Playing the Part (15 page)

He silently steadied himself for a moment. When he lifted his face again, it was devoid of emotion. “I can’t tell you the same thing, and if you think… If that’s how you feel, then it’s probably best if I go. I can’t… I don’t…” His voice was icy enough to put goose bumps on her flesh.

He gave her a look—part apology and part something she couldn’t read—and then he walked out of her life.

She bit her tongue to resist calling him back as he walked through her door. She stood there, body numb with the shock at what had just occurred. It hurt like hell—at least it would when her heart thawed out—but it was the right thing to do. For both of them.

With a deep sigh, she lowered herself to a chair, brushing away the tears pooling in her eyes.
Dammit. Put on your big girl panties and get a grip.
Her thoughts were jumbled, tumbling over one another until she wanted to scream in frustration. She needed to get all of the people—the press, her publisher, Mick—out of her head and focus on what she had to do next.

Tears rolled down her cheeks and into her hair, and all she could do was let them fall. She was tired of looking over her shoulder. Tired of worrying about what everyone else thought. Tired of being disappointed. Tired of letting the past dictate the rest of her life.

But she didn’t know how to put it behind her.

The last vestiges of her control faded away, and she buried her face into her hands and cried like a baby.

Chapter Twenty

Mick sat down on the couch in Lincoln’s living room and drew the papers out of the envelope Jack had slid across the cushions. Lincoln watched from a perch on a chair on the opposite side of the coffee table, making no effort to hide his curiosity.

He’d arrived home from New York two days earlier, alternatively pissed off and baffled by what Piper had said to him. Back-to-back promo for Dark had left him little time to focus on the investigation, but when Jack had called an hour earlier, stating he had urgent information and needed to meet him at Lincoln’s house, he’d rescheduled an interview and left Lewis in the pool house, going over publicity opps.

“This report contains the results of the investigation by your security team into what Lewis was up to the last year,” Jack explained, pointing to the top page of the sheaf in his hands.

“The last year?” Mick paused in his review of the documents, confused over the expanded timeline for the investigation.

“Yes. They found so much within the last six months that we all thought we should go back a little further.” Jack’s expression was serious. “Mick, I needed more information on Lewis than your usual team could get me. So I hired a private firm to help out.”

Mick knew he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear. Jack was usually an easygoing person, always ready with a smile and assurance that he could handle things quickly and efficiently. His current demeanor was deadly serious and very angry.

“I didn’t ask you to do that,” Mick stated, devouring the facts detailed on the report.

Jack shrugged, his tone and look unapologetic. “I know. I have a PI friend, and he owed me a favor.” He leaned over, pointing to a clipped bunch of documents lying in Mick’s lap, tapping the one on the top. “It turns out it was a
great
idea. Lewis has been a very bad boy. He was the one who paid Jung Kim the twenty large to let the photographer onto your property in Hawaii. And Lewis was the one who arranged for their sale to the tabloid.”

Mick leafed through the pictures. With each image, each document, the fury building in Mick’s blood blurred his vision until everything swam in a field of red. But his hearing worked just fine, and he listened to every sordid detail.

“He’s had you followed by a photographer for weeks. He’s on the payroll of several of the trashier publications for information on you.” Jack reached over and pulled out a photograph of Lewis with Tanya Roberts, deep in conversation at an LA restaurant. “He also had an agreement with Tanya to trap you in London and to sell the pictures.”

“Was Tanya really that pissed off at me that she would pair up with Lewis? She called him the weasel.” The question ground out of his mouth between gritted teeth.

“According to her statement—”

“Her statement?”

“Yes. Our guy in London talked to her after the story broke but before she headed back to the States. She had a change of heart when confronted with the knowledge that we knew all about her deal with Lewis. She did set you up out of spite, and while she’s very sorry now, I’m not sure if it’s because of what she did or the fact she got caught.”

“I bet I can guess which one it is,” Lincoln grumbled from across the room, his face hard with anger. “This is just up her alley.”

Mick shook his head, trying to clear it enough to get a clear picture on what he’d been told so far. “So, you have proof of all of this?”

