Forever Blue (29 page)

    
Throughout the night, many strikingly familiar people walked over and struck up a conversation with Carter. I stared at him, mesmerized by his brilliantly shaped face and dirty blond hair. I envied the way he interacted with people around him. He could be so engrossed, yet
he
still found a way to be witty. None of that compared to that infectious smile he passed on to anyone graced by his presence.

     I didn't want
Carter to leave my side. God knows I wanted spend the whole night drinking in the scent of his spiced cologne. Admittedly, what I was feeling was wrong. All the sights and sounds made me feel like I was in one hypnotizing dream—the kind you don’t tell your husband about.

    
Before I realized it, I had been
consuming one drink after another. It got to the point where the room started spinning. The apprehension and guilt about my whereabouts that evening vanished shortly after my first drink. Carter and I laughed and joked around as if we were suddenly the only two people in the room. In some ways, I felt like I was fourteen again, reliving our first date.

    
“You're drunk,” Carter said, amused.

    
“Me? Drunk? Nev...neverrrr,” I slurred.

    
“I like you this way. It reminds me of the young Alexa.”

    
“She didn't drink at fourteen.”

    
“True, but she was fun like this.”

   
“What time is it?” I asked, completely unaware of anything happening around me.

    
“Almost time for us to make like a baby and head out,” Carter said. His words were difficult for me to make out, thick and muddled to my inebriated ears.

    
The last thing I remember on that moonless
dreamy
night
was Carter holding me by the waist as I staggered through the front door of the club—then everything went black.

***

    
I opened my eyes the next morning and found myself in an unfamiliar bed. An ocean of acid churned in the pit of my stomach as
I looked over to see someone other than my own husband lying beside me. My eyes focused intently on the milky white, tattooed-laden back of
Carter Storm. My immediate first thought
was to make a run for it. Instead, I shot up from the bed in haste.

    
“Oh my God,” I said aloud.

    
With a disoriented look on his face, Carter said, “Whoa. Are you okay?”

    
“I don't know. You tell me,” I said with my heart hammering.

    
Carter chuckled. “We didn't do anything. Cross my heart.”

    
I leaned my head against the pillow and let out a long, exasperated
breath. He had to be telling the truth. I was still fully clothed,
and
in the same dress from the night before.

    
“You were so funny last night, Alexa. I can’t believe half the things you said.” Carter shifted his body closer toward me. My attention was
drawn to
the sight of half a dozen tattoos plastered all over this torso. “You’re a wild drunk.”

    
“Oh God,” I responded, slapping my forehead in embarrassment. “Don't tell me. I don't want to know.” 

    
I tried to gather up the memory of the previous night, and then
took a second to think about the consequences I was about to endure in the aftermath of my carelessness. A mind-numbing alarm went off inside my head when I asked, “What time is it?”

    
Carter yawned and looked over at his nightstand clock. “It’s only ten thirty.”

    
“Shit, shit, shit!” I said, immediately jumping up from the bed.

    
“What's wrong?”

    
“I was supposed to be on set two hours ago. What the hell is wrong with me! ” I scrambled to find my car keys. “Where’s my purse? My keys?”

    
“You left your car at the club, which was probably smart since you weren’t capable of driving. I'll drive you back there to get it.”

    
Carter’s
wide king-sized sleigh bed shook like it was hit by a small earthquake
when he sprung to his feet.
He was clad in black and green plaid boxers, and
I had to pry my eyes away from his heart-shaped bottom.

    
“I'm a married woman, I'm a married woman,” I silently said to myself.

    
I didn't have much time to check out Carter’s house, but it was definitely the typical high-end celebrity home. Around every corner, hanging on every wall, were framed copies of magazine articles about himself or his platinum albums.

    
I jolted back into the ugliness of reality
in Carter’s car, and
I checked my cell phone for the first time in eight hours. Scotty and Isabella
had
called more than a dozen times. I was in deep with both of them.

    
Carter pulled into the parking lot
when we reached the club,
and put the car in park.

