Illusions of Love

chapter 15



‘This isn’t really going anywhere, is it?’ Layla said as Kenny looked up from his coffee. Coffee that had now gone cold because all he’d been doing was staring into it, lost in his thoughts.

‘Sorry, did you say something?’

‘This… relationship, if that’s what you can call it. It isn’t going anywhere, is it?’

Kenny looked at her, so pretty in her floral dress and sandals, her blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. ‘It’s… it’s early days, Layla. We haven’t really given it a chance, have we? We haven’t even talked about it…’

‘I’m talking about it now,’ she said, sitting down opposite him, pouring herself a coffee. ‘And I’m telling you, it isn’t going anywhere. It never could.’

Kenny wasn’t really sure he was in the mood for this conversation, but it looked like any choice he had in the matter had been taken away from him.

‘Isn’t it what you want?’ he asked, pushing the cold coffee away. He didn’t much feel like it now.

Layla looked at him. Right at him. ‘I don’t think it really matters what I want, Kenny. Because I don’t think it’s what you want, it never has been. Not really. Like I said, it could never work.’

He leant forward, clasping his hands together in front of him. ‘Why not? Why are you saying that when you have no idea…’

‘Because you’re just as much in love with India as Michael is, Kenny.’

Kenny sat back, pushing a hand through his hair. ‘I… I don’t know… I can’t…’

‘You can’t deny it, Kenny. That’s what you can’t do. Your head’s all over the place, even more so since she arrived in L.A., and Christ knows you’ve almost been off this planet since she spent the night with Dominic MacDonald…’

‘Nobody knows she actually spent the night with him, Layla.’

‘She was seen leaving his hotel at 6.30 in the morning, Kenny. She was wearing the same clothes she’d been wearing when she was seen meeting him the night before. She didn’t care who knew, can’t you see that? Grow up, Kenny! She slept with him, she’s moving onto some other poor guy who’ll no doubt get caught up in whatever web it is she f*cking weaves…’

‘Are you jealous of her?’

Layla stood up, walking over to the window, looking out at the view of the ocean, focusing on the tiny waves in the distance, the only thing the almost-still sea could conjure up today.

She swung round to face him. ‘Yes, Kenny, I’m jealous of her. And I’m tired of getting involved with her cast-offs, with men who can only ever think of me as second best because they can’t stop this obsession they have with her. It’s exhausting, and I’m not doing it anymore. So that’s why it could never work – with you, or Michael. Because neither of you can leave her alone, even when it’s quite obvious she’s never going back to either of you.’

Kenny looked away, pushing a hand through his hair again. ‘She won’t start anything with Dominic MacDonald.’

‘It’s already started, Kenny. And you’re just gonna have to deal with that.’



***



India crouched down and hugged her tiny daughter tight, reluctant to let her go, knowing that these flying visits home from movie sets weren’t always a good idea. They only made her realise how much she hated being away from Ellie, away from Los Angeles. Away from home.

She’d had no more than a few hours in total with her little girl since arriving from Las Vegas – what with the video shoot, and Dominic – and now she was about to board Reece’s private jet and head back to Vegas with Dominic, to resume work on their movie. But at least her daughter would be with her daddy, and with JJ on a break from filming his new movie at least he had plenty of time to spend with her. It made India feel just a little less like she was abandoning her completely.

‘She misses her brother too y’know.’

India stood up, watching Ellie as she ran off in the direction of Emma, off to get ready for pre-school, turning round briefly in the doorway to wave frantically at India who did her best to blink away the tears as she blew a kiss at her beautiful baby girl, mouthing ‘bye bye’. Words she hated having to say to her at all.

‘Don’t start on me, Joe. I’m tired, and I’m not in the mood.’

‘You should have tried getting some sleep then, instead of playing out with your new boyfriend.’

‘Oh, grow up! He isn’t my new boyfriend. We went out, we had some fun, you gonna deny me that now?’