Jack nodded. “E-mails, texts, electronic maps of where and when Lewis withdrew the money from your account. I have a packet of the information we need to turn over to the police, but there’s plenty left over to take our own action against him.”

“Piper lost her contract,” Lincoln added. “It was in the e-edition of a publishing blog this morning. Her publisher cut her loose.”

“Because of all of this?” Mick asked.

“They cited ‘creative differences,’ but I talked to Chris this morning. They’d been looking for an excuse since she missed her book deadline a year ago. This was it,” Jack answered.

“Fuck.” Mick buried his head in his hands, the pain where his fingers gripped his hair a relief compared to what he was feeling inside. “I’ll call them.”

“You can’t fix it this time, Mick,” Jack said, his tone resigned. “I checked.”

“Call him in here,” Mick demanded, straightening up.

“Who?”

“Lewis. He’s thirty yards away, in my house. Call the motherfucker in here. Now.”

Minutes later, Lewis walked into the room, his phone in his hand, thumbs at the ready to text and execute.

Mick wasted no time getting to the point. “You’re fired.”

“What?” Lewis staggered but stayed on his feet by grabbing the end of the couch.

“I know what you did. The photographer you hired. Tanya.”

“You can’t fire me. I worked my fucking ass off to build your brand, to sell Mick Blackwell to the public,” Lewis shouted, his breath coming quickly and his face going red. He strode up to Mick, stopping just short of touching him but communicating his message quite clearly.

“I don’t care. Your actions cost Piper her contract. You smeared my name all over the papers by dealing with these criminals.”

“
You
told me to do whatever it took.”

“Not this. Never this.”

“You can’t be serious about throwing all of this away for a chick with big tits who likes to take it up the ass,” Lewis ground out. His voice was rough, but Mick heard every word. And so did everyone else in the room if the sudden silence was any indicator.

Mick had spent a lot of time hitting people on the big screen. He’d trained with some of the best stunt men in the industry to learn how to roll out of a fall, to jump from high up, and to make it looked like he’d punched someone’s lights out without even coming near them. But the sensation of his fist hitting Lewis in the face was at once both painful and the most satisfying feeling he’d experienced outside of the bedroom.

He kept his eyes open the entire time, so he saw Lewis’s surprised and shocked awareness of what was happening, the two to three second delay on Jack and Lincoln’s reactions, and the way Lewis bounced slightly when his body hit the floor. The asshole would probably sue him, but he didn’t care. He’d fight any lawsuit from here until doomsday before he’d let anyone talk about Piper that way.

“You dick! I’m going to sue you!” Lewis shouted, on cue, from his position on the ground. He struggled to get up, the blood-covered hand clamped over his nose.

“Go ahead. You’ll need something to do now that you’re unemployed.” Mick glanced at Lincoln, massaging his hand where it was beginning to swell. It didn’t feel broken, but it still throbbed. “Call security and have them come get this guy.”

Lincoln nodded, picking up the house phone to call down to the security shack. Within minutes, two large guards were barreling through the living room door, their backs rigid with obvious apprehension over what they might find here.

Lewis, now standing near the fireplace with a wad of tissues pressed against his face, shot him an acid glance, the hatred in his eyes enough to make Mick consciously lock his feet in place to stop himself from taking a step backward. Maybe Lewis had been the better actor, because that kind of enmity didn’t just pop up overnight. He wondered how long he’d had a viper in such close proximity…and when Lewis would strike back in revenge.

Lewis pulled away from the guards, starting to make a show of resistance, but gave it up when the bigger of the two grasped him around both arms and began to manhandle him out the door.

“Whoa! Wait.” Mick walked over to the three men, reached inside Lewis’s jacket pocket, and pulled out his smartphone. He waved the device back and forth in front of Lewis’s face, perversely enjoying the way his coloring was turning a pissed-off shade of purple. “I pay for this, so I’m keeping it. I’ll need it to give to my new manager.”

“You have no fucking clue what you’re doing. Your career will fall apart without me,” Lewis snarled.

“I doubt it,” Mick replied evenly, then nodded for the guards to take him outside.

