I gave Alex time to depart for the airport before heading to his dressing room to get dressed. I couldn’t stand to say goodbye again.
I didn’t wander to the canteen as Rowan had suggested either, instead I called the taxi firm that Anthony had kindly offered to pay for.
The same driver as this morning picked me up, and like in the morning, my journey was in complete silence.
There were even more photographers outside my house when the taxi eventually pulled up. I literally had to fight my way through them today. They were nothing like as courteous as they had been when I arrived home the other day. I made it through the melee, slamming the door to the house shut and leaning against it, shutting my eyes.
Was this what my life was going to be from now on?
Would I have to run the gauntlet every time I came home?
The reporters had seemed more anxious today, each of them wanting a candid shot, each of them waiting for me to say something wrong, or do something stupid.
I was about to open my eyes when I heard the click of Anthony’s door open.
“Go away, Anthony,” I moaned. “This woman is no mood to talk to you today.”
His distinctive laugh sounded out as he approached me.
“Bad day at the office, Ella?”
I snorted. “You could say that.”
I opened my eyes. I wanted to get upstairs and let my body soak for a long time in a bubble filled hot bath.
“Care to share the details of your day? I’ll treat you to a Chinese take- away and a bottle or two of wine if you step this way.” He waved his arms in the direction of his flat.
I shook my head. “No thanks, I’m knackered. I need a long soak and then bed.”
“But it’s Wednesday night!”
“I’ve had a busy day. I need sleep,” I explained as I moved across the hallway to the stairs that would take me away from this bouncing character who seemed to have endless enthusiasm for everything.
“What are you doing tomorrow seeing as lover-boy’s out of the country?”
I stopped, and turned to face him, but I shouldn’t have been surprised at his knowledge of Alex’s departure abroad. Once again, I was reminded of his profession.
“You need to be careful what you say to me, Mr Edwards,” I said. “Because I have spoken to Alex today about you interviewing him and running some sort of feature on his side of the story.”
Anthony’s eyes widened dramatically. “And . . .?”
“He said that he’ll speak to you when he gets back from Los Angeles.”
I was nearly knocked down as he rushed toward me and picked me up in his arms. He swung me around the hall before placing me back on my feet.
“You are amazing! But I now want the story on you two as well. I have never known Alex agree to anything with the paps. He hates us. If you’ve managed to persuade him to talk to me, you must mean a hell of a lot to him. I want to know everything.”
“Will you ever just leave me alone?” I groaned in mock frustration.
“No, never.”
“Well, I suggest you do for now. I’m off to bed, and I don’t want to be disturbed. You start annoying me Anthony, and I can just as easily get Alex to change his mind.”
“You wouldn’t. I’m your friend.”
I began my climb up the stairs.
“Oh,” I added as I turned to face him. “I think you might be getting a call from Simon Hurst over the next few days.”
“Amy’s partner?”
“Yep.”
“Why? What’s happened there?”
“Speak to Simon when he contacts you!” I shouted as I continued the climb to my flat.
“I love you, Ella!” he shouted after me.
That was twice in an hour that I had heard those words directed at me. But I knew whose was genuine and whose was said in jest.
I turned my key in the lock of my door, before entering my cosy abode. I dumped my purse on the side table, and headed straight for the bathroom. There were only two things that would help me relax this evening, and one of them was currently flying across the Atlantic. The other option needed filling with water. I sighed as I turned the taps on. I was already missing him.
* * *
I woke up in the morning, feeling more tired than when I’d gone to bed. I hadn’t slept well at all. I should have told Alex that I wasn’t bothered about finishing my work experience next week. I would much rather have gone to LA with him. I should have insisted he took me with him. Even though he was working whilst there, we could have spent our nights together.
I eventually crawled from my bed around lunch time, having caught a few more light snoozes as my mind ran through everything that had happened yesterday. I had well and truly dropped Amy in it. I should have experienced some feeling of guilt over informing Simon about her behaviour, but I didn’t. I was unable to feel even the slightest bit of sympathy for her current situation. And I couldn’t believe that she had not only been messing around with Rowan, but there had been others, lots of them. She had no-one but herself to blame for the situation she was in.
