Fade to Red

She hadn’t been gone five minutes when a redhead walked into the pool area and asked Sparrow if Roxie was still there. She stopped in mid-sentence when she saw Ian and he regretted not going underwater when he saw her come in the gate. She looked like a vulture ready to strike. She stepped closer to the pool and looked down at him.

“Ian Sterling? How did I get so lucky?” She flashed teeth and put a hand on her hip. “Roxie Taylor sure gets around.”

“Not sure what you’re implying. I’m here with my family,” he said.

Leo popped up beside him.

“Hey, Leo, would you please sit with the girls for a minute?” Ian asked.

“And then I can get back in the pool?”

“Of course.”

Leo swam to the ledge and climbed out.

“And you are?” Ian looked at the girl.

“Mirielle Wethers, with Rolling Stone. I’ve been leaving messages for you for weeks. Looks like I just needed to find Roxie to find you.” She smirked and stepped into the shade.

“Ah, Mirielle, you need to stop with the Roxie i

Sparrow shifted her long legs off the lounger. He got out of the pool and enjoyed watching her walk toward him.

He looked at Mirielle, who wasn’t bothering to hide her a

Her eyes flashed and she stepped closer. “I just want-”

“No.” He handed Journey to Sparrow. “Call Will,” he said under his breath.

Sparrow walked away with the baby and called Will. He’d taken a break right before Mirielle came, but Ian knew he wasn’t far. In moments, Will was walking toward them.

“Quit giving Rolling Stone a bad name—we know you don’t work for them anymore.” Ian turned and said over his shoulder: “This is Will—he’ll make sure you get to your car safely.”

He put a towel around his neck and waited until Mirielle was gone before getting back into the pool.

Roxie pounded on Beckham’s door.

“Hey! Come in!” He was smiling until he got a good look at her face. “What’s going on?”

He took her hand and led her up the steps. She was clutching something in one hand, but held onto him with the other.

“Hey, you’re shaking. What happened?”

“I went to wardrobe just now—I meant to grab my first dress last night, so I could hang out at the hotel as long as possible, and-” She held up her dress.

It looked like a blowtorch had been taken to it. Completely charred. Beckham barely touched it and material crackled to the ground.

“What the hell?” His eyes were huge.

“All of my outfits are like this. Only mine. After the other night, when I stayed with you … my blanket and all my books were cut up into little pieces. I didn’t-”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?” he demanded.

“I didn’t want to bring you into it. I hoped it was just a pointless stunt and nothing serious.” A tear fell down her cheek and she angrily swiped it away.

“Hey, come here.” He hugged her close then pulled back just enough to study her face. “This involves me, whatever happens with you. I care about you and want to make sure you’re always safe. I can’t do that if you keep me in the dark. Don’t shut me out. Okay?”

She nodded.

“What’s going on here?”

“Well, I was mad, but now I’m scared, too. I confronted Brooke and-”

“Wait a minute—Brooke? You think she did this?”

“She’s the only one I’ve had any issues with and she seemed to think it was fu

Beckham shook his head. “Brooke? I know she’s not the nicest person, but I’ve never thought she’d do anything this awful. You really think it’s her?”

“I trust everyone but her. As crazy as it sounds, I still think she purposely tripped Sparrow, hoping she’d get that song with Ian. And I don’t know how anyone else would get on the bus.”

“Okay, let me get my phone. I’ll need to talk to Nate and security, and eventually Brooke too.”

Anthony knocked before Beckham had called anyone. Nate stood beside him, mumbling something under his breath.

“You look like the grim reapers, coming to carry us off to our death. I guess you’ve heard about it already?” Beckham asked, stepping aside to let them in.

They stopped short when they saw Roxie.

Nate cleared his throat. “I wanted to wait until after the show but didn’t want you blindsided by any reporters. There’s a pile of reporters out there, ready to pounce on this story.”

“How would the reporters know about any of this?”

Nate and Anthony looked at Beckham like he’d lost it.

“What do you mean? They’re the ones who came out with the story,” Nate said.

“How did they find out about Roxie’s things?”

They looked at Roxie then and back to Beckham. Nate shook his head. “No, I don’t know anything about that…”

“The story just came out about the two of you having a son,” Anthony jumped in.

“What? What are you talking about?” Beckham stuttered.

They all looked at Roxie and she turned completely white. Her mouth opened, but no words came out.

“What?” Beckham said, turning to Roxie.

She knew her eyes looked wild and she shook her head, but still couldn’t say anything. Tears fell, but she didn’t know if the tears were new or from all she’d just told him.

“I didn’t believe it was true, but now I’m not so sure,” Anthony said, staring at Roxie. “We came over here to do damage control with the press, but it looks like the joke might be on us. Is Leo Beckham’s son, Roxie?”

“Are you kidding me? Leo?” Beckham looked at everyone in the room, as if the facts were striking him like bullets, one right after the other.

Her stomach fell. She realized how this might look. She’d been distant and angry from the begi

And he’d taken her virginity and forgotten about her. She had every reason to be bitter.

She knew it didn’t look good, but she couldn’t seem to stop shaking long enough to defend herself. This day—it was one too many slivers of insane.

Beckham walked within a foot of Roxie, all earlier softness gone. He stopped in front of her and put both hands on the wall, on either side of her face. He leaned down until they were about an inch apart.

“Who is Leo, Roxie?”

“My son,” she whispered.

“You have a—that little boy is yours?” He shook his head, but his eyes still didn’t seem focused. “Why didn’t you tell me you have a son? Is he mine?” His voice was quiet but harsh.

She shoved him away from her. She felt like she was looking at a stranger.

“No, he isn’t yours! What the hell are you thinking?”

“Let me see a picture of him.” He pointed to Nate and grabbed the paper out of his hands. A picture of Leo and Roxie was blown up. He sucked in a breath and sat down, staring at the picture.

When he looked up at Roxie, his eyes were tortured. “I know Leo. I met him. At the audition, I met him. I saw him again yesterday. Mavid,” he whispered. He shook his head. “He’s … a great kid.” He looked at the ceiling and stood back up, walking close to her. “Here’s what the hell I’m thinking: he looks like me! I’m thinking, how the hell did I not see it the very first time we met? I’m thinking, you’ve been hating me since you got here and I haven’t fully made sense of it. Until now…” He ran his hands through his curly hair and pointed at it and then the picture of Leo. “His hair is just like mine. His eyes are the same weird color as mine … the way we-” His voice broke and he hit the wall next to him.