Chapter Twenty-Three
Aidan asked Declan to drop him off at Bethany’s house. He wanted to surprise her. The next couple of weeks, the final couple of weeks, would be busy for him. All the war footage had been shot. He was in those scenes, but not in every shot. This had allowed him time to spend with Bethany and to go to Los Angeles, but unfortunately, now the plot scenes that needed to be shot in town were being filmed and would require him to be there from sunup to sundown. He had also heard a rumor that all the interior shots were to be filmed on a sound stage in L.A. If that were the case, he had less than two weeks with Bethany.
Bethany opened the door and looked smaller and pale. Her wet eyes pulled at his heart, and before he was even conscious of what he was doing, he had swept her up into a huge hug and passionate kiss. It took him a while to notice that Beth didn’t seem to be as into it as she normally was. “What’s wrong?”
“Michelle!” she squealed.
“Michelle—what?”
Michelle walked up and smiled. “Michelle is here, is what she is trying to say.”
Aidan placed Bethany down on the ground and relied upon all of his acting resources not to howl. “Michelle, it’s so nice to see you again.”
Michelle grinned. “Yeah, I’m sure it is, honey.” Then she turned to Bethany. “Thanks for the pizza and tissues, Bethany. I will see you tomorrow.”
Bethany broke away from Aidan’s embrace. “No. You are not going anywhere.”
“I’m not?” Michelle asked, curious.
“She’s not?” Aidan asked, annoyed.
Bethany crossed her arms over her breasts. “No, she is not. Tom is being a real jerk, Aidan. He made Michelle cry.”
Aidan looked at Michelle, one eyebrow raised inquiringly. “Who would Tom be?”
“My ex-boyfriend. After three years together he decided he needed space and time to date other women before he could commit to me,” Michelle said as she walked toward the refrigerator for another glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
Aidan could practically feel the pain flowing out of Michelle. This Tom had hurt her confidence in herself, her pride, and her heart. He could relate, which softened him to her predicament. “Sounds like a real charmer, that one.”
“Yeah, well,” Michelle said as she took an impressively large sip of wine. “He is going to be at Billy Bob’s Roadhouse tonight. Can you believe it? That place is, like, the worst meat market in Fredericksburg.”
Aidan winced and walked up to pour himself some wine. If he couldn’t make love to Bethany immediately, he might as well have a glass of wine. Men were jerks, what could he say? He certainly had been one on more than one occasion.
Aidan leaned over the counter that separated the kitchen from the tiny dining room and watched as Bethany fussed over her friend. She was such a sweetheart, his Bethany, always wanting to take care of others. Aidan took a sip of his wine and eyed Michelle thoughtfully. “So he’s going to be at the Roadhouse. You’re sure of that?”
Michelle turned to him. “Positive. He even told me about it, the jerk,” she said and slugged down the rest of her wine.
Aidan walked up and took the glass from her. “Have you ever done any acting, Michelle?”
“I did some school plays, but Bethany was really good. She acted all the way through college and was amazing.”
Aidan tucked the knowledge away for future reference, but he did give Bethany a look that said, Oh, really? He smirked when she blushed. “Well, how about we show up at the bar, and I pay court to your loveliness?”
Bethany nearly jumped up and down with enthusiasm. “That would be great, Aidan. We’ll make it seem like we came in separately, you know?” Bethany paused, frowning. “Oh, but wait a minute. Did you tell Tom about Aidan and me?”
“No, I didn’t have time before he started in on the whole seeing other people crap.” She eyed the bottle of wine with a hopeful expression. Aidan silently shook his finger at her. She frowned and walked over to the couch.
“Fantastic! This will work, won’t it, Aidan?” Bethany asked, excitement making her skin a pretty pink.
Aidan kissed her smiling lips. “Yes, it will work fine.”
Aidan walked over to the couch, pulled up the sulking Michelle, and placed her on her feet, waving his hand at the women. “Go and get glammed up, so we can turn over ol’ Tom’s apple cart.” Then he sat down on the couch and propped his feet on the coffee table, winking at Michelle as he drank his glass of wine.
Poor man, Aidan thought. Tom wouldn’t know what to do when Aidan Shannon, Movie Star, began to pay full attention to his girl. How often did some small-town good ol’ boy have to compete with a celebrity? Aidan laughed. This was going to be fun.
****
The plan went off without a hitch. Bethany and Michelle walked in, spotted Tom dancing with another girl and walked toward the bar. Tom noticed them immediately when they entered the room and watched with concern as they approached the bar. Instantly, men surrounded Bethany and Michelle, and they smiled, flirted, and giggled like schoolgirls.
