Chapter 2 #2
Kelly’s heard this all before, but judging by the intrigue written across Daniel’s face, Kelly has clearly honored my request to keep our conversations about that awful day to herself.
“I’ve rewatched his interview a few times now.
I was too angry at the time to watch all of it.
Part of me wants to believe him. That he just wanted people to leave me alone and not destroy my life.
And to be fair, since that point, the vicious comments about me, well about the mysterious guy Alex was filmed with, seem to have stopped.
” My heart rate slows slightly as my breaths become more regulated.
“So, no one knows it was you?” Daniel’s brows furrow.
“There were a couple of comments alluding to it being me from some fans who saw me at Abbey Road when I joined Alexander to record his live EP, but thankfully that didn’t gain any traction.” The bile rises once more in my throat.
“Has he tried to contact you since?” Daniel pushes himself up from the couch and heads toward the light switch. The room is darkening rapidly as dusk falls outside.
“Alexa, living room lights, level two,” I command.
“Level two,” Alexa responds. Daniel freezes mid-step as the lights instantly come on.
“That’s so cool! Babe, we need to get this setup in our own place.” Awe washes over his face as he swivels back to face us.
“Maybe we should focus on getting our new home set up for the baby when we get back before getting all these gadgets.” Kelly’s cold tone sends a shiver down my spine as Daniel returns to the couch, tail no longer wagging between his legs.
“Anyway, back to you.” Kelly nods at me, then grabs her Corona and takes a gulp.
“He’s tried to call several times, but always at random hours. Which makes me think he’s either drunk, or horny, or both.” My jaw tightens at the thought.
“Has he left any other messages?” Daniel leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees.
“No. After I decided not to respond to that first voicemail, he’s never left another. Just calls. Never leaves a voicemail. Never texts. Just random calls. At random times. On random days.” My eyelids attempt to blink away my tiredness as I fight back a yawn.
“You don’t want to get back with him then?” Daniel’s gaze catches mine.
The bottom falls out of the pit of my stomach at the question.
The intrusive thoughts I’ve tried to keep filed away in the back of my mind make themselves known upon hearing Daniel’s question.
Yes, we do.
You need to stop punishing us and get back with him.
I take a deep breath, temper my emotions, and fight back the irrational thoughts.
“I want answers. Not the ones he left on the voicemail, but actual answers. Why didn’t he let me know he had to go so abruptly? Why did he pay me off to buy my silence? But I’m still not ready to speak…”
“You got paid off?” Daniel interjects and reaches for his beer. “How much did he pay you?”
“A hundred k.”
A mouthful of beer flies out of Daniel’s mouth, covering the table, his legs, and his shorts.
“A hundred thousand dollars! Just to buy your silence? Fuck, I’d go gay for that kind of payday.” His smile cracks his chapped lips.
“Daniel! Stop being so insensitive.” Kelly whacks him on the stomach. “And go get some towels to clean up the mess you’ve made.”
Daniel heads to the kitchen, returning with a bunch of towels, and bends down on his knees to wipe up the beer.
“So why don’t you call him back? Meet up with him?
At least that way you can say what you need to say and hear directly from him, rather than through an interview or from his team what really went down and how he truly feels.
” Daniel’s narrowed eyes meet mine for a second before dropping away to clean up the last of the beer from the table.
The way Daniel logically lays it all out stops me in my tracks.
“Because his publicist, Connie, told me no contact. Part of the agreement was to never communicate with Alex again. To ignore any attempts from him to reconnect. Otherwise, the contract would be void and they could sue me for breach of contract.” My voice cracks.
“Well good job you’ve got a brother-in-law for a lawyer, who can go through the contract and spot any loopholes.” Daniel pushes me down on the couch so he can sit beside me, then slings his arm over my shoulder as a devilish look appears on his face.
“Plus, as long as you haven’t spent any of the money he gave you, and you aren’t calling him, but he’s calling you, then is that really breaching the contract?” Kelly asks as she pulls out the hairband from her hair, allowing it to fall over her shoulders.
A ping sounds from my pocket, and I pull out my phone to see a notification. It’s a Google alert, the one I set up to notify me about any updates on Alexander. I open my phone, click on the email, and rub my eyes in disbelief:
Actor Brian Rawlings rushed to hospital after an altercation on set with Alexander Morgan.
“What are you looking at?”
Kelly snatches the phone from my hand and scans the article.
