Guillaume, Her French Husband

Chapter 11

Guillaume

By this time, Guillaume should have understood the kind of influence the media had. Whether it was mainstream media or gossip, it always had an effect. Positive or negative…it never really mattered. Anything it took to get ratings and all the web traffic they could handle. He was a mess when he landed at LAX. He had not even had a chance to have a power nap in the ten hour flight. And it was not from lack of trying either. But the big question was how he was going to track Lara down. He did not have her number and at the back of his mind, he knew that he was no longer where he last left her. She had sworn to move from her apartment after her face was splashed all over the tabloids. He was not even sure the fact that he had the marriage license in his pocket was enough for him to get her to listen to him. He had just climbed into the town car Tammy had arranged for him when something clicked in his mind: the name of the bar she had mentioned she worked at. Her friend’s bar. The Broken Elbow.

She might have quit her job as a hostess but something told him that she might still go to her friend’s bar every so often. After all, this was one of the only safe places she had left. And if all else failed, he could always get her number from one of her co-workers. When he got to the bar half an hour later, he could feel the fatigue setting in but he was not ready to sleep. At least not yet. He got out of the car and slowly made his way into the bar. And just then, he realized that the place was a little more over the top than Lara had made it sound. He ran his fingers through his hair and made his way to the counter. He took a long deep breath and forced a smile at a lady standing behind the counter.

“Hello,” he said, getting the woman’s attention. “I am looking for Lara King.”

The woman behind the counter looked at him and a sly smile played on her lips.

“I’m guessing you are Guillaume Laurent, huh?” she asked and Guillaume wondered what he was supposed to say. He nodded.

“Yes. Yes I am.”

“Well, you have got some nerve to show up here,” she said.

“I don’t understand,” he said softly. “I’m just looking for Lara King.”

“Well, it’s about time you started,” the lady said. “Because for a man who claims to be her fiancé you have been surprisingly quiet on her.”

Guillaume smiled.

“You must be her friend, Ashley,” he said and she nodded.

“I am. And I have covered for you as much as I can but I don’t know if I can do it anymore,” Ashley pointed out and Guillaume nodded.

“I tried reaching her….to explain what had happened but her cell number was in my old phone and…” he took a long deep breath. “I just really need to see her. Especially now that the tabloids ran a picture of Lucienne and I.”

Ashley shook her head and poured him a bourbon.

“I hope you are a bourbon kind of person,” she said as she pushed the glass towards him.

“I don’t need a drink,” he said and she forced out a laugh.

“You are going to need one after this,” she said as she raised her glass. “That Lucienne person is the least of your worries.”

Guillaume shook his head.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“There is this other actress, Zoe Matheson,” Ashley started. “She tracked Lara down and had some very unfriendly words with her.”

“What kind of ‘unfriendly’ words are you talking about?”

“Well apparently, you guys were together while shooting her movie a few months ago,” Ashley said and Guillaume shook his head.

“Fu*k!” he said in a loud whisper before he downed the contents of his glass.

“I told you that drink was going to come in handy,” Ashley said as she poured him another glass of bourbon which he downed as well. His heart was beating hard and fast as he looked at Ashley. He sat down and rubbed his temple. He knew that Zoe was a vile woman. He could only imagine what she had said to Lara.

“Where is she?” he asked. “Lara. Where is she?” he asked as Ashley looked at him.

“Depends,” she said and he sighed.

“On what?”

“How you answer my question.”

He sighed again.

“I really need to get to Lara. Today,” he said in a soft voice.

“Did you and Zoe have something?” Ashley asked and he nodded.

“Yes. We slept together,” he said. “That’s just it. Nothing else ever happened.”

“Well, apparently not according to the bi*ch because she pretty much called Lara the flavor of the month.”

Guillaume sighed.

“I finally managed to get her number from her audition file but I could tell that she was not convinced by anything I was saying.”

Ashley raised an eyebrow at him.

“You called her?” she asked and he nodded.

“Right before I left Paris,” he said. “But she was cold and I know everything is not okay between us.”

Ashley shrugged and took a long deep breath. He could tell that she agreed with what he was saying.

“I need to see her. Right now. Please Ashley….I cannot lose her and Myka,” he said as he looked at her.

“Her and Myka?” Ashley asked.

“I want to marry her. Wake up next to her every second of every day…And getting her means getting the family. So there’s Myka, you…Michael, MJ…”

Ashley smiled.

“She told you about us?” she asked and he nodded.

“Which is why I have to ask you if you give me your blessing to marry her. I know I am doing things in the opposite order but it is important to her,” he said. “And I made sure I got this two weeks ago,” he added as he pulled an envelope from his jacket pocket.

“A marriage license?” she asked when she opened the envelope and he nodded.

“I love Lara. I love her more than I have ever loved anyone.”

Ashley looked into his eyes long and hard before she took a pen and notepad. She scribbled an address and handed it to him.

“That’s my place,” she said. “That’s where she and Myka are staying before she moves to the new place.”