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My heart feltlike it was splintering into a thousand pieces. I couldn’t look away, couldn’t seem to move from the spot where it felt like lightning had struck, filling me with so much electric rage I thought I might explode. I waited for what felt like a billion seconds for Ryan to push her away, but he just sat there. He didn’t kiss her back or engage with the kiss in any way …but he didn’t move to end it either.
My chest constricted as I saw movement in front of them. There on the ground, a few feet away, was a photographer.
The hell?
The man stood, checking his camera and saying something to the couple about the shot. They broke apart then the beautiful woman grabbed her cell and started scrolling through it like she couldn’t be bothered. Ryan stood, grabbed his neck, and tipped his head to the sky while he walked around the patio. He looked trapped.
For some reason, my feet carried me over, my previous thoughts of fleeing and never speaking to him again fluttering near my chest in an angry flight of nerves. I wanted to punch him, drag the woman out of the patio area by her hair, and scream, but old habits had me swallowing my nerves.
The second I was within fifteen feet of Ryan’s house, a man started moving toward me. He was nearly six foot five with roped and corded muscles; it looked as though Ryan had finally set up security—that or it was for the woman I now assumed was an actress.
“Ma’am, you can’t be—”
“Bexley?” Ryan yelled from behind the giant.
His tall shoulders maneuvered around the guard until he was in front of me. He didn’t waste any time with questions or explaining himself. He pulled me in close for a hug, so intense and so tight I thought he might break me. A few seconds later he was releasing me and leaning in for a kiss, but I stopped him.
“I’m not exactly into sloppy seconds…at least not before you brush your teeth.” I was joking…mostly, but the twinge of hurt sliced through me like a blade just the same.
“Bex,” Ryan said on an exhale while the woman in the background laughed.
“She’s adorable, Ryan,” she cooed, rising to her feet. Taking long strides, she headed toward us, until she was right in front of us, holding out her hand. “Shelly Cambria, nice to meet you. You must be Ryan’s girlfriend.”
I didn’t shake her hand; I merely looked down at it as Ryan gripped my hip in a tight squeeze.
“So, you knew he had a girlfriend when you kissed him then?” I narrowed my gaze on her too-perfect bowlike lips and her big blue eyes. I refused to be ashamed of how I looked compared to this gazelle…but it wasn’t easy. She was the definition of perfect.
“This is just press, sweetie. The world needs to think we’re dating for a bit, that’s all. Once the premiere is done, we will have a nasty breakup…just like our last one. Isn’t that right, Ryan?” She blew an invisible kiss toward him then eyed me again. “I just hope he doesn’t catch any feelings this time.”
It would have hurt less if she slapped me.
I couldn’t breathe.
He’d been with her before? And now…now he was kissing her casually for a movie? They were dating now, or pretend dating…the press would see and know, and it would look like he’d dumped me, my kids would be dragged through the mud, I would be…
This was going to humiliate me.
I started to back away from Ryan as the pressure on my hip increased.
“Bex, don’t do this. Let me explain it so it makes sense.” He pleaded with me, but I couldn’t.
Tiny dots of black were dancing in my vision as I realized too late that I had literally been holding my breath since Shelly spoke. Opening my mouth, I wheezed.
“Baby, come here…come get some water. Have you been running?” Ryan whispered, pressing kisses to my hair.
He was still holding me, but I couldn’t be near him. I needed space, needed time to process what was happening. I pushed against him one last time before everything went dark.
* * *
“She wasdehydrated and was likely in the sun for far longer than she should have been. There’s no way to tell, but the added stress likely just sent her over the edge.” Someone above me was talking in a soothing tone.
I cracked my eyelids and blanched at the pain in my skull. It felt like someone had hit me there with a hammer.
“It was because of Mr. Eberhard’s cattle that got out.” Sondra’s gentle voice cut into the sudden silence of the room. I hadn’t realized she had come with me to what was apparently the hospital, and she also sounded as though she’d been crying. “He’s this lonely millionaire with property that’s too big to keep up with. He refuses to sell, but he’s too old to maintain the deteriorating fences, which is why the cows are always getting out. I’m terrified of cows, but because I’m a manager now, Judy said I had to run after them.” Sondra started sniffing…I still wondered about her own sun exposure and whether or not she should be hooked up to an IV or something.
“She’ll be fine, but I would recommend you watch her carefully over the next twenty-four hours.” The man speaking was tall with white hair and gold-rimmed glasses. If I’d had the energy, I’d have let out an audible sigh of frustration. I didn’t have the insurance to pay for a random emergency room visit; I’d been hoping I was still at Ryan’s condo, propped up on a lounger where someone had slapped my cheek a few times to get me to come to.
