH MY
GOD!" I scream and then realize my mistake and whisper, "Oh my God.
You're pregnant?"

"I think
so."

"How come you
don't know?"

"I need to
take a test and I'm scared to, but my period’s a few weeks late and I'm tired
all the time. I don’t have morning sickness but I read that it usually doesn't
start until you're six to eight weeks along. I'm barely six so I know it's
coming soon."

I can see the fear
in her eyes as her words replay in my head. "How come you’re scared,
Autumn? You'll be a great mom."

"I-I know
that. At least I think I do. I'm scared about Jared's reaction. We always said
that once we started a family he'd leave the business, but his production company
is doing better than ever and this is all just bad timing."

"Or maybe the
best timing. Everything happens for a reason, Autumn. This baby happened for a
reason, and if you are pregnant, I know Jared is going to be so happy to be a
father. You just wait and see."

She smiles at me
and reaches over to squeeze my hand. "You always know just the right thing
to say to make me feel better. I'm so glad you moved out here."

"Me
too," I whisper back. My phone vibrates in the pocket of my denim shorts
and I pull it out to see who it is. It's a text from Scott and I frown as I
read his message.

Scott:
Something came up. Rain check on tonight. I'll see you Friday.

Friday? I was the
one that was supposed to text him about tonight. He should have been a sure
thing.

"Everything
okay, Winn?"

I look up to see
my sister studying me. I take a deep breath and smile back at her.
"Everything's fine."

"Bullshit.
You may be an excellent liar with everyone else, but you've never been able to
fool me. Spill."

"Umm... You
know what? This is not something you would even want to hear, so let's just say
I'm having a bad day and can't wait for it to be over. Okay?"

She rolls her eyes
at me and sits up on the bed. "Or you could just tell me what Scott did
that's got you so upset."

"Scott?"
I ask, playing dumb.

"Yes, Scott.
You don't actually think I believed that Christmas was a one-time thing? I had
suspected something for a long time, and you two suck at covering it up. You've
been screwing for over a year and you're with him practically every day."

"What the
fuck? You've known and haven’t said anything?" I ask, shoving her
teasingly on the shoulder.

"Well, you
obviously didn’t want anyone to know so I kept my mouth shut."

"Does Jared
know?"

"Of course
Jared knows, and he talked to Scott about it months ago. That's how I know it's
supposed to be just a sex thing."

Huh? Scott knows
that Jared and Autumn knew about us, yet he still played the awkward card this
morning at the beach. Why would he do that unless he really does have no interest
in me other than sex? Have I been kidding myself this whole time? I thought
Scott and I would never work out because our families would be furious. By the
look on Autumn's face I can tell she isn't furious at all. So why didn’t Scott
say anything?

"What do you
mean by supposed to be just sex?"

She leans in and
raises her hands, brushing her thumbs under my eyes to wipe away the fallen
tears. I didn’t even realize I was crying.

"I mean that
the two of you keep playing around and pretending that this thing between you
is just sexual when it's clearly not. You have feelings for him. I even think
you might love him and I know he has feelings for you. I see it every time he
tries to discreetly look at you. He watches you like a man in love watches his
woman. He can deny it, you can deny it, but I see it. I'm not blind."

I look into her
green eyes, eyes that have been my refuge my entire life and admit what I've
been trying to hide for too long. "I do love him. I love him so much,
but... but just this morning he said some harsh things to me. He reinforced how
I'm not his girlfriend and how we could never be more than what we are now.
It's nothing I didn't already know, but it still hurts. He doesn't want to be
with me."

"He does,
Winn. He's just scared."

"Of what?
He's not scared, Autumn. He's been pushing me away the past few weeks. This
morning he snapped but it's been there for weeks. The text I just got was him
bailing on dinner with me and telling me he'll see me Friday. We've spent
almost every night together since I moved to town. I'd sleep there or he'd
sneak in over here, but now he wants to go a full four days without seeing me.
Something's up."

"I think
you're reading too much into this. Have you tried talking to him?"

"Anytime I
say anything he makes a joke or doesn't want to talk about it. What would I
even say?"

"You can tell
him how you feel, Winn. Even if that means he breaks it off and it's over, at
least you'll know. You should tell him how you feel."

She lies back down
on the bed and I follow, ready for a nap myself. "I'll go over there in
the morning and talk to him. Right now I just want to take a nap with my sister
before waking up and drowning my sorrows with a bottle of wine."

"Make that
two bottles. You'll have to drink my portion, too, since I most likely can't
drink for the next nine months."

Chapter Fourteen

Scott

Me: Something
came up. Rain check on tonight. I'll see you Friday.

I send the text
and then turn my phone off. Nothing good can come from anyone who tries to
contact me today.

I'm in the parking
lot of one of Jared's warehouses just inside the Nevada state border. He's
shooting the next big movie in his super hero franchise, which Tawny somehow
convinced him to let her be the big star of. Since the first flick was released
several months ago, Tawny has become a mainstream name in the porn industry.

I lower my visor
to take a look at my face. It looks worse than it did a few hours ago. The
split in my lip has started bleeding again, the swelling in my now broken nose
is worse and that's created two black eyes that not even the best concealer
could hide. I have no choice. I have to talk to him looking like this.

I step out of the
truck and make my way into the warehouse. The few people I pass stare at me,
but I ignore them and continue to walk inside. When I get to the security check
one of Jared's men lets out a low whistle. "Jeez, boy, what got to
you?"

"Long story,
Splinter, but I need to talk to Jared."

"Go right in.
You look scary as shit and I'm not about to tell you no right now."

"Good to know
the well-being of Jared's stars lie in your hands," I joke back.

