Stereo (34 page)

She sighed deeply when he came up behind her, pressing that now familiar hardness into her ass while spinning her back around towards her living area.

“I have to tell you something, too,” he whispered in her ear as he walked her slowly towards the bed in the corner of her studio.  “This isn’t business, Shaun.  I want you in my life.  I want to walk beside you.  I want to be inside you."

Shaun eyes swept over her living space, looking for anything she might potentially have to hide.  As she scanned the room, her eyes swept past her computer, froze, and then flew back.  As she looked at the screen she was sure she had to be imagining things.  Surely, in the last twenty four hours, she’d forgotten how to read, or was hallucinating.  As Adam began kissing and sucking at that sensitive spot in her neck once more, her horrified eyes took in the email message she’d had open all day, and the bright red indicator box that was now splashed across it.

'MESSAGE SENT'

The champagne glass slipped from Shaun’s fingers and crashed onto the floor.

Fourteen

Adam’s arms tightened around Shaun’s waist as shards of glass shattered at their feet.  He stepped away, pulling her with him.  Shaun’s eyes remained trained to the laptop screen in her living room even as Adam turned her body towards him.  She could vaguely feel his fingers as they gradually tightened around her waist, and only had some mild sense of him shaking her wildly while calling her name.  Even as he took her cheeks in his hands, rubbing his thumbs along them, she couldn’t look at him.  She couldn’t look away.

MESSAGE SENT

MESSAGE SENT

MESSAGE SENT

Finally, after several seconds which felt like
years,
Shaun turned to Adam and her heart may as well have joined the destroyed wine glass that had just slipped from her fingers.  Never again would those beautiful green eyes look at her quite the way they were now.  So concerned, so pure, so full of adoration for her.  Never again.

“I’m sorry,” she finally wheezed, not even realizing she was crying until the first tear fell.

His eyes grew wide in hers before scrunching tightly as his thumbs continuing swiping at her cheeks, batting away each tear that fell. 

“It’s just a little broken glass.” 

Somewhere deep in his eyes, though, it was clear that he knew this had nothing to do with the glass at their feet.

“I’m so sorry. You’re going to hate me.”

Adam’s face remained strong, but something in his eyes shifted.  “I could never.  Not even if I wanted—“

A knock on the door shook them both and, after throwing him one last look, Shaun stepped out of his grasp and hurried towards the door with trembling legs.

Two uniformed police officers greeted her on the other side.  Her eyes broadened at the sight.  One brawny, one thin, the officers were a human study in contradiction--such polar opposites it was almost comical, but Shaun wasn’t laughing.  She felt Adam come up behind her.

“Shaun Green?” the more heavyset of the two asked.

Shaun blinked.  “Y-yes.”

“What is this?”  Adam asked.

“We’re with the Los Angeles Police Department. We need to ask you a couple of questions.”

“O-okay?”

“Exactly where were you on Thursday night?”

Shaun’s mouth was agape.  “I was… I was… I was at work.  In my office.”

Adam’s eyes flew to her.  “Your office?”

“Ms. Green, we’re going to have to take you down to the station for some questioning.”

Shaun’s eyes fell closed.  Veronica.  “You can’t arrest me for letting myself into my own office.”

“Nobody is under arrest.  We have reason to believe that you broke into the office of…” The officer took a quick glance at the pad of paper in his hand. “Jackson Hayes and attempted to infiltrate the confidential files on his computer?”  The officer fingered a pair of handcuffs from his belt.  “We can do this the easy way or…”

Shaun reluctantly allowed him to take her arm, turning back to Adam as they dragged her out of her apartment.

Adam quickly followed, taking the officers arm in his hand.  “Hey, easy. Wait a minute. What the hell is going on?”  He removed his hand quickly when the cop threw him a look.  “Shaun,” Adam demanded, his eyes flying to her.

“I’m sorry, Adam.”

“Can you just wait one damn minute?”  Adam asked the cop. When he got no response Adam turned helplessly back to the open door of Shaun’s apartment.

Wanting to lock the door to her apartment before he followed them to the station, he turned to Shaun. “Where are your keys?” When she didn’t answer he couldn’t help his voice rising a few octaves.  She had been acting insane for the past few minutes and it was quickly beginning to alarm him.  “Shaun, where are your keys,” he shouted.

“The kitchen.  The kitchen counter,” she finally sputtered as the officer cradled her head and helped her into the back of the squad car. 

“Adam, I’m so sorry.”  She watched him race back into her apartment just as the door to the squad car closed in her face.

--

At the station, Shaun was rolling her eyes as she watched the grainy black and white video showing her in Jackson’s office the night before.  The woman in the security footage was definitely her and it definitely looked suspicious.  She’d never imagined that it would be enough to put her behind bars, but in hindsight, she understood.  As she continued watching on the iPad of the police officer who was sitting across the table from her in the interrogation room, she was forced to raise her fists to her lips to hide her smile.  A couple of months ago the biggest problem she had in her life was what brand of conditioner to buy at the drugstore. Now she was sitting in a police interrogation room watching a video of herself breaking into her boss’ office.  How the hell had her life spun so far out of control?

“This funny to you,” the young officer asked.

Shaun’s eyes met his and she removed her fists from her mouth, smile gone. “No, I don’t think this is funny.  I think my
life
is funny.  The complete and utter mess that I’ve managed to make of my life in such a short amount of time is, frankly, incredible.  Laughable.  Hilarious, actually.”

“Well let me list off all of the hilarious charges that are going to be brought up against you if you don’t give me a damn good explanation as to what you’re doing in this video. Attempting to destroy private property, that’s a hilarious misdemeanor.  Breaking and entering, that’s a really hilarious felony.  If you’re found guilty of these two things you’ll be spending, at minimum, a hilarious 5 years in federal prison.  Isn’t that all so hilarious? I’m in stitches myself.”

