Torn (28 page)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

T
he premiere showing of Julie’s latest completed work was, so far, a smashing success. The audience laughed in all the right places, cried in all the right places, and
oohed
and
aahed
in all the right places. But when the love scene between Paul and Tina began, her slender, ebony fingers curled over the armrests of the seat.

It had been an absolute
bitch
to edit this scene. If it wasn’t for the ratings system –– and the fact that an “X” rating would lower her viewer mass –– she would have left it alone. The “Director’s Cut” DVD release would net a fortune. Hell, it wasn’t even
skin
that made the scene as hot as it was. It was the expressions on the actors’ faces, the soft sounds they made together. The blush that bled from Chelsea Morgan’s hairline all the way to her breasts when “Tina” “orgasmed”.

Wait a minute.

Julie’s jaw dropped, and she looked from the screen –– where “Tina” sat on the bed, watching her husband undress –– to the players in question. She knew from fact, and not to mention personal experience, that there was no way
that
particular blush could be faked… And that Drew’s makeup magic had nothing to do with it. Ho. Lee. Shit. No way. Right under her camera? No way!

Her gaze zipped straight to Ty, who sat next to her, his ex on his left. Even in the dim lighting of the theatre, his eyes gleamed as he shifted and leaned slightly forward in his seat. He was wholly focused on the scene playing out before him. Turning her head, Julie glanced over at Chelsea, sitting in the aisle across from them, Jake on her right. Chelsea’s eyes were on Ty, but then locked, startled, with Julie’s. She gave the older woman a pale imitation of a smile and jerked her face back toward the silver screen.

Good Lord! No wonder Ty had reeked of sex! Julie bowed her head and covered her lips with trembling fingertips. She was going to laugh. Her shoulders shook and she swallowed the rumble, forced it back down her throat. Her eyes watered and she coughed.

“You okay, Jules?”

“Fine, Ty. Just fine.” She sought out Chelsea and Jake once more, and the look sheer anguish on Chelsea’s face as she watched her on-screen character make love with the man she loved faded all amusement. Chelsea, like Ty, had leaned forward in her seat, but she was alone. Jake wasn’t with her.

He never could stand to see his wife kiss another man,
Julie mused, then focused her attention back to her movie.

~ * ~

Tyler felt his ex move in her seat and he clamped a hand down on her arm, effectively restraining her from going anywhere.

“Let go of me, Ty! I’m just going to the ladies’ room for heaven’s sake!”

“Yeah, right.
Now
?” The knowing smirk on his face expressed his disbelief better than words.

“Yes,
now
,” Jennifer spat, her anger clearly visible in her blue eyes.

Tyler glanced over at the Morgan seats and was relieved to see that Chelsea was still there. He released Jennifer’s arm. “Stay away from Chelsea, Jennifer. I mean it. Leave her alone, or so help me God, you’ll regret it.”

“Bastard,” Jennifer hissed, rubbing her arm where Tyler’s thumb had dug into it. “I think you left a bruise.”

Not even a flicker of interest passed over Ty’s face. “Stay away from Chelsea,” he repeated.

“’Stay away from Chelsea’,” Jennifer repeated to herself as she made her way across the row of packed seats, and up the aisle towards the exit. As if the woman has wings and a halo for god’s sake. She had
sex
with another man
on-camera
! Flat out
fucked
him! That scene makes
porn
look sanctified! Granted, Jennifer was forced to concede, the scene was damn hot… but it made Jennifer look the fool. And
no one
made a fool of Jennifer Green.

She pushed through the double doors and blinked in the sudden light. Her lips curved into a feline smile when she spotted the man she’d been looking for at the candy counter and she sashayed over to him, an extra sway in her hips.

“Jake Morgan,” she purred, letting her hand trail across his shoulders, “Fancy meeting you here.”

~ * ~

Chelsea glanced at the empty seat next to her and wanted to cry. Jake said he was only going to get some candy, but she knew better. Jake didn’t want to watch his wife make love to another man, even if it was just for a movie. In fact, she was impressed that he’d managed to stay right up until the point where Tyler stretched out on top of her and entered her in one fluid motion that had made her gasp. Jake flinched as though someone had hit him, and immediately stood, telling her he had an urge for some Swedish fish, and that he’d bring her back a pop.

