Rock Star Ex (10 page)

“What
about Drew?”
 
Eve asked absently.
 
She couldn’t seem to find the pod she wanted.

“Ha!
Drew’s way behind…not even a blip on the radar,” Shane told her.

“You
know,” Kate said innocently, “You’ll get even more hits if you respond to some
of the comments.”
 

Eve
exchanged a secret smile with her.
 
Getting
clients to learn how to handle their own social media was usually a struggle.
 
A little competition should shorten the
learning curve nicely.

“We
will?” Shane and Tommy asked her simultaneously.
 

Kate
nodded.

They
looked at Eve and she nodded somberly as well.

There
was a brief struggle for the
iPad
, which Tommy won.

Shane
sighed, “Fine, I’ll go use the one in my bunk.”
 
He stood to go.
 
“Hey, Devon, you
better get your super groupie picture up there soon.
 
You’re already way behind.”

“Yeah,
I’ll get on that right now,” Devon said as Shane passed by.

Eve turned
to find him standing right next to her.
 
Their eyes met.
 
This was the most
alone they had been since the kiss.
 
He
held out his closed fist to her.
 
Turning
his hand over, he slowly uncurled his fingers to reveal exactly what she’d been
looking for, a Dunkin’ Donuts Dark Roast coffee pod.
 
She reached out and took it carefully from
his hand.
 
“Thanks,” she whispered.
 
A slight flush warmed her cheeks.
 
“Where did you get it?”

“I
always keep one stashed for emergencies,” he said with a slight smile.

With
that, the constant tension she’d been feeling since starting the assignment, eased.
 
It was the familiar easiness they had shared before.
 
Strange, how it could just snap back into
place.
 
Well, at least that was
something.

Smiling
back, she put the pod in the machine.
 
That’s
when she noticed her phone was vibrating.
 
She pulled it from the pocket of the white, velour Juicy jacket she had
on.
 
“Hello?”

“Eve?
It’s Clayton.”

“Hey,
Clayton,” she glanced at Devon.
 
He had
turned to look in the refrigerator.

“I
just wanted to tell you that, so far, I’m really impressed with what you and
Kate have done.
 
The crew and I have been
browsing through everything.
 
Those lap
rating pictures are hilarious.”

Eve
shot a smile at Kate, who was listening.
 
“Thank you.”

“When
are you guys going to get one of Devon up?”

“We’re
going to take care of that tonight.
 
We
meant to get to it before leaving Vegas, but we ran out of time.”

“Yeah,
tours can be a little chaotic.
 
I’m
looking forward to seeing it.”

“I’ll
text you as soon as we put it up,” she said.

“Great.
 
I also wanted to ask you about something
else.”

“Sure,
what is it?”

“I’m
not going to mince words here.
 
I’m sure
you already know you are very…um…photogenic.
 
I wanted to see if you would be interested in being part of a music
video we’re putting together for
Can’t
Sleep
.
 
We already shot some of the
footage before we left––just candid stuff from rehearsals and so forth.
 
But I think it would be great to mix in shots
of ‘Super Groupie’ with it.
 
It’d definitely
give the fans more to talk about.
 
What
do you think?
 
I would pay you guys for
that separately, of course.”

She
was speechless for a moment and then felt very honored.
 
They normally used models and dancers for
roles in music videos.
 
A thrill sparked
inside her at the opportunity and the additional money.
 
Aside from that, it sounded like fun.
 

“Really?
Yes!
 
Thanks so much.
 
I would love to do it.
 
Let me put Kate on so you can talk about what
you want to capture.
 
She’s the video
expert.”
 
She handed the phone to Kate
then went back to retrieve her coffee cup.
 
That’s when she remembered, the
Can’t
Sleep
song was about a lost love.
 
It
was a ballad.
 
They had played it at last
night’s concert.
 
She frowned as she
stirred her coffee, thinking about what it would mean in terms of video
footage.

Several
hours later she regretted agreeing to the video.
 
After Kate got off the phone with Clayton,
she explained what he was looking for.
 
There were to be several intimate scenes between her and Devon.
 
They were flashback types of scenes where he
was supposed to be recalling certain memories about their lost love.
 
She was fine with an easiness between them
returning.
 
Anything more was an entirely
different matter, even if it was faked.
 
But it was too late to turn back now.

They
went straight to the mall when they arrived to get ‘costumes’ for the
clips.
 
Clayton had been very generous
with a clothing budget.
 
He wanted
footage with a couple of different looks.
 
They were supposed to get several outfits, one of which was to be
lingerie for a bedroom scene.

Her
steps dragged as they went from store to store, Eve feeling less than
enthusiastic.
 
It didn’t take very long
before Kate noticed.

“Are
you going to be okay doing this video?” she asked, looking concerned.

Eve
shrugged.
 
“As long as they know I’m no
model.
 
It should be fun.”

“Oh,
please.
 
Have another look in the
mirror.
 
You could definitely be a model,
but you know that’s not what I’m talking about.”

Eve
ran a hand through her hair.
 
