by V. F. Mason
What the fuck was he doing here?
“We don’t, but I thought I’d pay you a visit anyway. I heard your band came over yesterday.”
“Someone told you, huh?” she asked with a sigh, and Drake smiled at her softly. I didn’t like that. What the hell did he need to give such smiles to my girl for?
Get a grip, man, you’re acting crazy. He is her psychologist, for fuck’s sake.
“A little bird.” After a minute, she nodded and was about to say something when Jeremy came in. He ran his hand through his hair, looked at us, and stilled. I felt Bella tense in my arms, and she slightly moved so I had no other choice but to let her go so she could stand and straighten up her clothes. She took a deep breath, tried to smile, and made a hesitant move toward him, but stopped when she saw his wary expression.
“Hey,” she said quietly, and after a second, with a muttered curse, Jer came to her and hugged her fiercely. And because I knew there was nothing between them, I didn’t get jealous.
Not that I appreciated him touching her, but I would let it slide—this one time.
“It’s good to have you back, girl.” He leaned back, letting his gaze roam over her, and smiled gently.
“Nothing is the same without you.”
“Yeah, that’s hard to believe,” she admitted, and then removed the lock of hair from her face to behind her ear. “Where are the girls?” That must have been hard to ask.
“They’re out shopping. They should be back any minute.” The way he said it, and I knew my friend well, it was obvious the timing wasn’t coincidental.
And who the hell shopped in Moonlight Rose?
“Oh, okay.” She cleared her throat and let go of his arms, putting her hands around herself, trying to act breezy when she was probably anything but. “So, we have a tour coming up, huh?” Jeremy gave her a look but then shook his head and sat down on the nearest chair to him.
“Yes, the one that we talked about before—” He cleared his throat. “Before our last charity concert in New York.” She nodded her head, but I noticed she entwined her hands and tugged on them hard, the only evidence of the tension inside her.
“I remember.”
“Good.” He had some papers in his hands. “Do you want to go over the schedule and we can discuss it?”
“Yeah, sure.” She sat down on the couch and looked at me and Drake. “I’m sorry, guys, this is probably boring for you. Maybe you would want to leave us here until we’re done?”
Like hell I was leaving her alone with Jeremy, or anyone for that matter, after last night.
“I’m good.” I joined her on the couch and didn’t bother to sit far from her. I didn’t hug her or take her hand, but I was close enough for her to know I would always be there.
“Me too. I need to know what pressure will be put on you.” I had no idea when Drake had time to do it, but he was holding a glass of juice in his hand.
We heard the front door open and looked toward its direction to see the three girls entering, carrying several shopping bags each. They froze once they spotted us and it gave me the opportunity to look at them closely for the first time.
All this time, and actually forever, I didn’t see anyone but my girl. She was the most beautiful one of them all. Sam was wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts that displayed her long, tanned legs, and it didn’t escape my notice how Jeremy looked at them. And then fuck me, but I noticed how the Jane girl, who was wearing ripped jeans with a black top and sneakers—that emphasized how thin she was and that was about it—had a slight twitch of pain in her eyes, when she saw how her manager was looking at her friend.
Shit, was there some kind of love triangle going on here?
The redhead, who I assumed was Ariel, wore a tight red spring dress and her hair was pinned up. I knew she was considered the gorgeous one by the press.
For me, the most gorgeous one was sitting next to me right now.
Suddenly, Jane snapped her eyes to Drake, who froze with his glass halfway to his mouth. The tension could be felt in the air.
“What are you doing here?” she screamed. All traces of staying calm had clearly left her. Before he could say anything, Bella spoke up.
“He’s my psychologist. I need him on the tour.” Jane moved her gaze to Bella and it softened, her facial expression completely changed, and she smiled.
“Hey, babe. Nice to have you back.” She came closer and leaned down to give my girl a hug, but Bella was too stunned to return it. Finally she wrapped her hands tightly around her friend and held her for several seconds. Jane straightened up and narrowed her eyes on Drake once again.
“I don’t want you here.”
“Too bad, beautiful, because I’m staying,” he said tenderly, almost softly.
Beautiful?
“You two know each other?” Jeremy finally asked. For some reason, he didn’t look pleased with this shit either.
“Yeah,” they both said at the same time, and while Jane tightened her jaw, Drake gave her an amused stare.
“Care to elaborate?” Ariel raised her brows and folded her arms, probably asking the question everyone wanted to know the answer to.
It didn’t skip my attention that whatever the fuck Jane’s and Drake’s history was, it took the attention off the elephant in the room, so to speak.
“There isn’t much to tell, really.” She said that too quickly, but her voice was harsh.
“True,” Drake agreed, and took a sip of his drink. Then he looked at me and smiled, but there was no humor in it. “Nate, brother of mine, I would like for you to meet my wife.”
Fuck.
What just happened?
“Nick, come on.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“I said no.”
“What’s bad about her having a little fun with us?” That was really a novelty for me. I mean, I knew my brother loved his girl like crazy, but I never expected him to disallow her from doing stuff, like going on a road trip with me.
“It’s just a road trip. Girls’ weekend out.” He gave me a hard stare and I relented. “Okay, it is a big deal, but still. What’s bad about it?”
