Forget Me Not (35 page)

Penny started reading it until it looked like her eyes would pop out of her head again. “A million? This guy agreed to pay you a cool million for spilling the dirt on Gideon? Way to go.” She held up her hand to give Janelle a high five.

The whole thing now felt like a betrayal. She shouldn’t have made the deal. She should have gone to the hospital to be with him during his surgery. She had promised him she would be there.

“That was the other reason why I did it.” Janelle took a deep breath before facing her friend. “I’m having money problems.”

Penny blinked. “What are you talking about? My checks are always good.”

Janelle nodded. “Yes, because I do without paying myself sometimes to pay you. It’s the real reason Thelma quit. She saw a disconnection notice from the power company and she paid it for me. She didn’t want to be a burden on me. Having Gideon in town has
been a blessing in a lot of ways to me. I’ve managed to keep my business afloat. I’ve paid some of my bills. But I’m in trouble, and I don’t know what else to do. I’m getting evicted from my apartment.”

“What? Why?” Penny moved in closer to Janelle.

Janelle needed that personal connection right now. “It’s a long story, but part of it has to do with me being behind on my rent.”

“Girl, why didn’t you tell me all this before? You can move in with me.” Penny put her hand on Janelle’s shoulder.

Janelle cocked her head. “You live in an apartment smaller than mine that’s located above your parents’ garage. How is that going to work?”

“We could make it work. I’m your friend.” She held up the papers. “Reading this, it looks like you’re going to have to do this interview. Has he already given you the money?”

Janelle nodded. “Wired it right to my account. I can’t believe I have all that money. I don’t even want to spend it.”

“Don’t. Let me finish reading this contract. I think I have a plan. Is that guy coming here?”

“In an hour. I have another outfit to change into.”

“Where are you doing the interview? Out here or in your office?”

Janelle shrugged. “He didn’t say.”

“Good. Let’s take advantage of this. I think I know of a way for you to keep the money free and clear and get your intended message out.”

Penny continued reading the contract when Janelle
wrapped
her arms around her friend and hugged her harder than she’d ever had.

“I love you. Thank you for always sticking by me and never judging me.”

Penny hugged her back. “Of course. You’re my girl. We have to stick together.”

“When all this is over, I’ll tell you all about Gideon and how wonderful and thoughtful he is.”

Janelle headed to her office.

“And the fact that he’s hung like an elephant?”

That statement stopped Janelle in her tracks. She turned to Penny.

“It’s the word on the street.” Penny winked and kept reading.

“You concentrate on a plan and stop thinking about my man’s penis.” Janelle laughed a little as she ducked into her office.

Her man. She hoped after this stunt, she could repair what she’d broken with Gideon. She hoped he still wanted her as much as she wanted him.

* * * *

Gideon slowly opened his eyes. Soft light met his gaze as he took a deep breath. He felt oxygen tubes in his nostrils, giving him additional air. After a couple of long blinks, he spotted a nurse hustling by him to get to another patient in the expansive room.

“I see you’re awake now, Mr. Wells.”

Gideon turned his head toward the sound of the voice and saw another nurse standing by his bed. She smiled almost like she needed to reassure him he would be okay.

“Am I about to go into surgery now?” he asked.

“No, sir. You’re all done.” The nurse gazed down to his right leg.

Gideon hadn’t even thought about taking inventory of his body. He lifted his head
and saw the bandages around his knee along with a compression sock. Right now, he didn’t feel a thing. He knew later the pain would come and hard. Then he would have to go through arduous months of rehabilitation. The pain and punishment would keep his mind off Janelle.

“We’ll take you to a room to rest up a bit more,
and
then you’ll be discharged.” The nurse started unplugging his IVs from the wall sockets and unlocking the wheels on his bed.

“Is my brother still here?” He couldn’t imagine that Gunnar would have gone anywhere unless something had happened to their mother.

“Waiting for you in the room.” She pushed him down the hallway until she reached a room at the end. With careful precision, she got his bed into the room and against the wall without hitting anything.

