While I waited for her next move, I felt the urge to touch her chest, to slow her frantic heartbeat down, to take it…and maybe taste that inviting pulse on her neck.
A pretty pink flush took over her skin, and I smiled to myself. Granted, I wasn’t sure if she’d go ahead and dive into my sweatpants, but even if she was brazen enough, she’d find exactly what I’d said she would find.
A moment passed. Then another.
I leaned back and met her eyes. She was pissed. I could see it in her eyes. She was planning a murder in her mind. A bloody one. I remembered why I found it so sexy when she was all fired up.
Trying her best to look nonchalant, she shrugged her tense shoulders. “I doubt it’s anything that big, so I’ll keep my illusions, thank you very much.”
I didn’t say anything, and she didn’t look away.
The coffee machine pinged, breaking the thick silence.
“And now you’ll never know,” I said, backing away. I poured myself a cup of coffee and watched her out of the corner of my eye. She was still plastered to the island. “Coffee?”
She turned to look at me. “What?”
I raised my eyebrow, barely holding back my smile. “Would you like some coffee?” I repeated, lifting my mug.
“No.” Her eyes dropped to my chest for a second then she shook her head. “I wanted to tell you something.”
“Before this goes any further, I should tell you something.”
We said at the same time.
She huffed. “You first. Nothing is going anywhere, by the way.”
She could believe that as much as she wanted.
“Those first few days you looked after Aiden after school?”
“Yes. What about it?”
“There was a listening device in his toy so Dan could listen to what was going on.”
She seemed to process it for a while. Her eyes slightly narrowing.
“Because…”
“Because you were a stranger. You didn’t expect me to do nothing, did you? As much as I’d trust Jason looking after him, all I knew about you was that you enjoy climbing walls to watch other people.” I took a sip from my coffee, keeping my eyes on hers. “Dan enjoyed himself immensely during the singing parts.”
Her eyes seemed to narrow further. “You know what. I should be pissed. Hell, I’m pissed, but I get where you’re coming from. I guess I would do the same thing if I were in your shoes. You’re not the worst dad after all. So, there you go. You can stop feeling guilty about how wrong you were about me.”
“I didn’t say I was feeling guilty. I just wanted you to know.”
“Now I know.”
We stared at each other some more then Lucy was the first one to look away.
“Your turn. I’m listening.”
“Now you can hear me from all the way over there?”
“Would you like me to come closer? Because I can.”
Her eyes sparkled. “No.”
“I didn’t think so.”
“You know what? Forget about it.” She stormed out of the kitchen.
I put my mug down and caught up to her as she stepped out into the backyard.
My tone was gentle when I asked, “What is it, Lucy?”
I didn’t think she would stop or even answer, but she did both.
“I want to press charges.”
I stilled. She wanted to press charges against me?
“You know, for assault. I know nothing will come out of it and he’ll just shrug it off, or the cops will think I’m just one of his groupies or something, but at least—” Her forehead furrowed. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“He?” I managed to ask.
“Jake Callum.” Her expression hardened. “Don’t tell me he is your friend and you don’t want me to go to the cops.”
How could she even think that?
“Did it look like I was his friend when I wrapped my hand around his throat?” I growled at her.
“I didn’t think so, but…you never know.”
“I’m not his friend, Lucy. And yes, press charges. I’m your witness.”
She pushed her hands into her pockets and looked at my face, not quite into my eyes.
“You’d do that?”
I wanted to go to her, embrace her, but I stopped myself. “Of course I would do that,” I replied gruffly. “In fact, I’m going to call Dan, and you’ll go down to the station with him. If they want me to make a statement too…” I checked my watch. “I have to be on set in two hours, but I’ll drop by before I come home. It’s our last day of shooting, otherwise I’d come with you, but—”
“That’s okay,” she interrupted me. “I wasn’t asking you to come with me, and I don’t need your bodyguard either, but…but thank you. And I know they won’t do anything about it, nothing happened after all and…and maybe I’d had too much to drink. They’ll think I’m lying.” She bounced on her toes and looked away from my gaze. “I just want them to have something on file or whatever. In case he really does something to someone else. So they’ll see it’s not his first try.”
At that moment, with those words, I fell for her a little.
“And,” she started, her hand gingerly touching her breast. “He kinda gave me a bruise, so maybe that’ll help.”
I was surprised at how hard it was for me to actually stay in place and not go to her side to make sure she was okay.
“He left a bruise?” I asked, or more like growled. My words were barely audible.
She shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, her expression closing up. “I’m fine.” She looked over her shoulder, toward Jason’s place.
“Did you tell them?” I asked, almost certain she hadn’t.
“Not yet.” She lifted her chin, standing strong. “And you won’t either.”
“Only if you take Dan with you. Believe me, he’ll help.”
“They’ll take me more seriously, you mean.”
I didn’t reply, but she already knew the answer anyway.
She seemed to think about it for a minute then let out a long sigh, averting her eyes from mine. “Fine.”
The New Post-Divorce Adam Connor
If you haven’t been living under a rock, you must’ve already seen the pictures of Jake Callum with a broken, bloody nose making the rounds all over the Internet. Now, don’t get us wrong, even though he is new in the industry, we welcomed him with open arms and promptly fell in love with his charming smile. Even so, we have to admit, a broken nose is not a good look for the new actor. Granted, he wasn’t aware he was being photographed as the shots show him speeding away from the studio lot where he was supposed to start filming this week, but still…
Now let’s get to the juicy stuff. At the time the candid shots had gone viral, no one knew how he happened to sport a broken nose, but after a little diggin’ we found out that the new actor had a violent altercation with none other than the newly divorced Adam Connor.
Unfortunately, at this moment we have no idea how or why the fight started between the actors in the first place. What we do know is that Adam Connor is filming the last scenes of his movie at the same lot as Jake Callum.
To say that we are shocked would be an understatement at this point. Adam Connor grew up in front of the cameras, and as far as we know has never been involved in an altercation like this before. If it had happened, trust us, we’d know.