Eternal (4 page)
Authors: London Saint James
“I know
Bean admitted. “I met him on a couple of different occasions. He, Ace, and
school together.”
“Yes, I recently became aware of that,” I
confessed.
“So what’s the deal with
“You cannot believe everything you read, Bean.
All of the pictures, and I understand there are more than I have even seen
myself, they may look like we are dating but we are just friends. We have been
in several meetings together so the press took a slanted view and ran with it.”
“Hum.” Bean rubbed his chin. “Tell us about
Cayden.”
“Cayden is a wonderful person. He is extremely
intelligent. He has a lot of interest. He has absolutely no privacy. It’s like
living in a fishbowl so he is careful what he does and just how much of the
real Cayden he allows people to see. He cannot go anywhere or do anything
without someone following him. His fans love him, and they are obsessed with
him as well. He lives a life in the spotlight. I can say I do know he is
unhappy about all the publicity, but that is really all I can say about him.”
“So than you have spent some time with him?”
Claudia asked.
“Yes.”
“And isn’t that hard for you?” Bean asked.
“Seeing someone who looks like….”
“It was very difficult.” I crossed my legs only
to find myself playing with the bottom edge of my jeans. “But really, let’s
talk about you guys. Tell me what have you all been up to?” I said. I squirmed
a bit before coming to a comfortable position on the couch.
It was obvious I was not going to answer any
further questions about Cayden, which I am sure raised more questions,
nonetheless my friends decided to let it drop. We talked about updates in their
lives. I was surprised to hear Bean is an architect and works for a well-known
firm. I would not have guessed that as a career path for Bean. It was good to
see him talking about something he obviously loved.
Claudia has been working for a fashion magazine
as an assistant to the editor. She is hoping someday to become editor and has
set her aspirations at achieving her goals. Jewel is a buyer for
She has been dating her boss for the last year and a half. She admitted he is
married, saying she knows she should walk away from him, but she believes she
is in love, even though Jewel admits he has no intention of leaving his wife of
eleven years for her.
Wes moved to
It would seem no one has heard from him in a while. Will moved to
meeting his wife through an internet dating site; they have a four-year-old
daughter. He still calls Bean from time to time. It was Wes and Bean who was
close, so it surprised me their relationship had changed.
“It was Austin who held our group together. He
was the glue. Things changed after he died,” Bean interjected. I shook my head.
I knew exactly what he meant.
Ace is a cameraman for a local news station.
Jewel laughed and said I have probably seen some of his work since I have been
in the news lately. I was surprised to hear he has been married twice, has two
children, and is engaged to be married again. Jen and Lynn seemed to fall out
of touch years ago. The last anyone heard, Jen married a lawyer who was
retained on a permanent basis for a Wall Street firm. No one knows where
in
her girlfriend was from.
Around eight, I admitted I would need to get
back. Jewel explained how she had to break me out of hiding without going into
any real details. Everyone laughed at the bizarreness of the whole thing, and I
could tell there were more questions lurking, but Jewel agreed to take me back
to “jail” as she called it.
I helped Claudia and Jewel gather up our plates,
glasses, and the remains of the angel food cake we snacked on before we all
said our goodbyes and agreed to stay in better touch. I was unsure I could
really promise to stay in touch the way they would like, but again my friends
decided not to ask me any further questions, so for that I was grateful.
Jewel and I exited out of the elevator into the
main lobby area of the apartment building. All hell broke loose. All I could
see was flashing lights, blinding me with speed. It was an ambush, complete
with screaming people flinging questions at me, pressing into me, and knocking
Jewel down. The cameras clicked in rapid succession. The sound of all the
voices, along with the bright flashing of all the flashbulbs, became
overwhelming. It took me a second to gain my bearings. I grabbed for Jewel’s
hand. I pulled her up while trying hard to back into the elevator for escape.
“What’s wrong with you people?” I shouted out.
“Can’t you see you knocked down my friend?”
A deep voice rang out, “Tell us, Ms. Wells.
Where is
“Can you tell us how the filming is coming on
Cayden’s movie?” Another voice screeched out over the rest.
Someone else asked, “What are your upcoming
plans?”
Another more muffled voice added, “Tell us about
Cayden. Is it true you were staying in the same hotel as him over the weekend?”
“Can you tell us why you use a pen name and not
your real name? Would you rather we call you Ms. Perri or Ms. Wells?” someone
else bellowed.
Each question seemed to hit me, knocking me back
further and further. It was like being hit with bricks. Each question bruised
my skin, left a mark. Jewel and I made it back into the elevator, stumbling
over our own feet. She flipped someone the bird before the doors closed.
We were stuck. My hands shook, not in fear but
in total and complete anger. I wanted to bust out of the elevator like the
Tasmanian Devil and beat down the first person I could get my hands on.
“I am so sorry, Winter. This is all my fault,”
Jewel said.
“No. I knew better. It’s just…I really didn’t
think we would have this kind of a problem.”
“How the hell are we going to get you out of
here?” Jewel said with sheer panic covering the entirety of her usually jovial
face.
I reached into my bag and pulled out my cell
phone. “Don’t stop on the sixth floor, or they will bombard Claudia and Bean.
