Chapter 14

 

Tanner

 

A month has passed since I hired Delta Security to protect me and Beth, and the lack of any movement from the guys after my daughter was starting to make me antsy. It was a little comforting she wasn’t in any danger, but I couldn’t help but feel they hadn’t given up on it yet.

I had been trying to contact my neighbor ever since the last time we spoke, but his phone’s dead and he’s not online. I didn’t think he was hiding from me because of what happened, so I hoped nothing bad happened to him.

My East Coast tour ended a couple of days ago, and my manager was still working out the kinks for the West Coast tour, so I had a little bit of down time till then. Unfortunately, my manager thought my down time would be better spent buffing my image, and so he set me up with fan meets as well as a supermodel inclined to date me so we could both ride the paparazzi train to stardom together.

I was this close to losing my mind.

My only saving grace was when I locked myself up in the studio recording new songs for my album. I’ve been feeling super inspired since meeting Rebecca, to the point where I asked her to come inside the studio sometimes, in the pretense that I needed someone to ‘critique’ my work. I considered telling her straight that she had become my muse, but I didn’t think she’d like that admission, so I lied and asked her to help me instead.

Our relationship had improved gradually as well, especially when we shared stories about Beth, who practically begged Rebecca to take her to the nursery when I couldn’t take her. It was during these moments when I was stuck with Michael in the house that I noticed I missed having Rebecca with me. A few days after that, I also noticed Michael could read me like a book, and his dislike towards me intensified.

I could tell from the way Rebecca was always short with Michael, and how the latter seemed desperate to earn Rebecca’s approval that something was going on between them, but I didn’t know what.

At first, I thought they were a couple, and the sickening feeling in my stomach wouldn’t disappear until I finally confirmed with Rebecca they weren’t in a relationship. I tried to ask both of them what was wrong then, but both of them were reluctant to tell me.

That was okay, though. I could care less about their past, as long as they didn’t have a future—

I stopped mid-thought. What the hell was I thinking?

“Hello! Earth to Tanner! Are you listening to me?”

A nasally voice disrupted my thoughts, and I blinked a couple of times as realization dawned.

Oh right. I was actually on a date right now.

I looked at the blonde bombshell before me, and what her name was. Hmm…did it start with an ‘R’, or am I just thoroughly fixated on Rebecca right now? Was it Rachel? I felt like its Rachel. Meh, might as well go for broke.

“I’m sorry, Rachel. You were saying?” I asked politely, and she narrowed her eyes at me.

“My name is Sylvie,” she huffed.

What? Sylvie? That is so far away from ‘Rachel’. What the fuck?

“Are you sure?” I blurted out. “Because you look like a Rachel, hon.”

Her eyes looked like they were going to shoot lasers at me, and for a second there, I feared for my life.

Until I saw Rebecca coming closer to our table with an “I-can-totally-snap-your-neck-without-flinching” kind of look.

And suddenly a light bulb lit up in my head.

Rebecca stood by the table, looked at my date before switching her attention to me.

“Tanner, we have a sit--,”

I stood up abruptly, startling the two women and cutting Rebecca off. I mustered up my most apologetic face, and looked at Sylvie-not-Rachel like I totally regret having to ditch her like this.

“I’m so sorry, Sylvie, but I haven’t been completely honest with you,” I told her. I took a step towards Rebecca and wrapped my arm on her shoulders, pulling her close to me. “You see, I actually have a girlfriend, and my manager just asked me to go on a date with you as favor to your agent.”

If looks could kill, I would have probably been buried twice over.

“Tanner, what are you--,” I pinched Rebecca on the side hard enough to make her yelp, and I faked it by looking at her in concern, even going as far as putting the back of my hand on her forehead to feel for her temperature.

“Oh, sweetie. Are you getting sick? It must’ve been awful waiting for me outside in this dreary weather,” I said, pretending to fuss over her.

Sylvie-not-Rachel cleared her throat and I turned my attention back to her.

“So you see, Rachel,” I said, using the wrong name on purpose so she could get even more frustrated with me. “I really am sorry for lying to you like this, but I love my girlfriend so much, and I can’t have her dealing with this any longer. Let’s go, my love.”

I took Rebecca’s hand in mine and walked out of the restaurant, grateful that I had remembered to pay for the bill ahead of time. I led her towards the frozen lake I used to skate in as a kid, and spotted the alcove with the wooden bench in the middle and skipped over to it, sighing as I sat down.

Rebecca said nothing the entire way, and I tilted my head and patted the seat next to me. Instead of sitting down, she looked at me like I had grown a second head.

“What was all that about?” she asked.

“What were you going to tell me back at the restaurant earlier?” I asked instead, trying to change the subject.

“It can wait. I’d like to hear your side of the story first,” she replied, making me grimace. I didn’t want to tell her, but she wouldn’t like it if I lied, so…

“I couldn’t take it anymore, so I pretended you were my girlfriend so I could get out of that date,” I admitted, closing my eyes and bracing myself for her wrath…which didn’t come.

I opened my eyes in wonder and looked at Rebecca, who was shaking her head at me with a slight smirk on her face.

