Deceive (Declan Reede: The Untold Story #2) (32 page)

“What are you thinking about?” she murmured in a sleepy tone.

I’d thought she’d already drifted off to sleep. “Nothing. Everything. Life,” I said cryptically.

“Fair enough,” she murmured.

I held her close until sleep finally claimed me.

“COME ON, you two, or we’re going to be late!” Alyssa ordered from the living room. She seemed keener to get me on the flight than I was to go. I’d decided it was much more enjoyable to continue playing in Phoebe’s room, even though she was making me dress and re-dress all her dollies repeatedly. I didn’t want to leave the known safety of Alyssa’s house. At some point over the last few days, it’d become my sanctuary. Part of me feared that being back in Sydney would make all of this seem less real. That it might somehow lessen Alyssa’s trust. It wouldn’t change the way I felt about Phoebe and Alyssa, but being in their house made the whole thing less dreamlike.

Every minute closer to the time of the flight was a minute less I could spend with my family. I was dreading the moment when I had to tell Phoebe I was going away and I didn’t know how long I’d be gone for. Even though I hoped I wouldn’t need to be away for too long, I wouldn’t know for sure until I’d talked with Danny. Watching Phoebe play, I decided it was better to tell her now before we got in the car. At least I could make sure she understood.

Swallowing hard, I bit the bullet.

“Just give us a minute,” I called back to Alyssa, then I turned to Phoebe. “Honey, you know your daddy loves you and is sorry he hasn’t always been here for you, right?”

She nodded and then stood to wrap her little arms around my neck. “I love you too.”

“And you know that I never want to leave you or Mummy again, right?”

She squeezed tightly and I wrapped one arm around her waist.

“But Daddy needs to go away for a little while, okay? I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can and that I’m never going to go away for a long time again. I’ll always come back for you and Mummy.”

Her mouth turned down into a frown. “Why are you going?”

“I have to do something for work, but I’ll come home as soon as I can.”

She wrapped her arms around me again and pulled my neck so hard it almost choked me.

“I don’t want you to go,” she whined.

“I know, and I don’t want to go either. But I’ll leave my car here, hey? That way I have to come back.”

She perked up a little. “When?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll ring you and Mummy and tell you both as soon as I know, okay? And I’ll ring every day when I’m gone.”

Her bottom lip remained extended into a pout, but she nodded a little.

“Shall we go?” I stood and swung her up onto my back.

She giggled as she wrapped her arms around my neck before I jogged out to the living room.

“Aren’t you ready yet?” I called to Alyssa as I raced past her and out the door.

She followed me out the door and locked it behind us. “Nervous?” she asked.

It was clear she could see straight through my bravado, so I nodded. I placed Phoebe in her car seat and then turned to see Alyssa watching me.

She stepped closer and linked her fingers with mine. “Whatever happens, I’ll be right here waiting for you.”

I nodded, and then lifted our joined hands to my mouth before brushing my lips across the skin on the back of her hand. “Thank you.”

We climbed into the car, and I pulled out of the driveway slowly. A solemn silence seemed to fall over the three of us. Any attempt to break the quiet, whether through conversation or music, seemed to thicken the atmosphere further. Or maybe it just felt that way to me. For some reason, I couldn’t stop feeling like I was on my way to a hanging, and it would be my neck in the noose.

Finally, we pulled in to the airport, and I stopped the motor but left the keys in the ignition. We’d already agreed Alyssa was just going to drop me off and keep the Monaro while I was away. After we’d both climbed out of the car, I gave her a lingering embrace and a kiss worthy of a goodbye. Even though I didn’t want to let her go, eventually a security guard came to wave our car on. With a sigh, I released Alyssa from my arms, but clutched her hand as she hopped back into the car, only letting go at the last second. She wound the window down, and I leaned into it.

“Take care of my baby,” I whispered to her as she started my Monaro.

She rolled her eyes. “Your car will be fine.”

I looked in the back seat. “I wasn’t talking about my car.”

Her face softened into such a sweet expression. “We’ll be okay, Dec, just . . . call when you can, okay? As soon as you can.”

I nodded and gave her one more quick kiss.

The flight was painful. I buried my head in my hands and ignored the world at large as best I could. But every kilometre closer to Sydney was another stake in my heart. The minutes passed in a vague blur as I drew nearer to whatever fate waited for me at the end of my journey. I couldn’t even recall disembarking the plane or climbing in the taxi.

