Caught on Camera (Black Towers Book 1) (4 page)

The room was a gold mine for anyone who was into film, and Cole had taken great pride in acquiring each artifact in his collection. They each held memories of the career that had consumed his life since he was a kid.

Regina was naked, her wheat-colored hair drawn up on the top of her head, red lipstick smeared as though she’d had a long night, which he supposed they both had.

She was in the process of methodically throwing his artifacts one after another out the bay window and onto the side-lot below. When he stepped in, she was in the process of removing a large poster of his movie
Jungle Heat
off the wall. The poster was huge, and she was having difficulty lifting the thick paper with her skinny arms.

“What the hell are you doing?” His mouth fell open in disbelief.

“Taking out the trash.” She grinned at him, her sky blue eyes more than a little wild as she tilted the poster on its side and scurried toward the window, naked skin gleaming in the slanted sunlight.

“You can't do that! That’s a priceless artifact. There are only ten in existence.”

“Nine.” She sniffed and crumpled a corner of the paper in her hand. Cole rushed toward her, but was too late. The massive, limited edition print was crumpled up on the pavement below.

“What is
wrong
with you?” He whirled on her, throwing his hands up in the air. “Are you high?”

“Maybe you’d pay more attention to me if I was.” Icy daggers shot from Regina’s eyes as she turned, planting her hands on her hips. Her long, lush body was on full display in the sunlight, round tits, slender waist, long legs and naked pussy.

Under his scrutiny, she shifted, swaying her hips back and forth. Cole turned away abruptly—she’d always used sex as a way to deflect when they’d fought before. But now? There was no going back from what she’d done. His body would never respond to her again.

“Are you listening to yourself? Do you know that I struggled with drugs in the past? What the hell would make you say something like that?” Cole slammed a hand into the wall, furious.

“Yeah. Drugs. Your little thing with
her
.” Regina gestured out the window to where the poster lay—the poster, he realized, of the movie he’d starred in with Georgia Evans.

“Our little thing.” Cole repeated this with disgust, looking at her through new eyes. “Are you seriously referring to a destructive dependency problem as
our little thing
?”

“Drugs. That poster. That fucking video.” Regina balled her hands into fists at her sides. “It all comes back to her, doesn’t it?”

“What?” Cole’s reply was brusque and instant, but as he spoke a pang rippled through his chest.

Regina lifted her chin and crossed her arms over her naked chest. “You always loved her more than you loved me.”

“Regina.” He didn’t deny it. He couldn’t. Georgia Evans had blazed through his life like a rocket that he’d never quite been able to catch hold of, and he’d never been able to quite recapture that feeling. He suspected he never would.

“You say her name in your sleep, you asshole.” Regina shook her head as tears started to roll down her cheeks. She swiped a hand over her face, and her lipstick smeared. “That bitch is like a ghost following you around. You can't shake her.”

“Don’t call—”

“Save it.” Regina held up her hand. “Look, let’s call this what it is. I hooked up with you because I wanted to further my career and because you’ve got a big cock. You took up with me because you wanted to shed the party-boy rep and because we were good when we fucked. It’s my fault I got feelings.”

“Georgia is my ex.” Cole narrowed his eyes.

“And now so am I.” Smirking, Regina flipped him the finger, then moved over to the next poster.

“You are batshit crazy.” He watched her movements, not able to bring himself to stop her. Maybe because… maybe because he felt more than a little bit guilty?

She wasn’t wrong. She wasn’t wrong about any of it.

“If I’m crazy, it’s from months of trying to compete with a ghost.” Her face blank, Regina moved to the desk, glanced down at the laptop sitting open on it. Biting her lip, she moved the screen so that he could see and pressed a button. Immediately the sex tape he had made with Georgia started playing.

All sympathy he felt for Regina fled out the window along with his possessions.

“I can get you in a hell of a lot of trouble for doing that, Regina.” His voice was quiet. “Did you think about that? Georgia wasn’t even eighteen in that tape.”

