Hollywood on Tap (18 page)

Pulling out onto Main Street, he gave The Kitchen Sink one last look in the rear–view mirror. A dark–blue baseball cap tossed on the backseat showed in the mirror’s lower right corner. He didn’t have to look closer to know it had Sweet Salvation Brewery embroidered on it in red.

Well, he didn’t need that thing anymore. There were other jobs out there. He’d hire on with a construction crew or he’d go back to bussing tables. Maybe he’d finally empty the millions out of his Hollywood bank account before disappearing again—this time for good. Hell, he might as well take the money and run. He’s was a damn fool for not draining the account sooner and killing off the ghosts of his old life.

Turning left onto Highway 28, he blew past the Salvation City Limits sign and the Fix ’Er Up Auto Body Shop. Driving into the early darkness, he squinted to make out the signs for the upcoming interstate alongside the highway. The interstate would take him as far north or south as he wanted to go. It didn’t matter which exit he took as long as it got him out of Salvation and away from reminders of Natalie.

How many miles would that take?

More than this road had.

He eased his foot off the gas pedal. An eighteen–wheeler’s driver blared his horn and whizzed around Sean’s SUV. He didn’t even flinch. All he could hear was Ruby Sue’s pointed statement. Was he running away from something when he should be running toward someone?

Toward Natalie.

A quarter mile went by.

The scent of honeysuckle snuck into the SUV.

Then another quarter mile.

He could hear her soft moans.

And another quarter mile.

The road disappeared and all he could see was her light–brown waves tumbling down around her shoulders.

He coasted down the interstate’s shoulder until finally, his SUV puttered to a stop in front of an exit ramp. The farther he went, the closer he got to her. It didn’t make sense, but he couldn’t deny the truth of it.

Flipping on the hazard lights, he stared at the green sign with the four–letter word in large white block letters: Exit.

Certainty slammed into him.

He was done running. He’d been done the moment Natalie had walked into his life with her cotton–candy sweaters, tiny little buttons and ever–present clipboard full of change.

Now it was time to prove it to her.

An interloper in what had been his sanctuary, Sean skulked through the Sweet Salvation Brewery’s front doors like a trespasser. He’d been counting on the brewery’s tasting room being abandoned in the few minutes before everything shut down for the night. The fates must have been smiling down at him because there wasn’t a soul to be seen as he pocketed the keys he was supposed to have left with Hailey yesterday.

Natalie’s subcompact was still in the parking lot, so he knew she was here. He had to find her and explain everything. It may not get him his job back, but that wasn’t his number–one priority right now. Shit, it hadn’t been since Natalie had come into his life. She’d changed everything and he hadn’t even realized until now.

Turning the corner into the hallway leading to Natalie’s office, he almost plowed into Billy. “Whoa, sorry about that, kid.”

“What are you doing here?” Billy looked over his shoulder. “Miranda and Natalie made the announcement this morning that you were…uh…”

Feeling sorry for the kid, he threw him a bone. “Fired?”

Billy stared at his tennis shoes. “I was gonna say let go.”

“That’s a nicer way of putting it.”

“Oh God.” Billy’s eyes rounded and his gaze bounced all around Sean. “You’re not gonna do something crazy are you?”

Understanding why Billy might be on edge, Sean held up his hands, palms forward, showing he wasn’t armed. “Nope, but I have to talk to Natalie.”

Billy gave him a smirky smile. “I’d heard rumors about you two. Come on.” He turned and headed toward the brewery floor.

Following close behind, Sean shook his head. “Is there anyone in Salvation who doesn’t gossip?”

He shrugged. “It’s a small town. We’re each other’s entertainment.” Billy pushed open one of the swinging doors that led to the brewery floor. “Natalie and Miranda sent everyone home early tonight, I guess to make up for canning you. She’s in the research room.”

“Thanks, man.” Sean slipped through the opening.

Billy gave him a thumbs–up. “Good luck, man. I’ll lock the front door behind myself.”