    
“I want to apologize. It was wrong of me to let you drink so much last night.” He looked adorable with his bed head—so naturally handsome.

    
“No, none of this is your fault. I knew what I was doing. I’m a big girl.”

     
“That you are, Alexa. But you've got to admit you had fun.”

    
I found the door handle and eased it open. He was right. I did have the time of my life. I just wished it didn’t have to end so soon.

    
“You sure know how to show a girl a good time, Carter. I'll give you that.”

    
Carter leaned in close and kissed me on the cheek. “Take care, Alexa. Let's do this again sometime.”

    
I didn’t expect our farewell to be so hard on me. After a brief interlude, I got in my car and tried to brush it off. I sped down the highway, dreading what was to come. Fatigue hit me hard, and
I strangely resembled someone who hadn’t slept for days. I had rats’-nest hair, and the dark bags hanging under my eyes were big enough that I could have checked them in at the airport.

    
I got to the studio and speed-walked to the trailers. The same bleach-blonde girl from the day before blocked me from entering Hugh’s trailer.

    
“Nice of you to show up,” she said in a discourteous tone.

    
“I wasn't feeling well last night. I think I caught the flu.”

    
“Well, you're going to have to learn that in this industry, it doesn't matter what your problem is unless you’re on your deathbed—and even that’s not good enough sometimes. People like Mr. Jackman have no time for excuses.”

    
“Well, I better get to work before things get worse.”

   
“That won’t be necessary.” She crossed her arms. “Your services are no longer needed here.”

    
“What?”

    
“If you would kindly hand over your ID badge and parking pass, it would be greatly appreciated.”

    
It just didn’t seem right for her not to give me some sort of first offense warning. I strode back to my car in disbelief. I hadn’t the first clue of how I was going to explain this to Scotty, or more importantly, Isabella. All I could do was face my faults. When the questions started rolling in, I wanted to avoid any conversation that had to do with Carter. Telling Scotty I spent the night at Aiden Storm's house would only light the fuse to a bomb.

    
At home, Scotty's BMW was parked in the driveway. For him to be home so early in the afternoon was quite odd. I already had a sneaking suspicion that everything that day was going to be a little off. I stepped inside the house and drew in a deep breath. A sense of relief washed over me when I found the house unoccupied.  All I wanted to do was take a hot shower and a long nap.

    
“Where have you been? I've been worried sick,” Scotty asked, bumping into me in the hallway. He was in sweats, like he’d been lounging around all afternoon.

    
“Usually when I try to call, you never pick up,” I countered.

    
“You don't come home all night, yet when you feel like calling me, I'm supposed to be at your disposal?”

    
“It was an all-night shoot, honey. We barely got done this morning. If I could have gotten away for even a moment, I would have called, but—”

    
“You don’t understand, Alexa. I thought something happened to you.”

    
“I’m sorry, Scotty, but I can’t just walk off set in the middle of filming.”       

    
“You've worked all-nighters on several occasions without bothering to call, and here it is…” He looked at his watch. “One in the afternoon and not a word? Doesn't that bother you? Didn’t you think I’d wonder where you were and if you were okay?”

    
“Of course it bothers me, but you know the deal. I'm a makeup artist, Scotty, not a receptionist with some nine-to-five job. I’m not always going to be here to pour your coffee in the morning and clean up the dishes every night. We’ve both got careers to tend to, you know.”

    
The ring of my cell phone interrupted our spat. We stared at each other until I finally answered the phone. I disliked the fact that I instinctively knew it was Isabella.

    
“Alexa, I need to speak with you in my office right away,” she said in the most unpleasant tone.

    
“Now is not a good time.”

    
“You better make it a good time.” Her sigh was deep. “Your job depends on it, young lady.” And with that, she hung up.

    
It killed me to see Scotty look at me with such hurt in his eyes. “Let me guess—Isabella?” He shot me a withering glare. As though defeated, he threw his hands up in the air and said,
 
“Why am I not surprised?”

