Chapter 17

Ethan’s POV

“Do you think he’s doing alright?” Skylar looked over at me in worry.

We were right now heading towards our house in LA. We flew as soon as we could since that’s what we thought would be the best. Skylar was worried about Ben, who was apparently hit by a car in my story.

I was mentally wishing for her anger to be in minimal amounts so that I didn’t have to struggle a lot.

“You know you don’t have to worry so much about him.” I said, “He’s just met with an accident-”

She turned around to give me a startled look. “I can’t believe you’re jealous over this. He is your best friend, Ethan. At least pretend that you care about him.”

“I’m not jealous about you worrying over him, Skylar,” I said. “I’m saying that you’re worrying over nothing.”

“He met with an accident, how can that keep me calm?” Skylar said.

“Actually, there’s something I need to tell you.” I said, looking at her hesitantly.

“Can it wait?”

“I’m afraid it can’t,” I said.

She sighed. “Okay, what is it?”

“I lied to you about something,” I said, keeping my voice low.

“I’m not even surprised,” she snorted. “What did you lie about this time?”

“I-”

“Don’t tell me you lied about Ben’s accident, Ethan.” She said, her own face going serious with her assumption.

I guiltily brought my face down and tried to escape from her glare.

“Oh my god.” She gasped. “You did, didn’t you?”

“I’m sorry, I-”

“Why the hell would you do that?” She yelled, making our driver shiver in response. I looked over him as he watched us with a worried expression.

“I knew there was no other way I could bring you back home,” I said. “London wasn’t safe anymore. I’m not arguing with you on this, Skylar, but you need to know that Jake and Luke are literally behind you to get back at me. I can’t risk anything, even it proves that I’m a coward.”

“You didn’t have to worry so much about me!” Skylar said, clutching her hair in frustration. “I was happy there. I was beginning to curse less about this marriage and you just deprived me of that!”

“I couldn’t help it, sweet-”

“Stop calling me that!” She said in anger and got out of the car. I hadn’t realized until then that we reached our house.

The driver looked at me with concern and I just sighed. “Can I get some advice about how to deal with a crazy wife?”

He gave me a weird smile. “You should probably give her what she wants.”

“But that’s not safe for her,” I said. “She’s in danger, William. And she needs to understand the severity of the situation.”

“Well, I’m sure she’ll understand once you explain to her genuinely about your worry.” He said. “You should let her have her way with you until them.”

I gave him a flat look. “You’re basically asking me to suck it up and pay for my deeds.”

“Those aren’t my words exactly.” William chuckled. “But yes, you can assume what you want. As long as it helps you.”

“You give the worst suggestions ever,” I grumbled.

“I can't stand it when my employers are happy.” He said with a mock grin.

“I’m always happy, William.”

“You seem extra happy for me these days, Mr. Parker,” William said. “I’ve known you for a long time now and I can confidently say that the past few days have been one of the brightest days in your life. Despite everything that happened through the days.”

“Whatever you say, William, you won’t get a hike so soon,” I said and got out of the car, hearing his laughter float in the background.

I went up and walked into our house, running my eyes over the place to make sure I didn’t have a vase flying toward me. I looked around the gallery to find Skylar, but she was not there. I decided to walk into our room and that was where I found her.

“Where are you off to? I asked her as I found her in changed clothes and light makeup. She had her bag hung over her forearm and another hand plucking her phone from the charger.

She ignored me as I walked to her and continued typing something on her phone.

“Hey, I’m talking to you,” I said, holding her forearm.

She looked at me and rose her eyes brows. “I’m sorry, I haven’t been giving a damn to insignificant people in my life. But I can make an exception for you, what’s up?”

I gave her a cold stare. “I apologized, didn’t I?”

She shrugged. “Well, I’m not even hurt or anything because I didn’t really have any better expectations. So, you don’t have to apologize.”

“Skylar, you know I did it for you.”

“Who knows? You probably had other stuff to do here and were merely using me as an excuse to come here.”

“You know I’d never do that.”

“I don’t know, really. You’re always lying to me, I forgot how to trust you.” She said that and took her arm away from my hand and started walking past me.

“At least tell me where you’re going,” I said. “You know I can spy on you.”

She turned around to glare at me. “I really hate you now.”

I smiled at her. “Well, where are you going?”

“I’m going to meet Zac. We’re going to resume our shoot from tomorrow, so we have some stuff to discuss.”

“I thought you were done filming it.” I frowned at her in question.

“We thought of changing certain scenes because our director wasn’t happy about how the movie turned out to be initially. So we’re filming a few scenes again.”

“Okay,” I said. “William is downstairs. Go with him.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “I don’t have to listen to you.”

I sighed. “I’m serious. Go with him.”

