Elias

come out to make sure no one is being harmed, especially as we've got a celebrity in town. Obviously one with questionable taste in men."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" River said.

"Were you invited in, Jed?" Cade stood behind him. "I don't recall ever telling you you had an invitation back on my property again."

Jed turned toward Cade, his expression colored with irritation, followed by something that looked like embarrassment when he saw June approach. "There were reports of a shot fired," he said.

"Didn't hear any shots fired," Cade said. "Did any of you?"

I shook my head. "Nope."

"You got a fucking warrant, Jed?" Cade paused for a minute. "Didn't think so. Get the hell off my property. You have ten seconds to leave before I get my shotgun."

A slow smile crept over Jed's face. "I should take you in for threatening an officer of the law, Cade." He spit on the ground beside him. "But I'll attribute that outburst to your guilt over Stan's death."

Cade clenched his fists, and if June hadn't have stepped in, one of us would have hit Jed, I'm sure. I didn't know what the fuck he was talking about when it came to Stan, but the way that fuckstick looked at River before and the way he talked, shit, I figured it'd be worth the assault charge.

"Cade," June said, her hand on her arm. "Don't. It's not worth it."

But Jed was backing down. Apparently the guy had a sense of self-preservation. "My father, Jedidiah Easton Sr., would like to pay his respects, Ms. Andrews, as the mayor of this town, and welcome you to West Bend." Jed was nearly to his car before he turned around. "I trust your visit will be a short one."

He backed down the driveway, stopping to say something to the paparazzi gathered at the end before driving down the road. I could see a few of them snapping photos of the four of us standing outside and motioned Cade and June inside.

Inside the house, June set down Stan, who immediately toddled over to River. She bent down to pick him up. "How are you, gorgeous?"

"What an asshole," I said, half under my breath.

"You have no idea," June said.

"What did he mean about Stan?"

Cade's expression darkened. "Stan was my father. I hold Jed responsible for his death."

"Jesus H."

"He'll get what's coming to him," June said, her eyes flashing with anger. "Eventually. You know what they say about karma."

Stan toddled over to Cade, and Cade picked him up. "You shouldn't have any more trouble with the reporters on the property at least, not with the Sherriff being out here too. For now, anyway."





“Come here,” Elias said. He took my hand in his and led me toward the bed, picked me up and sat me on the edge of the mattress. He was so close to me, his erection practically begging for my attention. I stroked him gently, and he groaned, the sound barely audible, except to me.

He found a condom and rolled it onto his length while I watched, admiring the way he made it look sexy. I found every movement of this guy’s sexy. I’d never felt that way about anyone before. I wasn’t stupid enough to think it was anything but lust; but as far as lust-filled experiences go, I hadn’t had many and I hadn’t expected to have many, not with all the baggage I was carrying. But Elias was starting to challenge the assumptions I'd made about lots of things.

He entered me, one hand cupping my ass cheek where I had begun to slide off the mattress, and the other stroking my breast while his movements grew quicker. “Fuck, you feel so good, River,” he groaned.

I lost track of everything but us- there was nothing else that mattered except him fucking me. No reporters outside, no worries about what I was going to do or what was going to happen after this, no fear about when I was going to have to return to Hollywood.

He slid his hand to my face, and slipped the edge of his thumb in my mouth, his palm against my cheek. I sucked on his finger as he brought me higher and higher with his cock, the whole time thinking about how he would feel in my mouth.

“Shit,” he said. “The way you suck my finger…”

Hearing him say that pushed me over the edge. I warned him, my voice barely more than a whimper. “I’m going to come.” The orgasm overtook me, not giving me a chance to wait for him, and I came hard, crying out.

He followed, thrusting into me one final time before I heard him yell.

Afterward, Elias leaned forward onto me, his head near my shoulder. "That was round one," he said. "Rest up, because I've got more planned for you."





Elias stroked the top of my forehead, pushing my hair back from my face. "Are you going to tell me how you got the cut on your leg?" he asked, abruptly.

My heart raced. "That's out of nowhere," I said.

"It's not from shaving," he said. "I noticed before and didn't say anything."

