Illusions of Love (65 page)

Despite the fact Michael was fine – albeit slightly unnerved by the realisation that he wasn’t immortal – she still hadn’t spoken to Reece since she’d seen him at the hospital.
 
It wasn’t even that she blamed him anymore for what had happened, she just didn’t know how to face him, now he knew the truth.

She looked up to find Bobby still staring at her.
 
‘What?’

‘Well?
 
Are you going to make me ask the obvious?’

‘If it’s got anything to do with Dominic then I’m saying nothing.’

Bobby snorted again, pulling off the rubber gloves he was wearing and throwing them in the sink.
 
‘Spoilsport.’
 
He pulled himself up onto the breakfast bar and snatched the magazine away from her, putting it to one side.

‘Hey!
 
I was reading that!’

‘No you weren’t.
 
You were using it as a distraction to avoid talking to me about you and Mr Movie Star.’

‘There
is
no me and Mr Movie Star.’

Bobby raised an eyebrow.
 
‘Really?’

She ignored him, sliding down off her stool and running her hands through her hair, shaking it out so it fell all tousled and loose around her shoulders.
 
‘Okay.
 
I’m off out.’

‘Out?
 
Where are you going?’

‘Who are
you
?
 
My mother?’

Bobby swung round on the breakfast bar so he was facing her, crossing his legs, watching as she fastened a large cuff watch round her left wrist.
 
‘I’m just concerned, Angel.’

‘For “
concerned”
read “
nosy
”,’
India
smiled, slipping her phone into the back pocket of her jeans.

‘As if,’ Bobby huffed, examining his nails.

‘I’m off out with Kenny, if you must know.’

‘Ah, partying with the philanderer now, are we?’

She ignored his comment.
 
‘If you want me, I’ll be at The Mirage… And, Bobby?
 
Vince and Charley
are
trying to work things out y’know.’

‘So why’s she still living in a separate apartment then?’

‘I don’t know.
 
These things take time, don’t they?
 
There’s a lot to sort out.’

‘
You’re
telling
me
.’
 
He slid down off the breakfast bar, going over to her, fussing around her as he positioned her hair perfectly over her shoulders, straightening her strapless top, pulling it up slightly over her breasts.

‘Bobby!’

‘Now, come on, Angel.
 
I have no idea what’s going on in your love life right now…’

‘Well, that makes two of us then.’

He looked at her, kissing her forehead.
 
‘But you walk out of here and into any bar, looking like you do right now – despite the miserable face – and you are going to have men falling at your beautiful feet.
 
Let’s just not show them too much of that India Walsh charm too soon, okay?’

She couldn’t help laughing.

‘There!
 
You look so much prettier when you smile, Angel.’

She looked at her wonderful P.A.
 
‘Why is my life so fucking complicated, Bobby?’

‘Because you make it that way, Princess.’
 
He gently stroked her fringe from her eyes.
 
‘Look, just listen to your heart, okay?
 
You just listen to your heart.’

‘Shouldn’t I be listening to my head though, Bobby?
 
Shouldn’t I be doing the sensible thing?’

‘Oh, being sensible is overrated, Angel.
 
Anyway, it’s a bit late for you to start being sensible
now
, isn’t it?’

She smiled again, hugging him tight.
 
‘I love you, Bobby Castle.’

‘Of course you do, Angel.
 
And I love you too.
 
Now, go on.
 
You go enjoy yourself with that ridiculously handsome best friend of yours.’

‘Don’t wait up,’ she shouted over her shoulder as she ran out of the kitchen and into the hall, knowing all too well that he’d be doing exactly that.
 
Because if there was one thing Bobby Castle couldn’t do it was sleep if there might be some gossip on the horizon.
 
And who knew what tonight was going to bring?

***

Dominic had never felt so confused, so totally out of his comfort zone that he couldn’t even think straight.
 
Him or his father – that was the ultimatum he’d given her.
 
Her choice to make, but so far she hadn’t made any kind of decision at all.

The final few days of filming had been the hardest he’d ever experienced on a movie set.
 
Being with her, so close to her, kissing her for the cameras when all he’d wanted to do was make love to her in private, it had messed with his head big time because she gave nothing away, no indication as to how she was feeling.
 
She could be one very good actress when she wanted to be.

But what made everything even more confusing for Dominic was that Michael seemed to have backed off from a woman he’d always claimed to have been infatuated with.
 
He seemed happy with Layla, a woman who was quite obviously head-over-heels in love with him, any idiot could see that.
 
Had his father’s heart attack finally made him realise that he couldn’t spend the rest of his life chasing a woman who was nothing but a part of his past?
 
And just why had Reece been at the villa that morning?
 
Because Dominic sure as hell knew that
India
was still hiding something from him.
 
She knew why Reece had been there.
 
She just wasn’t telling
him
.

He had a head full of questions he needed answers to, but every call he made to
India
was rejected and every message he sent ignored.
 
How had they got from her falling in love with him to completely blanking him?
 
It didn’t make sense, and Dominic knew he couldn’t let this go on for much longer.

