Текст книги "Fade to Red"

Автор книги: Willow Aster

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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 16 страниц)

She nodded.

“What’s going on here?”

“Well, I was mad, but now I’m scared, too. I confronted Brooke and-”

“Wait a minute—Brooke? You think she did this?”

“She’s the only one I’ve had any issues with and she seemed to think it was funny the other day. She said I couldn’t prove that she did it.”

Beckham shook his head. “Brooke? I know she’s not the nicest person, but I’ve never thought she’d do anything this awful. You really think it’s her?”

“I trust everyone but her. As crazy as it sounds, I still think she purposely tripped Sparrow, hoping she’d get that song with Ian. And I don’t know how anyone else would get on the bus.”

“Okay, let me get my phone. I’ll need to talk to Nate and security, and eventually Brooke too.”

Anthony knocked before Beckham had called anyone. Nate stood beside him, mumbling something under his breath.

“You look like the grim reapers, coming to carry us off to our death. I guess you’ve heard about it already?” Beckham asked, stepping aside to let them in.

They stopped short when they saw Roxie.

Nate cleared his throat. “I wanted to wait until after the show but didn’t want you blindsided by any reporters. There’s a pile of reporters out there, ready to pounce on this story.”

“How would the reporters know about any of this?”

Nate and Anthony looked at Beckham like he’d lost it.

“What do you mean? They’re the ones who came out with the story,” Nate said.

“How did they find out about Roxie’s things?”

They looked at Roxie then and back to Beckham. Nate shook his head. “No, I don’t know anything about that…”

“The story just came out about the two of you having a son,” Anthony jumped in.

“What? What are you talking about?” Beckham stuttered.

They all looked at Roxie and she turned completely white. Her mouth opened, but no words came out.

“What?” Beckham said, turning to Roxie.

She knew her eyes looked wild and she shook her head, but still couldn’t say anything. Tears fell, but she didn’t know if the tears were new or from all she’d just told him.

“I didn’t believe it was true, but now I’m not so sure,” Anthony said, staring at Roxie. “We came over here to do damage control with the press, but it looks like the joke might be on us. Is Leo Beckham’s son, Roxie?”

“Are you kidding me? Leo?” Beckham looked at everyone in the room, as if the facts were striking him like bullets, one right after the other.

Her stomach fell. She realized how this might look. She’d been distant and angry from the beginning, trying to do everything she could to keep him at a distance. Instead of using it to her advantage, she’d been shaken that the press had taken their pictures. Most dancers would have killed for any press, but she’d been the opposite of what he’d expected every time.

And he’d taken her virginity and forgotten about her. She had every reason to be bitter.

She knew it didn’t look good, but she couldn’t seem to stop shaking long enough to defend herself. This day—it was one too many slivers of insane.

Beckham walked within a foot of Roxie, all earlier softness gone. He stopped in front of her and put both hands on the wall, on either side of her face. He leaned down until they were about an inch apart.

“Who is Leo, Roxie?”

“My son,” she whispered.

“You have a—that little boy is yours?” He shook his head, but his eyes still didn’t seem focused. “Why didn’t you tell me you have a son? Is he mine?” His voice was quiet but harsh.

She shoved him away from her. She felt like she was looking at a stranger.

“No, he isn’t yours! What the hell are you thinking?”

“Let me see a picture of him.” He pointed to Nate and grabbed the paper out of his hands. A picture of Leo and Roxie was blown up. He sucked in a breath and sat down, staring at the picture.

When he looked up at Roxie, his eyes were tortured. “I know Leo. I met him. At the audition, I met him. I saw him again yesterday. Mavid,” he whispered. He shook his head. “He’s … a great kid.” He looked at the ceiling and stood back up, walking close to her. “Here’s what the hell I’m thinking: he looks like me! I’m thinking, how the hell did I not see it the very first time we met? I’m thinking, you’ve been hating me since you got here and I haven’t fully made sense of it. Until now…” He ran his hands through his curly hair and pointed at it and then the picture of Leo. “His hair is just like mine. His eyes are the same weird color as mine … the way we-” His voice broke and he hit the wall next to him.

