One Wild Night

Matt sat in the dressing room with his script in hand as the make-up artist powdered his face. This was unlike him. He was unable to focus, and he was struggling with his lines.

Over the last couple of days, all he had been focused on was Candace and trying to come up with a solution for her problem, hoping that she would reconsider a relationship with him after she was settled. And then after realizing that he had been lied to that night, he had kept his lines off and had been disinterested in everyone and everything.

He wasn't usually one to brood, but he had wanted to be left alone. And then after staying alone for most of the day on Sunday, he had invited some girls over to have a good time with him in the evening, getting wasted. He had hoped they would help him get Candace out of his system, but that didn't seem to work.

As annoying as it was, he hated to admit to himself that even now, he was still as worried about the well-being of her and her son as he had been from the beginning. He still wanted to know if they were doing okay even though it wasn't supposed to be his business. He wanted to know if they had gone to see Jero even though he didn't want to talk to her.

It wasn't like he didn't understand Candace's claim that she was trying to protect him. Of course, he did. But what was he going to do for a woman that didn't even trust him to be able to protect her and her son?

He had chosen to put himself at risk because he cared about her, but she had thrown it at his face. She kept coming up with reasons why they couldn't be together and couldn't seem to find any reason why she would need him in her life. It hurt him deeply to know that she had resorted to such a horrible story just to get him to leave her alone.

Well, he had left her alone now, no matter how much it hurt. She and her son were not his business anymore. He had done his bit by handing them to Jade. She was going to make sure she resolved everything for them, and that was good enough for him.

She didn't want to be in a relationship with him, and he didn't want to be just friends with her, so there was no need to get involved in her business anymore.

"Sup, Matt? I heard you've been unusually quiet since you arrived. Are you alright?" An actor, who had just walked into the dressing room, asked as he sat on the empty seat beside him and slapped his back in greeting.

Jolted out of his thoughts, Matt glanced at him. He was surprised that he hadn't even realized that the make-up artist had left, and he was alone now. Pathetic. He was being annoyingly pathetic right now. There were lots of single uncomplicated women who wanted him, so why was he stuck on this one woman who didn't want him?

He focused on the guy in front of him when he realized he was zoning out again, "I didn't know you were starring in the movie."

"I'm not. I'm just hanging around for Lena's sake. She likes it when I drop by movie sets for her sake," the actor said, referring to his girlfriend, who was playing the female lead in the movie Matt was shooting in.

Matt chuckled, "I take it you are here to warn me not to get too close to her?" Matt asked since it was no news that the actor was fond of going to different movie sets and warning the male actors starring with his girlfriend not to touch her too intimately.

"You can't blame me, can you? She does the same to me," He said, looking slightly embarrassed, and Matt laughed softly.

"You have nothing to worry about," Matt assured him, and he smiled as he extended a knuckle to Matt.

"I knew I could count on you," he said as he fist-bumped with Matt.

"By the way, what's up with you? Is it about Bryan? What's his plan now that he no longer wants to be in Golden Star? Are you leaving with him?" The actor asked, and Matt raised a brow.

"What do you mean?"

The actor looked at him, confused, "What do you mean what do I mean?"

"I mean, when did Bryan talk to you about wanting to leave Golden Star?" Matt asked, and the actor looked at Matt to see if he was joking or serious.

"You are serious? You really didn't watch the interview that was all over the internet last weekend?" He asked when Matt just stared at him in confusion.

He remembered his assistant persistently trying to talk to him, but he had told him if it wasn't a matter of life and death, he didn't want to hear about it. Was that what his assistant had been trying to tell him?

"What have you been up to? Something must really be wrong if you didn't know about Bryan's latest scandal. Did you guys have a fight or something? Did you even know that his engagement to that novel writer was faux?"

Wow! That was out in the open already? He didn't need to wonder why he didn't know about it. He knew the answer. He had been too engrossed in himself thinking about a woman that was probably not even thinking about him. Matt reasoned with a sigh as he took out his phone to find the interview the actor was referring to.

"I should go and check on Lena," the actor said and walked out of the dressing room when it was clear that Matt wasn't very interested in the conversation.

Once Matt was left alone, he searched online until he came across all the news articles concerning Bryan and Sonia which had been posted over the weekend.

Saying he was shocked was an understatement, especially since he remembered speaking with Bryan sometime in the early hours of Sunday after he left Jade and Harry, and Bryan hadn't mentioned anything about the scandal to him then.

He sighed when he remembered that he hadn't exactly been in the mood to talk with Bryan either and had told him he would return his call when he was feeling better.