“You’ll never prove it was me.” Regina shrugged , then turned back to the task at hand, seemingly unbothered by the moans and pants emanating from the laptop. And in that second Cole realized that she didn’t actually care—she wasn’t hurt because she loved him.

She was pissed because she’d been rejected.

Shaking his head, Cole turned and headed from the room. He paused in the doorway to cast one last look over his shoulder at the woman he’d thought he had some genuine affection for.

She was smiling to herself as the sounds of Georgia’s climax poured from the computer. And with that, all remaining threads of pity he held in his heart for her snapped.

He didn’t need this shit.

He had enough waiting for him back at Black Towers.

Chapter Three

“Next month: Reporter Liv Bremer will go in-depth on former wild child Georgia Evans’ surprise sex tape scandal.”
ELITE MAGAZINE

Georgia shifted in her seat and tried not to appear nervous.

“I'm sorry, I have no idea what’s going on.” Evan Black reclined in his seat behind the large desk. “Normally he's very punctual.”

“Despite his image in the media, our leading man is normally quite dependable.” The director, Kevin Hawke, agreed from his seat next to him.

Georgia folded her hands in her lap and forced herself to smile brightly. “It's okay.”

She nibbled her lip in thought. “Who did you say we were waiting for again?”

“This is so unusual.” Evan ignored her question. “Something must have happened.”

He stood and held out his hand. Georgia didn’t miss the way his eyes swept over her body—she was sure he’d seen the sex tape. Hell, everyone else had. At least he hadn’t commented on it.

“I can't force you wait any longer.” Ethan tilted his head, studying her. Georgia felt like a bug under a microscope. “I'm sure you're very busy.”

“It’s okay, really.”
Ha.
Not as busy as he seemed to think. “Maybe he'll be by in a few more minutes.”

And now she sounded desperate. Awesome.

Kevin glanced at his watch. “Unfortunately, we have another meeting—”

Suddenly, the door burst open to the office. “Sorry I'm late.”

Georgia froze as a sexy golden-haired man entered the room.
Oh, no.
No, no, no, no, no.

“Where have you been?” Kevin pushed his hipster glasses up on his nose and scowled at the new arrival, whose face was set in inscrutable lines. “We don’t have much time here.”

“I had something I needed to deal with.” And that’s when Cole turned the force of those long-lashed eyes onto Georgia for the first time in years. He held the gaze, and she felt the force of it like a punch in the gut.

“Hello, Georgia.” The corners of his lips curved up in a ghost of a smile, and Georgia felt her knees actually tremble.

No,
oh no
, she couldn’t do this.

“Well, I think we all know that you two, ah, know each other.” Ethan smirked at Cole, who ignored him, keeping his eyes on Georgia.

“It all makes sense now.” Turning to Ethan, she shoved the folder with her copy of the script against his chest. “Thank you for the opportunity. But I won’t be manipulated into a job.”

“Manipulated?” Kevin and Ethan spoke at the same time, but Georgia kept her attention focused on Cole.

“What is this?” She shook her head, her limbs trembling. “Some twisted way to get back at me for breaking up with you?”

“Do you honestly think I released that tape? That I would do something like that to you?” Anger pulled Cole’s features tight. “And news flash, baby. You didn’t break up with me. You fucking disappeared.”

“Wait.” Ethan scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I thought Regina released that tape.”

“Who the fuck is Regina?” Kevin’s youthful face was watching the scene playing out in front of him, entranced.

“I did
not
disappear.” Georgia faltered. She had, in fact, done just that. But Cole had no idea why.

She would never tell him.

“It doesn’t matter why you did it.” Georgia leaned in, lowering her voice. Cole’s heat hit her senses, the warmth of his skin and something else she’d never been able to identify but that drew her like a moth to flame. As she stared at him, she felt that little click that had always connected them snap back into place.

“That video was private.” She whispered this, and tensed when Cole leaned in closer still.

“It wasn’t that private the time we had Liam Carter holding the camera. Remember how hard he came watching us?”