Roxie jumped. She was terrified and ready to bolt. “I told you why I hated you. And Leo looks like his dad.”

“I didn’t realize how much you really hated me. Now I know. I just … I can’t even believe this. I want to get to know him.” He took a jagged breath. “Fuck, Roxie. How could you keep this from me?”

“He is not yours,” she hissed.

He studied her face. “Look at me and show me the truth. Right now I only see lies. You’ve been lying to me all along. Why didn’t you tell me you had a son?” He laughed, but it sounded hollow. “We slept together. Don’t you think you should have told me that little fact about yourself?”

Pain zigzagged through her heart and she staggered back against the wall. “I’ve just tried to do a good job. And yes, I’ve gotten carried away with you. I’ve … lost my mind … about you. Again.” A sob escaped and she clamped her hand over her mouth, the tears pooling into her hand. “I’ve missed Leo so much, I cry every time I talk to him. I’ve never been away from him like this. He’s come to see me throughout the tour, and I figured you’d meet him when the time was right. I just needed to get through the tour. I didn’t expect…”

“I’d like to get a paternity test,” he said. As if she hadn’t spoken a word. “If you won’t willingly do it, I’ll get a court order to make it happen.”

She gulped and looked everywhere but at him. “I only came here to dance and to provide for Leo. It’s obviously not working. I need to leave-” She stopped when he grabbed her arm.

“You’re not making sense. We have more than worked, we’ve had something between us from the very beginning … or at least, the beginning that I can remember. But that has nothing to do with this. Or maybe everything to do with it. I just want to know the truth! Why aren’t you telling me the truth?” he asked desperately.

“You’re not listening. I am telling you the truth! I have raised him and loved him and he is just fine without someone who is a drunk, drug-addicted, woman-chasing dick of a father. He’s mine. Now, let go of my arm.”

“You conveniently left out the time frame of when we slept together. How long ago was that? And what happened? Did we not use a condom?”

Roxie swallowed but didn’t answer.

Anger washed over him like a red haze. He had tunnel vision for Roxie and she had to grip the wall to keep from crumbling to the floor.

“You fuckin’ answer me, dammit. You don’t get to go silent on me anymore,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ve been drowning in those eyes from day one. I just didn’t realize they were going to be the death of me.”

The infatuation and lust unraveled around her, dropping instantly. The genuine affection she’d recently felt for him shriveled up. She’d thought they might actually be falling for each other, something real this time, but could see that was gone nearly as quickly as it came. They say there’s a fine line between love and hate, but since it wasn’t really love yet, it was so easy to dive right back into hate.

When Nate spoke, Beckham jumped back. For a moment, Roxie had forgotten anyone else was in the room.

“You can settle this easily, Roxie. Please don’t make it complicated. I’m sorry we bombarded you today—we didn’t even know you’d be with Beckham—but it looks like you have some explaining to do. Beckham deserves to know the truth. If this drags out in court, it will be a huge spectacle and cause an untold amount of grief for all of you. Reporters are already all over it. If we settle it quietly, it will become old news fast.”

Roxie looked at Beckham, not even trying to hide the terror in her eyes. She touched his arm and her hand was shaking.

“Please, believe me.” Her lips trembled. “He’s not yours.”

Beckham moved back until his legs hit the couch. He sat down and stared at Roxie, his eyes lifeless.

He looked at Nate and Anthony. “Can you find out how to get a paternity test done quickly? I want to be absolutely positive one way or the other.”

“It will be easy if you are both agreeable to it,” Nate said. “We can get someone to come test all of you—I don’t think it takes very long to get the results. Roxie, you won’t resist a DNA test, will you?”

She shook her head. “No. But it’s a waste of time.”