The drive to Sinclair Racing headquarters was a blur of shadows and greenery. Despite the speed with which the morning had passed, time stopped as soon as I was standing alone in front of the building.

During the steps from the footpath to the front door, my feet were weighed down with doubt and fear. I reached my hand into my pocket to pull out my phone and call Alyssa but there was nothing there. I tried to recall the last time I’d seen it, but the thought made my heart plummet. It was when I put it on to charge back at Alyssa’s house. I had been so concerned with spending time with Phoebe that morning that I hadn’t even thought to check for it. Which meant I had no immediate way of calming myself down before heading inside.

I sighed before I swiped my security card to gain entrance. My footsteps echoed off the marble floor of the vast entryway. I had never been there on the weekend; at least not without other people around. It was altogether eerie.

I walked up the stairs toward Danny’s top floor office. No one else was in any of the other offices, but Danny’s door stood open. I took that as an invitation to walk straight in. He wasn’t behind his desk, but I crossed the room anyway to wait.

As I neared his desk, I saw something sitting on the green leather. My heart dropped to the floor, and my stomach twisted when I saw what it was. There was no doubt in my mind about this trip anymore. Any tiny semblance of hope I’d felt dissipated in a fraction of a second.

I was absolutely, completely, and totally fucked.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT

WHAT HAS PROV8 bad boy Declan Reede done now?

The fights. The drugs. The alcohol.

Only
Gossip Weekly
has detailed coverage of Declan Reede’s wild week in Brisbane. You don’t want to miss a single detail. Don’t stop reading until the end of our eight-page article.

The headline was splashed across the front of the magazine, lying almost innocently in front of me on Danny’s desk. It was emblazoned across a collage of photos of the time I had spent in Brisbane, but by far the biggest photo on the page, taking up the majority of space, was a photo of Eden and me on the hotel balcony during her one-night stay. I was shirtless, her arms were wrapped around me and her head rested on my back. If I didn’t know the truth of the moment, I would have thought there was something romantic about the embrace.

It was bad—very, very bad—but I had to know just how terrible it got. I took a deep breath and turned to the first page.

Declan Reede’s Wild Week in Brisbane

By: Miss M. (Photos by W.T. Entertainment)

Prominent V8 driver and notorious bad-boy, Declan Reede—currently on leave from
Sinclair Racing
due to his disastrous on-track performance—has dipped to new lows during a recent trip to Brisbane. Now his off-track performance has been called into question as well. His descent started with his public sex act in
Firebird,
the renowned nightspot for the young and upcoming stars in Sydney
(featured in Gossip Weekly issue 294).
During the past week there have been repeated reports of violence, drug-fuelled rampages, and public womanising.
Gossip Weekly
has secured exclusive interviews with close family friends and people central to his downward spiral.

The short paragraph introducing the photos was terrible. It was as if someone had been following me around specifically gathering information, and twisting everything that happened to show me in the worst possible light. I glanced around at the photos printed on the page. My eyes locked on one set, and the block of text that they centred around.

The Cafe attack:

“I was so scared,” Hayley Bliss, formerly a close personal friend of Declan Reede, has revealed to us.

“I was sitting at a cafe with Robbie, Declan’s father, talking about my new role with the bank. He’s my work mentor, you see. He came out of nowhere, screaming like a lunatic. The next thing I knew, he was throwing tables around and threatening us both. It was terrifying.”

Hayley told us she was thankful that Reede’s father was there to control the situation. “Declan really respects his father. If he hadn’t been around, I just don’t know what might have happened.”

Having gone to the same school as Declan, Hayley was able to tell us about the changes that have taken place in Declan’s life lately.

“He used to be a sweet, caring person. But in the last few years he’s been slowly losing it. I know for a fact that he started taking drugs shortly after he left for Sydney.”

When asked who was the worst influence Hayley’s answer was surprising. “By far the worst influence is the floozy who claims to be the mother of his child. Despite repeatedly telling her he didn’t want children, she apparently tricked him into getting her pregnant. Personally, I think that’s what started this whole spiral. It’s all Alyssa Dawson’s fault.”
(For more revelations about Alyssa Dawson, turn to pages 7 and 8).

