Celeb Crush (29 page)

I also exchange texts with Nate, but stop when he starts sending me suggestive picture of things being inserted into other things.  I never should have told him that I was coming here.  He jumped to his own conclusions.

Oh, I did buy some lingerie at a ridiculously priced store, though I don’t know if I’ll wear it tonight.  Right now I have on a tight black shirt and a pair of nice-fitting jeans.  Nothing special on underneath.  Despite the type of girls he’s been with, I know Luke actually prefers a more natural down-to-earth girl. 

I decide to just wait for him in his hotel room.  If I’m not feeling it, we’ll just hang out.  No pressure, right?

Right.

I know something is wrong the minute I let myself into the spacious suite.  Maybe my super senses smell the perfume lingering in the air, or hear the sounds of the shower running without consciously realizing it.  I don’t know.

Time slows, and the oxygen seems to have been sucked out of the atmosphere.  The slightly ajar bedroom door seems a million miles away.  A cold feeling of dread mixed with a dash of déjà vu washes over me as my feet move me inexorably forward.

The closer I get to that open door, the more light headed I feel.  Like a virgin in a horror movie, I slowly push it open and peer inside.

I take in the details before me in a series of photographs that will be burned into my mind forever.  The open bathroom door with the steam pouring out from the shower.  The clothes and shoes tossed carelessly on the floor.  The jeans, gray shirt, and black well-worn Vans belong to Luke—the red dress, silk lingerie, and stilettos do not.

And the coup de grace?  Kat Vandevere, naked and sprawled on the bed, casually playing on her phone.  I stand there, frozen to the spot, unable to move or blink.  Barely able to comprehend what I’m seeing.

I don’t make a sound, but she finally glances up.  She jumps and screams, grabbing a pillow to cover herself.  Her pale blue eyes are full of guilt and furtiveness.

“Get out of here, Annie!” she hisses, glancing nervously at the open bathroom door.  “Go!”

Go?  I don’t think I can even blink.  Outwardly, I am calm, though inside my heart is shrieking inside of my chest.  I’m shattered.  Thoughts of violence don’t even cross my mind.  I want to throw up.  I refuse to process the situation in front of me, to arrive at the obvious conclusion.

Kat is still talking, speaking in hushed tones.  I have no idea what she’s saying; it sounds like Italian. The shower turns off, and I can only focus on the open doorway of the bathroom.  Any second, he will come out, and break me beyond repair.

Maybe it’s not him.

Despite everything, there exists a tiny thread of hope that this is all a huge misunderstanding.  Maybe it’s
not
Luke in there.  It’s one of his friends whom he let borrow his room…and his clothes.

I have to see.  I have to know.

When he comes out of the bathroom in a towel wrapped loosely around his hips, I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.  I trip backwards, clutching onto the door jamb for support.

Luke’s gaze lands on me and his eyes widen.  “Andi?”  Then he turns to his bed and Kat.  “What the hell—?”

A jolt of adrenaline suddenly crashes into my system.  Fight or flight.  My body chooses to run before my mind can catch up.

“No—wait!”  Luke shouts from behind me.

I can be incredibly fast and agile when I want to be.  I feel Luke’s fingers brush against my shoulder just before I slip out the front door.

He runs out into the hallway after me, just in a towel.  He yells my name as he starts to gain on me.  I want to scream at him to leave me alone, but I don’t waste my breath.  I make it to the stairs, knowing he won’t pursue me down.

I’m right.  His voice echoes down the stairwell, pleading for me to come back.  I don’t give a shit.  I keep running, and I don’t stop until I hit the parking garage floor my car is parked on.  I get in my car and just sit there, gasping like a fish out of water.

Resting my head against the steering wheel, I take a minute to pull myself together before I start the car.  I can’t get the key in the ignition since my hand is shaking too badly.  I scream out loud in frustration.

The buzzing of my phone makes me jump and swear.  I don’t bother to look at it.  I finally manage to jab the key in the ignition.  The engine roars to life, and I screech out of the stall, operating by rote.

