Romance: Gibson's Legacy ( New Adult Contemporary Erotic Romance) (Last Score Book 1) (38 page)

Sitting in silence on the way back to my hotel, I fought back tears and thought that was it. My fantasy day with Gibson was over and I was desperate to be in the privacy of my room, so that I could have my breakdown.

Johnny pulled up in front of the entrance and got out to open the door, but I had already opened the other side and was making my way out in the stupid bathrobe and my bare feet. At that point, I didn’t care what I looked like and I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of becoming a mess and him and Gibson possibly having a discussion about me later.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough and Johnny grabbed me by my arm, almost pulling me off my feet. “Sorry honey, I always get the rough end of the stick with this stuff. I’m sure if he said he’ll call you, he will.”

Feeling a sob trapped at the back of my throat, I turned on my heel, fled through the hotel foyer and into the elevator. Once I was in there I realized I had no key to open my door, so I headed to Ruby’s room.

My luck had run out and she wasn’t in there so I found myself at Gavin’s door, but by that time everything had become too much for me, and I was distressed and sobbing. Gavin opened the door and as soon as he saw me, his arms engulfed me and he pulled me inside his room and into his chest.

Once again all the history I’d been fighting against came rushing back, making me feel like a victim and making me feel a combination of easy, angry, stupid, weak and cheap.

What I’d done with Gibson was amazing, and he’d shown me more courtesy than he had with the other girls I’d seen him with. The fact remained that he’d set out to have a girl, ‘bagged me,’ and discarded me.

Gavin placed me on his bed and went to get me a glass of water. When he came back his jaw ticked with anger and he looked agitated. Showing a lot of consideration for my history, Gavin was gentle in his probing about what had happened to me.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, Chloe. Just tell me one thing. Did he hurt you?” He had, but not in the way that Gavin was thinking. Gibson had been considerate and attentive all day, but the way he reacted as soon as we’d had sex had made me feel he had used me, like he had no further use for me.

“You’re staying here tonight, Chloe. I can’t let you go back to your room in this state. You are staying here, I don’t want you to be alone.”

I nodded in agreement because I had no choice. I had only my tankini and the bathrobe from the yacht. My phone was in my bag that I took to the beach and left on the sand bar. I was so stupid why didn’t I think about keeping myself safe around Gibson? I lost all ability to protect myself, and really didn’t want to be alone after today. Instinctively, I knew that Gavin was only telling me I was staying for him to look after me.

Gavin asked me to call the concierge and tell them that I left my key and that Gavin was going to collect it from them to bring me some things from my room. When Gavin left the room I was feeling so exhausted that I stripped everything and crawled into his bed. I knew it was stupid to do, but I needed to get out of the swimsuit. Besides, I was such a teary mess and feeling so low, that I didn’t really care what happened to me by point.

My mind was blocking everything that had gone on from the point where Gibson took me on to Toby’s boat. I knew it was protecting me from further distress because my brain wouldn’t let me think about what had happened during the day. Each time I even tried to recall something I had a tense knot in my stomach and head and heart hurt.

I never heard Gavin coming back, but when I woke it was morning and he was lying next to me, staring at my face. “Sorry, I didn’t know what to do for the best, Chloe.” Initially, my brow creased, confused at what he meant, but then realized that the comforter was only covering my legs.

Alarmed, I clutched at a sheet and pulled it over me to protect my modesty, not that there was anything left to the imagination by the time I was awake.

Rolling over and standing up off the bed, Gavin ran his hand through his hair and sighed heavily before he sat with his back to me on the bed. Dressed in his jeans but naked from the waist up. I’d had mixed feelings about him lying beside me during the night.

It was his bed, but he had been lying facing me while I slept naked. There was a lot wrong with that picture. I’d taken him with me to see a guy who was a mega rock star, who had orchestrated meeting me and then took me on a boat to have sex, dropped me off and I was lying naked in the bed of the guy I’d brought with me. What made it ten times worse was that he knew I was asleep but still lay beside me while I was exposed.