“Find someone who is reliable and can keep their mouth shut,” Beckham said, ignoring her.

Nate nodded and immediately started dialing his cell. “I’ll be right back.” He held his finger up and left the bus.

“I’ll just give you two a moment.” Anthony backed out of the bus.

She could feel Beckham’s eyes on her. She avoided looking at him.

“Why won’t you tell me when it happened?” he asked.

“I feel just as sucker-punched as you, Beckham. The three of you all staring me down with hungry eyes when we’re discussing my son. I can see now why you might wonder if he’s yours, but it never crossed my mind that you would since he isn’t. I met his father right after you and went out with him because, silly me, he looked a little bit like you.”

“I’m sick of your smart-ass mouth,” he muttered.

“Well, you’ve been all about it before now. Make up your damn mind.”

He glared at her.

“Let me know when you want to do the test and I’ll come back. In the meantime, I’m getting out of here.”

“Don’t even think about trying to get out of this, Roxie.”

She leaned over him and got in his face.

“You can quit with the threats right about now. I might be bitchy, but I’m not a liar. I told you what happened between us and I don’t owe you jack shit. And so help me, if my little boy is hurt in ANY way whatsoever because of this, you will pay.”

He waved his hand dismissively, looking like he might hit the wall again. “Go,” he hissed at her, “get out of here.”

Roxie went back to the hotel and straight to her room, immediately looking up ‘paternity tests’ online. She was terrified there would be some loophole that would give Beckham doubt and he would try to take Leo away from her. She hoped he wasn’t that vindictive, but she’d seen a side of him today she hadn’t seen before and it scared her. When she saw that tests were 99% effective, she fell back on the bed and tried not to hyperventilate.

Johnny had gone back and forth with her from the bus to the hotel. When she walked to the pool to get Leo, the Sterlings had just left. Al was there guarding Leo and Chloe. Johnny told her Al would most likely start watching Leo full-time. Two additional guards would cover the other shifts. She didn’t have time to have a freak out that she now had a life that involved needing constant security, but she was positive that would catch up with her later. Leo was splashing around the kiddie pool and Chloe had her feet in the water.

“Hi, loves!” She put on a cheerful face.

“Get in, Mom!” Leo sang.

“I need to talk to Chloe for a minute and then I will,” she said.

“What’s going on? You have the death grin on your face right now,” Chloe said softly.

“You’re not going to believe what just happened. I’m going to have to say it in code.”

Chloe nodded and leaned in. “I have something to tell you too.”

“Oh. You go first.”

“A reporter came looking for you. Ian put her in her place and his bodyguard, Will, made sure she left. Will is hot.” She laughed. “Okay, your turn.”

“News is saying Woods is-” Roxie mouthed the rest. “Leo’s dad.”

“Where in the world did they get that?”

“I have no idea.”

“Well, what did you tell Bec-Woods?” Chloe looked at Leo, but he was on the other side of the pool, swimming toward them.

“That he’s not, of course!” Roxie said it through her teeth and smiled at Leo as he got closer.

“So he’s really not?” Chloe asked softly.

“Really not what?” Roxie’s forehead went into tiny creases.

“Really not Beckham’s?” she asked incredulously.

“I can’t believe this.” Roxie shook her head. “No, he’s not. Why? You thought he was?”

“Well, yeah, I kinda did,” Chloe admitted. “You’ve never told me everything that happened that night with Beckham. He even looks like him, Rox! I’ve thought it more than ever with you being on this tour—you’ve been so weird with him.”

“Look, Mama, I can hold my breath underwater! Count!” Leo went under.

Roxie started whispering fast and snippy. “I lost my virginity to him, Chloe, and then he had no idea who I was the very next week. I’ve been carrying around that little grudge with me for the last 5 years or so.”

“Oh,” Chloe looked at Leo who popped up, “I hoped he was.”

“How many seconds was that? Twelve?”

“Maybe thirteen,” Roxie told Leo.