Crossing the brewery floor, his footsteps echoed in the empty, cavernous space.

He’d never been this nervous in his life. Not when he’d stood up to his father and his angry fists for the first time. Not when he’d skipped town with a few bucks in his pocket and a stolen car. Not when he’d first walked into The Kitchen Sink hungry, exhausted, and lost to ask Ruby Sue for a job—any job. None of those snapshots in time mattered as much as this.

He paused just outside the reference room and spied her from the doorway.

Natalie stood with her back to him, reading through his notes for the sweet–and–sour stout that would win the Southern Brewers Invitational. Hair pulled back into a ponytail and wearing her signature cardigan–and–skirt combo, she looked so much like she had the first day he’d seen her. That day he’d pegged her as an uptight micromanager with a phenomenal ass and then proceeded to spend the first few weeks ignoring her completely.

What a fucking idiot.

“Natalie.”

She whipped around, her fingers clutching her pearl necklace. As soon as she saw him, the surprise faded from her blue eyes, replaced by a much cooler emotion. “What are you doing here?”

Walking in with his hands up, he stopped a few feet away from her. “We need to talk.”

“No, we don’t.” She pushed her glasses up her nose and inhaled a shaky breath.

“I owe you an explanation.” He tried to think of a decent counterargument for when she told him to shove off.

She considered him for a moment, her jaw tight as she rubbed her upper arms. “If that’s what it takes to get you to leave, let’s hear it.”

Surprised, his mind went blank. Shit. What did he do now?

While he fumbled for words, for where to begin, she stared, not giving him an inch. He took a deep breath. As Julie Andrews said, the beginning is a very good place to start.

“My dad was a frustrated actor who’d never gotten his big break, so he was determined to make his son a success. I started going on auditions as soon as I could sit up on my own. Commercials led to television shows, which led to movies.”

“Don’t forget the Oscar.” A hurt bitterness twisted her tone.

Damn, he had fucked this up so bad. He hated that he’d done that to her. “Yeah, and an Oscar. Rupert got parts of the story right. I was wild. I did things I shouldn’t have and took advantage of people whose only goal was to be with someone famous.”

Those days were hazy, but the ugly loneliness came through in crisp detail. It still had the power to rake its claws through his flesh and leave a gaping wound that never seemed to heal.

“But it caught up to you,” Natalie prompted.

If only it had been that easy. “No.” Sean shook his head. “My father caught up to me. He had a wicked backhand but when I was younger he’d usually made sure to land the real nasty blows on places that the camera wouldn’t pick up. Forgotten lines might mean a swift smack the first time. The second time resulted in the whistle of his belt. If I fucked–up a third time, I’d spend the night in the closet. Being a child actor wasn’t fun and games for me. It was a way of keeping my dad appeased. He controlled everything I did and every hour of my day.”

Her hand covered her mouth in horror. “My God, how long did it go on?”

“Until I got big enough to fight back.” He shrugged. “Those are the days when I’d report to the set early so the makeup artists would have time to cover the bruises. They figured I was just another head case with too much money and fame, running wild. I never bothered to correct them.”

Natalie crossed the room. Her gentle fingers brushed the scar above his eye from when his father had launched a coffee cup at him. “I’m so sorry, Sean.” She rose up on her tiptoes, kissed the scar, and stepped back.

He hated losing her touch, but he had to finish. It couldn’t be only about pity for him. “That wasn’t the worst of what my father had done. My mom had taken off shortly after I was born. So it had been just my dad and I. When I was eighteen, my grandmother moved to California. She lived nearby, but not close enough to see what was going on. Ruby Sue reminds me of her—a deadly combination of brass–knuckle tough love served with a side of cookies. At that time, I wanted nothing more than to retire from acting, but my dad was dead set against it. Once I’d gotten too big to beat, he had to learn other ways to keep me in line and acting.”

She took his hand in hers and squeezed. “What happened?”

