Chapter 26
IVY
After we made love, I kissed a clearly exhausted Ian good night and scooted out of bed. Without opening his eyes, he reached for me and squeezed my thigh. “Where you goin’?”
“I have a few phone calls to make back home. Go to sleep, baby. I’ll be back soon.”
Before I even finished talking, his hand slipped from my leg and his breathing deepened. He’d gotten so much done today, including getting assurances from the record label’s attorneys that they could put a stop to the sex tape with no money exchanging hands.
I hoped for the same outcome regarding my video—which was all too real—but I had other methods in mind for squelching it. And those methods didn’t involve attorneys...or anything else legal.
I wrapped up in a robe and shushed a suddenly animated Scruffy, who clearly thought this midnight rendezvous involved him.
He trotted after me to my office, and I shut us both inside.
I sat at my desk with the phone and opened the French doors onto the garden.
The white petals of the fragrant honeysuckle gleamed in the dark, and I inhaled their sweet scent, but I needed something to smack me awake and put me on edge.
Lacking a shot of tequila, I pushed up from my chair and stepped outside onto the brick walkway for a few seconds reveling in the chilly air.
Scruffy hovered behind me, his head cocked.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to make you go outside.”
I left the doors ajar and plopped back into my chair. I called Matt. He didn’t answer, so I texted him a message of urgency. I knew I wouldn’t have to wait too long for him to call me back. When money was at stake, Matt didn’t waste time.
“Hey, sis. How’s jolly, old England? Livin’ large over there?”
“I think we have a problem.”
The easy-going surfer dude disappeared, and Matt’s tone sharpened. “What kind of problem? You not keeping your man happy? Don’t fuck this up, Ivy.”
Rage kindled in my gut. Matt sounded so much like Dad I got a bad case of déjà vu, but I needed fear, not anger. “I-it’s not that. Everything’s good between me and Ian, but I’m afraid someone may have seen that footage from the warehouse. Did you show anyone else?”
“What?”
He wasn’t expecting that. “I’ve never shown that to anyone except Dad and then you, years later. Nobody even knows I have the flash drive, certainly not the Brownes. What are you saying?”
“No copies?”
“I have the only copy.”
His lighter flicked as he lit up a cigarette. “Where’s this coming from?”
“I’ve gotten a few anonymous texts, like warnings, about a video out there. I don’t like it.”
“Whoa, whoa. Wait.”
He took a long pull from his cig. “I think I saw something about this online, one of those gossip sites.”
“You did?”
I practically shrieked, and Scruffy twitched in his sleep. Now, I didn’t have to feign the fear. Had someone already seen the fake sex tape of Ian? I licked my dry lips. “When did you start following celebrity gossip sites?”
“The day I found out my sister was dating a popstar.”
“What did you read?”
I drew my bottom lip between my teeth and clamped down.
“I can’t remember exactly, something about a former boybander releasing a song and some sketchy video.”
Knots tightened in my stomach, and I pressed my hand against it. This next part was crucial. “Could someone have stolen the flash drive?”
“No way. It’s...”
he took a drag “...I have it hidden in my place.”
“Have you checked on it lately?”
Please don’t say yes. Please don’t say yes. Please don’t say yes.
He paused. “No.”
“Could you? Please. This is serious, Matt. I just need to know that video is safe. I’m paying you fat stacks to make sure it is.”
“Alright. Alright. I’m not going to do it with you on the phone.”
“But you need to do it as soon as we hang up, and you need to text me back to let me know. I’m not sending you another dime until I know someone else doesn’t have the flash drive.”
Squeezing my eyes closed, I crossed my fingers, and my legs, and my toes.
He grumbled something, and then said, “Okay. I’ll check on it. Give me ten minutes.”
As soon as I ended the call, I texted Chloe, who was on standby. He’s checking it.
She gave my text a thumbs up, and I cupped my phone in my hand, staring at the display until my eyes watered. I refused to blink—too scared I’d miss something.
I jerked forward when I saw bubbles in response to my previous message to Matt. The text finally came through. It’s still there someone is fucking with you.
I gave his message a heart, and with a shaky finger I tapped my phone to answer Chloe’s call. “Well?”
“Bingo, bitch. The fuckwad has the flash drive hidden behind his Bob Marley poster in the living room. It must be taped to the back of it or to the wall ‘cuz he lifted one corner of the poster and peeked behind it.”
I doubled over with a sigh as my head throbbed with the tension of the past several minutes.
Chloe’s voice chirped over the line. “Now, I’ll put the next part of the plan in action. I’ll go over there and steal it.”
“No, you won’t. You’re going to wait for me, so you don’t do anything stupid or get into trouble. I have to be the one to get that flash drive. I have a better reason to be at his place than you do. It’ll be suspicious if you show up at his place again.”