“I’m gonna do fifteen this time!” And back under.

“So he really is Kenneth’s?”

“Yes! I told you he was Kenneth’s back then!”

Chloe sighed.

“Why does everyone think I’m such a liar?”

Silence.

“And stop being so disappointed!” Roxie snapped. “Just because Beckham looks all shiny bright with his cleaned up self doesn’t mean he is.”

Leo popped up between their legs. “Was that fifteen?”

“Fourteen,” Roxie said.

Back under.

“It’s just sad because I bet Beckham actually wants him to be his. And no one is a bigger loser than Kenneth,” Chloe trailed off until the last words were barely said out loud.

Roxie started to say something and then stopped. It was true. Beckham had seemed almost disappointed when she’d said he wasn’t Leo’s father. She had a moment of sadness that Leo didn’t have that.

She’d barely dated Kenneth, quickly losing interest when he had nothing behind his good looks. They were over weeks before she found out she was pregnant and he wanted nothing to do with the baby. That was fine with her. She wanted nothing to do with Kenneth. Back then she’d wished it was Beckham’s baby. She went through stretches of romanticizing the whole situation, making Beckham the father, but the more trouble he got into, the further she got from that fantasy.

“It doesn’t do any good to wish. It’s just not true.”

“Well, damn.”

“What did you say, Auntie?” Leo’s head came out of the water and he was grinning.

“I said dammit,” she sighed.

She paced the floor and studied her makeshift collages. She wished she was back in her apartment where she could think clearly. Everything had gone to hell. There was no way that was Beckham’s son. No way. She was supposed to have his son.

She snatched the remote from the counter and turned off the TV. This changed everything. If Leo was Beckham’s son, she’d have to … accept him. She didn’t want to upset Beckham. If he lost his son, he’d have a hard time getting over that and it would take longer for him to love her. She’d just have to get Leo to like her.

She’d need a few more days than she thought to deal with this news. It was going to take a little more work. The heightened security had been a bitch to deal with—it was driving her insane.

She removed the tacks from the latest picture of Leo she’d just put up by her bed. One by one she dropped tacks in her hand until there were so many, she barely felt it when one pricked her and she began bleeding all over the linoleum. She fixed the small holes in the picture, trying to piece them back together with her fingernail. In some places, you could barely see there was a hole there, but in others, it gaped even wider. His eyes, in particular, looked weird with all the holes.

The longer she looked at it, the worse she felt. Tears ran down her face when she looked at Beckham’s son. She put a towel over his head and went and printed a new picture. When it popped out of the printer, she wiped her nose on her arm and pinned up his new picture.

There, that was better.

She would love him too. She’d always wanted to be a mother.

Everyone just needed to stay the hell away and let Beckham process everything he’d heard in the last two hours.

Nate called him an hour before he was supposed to go onstage. “I’m bringing someone to do the testing during intermission. It’ll take a few days to get the results back, but we can get started on finding out the truth.”

“Thanks, Nate. In the meantime, what do I do about Roxie?”

“She’s a huge part of your show. I can’t imagine someone filling that role at this point. Can you two do your job, no matter the outcome of the test?”

“I can’t imagine pulling that off. At the moment, I regret ever meeting her.” He let out a big breath, not believing what he was saying. “I don’t know if I can move on, Nate. I’m beyond pissed. Why didn’t she tell me she had a little boy? She’s had plenty of time to tell me. It just doesn’t add up.”

“I don’t know, Beck. Think about it, though, she could be telling the truth. Why wouldn’t she tell you if he was yours? She talked about providing for him. She could have gotten millions out of you by now, if that’s what she was after.”

Beckham squeezed his eyes shut. “You’re right. If he’s not mine, I’ll owe her a big ass apology. But if he is, I’m gonna have a hard time ever seeing her face again. I’ll just have to so I can see my son.”

The words ‘my son’ echoed around his brain, staggering him with their weight.