“Wait a minute, you’re not mad?” I asked uncertainly.

“Not really,” she said, shrugging. “You did what you had to, I guess. Besides, I don’t think it’s fair to all the girls you fake dated just to boost your popularity.”

“That’s exactly what I told my manager, too,” I grumbled.

She sat down beside me and hummed.

“If you don’t like going out on pretend dates, then why don’t you just go on a date for real?” she asked, and I frowned.

“The fact that I have Beth is still a secret I keep from the general public. I’m still looking for a woman trustworthy enough to accept my kid and all the responsibilities that came with it,” I explained. “And of course, my daughter has to like her, too. That’s probably the more important requirement, now that I think about it.”

“So she has to get Beth Lee’s seal of approval?” she said, her eyes lighting up with mirth, and I chuckled.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“That must be difficult for you, then,” she said, shaking her head lightly. “I haven’t seen Beth get along with any girl.” I sighed at this.

“Yeah that is a problem,” I said, agreeing. “I mean, the only woman she’s ever got along with is…,” I stopped talking as an idea popped into my head.

Rebecca must’ve thought about the same thing too because she turned her head and looked at me apprehensively.

“No,” she said, not even waiting for me to ask the question. I groaned.

“Come on, Rebecca!” I cried.

“No way, it’s not happening,” she said, getting up from the bench. “You hired me to be your protection.”

“And now, I’m also rehiring you as my girlfriend,” I said casually.

“You can’t do that!” she blurted out.

“Why the hell not?!”

“Because it doesn’t work that way!”

She stalked out of the alcove and onto the ice, taking slow measured steps so she wouldn’t slip and I followed after her.

“Look, Rebecca. I really don’t see what the problem is here.”

“How can you not?!” she exclaimed. “I can’t go out there in public and pretend to the whole world I’m your girlfriend, it just can’t be done!”

“I think it’s going to make your job a whole lot easier if you’re my girlfriend,” I told her, dropping the whole ‘pretend’ tidbit. I was mature enough to accept that if it was Rebecca, I didn’t want a relationship playing charades with her. I wanted the real thing.

“Really?” she asked, incredulous. “Then tell me, Tanner. How can that be?”

“Easy, Rebecca,” I mocked, humoring her. “If you’re my girlfriend, you’re going to have to be stuck with me all the time. This means that if there’s any danger that would happen to me, you’d be able to stop it immediately.”

“You are unbelievable,” she hissed, her eyes flaring. She took a step back but miscalculated, and instead she was waving her hands in circles in the air to prevent herself from falling.

I skidded towards her and pulled her to the ice, softening her landing by letting her fall on my lap. I bit my lip to contain the laughter bubbling in my throat as I looked at her screwed up face as she braced herself for impact.

“You know, maybe we should switch places, and I’ll be your bodyguard,” I joked.

She opened one eye first as if to check if the coast was clear before opening the other one and focusing her sights on me. I smirked at her and she narrowed her eyes at me, frowning and then pushing me off. I scoffed at her.

“And here I was, saving your life, and I don’t even get a thank you,” I said.

“Shut up.” she said, rolling her eyes. “Stop being so dramatic.”

“I am not,” I said, annoyed. “I still haven’t heard a thank you from you.”

“Alright, fine. Thank you. Are you happy now?” she said, sounding completely exasperated. I shook my head, smirking.

“No. The only apology I’ll accept is if you agree to my plan.” I told her.

“You’re insane. I mean certifiable,” she replied. “Why are you so adamant about this? I mean, you don’t even like me that way, right?”

I sighed at the never-ending circle this conversation seemed to be taking and stood up, brushing the ice shavings on my pants before extending my hand down towards her to help her up.

“What if I told you I did? Would that make any difference?” I asked her. She hesitated holding my hand and looked up at me, not quite comprehending what I was saying. I steeled myself and tried again.

“What if I told you that you caught my eye the very first time I saw you? And I’m not talking about the time we met at the café. I’m talking about the time you came to my concert, and you were looking up at me from the front row,” her eyes widened as I remembered that, but I kept going.

“What if I told you that you blew me away when you told me off for not keeping Beth safe the second time we met? That you hadn’t left my mind from that moment on, and that the only way I could purge you out of my system was to write songs about you? That it makes me so goddamn happy when I see Beth so happy because of you?”

“What if I told you that the past month has been a Godsend just because you were there beside me? That I couldn’t focus on those women I was dating because you wouldn’t get out of my head? That it makes me so angry sometimes when I see you avoid Michael like you have more of a connection with him than with me? Would that change your mind?”

She didn’t say anything and just kept staring at me in disbelief. But that was fine. I still needed to say one more thing to her, anyway.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

“Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you, Rebecca Hayes?” I asked her rhetorically. “I’m saying I think I’m falling in love with you, Rebecca, and I don’t think dating other women is going to prevent me from falling anytime soon.”

“Now will you go out with me or not?” I said, pushing my hand towards her in impatience.

She just stared at me for a while, and I started to get nervous she was going to turn me down. I could feel my heart trying to burst out of my chest as I started to panic—

Until she finally reached up and grabbed my hand.