Georgia’s mouth fell open with shock. “How dare you—”

“And it wasn’t that private when you invited Michelle Roddingham into our bed. I bet I still have that video, too. Should I check?”

“
Cole
!” Georgia barely repressed a shudder as his lips grazed her earlobe. “All of that. Every time we did something like… that. I was flying high on Ecstasy and drunk out of my mind.”

“Being drunk and high for the experience doesn’t negate the fact that it happened.” Cole pulled away so quickly that Georgia actually felt a chill. Crossing his arms over his chest, he watched her with a guarded expression on his face.

Georgia was absolutely speechless.

The tension in the room was broken by the sound of enthusiastic clapping. As one, Cole, Georgia and Ethan turned to where Kevin was all but bouncing up and down in his seat with excitement.

“This! This is what I’ve been waiting for!” Theatrically, the director collapsed back in his chair, his hand clutched to his chest. “This chemistry! Yes! You’re hired!”

Ethan cast an irritated look at the director before shrugging, as if conceding the point. “I’m more interested in what we can do publicity-wise with the two of you. And the fact exists that you two made a sex tape, and that tape got released. It’s gone viral and is creating a lot of buzz for this project. This could be huge. It could be even bigger if the two of you got back together.”

“Not happening.” Georgia felt herself begin to shake. No way could these men know that just being in the same room as Cole was causing her carefully constructed walls to deteriorate.

They couldn’t know that nothing as simple as a breakup had occurred. Hell, even
Cole
didn’t know that.

“I’m not suggesting you make another tape.” Ethan spoke mildly, but Georgia got the impression that if they wanted to give that a go, he’d be all for it. “Just hear me out.
Jungle Heat
was a cult classic. Given your, ah, real-life romance and even more real-life... oh, let`s not pussyfoot around. The fact that the entire world has now seen you fucking. Just the two of you working together will make this project a hot commodity. That means more publicity. More money for all of us.

“What could you possibly be getting out of this?” Georgia turned back to Cole and threw her hands up in frustration. “You could be in the new Captain Patriot movie! What are you doing here?”

“Sometimes the shinier thing isn’t the better thing.” Cole spoke quietly, and Georgia knew he was trying to communicate some underlying meaning.

Was he... was this his warped way of trying to establish some kind of peace between them?

Was he out of his
mind
?

“You just work together. We’ll leak a few of the sex scenes from the show early, maybe send you two out to some parties together.” Ethan and Kevin glanced at each other. “We wouldn’t actually expect you to date for the sake of the show. Just to give the impression that there might be something more.”

“So basically, you want us to lie.” This entire day was turning into one bitter disappointment after another. She wasn’t here because anyone saw any glimmer of talent left in her. She was here because together she and Cole equaled money.

And if he could clear his conscience while he was at it, all the better for him. But time had truly warped the man she’d once known if he thought she would react kindly to him releasing one of their sex tapes.

“Not lie.” Ethan grinned enigmatically. “Just . . . not tell the whole truth.”

Georgia exchanged a glance with Cole—where was he, exactly, on this whole fake relationship idea?

She couldn’t tell from his expression, and suddenly she was done with games. The sex tape, the fake dating, the secret she’d kept from Cole for so many years…

She couldn’t do this. No, more than that—she wouldn’t do this to herself.

“I’m sorry, but I just realized that I have a scheduling conflict.” Raising her chin in the air, Georgia braced herself. She knew these men would talk until they were blue in the face, so she was changing tactics.

“Sweetheart.” Ethan cast her a pitying glance. “We both know that you really don’t.”

“Yes, I do.” She glared at each man in the room, gaining strength when they withered beneath her gaze. “It might only be a yogurt commercial, and it might not pay much. But it’s a real job. And to land it I don’t have to deal with any of this shit.”

Letting her stare fall on Cole last, she swallowed shakily. For one wild moment she was tempted to blurt it out, the secret she’d been holding onto so tightly. If she’d come face to face with him before the sex tape had released, she just might have.

Now? He didn’t deserve to know. Swallowing thickly, she nodded with finality.