Stop on any other floor,” I said. Jewel pushed the button to the fourth floor.
“Crap!”
No signal.
“Who are you going to call?” Jewel asked.
The bell to the elevator rang. Jewel and I
stepped out onto the fourth floor. I walked toward the window in the hallway,
trying to gain a signal. I had no choice. When I had four bars on my screen, I
flipped open my phone, dialed and waited two rings….
“Jayden,” I said when he answered.
“Winter! Where the hell are you?” Jayden
replied. He was not his usual calm cool self.
“I am so very sorry. I can explain later, but
for now, I am trapped inside of a building. The press, they are everywhere.
Jayden, they are swarming like ants. They even knocked down my friend trying to
get to me. They have been doing their homework, too; they know my real name
now.”
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“I guess. I don’t know how to get out of here,”
I confessed.
“Tell me where you are.”
I told him the address.
“Stay away from the crowds as best you can.
Langdon and I will come get you. Langdon is closer to you than I am so he will
be there first.”
Crap, Langdon
.
You
have gone and done it now, Winter.
I ended my call and threw my phone back into my
bag. No doubt Cayden was going to go insane when he heard this, and he would
hear about it. There would be no way to keep it from him, especially since
Langdon was his personal bodyguard.
I looked back at Jewel and knew I had to find a
way to get her out of this mess.
“Jewel, you need to get back into the elevator.
Stop on several different floors then either go back to Claudia and Bean’s or
take the fire exit to your car. You need to get out of this mess. My bodyguard
and Cayden’s bodyguard will be here soon. They will get me out of here.”
“No, I am not going to leave you,” she said with
tears in her eyes.
“Listen to me. I do not want you involved any
more than you already are. You do not need to worry about me. Do what I am
asking for me, please.”
Jewel looked at me for a long moment and shook
her head in agreement. She hugged my neck and stepped back into the elevator. I
watched when it stopped on the fifth floor before it went up to the eighth
floor. I stopped watching the numbers and stood in complete silence, beyond mad
at myself as well as a little dazed. When my cell phone rang, it startled me.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Winter, this is Langdon. Where are you? I am
almost at the apartment building now.”
“I’m on the fourth floor. The press was swarming
the lobby, but I don’t know where they are now.”
“Winter, is there an elevator or stairs?”
“Both. I took the elevator, but there is a
stairwell for fire exits.”
“Get back into the elevator,” he said. “Stop on
more than one floor then go to the second floor. Find the fire exit and wait
there. Do not go into the stairwell,” Langdon instructed then the phone went
dead.
I walked toward the elevator. I heard the bell,
the doors opened. I watched in horror. Three men exited with cameras in
position. They had already started taking pictures of me before they stepped
out of the elevator. I held my hand up to my face and froze.
“Please,” I said. “I am not interesting at all.
You are wasting your time here with me.” It seemed my voice was small.
“Winter. Can I call you Winter?” A large dark
curly-haired man asked while still snapping pictures. I ignored him and tried
to cover my face. I backed up from the camera lenses that were extremely close
to me.
“Don’t be that way, we just want to ask you a
few questions,” another voice rang out.
“I do not have anything to say,” I replied,
hoping to buy some time.
I wasn’t going to make it to the second floor.
All I could do was hope Langdon would finally find me here. At least three
people were much more manageable than the horde of press I ran into down in the
lobby.
The third man joined in
.
“We are trying
to do our job here. You are making things much more difficult than they need to
be.”
“You know, breaking into apartment buildings and
evading people’s privacy is not what I would call a job!”
The dark curly-haired man laughed a breathy
sound. “When you decide to hook up with famous people, you should know what you
are getting into.”
“Just because someone is famous does not give
you the right to every piece of their life.” I was really getting pissed off.
All I could think about was how hard things were for Cayden due to these
people.
“What can you tell us about
dark curly-haired man asked. “It seems you two are quite cozy.”
“It is none of your business why I am here or
where
The third man with red hair asked, “How do you
feel about Cayden Cain? We hear rumors you two were staying in the same hotel
without his brother
Wouldn’t you like to set the record straight?”
“No,” I said.
“No, you weren’t staying at the same hotel, or
no, you don’t want to set the record straight?”
“Or maybe you are interested in having a little
brother action.” The dark curly-haired man smirked, trying to bait me. “Playing
both brothers, huh? Share and share alike, is it? Acting out some of those hot
steamy love scenes you write?”
“You’re sick.”
“Well, I can give the Cain brothers some credit,
they always surround themselves with grade A tail,” he returned. “Cheryl Lynn’s
a piece of prime cut which Cayden sinks his teeth into and then there is that
he was out and about with a few months ago.”
“Shut up!” I yelled.
“Touchy when it comes to Cayden I see. How about
procured more
star.”
“You really are twisted,” I said.
He shrugged. “Maybe? Being around as long as I
have been, I've seen some twisted things. But writing the books you do, I
imagine you are acquainted with twisted.”
Langdon’s
voice leapt across my senses as he told the photographers to get back. His deep
voice a welcome sound. He barreled through them, hurling his arms around my
shoulders. He moved quickly, walking with me to the fire exit. Once we were
inside the stairwell, he shut and busted the security breakaway mechanism,
locking the door behind him.