27. Luke
TWENTY-SEVEN
LUKE
Yeah. I’m in trouble. Deep fucking trouble. I’m not talking about the fact that I’m fucking in love. No, that trouble I’ll gladly take.
This is worse.
The gossip headlines when we finally returned to the States were not good.
Popstar caught in cheating scandal
James Leaves Sledge Brokenhearted
Who is Calla James’ new boy toy? Meet Luke Pierson
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Every headline is accompanied by a picture of me kissing Calla out back at the awards show in London. Then, there’s a picture of me holding her hand and leading her into a restaurant. Finally, someone snapped a picture of us in the theater kissing.
This is not good. We were supposed to be discreet, and here is all the evidence making it clear that Calla is with me while the world thinks she’s with Thompson.
This is not going to go well for either of us.
We’re in a hotel in New Orleans when our phones start going off nonstop. Ashley is knocking on the hotel room door, and Calla and I just look at each other.
Her eyes are wide and full of worry. This is the time when I need to reassure her that everything is going to be fine. Only I’m not sure that everything is going to be fine.
I don’t care about me and my reputation because who gives a fuck about Luke Pierson. But this isn’t good for Calla. America’s Sweetheart can’t be caught in a cheating scandal. That’s not going to sit right.
“Calla…”
When she makes eye contact with me, her eyes are glossy with tears.
“What do I do, Luke?”
“I-I don’t know, baby.” I walk toward her and pull her into my arms. Her shoulders tremble as she cries. “I’m sorry, Calla. I’m so sorry.”
Eventually, Ashley gives up on knocking on the door, probably realizing we’re not going to answer. I give her about ten minutes until she’s back with a key card from the front desk.
After a few more minutes crying, Calla holds her head up and wipes her red, swollen eyes.
“Let’s run away,” she says.
I chuckle softly and rub her back. “I wish we could.”
She straightens up a little more. “I’m serious, Luke. Why can’t we run away?”
I look at her, really look at her, and realize that she’s not kidding. “Calla, this is our life. We can’t just run away.”
“Why not? We’ve dug ourselves into a huge hole here. You’re going to lose your job. I’m going to be dragged through every gossip magazine for ‘breaking Thompson’s heart.’ What if we just left? We’ll start over somewhere else.”
“Are you talking about changing our names and going into hiding kind of thing?” It’s crazy what she’s saying, and I know it’s her emotions talking, but I can’t help the little spark in the back of my mind that is excited by this idea.
She turns away from me and throws up her arms. “I don’t know. We don’t have to go that far. But we could get out of here. We could lay low. Find that ranch you’ve always wanted in the middle of nowhere. Start over and live a life we both want.”
“With what money, Calla? Without a job, what am I supposed to do? And you’ve got contracts, big contracts, that will have actual legal repercussions if you break them.”
“I have money, Luke. A lot of money. And I don’t care about those contracts. Let them sue me if they want. I’m tired. So damn tired. I can’t do this anymore. I just want to live my life, and I want to live it with you.”
I run my hand through my hair, trying to think logically about this, but it’s hard to do when the love of my life is telling me she wants to run away with me and spend forever by my side.
“Let’s think about this, ok? Everyone is a little emotional right now. Let’s take a breath, and in the morning, if you still want to do this, then we’ll come up with a plan.”
She smiles the biggest smile I’ve ever seen. “You’d do it? You’d run away with me?”
“Calla, there’s not much I wouldn’t do for you.”
As predicted, the hotel room door opens, and an angry Ashley is standing there. “Do you guys think this is a fucking joke?”
I don’t appreciate the tone she’s taking with Calla when she is clearly upset. “We needed a minute to catch our breath. We obviously weren’t expecting all of this.”
“You just thought kissing in public and holding hands wouldn’t tell people that you’re sleeping together?”
“We didn’t think anyone noticed us,” I try to defend.
She points at Calla. “She’s Calla James! You think people aren’t going to notice her? People notice everything about her.”
I nod slowly. She’s right. I should’ve been more careful. I don’t know what came over me in London. It just felt like we were in our own world. I got too comfortable.
“I understand. We know there are going to be repercussions,” I tell her.
Ashley starts to pace as she looks at her iPad. “This is seriously not good. Brayden is on his way out here. His flight lands during the show, so we’ll talk to him afterward. He’ll have a plan, but I can tell you he is not happy.”
“I don’t care,” Calla says suddenly.
Ashley freezes and looks at her. “What?”
I also look at her because wherever she’s going with this doesn’t feel like it’s going to calm anyone down.
“I don’t care if he’s not happy. I haven’t been happy for a long time. I’ve finally found someone who truly makes me happy, so say whatever you want to say. Tell me how stupid I am. I don’t care. I’m finally happy, and it feels so good that I don’t care about anything else. I’m going to get ready, do this show, and then we’ll talk to Brayden after. But I truly don’t care what he says. I pay him to handle my shit, so either he handles it or he doesn’t. I don’t care.”
And with that, she turns on her heel and heads to the bedroom, leaving Ashley and me stunned. Only I can bet that we’re stunned for different reasons.
Calla stood up for herself. Not only that, but she chose me. She chose me over everything, and no one had ever done that before.
Ashley turns to me, eyes filled with anger, and says, “You’ve ruined her, Luke. I hope you’re happy.”
She doesn’t give me a chance to respond, and honestly, it’s probably better that she doesn’t. I don’t think I’ve ruined Calla. Not at all. In fact, I think she’s finally going to let the world see just how strong she is.
While Calla gets ready for the show, I stay close but not too close. I do my job exactly by the book tonight. No sneaky kisses. No ass slaps before she goes on stage. I stand exactly where I’m supposed to be. Watch where I need to. Even with all of that, I can feel everyone staring at us. Calla might be used to stares, but I’m not.