As I wandered into the kitchen and opened the fridge I cursed under my breath. I needed to go shopping for food. All that I had in my fridge to eat was a mouldy piece of cheese, rotting tomatoes, and half a tin of beans. There were unopened bottles of wine though. I ignored the food, and winked at the bottles. Unfortunately, I couldn’t survive on wine alone, and I hadn’t eaten properly for days. My mind had been focusing on other things.
The thought of ordering my shopping on line was a lot more appealing than heading outside to the chaos that would still surround me in the street. I could hide in here for as long as I wanted, but I didn’t want anyone disrupting my normal life, and I certainly wasn’t going to let a few photographers stop me from doing what I needed to do. I quickly got dressed and headed down the stairs before opening the front door to the awaiting photographers.
I fought my way through them as carefully as possible. I was as worried about hurting them as I was about them doing the same to me. I hated that lenses were shoved in my face, and my name was shouted to try and get my attention. But what I hated the most was the constant quizzing as to where Alex was. Didn’t they know? They made it sound as though he had left me to fend for myself.
I thought I’d left them outside the house, so couldn’t believe it when three of them appeared in the supermarket. They followed me around the store, constantly taking photographs. I failed to see where the interest lay in my decisions to select ingredients for my forthcoming meals.
When I eventually got home, I shut the main door quietly, not wanting to alert Anthony of my arrival. I was in no mood to talk, or fend off his insistent questioning.
Just as I had finished putting the food away into my cupboards, the buzzer at my door sounded out. Someone was calling me from the main door downstairs. I headed over to the intercom, pressing the button to talk to whoever it was. I was prepared for it to be one of the paps from outside, pushing their luck even further.
“Hi,” I spoke into the speaker, sounding as exhausted as I felt.
“Ella?” A female voice questioned.
“Errr, yes.”
“Can you let me in, please? Quickly.”
“Who are you? What do you want?” I asked, not prepared to let anyone just walk into the building.
“It’s Megan, Alex’s sister.”
“Megan?” I half shouted. Shit. What did she want?
“Ella, please. I’ve got a message from Alex for you. Let me in. Come down if you must so you can assure yourself it’s me. But please hurry, the damn paps are having a field day down here.”
“I’ll be right down,” I told her. Even though I was confident it would be her, I had to be sure.
I rushed down the steps, not wanting to make her stand on the doorstep for any longer than necessary, knowing how crazy it would be for her. As I reached the bottom of the stairs, Anthony pulled the door open.
“Megan!” he exclaimed.
“Dimples?” she replied, stepping into the hall and pulling a baseball cap from her head. Her wavy blonde hair tumbled free across her shoulders as she flung her arms around Anthony and hugged him.
I frowned at their interaction, freezing in my spot in the hall. Did they know each other?
Anthony grinned as they broke apart. “How many years has it been since I last saw you?” he asked.
“Too many, by the looks of you. Good grief, when did you grow up?” Megan asked, smiling broadly.
“I could ask you the same.”
Megan looked just like the pictures I’d seen of her. As tall as Alex, she had a body to die for. Even thought she was wearing jeans and a jacket, I could see the tight-fitting t-shirt underneath. So could Anthony. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.
I moved forward, alerting them to my presence.
“Ella!” Anthony greeted.
Megan spun around to face me. “You’re Ella?” she asked.
I nodded.
“Is she not what you expected for your brother, huh?” Anthony asked.
“She’s exactly what I expected.” She stepped forward, pulling me into a hug. “You’re perfect,” she whispered.
“Thanks,” I muttered, completely stunned by her reaction.
Megan rubbed the top of my arms. “I need to talk to you. Alex rang me this afternoon. He—”
“Shhh . . .” I interrupted. Anthony was listening.
Megan frowned at my reaction. “What’s wrong? Do you not want to know what he said?”