“Goodbye.”

***

Cole stared at the door in shock. Never in a million years had he imagined that Georgia would actually believe that he was the one who had released that tape.

Though he supposed that if he was in her shoes, he would have been the logical conclusion.

Damn you to hell, Regina.

Behind him, Ethan and Kevin were speaking in low voices. Cole ignored them, pushing through the glass door of Ethan’s office and sprinting after Georgia.

“Georgia, stop.” He jogged after her, taking in her swaying hips and long, dark hair as he hurried toward the front entrance of the Black Towers lobby. When he finally closed the distance, he grabbed her arm. She stiffened beneath his touch, and he winced at being the one to cause that reaction.

As she turned to face him, memories flooded to the surface. Memories of how he’d sifted his hands through that wild mermaid hair, how he’d dug his fingers into her hips as she’d ridden his cock.

That sex tape had caught one of their tamer moments. Fueled with booze, X, and whatever else had been around, both of them had lived life on the edge. In front of the camera, they were media darlings, wild but forgiven because they’d been so obviously in love.

Behind the scenes… well, anything had gone. Endless nights of partying, every depraved activity they could think of. Their entire relationship together had been based on chasing a thrill, and neither of them had shied away from anything that had provided it for them.

Cole still didn’t understand what the catalyst had been for Georgia’s abrupt departure from his life. She’d wanted to get clean, of course, but he’d always figured it was something more than just waking up one day with a new point of view.

Her leaving had shattered him. He’d tried so hard to win her back, but Georgia had erased him from her life.

He’d tried to move on with his own, but the parties had never felt the same. As months and years passed, he’d stopped living the crazy lifestyle and cleaned up his act. Hollywood wanted the party boy, though, so he still went out just enough to maintain his wild image, which got him the jobs.

His relationships had been meaningless, however, and alcohol had lost its allure. In a world full of fake smiles and even faker tans, Georgia had been the real deal, and over the years he found that he missed her blunt honesty and sarcasm as much as he missed her lying next to him in his bed. He’d been so hell-bent on getting her on this project because he knew, deep down he knew, that he needed some closure.

“Let go of me.” Georgia’s voice was quiet but firm. “If you think I’m going to be part of this project after you released that tape, then you really
are
as dumb as you like to pretend.”

Okay, so perhaps he didn’t miss her honesty quite that much.

“Georgia, listen.” He scrubbed his hands over his eyes. He liked to be in control, and after ten minutes with her, he was spiraling into chaos again.

“No, you listen.” She slid her gaze down to his chest and a strange expression crossed her face. “You still wear that?”

Cole looked down at his shirt, peeking out from underneath his leather jacket. “Huh?”

She pointed at his chest. “That’s the T-shirt I got you from that rock concert. The Rolling Rocks.”

“You got it for me for our one-year anniversary.” Noting her little intake of breath, he knew that she remembered that night too. The memories they shared affected her, and though he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted from her, knowing that he wanted
something
was enough to make him use every tool he had.

“It was an amazing night, wasn’t it?” Gently, not sure she would allow him to, Cole tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Back stage passes, after-party on the bus. . .”

“…you held my hair as I puked all over the drummer’s shoes…” Her words were sarcastic, but the barest ghost of a smile whispered over the corners of her lips.

He chuckled. “You and tequila never mixed well. Not that you ever listened to me.”

“I never listened to you. It was part of my charm.” Her smirk turned into a full smile, one that tugged at Cole’s chest. He found himself inhaling shakily.

“It still is.” Hesitantly, Cole reached out and brushed his fingers over her cheek. She still had that smooth, pale skin he loved, and those bright, cornflower blue eyes. It was difficult to resist the urge to kiss each and every freckle along her nose and cheeks. They gave her an innocence and youthful glow that was so different from the other women of the industry. Georgia was like a breath of fresh air and Cole felt something tighten in his gut as he remembered how exhilarating their relationship had been. It had been like riding a fucking rollercoaster, and he’d loved every second of it.