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She was out.
She was more than happy to be seen with Lara it turned out. It hadn’t phased her at all at the charity event.
But this was so much different.
This was an invasion of her privacy, and Charlotte felt sick.
25
Lara was pretty sure she’d never been in a car moving this fast before, but strangely she felt safe as Charlotte sped past the occasional car they met on their way through the darkness back to Los Angeles, the headlights illuminating the road ahead.
They must’ve been on the road for at least an hour. Lara hadn’t noticed the exact time when they’d left. Conversation had been sparse, but what was there to talk about besides the obvious?
How had this happened?
Lara tried another topic instead. “I had no idea you could drive like this.” Even though they’d been traveling over the speed limit the entire time, every maneuver that Charlotte made was precise, like she was in complete control of the car. “You know,” Lara continued when Charlotte hadn’t said anything. “When you had a driver.”
“I took a course,” Charlotte said, her eyes flickering up to the rear view mirror. “Years ago. Paps are crazy. I needed to know I could get myself out of a situation if I had to.” Her grip on the steering wheel tightened as she sped past another car.
Lara struggled to think about anything else other than how this could have happened as they drove in silence.
“How did they find us?” Lara finally blurted out a few minutes later. They were nearly in Los Angeles. How could they not talk about this?
Lara was met with silence, and she stole a glance in Charlotte’s direction, noticing even in the dim lighting that her jaw was tight, and a knot formed in the pit of her stomach.
“Wait,” Lara said, feeling a little nauseous, “You don’t think…”
“Did you tell Nina?”
“No.” Lara stared at Charlotte whose eyes were checking the mirrors every few seconds. “No. I didn’t. I wouldn’t. I haven’t even known her for two months.” Lara stopped herself from asking Charlotte how she could think that she’d be so careless. “Who did you tell?” Lara asked instead.
“Jerry.”
The rhythmic tick-tock of the blinker filled the silence as Charlotte turned left.
“So, it was me or Jerry or someone followed us,” Lara said, trying to get Charlotte to see that there were other possibilities, that she wasn’t the one who let this happen.
“No one followed us.”
Lara could feel the bile rising up in her throat. Charlotte seriously thought that she’d told someone. And why wouldn’t she? Jerry has been her agent for years and years. Charlotte had only met Lara one month ago.
Lara hadn’t even noticed the streets growing familiar, but they were outside her house. Charlotte didn’t turn off the car.
“Do you want to come in?” Lara asked once she’d retrieved her bag from the trunk.
“No. I’m meeting Jerry first thing.”
Lara sucked in a breath. “Okay.” It felt strange to tell Charlotte that she’d had an amazing weekend after everything that had happened, so she didn’t. “Goodnight.”
“Night,” Charlotte said, her eyes lingering on Lara.
Lara thought she was going to say something, but then it hit her that Charlotte was probably waiting for her to close the passenger side door.
With a sharp inhale, Lara pushed the door closed and walked to her front door in a daze, the sound of Charlotte’s car fading away into the night.
26
Charlotte fell onto her couch, throwing her feet up as she stretched out, exhaustion taking over. What a fucking day. The longest one in a very long time, and it was only five o’clock.
