The Price of Fame: A Price Novel (The Price Novels Book 2) (24 page)

I
had been in Chicago for nine days, and I hadn’t talked to Arden but once the whole time. We did text each other at least once a day, but that was all the communication going on between us. I would text her that I loved her, because I did, and I wanted to make sure she knew that, no matter how bad things were between us. Most of the time the only response I got was
I know
. Every now and then she would tell me she loved me too. This was taking her longer to get over than I thought it would, but I guess it was just part of the mess. I wouldn’t say that I was over it, but I was dealing with it, and I would eventually get over it.

I had three days off, and I was hoping to go home and try and work on things with her. I was later leaving than I had originally planned, and when I got home, Casey told me she had already gone to bed. Casey said she hadn’t been in there long, so I stuck my head in just in case, but she didn’t say anything, so I went to bed alone as usual.

About an hour later, I heard the bedroom door open, and Arden climbed into bed with me. She didn’t say anything, but she snuggled right up close to me like she was trying to keep warm. I wasn’t sure if that was it or not, so I didn’t move. I didn’t want her to leave. She always said I was warmer than an electric blanket. I could sleep completely naked with nothing but a sheet and be fine in the dead of winter, but she was always cold. I think it had to do with the fact that she had no meat on her bones. She usually used me like her own personal heater, and that was just fine. The closer she was to me, the better.

She completely shocked me when she started kissing the back of my neck. I almost wanted to turn the light on and make sure it was her, but I was afraid that would change her mood. I seriously thought about it, though. This was a whole one-eighty from the way she’d been acting the last few weeks, and there were two other women living in my house at the moment. Not that I thought either would do such a thing, but I hadn’t thought Arden was even speaking to me. I figured that my hands knew her body well enough to check out the situation. I rolled over and kissed her, and she kissed me back. It was her all right. I didn’t know what was going on, but I wasn’t going to spoil the moment by asking.

After we made love, I asked if that was her way of saying she forgave me.

She laughed. “No, that was my way of saying I’m horny—do your husbandly duties.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. I never knew what she was going to say. “What if I’d said no?”

“Like you would have said no.”

“OK, good point, but if I gave you sex, what are you going to give me in return?”

“Well, I think it was an even trade.” She laughed.

I laughed too at first, but then I was serious. “No, forget that. I want forgiveness.” She got quiet. “Arden, you know I didn’t cheat on you, don’t you?”

“Yes, but if you ever disappear like that again, I won’t forgive you. Do you understand?”

“Yes, and I think that’s fair.”

“You promise?” she asked.

“Pinkie promise.” I grabbed her finger. “How are things at work?” This was something I had been wanting to know for a while.

“You mean with Dr. Greene?” She groaned.

“That’s exactly what I mean.” Just thinking about it made me nervous.

“Whatever you did obviously worked, because he’s avoided me like the plague.”

“You sound upset about that.” That definitely worried me a little.

“No, I’m not. It just sucks because Greene gets really good surgeries, and of course I’m the only one he doesn’t work with.”

“I’m sorry! You want me to have another talk with him?”

“I don’t think that will be necessary. You never actually told me what happened when you saw him.”

“I just talked to him. Told him how I felt.”

“You just talked to him? That’s it?” She knew me way better than that.

I smiled sheepishly. “Well, pretty much. I did have him pinned against a wall with my hand on his throat while I was talking to him, but that’s pretty much it.”

“Slayde,” she laughed. “I knew you couldn’t control yourself.”

“Baby, that was pretty damn controlled.” I laughed too, but I thought I had handled it pretty well, given the situation.

“How did that not end up in the tabloids? ‘Slayde Price goes crazy on neurosurgeon in bar.’”

I laughed and shrugged. “I followed him into the bathroom and locked the door, so there wouldn’t be a scene. I wasn’t going to be stupid about it.”

“I heard some nurses talking about him having sex with some intern in one of the supply closets. I guess I’m stupid.”

“You’re definitely not stupid. I just think you always look for the good in people. That’s part of your nature, and I wouldn’t change anything about you.” I pushed her hair back and kissed her collarbone.

She lay quietly a minute before saying, “You really hurt my feelings when you said you and the babies didn’t need me. Did you mean that?”

“Are you serious?” I sat up and turned on the lamp. “Of course I didn’t mean that. I was just being a jerk. You know I need you. I’m sorry I said that.”

“And I’m sorry I said I hated you,” she said.

“So are you moving back in here with me?” I asked.

“I think so.”

“You think so?” I tickled her

“Stop! Stop!” she cried. She pinched me under my arm, and I let her go. “What I meant to say was, maybe if you’re really good I will.” I tickled her again. “OK, OK. Yes, I’m gonna move back in here.”

“Good. Because I haven’t slept worth a shit in forever.”