“Yes. I just don’t want Dimples to know.” I scowled at Anthony.
“Why not? What’s wrong with him?”
“How exactly do you know him?” I asked.
“Dimples and I were at high school together. He was a year above me. We . . . well, we had a few fumbles behind the bike shed.” She giggled and Anthony smiled.
“Do you know his real name, or have you only ever called him Dimples?” I asked, struggling to keep my face straight at her nickname for him.
“Andrew,” she said confidently.
“Andrew?" I repeated.
She nodded.
“Care to explain?” I said, scowling. His friendship with Megan was based on falsehoods. She was Alex’s sister—she needed to know exactly who he was.
“I don’t think Megan needs to know about that, Ella.” He shot me a worried glance, but I couldn’t keep quiet. He could find all sorts out about Alex through her. She wouldn’t have a clue that she was talking to a reporter.
“Where does the Anthony fit into all this?” I asked, not willing to let this drop.
Anthony’s shoulder sank. “Anthony is my middle name. I needed to change my name when I . . . when I started doing what I’m doing now.”
I frowned, annoyed that he was still wanting to hide his true identity from Megan.
“Dimples is better known these days as Anthony Edwards,” I said.
Megan’s smile disappeared. “Anthony Edwards, as in Amy Strickland’s fucking best buddy?”
Her language surprised me, but maybe it shouldn’t have. She was Alex’s sister after all.
“Guilty as charged!” Anthony said, laughing nervously.
There was a flurry of movement as Megan rushed across the hall toward him. Her fists were flying around, making contact with Anthony by the sounds of it all.
“Shit! Owww!” Anthony shouted. He was such a large man that I doubted Megan’s fists were doing much damage. But as he managed to grab both her wrists and pull them away from his body, a thin trickle of blood ran from his nose proving my assumption wrong.
“How can you live with yourself?” Megan spat. “You practically destroyed Alex with all those lies that Amy fed you.”
“I didn’t know,” he said, dabbing at his nose with the edge of his t-shirt. “I had no idea that she was lying. I spoke to Ella the other day, and have held stories back that Amy has fed me. I don’t believe her any more. I want to talk to your brother. I want everyone to know the true story.”
Megan spun to face me. “You spoke to him?”
“No! Not in the way you think. We chatted, but I told him nothing about Alex.”
She narrowed her eyes before turning back to Anthony. “You haven’t heard the last of this.”
Anthony huffed at her before skulking back in to his flat.
Her gaze turned to me. “You. Me. Your flat. Now!” she ordered.
I led the way up the stairs, but let Megan enter my flat first. When I shut the door and turned around, Megan had her hands on her hips, and was tapping her stilettoed foot on the floor.
An empty feeling built in my stomach and my mouth suddenly became dry. Any hope I’d had for having a friend in Alex’s sister seemed to be slipping through my fingers.
“Drink?” I asked.
She narrowed her eyes. “Have you any beer?”
I nodded and headed to the fridge. When I’d been at the supermarket earlier, I’d picked up six bottles of what I had once read as being Alex’s favourite drink. I had every intention of locking myself away with him in here when he got back from Los Angeles.
I grabbed a bottle of beer and flipped the top off with the bottle opener.
“His favourite,” Megan said as I handed her the bottle. “You do your research well.”
I bristled at her scathing words. To me they said so much more. They signified that she didn’t think I was genuine, that this was all a game for me, and that I didn’t care for Alex—I was only with him because of who he was.
She was so wrong.
“Look Megan. What happened downstairs was all a bit of misunderstanding.”
“So that man is not Anthony Edwards. Is that what you’re telling me?”
“No! I mean, yes. Shit! He is Anthony Edwards.”
“And you had a chat with him the other day when you knew who he was?”
“Yes, but not a chat in the way you think. I’ve not told him anything about Alex. Why would I?”
“Money,” she shot back at me before looking around my flat. “Do you not even own a television?”
Why was she judging me so much? If that was all she had come here for, then she could leave. “Listen, I may not have money, but I would never, ever sell a story about anyone to the papers. It’s not me. I don’t act like that.”
