“You mean who I’m fucking crazy about,” he said, wrapping his arms around her even tighter. “Who brought me to my knees and who I have every intention of making my wife someday.”
She went still suddenly, but Sonny didn’t miss a beat. He kissed her cheek. “Someday,” he reiterated. “Didn’t mean to scare you there, but it’s happening, Lila. I know your career is just getting started, and right now we both have a million things going on, but you’re it for me, babe. There’s no doubt in my mind that I wanna spend the rest of my life with you. You may not be there yet—”
“I am,” she said, turning to him even more. “And you didn’t scare me, just caught me by surprise. I agree right now is not a good time, but one thing I know for sure is I’ve never been happier than since I met you.”
Feeling his heart swell, Sonny smiled, lifting his brows, exaggerating his surprise to her comment. “Even with all the paparazzi bullshit you’ve had to deal with?”
Lila smiled even as her eyes glistened. “Sonny, you’ve changed my life—me—for the better in so many ways. I never thought I’d say this to any man, but aside from anything that might upset my sister, there’s nothing I wouldn’t sacrifice to be with you.” She leaned in and kissed him softly then pulled away and smiled. “So, yeah, bullshit paparazzi issues are a very small sacrifice I’ll gladly make. I’ll take you any day. I love you.”
“I love you more,” Sonny whispered, kissing her back, then squeezed her even tighter, feeling a dread he hadn’t felt since the day he walked into that training room with Tatiana hanging all over him.
To have lost her back then would’ve been bad enough; he was so hung up on her already. But to lose her now for any reason he knew he’d never get over it—over her. He was only glad she seemed to be as far gone as he was, because as much as he’d tried to play it down, this relationship was anything but a normal one. Anything could complicate things real fast.
Chapter 24
Lila
Oh, the irony was rich. As worried as they’d both been that maybe the media frenzy would eventually be a cause of contention between them, it’d done just the opposite. Lila was as floored by the whole Slyla madness as Sonny was annoyed by it. But because of the insanity of it, there was no way anyone could deny how crazy they were about each other now. Nor could they doubt their utter devotion to one another. The paparazzi caught every adoring gaze, every kiss and sweet moment they could, and these images were all over the Internet and tabloid covers.
With so many of Lila’s campaigns and advertisements featuring her now signature badass glare, the press was quick to point out what a polar opposite she was when around Sonny. More than once now they’d even caught her annoyance when she’d been seen around other men who were clearly trying to hit on her. As much as those photos pleased Sonny, he’d made no secret of the fact that it pissed him off.
“The asshole would have to be stuck under a fucking rock for the last few months not to know you’re spoken for.”
Thankfully, in each of the incidents, it’d been an unknown crew member of whatever commercial or promo she’d been on the set of. If it had been another celebrity or even athlete, the media would’ve had a field day with it. And that was the kind of issues they’d dreaded.
There were no paparazzi allowed on the sets, but just like some of the restaurants they’d frequented, there were moles in the crew itself, trying to make a quick buck on any photos they could sneak. So, these photos had obviously been leaked.
In any case, what Lila had been so worried about way back—that she’d screw this up somehow with her temper—didn’t appear to be the case, not when it came to seeing photos or reading stories about Sonny with other women. So far, everything had been perfect. The rematch was just weeks away now. Other than the fact that she wasn’t as free to fly off with Sonny on a whim anymore because of her training, life couldn’t be more wonderful.
Sonny still had to go out of town for his promos. But even then, without Lila ever suggesting it, he made every effort to get back that same day, even if it meant sitting on two long flights in the same day. To Lila, that spoke volumes and gave her a little relief that she wasn’t the only one so completely sprung. She heard and saw the sincerity in his eyes whenever he couldn’t get back in just one day. Like this last trip he’d taken. He had no choice but to be gone for two days, and he hadn’t been a happy camper. He had every opportunity to be out there living the glamorous life, jetting all over, since technically this was still the off-season for him. Yet, all he could think of was getting back to her.