The large
warehouse doesn't look much different than any other set Jared's been on,
except that the props are a little more expensive. I spot Jared looking over
some photo proofs as the set designers are working furiously to change the set
up for the next scene. I'm grateful that he's not shooting at the moment; I
just hope he's in a good mood.

"What the
hell happened to you, Scotty?" Tawny's voice echoes in the large warehouse.

Tawny comes
running up to me from the other side of the room. I didn’t even see her when I
came in. It probably has to do with the blurred vision I've had ever since I
was punched straight in the nose. Her attention on me has gotten Jared's attention.
He immediately puts down the proofs and walks over to me.

"What
happened to you?"

"Can we
talk?" I ask, looking around to see that we've stirred up quite the crowd.
"In private."

"Sure, come
this way."

I follow him as we
walk through the warehouse and over to a door in the back. It's not until we're
inside that I realize it's the men's bathroom.

"Sorry, but
there isn't really anywhere private here where we can talk. This is the best I
can do."

"It's
okay," I mumble, studying my brother’s features. He's a good looking guy.
He definitely won the gene lottery between me and my brothers and he's always
had his act together, even when he was starring in porn. I've admired that
about him because I've always been the fuck-up. I let everyone down and a few
years ago it almost cost me my family, but I cleaned up my act and until
recently I was doing well. I don’t know how I'm going to tell Jared right now
that I'm in trouble. He'll hate me, but he's the only option I have left.

"So what's
going on? For a second there I thought maybe you'd gone back into your old
ways. I mean, that was the last time I'd seen you in this kind of condition,
but I know you better than that. You're not mixed up in that crap
anymore."

"Yeah,"
I mumble in agreement.

What the fuck
should I say now?

"So... a...
listen. I got mugged today. No big deal but they stole my wallet and I had
several grand in cash in there. They also got my cards, and it'll take a few
weeks before everything gets situated with the credit card companies and I have
access to my cards again. I need to pay my bills and I have some other
expenses."

I'm the worst
fucking brother on the planet lying to my brother like this, but I need the
fucking money and he'll never give it to me if I tell him the truth.

"You need
some money? No problem, I'll borrow you some. What do you need? Five? Ten
grand?"

If only.

"No, man. I
need a little bit more than that and I can't borrow it from you, so I was
thinking maybe you could throw some roles my way? My face will be back to new
in a few days and this way I'll be earning the money."

Jared looks at me
dumbfounded and then slides the palm of his hand across his shaved head.
"You want to do porn? Since when?"

"I don’t want
to do porn, I need to do porn. It'll give me a little extra cash until I get
back on my feet."

"And I told
you I could borrow it to you. It's not worth it, man. What about Winnie?"

"What about
her? We're just friends." Even as the words leave me my mouth I know they
aren't entirely true. Winnie is more than just a friend to me and I know she'd
be upset if she knew I started to fuck other women for money, but I have no
choice. This is life or death.

"Friends my
ass. Keep telling yourself that, Scott, and you're going to lose her. As far as
the porn goes, the answer is no. It would take you a few weeks to earn enough
money to pay your bills and whatever other expenses you need to cover until the
credit card companies and bank figure everything out. It's not worth it. Just
let me borrow you the money."

A few weeks, that
can't be right.

"What do you
mean a few weeks? You made millions of dollars a year doing porn, why would it
take me a few weeks to earn a few grand? Plus, I need more than a few
thousand."

"I made
millions of dollars because I worked hard to make that kind of money. It wasn’t
just handed to me or given to me overnight. I had to become something everyone
wanted, and that took time. In the beginning I was only making a couple hundred
dollars a scene. I could probably get away with giving you eight hundred a
scene, but that's the max. You're just the dude. The women are the reason most
men buy my films, and the women only get paid a grand in the beginning."

"What about
that old woman, she was an actress or a reality star or something. She got two
million for her movie."

"Yes, dumb
shit. That's because people know who the fuck she is and would pay sixty bucks
a pop to see her. No one knows who the fuck you are so you'd be lucky if anyone
watched you for free."

Dammit. What the
fuck am I going to do? I need a hundred grand and I need it now. I'm in so deep
it's crazy. I should have stopped months ago when I was ahead, but I didn't. I
took out a mortgage on the house, and then a second mortgage, depleted my
savings accounts and investment accounts, thinking I would be putting it all
back in no time. I just needed one good hand, but that hand never came. “Thanks
anyway, but I'll figure something out."

"Can't I just
borrow you the money? I don't see what the big deal is."

"No, I got
this. Thanks, Jared."

I give him a
brotherly hug and then walk out of the men's bathroom feeling lower than I did
going in. I can't even close a shady porn deal standing next to a chrome
urinal.

Chapter Fifteen

Winnie

I've watched the
minutes tick by today. My nap at Autumn's only lasted an hour and then every
other minute I was consumed with Scott. Autumn was right like she usually is. I
need to talk to him. I was going to wait until tomorrow morning but I find
myself on his front porch banging on his door at 10:59 pm on a Monday night.

I'm starting to
see why some might say I'm crazy.

The porch light
flicks on and then I can hear him unlocking the chain and deadbolt before
opening the front door.

"Winnie!"
he mumbles enthusiastically, and I instantly realize he's drunk. His eyes are
bloodshot and he can barely stand up straight, but that's not the biggest shock
about his appearance.

"What's going
on, Scott?"

"Come in
here, baby. I missed you today." He stumbles forward with his arms open
and embraces me in a sloppy hug. This may be the first time I'm not in complete
lust around him. He smells of sweat and alcohol, and holy shit, his face. What
happened to his face?

I try to pull away
from him but he just holds me tighter. "Come on inside, Winn. I almost
thought you weren't going to show up and then I'd have to sleep alone."