It seemed Arden had turned a corner with the whole becoming-a-mother thing. She seemed to actually be happy again. I was sure her being back at work was part of it, but she was a different person with the twins than she was the first few months. She said that when she was at work she could at least be herself. She felt like she hadn’t known who she was as a mother, and she was uncomfortable with the role. And that she had felt like she was losing herself. Whatever that meant. I guess I kind of understood, because I didn’t have that many changes in my life. I still worked just as much as before, and we had two full-time live-in nannies. So I pretty much only did the fun stuff with them.

We had let Hannah and Casey have the night off, and of course the twins were up all night because of their teeth. It was terrible. As soon as we got one to sleep, the other woke up. We eventually gave in and broke our number one rule: we put them in the bed with us.

“Did you ever think being a parent was going to be like this?” Arden asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, it’s just nothing like I thought. I love them more than anything, but it’s so stressful knowing they count on me to survive.”

I thought that was weird. “Well, baby, you kept them alive for almost nine months inside your body. This has to be easier than that.”

“Only because we have Casey and now Hannah. If I were being honest, I’d probably have run away in the beginning if we didn’t.”

“What?” I laughed, but she was serious. “Arden, you would not have left your children, our children, to fend for themselves.”

“No, but I’d probably have left them with you or your mom. I’m probably more like my mother than I thought. I’m horrible.” Her eyes were glassy with tears.

I put my arm around her and pulled her as close to me as I could get her without smooshing a baby. I made her look me in the eyes. “Baby, you’re tired. Cut yourself some slack, OK. You have a stressful job and two infants at home. Stop being so hard on yourself.”

“But if I was a good mother, I’d be home with them, and I know that’s what you really think.”

“No, it’s not. I love you for you. So what if you’re not June Cleaver? I knew that when I married you.” I kissed her temple. “Baby, listen, I think that you being at work is what’s best for everybody. It keeps you balanced. I’d much rather you be happy at work than miserable here. Casey and Hannah are fine.”

“Do you think they need help? Do you think we should hire someone else for nights while the babies are little?”

“Whatever you think. I sure don’t want to wear them out,” I said. “Just do what you want. That’s your call. The house will be finished shortly, and then we will have plenty of room for whoever else you want to hire.”

S
layde had gotten so busy. He was filming two different movies at the same time. Our schedules overlapped. It was horrible. Some days I wanted to quit, so we could be together, but I’d worked so hard for this. I couldn’t quit.

My nights and days always got mixed up when I’d been at work for longer than eighteen hours. It was late, and I couldn’t sleep. Slayde was in Chicago, and I missed him. It had been six days since I’d seen him.

I was flipping through the stations trying to find anything to pass the time, and found that MTV was airing an off-the-cuff interview of Slayde that I hadn’t seen. I could YouTube him for hours when I was really lonely, and I would run across stuff all the time I hadn’t seen. This particular interview was done during filming for one of his movies. The interviewer asked him about some awards he’d won, projects he was working on and had coming up, and about how he managed his time between work and his family. He gave his usual generic answers for most of it, but then he said something I didn’t expect. He said, “I really have a hard time being away from my wife. That’s the hardest thing. People see you on TV all the time, and they assume that’s really your life. You’re an actor, or a model, or whatever, and that that’s who you are, but it’s the furthest thing from the truth. That’s not who I am. That’s just what I do. Just like they get up and go to their jobs in the morning—so do I. All of this is part of my life, but it’s not my life. My wife, my family, that’s my life.”

I almost died. I couldn’t believe he had said that on television.

She went on to ask him if there were any kids in his future. He said, “I hope so!” She asked how many would be a good number. What was he shooting for? He blushed and said, “As many as she will let me.”

This kind of stuff was the reason he was so adorable and irresistible. The reason women everywhere wanted to rip his clothes off. The reason he had to have two bodyguards most anywhere he went. But the best part was, I knew that that was just Slayde being honest. I had no idea how I’d gotten so lucky to be the one he loved, but I was glad I was.

Dr. Greene had stayed away from me since Slayde threatened him, and he had kept me out of all of his surgeries whenever I did get on his rotation from time to time. So either he was afraid Slayde would kick his ass or he was punishing me for telling Slayde. I wasn’t sure which. I couldn’t believe what a jerk he was, and what an idiot I had been. How I really thought I could ignore him and it would just go down without some scene, I didn’t know. Now I noticed him acting the same way toward other people, so I was sure that was just his thing. I felt sorry for his family. Every now and then I caught him staring at me, and it kind of gave me the creeps. I tried to stay away from him.

Slayde was flying in that afternoon to meet with the builder and do the final walk-through, and I really wanted to go with him. Not because I cared that much about the house plans but because I really missed him.