    
“She has something urgent to talk to me about. I have to go.”

    
“Yeah, of course. Just...just go, Alexa.”

    
The last thing I needed in my life was for Scotty to be angry with me. I gently grabbed his hand
before he walked away
and said, “I’m sorry, Scotty.” I dug my face into his chest. “Let’s not fight, okay?”

     
“I’m trying hard to be patient with you.”

    
“I know, and I promise to work on this little glitch.”

***

    
“Sit down,” Isabella said in a fierce but mild manner.

    
Noticing her disappointment, I took a seat and said, “I already know what this is about.”

    
“Oh really? In that case, why don’t you do the honors of telling me what the hell happened today.”

    
“I was really sick this morning, I think from something I ate last night—maybe a mild case of food poisoning.”

    
“Was it so life threatening that you couldn’t return any of my phone calls and let me know what was going on so I could have saved your job?”

    
“It was a rough morning. It just slipped my mind.”

    
“This project would have put you on the map. I was planning big things for you, Alexa.
 
This was a screw-up that cost you a job and my reputation. Do you know how bad you made me look by failing to show up on time when I put in a good word for you with that studio?”

    
“I know I made a huge mistake, and I'm sorry.”

    
“This isn't some job you can just show up to when you feel like it.”

    
I had let Carter and the alcohol overpower my good judgment. Now I would pay for my recklessness. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

    
“I need time to think and sort things out,” Isabella said. “I don't have a project for you right now. I wasn’t planning on anything for the next few months. You were supposed to be working on the set for fifteen weeks. Now you're just going to have to wait it out.”

    
It hurt to know
that
I
had
betrayed Isabella’s trust. My greatest concern, besides Isabella, was making sure Scotty never found out about me being put on hiatus. Telling him I was out of work would bring up
questions, and
the answers only led back to Carter. I figured the best thing to do was to lay low and work everything out later.

***

    
 
Scotty wasn’t there
the next time I returned home.
I needed
someone to talk to,
so
I gave Ruth a ring.

    
“I’ve done something really bad,” I confessed, right away.

    
“Bad? How bad? Should I be worried?”

   
“Well, Aiden called me yesterday. I met up with him last night after work.”

    
“What!”

    
“It's not what you think. We just hung out at a club.”

    
“Did you tell Scotty about your little night out?”

    
“No, but what I’m about to tell you is strictly between you and me, okay?”

    
“I don't think I want to hear it, but go ahead.”

    
“I got a little drunk last night and I woke up in Aiden's bed this morning.”

    
“Are you saying you—”

    
“No. Oh God, no. He took me home with him since he knew I couldn't drive, but that’s not the worst of it. Because of last night, I was late for my new project on a movie set. I got fired.”

    
“I'm sorry, but I can't really sympathize, Alexa. What do you want me to say?” Disdain
was dripping
from her tone. “You want me to tell you
that
going behind your husband’s back to see another man—old friend or not—is acceptable behavior?”

    
“I can’t help it. Aiden’s like a drug I can’t get out of my system.”

    
“Cease all contact with him, or things are only going to get worse.”

    
I didn't see the harm in hanging out with a childhood friend who would remain just a friend. It only made me more determined to show Ruth
that
I could stay faithful to Scotty and let my strong feelings for Carter subside.

    
“It's wrong, and you know it!” Ruth practically screamed into the phone. “Listen, I have to go. My client just walked in. Call me later.”

    
Ruth was an assertive woman, raised as a Christian with strong values by
two traditional Indian parents who both solidly believed in the sacredness of marriage. Each time her parents requested that she abide by family tradition and agree to an arranged marriage, Ruth outright refused. She knew exactly what she wanted when it came to the affairs of her heart. She did not intend to follow her sister’s footsteps by walking into a loveless marriage. Arguing with Ruth about commitment was useless. She firmly believed that marriage is a matter of respect for one’s husband and
that meant
not having male friends of any kind. Of course, I found some of her beliefs a little dated, and clearly, we would never see eye to eye on this matter.