“Jeez, Chloe… I’m sorry, I wasn’t deliberately looking at you. When I came back last night, you were sound asleep. My first thought was to go and sleep in your bed. Then I figured that Ruby may come and get the wrong idea if she found me there, so I stayed here and tried to sleep on the chair. I was so uncomfortable that when I woke my back was in a spasm, so I just took my shirt off and lay on the bed. Chloe, I swear I never touched you and with what you told me, I was careful not to do anything.

“When I woke, which was about a minute before you, I was still trying to figure my shit out about how to get off the bed without waking you. If I’d covered you, I was worried you’d think the opposite and that I was trying to take it off.”

Actually, he was right. Although I wasn’t happy about him seeing me naked, he hadn’t asked for any of what had gone on. He was just a friend giving me somewhere to sleep for the night. Gavin nodded his head and his eyes flicked over to the second chair that was in the hotel room by the small coffee table.

There was my toiletry bag, some lingerie, flip flops, jeans, shorts, and my favorite blue and cream t-shirt. Gavin had even coordinated my underwear with my outfit. Just as I was about to get out of the bed, there was a knock at the door. Gavin looked at me and innocently went to answer the door, while I repositioned the sheet.

I was stunned when I heard Gibson’s voice asking if Gavin knew where he could find me. In the mirror I could see Gavin’s back with the door open slightly, but Gibson wasn’t visible to me.

“Sorry dude, no, I thought she was with you.” Gavin was covering and I wasn’t sure whether I wanted that or not, but after seeing how I was the previous night, I guess he thought he was protecting me.

“Can I come for in a minute?” My heart, which had been pounding in my chest that he was there at all, stopped when I heard him ask that, but Gibson didn’t wait for an answer and pushed his way in before Gavin had the chance to object or react.

Two strides past the mirror, and I was visible but I think he had caught sight of my reflection before he came face to face with me.

“You gotta be fucking kidding me, darlin,’” Gibson’s face was scowling when he glanced at Gavin and his thunderous look quickly turned nasty. Gritting his teeth, his mouth twisted with one lip curled up, and I could see he was seething about the scenario he thought he was facing.

Before either Gavin or I could speak, Gibson spoke in a low threatening tone. “My security guy made me feel like shit because he said I’d hurt her last night. Guess you were there to comfort her, did you fuck her to make her feel better?”

I was appalled he could even think that after everything I had told him, but I was too scared by his aggression to speak up for myself at that point.

“Dude…” Gavin started to talk, but Gibson grabbed him both by the throat and the crotch and squeezed. Gavin yelped but couldn’t speak because Gibson had him by the throat and his face was getting redder by the second.

“Do your nuts hurt? I fucking hope so, I should cut your dick off. You’re a fucking asshole, you know that? What the fuck, dude? Ain’t you got no shame, taking my sloppy seconds? Couldn’t fucking resist her even though you knew she had been with me?”

Looking at me over his shoulder Gibson threw another insult, “You fucking let him bone you, when you’d been with me only a few hours before? Spinning me the sweet victim act? Damn you, Chloe… it fucking worked, I believed you.”

Gibson gave Gavin his attention again. “I saw the way you looked at her. Did you make her come the way I did?” He pushed Gavin back by the throat and he knocked over a bottle of whisky that Gavin had opened on the side.

Amber liquid flowed from the dressing table onto the carpet, soaking into it silently until it was so saturated it made a patting sound, as the rest dripped from the bottle. A strong odor filled the room and Gibson twisted his body quickly to stare at me, still sitting in the bed.

“You’re fucking good. I’ll give you that. You had me fooled for sure. All that crying and shit, I really believed your sob story. My instincts were to fuck you hard, but I took care of you. Did you enjoy taking me for a ride? Thought it would be cool to give me a taste of what it feels like to be used?”

As Gibson turned to address Gavin once again, I wasn’t frightened for myself but for Gavin. There was no way I was going to allow Gibson to continue to target him like that.

“STOP!” I bounced off of the bed and was stood naked in front of both of them, my hands up to stop Gibson from continuing his assault. Glancing over at Gavin, he was still struggling to get himself together and clutching his throat. The agony on his face told me that Gibson hadn’t held back on his handling of him. Poor guy had done me a favor and ended up on the wrong end of Gibson Barclay’s raw side.