“Jesus, he’s let himself go.” Kelly turns the phone toward me to reveal a picture of Alexander from the set of his movie.
I remember the first time I saw a picture of Alexander from the film and was taken aback by his rugged look.
The dyed hair and the groomed, bushy beard makes him look earthy and desperate—a far cry from the popstar look he had in London.
But after a few more articles came through, it grew on me, and now, apart from the recurring nightmares I have from London, I barely remember what he looked like before.
“That’s for the film,” I respond, a little too defensively.
“Let me see.” Daniel reaches for the phone as Kelly passes it to him.
“On second thought, scrap what I just said. You can do better than that.” Daniel grabs his Corona, knocks back the last mouthful, places it back down on the table, and slaps his legs.
“Let’s go show off this revenge body of yours down in WeHo.
What is it they say, babe? The best way to get over someone… ”
“Is to get under someone else,” Kelly finishes. She gets up as Daniel does, then reaches out her hand to pull me up. “Come on, pigeon belly, let’s go find you some cock.”
“I think you’ll find the pigeon belly you refer to is now a cheese grater,” I say, and lift up my hoodie to reveal the six-pack I’ve been busting my ass off in the gym to get for the first time in my life.
“Fuck man. You are ripped. You’re definitely getting laid tonight!” Daniel laughs.
I grab my phone back from Daniel to read the article.
I never had Alexander down as the physical altercation type.
My thoughts are confirmed when I read that a witness on set mentioned it was an accident rather than an altercation.
The article also states that Brian went to the hospital as a precautionary measure and was released, with filming to resume tomorrow.
Maybe I should reach out to Alexander.
Just to check in and make sure he’s okay.
Saturday
“Slow down, babe, you’ll give yourself indigestion,” Daniel says to Kelly, reaching for her hand to pull away the pickled cucumber.
It’s the third one she’s devoured in as many minutes while lounging under the beach umbrella and reading the latest Lucy Score book. Her feet are dangling just off the end of the beach towel, heels dug into the sand.
“Fuck off. If it weren’t for that thing,” Kelly points at his dick. “I wouldn’t be in this position in the first place.”
Daniel's shoulders slump. He reaches into the cooler bag to get himself another bottle of water and wipes it across his forehead. The light ocean breeze isn’t enough to counter the heat of the afternoon sun.
Thankfully, Victoria Beach is much quieter than its neighbor, Laguna Beach, which is just up the road on the PCH.
But it’s still in the same area, so Kelly can get a load of videos to send to her friends while nodding to two of her favorite old-school shows on Netflix, Selling the OC and Laguna Beach.
“I need to go cool off in the water,” I say and push myself up off the towel. I dust the sand from the backs of my legs. The sun is doing very little to help me sweat out all the alcohol Daniel made me consume last night. “Wanna join?”
“Can we recreate Baywatch and run in slow motion into the ocean?” Kelly asks. She drops her book onto the towel and grabs the suntan lotion, squirting some on her hands. I pull my navy-and-white striped swimming trunks slightly up to cover the emerging tan line around my waist.
“Sure,” I say, shrugging. Kelly applies the suntan lotion to her face.
“Will you film us?” Kelly asks Daniel, pointing at her phone on the towel.
Daniel shoots me a can-you-believe-her look, then stretches over to get the phone before his eyes drift down toward her belly. Kelly meets his gaze while taking off her see-through turquoise sarong, revealing her matching blue bikini and the tiniest of bumps.
“From behind, and in slow motion,” she says.
Kelly waits for Daniel to get the phone ready, and he finally gives us both the thumbs-up.
“Last one in pays for dinner!” she shouts, already shooting off toward the ocean.
The competitive part of me wants to catch up with her. The vain part of me wants to look good on camera. But the brother in me wants to see her happy, and I decide to let her win.
Joy washes over her face as one of the waves splashes her. The coldness of the water hits me as I enter, a refreshing change from the heat, and the smell of seaweed and salt from the ocean fills my nostrils.
“Looks like you owe me dinner at Nobu,” Kelly says, splashing water at me.
“Who said anything about Nobu?” I splash her back. “Plus, you’re not supposed to eat raw fish while you’re pregnant.”
“I swear, this pregnancy is taking all the joy from…” Kelly stops mid-sentence and winces. Her hands drop under the water to clutch her belly.
I break out in goosebumps as Daniel runs into the ocean at a thunderous speed, splashing us with his carefree entrance.