Forcing Gravity (52 page)

I pulled away and stepped back, eyeing him
in
confusion.

“So Ethan and Henley went to your house tonight?” He nodded. “And that’s why you’re here?”

“Yes,” he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. I noticed he was wearing a suit.

“Why didn’t you trust me when I told you I didn’t kiss Ethan? Why did you need to hear it from him to believe the truth?” I asked, my stomach churning all of a sudden.

Jase took a deep breath. “Because Chloe did the same thing
to me
, and I have trust issues. Hearing Ethan tell me the same thing
you did
made me realize I was wrong, and I’d misjudged the situation. I don’t have any better explanation than that. But I’m sorry that I didn’t believe you, and I’ll never question your trust again – if you’ll have me back.”

“You want to get back together?” I asked, blinking rapidly at how fast everything was happening
, but my heart swelled at the idea of getting back the only guy I’d ever loved
.

Jase took a step toward me, his arms going around my waist as he pulled me close. “Yes, I want to get back together, but more than anything, I don’t want to hide anymore. I w
ant you to come with me tonight
and stand next to me, and I want to tell everyone that you’re my girlfriend, because there is nothing in the world I want more than you.
Nothing.”

Then he leaned down and kissed me, punctuating his statement with the most passionate kiss he’d ever laid on me
,
as I processed exactly what he was saying
.

A knock on the door a minute later pulled us apart. Henley entered and closed the door behind her.

“All made up?” she asked, eyeing us speculatively since we were no longer touching.

I looked back at Jase. He was watching me in anticipation, and I realized that outside the kiss, I hadn’t responded to his grand statement.

“You want me on the
red
carpet with you?” I asked tentatively, wondering if I’d heard him correctly.

Jase reached for my hand and laced our fingers together. “Yes.”

“But I thought you didn’t want to go public, that you didn’t want to drag me into your world.”

He sighed. “My world is crazy, and you know that, but what’s crazier, is me trying to protect you from it. You’re one of the strongest people I know, Logan. I know you can handle the media circus that follows me around – and that will follow you arou
nd once everyone knows about us –
but th
e question is, do you want
that
too
?”

I would go t
o the ends of the earth for that
man, there was no question there.

“Jase,” I said, stepping up to him so I could look directly into his shimmering green eyes.
“If you’re serious about this, if you want to go public, I’ll do it
– for you
. I don’t want to be in the spotlight any more than you do, but I love you, and I’m tired of hiding that. I want to hold your hand in public and kiss you and tell off anyone who tries to hit on you because they think you’re single.”

He grinned. “I’m not single, am I?”

I shook my head. “No, baby, you’re not.”

I slowly placed my hands on either side of his face and pulled it down to me, kissing him gently but with a fierceness that I couldn’t hold back.
Jase’s
lips moved in time with mine, urgently and hungrily melding us together
,
as my hands slid into his hair and pulled him against me.

“Ahem,” Henley said from behind me, and I whirled around, completely forgetting that she was in the room. “You don’t have much time left.”

“What?” I asked, looking at her in confusion.

“She’s right,” J
ase said, looking down at me. “We
have to be at the premiere in an hour.”

“Let’s get started,” Henley said with nothing but glee in her eyes. “Traffic will be a nightmare, so I have exactly thirty minutes to get you red carpet ready.”

“I’ll be right back,” Jase said, opening the door. “I’m going to
call
my driver
and tell him
it’ll be a few more minutes.”

“Wait, where’s Ethan?”
I asked Henley as soon as Jase was out the door.
I
realized Ethan
hadn’
t come back into the room
.

“He said to call him tomorrow,” she said stiffly, as she busied herself with digging out pots and tubes and jars of make-up.

A lump formed in my throat. Ethan had just left. He’d done his good deed to win my forgiveness, and then he’d left. Which could only mean one thing – he really did have feelings for me.

“Is he okay?” I asked Henley.

“He’s fine,” she assured me, but I knew she was stretching the truth. “You know Ethan. He’ll call Lizzie, spent the night having wild sex
,
and be back to normal in the morning.”

Of course he
would go to
Lizzie.
I was the one he called when things when to shit, but she was always his second phone call because she helped him forget everything for a while. But in the morning he would remember, and I would call him and we would talk, and hopefully, in time he would be okay.
Hopefully.

Before I could dwell any longer on what my future with Ethan might look like
, Henley descended upon me, forcing me to sit while she began her ritual of painting my face
. I knew she was using much more make-up than I’d ever worn, but I didn’t argue with her. My brain was on my best friend and what was truly going on with him. We’d never been in a sit
uation like this
before, so I wasn’t sure what to do.

But
then Jase stepped back into the room, and I
smiled at him. He was back in my life,
and he
still
loved me
, and we were okay
. It was everything I’d wish
ed for just an hour earlier, but
it still didn’t feel real.