“You’re coming home?”
Chloe squealed. “I can’t wait to see you but hurry up. Matt has the drive behind the poster now, but he could change the hiding place. Maybe he’ll finally decide he’s too old to tape posters on his living room walls and buy a safe.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can arrange it. I’m going to put a stop to this deceit once and for all.”
“Are you going to tell Ian everything? I mean everything?”
“Yeah, I think it’s time.”
***
I twirled in front of the mirror, grabbing handfuls of the silky material comprising the short, green dress. “I like this one. What do you think, baby?”
Ian looked up from adjusting the cuffs of his fitted black jacket. “You look beautiful in everything, but you look smokin’ hot in that one. I’m sorry you have to do this. I know you hate it, but I really want you by my side.”
“It’s fine. I’m excited to be there for you.”
Once I had my business settled with Matt, I’d be more than happy to attend public events with Ian. His record company was throwing a bash in a few weeks, complete with red carpet, for several of its artists releasing new music, although Ian would be the biggest star there. This would be our first public appearance together after months of speculation about my identity. Nervous didn’t come close to describing how I’d be feeling, but Ian needed me.
“My mate Charlie should be there. He’ll be in England because his mum is unwell. I told him he didn’t have to show up and to head home to his family, but he said one night wouldn’t make a difference.”
“I’m sorry to hear about his mom. Is it serious?”
“Cancer.”
“That’s rough. If he does make it to the release party, I’ll be excited to meet him. I hope he’ll let me take a selfie with him. Chloe would melt.”
I winked at Ian in the mirror. “Sorry, Charlie was always Chloe’s favorite.”
Ian’s stylist, Sarah, bustled into the room with another jacket for Ian. “I think this one would be a better fit—ooh.”
She stopped in the middle of the room. “That dress looks stunning on you, Ivy. Sexy but classy, and we’ll pinch it in at the waist a bit.”
“Don’t she look beautiful?”
Ian came up behind me as I faced the mirror.
I turned in his arms. “If you’re wearing that suit with the black shirt unbuttoned down to there, all eyes will be on you. Absolute fire.”
He took me in his arms, running his hand down my bare back, where the dress cut-away. “My eyes will be on you...always.”
As we kissed, Sarah clicked her tongue. “Stop snogging, you two. You’re going to wrinkle everything before I have a chance to have it tailored. You might affect the fit.”
Ian and I grinned at each other like a couple of naughty children. Then he squeezed my bum and walked back to Sarah, shrugging out of his jacket. “What’s wrong with this one?”
“This one’s a better fit for an athletic build. You’ve been working out so much and gaining so much muscle, that other one is too tight across your back and shoulders.”
“I might bust the seams like The Hulk.”
He struck a pose worthy of Arnold and growled.
Sarah rolled her eyes. “Next time we do this, I’m demanding separate fittings for the two of you. There’s way too much teasing and touching and messing around, and then there’s Scruffy prancing in and out getting dog hair on my haute couture.”
Ian gave his crinkly-eyed smile and wrinkled his nose—peak happiness. The lawyers had shut down the blackmail attempt by Messica, Thea was returning home from Italy shortly, and the hype around his single and album had reached a fevered frenzy.
Leave it to me to deliver the buzzkill.
Sarah finished her notes for the adjustments and started packing up her offerings. As Ian and I helped her with the clothing racks, I said, in a very offhand manner, “I need to go to LA for about a week.”
Ian dropped a dress he’d been handling. “What? Now? You’ll be back for the release of the single.”
“Of course. I wouldn’t miss that for the world. It’s...Chloe. She’s having a hard time right now, and I want to be there for her.”
As Chloe was always having a hard time, this statement hadn’t been too far off the mark.
“Of course, you need to be there for Chloe. She’s helped me so much, I guess I can be without my girl for a week.”
He picked up the dress and put it back on the hanger. “When are you leaving?”
“A few days. I just need to book my ticket.”
Holding up his hand, he said, “Call Penny and don’t give me any shit about paying for your own ticket. A last-minute reservation like this is going to cost you, and I want to do this for Chloe, too. She needs you. I’m going to make sure you get there.”
“Thank you. You’ll be okay?”
“Better than okay. I’ve got so much to do. I need to head into the city for a few days.”
He tickled my side. “Don’t worry. Denny’s not invited.”
“I’m not worried about Denny, but if I ever see him again...”
I balled up my fist and punched the air.
“I’m sure he’d be terrified, Tinkerbell.”
I landed one of my punches on his bare shoulder. “What are you doing in London?”
“Several meetings, one with my accountant. I try to meet with him twice a year, and with the new release and tour dates coming up, he wanted to see me to go over some figures.”
“So, you’ll be busy, and don’t worry I’ll be back for the release date.”
And when I come back, I’ll be free to love you even more than I already do.