He had a frown on his face as he read through all the articles, including those written about Bryan's announcement during the live YouTube interview that he was terminating his contract with Golden Star Agency.

He decided to search for the video and watched it for some time before deciding he had seen enough. If he hadn't read already that Bryan and Sonia were in Ludus, he probably would have driven straight to Bryan's house to see him.

He dialed Bryan's line instead, but it wasn't connecting. He tried Sonia's line as well and started to worry when he couldn't reach either of them after trying a couple of times.

Why were their lines not going through? He wondered as he tried to figure out how to reach them. Before now, he would have called either Jeff or Mia to find out what was happening with Bryan, but since Bryan had terminated his contract with the agency, Matt wasn't sure if either Jeff or Mia would know about his whereabouts.

He sat up when it suddenly occurred to him to give Jade a call. Hopefully, she would know where Bryan was and why he couldn't reach him, or at least tell him an alternative way he could reach Bryan.

Jade, who had just gotten out of a cab with Candace and was headed inside the hotel where she had stayed with Harry just a few days ago, paused when her phone started ringing, and she reached into her handbag to take it out.

"Hey, Matt! Thought you were never going to call again," She greeted, as she let one of the Porters by the door take her duffel bag from her, and Candace, who was coming behind her, faltered in her steps when she heard Matt's name.

"Hey! I just saw the stuff about Bryan and Sonia online. Were you already aware of it the last time we met?" He asked, and Jade raised a brow.

"Of course. Didn't you?" She asked as she headed for the reception desk.

Matt sighed, "I didn't," he didn't need to explain why. Jade could tell he had been too busy worrying about Candace and her family to follow other unrelated news.

"I've been trying to reach Bryan unsuccessfully for the past twenty minutes. Do you have any idea where he is or how I can reach him? Sonia's line isn't connecting either," Matt said, surprising Jade, who had thought he was calling because of Candace.

"They are on their way to Sogal. They are flying with my parents, and mom prefers we don't leave our phones on while flying," Jade explained.

"Oh! That's fine then. Thanks for your help," Matt said, planning to finish the shoot early enough so he would stop by Bryan's place since he was in Sogal at the moment.

"Candace is here with me," Jade hurried to inform him when she sensed he was about to hang up.

Matt's heart skipped a beat at the mention of her name, but he ignored it. He reminded himself that she didn't want him, and no matter how much it hurt his heart and ego, he needed to move on.

"Cool. I've got to go now. I still have a couple of lines I need to memorize," Matt said and hung up without waiting for her to say anything else.

That was cold! Jade thought with a wince as she returned her phone to her handbag.

"Was that Matt?" Candace asked from behind her, but Jade didn't turn.

"Yes," she said as she stopped in front of the reception desk, and it seemed like the receptionist recognized her because immediately, she took out the key card to the suite and handed it to Jade.

"You recognize me?" Jade asked with a bright smile.

"You are the CEO's sister," the receptionist reminded her with a polite smile, wondering why she looked so surprised about being recognized when she had spent a couple of days sharing a suite with Harry.

"Oh!" Jade almost facepalmed.

"And Mr. Jonas instructed us to give you the key to his suite when you show up," she added.

When? Not if? Jade mused, "When did he give that instruction?" She asked curiously since she particularly remembered telling him she was returning to her apartment and didn't want to return to the hotel.

"I don't know about that, but the manager announced this morning that you would be coming in today," she explained, and Jade nodded.

"Thanks for your help," she said before walking away while wondering why Harry had been so sure that she would return to the hotel.

She had actually wanted to go home but had changed her mind just before getting off the plane. She had remembered that the cartel knew where she lived, and so she couldn't risk taking Candace home with her as she knew they might come for Candace. It was one thing to threaten her to drop the case, but they wouldn't hesitate to hurt Candace.

"What did Matt call to say?" Candace asked as casually as she could muster as they both stepped into the elevator that would take them to the suite.

A part of her was tempted to lie and tell Candace that he had asked her to say 'hello' to her, but she couldn't bring herself to do that since she didn't really know what had transpired between them. For all she knew, Matt cared about Candace a great deal and had been hurt by her.

"He couldn't reach Bryan, so he called to find out why," Jade said and watched the barely noticeable flicker of disappointment on Candace's face as she digested the information.

"Oh! I hope he's fine?" She asked, trying to stifle her disappointment at the thought that he hadn't called to check on her or find out if she was okay.

She had no right to feel disappointment when this was what she had wanted this whole time.

She should be glad that he had finally decided to give up. Perhaps Bryan talked to him? She couldn't blame him. She would give up too after being treated that way