She took a drink from the bottle, her gaze resting on me.
“Why would I?” I asked. “I know how much Alex hates them. I’m his girlfriend for God’s sake. Why would I risk doing something like that?”
“Like I said, money. And the fame that goes along with fucking my brother.”
I snorted at her comment. How little everyone knew about us. And how much they presumed. I’d had enough of people thinking I was only with Alex for one reason, and I certainly wasn’t going to put up with it in my own home.
“Do you know?” I suddenly threw at her. “I don’t need to discuss this with you. I’ve had enough of dealing with the bitch from hell at work this week. I don’t have to put up with your nastiness as well. Not in my own home. If you don’t like me, tough. I’m in your brother’s life, and I don’t intend on going anywhere. You think what you want. Amy has already tried to split us up, and failed. And I’ll be damned if anyone else will manage it! Just give me the message that he asked you to pass on and then go.”
Megan seemed to be fighting back a smile. I saw nothing funny about the situation. But seconds later she screeched in joy and flew across the room to hug me.
“Sorry, Ella, I had to be sure. Please understand.”
She released me from her vice like hug, but kept her hands on my shoulders. “I’ve seen Alex hurt so much over the past few years, usually because of that bitch, but because of other people as well. It makes me very wary of anyone new, and I know how hard he’s fallen for you. I was confident that you were different, in fact I stuck up for you the other night when he came to see me. I punched him because of the way he’d treated you. Now, grab yourself a beer and tell me exactly what’s going on with Amy, and where the hell Dimples, I mean, Anthony, fits into all this.”
I was beyond relieved that she didn’t hate me.
“Oh, but first things first,” Megan insisted as I grabbed my own beer and sat down on the sofa. “Alex’s message, well Alex’s order. He rang me this morning to insist that I went out and bought you this.”
She lifted her handbag from the floor and rummaged around in it as she continued explaining. “I opened it up earlier. I hope you don’t mind, but I needed to sort a few things on it.”
I lifted my chin to try and see what she was looking for.
“Alex wanted me to get it ready to use before I gave it to you.”
My confused expression gradually faded into one of complete surprise as she handed me a mobile phone.
“Alex’s choice,” Megan said. “If you don’t like it you can ring him and play hell with him.”
“Ring him?” My face lit up. I would be able to talk to him whilst he was in LA.
Megan nodded. “He told me that he’d never seen you with a phone. I mean, good god, how do you manage?”
“I dropped it the day before I began my work experience. I’ve not had a chance to go and get it fixed,” I explained. “Anyway, the people I need to speak to, I tend to Skype.”
“Well, he’s desperate to talk to you. I’ve programmed his number into it. Mine’s there as well.”
I pushed the side button and the phone lit up. Some-one, presumably Megan, had placed a shot of Alex as the screen background. It was a photograph from one of his well-known photography sessions.
She burst into a fit of giggles. “Leave that on,” she encouraged. “He hated those photos, but I think they were some of the best he’s ever had taken. We argued about it for weeks.”
“But they were amazing,” I said, happening to agree with her, not Alex.
Megan nodded. “Now,” she said suddenly serious. “Tell me all about Anthony.”
I sensed an underlying excitement in her voice.
“Well, from what you’ve already mentioned, you seem to have known him better than I do.”
“I was fifteen, Ella. He was sixteen. We knew each other for one year and then we moved. You know what happened to our parents?"
I nodded, all too aware of the tragic story behind the death of their parents. They were killed in a car crash on their way back from a night at the theatre. It all seemed quite ironic that their son had then chosen a life of acting. Megan had been sixteen, Alex thirteen. They had both been placed with foster parents, who had formally adopted them a few years later.
“Charlie, and Hazel are amazing foster parents, and both Alex and myself owe them a great deal. But unfortunately, when mum and dad died, we had to move. Dimples and I only stayed in touch for a while, but, well, you know what it’s like. I found other boys to play with. I never thought I’d see him again. Can you imagine my shock when I came through your door?”