He thought of his conversation with Leo and how much he’d liked the kid in such a short amount of time. His heart raced at the thought of Leo being his little boy.

“Sounds like she’s gonna be around a while, either way.” Nate brought his attention back to the present. “Time to step up those acting skills.”

Anthony showed up before he left the bus.

“Roxie says she’s not dancing tonight,” he said, wringing his hands.

“Like hell she’s not. If I have to fake it, so does she.”

“Beckham, she’s shaken up. You need to talk to her. She told me about her burned clothes.”

Beckham lifted his eyes to the ceiling. In all the excitement, he’d forgotten about that. He felt bad for a moment, but then caught himself. What if this was just another stunt she was pulling? That didn’t make sense … why would she ruin all her clothes? He was losing it. Fuck it, he needed a drink more than life.

“Are you listening to me?” Anthony gave him a little shake. “We had to send someone out to buy her something to wear tonight. And then this with her … son. I don’t know—maybe it’s not a good idea.”

“Roxie thinks it’s Brooke messing with her things, which we need to deal with, but I can’t even think about that right now. We have security on Roxie. Howie set up security for Leo. And the press isn’t gonna hurt Roxie, they just want a story. She’ll be fine. Tell her if she wants her paycheck she needs to get out there.”

Anthony’s stare leveled him. “Beck, I know you’re angry, and I don’t know what to make of all this, but Roxie is not a bad person.” He put his hand on Beckham’s shoulder. “And I’ve never seen you happier than you were the other day, with her.”

Beckham shrugged. “I don’t know what to think anymore.”

“I’ll see if I can get her out there.”

Before Anthony was all the way out the door, Beckham called him back in.

“Hey, where did all this come from anyway? Who leaked this story?”

“That trampy journalist was on a gossip show earlier, pretty sure it was her.” Anthony pursed his lips. “Mariette? Miriam? Mi-something Wethers.”

“Well, fuck me. Mirielle Wethers. I don’t know whether to thank her or bury her. Maybe both, if I’m lucky.”

Ian stepped beside him as they walked through the back halls of the auditorium.

“I’ve heard about the mess with Roxie and Leo,” Ian said. “We were at their hotel today swimming and Mirielle stopped by. That woman is a snake, Beck. I wouldn’t trust anything she says.”

“How long have you known about Leo?” Beckham asked.

“I met him the last time he visited Roxie.”

“Funny. She has sex with me but doesn’t trust me enough to tell me she has a child?” Beckham rubbed his eyes and squinted at Ian.

Ian held his hands up. “I don’t get why she didn’t tell you about him. Makes no sense to me. She’s so proud of him, I’m shocked she hasn’t talked about him non-stop on this tour, but she hasn’t. She told Sparrow that we’re the only ones who know about Leo because of Journey—she’s wanted to remain professional, but knew we’d understand how much she misses him.” He studied Beckham and gave his hair a tug. “It’s weird, I’ve never thought about Leo looking a thing like you, but I do see similarities. That being said,” he pointed at Beckham, “Roxie is decent, and if she says he’s not, he’s not.”

Beckham stopped walking and glared at Ian. “Nice to know where you stand.”

Ian shook his head. “I’m standing right here beside you, and I’ll also continue standing by Roxie. I haven’t known either of you a helluva long time, but I know you’ve both become good friends to Sparrow and me. If I have to be the one to talk sense into either one of you, I will.” He put his hand on Beckham’s shoulder and gave it a shake.

Beckham returned the favor, shaking Ian a little harder than necessary, until he felt better.

“How are you so laid-back all the time?” Beckham asked.

“Lots and lots of sex with my beautiful wife,” Ian said. “If you and Roxie can get on the same page as each other pretty soon, maybe you can be as copacetic as me.” He was prepared this time when Beckham tried to grab him. He jumped out of the way and laughed all the way down the hall.