“I didn’t break in.  I have a key.  I work at that office.”

“And you’re telling me that Jackson Hayes would be totally fine with the fact that you were in his office, attempting to infiltrate his computer?”

Shaun covered her forehead with her hand.  “Even if I did tell you everything you wouldn’t believe me, anyway.”

“Try me.”

“I’m an intern at a magazine.  Studying journalism at UCLA.  I’m not a criminal.”

“These images tell a different story.”

Shaun took a moment, then held out her hand to him. “I was writing an article for Jackson that he was going to publish in the next issue but I changed my mind, and didn’t want it published anymore.  I tried to tell him that but he wouldn’t listen.”

“So you decided your best course of action was to break into his office?”

“My
only
course of action. I just wanted to delete my article from his cache so he couldn’t publish it.  An article that I wrote and is therefore mine.”

“Quite the contrary, Ms. Green.  That article is technically property of Hearst Magazines.  You may have written the words, but as an employee of the company they own all of the words you write.”

Shaun knew that, she just hadn’t expected him to.  “Look, the only reason you even have this video is because some crazy girl is jealous and thinks I’m stealing her boyfriend.”

The officer looked like he was suddenly overcome with a splitting headache.

“Am I going to jail?”  If she was being honest, jail seemed like a peaceful respite when put up beside the mess that her entire life was about to become.

A voice from behind her surprised them both.  “Not unless Officer Jones is planning on charging you with anything, no.”

Shaun turned in her chair and took in the sight of a middle-aged man in a very good suit clutching a briefcase in both hands.  She had no idea who he was, but somehow knew he was the man that was about to save her ass.  She turned back to ‘Officer Jones’ and when she saw the exasperated expression on his face she
knew
the middle aged angel in the good suit was here to save her.

“What exactly are you charging her with Jones?” he asked.

Officer Jones rolled his eyes and held out his hands.  “Nothing yet.  We just had a few questions.”

Shaun raised her eyebrows. “So I can go?”

The officer motioned to the door.  “You can go… for now.”

--

“Thank you so much for that,” Shaun sputtered as her savior held the door to the precinct open for her. “I never got your name.”

The man walked fast, making her almost skip in an attempt to keep up with him.  “It’s Charles, and don’t thank me.”  Without looking at her Charles motioned to the other end of the nearly empty parking lot, which was scattered with random squad cars. “Thank him.”

Shaun’s gaze followed his pointed finger. She slowed to a stop when she caught sight of Adam leaning against a motorcycle at the other end of the parking lot. 

“Adam.”  When she turned back to Charles to thank him again she was surprised to see that he was already gone, grudgingly climbing into a beautiful black BMW.  Clearly the man had been forced to come down here on his night off and he was none-too-happy about it.

Shaun couldn’t worry about that for too long, not knowing that Adam was so close by and would surely have a million questions after what had just gone down at her apartment.  Even as her stomach rumbled with sickness at the thought of telling him everything, she couldn’t help but break into a run towards him and his motorcycle, throwing her arms around his shoulders.

“Adam, thank you so much,” she whispered into his neck, closing her eyes when he wrapped only one arm around her.  Pulling away, she looked up at him.  “Was that your lawyer?”

Adam pressed his lips together.  “Charles.”

“Well…”  She put her hands in her back pockets.  “Thank you for sending him.  He really shut it down in there.”

Adam didn’t respond, but continued to watch her quietly.

He’d never looked at Shaun quite the way he was looking at her now, and she had to close her eyes when the realization finally hit her.  This was it.  He would never look at her adoringly, again--if at all.  He was going to hate her deeply, and probably for life, but she had to tell him.  It was going to be the hardest thing she’d ever have to do, but she had to do it.  Right now.

“What was real?” he asked.

Shaun’s eyes flew open and her heart stopped at the question. She blinked up at him for several moments.  “W-what?” she sputtered, her entire body going cold.

Adam raised her laptop into the air, which he’d happened across in his search for Shaun’s keys earlier that night. Shaun hadn’t even realized he’d been holding it at his side.  With his eyes still riveted to hers, he steadied the computer on his forearm and opened it, reading out loud, “How to Land a Rock Star in Thirty Days.” He looked away from the screen and back at her, his expression vacant.

“Oh my god. Adam… Christ…”  Shaun felt like the ground had disappeared right from under her and she was in some terrible freefall with seconds to say something before she disappeared into a fiery hell of her own devising.  She didn’t even know where to begin.  “I didn’t send it.”

Adam’s eyes had grown wide with fury. His tongue came out to wet his lips, but he didn’t speak.  His eyes glowed under the bright lights of the parking lot and the moisture rapidly building up in them glistened, nearly blinding her.

Shaun struggled to form one coherent thought.  “I--I would have never…  Celia is the one who sent it in to my editor.”

Adam’s chest heaved. “Your fucking editor,” he repeated.

Shaun cringed as the first tear fell. “I’m a writer.  An intern at Cosmopolitan magazine. I was supposed to write an article on my time with you to secure a spot for myself at the magazine and to earn the internship credits to finish school. I’m a journalism major.  Not a fashion major.  Not a model.  An aspiring writer who would have done anything to get a job, but I didn’t know you then, Adam.  When I accepted the assignment you were just some racist jerk who I thought I could use to get ahead, but I didn’t know you.  After all the time we spent together I knew I could never submit it. I almost went to jail just now because I broke into my boss’ office and tried to get rid of it.  I was never going to send it, I swear to god.”