“Because it’s in fucking Las Vegas.”
“So?”
“So I don’t want my future wife to go with you. The four of you go crazy and party hard. I don’t want my girl anywhere near all that.” Wait a minute here.
“You worry about Megan, but you don’t worry about my safety? I’m hurt.” I put my hand on my chest and made a dramatic gesture, and he just rolled his eyes.
“I don’t have to worry about you because you’re already crazy. I know you can handle it. She’s not used to this shit. For fuck’s sake, Bella, I don’t even go to clubs with her.”
Well, that was true, but maybe Megan needed to live a little and know what it was all about. She worked so hard with those homeless kids, and took care of Nicky for me, not to mention what her parents did for us all those years back.
I felt like I owed her one, but she kept refusing any kind of help. So when the opportunity for some free time in Vegas came up, I voted to have her with us. She was a sweetheart, and was loved by the gang, so I had no problem convincing them.
I knew Megan wanted to go too, but she was too shy to argue with Nick, especially when he put all that caveman persona into the action. Probably made her so hot she forgot anything else.
Gross, really, to think about my brother in that way. The shudder went through me and I decided to try another tactic.
“You know how hard she works, and you know we’ll have bodyguards along with us at all times. Like Jeremy would let us go if it was otherwise.”
I loved the guy, I really did, and was grateful for what he’d done for us, but he was a control freak, and sometimes it was a little too much. I still had no idea how he agreed to this trip, but I knew Sam had something to do with it. She always managed to make him listen to her.
Another thing I didn’t want to think about.
Jeez, there was a lot of stuff I needed to keep out of my head.
Crazy life.
“I know you girls well. You would find a way to do something crazy right under their noses.” Okay, now he was starting to piss me off. I put my hands on his desk and made a frustrated noise.
“Do you take bribes?” I was supposed to use it for desperate times, and it seemed to me like now was the time.
“No, not when it comes to the woman I love.” If my brother was any other guy, I would have melted at his answer.
“I have tickets for a football game, bench seats. VIP.” If there was one thing my brother loved more than his girls, it was football. He quit the professional side of it after his injury, but still loved the sport. He froze in his seat and leaned back. His eyes narrowed, and the face of an attorney was presented to me. I smiled smugly.
Now the game was on.
“You’re bluffing.”
“Nope. Got them. Was dating a quarterback, remember?” I decided it was safe to not mention the team or anything. And the word dating was a really big stretch, considering we had about three dates and two nights of sex. He wasn’t that great, so I saw no point in sticking around.
“And you just happened to have two tickets?”
“I never said I have two tickets. I have four. They’re all yours if you let her come with us for the whole weekend, and no phones calls.”
I knew he wanted to take me up on the offer, but his protective instinct over his girl wouldn’t let him agree to this.
“Nicky, I promise. She won’t get in trouble. She wouldn’t be left alone, and she would only have a little bit of fun. I will protect what’s yours. You can trust me.” All games were off now and his eyes softened as he smiled.
“Sneaky. Always know how to get to me. Okay, she can go.” I squealed, but he raised his hands. “I want all four tickets and a phone call every day from her to know you guys didn’t hook her up with some stripper.” I laughed and hugged him, because the idea that someone would ever want anyone else when they had Nick was laughable.
He was simply one of a kind.
Annabella
Well, I expected a lot of things from our “official meeting” after shit went down.
The animosity, the distance, and the hard stares. I mean, it hurt me to know they preferred to go shopping to avoid this awkward state we were in, but I could understand it; at least I tried.
I violated their trust, and their pain needed time to heal as well, even though inside I was slightly angry at them for turning their backs on me so quickly.
What I didn’t expect was a hug from Jane, and the fact she was married, least of all to my psychologist.
At fucking all.
“Excuse me, but what?” Ariel asked first, her mouth gaping open. If the situation wasn’t so serious, I would have laughed. The expression didn’t really do any justice to her beauty.
“What do you fucking mean wife?” Jeremy asked calmly, too calmly for my liking. Usually it was the calm before the storm.
“Just as I said. We’re married. Actually, a couple of days ago was our anniversary. Two years, but who’s counting, right babe?” He gave her a mocking smile and, for the first time since I had known him, I saw emotions on his face. There was no mask of indifference now.
“Vegas trip?” I finally spoke, and all eyes turned to me. Jane just nodded. I remembered we had so much fun there, but at some point she disappeared along the way and showed up the next day, looking all kind of weird. We asked her what was wrong, but she never answered, and quite honestly, I thought she had a thing for Jeremy, who was oblivious to her. Wasn’t he the guy she sang that song to?
“How were you able to keep it a secret for so long?” Sam’s raspy words made me jump a little. I still wasn’t over her words in my head. Our eyes met for a brief second and I thought for a moment I saw regret, but it was quickly replaced with indifference.
Okaaay then.
“We didn’t try much to make it public.” Drake sounded bitter, and I wondered what the real story was behind this. Maybe he had more reasons to help me than I initially thought.
