Chapter 61
HANNAH
H er phone was being bombarded. It was buzzing incessantly while she dealt with Ward and Shelley and as they took to the carpet. She stood back out of sight, sweating with anxiety as she scrolled through them.
Beads of moisture started to form on her brow line, and she felt herself grow hot in her clothes. She had the urge to find the nearest bottle of cold water and pour it over her head.
You look great tonight.
You know we should be together.
Why are you ignoring me?
You know I miss you.
You know I do everything out of love.
I don’t like how we left things.
Why do you have to overreact about everything?
I came here tonight especially because of you.
I made time in my schedule.
You have never built me up. Ever.
You’re totally ungrateful, you know that?
All persistent and demanding, even the ones where he professed his so-called ‘love’.
Hannah knew well Rob didn’t love her. Not even a little. Never had. He wanted to control her. She was a shiny object that he thought he could have any time. But had since figured out he couldn’t anymore – and that’s why he continued to pursue her like this. Even when she thought he’d got the message in no uncertain terms at the apartment.
No one said no to Rob Kendrick, after all.
And now it seemed he’d finagled his way into this event tonight, no doubt using his ‘athlete star power’ to bag an invite. But did he do it to get to her, or was he just having fun toying with her because he knew she’d be here working with Ward?
If you don’t talk to me, you’re going to regret it.
Hannah waited by the press line doing her job to the best of her ability while her client and his date stood in front of the cameras, smiling and posing up a storm. Shelley had very quickly shaken off her nerves and they were doing a great job together – but admittedly Hannah was having a hard time being fully present.
She hadn’t spotted Rob yet, but it was clear he was close – and he could see her. She felt a bit like a gazelle being toyed with by a lion. What was his move here? Was he there purely because of her, or was he just using her proximity to mess with her head? Because he could. CCTV or not, he also knew Hannah well enough to realize that she wouldn’t have followed through on that threat. But what was his endgame? Did she have actual reason to be afraid of him? She turned her attention back to the red carpet and saw Ward glancing in her direction, even as the glare of the overhead spotlights obscured her in shadow. Offering what she hoped was a winning smile, she flashed an awkward thumbs-up and encouraging shake of her head.
But his eyes trailed from her gaze and turned toward the press tent entrance whereupon his expression darkened. Whatever distracted half-smile he had been wearing a moment before instantly disappeared.
Hannah furrowed her brow. He needed to snap out of it. OK, so he hated this stuff and was likely now tired of all the calling and requests to turn this way and that, but the red carpet crawl was two minutes at most. Any good pictures already taken were surely going to be overshadowed by him looking like he was ready to spit nails.
And the media noticed.
Ward looked pissed so the cameras urgently snapped with even more abandon. The sports reporters in particular knew that glare, typically reserved for when WildCat McKenzie dropped the mitts and decided to throw an opponent into the boards.
Even as his red carpet companion continued to smile and pose, oblivious to the change in mood, it was obvious that something behind the press line had stolen his attention.
Come on, Ward. Don’t do this to me now.
Hannah’s anxiety intensified as he continued to glower at something unseen.
‘What’s going on with Ward, Hannah?’ one of the events team asked.
Distracted, she turned to face the guy, readying herself to give some sort of halfway believable excuse, like he was just tired or his knee was giving him trouble. She opened her mouth to speak, trying her best to think on her feet and cover for him – but before she could form a syllable, her attention was once again directed elsewhere.
A hand on her elbow and the grip was commanding … demanding.
Hannah didn’t need to turn to figure out who the hand belonged to.
She jerked her elbow away from Rob as if his touch had just burned her skin. He wore the same winning smile typically reserved for the cameras, but his eyes danced with malicious pleasure.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked, all the while trying to appear natural and unaffected. The last thing she needed now was to sully Ward’s press with her dramas.
‘Thought I might find you here,’ he replied with faux sincerity. He cast a glance toward the step where Ward stood, frozen in place. His right arm had since dropped from Shelley’s waist and she too seemed to be trying to make sense of the sudden change in mood. Her eyes flittered nervously from him to the press line and then back to the calling photographers.