He needed to know where he stood, with or without her.
 
And only one of those options was something he knew he could easily accept.

***

Layla stood quietly in the corner of the living room, watching Michael as he spoke to Ethan via Skype, his beautiful little boy laughing at whatever it was his father was saying to him.

Laying a hand over her stomach she rubbed it gently, trying to ease the queasy feeling she’d had for a while now.
 
At first she’d put it down to the worry she’d experienced over Michael’s heart attack, but she knew she’d been feeling that way long before all that had happened, and she was still feeling that way now.

She looked over at Michael again, a man so happy to be talking to his youngest son.
 
A man who, quite possibly – if things had been any worse – may not have had the chance to see his little boy again.
 
Layla closed her eyes at the memory of that day, when something so horrible had made her realise, for sure this time, how she really felt about this man.

The way she’d felt during that short but horrific time when they hadn’t known what was wrong, when all she could remember was blind panic, that had told her all she’d needed to know – that she loved this man, and she always would.

What he’d done to
India
– that had shocked her, she couldn’t deny that.
 
And she’d be lying if she said it wasn’t something that preyed on her mind, but she loved him, simple as that.
 
And she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, after all,
India
had forgiven him, hadn’t she?
 
India
couldn’t push him away, even after all of that.
 
India
hadn’t pushed him away, and neither could she.
 
She wasn’t willing to.
 
That time in their lives had been a tough one, for many of them, and maybe now – and hopefully for the final time – they could start to put the past behind them and look forward to some kind of future.

But could Michael ever really love her the way he’d loved
India
?
 
That crazy, mixed-up, complicated love that those two had always shared; could he ever love
her
that way?
 
That was a question Layla knew she could never answer, and neither could Michael.
 
But it finally looked as though – this time – she was winning the fight.
 
And that was just as well, because Layla had news that she couldn’t wait to share with this man who’d become such a big part of her life.
 
Fate had taken a hand in making sure that she kept him by her side this time.

Layla Boyd was having Michael Walsh’s baby, and she couldn’t be more excited.

***

‘She’ll come round, honey.
 
You just have to give her time,’ Martha said, joining Reece on the terrace of their
Amber
Palace
apartment, the view of
Las Vegas
stretching out before them.

‘It’s been five days now, Martha, and she hasn’t even spoken to me.
 
She blames me for what happened to Michael; she said so, didn’t she?
 
I’m
the bad guy… how the hell did
that
happen, huh?
 
I’m her father, I’m the one who wants to keep her safe and yet she feels more sympathy for a man who caused her nothing but heartache.’

‘You know that’s not true, sweetheart.
 
India
and Michael, they were happy once, you know they were.’

Reece stood up, pushing his sunglasses down over his eyes as he leant back against the terrace wall, turning his back on the view of Vegas.
 
‘Were they really though, Martha?
 
Were they ever really happy?’

‘I think you already know the answer to that one.’

Reece sighed heavily, throwing his head back.
 
‘Jesus!
 
I just want to talk to her, y’know?
 
Tell her I’m sorry; tell her that, yes, okay, I handled this all really badly…’

‘You admit that then, do you?’ Martha smiled, pouring them both a coffee.

He looked at her, pushing his sunglasses up onto his head.
 
‘I could have handled it better.
 
But what the hell was I supposed to do with that news, huh?
 
For seven years she kept that from me…’

Martha stood up and walked over to him, laying a hand gently on his shoulder, kissing his cheek.
 
‘It’s over now, honey.
 
Okay?
 
We have to let them deal with it in whichever way they think is best, and
India
– she
will
come round.
 
You’ll see.
 
She’s just a bit too much like you.’

Reece frowned slightly as he looked at his wife.

Martha smiled, sitting back down at the table, taking a sip of coffee.
 
‘Stubborn, Reece.
 
She’s stubborn.
 
Just like her father.’

***

‘You’re a bloody idiot, Kenny.’

‘There are only so many times you can say that,
India
.
 
I kinda get it now.’

She swung round on her stool at the bar, taking in the usual crowd of people who hung out here in a place that India adored because of its obvious rock ‘n’ roll vibe including several tattoo booths located within the club, incredible, almost gothic architecture, and a mix of rock and blues music that pounded from every wall.
 
The lighting was dark and low and cast a red hue over the whole bar giving it a somewhat sleazy yet ultra-cool feel – everything about the place made India want to kick back and let go, go crazy and party Las Vegas style, and that’s exactly what she intended to do tonight.
 
It was what she always did when she was in Vegas when she had some complicated relationship problem going on, and she certainly had one hell of a complicated relationship problem hanging over her head right now.
 
Sometimes she thought she should maybe stop coming to Vegas altogether because every time she turned up here something seemed to happen.
 
And it wasn’t always good.

‘You’re not eyeing those tattoo booths again, are you?’ Kenny asked, sliding another bottle of beer over towards her, which she immediately grabbed, taking a good long drink.
 
‘I’d have thought you’d have learnt your lesson after the one you’ve already got.’