Dr. Reeves had already agreed to come in early so I could leave, but I still had to let the attending in charge know, and today that was Adam Greene. I really hated to talk to him, but he was the only thing standing between Slayde and me. I approached him at the nurses’ station.

“Dr. Greene, I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to leave after lunch, and Dr. Reeves is going to come in for me.”

He looked up from his phone and smiled. “What if I say no?” I hadn’t expected that. “Are you going to have Slayde come beat me up?” he asked arrogantly.

“Are you serious right now?”

“Yes,” he said with a cocky little smile on his face.

“Dr. Greene, I don’t lie to Slayde ever! Not even about men hitting on me.”

“Well, then, you can’t leave early.” He turned to walk away from me.

I was pissed. No way was I taking this BS from him. I walked quickly to catch up with him, which was probably exactly what he wanted me to do. “You have to be kidding me. I work harder than anyone here, and you know that. I never leave early, and I always stay late.”

He stopped and looked back at me. “You’re still a resident, and I’m your attending today. So that means you have to play by the rules. My rules. You think you’re above the rules, but you’re not. I don’t care who your husband is.”

I couldn’t believe this. “I do not think that, and I always play by the rules. Who I’m married to has nothing to do with anything here at this hospital. You may not respect me as a doctor, but you have to respect me as a person.”

Chief Robbins walked around the corner and must have overheard us arguing. “What’s going on here?” He eyed us cautiously.

Dr. Greene said, “Arden—I mean, Dr. Price—wants to leave early.”

“Well, is someone coming in for her?” Chief Robbins asked, looking at him suspiciously. Oh yeah, he knew what Greene was up to.

“Yes, sir,” I chimed in.

Dr. Greene gave me a dirty look.

“Then there’s no problem, right?” Chief Robins said.

Dr. Greene rolled his eyes and stormed off.

Chief Robbins looked at me. “Is he giving you a problem?”

“No, I’m fine,” I replied. I wasn’t one to complain about things at work, and I wasn’t going to start now. I could handle Dr. Greene.

“Well, if you have any problems with him or anybody, you know you can come to me.” He winked at me.

“I know, thanks!” That meant a lot. Chief Robbins liked people to handle things themselves, but he had stepped in where I was concerned before, and I knew he would again if necessary.

Slayde had no idea I was coming to the walk-through, and I couldn’t wait to surprise him. I showered and dressed at the hospital and then headed to the new house. His Range Rover and his dad’s car were both there, but I didn’t see anybody. I walked around for several minutes. I hadn’t realized how big the house was. We would never use a fifth of this house, but Slayde had it drawn up exactly like he wanted, so that was OK with me.

I walked around for a while, getting a good look at all of it before looking for Slayde. It was almost finished, and it was beautiful. The kitchen was huge and opened to a large keeping area. This would be awesome for Casey and Hannah when they were cooking; that way the kids would be right there, playing in the same room with them.

The back wall was huge floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the backyard, which had a pool and plenty of play space for the kids, and it overlooked the valley. It was a beautiful view.

Upstairs, there was a playroom for the kids across the hall from the nursery, which shared a Jack and Jill bathroom with a spare room.

Our giant bedroom was at the end of the hall. It had huge closets and tall ceilings. Our bathroom had an enormous walk-in shower with four showerheads. There was a huge Jacuzzi tub in there and two sinks separated by massive counter space.

My favorite thing about the bathroom was that there were two toilets, in his and hers toilet rooms. Greatest idea ever.

Our bedroom’s huge windows opened up to a large balcony. Most of the back of the house opened out to the balcony on the second floor, some parts covered and some not. I loved it. Slayde and Zac had done an amazing job laying this all out. This was definitely our forever home.

I spotted Slayde and Zac by the pool, listening to the contractor talk about something. They were standing exactly alike, holding their arms exactly the same way. It was kind of funny to see how alike they were, but I would never tell Slayde that. I went downstairs and then snuck out behind Slayde and grabbed his butt. He jumped but turned around like he knew it was me. He smiled at me, and it still made my knees week. You would think after being with him for almost four years that would have worn off, but it hadn’t. I hoped it never did.

“Hey, baby!” He hugged me and picked me up and swung me around. “I’m so glad to see you. I thought you didn’t get off until seven.”

I shrugged. “I left a little early.”

After we finished up at the house, we went to this little place we liked for dinner that was not in the best part of town, but it was quiet, the food was good, and we could usually get in and out without drawing too much attention. We sat and talked for an hour after we ate. I missed being able to do stuff like this.

When I finished my salad, I was tired, and I couldn’t help but yawn.

“You ready to go?” he asked, leaning across the table, reaching for my hand.

“No, I’m fine. We don’t have to leave just yet.”

“Why don’t we go home and take a nap?” He winked at me, so I knew he wasn’t planning on napping.

