‘I don’t know him well enough to have those kinds of feelings for him. What is this, Michael?’
He moved closer to her, reaching out to gently touch her check, stroking it with the back of his hand. ‘I just don’t want to see you hurt, India.’
She looked up into those blue, blue eyes of his. ‘Nobody’s going to hurt me.’
He gave a small laugh, pulling his hand away, still staring at her. ‘I’ll see you on set.’
There was no point in telling her anything just yet. Hopefully he’d sown a seed of doubt, planted something there in her mind that would prevent her from getting any closer to Dominic MacDonald, and then when this man – this uninvited guest – finally tripped himself up and the truth came out, India would back away from him faster than he could ever anticipate. And Michael would step in, play the shocked and stunned long-lost father confronted with this son he never knew he had – he’d play the innocent victim, and make sure that Dominic looked like the liar he was. A man who’d kept this big secret from India, when he really should have told her everything. But he hadn’t. And that was his first mistake.
***
‘She suspects something, doesn’t she?’ Charley asked, pulling her knees up to her chest as she sat on the sofa in Kenny’s apartment within The Amber Palace. She felt drained and exhausted with the effort it was taking to pretend everything was alright, when it was so far from that.
Spending her life looking over her shoulder, jumping at every random noise, every shadow, every time she heard footsteps behind her; it was wearing her down. And not being able to share any of it with Vince, having to shut him out of her life almost until she knew exactly what was going on, it was so tiring. Even Lily could tell something wasn’t right with her mum, and that was the worst thing of all.
‘India isn’t stupid,’ Kenny said, sitting down next to Charley, handing her a mug of coffee. ‘Well, not when it comes to things like this she isn’t, anyway.’
Charley looked at him. ‘Does this thing with her and Dominic bother you that much?’
He sighed, pushing a hand through his hair. ‘It doesn’t bother me at all, Charley. Not really. I just worry about her, that’s all. I love her like crazy, y’know? And I’m just scared that she’s getting herself into something with Dominic that she doesn’t really understand. It’s like… it’s like she always has this need to be with someone when I wish she’d just take a step back and spend some time getting her head together. The last thing she needs at the minute is some mixed-up relationship with her co-star. Especially one with a reputation like his.’
‘She doesn’t really know him all that well, does she?’
‘No. She doesn’t. But you know India. She has a habit of jumping into these things without thinking anything through first. I just don’t trust him.’
Charley smiled at him. ‘You don’t trust anyone she gets involved with, Kenny.’
He couldn’t help smiling back. ‘No. I don’t suppose I do.’
Charley stared into her coffee. The only time she felt safe was when she escaped up here to Kenny’s apartment. She didn’t even feel safe at home, with Vince, because she couldn’t talk to him about any of this, she couldn’t be herself, she couldn’t get things off her chest, and that was hard. But Kenny made everything seem so much easier to cope with because she could open up to him, let it all out. Tell him how she really felt. ‘I’m scared, Kenny.’
He gently took the coffee out of her hands, placing it on the table in front of them. ‘Come here, come on.’
He pulled her into his arms for a hug and she clung onto him, grateful for the warmth and security that something so simple could give her right now.
‘I know that me constantly telling you it’s going to be okay isn’t really helping but, I will try and make sure that it is okay, Charley. I promise you that.’
She held onto him tight, her arms around his waist as he kissed the top of her head. She just wanted to close her eyes and forget any of this was happening. She just wanted to stay there, and forget.