“There is nothing to make public. I asked for a divorce.” Jane was in the whole defense mode and I couldn’t really wrap my head around it. She was the one who went on and on about being responsible and shit, and here she was married to someone we didn’t know existed?
“Which, if I remember correctly, I refused to give you without seeing me first and you were against that.”
“Yeah, like—” Jane wasn’t able to finish because she was stopped by Jeremy’s roar, and we all jumped from it.
“Are you fucking kidding me? First, we have to deal with all this shit with Bella. . . .” He pointed a finger at me and I felt Nate tense. I was sure he was ready to say something, but I stopped him with my hand on his thigh. There was no danger here for me. “Then you lose your shit and have a threesome scandal. . . .” Now he was pointing at Ariel, and she shifted guiltily. I felt my jaw drop. She sure loved sex, but I never knew she was into company. There was a slight pause after those words and she rolled her eyes and looked offended.
“I didn’t have a threesome, but thanks for judging people.” She moved to the couch and sat down heavily on my other side. She turned her head to me and gave me a weak smile. “Hey, girl. Nice to see you.” She gave me a kiss on my cheek, and I squeezed her hand. She wasn’t exactly breezy about all this shit, but I knew her well enough that the time for questions would have to be postponed for later.
Jeremy just shook his head and continued, and now his attention was on Sam. “Then you go and insult Diego Rodrigues, who, may I remind you all, is the CEO of DiRod Corporation and they do not appreciate being insulted, and fuck if I know what problem you have with him.” Well, shit, now I felt Ariel tense beside me as she tried to act as if it was no biggie, but hell. Diego? I was sure, since Sam attacked him, it must be the same Diego that Ariel loved and he left her high and dry. Unaware that his words had brought havoc to our gang, Jeremy finally finished. “And now you, of all people, who I thought didn’t get involved in all this shit, are married? You got fucking married in Las Vegas two years ago and didn’t even bother to inform me?” Shit, but his voice wasn’t really pleasant when he was screaming.
Suddenly, Drake moved fast, standing in front of Jane and giving Jer a lethal look.
“Don’t fucking raise your voice when you talk to her.”
“Why? Because all of a sudden you think you’re her husband?”
“I don’t think. I know. Back the fuck off.” They stood there for a moment and finally Jer backed off and heaved a frustrated sigh.
I just gaped at it all, because I never expected my calm psychologist to go all protective and possessive on someone’s ass.
“I’m sorry for losing my shit like that, girls, but understand me, too. I have to deal with all this and the media, and I can’t help but feel like all of you have more secrets. Anything else I should know about? Secret babies? Husbands? Heck, maybe wives?”
His question was taken with silence. Well, I was glad there were no secret babies. That shit would have been hard.
“It’s okay,” Sam said and moved closer to him, and shocked me out of my fucking mind when she put her hand on his arm and tried to smile. “We aren’t exactly the easiest group to deal with.” Was there affection in her usually cold blue eyes?
What the hell happened to her in the past year when I was away? What the hell did I miss?
“Well, Jane, that would explain why you always refused to get laid. Though, girl, you should have told us you lost your V card,” Ariel pouted.
“This is shit I don’t want to know,” Nate murmured, and it earned him a chuckle from Jer, who looked at him, finally some amusement back in his gaze.
“Welcome to my fucking club, man. When you’re around girls 24/7 you hear a lot of shit you don’t want to know about.”
“I can’t believe you guys!” Jane screamed and was about to leave when D
rake grabbed her hand, giving her no other choice but to stay put.
“No need to be shy, beautiful. I haven’t gotten laid either. In fact, why don’t we rectify the situation now?” With those words, before she could react, he leaned down and propped her on his shoulder and left the room. We all blinked at that, because let me tell you, I had never expected to see shit like that involving Jane.
“Well, who is going to have a sexy time now, huh?” Sam mused, and I couldn’t help it, I laughed so hard, holding my stomach because really! To think I thought she was waiting for the special one to give up her virginity. The room grew silent and I stopped and looked around, realizing what had happened.
They hadn’t seen me laugh in such a long time.
Nate leaned down to me, bringing my face to his, and gave me a slow peck on the lips. Everyone was staring at us.
“Baby, everything will work out.”
For the first time since I came here, actually for the first time since I started using drugs, I believed him.
Drake
She was mine. Every inch of her body was mine.
Since the moment I claimed her virginity two years ago, she belonged to me.
She denied it.
She thought she needed someone else.
She thought she loved someone else.
She didn’t know it yet, didn’t see it yet, but the only one she needed was me.
Because no one would love her as much as I do.
She was mine.
She just needed time to see it and accept it.
“Hey, girls.” We looked back at Jane, who was sitting behind us in the bus. She had an iPod on her lap.
“Yeah?” Ariel asked while frantically deleting pictures on her laptop that were blurry or out of focus. And before Jane could continue, Ariel complained. “Sam, you seriously suck at taking pictures.”
“I do not!”
“Yeah, you do. Everything you took was shit.”
“The pictures you took aren’t exactly the best either.”
“Whatever. You still suck.”
Jane interrupted. “When and how did you guys lose your virginity?” I choked on my drink. Ariel and Sam stopped their usual bickering and Megan became all red.