I growled at no one as I read through Hayley’s interview. Close fucking family friend my fucking arse. She was a fucking whore who no doubt had my fucking father’s dick in her mouth every fucking night. My fingers trembled and my heart beat louder with every second, pounding so hard I could barely focus enough to keep reading. I couldn’t believe a photographer had been close enough to get these specific angles without my knowledge. They had to be mere fucking metres away. I tried to recall that day. I knew my anger had blinded me to everything besides my father and his godawful fucking slut.

Recalling that day, I remembered seeing the sun flashing in my eyes as I was being pulled away. I couldn’t believe how fucking idiotic I’d been for not fucking realising it was a fucking camera flash. Maybe it was because I wasn’t a complete narcissist and I’d assumed I could get through one fucking day without a camera crew on my arse.

Even though all I wanted to do was to slam the magazine shut and declare it all fucking bullshit, it was clear Danny had seen it all. It explained the phone call and the terseness. It didn’t, however, explain his current absence.

I recalled the last words my father had issued to me.
“Mark my words, boy, you will regret this.
” Had he tried to stop this? Had he agreed to let Hayley paint me in such a harsh light after I’d thrown him out on his arse? It was all too obvious that he was the one filling Hayley’s head with nonsense about Alyssa. I hadn’t thought it was possible to hate my father more than I already did, but somehow he had just reached new lows.

I turned the page, not knowing what else would cover the next three double spreads.

The Women:

Declan Reede has always been known for his womanising ways, however during his week in Brisbane he took it to new heights. He was seen in public with three different women within the space of twenty-four hours. Our sources reveal he told each of these women he was changing his ways and was interested in monogamy.

It seems even his teammates aren’t off-limits for Reede, with our sources spying him at the Suncrest Hotel
with team strategist, Eden Bishop. The pair were seen freely embracing on the hotel balcony before heading off for an intimate dinner at the Sunshine Room. They were spotted much later stumbling through the streets back toward the hotel.

Despite spending the better part of the evening with Miss Bishop, Reede later met up with an unknown blonde to drive to a secluded location at West End. The two were seen in an embrace. Our sources have confirmed Reede was later seen returning to the Suncrest Hotel room he shared with Miss Bishop.

Early the next morning, Reede saw Miss Bishop off to the airport and met up with his third apparent conquest, Alyssa Dawson.

Photos were lined up across the page, one after the other after the other. Me with Eden on the hotel balcony. Me with Eden at a table in the Sunshine Room
.
A grainy shot of me with Ruby at West End—whoever had taken that one had managed to capture the one second where we were actually touching. Me with Alyssa at the Queensland Raceway.

The Racetrack Romance:

Insiders reveal Reede was granted exclusive use of Willowbank Raceway to keep his on-track skills honed during his time away. It has been revealed to us, however, that he decided instead to use the time to arrange a rendezvous with his sometimes lover, Alyssa Dawson. The two were oblivious to prying eyes as they were all over each other, both on and off the track. He even handed control of the vehicle over to her for a period, allegedly ignoring instructions to the contrary.

A handful of photos accompanied the article, including one of Alyssa and me kissing up against the car. There was even a handful taken while we were on our private picnic. I sank down in the chair, my anger giving way to exhaustion as I turned the page again and grimaced at the next part of the article.

Planning on jumping ship?

Our reporters spotted Declan sitting with Wood racing hierarchy at a fundraising event at City Hall. When asked about his future he seemed to indicate changes were coming and that he had a new focus. When we asked Sinclair Racing officials about Reede’s appearance, they claimed to have no knowledge of the event or why their star driver was in attendance.

Combined with recent rumours of discontent in the Sinclair camp, this suggests there may soon be a changing of the guard at Wood racing. We spoke to PR representatives who indicated that a switch might indeed be on the cards. Although they would neither confirm nor deny the rumours, they made it clear it was no secret the team wanted Declan Reede and had been courting him for months.

One has to question, however, whether any potential offer at Wood racing will remain on the table after the apparent drug-fuelled paranoia exhibited by Reede during the night. Multiple sources have confirmed that after the official part of the evening had concluded, Reede exhibited various signs of intoxication ending with a tryst in the cloakroom with an unknown woman and an apparent psychotic episode. Staff psychiatrists have expressed concerns over Reede’s mental stability.

