Disconnected (6 page)

             
I kiss her and hold her tighter against me. "You have to trust me, baby. This is my crazy, out of control world; but you're part of it. And you are going to be for the rest of my life. I promise you, I'm going to do all I can to show my love and earn your trust again, ok?"

             
"Ok," she answers, and I take her hand and guide her back through the crowd towards where we are all set up for filming. The first thing I notice is Scott flirting it up with Krista, and she's flirting right back. 

             
 "Ugh, sorry about that, she thinks he's reeaally cute, and those are her exact words."

             
I laugh and pull her closer to me, "Doesn't look like he's minding too much, babe. He's eating right out of her hand."

             
Katy laughs and I enjoy the feel of just holding her for a minute. It feels like nothing ever happened, and we're the same couple we were four years ago, young and in love. Now, though, we're jaded. There's still the hint of what we had, but I know I'm on thin ice. 

             
"I'm going to go rescue him so that you can get to work," Katy says with a smile and starts to walk towards where Krista and Scott are talking.

             
"Do you have to?" I ask with a frown and try to grab her for another kiss, but just get a laugh from her.

             
 "Uh-huh--none of that, Mister," She sticks her tongue out at me and whispers something in Krista's ear.

             
Krista says her goodbyes to Scott and then Scott leans down and kisses her cheek. That really surprises me. He has a no touching in public rule.

             
Before I can process that more, Katy comes back towards me with a reluctant Krista in tow. "Have a good day. Try to not incite the wrath of Ms. Dalton, hm?"

             
"I try to, believe me, I try." I lean down and kiss her before she can protest and smile to myself. "So, what are you two up to today?"

             
Krista links her arm with Katy's and answers for them. "We are going to try and find a spot that you guys haven't taken over on the beach and sunbathe."

             
Narrowing my eyes I look their tiny little outfits over and cross my arms. There is no way my wife is going to lay around on a beach in barely anything when there could be any kind of sleazy camera man there to take as many pictures as he pleases.

             
"Oh really? I’m guessing you have swimsuits on under those barely there outfits?" I ask them with a raised eyebrow.

             
Both girls smile and Katy gives me a quick wink, "Of course, bikinis. What else?"

             
I step closer and grit my teeth. "I don't want a bunch of college frat guys leering at you."

             
"Yeah, well, I don't want millions of women all over the world ogling at you, but I don't get a say in that," Katy says with a look and turns on her heel, pulling Krista behind her. As they leave, I growl at their retreating backs. Katy knows exactly what buttons to push with me; she's been doing it since we were kids. 

             
Scott comes to stand beside me and I take a breath to calm myself down. "Enjoy your chat with Krista?" I ask him and point towards some empty chairs to sit in.

             
He gets a smile on his face. "I did. I know she's a fan just as much as the next girl, but there's something different about her." He shakes his head as he messes with his hair. "She didn't throw herself on me, or try to get me to sign some unmentionable body part or anything. She didn't even come to me, I came up to her after you and Katy took off. By the way, are you ok?"

             
I sigh and slouch back in my chair. "Yeah, Alexia got real close to getting punched though. I don't even care that she's a girl and her face is probably insured into the millions."

             
Scott laughs, shaking his head. "She really has a thing for you."

             
"I've noticed." I cover my face and sigh. "Katy told me that somehow Alexia knew where to find her, because she went there last night and told her that I was taking part in the activities at the Excite party." I give him a pointed look.

             
"Oh. Sorry I got you mixed up in that trouble."

             
"Not your fault." I shake my head. "I feel like I'm being torn in two different directions. Like sometimes, I'm the Liam on camera that all these women think I am, air brushed, make-upped and a fake smile on my face. But when Katy's around, I'm not him, I'm the theater guy again, nervous and trying to be something more, ya know?"

             
He nods and leans back watching everyone walking around. "I get it. She's the link between what you used to be and who you are now. The person who reminds you of what you had before and what you could possibly have now."

             
"Exactly, how am I going to be good enough for her?"

             
"You'll figure it out. But I think if you weren't 'good enough' then she wouldn't have stepped foot on this set today. But I'm glad she did, because I got to meet Krista," he smirks, and I bump his shoulder.

             
"Don't do anything stupid with her, she's Katy's best friend. If you hurt her, you make Katy mad, and she'll be mad at the both of us."

             
He puts his hands up in a sign of surrender. "I'm not. She's a good girl. I mean, she's going to be a psychologist or counselor or something some day. She could do me good."

             
"Don't get too ahead of yourself."

             
"I'm not. But she's cute, right?"

             
I laugh. "Yeah, she is cute."

             
"See? She'd look good walking with me down the red carpets." He stands up and starts backing away, "Nothing wrong with thinking big."