She gave me an irritated look and agreed at last. I watched over her as she walked down and got into the car. An unsettling feeling built inside me as I watched her go.

***

Skylar’s POV

I stepped into the coffee shop as the door pinged, hinting at my arrival. The air around us was thick with the scent of caffeine mixed with a classic room freshener. Two coffee mugs were already placed on the table I sat by, with a nerdy man waiting for me in his glasses.

“Hey.” I smiled.

“What’s with the formalities? I was waiting to hear a curse word from you.” Zac looked surprised as I took his coffee mug instead and pushed mine to him.

“A little change won't kill you, idiot.” I sipped on the coffee and resisted the urge to appreciate it. “And why would I curse now? We’re not shooting.”

“Well, Ethan didn’t sound chirpy when he called. So I guessed you needed me to listen to you curse about him.”

I looked at him in surprise. “Ethan called?”

“And ordered me to take good care of you. Isn’t he the most caring?”

I rolled my eyes. “Overbearing control freak.”

“Excuse me?” He frowned at me.

I shook my head. “Zac, where is everyone else? I thought we decided to meet at-”

“Take a chill pill, Skylar. They’re on the way.” He said. “You could tell me about your honeymoon in the meanwhile.”

“Well, apart from Luke abducting me and Jake rescuing, nothing interesting happened.”

Zac almost spewed his drink out. “Luke abducted you?”

I inwardly groaned when I realized that we didn’t tell about this to our friends yet. Ethan thought it’s not safe to inform them yet since the word could spread around. Damn it.

“Well, I was going to tell you about it,” I said, trying to cover up.

“Am I the last person to know that you were taken away by a psycho and then rescued by another? Seriously, Skylar, I thought we were close.” He looked at me with a disappointed face.

“No!” I said, almost feeling my face making stretched expressions. “It wasn’t safe for us to do it over the phone. The word could spread around so-”

“Ethan suggested you keep it from us, didn’t he?”

“Well, he said we keep it from you until we tell you in person.”

“Pompous ass.” Zac cursed while I smiled at him. “How long were you gone?”

“I don’t know. Luke’s men took me in the morning when I was coming back from a yoga session and threatened Ethan to give up his CEO post if he wants me safe.”

“Oh, my god. That’s awful. He couldn’t talk Ethan into it, could he?”

“He could, and Ethan almost did what he was asked to. But surprisingly, Jake got me out of the mess.”

“You mean Ethan’s cousin who tried to almost.”

“Yes. The same one.” I said. “That’s what Ethan is worried about. We thought he hated us, especially me but Ethan said he sounded worried when he got to know that I was abducted. We don’t know what’s in his mind.”

“That explains why Ethan’s having his bodyguards outside,” Zac said, eyeing the three men in black outside the coffee shop.

“Yes. That’s why we had to come back here so soon.”

“I wonder how you came back here in between your honeymoon though. You love London.” Zac pointed.

I glared at the coffee mug, showing it all my annoyance. “Ethan told me Ben was hospitalized.”

Cue the spew again.

“That’s insane!”

“Exactly. I only came to know of it an hour ago.” I said. “I hate him for doing that to me.”

“I’m with you on this,” Zac chuckled. “But really, Skylar. I’m glad you’re fine. I can’t imagine wasting one entire year of my career just to have the movie incomplete because the actress was abducted.”

I narrowed my eyed at him. “That’s what you’re worried about? I thought we were close.”

He grinned. “Kidding. I’m more worried about not getting my pay.”

“I’m not very fond of you right now.”

“Were you ever?” He chuckled, as his expression softened. “But jokes apart, I’m glad you’re fine. I can’t imagine losing my only friend who gets me so well.”

I smiled. “I can’t imagine losing my only friend who gets me so well, too.”

My phone beeped on the side and I realized that Ethan was calling me.

“Uh-uh,” Zac said, his eyes fixated on his phone screen. “Looks like the others bailed on us. They can’t make it.”

“I don’t want to go home to a grumpy husband.” I groaned. “Zac, can we go to a bar?”

“Ethan will allow you?”

“He doesn’t need to know,” I said, rolling my eyes. “We’re not very fond of him, right?”

“Right.” Zac. “I’m game if you want to.”

“Perfect.” I grinned. “But we got to take the back door. Ethan’s men are outside.”

“I thought it’s for your safety.”

“You mean I’m not safe with you?”

“That is not what I mean.” He gave me a flat look. “Ethan will be mad if he comes to know of this.”

“I don’t care,” I said. “I’ve had a terrible time. Please help me enjoy a bit, dear friend.”

“Okay.” He said. “But if I sense any danger or if Ethan calls me, I’m going to spill the beans.”

“Done. Done.” I grinned in delight.

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