The question remains: where will Reede race next year? But perhaps the better question is: should he be allowed back on the track at all while exhibiting such dangerous and destructive behaviour?

Photos of Alyssa and me dressed up for the benefit accompanied the spread. As did photos of me in the corner of the cloakroom and of Alyssa helping me out the door and back to the car.

I was almost too scared to turn the page. Even without knowing the full details of what was on the last spread, I could see these eight pages ruining my life. There was no way Alyssa would think that things were innocent between Eden and me. How could I possibly explain to her that we were just friends? Especially with my history. Everyone who read the damned magazine would be on watch for “dangerous and destructive” behaviour. With my past, would Mum believe me if I said I wasn’t taking drugs anymore?

To top it all off, no doubt Danny now thought I was planning on switching to Paige’s team. My breathing was ragged. I needed Alyssa. I needed her to tell me that everything would be all right. I wondered whether she would still feel the same as she had before she saw me off. Would we still be as strong? Would we still face anything that came along
together
?

Closing my eyes, I yanked at my hair. Then I blew out a breath, opened my eyes, and turned to the last two-page spread of the article.

Mother of all lies:

By far the most shocking of the revelations our sources have provided is the existence of a love child between Declan Reede and his on/off lover, Alyssa Dawson.

“Oh, Alyssa was well known in school, if you catch my drift,” former school friend, Darcy Cooper, revealed to us. “Everyone knew she was the go-to girl for the boys if they wanted a good time.”

Darcy also provides an insight into the relationship Reede and Alyssa Dawson had while still at school. “They were always fighting. It seemed like they broke up every other day. But everyone knew Alyssa wanted to get her claws into him permanently.”

“That’s why she hatched the scheme to fall pregnant; she thought it would make him stay with her.

“Because I used to be her best friend, she told me what she planned to do one day. I tried to convince her not to, but no matter what I said, she wouldn’t change her mind.” Darcy told us of her sorrow at the loss of a once close friendship due to the deception Miss Dawson planned. “But then he left town. He made the smart choice and left her for his career.”

Darcy told us that a few months after Declan left town it was discovered that Miss Dawson was pregnant. “She never said who the father was, but it was obvious she was trying to pin it on Declan. I was never sure though—the timing always seemed a little off to me.”

The scandal has apparently torn apart families, and even Darcy’s devoted husband, Blake Cooper, was pulled into the fray. Darcy confirmed a fight had broken out between Reede and Cooper on Reede’s first night in Brisbane. The exact reason for the altercation still appears to be unknown, but it is clear from the video that Reede was the aggressor, attacking a defenceless Cooper without warning.

“All Blake did was make one little comment about Alyssa’s pregnancy,” Darcy told us. “Declan Reede is a loose cannon. And he doesn’t understand commitment. In fact, he’s propositioned me repeatedly even though I am a happily married woman.”

My eyes burned with unshed tears as I read the spiteful lies of Darcy. She’d promised me pain, but I never thought she would use Alyssa as the tool to deliver it. I didn’t believe a single word of the article, of course. There was no way Alyssa would have planned for the things that had happened. Sure she’d wanted kids, but on the horizon, not straight out of school. Regardless, Alyssa’s reputation would be marred by the words. It could cost her the job she wanted. It would hurt her. It killed me to think of Alyssa in pain. I leaned forward in the chair, burying my face into my hands.

“I see you’ve found the
interesting
reading material that was delivered to my office yesterday.” Danny’s voice was hard and cold as he spoke behind me.

I didn’t bother twisting around in my seat. There was nothing to be gained from meeting his eye. I didn’t need to see the disappointment on his face, not when I could hear it in his voice. I didn’t even bother lifting my head. Instead, I just nodded into my hands.

“Do you care to offer an explanation?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Will it make a difference?” I asked. My voice was broken and almost silent, because I already knew the answer. And it was echoed through my body before he’d even issued it.

“No. But I want to know how long you’ve been lying to me.”

“I haven’t—” I started.

“Bullshit!” he exclaimed. “Look, I know some of that article is rubbish. I’d be willing to overlook half the crap they’ve written. But Wood? How the hell could you not tell me about her trying to court you, goddammit?” He slammed his fist down on his desk on the last word. “I asked you outright and you lied to me.”