“Ready?” I ask when the limo finally pulls up to the red carpet.
“I’m always ready when it comes to you.” The door opens, and he helps me out. The flashes start to go off as soon as we step out. The paparazzi waste no time throwing out their questions. I greet the fans first, waving to them behind the gates. Sawyer lets me go for a moment so I can go to them and take a few pictures.
When I return back to the carpet, Sawyer tucks me close to his side. Charlie spots us, leaving his spot on the carpet to come over and welcome us. He shakes Sawyer's hand before he goes in for a kiss on my cheek. Before his lips can make contact, Sawyer pulls me back, making everyone laugh. Charlie and Sawyer have actually been on good terms. He even came to dinner a few nights ago.
“I see she said yes.” Charlie winks at me before returning to his spot a bit up from us.
“You told Charlie about the ring?”
“He’s good people,” he says with a shrug. I lean in, not caring about the cameras, and kiss my man before he leads me down the carpet. I answer a few questions as I go about the wedding ring and Locke.
“As always you’re breathtaking,” Lainey Porter says when I get to the end of the carpet. She and I have always had a good relationship when it came to the tabloids. It’s why I reached out to her.
“Thank you.”
“With everything going on, your incident with Randle Beckstrand has been glossed over. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think someone has gotten some of the tabloids to bury it.” I feel Sawyer tense up next to me. I know it wasn't him. No, it was Beckstrand.
“You might be right about that. Powerful men like to make things such as taking advantage of young actresses go away.”
“He took advantage of you?”
“He tried to, but I got lucky. A real hero saved me, but not everyone is as fortunate. Randle Beckstrand invited me to a private meeting in his hotel room where he wanted me to act out a love scene with him in the bed. I think we know where that was going.”
“Wow,” Lainey says, realizing I wasn't teasing when I told her to ask me about the incident and I’d give her a story that would end up front page news. I warned her what the topic would be in case she didn’t want heat that might be coming, but she was more than ready for it.
“Everyone around me pushed me to go. I get the luxury of admitting that because this will be my last film. Being an actress isn’t my passion, but that’s not the case for other girls trying to live out their dreams. I don’t want these men in power to darken their doorsteps in order for them to be able to get through some doors in Hollywood.” When I stop speaking, I realize the red carpet has gone quiet.
“What is going to be your passion now?”
“Besides getting my happily ever after with the man of my dreams?”
“Yeah.”
“To shine a different kind of light on Hollywood, and I hope all of you join me in that.” I motion to all the cameramen and news people in front of me.
“It would be an honor,” Lainey says before the crowd starts to cheer. Sawyer leads me inside of the theater, pulling me off into a corner.
“You’re an amazing woman,” he says.
“I put a target on my head.” I slip my hands up his chest, wrapping them around his neck.
“I’ll keep you safe if this is the path you want to take.”
“It’s because of you I know I get to take this path.”
Being an actress was never my dream. But I’ll always be thankful for it. Sometimes you have no idea what you want or need until it’s standing in front of you.
“I’ll clear any path you want as long as you let me take it with you.” Tears fill my eyes. I pull my man down to kiss me, knowing I got the best love story a girl could ever wish for.
Epilogue
Sawyer
“Mom! Your movie is streaming tonight!” Carol bounds down the stairs with her tablet clutched to her chest. “We should watch it together.”
“You know your dad doesn’t like that. How about we watch something else?”
“Oh my God, Dad, it’s not because of the kissing scenes, is it?” My daughter rolls her eyes.
“Yeah, it’s because of the kissing thing.” I wipe down the side of the barrel and set it back onto the cloth. Across the table, one of my men, Stone, works through the pieces of his Glock.
“It’s a movie. It’s not like she married Charlie Wright, although he can get it.”
I cover my ears. “I do not need to hear my seventeen-year-old daughter talk about an aging actor getting anything.”