Accidental Meeting (Accidental Hook-Up 3)

“Okay, well I will get the ball rolling on that then. See where it leads. Let’s see what he says.”

I nod, trying to keep my expression a confident one but I am crumbling a bit inside. Doing something brave is one thing, acting on behalf of someone else is admirable, but it doesn’t stop the inner turmoil that comes with it.

***

As I lie in bed later that night, I can’t stop thinking about Tia. About her sitting at a computer screen and typing all that stuff about me, uploading the picture too. Was that the reason she has always been so interested in me? Is that why she continued to chase me even when it was obviously never going to go anywhere? Maybe she was battling with herself, with her conscience, and that’s why we always fought?

There are so many possibilities and it honestly has me gutted. I thought that we shared something real, I was head over heels for her. Despite all the weirdness between us, I thought that we actually had something.

How wrong I was.

Maybe the overly romantic notions that I apply to my mother also are relevant here too. I have applied them to Tia for some reason and it’s all blown up in my face. She is an actress after all, I could be about to learn that she works for this other gang and she was hired to find out stuff about me. I don’t know how yet, but it could have been instrumental in kidnapping my mother, I’m not sure.

All I know is that I cannot trust anyone anymore and that sucks. I never wanted to be this person, the man who has to keep my barriers up, but life keeps forcing me to do so over and over again. It doesn’t seem to have an end. And now, if my grandfather agrees, I’m going to be in the spotlight and there is no turning back from that. Ever. My name, my face, it will be out there and everyone will feel like they own a piece of me.

Who knows what will come out. Everyone that I have ever had contact with could betray me and sell their story, and I’m pretty confident that not everyone will discuss me in the best light. I am probably about to be torn to shreds and there isn’t a damn thing that I can do about it.

Great, just fucking great.

Chapter Nineteen – Tia

I gulp and turn the volume down on the television, unable to listen to the reports any longer. Shane has actually confirmed what Rae suspected that he is Lady Saffron Jones’s son, which has blown my mind. I don’t even know what to think anymore. Sure, I suppose it isn’t that crazy, it’s just a bunch of coincidences and it does make sense of what happened outside my home, but still… it’s wild. It’s worse than a movie plot.

“I don’t get it,” I mutter to myself. “I don’t understand. Why were there people here with guns, basically kidnapping him along with his mother, if he seems fine. I mean, he must be okay if he’s speaking to the press. Unless that’s all part of the plan… oh God, I just don’t get it. Nothing makes any sense.”

I grab my cell phone and try to call Rae. Again. She’s been oddly quiet ever since the revelation came to light which is weird. I would have thought that she’d want to brag about her amazing perception skills, but it seems not. I can only assume that she must be really busy with something. Work, I hope.

Work is exactly what I should be doing as well. I have this script to run through and I really need to make some decisions regarding it, but my head is all over the place. It’s hard to think about running off to Iceland, however incredible the plot is, and I have to say the script is phenomenal, even better than the last one, while all of this is going on. Even though it doesn’t directly affect me, in a way it really does.

“Hey, Rae,” I say in to her voice mail. “It’s me again, Tia.” I sigh loudly. “Just wondering if everything is alright with you. I’d love to speak to you about what’s going on. It’s pretty crazy, right?”

I hang up, somehow knowing that she won’t call me back. I don’t understand what it is but I know it will be a while before I hear from her again. Maybe not even ever. Call it instinct, but it’s the same feeling that told me I wouldn’t hear from my old friends much since I moved to LA, and I haven’t. My family either. Even with all the success I have had. I just knew they would isolate me, and I’ve been right about that.