Normally Beckham had no trouble getting into the zone, but tonight he felt all over the place. When he wasn’t thinking obsessively about what it would be like to have a son, he was trying to cloud out the images of Roxie that had taken over his mind. Her skin, her hair falling down her silky back. Her breasts in his hands and mouth. Her whimpering his name. The look on her face when she shattered around him.

Ever since being with her, his body craved her. How had everything gone so haywire?

His body ached. His head hurt. His throat had a solid lump in it that wasn’t going away. Maybe he was coming down with something. If thousands of people weren’t counting on him to show up, he’d cancel the show. There was no way he could get away with that, not this late.

Sierra found him in the dressing room. He knew she’d heard about what happened. She didn’t say anything, just came over to where he was sitting and hugged him.

Nate came in a couple of times and walked back out each time when he saw they were still sitting there.

“What are you going to do?” she finally asked.

“Find out the truth and take him to Italy with us.”

She leaned back. “If he’s yours, you mean. And even if he is, you can’t just take him from her, Beck.”

He heard what she was saying and he knew she was right, but … if she’d really kept him from his son all these years, he was absolutely going to make sure he spent the rest of his life making up for lost time. Whatever it took.

There was a brisk knock on Roxie’s hotel door. She opened it to find Anthony standing there, holding up a dress. “Here, put this on. We’ve been waiting on you. The show starts in thirty minutes!”

Her eyes widened. “Beckham still wants me to do the show?”

“You know the saying—it must go on, baby!”

“This is all too much.” She shook her head. “I’m not ready,” she told him. “And I told you earlier I’m not doing it.”

“You can throw on more makeup on the ride over. Suzanne and Coco can’t even help you now.”

“Whatever happened to Tracy? She did my makeup the best. I miss her.”

“She was the best, but she flaked and didn’t show after her little sick break. You only get one chance with me.”

Roxie lifted an eyebrow.

“Besides you, I guess.” He rolled his eyes. “Come on, hurry up. We don’t have time to dilly-dally. Beckham sent me over to get you. I told him about your concerns and he said he was taking care of more security.”

“You guys are insane, you know that, right?” She scowled at Anthony and then looked at Chloe and Leo. “I really just want to be with them. It’s been a crazy day. We were going to hang out together…” Her eyes filled with tears. “If he manages to somehow take my son…” she whispered. “Leo is not his, Anthony.”

“Then there shouldn’t be any problem,” he said simply. “We’ll take them to my bus. It’s all planned out.”

“I don’t know. I’d rather him not…” Roxie crossed her arms over her chest.

“Put the dress on and let’s all go. I will personally keep Leo and Chloe company tonight,” Anthony promised.

“Yay!” Leo said. “And Beck said I needed to visit his bus!”

Roxie bit down on her tongue to keep from yelling. She changed into the dress, brushed her teeth, and they took off.

It’d be interesting to see what kind of show they managed to pull off under such chaos.

Roxie crawled into bed that night, exhausted. They were still on Anthony’s bus. Leo had fallen asleep before the show was over, and Anthony thought it would be best for Roxie if they all stayed put. Nate usually stayed on this bus too, but they never saw him. She figured he had moved to another one for the night.

Being with Beckham on a normal night was already like playing Chutes and Ladders—colorful, making progress then sudden drop offs, and having to go back to the beginning just when you got close to the end—but tonight had been a thousand times that. She made a mental note to throw the game away when she got home.

She kept thinking of his face and felt her insides tremble. He’d looked like he wanted to murder her and devour her all at once. And then to make things worse, they’d been carted off during the intermission to get their mouths swabbed, making her feel like a guest on Maury. The more she thought about it, the more she felt very justified in her growing outrage at Beckham, not to mention the non-stop news shows that were discussing the possibility of Leo being Beckham’s love child.

She’d made the mistake of turning the TV on to see what they were saying and had seen a picture of her dancing with Beckham five and a half years earlier. How had they managed to find that? And one of her ‘friends’ from school was giving interviews about how obsessed Roxie had been with Beckham Woods throughout high school, making her sound like a star-crazed groupie who had conned Beckham into impregnating her.