“Hey, big guy.” Gunnar stood and patted Gideon on the shoulder. “How are you feeling?”

“No pain right now.” Gideon smiled. “None physically.”

“Hope I can help repair your heart.”

The female voice he heard sounded familiar. He knew it didn’t come from Janelle. Whenever she spoke, his heart drummed a wild beat. It didn’t sound like the nurse who had moved him to the room.

Gideon turned his head and had to blink a number of times to register the view. “Hilary?”

The
blond
e
bombshell smiled. “In the flesh and here for you, dear.” She leaned over for a kiss.

Gideon had enough strength and the wherewithal to turn his head so that her lips landed on his cheek. “What are you doing here in Virginia?”

She peered up at Gunnar, who stood on the other side of the bed. “Maybe we can talk a little later without the crowds.”

The nurse plugged everything back in and checked Gideon’s vital signs before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

“Okay, the nurse is gone. Why are you here?” Gideon asked again with a little more bass to his voice.

She tucked her hair behind her ear and glanced at Gunnar again. “Do you mind giving us a little privacy?”

“No.” Gideon grabbed his brother’s wrist. “Anything you can say to me, you can say in front of him. He’s family. Last I checked, we weren’t a couple anymore.”

Hilary pursed her lips and cleared her throat. “I’m here as a favor to Scot.” She looked at her nails like this whole conversation bored her.

“Scot? What does he have to do with you being here?” Gideon found the controller for the bed and lifted his head a bit more.

“He told me that to get people interested in you again, I should show up and be by your side during this difficult time. It’s perfect. You’re hurt. You’ve gone through this surgery, which could drastically affect your career. And I’m here to nurse you back to health. Besides, if the Portland Coyotes see that you have more ties to the West Coast than the East, they’ll be inclined to sign you.” She put her hand to his chest. “Then maybe we can start over. Pick up where we left off.”

Gideon had to shake his head a few times while he digested her words. “Where we
left off was me finding out that Scot was the one who’d sent you to me in the first place so that we could date and become a couple, and me finding out that you were never really interested in me.”

Hilary rolled her eyes. “That’s the business part of show business, baby. If you didn’t talk so much about plants and flowers all the time, we probably could have lasted a bit longer.”

Gunnar snickered. Until then, Gideon had forgotten his brother stood in the room with them.

“I apologize for boring you. I promise I won’t do that anymore.” Gideon felt his face go tight the longer he looked at her.

Hilary smiled, showing off her expensive dental work. “See, that’s the spirit.”

“I don’t suppose you have some
movie
about to come out soon, do you?”

She beamed even more. “As a matter of fact, I do. Not Oscar gold but it could be a blockbuster at least.”

“Good. I’m happy for you. I really am. But if you think you’re going to walk out of this hospital with me, holding my hand or pushing my wheelchair while a bunch of photographers snap the shot, you’re crazy.” Gideon pressed the
N
urse
C
all button as he watched his ex-girlfriend’s smile turn into a scowl. “We’ve been broken up for months. I’ve moved on. I’m sure you have also. I have no reason or desire to use you for some publicity. That’s your deal, not mine. Had I known then that the only reason you wanted to be with me was to up your star status, I would have steered clear of you. I’ve met someone.”

She snorted. “Who? The flower girl? What does she have that I don’t have? I can get you into A-list parties. You could have the best of everything.”

“With her, I have the best of everything.” Gideon had hoped her face would be the first one he would see after his surgery.

Hilary snatched up her purse. “Fine. I hate Virginia anyway. J.T. warned me this was not a happening town.”

“J.T.?” Gunnar asked.

“Justin Timberlake. Duh.” She rolled her eyes. “Good luck wherever you go.”

Before Gideon could respond, she stormed out of the room.

Gunnar put his hand on Gideon’s shoulder. “Let me get this straight. Your agent set you up with an actress to be your girlfriend?”

“Didn’t find out until I heard her talking about me over the phone one day. I knew she wasn’t into the football thing. I didn’t realize she also wasn’t into me.” Breaking up with Hilary had been hard. Rebuilding his shattered ego had proved to be even more difficult.

