Chapter Nine
Elly
I went to find Jake first. I found Tony packing up the office instead. “I need to find Jake,” I told him.
“He’s already on a plane, Elly. He had to go back to L.A. He’ll meet up with us again in Florida.”
“That won’t work for me. I guess I’ll have to let you know, Tony. I quit.”
“Excuse me? You can’t just walk out in the middle of the tour.”
“Yes, I can.”
Tony puffed out his flabby little chest and said, “You could be sued for breach of contract for that.”
I smiled. I was really sick of getting pushed around and Tony had just pushed my last button. “You tell your hero Jake that if it even crosses his mind to sue me or tries to be detrimental to my career in any way, I go to every major magazine and newspaper in L.A. and tell them about his practices with the young interns on the tour. I’m sure they’ll eat it up. I’m sure I can get a lot of the other girls to come forward…and I’m sure his wife will love to hear it.”
Tony looked like he couldn’t think of what to say to that. I was glad. He was a little prick and I didn’t care to hear what he had to say anyways. I walked out while he was still gaping. I headed for his bus and ran into one of the back lot security guys on my way.
“Hi, Elly! How are you this evening?”
I smiled at him. He was a nice guy. He’s the one that dragged Brooke out of Tristan’s bus and got the security tapes so he could prove to me what happened. I appreciated that a lot. “My night has kind of sucked a little, but it’s going to get better, I’m sure. I’m on my way to see Tristan.” I could tell by the way his expression changed that he wasn’t looking forward to being the one to tell me what came next.
“Elly, he’s gone.”
“Gone?”
“My partner just took him to catch a cab to the airport. Here he comes now.” I looked in the direction he was looking. The security car was approaching us. Tristan wasn’t inside.
“Damn! How far is the airport?”
“I think we’re about a half hour away.”
The smaller guy got out of the car and the big one said, “We have about an hour before we pull out of here. Do you want a ride?”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I’m a romantic believe it or not.”
I laughed and said, “I believe it. Yes, I’d love a ride, thanks.”
The two security officers talked for a few minutes and then the big one said, “Okay, Elly, let’s go catch a guy at the airport. This is just like a movie.” He made me laugh. To look at the guy you would never guess he had a romantic bone in his body.
“Let’s go,” I told him with a grin. On the way to the airport I thought about all that had happened that night. I couldn’t believe I quit my job like that. I wasn’t really worried about it. I was sure if I looked hard enough, I’d be able to find something else when we got back. I was also sure that I needed to do this. If I didn’t go after him and tell him how I felt, I was going to regret it.
We got to the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in about twenty minutes. The big guy was pushing the speed limit, but I was grateful. When we got there, I gave him a hug and thanked him. He wished me luck. The airport was not quite as big as LAX but there were still a lot of people there. I went from terminal to terminal looking for him. I was praying the whole time that he hadn’t gotten lucky and found a flight that was leaving right away. So far the only ones were to L.A. I’d seen were not leaving for hours, so he shouldn’t be through security already. My stomach was in knots and I was sweating. I told myself if I didn’t catch him there, I could find him when we got home. I mean, where was he going to go? I knew he didn’t have much money and he didn’t have his own place. As I was having that thought, I saw him. He had his back to me and he was walking up to the United Airlines ticket counter. I called out his name, but he didn’t turn around; it was loud in there and I doubted he heard me.
I hurried across the room, covering the ten or twelve feet between us in seconds. When I got close to him I touched him on the shoulder. I held my breath then, unsure how he was going to react and feeling like a weight was sitting on my chest. When he turned around and realized it was me, he grinned. The weight on my chest was lifted and I could finally breathe.
“Hi,” was all I could think of to say.
“Hi,” he said, still grinning. “You going my way?”
I shrugged, “I was thinking about it.”
“Don’t you have a job here?”
“I quit,” I told him.
“Funny, I quit my job today too.”
“I heard. I’m sorry that I didn’t hear you out. They’re bastards; I don’t want to work for people like that.”
He started to say something but I was overwhelmed with the need to kiss him suddenly. I leaned in and pressed my lips to his. He dropped his duffle bag and put his arm around me, pulling me in closer. We kissed, passionately, like no one was watching.
When we came up for air, I said, “We’ve been through a lot in the time we’ve known each other. I think we handle things better together than we do apart.” I was trying to tell him that I loved him, but it was stuck in my throat. I was so afraid that he wouldn’t want to hear it.
“Yeah, we are good together,” he said. He pulled me back into his chest and with his lips just inches from mine he said, “I love you, Elly.”
Everything inside of me melted. Before I could respond he crushed his lips back down on mine and kissed me again. That one took all the breath out of me and when he pulled back this time he said, “Should we head home?”
I nodded and he bent to pick up his duffel bag. He stood back up and reached for my hand and I said, “I love you, too, Tristan. I think I’ve loved you since I was twelve years old.”
He grinned again and in that arrogant, but sexy way he has about him he said, “I know.”