“I know, I
know.
 
I’ve been trying not to think
about it.”

“You
could always back out, you know,” Kate said casually as she peered in the
windows of the stores they were passing.

“No
way!
 
This is an opportunity of a
lifetime.
 
Who knows what could happen if
I do it?”

Kate
nodded.
 
“Good.
 
I’m glad to see you fighting back a little,
at least.”
 
She led them into a lingerie
store.

She
looked at her friend closely.
 
“What do
you mean by that?”
 
Kate might look like
the girl next door but that was just an innocuous cover for her sharp
mind.
 

It
was Kate’s turn to shrug.
 
“Well, I mean
I’m not going to pry, but from your reaction before, I’m guessing this guy
broke your heart at some point.”

“Yes,
he did.”

“So,
I’m thinking that this video might be a good opportunity to make him pay,” she
said idly as she examined a very skimpy lace teddy.

That’s
when the light bulb went on in Eve’s head.
 
Kate was right.
 
Up until now,
she’d been trying to be polite, keep her distance.
 
Maybe it was time he saw what he was missing.
 
She wrapped an arm around her friend’s
shoulders and squeezed.
 
“You are a
genius!”

“I do
what I can,” Kate laughed.

“I
pity the man that marries you.
 
He’ll
definitely be happy, but he’ll never know what hit him.
 
All right, let’s shop.” She surveyed the sexy
displays in the store with a new enthusiasm.

Suddenly,
the shopping trip was a whole lot more fun.

****

Devon
squeezed his biceps, counting pull-up number twenty, as his chin reached over
the bar.
 
His tank top was already damp
with sweat and beads of it rolled down his temples.
 
After rehearsing a bit with the others, he’d
hit the hotel gym to get some exercise.
 
He’d been in the mood for a killer workout and had punished his muscles
with a full-body routine.

Damn,
but he wished he could get Eve alone for a little while … but there were people
constantly around.
 
He especially
despised the groupies now.
 
Whenever they
were present, Eve stayed even further away than usual.
 
There’d been one girl in particular, named
Giovanna, who had been getting pretty aggressive with him last night.
 
He’d had his hands full fending her off.
 
She’d kept trying to touch him, sliding her
hands under his shirt and into the waistband of his pants.
 
After he’d blown off her wheedling offers to
plug her phone number into his cell, she’d shoved a piece of paper into his
pocket with the number on it.

Last
night, he’d felt more than a little jealous of the roadies Eve had spent an
hour chatting with.
 
She’d looked happy
and relaxed and he’d wished he were the one she was smiling and laughing
with.
 
But there wasn’t much he could do
about it.
 
She was still mad at him and
he was doing his best to be patient, to make strategic moves with her.
 
It wasn’t like he could just throw her over
his shoulder and force her to listen.
 
It
was a tempting thought, but that would never work with Eve.
 
So instead he’d bided his time and entertained
his fans.
 
Maintaining the rocker image
was part of his job.
 
Besides, they’d
barely started the tour.
 
There would be
plenty more time to try to get her to come around.

He
smoothly pulled his chin up to the bar again.
 
He hadn’t realized how much of his feelings he’d stuffed away all these
years.
  
So much of his time had been
spent focusing on his craft and trying to survive and make something of
himself.
 
It had been easy to convince
himself that he’d done the right thing, especially now.
 
But then, seeing Eve again, being in her
presence, everything he’d stuffed down had sprung out.
 
What they had had been special, and regret
washed over him at the time that was now lost to them forever.

Releasing
the bar, Devon dropped to the ground and headed for the locker room.
 
He picked up a towel from the side table as
he went, to wipe himself down.
 
They had
a free night tonight, which meant less people around.
 
There had to be a way to get her alone.
 
The first step would be to separate her from
her friend Kate.
 
He undressed, leaving
his sweaty clothes in a locker, and headed for the showers.
 

He
wondered how long Kate and Eve known each other.
  
It wasn’t anyone he’d met when he was going
out with her.
 
He turned the water on and
let it stream over his head and down his body.
 
Had Eve told Kate about him?
 
She
must have.
 
Women shared everything.
 
Actually, the thought of her telling someone
about him perked him up.
 
If she was
talking about him, then that meant he’d been on her mind, which meant she still
had feelings.

He mulled
that over, rubbing his face with his hands, and wiped water from his eyes.
 
Through the blur he was startled to see the edge
of the shower curtain move to the side and a figure slip through.

“Hey!
Can’t you see I’m using this one…” he started to say, but his train of thought
stopped as the figure registered as female, and blonde.
 
She smiled at him and then opened her towel and
let it drop to her feet exposing her naked body.

“Hi, Devon.”
 
A slow, feline smile spread across her face and
she looked him over.
 
“I missed
you.”
 

He
covered his privates with a hand, suddenly feeling violate.
 
It was Giovanna, the aggressive groupie from
last night.
 
Before he could overcome his
shock, she ran her hands up his chest and then tried to wrap them around his
neck and press herself against him, but he regained his senses in time to back
away.