It was bullshit and she knew it. But she let him go. Coward that she was, she didn’t go after him.

She felt eyes on her and she looked over her to her right. Tyler. He stared at her like a man starving. She licked her lips, then glanced up at the movie screen. Their hands were clasped in a mutual grip of passion, Tyler’s mouth locked on her own.

Oh, god… She wanted that again. Wanted that now. Could practically feel him moving inside her, stroking her… Stoking her.

One look over at Tyler and Chelsea knew he was thinking the same. She also knew that if wasn’t for Julie playing chaperone, he’d be at her side in a heartbeat so the two of them could sneak off to a closet somewhere and…

Jesus Christ. Chelsea, get a grip! Giving herself a mental slap, Chelsea tore her gaze away from Tyler’s hold and rather than look up at the screen ––which only enforced her desire–– she looked at her distended abdomen instead. She took one deep breath, then another. “We will get through this,” she whispered, one hand smoothing the silk over her belly as it rippled beneath her touch. “One way or another… We will get through this.”

~ * ~

Tyler, his knee jiggling restlessly, kept one eye on Julie and the other on Chelsea. As the movie progressed from the love scene into the rest of the film, he noticed that his friend became less distracted by him and Chelsea, and more focused on the screen in front of her. When he saw that Julie’s attention was completely captured, first Tyler made up his mind… and then he made his move.

~ *~

For the countless time since entering the theatre, Chelsea’s brown gaze swept over the audience, stopping at Tyler’s row. Empty. The only person sitting next to Julie now was Dennis. Frowning, she shifted in her seat to look behind her, and jumped a mile at the sound of his voice in her ear.

“Jesus, Tyler!” Somehow she managed to keep her voice low, but she was unable to control its tremor. “You scared me to death!”

“I’m sorry, Sweetheart. I didn’t mean to, but I had to come see you. I…”

As she turned back around in her seat to face him, Chelsea saw slight ripple of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed. His eyes were fixed on her distended abdomen.

“I need to… We need to talk.”

She gaped at him in stunned silence for a full minute, wondering if he’d completely lost his mind. Her mouth opened and closed two times before she was finally able to speak. “Have you completely lost your mind? Now?
Here
? Jake ––“

“Jake will be back any minute, I know. So let’s go out into the hall, down the stairwell where we can be alone.”

Chelsea thought fast. She was torn. Tyler was right –– their talk was long overdue. But she was afraid of being alone with him. She missed him so hard that it was one chronic, acute ache. She was afraid that the moment they were alone, she’d lose control and ravish him in the stairwell. On the other hand, if she left and Jake found her gone…

“Jake would think you went to the restroom,” Tyler stated, reading her mind in that uncanny way he had with her.

She lowered her voice into a whisper and Tyler had to lean in close in order to hear her. “What about the audience? Will they notice us leaving? Won’t it look… odd?”

“They’re all engrossed in the movie.” He replied, his eyes, silver in the light from the projector, on her full bottom lip.

Chelsea immediately stopped chewing on it, touched the swollen flesh with a sweep of her tongue, and felt warmth flood her as she watched Tyler watch the motion. He was looking at her lip like he wanted to suck on it -– suck on it until he swallowed her whole. The thought provoked a memory of him doing just that, and she shivered. “Okay.”

~ * ~

Jake Morgan turned to look at the barracuda who obviously had it in for his wife. He picked up his bag of Swedish fish and opened it, popped one of the sweet, red jellies into his mouth. “What do you want, Ms. Green?”

The woman’s eyes narrowed at his perfunctory tone, and she gestured with her head towards the theatre they had just left. “I noticed you couldn’t stay in there… I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Jake snorted, drawing a sip from the large, decaf pop he’d requested on behalf of his wife. “Yeah, right. Listen. Just because I’m from Montana doesn’t mean I was born yesterday. What is it you want? But if it’s about my wife? I’m not interested.”

He pushed off the glass counter and started to walk away, but stopped short of entering the theatre.