JJ walked over to her, his hands in his pockets, his handsome face dominated by a frown that didn’t suit him. ‘I’m not denying you anything, India. I’m just curious as to why he came all the way to L.A. for such a short period of time, for absolutely no reason, if there’s nothing going on between the two of you.’

She didn’t say anything, just turned away, unnecessarily rooting round in her handbag for something she didn’t need. Whatever was going on between her and Dominic – and so far that had been nothing but incredible sex – it was nobody’s business but theirs.

‘So?’

She swung back around to face JJ. ‘So, what?’

‘You and Dominic MacDonald?’

‘What about us?’

‘Well, I’m guessing – and it doesn’t really take a genius to work this one out, seeing as you were photographed coming out of his hotel at 6.30 in the morning – that you’ve become yet another one of his leading-lady conquests?’

India picked up her bag and slipped her sunglasses back down over her eyes, checking her watch. The plane was leaving at eleven and it was getting close to that now. She really didn’t have time for this. ‘There’s nothing going on between me and Dominic MacDonald, alright?’

‘So, you didn’t sleep with him?’

‘Come on, Joe.’

‘Did you sleep with him, India?’

She swung round to face him again, pushing her dark glasses up onto her head, staring right at him. ‘Yes. I slept with him. Is that what you wanted to hear? Huh?’

‘Jesus…’ JJ turned away, pushing a hand through his hair.

India sighed heavily. ‘I’m sorry, Joe, okay? I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that. But, why ask a question when you already know the answer?’

‘We’re still married, India.’

She looked at him, pushing her oversized dark glasses back down over her eyes. She didn’t really want to talk about this now. She didn’t really want to talk about it at all. ‘For now, Joe.’

Suddenly, all the memories of their time together came flooding back, crashing into her mind like an unwelcome tidal wave of emotions and for another of those fleeting seconds she began to wonder just why they hadn’t been able to make it work, because there’d once been a time when she’d thought she couldn’t live without him. And then she remembered. She was the reason. She hadn’t let it work. Deep down inside, she hadn’t wanted to give it that chance. Jesus, she was such a bitch! And that realisation was like a kick in the solar plexus.

‘We can try again, baby,’ JJ said quietly, almost reading her mind. ‘Forget everything else… forget Dominic MacDonald. We can call off this divorce, it’s not too late. We can put all of this behind us, get back to the way we were…’

‘And what way was that, Joe?’

He moved closer to her, his hands still in his pockets as he looked at her. ‘We were in love, India.’

She smiled, reaching out to touch his cheek. ‘Yeah. We were.’

Past tense. Done. It was over.



***



There wasn’t much that could render Michael Walsh speechless, but what he’d just been told had floored him. It had come right out of nowhere, hitting him like a speeding train, because he’d had absolutely no idea.

Whatever he thought they’d unearth about Dominic MacDonald, whatever he’d assumed they’d find out, Michael hadn’t been anywhere near prepared for what he’d just heard. Because it changed everything. And explained a lot.

He’d been sitting at his desk in his office at the villa for what seemed like hours, but it had only been a few minutes since he’d been told the news, and he was now trying to work out just how he was going to deal with it. But until he really got his head around it all he couldn’t even think straight, and that was something that didn’t sit well with Michael. He liked to be in control, and in this situation he wasn’t. Not yet. And he needed to be. Soon.

Dominic was due back in Vegas in a matter of hours and he’d really wanted to be ready to face him, to have something to throw at him but it hadn’t quite worked out to plan at all. Although it was now very much obvious to Michael what Dominic’s plan had been. And why he’d needed to carry it out.

He got up and walked over to the sideboard in the corner of the room, pouring himself a small bourbon, knocking it back in one. He could’ve done with a second but now more than ever he needed to keep a clear head because, when Dominic finally arrived back in Vegas, Michael needed to be ready to play him at his own game. And the stakes had just got a whole lot higher.