Rob narrowed his eyes at Ward as if sensing the challenge. ‘Looks like lover-boy is a little jealous … ’
Hannah felt confusion flood her brain. But Ward had no idea that she and Rob were even connected. Her ex hadn’t introduced himself that morning on the phone and Hannah had never mentioned it either. Had she?
What in the world … ?
She snapped to attention as she felt the eyeballs of others move in their direction. The press had also seemed to realize the subject of Ward McKenzie’s ire was none other than another celebrity attendee, pro golfer, Rob Kendrick. And wait … wasn’t McKenzie’s publicist the same one Kendrick had kissed on camera at that golf tournament earlier this year?
The flashing cameras suddenly began to zero in on them too, as if sensing that something was going down.
‘Rob,’ Hannah hissed at him, trying to keep her face calm, ‘this is not appropriate, you know that. You can’t possibly want press so badly that—’
But he closed what little space there was between them and rested his hand on her lower back, non-too-gently pulling her closer.
‘It’s not polite to avoid my messages,’ he spat through gritted teeth, and seeing the dark glint in his eyes, Hannah felt very afraid.
She felt the heat of the flashing lights on her and her vision blurred as her composure slipped. She instinctively stood back from Rob, trying to extricate herself from his grip, but to no avail. The clutch she was holding for Shelley slipped down her arm and the motion also dislodged the pile of one-sheets from her hand, which scattered to the carpet beneath her feet. Far from releasing his hold on her, he roughly jerked her back.
‘Rob, please—’ But before Hannah could utter another word, she was swiftly released from her ex’s tight grip.
‘Get your hands off her.’ As if out of nowhere, Ward was there grabbing Rob’s arm and yanking it off her.
Her ex flew backwards and momentarily stumbled, before righting himself and looking around, trying to assess who in the crowd might have seen him being manhandled. He quickly got his answer as a wave of cameras flashed in unison – lenses suddenly trained away from the red carpet and right in his direction.
‘You OK?’ Ward muttered but Hannah was still too dazed to reply. Ward had placed himself directly in front of her, blocking her from Rob, and the golfer immediately recognized the square off. He jutted his chin in response, but it was evident that he had not anticipated such a public showdown. Her ex thrust his chest out defensively, trying to look bigger than he was. While both men were professional athletes, Ward was built for physicality and altercation. After all, it wasn’t as if golfers were ever encouraged to develop a gloves-off mindset while on the links.
Rob sniffed sarcastically. ‘What’s it to you, McKenzie? Can’t see how this is any of your business.’ He glanced over to where Shelley stood, still rooted in the spot at the red carpet side of the media line, all press attention now turned in the other direction. ‘And why would a dude who can pull that sort of tail worry about this ?’ He pointed a finger at Hannah and snorted a derisive laugh. ‘Unless … ’ he added nastily, clearly for the benefit of the rapt media present, ‘is little Miss Hannah another side piece then? Mixing work and pleasure like she’s known to do. Get paid and get laid? I should have figured …’
‘Keep her name out of your mouth, asshole … ’ Ward glowered. He turned back to check on Hannah who remained there shocked and speechless, her face painted a deep crimson.
Taking advantage of the fact that his head was turned, Rob moved quickly and punched Ward on the left cheek. Ward stepped backwards a little, into a row of cameramen clicking gleefully. But he recovered quickly, fire blazing in his eyes. And dark delight peppered his face as if this was exactly the invitation he had been waiting for.
No one dared sucker-punch Ward McKenzie.
In one deft movement, and with a wry smile, Ward casually discarded the jacket of his suit, pushed up his sleeves and charged forward.
The wildcat’s claws were out.
His first punch landed squarely on Kendrick’s nose and his mouth twitched at the satisfying crunch of bone and cartilage under his fist. His opponent squealed and swung a return with one arm, while reaching for his face with the other.