“You can’t go in there yet, can you. Not while your wife is making love to my husband on screen.”

“Your
ex-
husband, and so what? You Hollywood actors may be blasé about it –– it’s second nature to you people. It isn’t to me and my wife. But like I said. So what. It’s
just
a movie.”

Her laughter rang like a silver bell in the hall. “Yeah, right, Jake. Very convincing… but not Oscar caliber. You should leave the acting to your wife. It seems she’s extremely good at it. She has you fooled, after all.”

Jake’s blue eyes darkened and narrowed. “Back off my wife.”

“Give me a break!” Jennifer threw her hands up in the air. “What is
with
men and
that
woman! Listen, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but your wife? She’s
not
that innocent. Sure, she has the act down pat, but underneath that saintly exterior lies the heart of a gold-digging whore.”

Jake’s hand fisted around the bag of candy and his jaw flexed. He turned abruptly and headed for the restrooms, Jennifer trailing him. “Leave me alone, lady. You’re out of your mind.”

“Would you get out of here? This is the
men’s
bathroom!”

Jennifer walked the length of the bathroom, her beaded gown raised in her hands as she dipped and leaned, checking each stall. “Good. We’re the only ones in here.”

“Hell with that!” Jake exclaimed. “
You’re
the only one in here –– I’m leaving!”

She rushed over and blocked the door, tanned, manicured hands fisted at her slim hips. “Damn it, Jake! I wanted to be nice about this, break it to you gently and all, cause you’re such a sweet guy, but you’ve pushed me into a corner with your obtuse attitude!”

Jake stared at the actor’s former, jaw slack. Who was she kidding? Finally, he shook his head and let out a humorless chuckle. “Woman, you need a psych ward. Seriously. You need help. I need to get back to my wife.”

He took a step forward, but Jennifer didn’t budge. His scowl was small but present. His jaw ticked next to his left eye as he flexed it. His locally famous, mellow temper had a fuse after all, and it ignited. He gestured roughly with the hand holding the soda, spilling some of the clear, bubbly fluid onto the mosaic tiled floor. “Step aside, Ms. Green.”

She shook her head. She hadn’t made it this far in this business by being soft. Her chin lifted, her aqua eyes glittered a mixture of triumph and something else, something… sad. “The twins your wife carries? They’re not yours. They’re
Ty’s
.”

Jake’s face turned pale under his tanned skin, a gift from working under the sun for most of the summer. His sky blue eyes flashed ice; the hand holding the fish crushed them. “You fucking
bitch
.”

She took a step back as a white-faced Jake Morgan took a step towards her, his face a void, his eyes navy with rage. “Now, Jake… I know it isn’t me you’re angry with… But you need to calm down.”

Jake’s eyes flashed indigo. “Get
out.”

Jennifer wasted no movement –– one glance at the feral look in Jake’s eyes had her scrambling for the door. She threw it open, hurried out, and ran smack into her ex-husband’s chest. She steadied herself and looked up, to find Chelsea staring at her with a strange mixture of fury and resignation. She smirked at the younger woman, and Chelsea’s jaw tightened.

The woman behind Tyler moved, and Jennifer braced herself for a slap. Nothing happened. She opened her eyes to see that Chelsea’s attention was now on her husband, and that her ex was staring at her in anger and disgust.

Tyler’s cobalt eyes narrowed. “What the hell have you done now?”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

N
o sooner had Tyler checked to make sure that they were really and truly alone, was his mouth on hers. Chelsea moaned under the sweet, hot, moist pressure. God, this was so wrong. So wrong. It was… Oh, God, it was heaven. Sighing, she opened to his kiss and, when his tongue touched hers, she welcomed it with a furious hunger.

Her hands grabbed his, planted on either side of her face as he kissed her, pushed her up against the creamy, concrete wall. He chanted something as he drank from her lips and it took a long moment before she realized it was her name.

“Chelsea… I burn for you.”

Jesus Christ, that was the sexiest statement she’d ever heard. The words breathed against her lips, tickling the sensitive skin. She was going to combust right on the spot. If he was burning, then she was an inferno.