I drive aimlessly.  Why the fuck is this happening to me again?  Only it’s so much worse this time because it’s Luke, and I—

What?  I love him?  I laugh out loud.  Yeah, right.  See, this is what happens when you let someone in.  When you think you’re special and different from all the other girls that came before you.  I think about all the things I’ve said to Luke and done with him while under the illusion that he cared about me as much as I cared about him.  I cringe at my stupidity. 

He was with
her
.  While I was waxing and grooming, and planning our night together, he was fucking his “Soul mate.”  While I was worrying about what he’d think of my body, he was enjoying her perfect one.  How many times have they been together?  Was he even drunk the first time he was with her like he claimed?  He sure didn’t look drunk this time.  Were there other girls?  Of course there were.

I don’t know how long it takes for shock to morph into something else—a cold black rage.  It brings a tremulous smile to my face.  This is an emotion I’m comfortable with.  It’s much more productive. I keep picturing the stunned look on Luke’s face when he saw me standing there.  I can feel the hopeful girlish parts of me wither and die off, and something dark and acidic unfurls and grows bigger and stronger inside of me until I’m choking on it.  I’m crazed with violent thoughts.  I want to both scream and laugh wildly as my evil mind replays the scene in the hotel room over and over again.

Fuck him. 
Fuck
him!  Fuck all of them.  He thinks I’m going to crawl under a rock and cry my eyes out over him?  Hell, no.  My hands claw the steering wheel in a death grip as I sneer viciously to myself.  I planned on having sex tonight, and I will.  Maybe with more than one guy—at the same fucking time.  I heard somewhere that threesomes can be fun.  My stone cold heart starts to beat again, somewhere outside of my chest.  I can hear it all around me, and I swear it makes the air around me pulsate. 

I find a strip of bars, and park in the dark lot across the street.  Before I get out, I make sure I have the essentials:  cards, keys, pepper spray, brass knuckles (they fold up and fit into my back pocket), and some kiss ass red lipstick.  I leave my annoying phone in the car; it hasn’t stopped buzzing since I left Luke’s cheating ass back at the hotel.  I lock up, and cross toward the neon-lit sidewalk.

I have no idea where I am, but it doesn’t matter; I choose a place at random.  I’m on a mission.  I’m in that car with no brakes again, only this time I’m flooring the gas.

But instead of feeling exhilarated, I am completely numb.

Chapter 24

“Come on, Jenny.  Just one drink won’t kill you.”

Mike—or was his name Mark—sticks a smudged glass of a pale amber liquid in my face.  I slap it away, hard enough that the drink splashes out of the glass and splatters onto the already filthy floor. 

“Damn!” he swears, transferring the drink to his other hand while shaking the drops off the wet one.

“Just take the shot,” I snap at him.

I’ve been playing pool with Mike/Mark, Cogs, and Javi for the last hour and a half.  I spotted the marines at the back of the bar, and I made my move.  I don’t know anything about them other than the fact that they’re on leave from who cares where.    They don’t care about me—I’m just an easy target.  I half-heartedly flirt with all three of them, and they not-so-subtly compete with each other for my attention.

I’m leaning toward leaving with Javi, mostly by the process of elimination.  If Mike/Mark tries to shove another drink in my face, I’m going to ram it—glass and all—down his throat.  Cogs is obnoxious and handsy.  Javi is at least going through the motions of being a gentleman, though that hard glint in his dark eyes rivals mine.  I guess I’d have sex with him.  But then I’d pepper spray him after.  He might like it.  He seems to enjoy my foul mouth and temper.

Being with these guys makes me want to throw up, but I continue to keep a smile on my face.  I think they’re a little scared of me—but intrigued.  “You look like you bite,” Cogs jokes after I introduce myself to them.  I just smile wider and focus on the gaping hole where my heart used to be.

I’m getting thirsty.  It’s hot and sticky in this dump, and my head is pounding a crazy tribal beat inside of my fragile skull.  God, I wish I could just go home.  But every time I think about heading toward the exit, that scene in Luke’s hotel room flashes into my head.  I flirt that much harder with the marines. 