The very thought made her smile as she finished washing her hands for lunch. She still hadn’t checked her phone and was anxious too, but she’d needed to use the ladies’ room first and wash up a little since she’d been covered in sweat and felt gross.
Rushing out of the employee bathroom, she went straight to her locker, hoping not to get stopped. She’d gotten better about being friendlier when it came to signing autographs. But like the photographers, some fans could be pushy. It wasn’t enough for her to sign one thing. Some of them had several photos, magazine covers, and even gloves they wanted her to stop and sign, even when she was clearly in a hurry.
Once at her locker her heart fluttered as it still did every time she knew she was that close to hearing from Sonny. It’d only been two days that he’d been gone, and already she could hardly wait to see him later that day when he got back.
The instant smile was on her face the moment she saw she had two emails from him. But because she knew his emails could get long sometimes, she decided to check the text from Ali first. She usually only texted when she needed to tell Lila something significant.
Call Jen. I’M FINE. So, don’t Frank out! I just can’t talk right now and it’s too long to explain.
The obvious auto-correct typo didn't garner so much as a smirk from Lila like it normally would. She immediately checked the time it was sent, even as her previously fluttering heart was now beginning to pound nervously. It had been sent twenty minutes ago. It was only then that she noticed the missed call she had from Jen less than five minutes ago. Clicking on it, she hit send. “Don’t freak out?” she whispered under her breath. “Is she kidding me?”
“Lila,” Jen answered.
“Jen, what’s going on?”
“I’m not sure. I just got here.”
“Got where?”
“The hospital.”
“Hospital?” Grabbing her bag out of the locker, Lila slammed it shut with her heart at her throat. “Why are you at the hospital?”
“Ali’s in the ER, but I don’t know a whole lot more, except she wanted to talk to me first so I could explain it to you.”
Already in a sprint, Lila headed out to the parking lot, glad to see her driver outside chatting with the driver of another town car. Motioning to him that she had to go, he rushed to open the back of the car and opened the door before she was even close. “Was she in an accident?”
“I don’t know the details.”
“Well, did she tell you anything?”
“Umm . . . hold on.”
Someone was talking to Jen in the background, and as much as Lila strained to hear what they were saying, she couldn’t make anything out.
“They’re letting me in now. I’ll know more in a second.”
Lila got the hospital info and relayed it to the driver before sliding in. “Quickly please,” she said before he could close the door. “My sister’s in the hospital.” The moment he closed the door she went back to grilling Jen. “And you don’t know anything else? She just told you she was in the ER?”
“Well, no . . .” Jen paused as she thanked someone for something, but if Lila didn’t know any better, Jen was purposely avoiding telling her more.
“Jennifer,” she said, losing her patience now as the car pulled past the photographers at the gate. “What did she tell you?”
Clearing her throat, she heard Jen take in a breath. “She was in a fight, Lila.
But I don’t know the details. All she said was she thinks she broke her hand.”
That familiar red haze of fury Lila had been blinded with so often throughout her life, threatened to do her in now. But she gripped the phone, taking in a deep breath herself. She was better than that now. It was a fight. She wasn’t attacked. “A fight? With who?”
“I don’t know. Some girl at school. But if she broke her hand, then I’m guessing the other girl can’t be in too great a shape either. Just get here and she’ll tell us both the rest. I’m going into the ER now, but I can’t be on my phone in there. Drive careful, Lila. She said she’s fine.”
Lila let her know she wasn’t driving but that she was already on her way. As her heart pummeled away, she reminded herself of her sister’s text. I’M FINE.
It was just a fight. God knew Lila had been in plenty, and she could see how easy it’d be to break her hand. She winced, remembering the girl’s wrist she’d broken the night she met Sonny and how much pain she’d been in.
To distract herself before she drove herself crazy, she texted Gio to let him know why she’d skipped out on lunch and wouldn’t be back today. Of course, traffic would be the pits, and it felt like an eternity before they got there.