The babies were sleeping, and Casey and Hannah were watching TV in the living room when we got home. We had hired a lady named Louisa who would sit with them at night. Since I worked crazy hours and Slayde was gone most of the time, we had to have people we could count on there at all times.

“You two are back early,” Casey said. “How is the house going?”

“We should probably be moved in within two weeks. The decorator will be getting with everyone to make sure everything is done just like you want it,” Slayde said. “Now, we are going to take a nap.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Casey said and looked at us with a smile. She was definitely used to living with us by now.

Before I knew it, we were all settled into the new house. I honestly didn’t do anything to help. Slayde had a decorator do all of the stuff on the inside of the house, and movers came and packed and unpacked. I wasn’t even there when that happened. Slayde flew home for less than twenty-four hours, took care of everything, and was gone without me even getting a chance to see him.

Slayde was going to be off for a few days, and I switched my schedule around so that I could be too. I knew this would mean killing myself for the next week, but a few days in a row with him was worth it.

Slayde’s costar in his newest films was Tate West. When I had first met him on set, he struck me as being like a little lost puppy that Slayde had picked up on the side of the road. They always seemed to have fun together at work, and he stayed at the house sometimes when I was working and Slayde was off. He was going to be staying with us for a few days when Isabelle was in town to see the new house, and Slayde got the bright idea to hook them up.

Isabelle was my favorite sister by far, but she wasn’t perfect by any means. She was a typical only child of a wealthy attorney in LA. She had always gotten everything she wanted and had never really been made to do anything she didn’t want to do. She was a good person but a little self-absorbed and sometimes a little irresponsible. However, she was still one of my closest friends, and I really wasn’t sure about setting her up with Tate West. He just wasn’t what I wanted for my sister.

“I don’t know, Slayde. I don’t know if he’s her type,” I said as I finished putting bottles in the dishwasher and turned it on.

Slayde hopped up on the counter across from me. “Why? What’s her type?”

“I don’t know, but I’m sure her type stays in hotels.”

“He does. He just likes it better here.” He laughed. He knew I had a point.

“Don’t you think that’s kind of weird, Slayde?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. I just think he’s lonely—that’s all.”

“Well, he doesn’t have to be. He’s rich, he’s famous, and he’s good-looking. I don’t think he would have a hard time finding other friends.”

“Oh, come on. Nobody wants those kinds of friends. You know better than that.” He paused for a second, like he was thinking. “You think he’s good-looking?”

“Oh, geez! I’m not playing matchmaker, but he’s gonna be here, and so is she. And if she likes him, fine, but don’t get your hopes up.”

“You don’t think he’s likable? I like him.”

“Yes, I just wish he wasn’t here when we have some time off together. You used to like hanging out with me.” I gave him my pouty face and leaned up against his legs.

He reached down and kissed me. “Baby, I still like hanging out with you. You’re just never here, and I get bored.”

“Whatever!” I smiled. “So he’s your work wife now? Julie’s out?”

“No, he’s just my bitch.” He laughed.

A few hours later I was in the kitchen getting lunch for the twins when Tate came in and leaned up against the counter. His sandy locks poked out from under the bottom of his cap and turned up behind his ears. His piercing blue eyes were studying me intently. “So, I hear your sister is going to be here.”

“Yes, she is. Are you still going to be here?” I asked, even though I knew the answer.

“Yep, if that’s OK.”

“That’s fine,” I said and smiled at him. As if I had a choice. Slayde had adopted him, so I was stuck with him unless I wanted to be the bitch. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Tate; it was that I liked to come home to just my family sometimes. I had Casey and Hannah living there, but they were considered my family.

“What’s she like?” he asked.

I looked at him funny. “I don’t know. She’s smart and funny and a really good person. Why?”

“Just wondering. What does she look like? Does she look like you? Slayde says she looks like you but with fake tits.”

I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to say. “Yes, I guess she does. Why does that matter?”

“It doesn’t, but you’re hot. I was just wondering,” he said and left the kitchen. I stared at the back of his head until he disappeared into the hall. I was not really sure what to think. I didn’t know if he realized how tacky he had sounded, or if he just didn’t care. Probably the latter.

When Isabelle got there, the guys were playing golf, so it was just the two of us for the time being. She hadn’t changed a bit. She still wore her blond hair in the same cute bob as she always had, and she was still a tiny little thing. Same old Iz. I was so happy to see her and wanted to catch up, so we decided to stay at the house and play with the twins.

“I can’t believe how cute they are.” Isabelle was giving Ava her bottle while I changed Noah. “No offense, but they look nothing like you.” She laughed.

“None taken. I agree wholeheartedly. They look just like Slayde. Maybe that just proves that good genes do take over. So, what’s been going on with you? How’s school?”