"I hadn't done it in a long time," I said.

"Did you do it because of Viper?"

I laughed. "No," I said. "Just when I'm feeling...overwhelmed, I guess."

"I don't like it," he said. "The idea of you hurting yourself."

He didn't say anything else, leaving everything else unspoken. I lay against his chest, breathing in deep, something about the way he'd said it comforting to me.

"You seem so...certain...about shit," I said.

Elias stroked my arm, his fingers trailing lightly along its length. "Can't help but be certain about some things in life," he said.

I knew it was crazy, how I was feeling. I barely knew Elias, not really. But I was starting to feel certain when it came to him, too.

And I didn't know what to think about that.





Lying on the bed, I reached on the bedside table for a condom, and felt him behind me, taking it from my hands. He pulled me down beside him, and I heard the crinkle of the foil wrapper.

"Come here," he said, guiding my hips against him in a spooning position. He slid easily inside me, and his palm covered my breast, his thumb on my nipple, as he began to slowly fuck me. His breath was warm on the nape of my neck, and be brought me to the edge quickly, surprisingly quickly.

"I've never liked being inside anyone as much as I like being in you," he said, as his movements became more urgent.

“Oh my God.” I gasped the words, barely aware of anything else except how he felt inside me.

“Fuck,” he said into my ear, his voice raspy. “I want to feel you come on my cock right now.”

As soon as he spoke the words, I let go. I was barely aware of anything else, even his touch, his hands on my breasts, pulling me tightly against him as he came inside me with a vengeance.

As my orgasm subsided, I felt his mouth on my neck, kissing me as I came down. He murmured softly near my ear. "I really can't get enough of fucking you. You fit me like a glove."

I flushed warm at his words. I didn't know what it was, just that my body craved his touch, couldn't get enough. "The feeling is mutual," I said.

We holed up in the bed and breakfast for the next week, with June and Cade popping in every so often. I was content there with him, happy to be playing pretend house or whatever it is we were doing.

I wasn't sure what this was, only that I was happy.

The thing was, I knew it couldn't last. And I had to tell him that I'd run from the set, that any day now, someone was going to show up, looking for me. I kept meaning to, but it never seemed like the right time. Instead, we avoided the internet, pretended the outside world didn't exist, and spent all of our time talking and laughing and fucking.

It was perfect.

But that's the problem with perfect. It never lasts.





"What is it?" I asked. I sat on the sofa in the front room of the bed and breakfast, my legs tucked underneath me, flipping through a novel I'd borrowed from June.

"Hey. I need to go out for a few minutes," Elias said, looking at his cell phone. His voice was calm, steady, but I could tell his thoughts were churning. "I have to take care of something."

"Is it serious?" I asked.

Elias shook his head. "Probably nothing," he said. "I don't really know."

He was lying. I could tell, as soon as the words came out of his mouth. His voice sounded strained when he lied to me.

I wondered what the hell he was doing that he had to cover up where he was going.

"Okay," I said, my tone clipped. "Will you be long?"

"No," he said, then, when he saw my expression, "It's not anything weird. I promise. I'm not going to hook up with a chick or something like that. I'll text you the address in case there's an emergency. I'll explain later. You have that new cell phone we got, right?"

I shrugged, trying to appear more nonchalant than I felt. "Okay, Mr. Mysterious," I said. "You go do whatever it is you're going to do, rescue a cat in a tree or whatever. I have the cell phone. I've got my book here, anyway. It's kind of nice being able to relax."

Elias kissed me on the forehead. "I'll see you in a bit."

It wasn't more than five minutes after he'd left that I heard footsteps on the porch. I pulled open the door before June had even knocked. As much as I liked my book, the prospect of hanging out with June and little Stan was better than my novel.

"Where's little Stan?"

"Cade's looking after him right now," she said. Her expression looked pained.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"You haven't been online, have you?" She held her laptop in her hand.

I groaned. "No," I said, as she followed me inside. "I've been on a media blackout. Seriously, I don't want to know what it is. Did Viper write another terrible apology song again? Let me guess. It's called I want to have your baby?"