I also avoid all calls and texts from Cody because I can’t deal with it right now. I let him down, and hearing more disappointment in his voice might just break me.
After the show, we silently go back to the hotel room where Brayden, Ashley, and Calla’s parents are waiting for us.
Maybe we should’ve run away earlier when Calla first suggested it because I don’t see any scenario where this ends in our favor.
“Oh, lovely,” Calla says when she sees everyone. “I was hoping we’d have a little family reunion tonight.”
She’s full of attitude, so this is going to go really well or really, really bad. My money is on the latter.
Her mother looks at me. “You can go.”
“No,” Calla says before I even have a chance to tell them I’m not going anywhere. “He stays.”
“Calla, we need to have an important conversation that doesn’t involve him.”
“He stays. Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of him.”
She reaches her hand out and links her fingers with mine, a move that no one in the room appreciates. Except me. I fucking love it.
“What has he done to you?” her mom asks in a disgusted tone.
“He didn’t do anything other than help me realize I deserve to stand up for myself.”
Hell yeah, that’s my girl.
“Ok, that’s enough. She’s obviously infatuated with the man, so let’s leave it. We have other things to discuss,” Brayden says. “Obviously, we’ll need a new protection agent for Calla.”
“No,” Calla says.
“We can’t have him hanging around after the shit show from the media.”
“He’s not just hanging around. I’m in love with him, and he loves me.”
“Oh, of course, he loves you,” her mother says, outraged. “You’re his money ticket, Calla. He knows he can get you to give him whatever he wants if he gives you a few kisses. He’s manipulating you, and you’re letting him.”
I squeeze her hand tighter, ready to jump in to deny that claim, but Calla doesn’t let me.
“No, you’re manipulating me, and I’m done with it. I’m done with everything. I don’t want to pretend Thompson is anything more than a cheating scumbag. I’m done with my ideas and requests always being turned down. I’m done with running myself into the ground for people who don’t care about me.”
“You think he cares about you?” her mother asks.
“I know he does. I don’t care if you don’t believe that. I don’t care if you think I’m being stupid. I’m done with this.”
“Done with what?” Brayden asks. “Thompson? Ok, fine. We can release a story saying the two of you have been on and off over the last few months, but you’re trying to work on things.”
“No. You’re going to release a statement saying that we broke up months ago but have remained friends and will fulfill already scheduled commitments or whatever other bullshit you come up with. I will do the last two shows of this tour, and then I’m done. I need time off.”
At this part, everyone’s eyes go wide.
“Calla, we already have a tight schedule for after the tour,” Brayden argues.
“Change it. I asked for time off. I gave you months’ notice that everyone ignored because you thought you could get me to do whatever you wanted. Well, it’s not going to work this time. I need time off.”
“We have commitments.”
“Get me uncommitted.”
“What exactly do you want me to tell people?” he asks. His face is red, and he looks ten seconds away from losing it. I can bet he’s never been spoken to like this before.
“I don’t know. You figure it out. That’s what I pay you for, isn’t it?”
Brayden blinks slowly, taking in everything Calla is saying. “How long do you need?”
“Indefinitely.”
“No fucking way. I can try to buy you a week at best.”
Calla shrugs. “I won’t be showing up.”
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. The four of them came into this room thinking they were going to railroad Calla and make her feel like a piece of shit, but she’s completely turned it around on them. The cheating rumors are the least of their problems now.
“Calla, be reasonable.”
“No! You be reasonable!” she screams, and I think all of us are a little taken aback. I’ve never heard Calla scream, and I think she might be nearing her breaking point here. “I told you what I wanted. Now get out!”
“Calla.” Her mother tries to calm her down, but she is not having any of it.
“GET OUT!” Calla unlinks her hand from mine, picks up a pillow from the couch, and throws it at Brayden. Nobody moves. So, she proceeds to grab anything she can find—a shoe, a jacket, a water bottle—and throws it. It’s a bit of an out-of-body experience for me, like I’m watching a movie. She’s finally reached her breaking point, and I’m watching her lose control.
I have no idea what to do. While I’m glad she’s getting her frustration out on these people, I don’t want anyone to get hurt and deep down, I know she doesn’t want that either.
She’s screaming, “Get out!” over and over again as she finds more things to throw. Thankfully, the four of them scramble to leave. I know this isn’t the end of this conversation, but this will at least give Calla a chance to calm down.
She keeps screaming until the door is closed, and I’m able to wrap my arms around her.
“Calla, baby, deep breath. Deep breath. Deep breath.”
She collapses in my arms and starts crying uncontrollably. I let us gently slide down to the ground, where I hold her as she cries.
We don’t talk. There’s nothing to say, really. I just hold her and let her get through this moment. Eventually, her sobs grow quiet, and her breathing evens out.
“I’m sorry,” she says quietly as she wipes her face on my shirt. “I don’t know what came over me.”
“Don’t apologize. You needed to get that out. Honestly, I loved it. I’m so proud of you.”
She huffs a laugh before her head falls to my shoulder. She exhausted herself.
I manage to get us both off the ground and into the bathroom. I turn the shower on, and while it warms up, I take her clothes off, then my own. We get into the steamy shower, and she lets me wash her hair and body. I’ve never done this with a woman before, but Calla needed someone to take care of her tonight, and I want to be that person for her.
After the shower, I dry her off and slip one of my T-shirts over her head. I could’ve gotten her own pajamas, but I like seeing her in my shirts.
I get her in bed before I climb in next to her. As she falls asleep in my arms, I can’t help but wonder how my life got so incredibly out of control that I’m actually considering running away from everything I’ve ever known. The crazy part is I’m actually excited about it.