I know I’m sending them crazy mixed signals, but they don’t seem to mind as long as I bend over the pool table a lot.  It frustrates them that I won’t drink with them, though.  I don’t care—none of them can even get my fake name right.  I go to the bar and get my own sodas.  It would be so much easier to go through with this drunk off my ass, but I want revenge—not to wake up naked and tied up in a warehouse.

Javi is standing behind me, his hands on my back with the excuse of showing me the correct stance for sinking my shot, when Luke walks in.

I spot him right away.  Our eyes meet across that crowded bar, and the world comes to a stop.  It takes all my strength to push back the pain and longing swelling up like a tidal wave at his presence.  All my muscles clench as I fight to maintain a blank expression.

Luke’s gaze moves to Javi, and his face becomes infused with rage.  It takes a few angry strides for him to reach us.  Though the clientele here is older and on the seedy side, several of them seem to recognize Luke.  People glance at him as he moves past them, and do drunken double takes.  He doesn’t seem to notice, all his attention focused on me.

He stops right in front of me, too close for comfort.  “We’re leaving, Andi.  Now,” he growls with a smoldering glare at Javi.

“Hey—you’re that guy!” Cogs shouts, and points at Luke, oblivious of the tension.  “Sam, right?”

“You’re Lucas Greyson,” Mike/Mark says in a hushed tone.  He looks as star struck as a twelve year old fangirl.

I can feel Javi tensing behind me, dropping his hands from my back.  He doesn’t say anything.  Apparently, he’s not a fan.  His appeal rises slightly in my books.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I scoff, stepping back against my new friend.

Luke leans in close to me, his expression a mask of barely controlled fury.  “You have three seconds before I pick your ass up and carry you out,” he growls.

“Fuck you.  I said I’m not going anywhere.”

“Do we have a problem here?” Javi intervenes.  I glance up at him, and he has a smirky little smile on his face as he tries to stare Luke down.  He wants to fight, I can tell.

“Stay out of this, man,” Luke warns, barely sparing him a glance.  “Let’s go, Andi.”

“No,” I enunciate clearly, and I’m happy that my voice is fairly steady despite the desperate hammering in my chest.

An almost euphoric anger fills me, making me feel lightheaded and like I’m in a dream.  I can see that we’re attracting lots of attention now.  God, I hate rubberneckers, though I would definitely be gawking, too.

“Don’t do this.”

Luke’s voice turns pleading as he tries to get me to look at him again.  His face is a mix of misery and frustration—and hurt.  He reaches for me again, but I jerk away from him.  If he touches me, I’ll break.

“Go back to Kat,” I snap scornfully.  “I have nothing to say to you.”

A heavy hand lands on my shoulder.  Javi.  “You heard the lady, asshole.  Fuck off.”

“Back the fuck off,” Luke spits out.  His gold green eyes look practically radioactive as he stares Javi down.  “And get your fucking hands off of her.”

“Seems like she likes my touch,” Javi replies smugly.  “It’s you she has a problem with.”

At this point, Mike/Mark and Cogs have finally begun to comprehend that Luke isn’t here to shake hands and sign autographs.  They crowd around us, backing their friend up, puffing out their chests, and looking pretty damn menacing.

Luke throws me a hot possessive look before he turns his attention back to the guys.  “Move out of the way, Andi,” he orders me, keeping his tone low and even.

I snort unattractively.  What right does he have to look at me like that when he’s the one who betrayed me?! 

I place both hands on Luke’s chest, and push.  I feel his muscles tense underneath my palms, and at first he doesn’t budge.  Then he allows me to shove him back a few steps.  I grab his jaw and yank him down for a kiss that’s both vicious and passionate.  Just as abruptly, I push him away.  I turn to my three marines.

“I’ll be waiting outside,” I say, looking each one of them in the eye.  “Whoever kicks Mr. Hollywood’s ass can join me afterwards for some hot lesbian sex in my car.”

Their eyes widen, both in confusion and lust.  I don’t know what I mean by lesbian sex.  I was trying to think of something that guys would find both dirty and intriguing, but my sexual imagination is not that good and somewhat limited.