Remembering how easily she was recognized these days, she pulled out the light jacket with a hoodie and the dark glasses she always carried now and put them on.
The moment the car slowed at the ER entrance, Lila didn’t even wait for the driver to come around and get the door. One of the more relentless photographers pulled up alongside of her town car, but Lila didn’t have time to worry about him. He wouldn’t be let in the ER anyway.
She rushed through the crowded emergency waiting room, trying to remain calm. It was just a fight, she kept reminding herself. She’s well enough to make phone calls and send texts.
When she was finally let into the busy ER, she spotted Jen standing by the bed in the corner where Ali was sitting up talking to her. Lila’s eyes zoomed in on her sister’s scratched face, and she swallowed hard, taking even deeper breaths as she got closer. For a second, Ali moved the icepack away from her head and Lila saw the huge lump. Ali covered it as soon as she spotted Lila walking toward them. A guy in scrubs was at her bedside now with a wheel chair and began helping her into it.
“You can’t walk?” Lila asked, feeling her adrenaline spike and her heart drop.
“I can,” Ali explained. “But I have a bruised rib, so it hurts to stand. They don’t want me getting further injured, so it’s just procedure.”
“What happened?” Lila asked, pulling her sunglasses off as the attendant continued to help Ali into the chair.
Lila didn’t miss the exchanged glance between Ali and a very nervous-looking Jen. “Some ghetto girl, who already had a black eye, confronted me about me trying to get with her boyfriend. It was stupid. I told her I didn’t know what she was talking about. But when I tried to get in my car, she pulled my hair, and I had to defend myself. She ran when she heard the sirens, but the police did take a report with her full description.”
Shaking her head, Lila let that sink in before asking. “Do you even know her boyfriend?”
Again with the exchanged glances, and now Lila could really feel her patience thinning. The moment the attendant recognized her, his eyes widened, distracting her momentarily from her thoughts. “Hey, you’re—”
Lila immediately lifted her finger over her lips then pulled the hoodie over her head, glancing around in hopes that no one else recognized her. “Where are they taking you?”
“X-rays,” the attendant answered for Ali, still looking a little star struck. “That and an MRI to rule out a concussion. But the doc ordered lots of X-rays since she’s banged up in more than just one place, so this may be a while.”
“It’s just my ribs and hand,” Ali said, sounding a little annoyed. “Mostly just my hand.”
“And your head,” Lila said then ground her teeth, frustrated that she’d have to wait to get more info from Ali.
Then she remembered the exchanged glances between her sister and Jen. The ride there took a while, and Jen was already there before Lila left the 5th Street parking lot. She had to know more.
“Okay, let’s have it, Jen. What really happened?”
Jen’s eyes widened. “What she said—”
“No.” Lila shook her head, taking a step closer to Jen. “You know more. Who is this guy? Is Ali really seeing another girl’s boyfriend?”
“No.” Jen shook her head adamantly. “I think she knows him and maybe talks to him, but she’s not seeing him.”
Lila tugged Jen along with her to one of the empty corridors just outside the ER so they could have some privacy. “Who is he? What’s his name?”
Jen shook her head, her eyes going wide. “Oh, my God, she told me when I got here, but I can’t remember his name. I’ve never met him, so I don’t know him. I think she met him when she interviewed him once for a story, so he’s an acquaintance but not even a real friend.”
Lila peered at Jen, wondering if maybe she was trying to cover up for Ali. Then something hit her. “Ali said the girl was ghetto. Does this have anything to do with the drug-dealing story you two were following?”
That sparked something in Jen’s nervous eyes, and Lila knew she had her. “No.” She shook her head, but it was hardly convincing.
“Jen?”
“It doesn’t.”
“Jennifer, you’re lying to me and this is about Ali, my sister, being hurt or in danger. You know what that does to me, so I’m gonna ask you one last time. How is this related to those drug dealers? Did they rough her up? Is this jealous-girlfriend story bullshit?”
“No.” Jen shook her head again. “It isn’t. A girl and her friend really did confront Ali about her flirting with her boyfriend. But—”
“And her friend?” Lila asked, trying desperately to keep her cool. “So, there was more than one? Another girl or one of the drug dealers?”
Jen exhaled a bit loudly. “No, it was two girls, but the other girl didn’t touch Ali; it was all this girl that claimed she has a boyfriend Ali was throwing herself at.”
“Claimed, what do you mean claimed?”
“It’s a long story and Ali made me promise—”
“I have time, and I don’t give a shit what Ali made you promise. You really think I’m gonna just let this go? My sister’s in there with a head injury and broken bones for fuck’s sake. This is over, Jennifer. Whatever you two were keeping from me ends now. I wanna know everything.”
“Okay, okay.” Jen held her hand up. “It might have to do with that story we were trying to get. But we don’t know for sure.”
Lila did her best to listen without interrupting as Jen told her everything. Jen explained that, even after Ali had promised they wouldn’t actively go out investigating the drug dealing story, they had. Only soon afterward, they found out that Marcelo knew the guy from his days of dealing back when. Jen said her brother only knew the guy’s street name—Scar—but that he was still in touch with some of their mutual acquaintances in the neighborhood.
Marcelo confirmed what Lila had thought when she first heard about this—that Scar and his friends were, in fact, just small-potatoes drug dealers. As far as Marcelo knew from those acquaintances he kept in touch with, Scar was still a nothing but a pusher in the drug-dealing world.
Ali said Scar had made it a point to let them know he knew who Ali and Jen were, by addressing them once by their first and last names. But because they lost interest in the story after what Marcelo told them, nothing ever became of it. That had been months ago.
“We stopped investigating altogether, and the guy never bothered us again,” Jen insisted.
“So why do you think this is related?”
“A few weeks after Scar had made it a point to address us by name, he and his buddies were busted. Or so we heard. Marcelo heard about it and asked us if we’d had anything to do with it, but we didn’t know anything ab
out it until he told us.”
Apparently, Scar got pinched and was put away months ago. Jen said they hadn’t seen him or his buddies around since. She admitted that she and Ali were nervous that maybe he’d thought the same thing Marcelo had. That they’d had something to do with his getting busted. But they figured with him locked up they had nothing to worry about.
“Earlier this week, he was back,” Jen said, and that made every hair on Lila’s body stand at attention. “He didn’t say anything to us, but Ali mentioned a couple of days ago that twice she’d caught him watching her as she’d walked to her car. She’d gotten the strange feeling he was following her. But she said she’d play it by ear since he hadn’t done anything, and since Sonny’s place was like Fort Knox lately, she felt safe enough. But”—she paused, unnerving Lila to no end— “Ali said he was there today.”
“With the girl?” Lila asked, feeling ready to kill.
“No,” Jen said quickly and obviously getting more nervous by the moment as Lila’s attempts to stay calm wore thinner and thinner with every word Jen said. “She said she’d just seen him a few minutes prior to the girl approaching her by her car. It made her especially nervous because she saw him exchange glances with one of his buddies across the parking lot. It almost felt like they were waiting for her, so she’d hurried up. And that’s when the girl approached her.”
“What exactly did this bitch say to Ali?” Lila didn’t even try to mask her anger anymore.
“She didn’t finish telling me, but she did say the other girl with the girl with the supposed boyfriend had referred to her as Eva. Ali had me call Marcelo to ask if he knew her, and he said he’s heard of her.”
“Why do you keep saying supposed boyfriend?”
“Because Marcelo said last he heard Eva was married with kids.”
“Wait. So, Marcelo might actually know how to track the bitch down? Get him on the phone,” she said before Jen could even answer her first question.
Lila knew hunting Eva down was a bad idea. But there was no way, no fucking way, she wasn’t going to. She’d do her best not to lose it completely if she did get a hold of her, but at the very least she was making sure this bitch got arrested.