He turned and took the few steps necessary to get to the minifridge at the bar and scoop out a few ice cubes into a napkin. Easing the little bundle onto his knuckles, he sighed at the relief it brought to the bruise he could already see forming under the skin. He’d have to tape it up for the next few days and ward off reporter’s questions about how it had happened. Great. Between the injury and Lewis being fired, some reporter would start sniffing around even if Lewis didn’t start blabbing. He’d signed a confidentiality agreement, but Mick didn’t fool himself for one minute that Lewis would abide by it.

Mick looked up to find Lincoln and Jack staring at him. “What? You think I shouldn’t have decked him?”

They both shook their head in the negative, then Lincoln asked, “I guess Piper means a lot to you, huh? Something you want to tell us?”

“I love her,” Mick answered. It was the truth. He knew it in his gut. It didn’t get any simpler than that, and he couldn’t think of one reason to deny it.

He bit back a laugh at the stunned expression on their faces. Linc had been his friend since middle school and Jack had been his attorney and friend for the last decade, so he could understand their shock. They’d listened to him rail against the restrictions of love and relationships often enough to think he’d never take the plunge. Four weeks ago, he would have agreed with them. But Piper was amazing, smart, talented, and funny, and he couldn’t help but fall for her.

“Then you definitely needed to hit him,” Lincoln said.

“You should have fired him years ago, Mick. For Lewis, it was always about Lewis, and he wasn’t looking out for your interests unless it also got him something,” Jack stated.

“I agree. Watch your back with him. He’s got a vindictive streak and isn’t afraid to use it,” Lincoln said.

Mick swiped a hand over his face. “What do you suggest?”

Suddenly using his “lawyer” voice, Jack handed him an official-looking document. “I’m concerned about what he’ll do with the information he’s gathered now that he’s been fired. I recommend we file an injunction on your behalf first thing tomorrow morning. It will stop him from publishing any remaining information he has to the public.” On a roll, he scooted his chair forward and thumped his hand on the coffee table. “I think we should also sue him for breach of contract and anything else I can throw at him.”

Mick stared down at the papers lying on the couch in front of him, processing the latest bombshell. This was just too much to take in. He winced at the thought of what he’d brought to Piper’s doorstep. His stomach churned with the full-force reminder that what they’d shared had been sold and published worldwide because Lewis paid some sleazy stranger to act as voyeur.

“Are there—” He swallowed hard, dislodging the brick of anger lodged in his throat. “Do you think he has any more pictures? Of me and Piper?”

The silence stretched for what seemed like hours before Jack finally answered. “I think he probably does.”

At those words, the ball of tension in his stomach roiled into something sharp, hot—a fireball of anger at how Lewis had destroyed the best thing that had ever happened to him. For the first time in the two days since Piper had broken up with him, the sensation of hatred directed at Lewis overshadowed the bone-deep longing for her and what they could have had. Lewis had ruined it all.

That son of a bitch.

Nodding to Jack, he gave him the go-ahead. “I want Lewis destroyed. Left with nothing.
Now.
Sue him for breach of contract. File the injunction. Have him thrown in jail and assigned a cell with a big guy named Bubba.”

“Done.”

Silence, heavy with Mick’s determination, spread throughout the room, until Lincoln broke it. “Mick. You need to let Piper know what Jack has discovered. Tell her about Lewis and Tanya. That will clear up everything between you two.”

Mick would have been lying if he denied that the exact same thought hadn’t crossed his mind the minute he’d seen the proof of his innocence. But his guilt wasn’t the only problem.

“No, Linc. The bottom line is that Piper is afraid—afraid to trust me, afraid to face the press and all the other assholes who want to bring us down. She needs to decide to do that on her own, come to the choice for herself, because I can’t spend the rest of my life always trying to prove myself when some tabloid prints a story.”

Lincoln shook his head. “But won’t this stuff do that? How can she deny it when it’s in black and white?”

“Because it isn’t about the facts.” Mick lifted a finger to touch the space just over his heart. “I screwed up, but now it’s about her believing she’s strong enough to get through all the bullshit and trust in us. I can’t do it for her, and I can’t convince her. She’s got to do that on her own.” It killed him to say it, but it was true. If Piper didn’t come to her own peace about their living in the spotlight, they’d just keep hurting each other.