“My grandmother got sick.” His voice broke. He closed his eyes and saw her frail and helpless in the hospital, too weak to complain but too strong to let go. “Really sick. And my bastard of a father, her own son, used her care as a bargaining chip. He’d found a script and thought I’d be perfect for it. If I didn’t agree to take the part, my grandmother would go from her expensive but exceptional nursing facility to a state–run place. He was her legal guardian at that point and had total control over where she lived.”

It wasn’t until the bastard had offered that ultimatum that Sean really learned how deep his hate could go. “I took the part. She stayed where she was, but she didn’t get better. She died a week before the Academy Awards.”

Natalie brought his hand to her soft lips and kissed him. The gentle reminder of her presence saving him from falling down the rabbit hole of painful memories.

“I don’t remember a damn thing about the awards ceremony until I was up on that stage. I stared down at my father with so much hatred in my heart that I wanted to kill the bastard right there on national television. Instead, as soon as I got offstage, I gave him the statue and snuck out the back. I stole a car and started running. I didn’t stop until I got to Salvation. Everything about me here started out as a lie, but I swear to God that lie helped me find the truth. It helped me find you.” The gossipy little town had saved him and falling in love with Natalie had set him free. “So that’s it. Now you know everything.”

“Do you ever miss acting?” she asked, her eyes swimming with emotion.

He almost told her no, just so to make those unshed tears disappear. But he was done lying to Natalie. “Only when I remember that feeling of being totally free and losing myself in a role. Sure, it was just glorified pretending, but I was good at it and a part of me still loved it despite my father.”

“Sean—” A blaring alarm went off in the brewery. Red lights flashed and the emergency lighting flipped on. “What the hell?”

He pulled Natalie close, adrenaline shooting through his veins. The saboteur, it had to be. “Power outage.”

“How?” She moved toward the research room’s door and reached for the knob.

“Not how,
who
.” He moved ahead of her, standing between her and the door. “Stay in here and keep the door locked.”

Pulling her close, he lowered his mouth to her soft lips. There wasn’t time to tell her everything else he wanted to say, but he was never good with words that didn’t come from a script anyway. All he could give her was himself and pray like hell it was enough. He ended the kiss and sprinted out of the room, determined to find the asshole fucking with the brewery before he could do more damage—or worse, hurt Natalie.

Shadows filled most of the brewery floor. As he hustled toward the electric panel to throw on the lights, a human–shaped shadow peeled away from the gloom.

He saw the flash before he heard the gun’s crack.

The bullet tore through his upper arm, knocking him off his feet. Falling backward, his head hit the concrete hard and bounced twice before an inky blackness fell.

Chapter Fourteen

Natalie grabbed an empty beer growler from the shelf and ran out into the dark before the gunshot finished echoing. She had to get to Sean before whoever was out there got him, if she wasn’t already too late.

Adrenaline shot through her veins as she hurried as fast as she could through the brewery. The fermentation tanks, brew kettles, and tall stacks of malt and barley loomed high, casting shadows in the soft–red emergency lighting that spanned most of the concrete floor. Visibility for shit, she slowed her pace, searching for Sean in the darkness.

Her pulse pounded in her ears, almost as loud as her panicked breathing. A staticky white noise buzzed in her head and her lungs pinched closed as the panic attack hit with thunderous effect. The sudden lack of oxygen knocked her to her knees. She hit the concrete floor, pain jolting up from her kneecaps, and she cried out. Unable to get more than a sip of air into her lungs at a time, her chest burned.

“You weren’t supposed to be here, but it looks like I’m the lucky one tonight.” Low and mean, the voice stabbed its way through the static blaring in Natalie’s head. “Get up or I’ll just shoot you here.”

A foot slammed into her side and she winced. Fighting against the blackness, she didn’t reach for the pearls. She didn’t have to. A vision of Sean out there somewhere, needing her help, brought light back to darkness and oxygen into her lungs. She wouldn’t let the anxiety win if that meant losing Sean.