She shook her head. "It's not that."

"What is it, then? You know if it's something gossipy, I'm not going to want to see it. I haven't been paying attention to any of the crap."

Even the reporters out front seemed to have gotten bored with the lack of movement here. After Elias and I decided we'd just hole up all week, they'd disappeared, one by one. I'd heard one of them was still in town, but at least everyone had left the front lawn, chasing after some other person of the moment.

"Well," June said. "You're going to see it eventually. And it's probably better you see it now, before you get blindsided by it."

She brought up one of the gossip sites, the headline emblazoned on the screen:



"Viper Gabriel proposes to model Brenna Andrews at a Hollywood Club: River Andrews Devastated!"



I scanned through the article, my hand over her mouth. "I'm sure it's not even true," I said. My voice sounded soft, hesitant, not like me.

I felt dizzy.

"There's a video, River," June said. "Of the proposal. But maybe it's fake? They can fake that stuff, can't they? I mean, it's obviously not completely true- they don't have access to you, so they don't know your reaction."

She sounded like she was trying to console me. Maybe I looked like I felt devastated. Was I supposed to feel devastated?

I just felt numb.

"I mean, I guess if they're happy," I said, shaking my head. "Why would he make that stupid song apologizing to me? Ugh. I mean, I know why. That's typical Viper, to capitalize on something like that, the media frenzy and shit."

"Are you upset?" June asked.

I shrugged. "They deserve each other," I said. "Viper can have her. If that's what they want to do, it's fine with me."

But I still felt dizzy, lightheaded. I reached for the back of the chair, numb, and collapsed heavy into it, still staring at the screen.

"You want a cup of tea?" June asked.

I nodded. "That would be nice. Thank you."

I clicked around on her laptop, looking at a few more pages that outlined the "exclusive details!" of the relationship between Viper and Brenna. They were saying it had been going on for a year.

A fucking year.

Can't believe what you fucking read in the tabloids, I reminded myself.

June set a cup of tea down on the table. "You doing okay?"

I nodded. "I don't give a shit about Viper getting engaged," I said. "Just...my sister, you know?"

What a fucking traitor.

Both of them.

And my mother...she and my sister were close. She would have known.

"Elias seems like a good guy," she said.

I only half-listened, my mind preoccupied with thoughts about my mother. She knew, I was sure about it. After everything else she'd done, all the shit she'd put me through, it was the final straw.

Let my sister support her ass.

"I need to make a call," I said, preoccupied with what I needed to do.

June had a funny look on her face, but I didn't want to think about what it meant. "Sure," she said. "Let me know if you need anything, okay?"

After she left, I did a quick search, and then dialed my accountant's number. This was the line in the sand. I was cutting my mother off.





The knock on the door startled me. I had just pressed "end call" on the phone.

When I peered through the curtain covering the window, I sighed.

"Really?" I flung the door open, and my manager pushed her way inside.

"This little stunt of yours couldn't have been better publicity for Small Town Love," she said. "I mean, the town is fucking perfection, isn't it? The goddamned movie could have been shot here."

I hadn't met the man in the suit who stood beside her, holding a briefcase, but I knew immediately he was from the studio. He grunted something in response, his expression pinched as he looked around the room in obvious disgust.

He was important enough to not be bothered with introductions.

"My point is, River," she said. "You've made your dramatic exit to the countryside. We've spun the story - you weren't running away. The studio's official position is that you were retreating to research your role as a small town girl for the film."

"During filming?" I asked, shaking my head. "It's unbelievable."

"Yes," she said. "It is. It's un-fucking-believable that someone of your caliber would do something as ridiculous as this. I mean, you expect it from some two-bit actress who doesn't know any better. But you're River Andrews. You've been around the block. You understand the ropes. You. Don't. Fucking. Leave. In. The. Middle. Of. A. Shoot." She punctuated each word of the last sentence, rapid-fire like a machine gun.

"I'm not going with you," I said, annoyed with the fact that she'd tracked me down here, flew all the way out here to strong-arm me into returning. I wasn't completely irresponsible. I'd never