Through it all, the cameras flashed – and Hannah felt frozen, watching in dismay. Yes, he might have been trying to defend her honour, but she knew all of her hard work – everything she had tried to do to repair Ward’s image – and salvage her own career, it was all going down the tubes right now. It was Rob’s own fault for daring to attack, there was no way a guy like Ward would let that go, and now everything was completely out of control.
Her mind swam, desperately trying to make sense of it all. Ward had clearly understood she was unsafe just now, but how did he even know about her and Rob?
It was that phone call. Of course, it was.
‘Oh my God!’ Shelley exclaimed, suddenly appearing beside her. ‘What’s going on? What do we do?’
Open-mouthed, she looked at her, speechless.
‘Hannah, do something. Aren’t you supposed to be a fixer? Fix this, stop them . ’
But her mind was a blur, even as she heard another punch land. Rob had somehow been able to get a blow in, hitting Ward in the stomach. Not that it had stopped him – in fact, it had barely fazed him.
She turned back to the other girl, whose expression had turned from pleading to annoyance.
‘Oh, for Chrissakes … ’ Shelley rolled her eyes, and storming off in her Louboutins, promptly raced into action, leaving Hannah in her dumbfounded trance.
She grabbed at Ward’s shoulders, trying to pull him off of Rob, who was definitely at the losing end of the scuffle. His nose was bloodied – and almost certainly broken. His right cheek was already swollen and turning purple, and his previously white dress shirt was now stained with blood. Hannah just didn’t know whose blood. ‘Ward, stop it,’ Shelley demanded. ‘This is bad for you.’
The press was simply eating the drama up and Hannah looked around for security to break things up.
But Shelley’s presence was at least enough to get Ward’s attention. Her face full of colour and her eyes shooting cold, angry daggers, she growled, ‘This is not the circus I signed up for. What the hell is wrong with you?’
Of the two men, Ward had, of course, fared much better. His shirt was untucked, a few of the top buttons ripped off and part of his broad chest was exposed. He sported a split lip that didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest as he continued to hover menacingly over Rob, looking eager and dangerously close to jumping back into the fray.
Hannah was just relieved that the other woman’s intervention had calmed things.
Until Rob made the fatal mistake of manhandling Shelley then, trying to swat her out of the way. As soon as he lay a finger on her, her eyes narrowed and then all hell truly broke loose when both Ward and his date hit back in tandem.
A couple of security goons eventually stepped in to break things up once and for all, and Hannah was finally moved to action.
‘Enough,’ she gasped, trying to catch her breath. ‘How could you do this?’ she cried, directing the question at them both.
While Ward seemed to briefly come to his senses and looked chastened, her ex didn’t appear in the least bit admonished. Still conscious of the press close by, the golfer tried to figure out a way to spin the fact that he’d just got his ass kicked, not just by McKenzie but a girl too.
He climbed to his feet, gingerly touching his broken nose. ‘Oh, come on, you love the drama, babe. Don’t pretend you don’t.’ He smirked. ‘We can laugh about it later,’ he added mischievously as if Hannah was in on it. ‘And McKenzie, I’m suing your ass. Expect assault charges.’
‘Bring it on,’ Ward countered, taking another step closer. ‘I’ll gladly whoop yours anytime asshole.’
Hannah then turned back to face him. ‘And you … ’ she began as her heart hammered in her chest, but then realized she didn’t know what to say. She looked up to meet his green eyes, still glittering with emotion. She was so angry with him, yet at the same time thankful that he had stepped in. But tonight had surely put the final nail in the coffin of his career … and hers too.
After all of her … their … work.
Now, Hannah knew she would be little more than a punchline in the PR world. There wouldn’t be a third time for her to strike out, that much she knew.
‘Ward … I … ’ she began, swallowing hard. ‘I … I can’t work with you anymore.’
Then turning on her heel as the cameras continued to gleefully flash and record every last humiliating moment, a laughing stock once more, Hannah slunk away into the crowd as quickly as she could, desperate to disappear.