Even more uncomfortable, everyone was mad at her. She’d been on the other bus during intermission and they’d taken their turns at saying their piece. Vanessa was hurt that she didn’t tell them about Leo and was in disbelief that he was Beckham’s. Brooke just sat at the table and scowled at her, the fury palpable from across the room. The guys were mad at her for the tension she’d caused. The bus had never felt so small.

She didn’t bother defending herself. The test results would take care of that. She walked out, stunned that everyone had been so quick to lash out.

And Sierra … it broke her heart that her new friendship with Sierra had been reduced to quiet distrust. She’d tried to pull Sierra aside to tell her the whole story, but Sierra had just said she needed to stick by her brother on this one. She seemed sorry, but resolute.

She couldn’t imagine ever being any more humiliated than this. It stirred up the hurt from years before that she’d thought she was finally beginning to get past. Her heart hurt all over again, the way Beckham had looked right through her, not having a clue what he’d taken from her. It was just a repeat, five and a half years later. Why should this time surprise her? She’d become hardened overnight once before. Innocence lost was never pretty, though—no matter how many times the lesson had to be learned.

Next stop: Atlanta. They drove all night and were there by mid-morning. Anthony told them to make themselves comfortable and to plan on staying on his bus for the rest of Chloe and Leo’s trip. He’d made sure an assistant picked up some necessities for Roxie since all of her things were ruined. Instead of hanging around the crew at dinnertime, the three of them went out, walking until they found a sushi place. Johnny and Al were always nearby.

“I’ve missed you so much, Leo. I’m so glad you guys got to come for the last few days. I needed my peoples.”

He looked up at her and began swinging their hands as they walked.

“I’ve missed you too. Really, really bad.” He looked at Chloe then. “Auntie and I have been having lots of fun too,” he assured them both. “This is my favorite, though. And I can’t wait to have sushi!” His face split into a huge grin.

It took Roxie’s breath away when he smiled like that. She leaned down and covered his face with kisses. He laughed and finally moved away to catch his breath.

He loved sushi, although he wasn’t as crazy about ‘wathabi’ as she was.

They had just ordered, when she felt eyes on them. She looked up and Beckham was looking at Leo. He wore a fedora low over his eyes, but she could see how his lips curved up as he watched Leo. Oblivious, Leo was chatting about the fish in the nearby tank and didn’t even notice Beckham.

Roxie’s blood boiled. When Beckham walked to their table she wouldn’t look at him.

“Hey, buddy,” he said to Leo.

“Beckham! Hi!” Leo said excitedly. “Sit down! We just ordered some major sushi!”

Beckham laughed. “Thanks! I believe I will.” He sat down by Leo.

Roxie’s eyes cut to him and he stared at her, daring her to try and stop him.

“Did you follow us here?” she snapped.

“I might have.” He shrugged.

Her eyes flashed; she was livid. So it seemed they were going to act like children—fine, if that’s the way he wanted it.

The waitress came to the table to take Beckham’s order and didn’t even try to hide the fact that she was checking him out. It didn’t seem like she knew who he was, just that she liked what little she saw. He never fully lifted his face into the light. Roxie was learning his tricks. She wondered what other sneaky skills he had lurking.

“So, we’ll have a whole day off in Atlanta tomorrow,” Beckham cleared his throat, “and I’d like to take Leo to ride the SkyView Ferris Wheel. Would that be okay?”

“Yeah! That sounds great!” Leo agreed. “What is a SkyView Ferris Wheel?”

“Well, it’s really, really high and was once in Paris and…”

“Hey, hold up. Those are the kinds of things you ask before … not while he’s right here,” she scolded Beckham. “And you can’t just take him … I’ve missed him so much.” She tried to give him the rest of the message with her raised eyebrows and at the same time not show Leo how much she despised Beckham.