“I think Dimples was just as shocked.” I grinned at the use of his name. I had to admit, it still suited him.
“And then you tell me that he’s Anthony Edwards.”
“Yep.”
“He’s printed some really slanderous things about Alex, you know? Amy has him right where she wants him.”
“I know what he’s printed, and I also know that he’s held off several stories lately that she’s fed him. I spoke to him quite a bit the other day, and he’s promised not to print anything else about Alex. He wants to talk to him, and get his side of the story. I don’t think he likes Amy any more than we do.”
Megan snorted at my last comment. “He’d struggle to hate her as much as I do.”
She drank several mouthfuls of beer, finishing the bottle before placing it on the table. “So, is Alex going to talk to him then?” she asked.
“He said he would. And I’m confident that Simon, Amy’s boyfriend, although perhaps now he’s an ex-boyfriend, is about to go public about how she’s lied and manipulated him over the years.”
“Really?”
I nodded. “It seems that she’s got herself pregnant, and there is doubt over who the father is. Simon was sure it was his, but—”
“Rowan’s the daddy, isn’t he?” she interrupted.
“How did you know?”
“Just something Alex was talking about the other night. Sometimes his observations are incredibly perceptive. He joked that he thought Rowan and Amy were as thick as thieves.”
“Well, I don’t think Rowan’s too keen on playing daddy.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. He’s all brawn and no brains. He thinks with his dick too much.”
I frowned, confused by her words. I’d always thought Rowan was okay.
She spotted my frown. “Let’s just say that my first meetings with him didn’t turn out too well.”
“What happened?” I asked, intrigued.
“We went on a date. He seemed okay, a genuine type of guy. If you hadn’t already realised, I like big men, ones with muscles, ones who can stand up to me. I’m a bit intimidating, so I like my men to have a bit of control over me.” She laughed. “Anyhow, we had a nice meal, although he talked more to my breasts than my face, and then when I excused myself to go to the ladies’ room, he took it upon himself to follow me, wait for me outside.”
I hardly took a breath as she spoke, and couldn’t take my eyes off her.
“He pinned me against the wall, in the corridor outside the ladies’ room for fucks sake, and started getting far too frisky. He was out of order, but wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
Her growing grin signified to me that things didn’t go his way.
“Let’s just say that his voice was a lot higher in pitch over the next few days.”
She burst out laughing. “He’s a prick, Ella, chasing pussy all over the place. He didn’t try it on with you, did he?”
I shook my head. “He offered to give me a lift home, he asked me out on a date, but I refused.”
“Alex would have gone crazy if you’d accepted either of them. He knows what he’s like.”
Suddenly lots of things made sense. The way Alex jumped in to offer me a lift home, the friendly chat about telling him if Rowan bothered me. And also, all the growled chat on Wednesday morning about filming professionally.
“I’m so glad you found Alex, Ella,” Megan said. “He was lost before he met you. So, so lost. I think that you’ll make him happy, and he had better make you happy.”
It seemed that we both wanted the same for Alex.
She glanced at her watch. “I need to go. Meetings and arrangements to sort. You look after yourself whilst he’s away. And give him a call.” She grabbed her bag and stood up. “They’re eight hours behind us in LA, so it’s only nine o'clock in the morning there. He’ll be in a live chat show now and then he’s recording an interview at twelve. You should be able to grab him in about an hour. I know he’s desperate to hear from you.”
“I’ll call him. I promise. I’m already missing him.”
Megan hugged me. “I’ll see you soon. Give me a call if you need me.”
“Okay,” I agreed as we walked to the door.
“I don’t want you worrying about anything. And if Amy bitch contacts you, or does anything to upset you, ring me. I’d like another chance to lash out at her.”
“I’ll see you later,” I said, wondering if she fancied a night out sometime. Having her around was almost like having a little bit of Alex with me.
“You sure will.”
As soon as she’d gone, I ran across the room and grabbed my new phone. I wanted to ring Alex and surprise him.