The both of them stopped to look at me and I almost cringed because of my naked state but I stood firm. This wasn’t about what I looked like naked. It was about someone damaging my reputation. He may be Gibson Barclay but I was damned if I was going to be tarred with the same brush because I had been with him.

CHAPTER 37 - READ WRONG

Gibson

“Devastated.” When I had asked Johnny how Chloe was when he dropped her off, he gave me that one word answer. There wasn’t time to explain what was going on. I just had to deal with it before it got so out of hand she never spoke to me again.

The steward on the yacht, who I then knew now was Wallace Price, had taken some pretty damning pictures of the two of us on deck and named his price. Three major US newspapers and two gossip magazines had picked up the story and my legal team were on it, but I wanted to oversee it myself.

One headline read, “
Gibson Gropes Gorgeous Groupie
” The article went on… “
Gibson Barclay scores a home run with yet another stunning female. Grooming her in style, the ever promiscuous Gibson meticulously planned his seduction of innocent unsophisticated competition winner, Chloe Jenner, of New York City, yesterday. Hiring a luxury yacht for the day, Gibson moved in on the curvaceous Chloe after plying the unassuming blonde haired beauty with cocktails. Their day had begun with a day out frolicking on the waves with best mate Toby Francis and his band mates, Gametes bandmates, the rest of M3rCy and Chloe’s friends. According to Price, steward in attendance on board the yacht, the couple weren’t shy about their alfresco session. Gibson and his latest squeeze arrived on the boat wearing only swimwear which was quickly discarded. In true Gibson style, Price stated that as soon as Barclay achieved his goal and the smoking hot scene with the pretty fan was over, the date came to an abrupt end. Jenner won a recent competition to meet her idol and fell under ‘the Gibson effect’, resulting in the not so private sex session. Chloe Jenner was conspicuously missing from her hotel room late last night, so was unavailable for comment.”

Fuck.
Usually, I laughed when I read how interested the paparazzi were about me getting my rocks off., but this time the one time I wanted to keep everything private and had gone to lengths to make sure we were alone, I’d blown it.

Legally, Price had abused my trust and lost his job and my lawyers stated they were going to sue for invasion of privacy. However, that didn’t help me or protect Chloe from the media bashing or the crazy fans that would target her for being with me.

Strong, almost primal instincts to protect Chloe from everyone hadn’t panned out, and she was facing a potential shit storm that I could neither make go away, nor offer her the anonymity she needed. The press and fans would hound her.

The only way forward was if I kept her with me. That thought excited the hell out of me. However, reading the headlines I doubted my capacity to make her see that my intentions weren’t what the media were portraying, so the chances of keeping her close to me until this blew over were almost non-existent.

While we were heading over to her hotel, Johnny complained the whole time, telling me that this was not the way to make things better, showing up at her room when the media were already fueling a story and spinning it to slant in the direction they thought would sell more copies.

Overwhelmed with crazy mad emotions, I could see Johnny was worried that some of the paparazzi might challenge me and I’d throw a punch. As for me, the way I was feeling I was kinda hoping someone would, so that I could feel justified in doing just that.

Chloe’s hotel foyer was swarming with media parasites, cameras flashing everywhere as soon as I walked through the door, rushing at me like flies on shit. My mood was so fucking black that I was biting my lip in my attempt to reach the elevator lobby without saying anything that made it worse for her. Johnny was talking for me, stating that I had nothing to say, and then he pushed two guys back that got too near.

“No fucking comment dudes, back off, Johnny barked, as two hotel security guys pushed forward and threatened to call the police if they didn’t move out of the way. Just then, the elevator arrived and we both stepped inside. Some photographers were still trying to take shots and one reporter squeezed under the security guy’s arm in an effort to get to us, but the door closed and insanity instantly stopped.

Sagging back against the wall, I ran my hand through my hair and stared darkly at Johnny. “Fuck, what a cluster fuck. How the fuck am I going to convince her that yesterday wasn’t what they are saying it is?”