             
I just shake my head as I watch him walk towards makeup to get ready to film, and can't help but wonder just how big he's really thinking.

Chapter 6

             
"Cut!" the director yells, and walks up to me and Alexia quickly. I take a step further away from her. I meant what I said to her earlier--as far as I'm concerned, she doesn't exist.

             
"Great job," Mr. Johnson starts off. "We'll probably only need one re-shoot and this scene will be done."

             
"The love scene is soon, right?" Alexia asks as she eyes me over.

             
"Yes, but it's not next. It's in a few days." He waves her off distractedly.

             
She nods and smiles at me before Scott jogs up to us, waving his phone around, and I can't understand what he's saying.

             
 "What? What's wrong?" I ask, pulling him away from everyone else.

             
"You're not going to like this."

             
"What?" I ask again, even more confused.

             
He shoves his phone into my hand, and when I see what's on the screen I come really close to chucking it far away so no one else can see the pictures. But they're on the internet--Katy and Krista on the beach in their tiny bikinis.  There's several different shots where Katy looks just scared and nervous, and then some of her and Krista running towards their car.

             
"I told you that you weren't gonna like it," Scott says as he pries his phone back out of my hand.

             
"Those damn photographers." I groan and run a hand through my hair, frustrated. "She can't just go out like that anymore. They want to find her doing something wrong, or heck, just dressed wrong, so they can put her in the next magazine they print out!"

             
Scott frowns as he looks down at his phone and scans through each picture. "Even Krista looks freaked out. Those girls are totally clueless to what these kind of guys are like. It's about more than the picture. I bet they'll have some kind of dirt dug up on the both of them in the time for the nightly stories." He glares at the screen and shoves it into his pocket.

             
"I'm getting Katy security, that's all there is to it." I pull my phone out and scroll through, looking for the number to my security guy.

             
"Raden Security," he answers after just one ring.

             
"It's Liam. I need to hire security detail for my wife."

             
"And I want it for Krista, too." Scott pipes in, glaring at where his phone is.

             
I raise an eyebrow to that but nod. "Ok, for my wife as well as her best friend, Krista Quinn."

             
"Yes sir, when would you like it started?"

             
"Tomorrow."

             
"Yes, sir," And with that I hung up the phone.

             
"You sure you want to bring Krista into your life like this?" I ask him.

             
"Yep, I told you Liam, she's different, and I like her. I don't like seeing that freaked out look on her face either, not when I could have someone there to protect her as well as Katy. Now, call and tell the girls." He shakes his head and yanks his phone out again. He curses at the pictures and I get worked up again as I start dialing Katy's number.

             
"Damn photographers, if I was there they would have gotten a broken camera..." I mutter until I hear Katy's voice on the other line.

             
"Whoa, whoa, slow down. What?”

             
I close my eyes and try to calm down but just see the image of the girls freaked out and running for the car. "What the hell happened today?” I ask her through gritted teeth.

             
"What are you talking about?"

             
"The beach!” My temper gets the best of me. What if those guys followed to see where they live? What if they get trailed all the time now? 

             
"How in the world do you know about that?” she asks in a small, confused voice, and I try to make myself calm down a notch. 

             
I laugh dryly. "Oh, I don't know. Just about all the gossip mags have pictures of you girls in your barely there bikinis lounging on the beach."

             
"There was only like three guys there though..." I hear her gasp and try to make sense of it.

             
"Doesn't matter, they must have shared them with their buddies."

             
 "Well, I can't very well control what those people do, Liam!" 

             
"No, but you can damn well control where you go, Katy."

             
"Why are you getting mad at me? I'm not going to hide for the rest of my life!"

             
I close my eyes and take a deep breath before blowing it back out to settle my mind and emotions down. Blowing up isn't going to change anything about this situation.

             
"I know, I know, ok? But you being out among all those vultures really put me in a bad place. I could tell in the pictures you were freaking out, Katy. And I hate that I wasn't there to, at the very least, shield you from them."

             
 "I'm fine, ok? They surprised me, I figured they'd be camped out watching you guys film or whatever and we wouldn't be a blip on their radar....but I guess I'm a big blip now, huh?" Her attitude reassures me and I let the anger go as I focus on her light-hearted voice.

             
"Yeah, and I want to have security with you 24-7."

             
"Liam, really, that's not necessary."

             
"Oh, yes it is. Those people don't care about the person, they only care about the picture. And I'm not going to let my wife be injured, or worse, because they want to keep a camera in your face and put you at risk."

             
 "This is one of those arguments that's just going to go round and round isn't it?”

             
"You bet, babe. Expect for a security advisor to meet up with you, and, if the way Scott reacted to those pictures says anything, Krista, too.” 

             
"Wait, back up a minute. Scott wants to hire security for Krista?" she asks me. I think she's just as surprised with that turn of events as I am.