By the time I slipped into my dress, slid my heels on and glanced in the mirror, Jase and I had exactly a minute before we needed to be downstairs.
He walked over to where I stood
appraising myself
in Henley’s full-length mirror
and wondering how ridiculous I looked.

“You look beautiful,” he said, kissing my temple. “I’m worried Melanie will think you’re trying to steal her spotlight.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Melanie Corning was
Jase’s
co-star in
The
Mulaneys
, and there was no way I was stealing the show from her. She was gorgeous, but Jase only seemed to have eyes for me, so it didn’t matter.

He smiled at me as he slipped his hand into mine. We said a quick goodbye to Henley and walked out the door. Halfway down the hall, we ran into Riley, and she did a double-take when she realized she recognized Jase.

“Hi Riley,” I said cheerfully, gripping
Jase’s
hand tightly, but he wasn’t letting go.

“Uh, hi Logan,” she said, suddenly anxious.

“Hi, I’m Jase,” Jase suddenly interjected. “I’m Logan’s boyfriend.”

“Uh, hi.
Nice – nice to meet you,” she stuttered. “Where are, um, where are you two headed tonight?”

I smiled. “
Jase
’s
movie
,
The
Mulaneys
,
is premiering
tonight, so we’re going to that,” I said as casually as possible. Inside I was a little hysterical.

Riley returned my smile. “
Oh, I want to see that movie. It looks really good.
Have a
fun tonight,
” she said, h
er confidence suddenly restored, but her eyes
still
held nine million questions.

“Thanks, we will,” Jase said
, squeezing my hand
.

“How did that feel?” I asked him as we walked down the stairs.

“What?” he asked, smiling down at
me.

“Calling
yourself
my boyfriend.”

“I loved it,” he said, grinning one of his rare full smiles.

“Me too,” I giggled.

Thankfully there were no ph
otographers lingering around the entrance to my dorm
, so we were able to slip into the limousine unnot
iced. Inside were
Jase’s
agent, his publicist
,
Gary,
Ellie
,
wearing a beautiful red dress and looking gorgeous
, and few other people who I assumed must be part of Ellie’s team
. I gave them
all
a
shy wave and followed Jase to two empty seats.
Gary just looked at me with pursed lips, no doubt remembering our last encounter. I felt suddenly bad for bullying him and knew I’d need to apologize as soon as I could.

Across the limo,
Ellie grinned at me, and I wondered what was going to happen now that I was walking with Jase. Would she walk alone? That didn’
t seem right
.

“Hi Logan!” she
said, coming to sit next to me
and leaning
her head close to mine
. “You look beautiful.”

“So do you,” I said, feeling
giddy about the impending night
,
as the limo started to drive away.

“
Guys
,”
Jase
said, addressing the collective group who
I realized where
staring at me unapologetically.
“This is Logan, my girlfriend.” He said it so proudly
that I couldn’t help but feel all mushy inside
. “She’s going to walk the carpet with me tonight.”

“What?
!
” his publicist
, Andrea,
almost shrieked. “
Jase
,
that
i
s not what we talked about.”

He held his hand up to her. “Andrea, I don’t care what we talked about,” he said authoritatively. “She’s walking with me. End of story.”

“What about Ellie?”
his agent, Erica, asked.

She must have realized that
Ellie
either
made us a party of three
or she would have to walk alone.

“I’m walking with someone else,” Ellie chimed in.

“Who?”
Andrea asked, her voice raising several octaves.
She was also Ellie’s publicist, so she was equally concerned about both of her clients.

“You
’ll
like him,” Ellie said, smiling at Jase conspiratorially.

“Ellie, do not play with me. Who is it?
Jase?
”

“We’re picking him up in a few minutes,”
Ellie
said, not giving anything away, and I found myself wondering who she was talking about.

Before I r
ealized it, we were pulling up to
the entrance of the Chateau
Marmont
. The limo stopped, and we all waited for a few minutes before Garrett emerged with his agent and his publicist behind him
, and I smiled widely, excited to see my friend on such a pressure packed night
.

“Oh, thank God,” Andrea said, relaxing when she realized Garrett Lewis was joining us.

“Are you walking with Garrett?” I whispered to Ellie, and she nodded as she watched Garrett approach the limo
looking dashing in a designer suit
, a small smile creeping up on her lips.

As he slid into the car next to her, he grinned at me and turned to Ellie.

“Hi, I’m Garrett Lewis,” he said, extending his hand to shake hers.

“Ah, my hot and popular last minute stand-in.
It’s nice to meet you Garrett,” she said, shaking his hand.
“Thank you for bailing me out.”

He grinned at her.
“It’s my pleasure.”

T
hey actually looked really cute together.

“
Was this
your
doing
?” I whispered to Jase
, and he
unceremoniously pulled me onto his lap, completely ignoring that there were other people in the limo with us
as he kissed me
.

I knew he wanted to get me alone as much as I wanted the same thing
, but I couldn’t forget that we had an audience
.