Aidan grinned at them from a table in a dark corner of the dingy roadhouse. They were both quite the performers, although the blond man with hair pulled back in a ponytail had better keep his leering eyes away from Bethany’s chest. Frowning, he stood, ready to take on ponytail man. He gripped the chair and tried to remember his character. This time, he only had eyes for Michelle.
Aidan watched as they settled in with bottles of beer, and then, taking off his baseball cap, he walked toward them as if he were on the red carpet. People stopped and stared, but he was used to that and ignored them. His entire focus was on Michelle.
“Would you like to dance, sweetheart?” Aidan asked, adding extra punch to his Irish brogue.
Michelle’s jaw dropped, just like they had practiced in the car, and then she nodded, her eyes downcast. When Aidan swept her into his arms to Wynona’s No One Else on Earth, he leaned into her and whispered, “Nicely done, luv. Very nicely done.”
“Thank you. Do you think Tom noticed?”
“Michelle, I can see him from the corner of my eye, and he is not happy. Steam is practically coming out of his ears.”
“I hope he doesn’t pick a fight with you,” Michelle said, fretting.
“If he does, he’ll be sorry. I didn’t grow up rich, darling. I can fight with the best of them.” Memories of fights with lads in bars similar to this one came back in a quick montage of blood, sweat, and violence. He smiled, and it wasn’t a friendly smile but was inherently masculine.
“Oh dear,” Michelle said, looking at Aidan with a new concern.
“Let’s enjoy the dance, all right?”
“Sure. This is like a dream come true. You’re one of my favorite actors!”
Aidan pretended annoyance. “One of your favorites?”
Michelle giggled, and Aidan hugged her tighter, thinking, what a darling she was. He hoped Tom would get the message and marry this girl, or he would lose her. Michelle’s heart would be broken for a while, but girls like Michelle did not stay single for long. She was pretty, sweet and possessed an honesty that was compelling and attractive at the same time. He frowned as he thought how much that applied to Beth. How long would she miss him before she took up with another man?
“You’re dancing with my girl!” roared a voice featuring an unholy combination of alcohol and anger.
Aidan looked at the man, who was radiating anger and jealousy in waves. “Really? Weren’t you dancing with a brunette a while ago?”
Tom glowered. “Well, yeah, but…”
“Well then,” Aidan said pleasantly. “Clearly, this pretty thing is not your girl.”
“Michelle, tell this Scottish dude that you belong―” Tom began, grabbing hold of her shoulder.
“I’m Irish,” Aidan corrected, smiling, and flicked the hand off her body.
“Whatever, man, I don’t care, just get your frickin’ hands off my girl.”
Michelle looked at Tom with disdain. “You said we were to date other people, so I’m seeing other people.”
“I said that this morning, damn it!” Tom roared. “You already have a date?”
Michelle frowned. “Didn’t Aidan just say he saw you dancing with a brunette?”
“I did say that,” Aidan said, attempting to hide a grin. Tom didn’t know it yet, but he was done for. Soon he would be sweating it out in a tuxedo, waiting for sweet Michelle to walk down the aisle in antique white.
“I’m not dating her; it was just a dance!”
The brunette in question heard that remark and walked out of the bar, her shoulders squared, her stride brisk.
Aidan watched the young woman leave and shook his head. “I don’t think she liked hearing that, Tom.”
Tom ignored the woman completely, his full attention on Michelle. “Honey, what are you doing here?”
“The same thing you are.”
It was clear that Tom thought about arguing, but then all of a sudden he dropped his head in shame.
“Can we talk, Michelle?” Tom asked huskily, apparently aware of the scene they were making.
“About what?”
“About what a jerk I’ve been.”
Aidan heard a hiccup-like cry in the vicinity of his chest. “Go on, darling,” he murmured in her ear, “get your man back. I think he learned his lesson.”
Michelle sniffled, and then whispered, “Can we finish this dance?”
Aidan laughed and hugged her. “Of course.”
Later, Aidan and Bethany watched from a corner table as Michelle and Tom made out heavily on the dance floor as they swayed to the music.
“Wow. They sure know how to make up,” Aidan muttered as he sipped his beer.
“In public. They always end up doing that in public.” Bethany snorted in disgust, like an old school marm.
Aidan feigned distress. “You don’t think they would be so rude as to have sex in a bathroom, do you?”
Bethany’s eyes widened. “I really don’t have a leg to stand on, do I?”
“No, luv, but the memory of that night will live with me forever, you can count on that.” Aidan kissed her lightly, then looked back to the couple, and winced when Tom took a greedy bite of Michelle’s neck.
“Can we go now? I know what’s going to happen next, and I would rather not watch.”
Bethany stood. “You and me, both. Let’s get out of here.”