A Hollywood Deal (Ryder & Paige 1)

I’m tired of this ludicrous macho display. Besides, my back aches, and my pelvis is throbbing. The fall must’ve really done some damage.

I want to leave and go soak in a hot bath. I should also make an appointment with my doctor to see if the baby’s okay. Since I landed on my butt, I’m pretty sure the baby’s fine, but just in case.

“Both of you are beyond help. I’m done here.” I shake my head and start limping away.

I’m not even at the door to the club when Ryder’s hand takes my elbow. Unlike Anthony’s, his touch is gentle, designed to restrain without hurting me.

“You aren’t going home by yourself,” he says.

“Oh, I’m not? Funny…I’ve been going to and from places on my own for quite a while now.”

“Don’t argue with me. We need to talk. I should never have let you leave the house until we did. Come on. To my car.”

“But I can’t leave my car here.”

“I’ll have somebody bring it back.

My teeth bite into my lower lip. I don’t want to talk or share a ride. But given the circumstances, it’s probably not a good idea to provoke Ryder. Male aggression still pours out of him. Even though I know he won’t hurt me, who knows what idiotic stunt he’ll come up with if left to his own devices?

But since I’m still angry with him, I give him one clipped word: “Fine.”

* * *

Ryder

The silence inside the Ferrari presses down on me. Sweat slickens my back.

Paige’s arms are crossed, her body angled away. She stares out the window, her eyes focused on the lane to her right. I get a weird sense of déjà vu.

When I heard from my men that she’d gone out again, I followed her—despite my better judgment—to see what the hell could be more important than resolving the situation between us. I certainly didn’t intend to rush into Anthony’s club and get into a fight. I was just trying to stop her from doing something rash. She might think that Anthony would give her some answers, but I’m afraid he’s changed. The Anthony I knew would never have laid a hand on a woman, no matter what.

“That was a stupid ass thing to do!” I say, my rage barely suppressed. “You know how I feel about him.”

“Did I have a choice?”

“A choice? Yeah, I think you had a choice. I didn’t see anybody holding a gun to your head back there.” My knuckles are white around the steering wheel.

“Anthony told me about Lauren.”

That stuns me out of my anger. “He did? What did he say?” There’s no way Anthony told her everything. There are a lot of things he just doesn’t know, and he’ll never find them out because we’re beyond talking at this point. Besides, even if I told him everything, nothing would change. He’d still hate me with everything he’s got.

She gives the window a brief summary of what Anthony said. “I think that explains quite a bit, don’t you?”

“Oh for— I didn’t steal her from him!” Frustration and sadness hit me at the same time, winding like ropes around my neck. “She approached me at a party. I had no idea she was dating Anthony at the time. I was busy with work and out of the country a lot. When I was in town, I’d never seen her with him. She was always busy or had something else to do when we were supposed to hang out together. Now that I look back on it, it’s obvious she did all that on purpose.”

Paige finally turns toward me. “Why didn’t you tell him?”

“By the time I found out it was too late.” I unclench my jaw with careful deliberation. “I was young, but it wasn’t that I was dazzled by her flattery and attention. I’ve always had women hanging around, you know? But Lauren was different. She said all the right things, made all sorts of promises. She… She made me feel like I was her everything, like I mattered to her. Outside of my grandfather, nobody in my family did that. My siblings and I are close, but we all learned to fend for ourselves early on.” I let out a rough breath. “I fell for the whole act.”

“She wanted to become famous.”

I don’t want to see the pity in Paige’s eyes. It’s such a fucking pathetic story, and I sound like a fool, which was exactly what I was back then.

“So what happened?” Paige asks.

“I finally wised up…figured out what was going on. At the time we were filming in Mexico. I went to her friend’s apartment, where she said she was staying. Believe me, the guy was no friend. Just a drug user. He’d gotten Lauren hooked, too.”

I can still see the scene: