squeezed her hand again, both of them staring into the other’s eyes, so many silent messages passing between them it made India feel dizzy. But she was tired, emotionally drained. She needed to sleep. Finding out about Charley and Jimmy Cash, that had all but finished her off. She just wanted to get into bed and get a good night’s sleep before she flew back to Vegas in the morning.
‘Are you coming back with me, Kenny? To Vegas?’
He smiled again, his fingers curling tighter around hers. ‘Yeah. Of course I am. Just try and stop me. I need to be there for my favourite girl, don’t I? Make sure she’s alright.’
She reached out with her other hand and gently stroked his cheek, running her fingers over his mouth, his bearded chin, all the time still staring into his eyes. ‘Yeah, you do. Because I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t around.’
‘You’d survive,’ he smiled, unable to take his eyes off her.
‘Maybe,’ she whispered, the air now heavy with an atmosphere that hadn’t been there before, and India knew it was the right moment to call time on this, before it led to something it shouldn’t.
She let go of him, pulling herself up and dusting herself down and he stood up too, quickly grabbing her hand before she could disappear back inside.
‘I meant it, India. What I said.’
She didn’t pull away, she just looked back into those dark and beautiful eyes, loving him so much in a way she just couldn’t explain, and that had been the problem for almost two decades now. When it came to Kenny, she couldn’t really explain much.
‘I will always be there for you, baby. No matter what.’
And, as she smiled again, looking deep into the only eyes she could ever really trust, she knew for sure that Kenny Ross had been the one constant thing in her life for nearly twenty years, and that was never going to change. Ever.
CHAPTER 25
Jimmy was all too aware that Vince Maine was just one step away from making sure no more of Charley’s movies could be distributed via the website. He wasn’t stupid. Of course her husband was going to be there to sort everything out, to make sure his Beverly Hills housewife tried to keep as much of her now-tarnished reputation as intact as possible. Damage limitation, isn’t that what they called it?
Jimmy had been expecting it. But he had lawyers too, good lawyers, but lawyers that maybe worked just that little bit outside of the box, bucked the system, listened to others besides those that made the rules. So he had back-up plans. Didn’t he always? He was prepared for anything.
No, Jimmy knew that the website was only ever going to be a stop gap, a temporary measure, a fleeting glimpse into Charley Maine’s past – a chance for those who’d previously had no idea who or what Charley had been to learn about their neighbour, to find out what that mom at the school gates, who’d seemed just like any other ordinary rich Beverly Hills housewife, had once been a part of.
He had other irons in the fire. He had an underground distribution service already in action, ready to make sure that anyone who wanted a slice of Charley Maine’s past could have one, for just a handful of dollars, and already the orders were flooding in because, at her peak, Charley Maine had been Queen of the hard-core porn scene. And now a whole lot of people wanted to see why.
When she’d married Vince Maine, Jimmy also knew that her new husband had made sure that as much of Charley’s past life as possible was put to rest. Vince knew people, he was a powerful man, especially here in Las Vegas, so he’d made sure Charley’s new life could take off without her feeling any kind of threat of the past returning. And he’d succeeded. For a while. But Jimmy was back now, he was back and things were changing, because he knew people too. He was also a powerful man, just in very different ways.
He’d managed to resurrect Charley’s past and bring everything back to the surface, and this time Vince Maine’s job of protecting his wife was going to be a whole lot harder. Jimmy Cash was back. And he had no intention of going anywhere anytime soon.
***
Michael watched from the side of the set, half his attention on everything he had to sort out before they could start shooting