“Wow. No wonder you didn’t want Mom setting you up.” Gunnar rubbed his hand over his eyes.

“Yeah. I don’t want to experience another woman using me.” Gideon shook his head.

“Did you get the impression that Janelle wanted to use you? She didn’t come off that way to me.”

Before Gideon could answer, a nurse appeared at his door. “Are you okay, Mr. Wells?”

“I think I’m ready to go now.” Gideon wanted to be home. The shock of seeing
Hilary had reminded him that his heart mattered.

“Yes, sir. I’ll see if the doctor has prepared your discharge orders yet.” She disappeared down the hall.

“What the hell is that?” Gunnar picked up the remote and turned up the TV volume.

Gideon had to blink a few times to focus. Once he did, he caught Janelle’s image on TV.

“An exclusive interview with the modern
-
day Eliza Doolittle herself will be posted on the ZMT celebrity tabloid site sometime today,” a news anchor said with a big smile across his face. “Reports say she’ll reveal secrets about her tryst with none other than Super Bowl MVP, Gideon Wells.”

Gideon felt his blood boil as he watched the telecast. “Can’t be.”

Gunnar squeezed Gideon’s shoulder. “Shit, man.”

“Supposedly, she’ll talk about how they met, his football career, and if there are wedding bells in their future. I know this station will be watching out for that interview. We’ll feature clips as soon as they become available. In other news—”

Gunnar turned off the TV. “That’s got to be bullshit. She wouldn’t do that to you, would she?”

Gideon rubbed his wrist where his cherished watch used to be. “I don’t know.”

If she had betrayed him, he would be done. No more love. He could take a lot. The pain of having his heart broken again would drain him.

Janelle paced in her apartment while Penny sat at the kitchen counter with Janelle’s laptop in front of her. Janelle had hoped after all she’d done, her plan would work.

“Well?” She wrung her hands together.

“The jerk’s video is out.” Penny looked up from the computer. “As we thought, he did a hatchet job on it.”

Janelle put her hand to her head and groaned. “I knew I shouldn’t have done it. I shut my business down all day today because of this. I knew I would get more questions than sales. If Gideon or his family sees his video, they’re going to hate me.”

“Not after I do this.” Penny did a couple of clicks on the laptop. “Done.”

Janelle ran to Penny and peered over her shoulder. “Are you sure my original video will go as viral as Jules’s? I want the truth to be out there.”

“It should. Every time I posted a picture of you and Gideon, they took off. I have a lot of friends on social media.” She smiled.

“And you don’t think this guy has a leg to stand on to sue me?” Janelle chewed her lower lip.

“The one good thing about watching all of those episodes of
Judge Judy
and
Law & Order
—”

“Along with having parents who are both attorneys.”

“Yeah, and that. I learned a lot about loopholes. This guy is good, but if he tries to sue you, we can throw it back in his face that he has in his contract about editing your content. It’s a good thing we hid that camera in the office while you did the interview.” Penny tapped her temple.

“It’s a great thing for me that I have a really, really smart friend. My ride-or-die chick.” Janelle hugged her from behind.

Penny leaned her head toward Janelle. “Now call your man, or better yet, go see him.”

“I won’t be able to get by the guard at the gate.” Janelle shook her head. “He probably won’t want to see me.”

“Won’t know unless you ask.” Penny held up Janelle’s phone.

Janelle paused before accepting the phone from her friend. “Although I’ve shared with you everything that’s happened between me and Gideon these past few weeks, I’ll need to make this a private conversation.”

Penny held up her hands in surrender. “Fine. Be that way. I’ll be out here after you’re done talking. I’ll be the one with the two glasses of wine.” She nudged Janelle toward her bedroom.

Janelle paced in her room for a moment. Her video hadn’t been out long enough for Gideon to know what she had done. The other video had been out all day. It had gained legs and been picked up by several media outlets. Janelle had become famous for all the wrong reasons.

She took a deep breath and dialed Gideon’s number, hoping beyond hope that he hadn’t changed his number.