Fade to Red

Next stop: Atlanta. They drove all night and were there by mid-morning. Anthony told them to make themselves comfortable and to plan on staying on his bus for the rest of Chloe and Leo’s trip. He’d made sure an assistant picked up some necessities for Roxie since all of her things were ruined. Instead of hanging around the crew at di

“I’ve missed you so much, Leo. I’m so glad you guys got to come for the last few days. I needed my peoples.”

He looked up at her and began swinging their hands as they walked.

“I’ve missed you too. Really, really bad.” He looked at Chloe then. “Auntie and I have been having lots of fun too,” he assured them both. “This is my favorite, though. And I can’t wait to have sushi!” His face split into a huge grin.

It took Roxie’s breath away when he smiled like that. She leaned down and covered his face with kisses. He laughed and finally moved away to catch his breath.

He loved sushi, although he wasn’t as crazy about ‘wathabi’ as she was.

They had just ordered, when she felt eyes on them. She looked up and Beckham was looking at Leo. He wore a fedora low over his eyes, but she could see how his lips curved up as he watched Leo. Oblivious, Leo was chatting about the fish in the nearby tank and didn’t even notice Beckham.

Roxie’s blood boiled. When Beckham walked to their table she wouldn’t look at him.

“Hey, buddy,” he said to Leo.

“Beckham! Hi!” Leo said excitedly. “Sit down! We just ordered some major sushi!”

Beckham laughed. “Thanks! I believe I will.” He sat down by Leo.

Roxie’s eyes cut to him and he stared at her, daring her to try and stop him.

“Did you follow us here?” she snapped.

“I might have.” He shrugged.

Her eyes flashed; she was livid. So it seemed they were going to act like children—fine, if that’s the way he wanted it.

The waitress came to the table to take Beckham’s order and didn’t even try to hide the fact that she was checking him out. It didn’t seem like she knew who he was, just that she liked what little she saw. He never fully lifted his face into the light. Roxie was learning his tricks. She wondered what other sneaky skills he had lurking.

“So, we’ll have a whole day off in Atlanta tomorrow,” Beckham cleared his throat, “and I’d like to take Leo to ride the SkyView Ferris Wheel. Would that be okay?”

“Yeah! That sounds great!” Leo agreed. “What is a SkyView Ferris Wheel?”

“Well, it’s really, really high and was once in Paris and…”

“Hey, hold up. Those are the kinds of things you ask before … not while he’s right here,” she scolded Beckham. “And you can’t just take him … I’ve missed him so much.” She tried to give him the rest of the message with her raised eyebrows and at the same time not show Leo how much she despised Beckham.

“It’s not every day he can ride the SkyView Ferris Wheel,” he replied.

“Fine. But not without me.”

“Rox, what do you think I’m go

“Take it or leave it.”

“Okay, you can come. Also, I’ve arranged for you to be on my bus while Leo and Chloe are here. So you’ll have more room, and so I can visit with him. We can also extend their stay…”

“Can I talk to you for a moment?” Roxie stood up, glaring down at Beckham.

He jumped up, his face as thunderous as hers.

Roxie heard Chloe chattering about all the sushi they were going to eat as she walked away.

“This is craziness. What are you even thinking?” She put both hands on her hips and glared up at him. “I don’t know what you’re envisioning, Beckham, but you can’t just pretend like he’s yours because you want him to be. He’s not.” Roxie took a deep breath before she continued. “Just let me see my son. I’m not fighting you with the testing. He’s already been swabbed too, and now the decent thing would be to just let me have a nice time with my boy.”

“You will. I just don’t want to miss any more time with him if he is my son.”

“If you get his hopes up in any way, whatsoever, I will destroy you,” she said under her breath.

He heard her loud and clear. “You’ve already said that, and I’m done being bullied by you, Roxie Taylor.”

She threw both hands up and wanted to throttle him. Her chest rose and fell as she tried to regain her composure before she turned and walked back to the table. He was on her heels. When they sat down, his brows were drawn together, but then he looked down at Leo next to him and his face lit up.

“There’s this phenomenal restaurant we’ll visit, too. You’re go

He went into a long explanation of what crepes were and how the chocolate oozes out of them. Leo sat there, spellbound.

Roxie rested her forehead in her hands and tried not to cry. She’d always wanted Leo to have a dad, but nothing was worth the fear of losing him. Beckham seemed so determined for Leo to be his, she wasn’t sure a test result would settle it for him one way or the other.

Ian looked around and settled onto a stool. He had arrived at the hair and makeup trailer before Suza

The bright lights showed the sun he’d gotten the other day. He hadn’t realized he’d gotten that much. He noticed skin peeling around his right eyebrow and started pulling it. Damn. That made it worse. He looked around for lotion or something that might help.

He found lotion and squirted some—a huge glob filled his hand.

“Shit!” He jumped up and looked around for a paper towel. He didn’t see any on the counter, so he opened a couple of nearby drawers. Nothing but hair products, makeup, and pain medication.

“Ian?”

He turned around and saw Coco standing by the door.

“I got way too much.” He showed her his hand. “Thought I might find some paper towels.”

“You can wash it off in the sink.”

He nodded. “Should’ve done that in the first place,” he said.

She leaned down to shut the drawer. “Been waiting long?”

“No. First time I’ve been the only one in here, though.”

“I was a-about to lock up. Thought you weren’t coming.”

“If you could just put some junk in my hair to get it to stay—it’s getting too long and I’m out of the good stuff.”

“Sure.”

He watched her grab the hair paste. As she got closer, her hand shook, and he felt bad if he made her nervous. They’d never really talked much. He knew she was shy and usually Suza

She fixed his hair and studied him when she stepped back. He lifted his eyebrows and she turned around and got lotion, getting the perfect amount out and putting it above his brow.

“Thank you,” he said. He looked down. Her hands had a few painful-looking cuts. “Oh wow, doesn’t that sting your hands? What happened?”

“Got a bigger pair of scissors than what I usually cut hair with … d-didn’t work out so well for my hands.” She blinked and gave him a shy smile.

“Oh, thought you were go

“F-flat iron doesn’t like me much either,” she agreed.

Poor girl. She really was awkward. Surprisingly good with hair though. He stood and walked toward the door, trying to get out of there before he gave her a heart attack.

“Thanks for the hair,” he said, with a wave.

She held up a hand. “B-break a leg tonight,” she said.