again.
‘If you mean is JJ with me, then no. He isn’t. He’s at home, with Ellie.’
‘Home?’
India looked at him, watched the way his eyes never left hers, the questions he so obviously wanted to ask her all too evident. ‘At his home. We don’t have a home anymore. And you know that, Michael.’
He broke the stare and looked down at the ground, running a hand nervously along the back of his neck as he looked back up at her. She seemed to grow more beautiful the older she got, yet it also seemed as though, every time he saw her, she was becoming more and more untouchable. More distant. But maybe that was just him. Maybe that was just how she wanted to be around him.
‘I could do with a drink,’ she said, breaking the sudden silence. ‘Are you coming with me or are you just going to stand there?’
He followed her to the bar situated in the centre of the busy casino, standing beside her as she slid up onto a stool, tossing her blond hair back over her shoulder and he couldn’t help but remember her as that somewhat naive young woman he’d fallen in love with all those years ago. She was so much more self-assured now, so much stronger, but then, she’d had to be, because of what he’d done to her. A sudden sharp pain hit him right across the chest as he remembered those things he’d tried to put behind him – things which would really never go away. Because he didn’t deserve to forget.
‘Are you okay?’ India asked, noticing him clutch his chest and breathe in deep.
‘I’m fine,’ he said, closing his eyes for a second as the pain subsided. ‘So…’ He opened his eyes and looked at her. She seemed concerned, and the hope that gave him was ridiculous because it probably meant nothing. ‘Is it still a beer?’
She couldn’t help but smile, and he smiled too, the whole atmosphere changing in an instant. ‘A beer’ll be great, thank you. You still on the bourbon?’
‘Oh, you know me, honey. A creature of habit.’
She turned slightly on her stool and looked at him, resting her chin in her hand as she watched him order the drinks, watched the way he smiled at the female bartender, instantly putting her at ease. It was what he was good at, putting people at ease with that movie star smile and those amazing blue eyes. But they were also eyes that had terrified her at one point, and no matter how hard she tried to forget what had happened, it would never really go away. It was always going to be there between them, like some insurmountable barrier that neither would ever really be able to get over.
‘Layla tells me it’s all but finished between you two. Is that right?’
He looked at her, his face suddenly serious, that movie star smile fading. ‘Yes. That’s right.’
‘Why? I thought you two were making a go of things?’
He continued to look at her, trying to find something in her expression that gave him even the tiniest bit of hope, but there was nothing there. She was almost impassive, expressionless even, as she watched him.
‘We tried, India…’
‘Her rather more than you, I gather.’
‘What else has Layla said to you?’
India shrugged, taking a swig of beer straight from the bottle and Michael couldn’t help but find it incredibly sexy as tomboy once more collided with Hollywood beauty. ‘We haven’t had some long, girly heart-to-heart, if that’s what you’re worried about.’
He leant back against the bar, looking out over the casino. ‘We’ve just grown apart, that’s all. Nothing more to it than that. Layla she… she’s so much younger… We just want different things.’
‘She still loves you, Michael.’
He took a long sip of bourbon but said nothing, still staring straight ahead of him.
‘So, I see we’ve got the reappearance of the beard,’ India said, changing the subject, her voice shaking Michael back to reality and he turned to look at her again, her eyes fixed firmly on his.
‘Don’t you like it?’ he asked, rubbing his fingers over his rough chin. It was only a small goatee beard but it actually knocked years off him rather than the other way around.
India shrugged again. ‘Doesn’t really matter whether I like it or not, does it? I’m just pointing it out because you always seem to have one when you’re directing a movie.’
‘You noticed that, huh?’
She was still looking at him. ‘I notice a lot of