Taking Something (26 page)

E
VERY TIME
I saw a picture of them together on the Internet, I had to fight the urge to throw my computer across the room. Their happy faces as they held on to Audrey's hands at the park. Them sharing a quiet dinner. Or my personal favorite, the two of them embracing on her front porch.

Our night together must have meant way more to me than it had to her. Clearly she was just getting me out of her system while working her way right on into mine.

How could I have been so stupid? It hurt. Really fucking bad. Every time I thought about them or saw a picture, I wanted to step in front of a moving train. I'd never be able to compete with him. I could never give her all the things he could. The one thing I wanted to give her—my completely worthless heart—she’d tossed aside.

That was why, from now on, I was keeping the damn thing right where it belonged—locked up behind layers and layers of disappointment, pain, and bitter truths.

I never should have let myself fall for Gia Grayson. Women like that didn’t fall for guys like me. They took their orgasms with a ‘thanks for the good time’ and a goodbye. Could have saved myself a whole lot of heartache if I’d have faced the reality of it all a hell of a lot sooner.

This was exactly why I didn't do relationships. I closed the laptop, tossed it aside—before it ended up in pieces—and walked into the bathroom, where Sadie was touching up her lipstick.

“You look nice,” I complimented her, doing my best to give her a genuine smile. I'd decided that the best thing I could do for my sanity was try and make things work with Sadie. She'd been right. My work was all I had left. She’d never told Hollace about what had happened. The album was cut, polished, and slated for release at midnight.

Tonight was the release party.

“I know.” She smiled at me through her reflection. Things still weren't quite back to the way they had been before. I didn’t expect that they ever would be.

I was really hoping that I'd be able to forget about Gia and get back to the old me—the guy who only cared about himself—but it wasn't working.

Pretending to be Sadie's boyfriend was even harder now that I knew just how awful she really was. Sadie and I might have been a happy couple in the spotlight, but behind closed doors we were not. Not for lack of her trying. Hell, she'd tried to get me screw her after she’d told me the truth about her deception in my hotel room.

Let's just say…that didn't happen.

Sadie had made it perfectly clear that the two reasons she wanted to keep me for herself were: number one, I was amazing in bed, and number two, she got off on knowing that she had something Gia wanted.

Some sick, twisted payback for Gia being more talented or maybe for Landry choosing Gia all those years ago. But she was wrong. Gia didn’t want me. She’d skipped the Nick Kline model and chosen the upgrade.

But it didn’t matter if Sadie was wrong or not. I couldn't have gotten hard if I had tried after she’d told me that. She'd kept trying though. Insisting I stay with her the nights that followed, I
accidentally
fell asleep on the couch while I was working or told her that I wasn't feeling well or that I was swamped from working on new stuff for her next album. The first part was true. I felt awful. Especially when the world officially found out about Gia and Landry.

I couldn't stand the thought of being with anyone but Gia or her being with anyone else. Even though, judging from the pictures of the two of them and the stories I'd read, she and Landry were playing house with their perfect little family. I hated it. And I hated it even more that I knew they were perfect for each other. Both nice, decent human beings who deserved to be loved.

Ugh
.

Things could not have been any worse, but as I looked at Sadie—gawking at herself in the mirror—I knew they could.

Gia had ruined me. Sadie was still ruining me. I couldn't even bring myself to use sex as a distraction anymore. The old Nick Kline—the one who’d lived most of his life as Nick Dammery—was dead, and the new one was being forced to live a life he couldn't lie, cheat, or fuck his way out of.

“Are you ready?” she asked. I'd been staring off into space again. It was kind of my thing now. Any time I let my brain have a moment of free time, it immediately went to the my-life-could-have-been-so-different place. The place where I’d never hooked up with Sadie. Where Gia had stayed with me. Where I was happy.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Ready.” I grabbed my jacket as we were walking out the door, and as I pulled it on, I put on my game face. Time to convince the masses—and myself.

Sadie and I strolled out onto the rooftop deck overlooking downtown Los Angeles arm in arm. The party was being held on the top of one of city's chicest hotels. I couldn't even remember the name of the place the driver had taken us to. My whole world was clouded, like my judgment had been. Sadie and I sold it—our relationship—smiling and nodding to the partygoers who were there to tell us how great the album was. The tracks I'd been working so hard on for the past month were playing in the background as waiters handed out champagne to guests. I quickly snagged one, needing to numb reality.

“This place looks great,” Sadie leaned over and said. “See? I don't need an assistant. I can handle my own events.”

“Yeah, looks great,” I told her halfheartedly, not missing the jab about Gia.

It takes real business savvy to hire an event planner
.

I thought it, but I didn't say it. Sadie had made it her mission to sneak in little reminders of why I was still with her. Gia leaving and choosing to start a life with Landry had become Sadie's ammunition in the proverbial gun I’d handed her the night I tried to break up with her. I really wished there was literal gun to put me out of my misery.

“There they are,” I heard Hollace Westwood's booming voice call out from behind me. Sadie and I turned in unison, just in time to catch him smiling. “About time you two lovebirds showed up,” he said with a chuckle. I extended my hand, grateful that he was pleased. “I'm truly impressed with what you did. The songs all sound great.” His wife, Evette, clung tightly to his arm. Seeing her in person, I could see exactly where Landry got his good looks.

“It's my favorite album of yours, Sadie,” the petite blonde confessed.

“Awww. I'm really proud of it.
We
are really pleased with it,” she said, squeezing my arm tightly. We've got some great ideas for the next one, too,” Sadie offered before turning her attention to Evette to compliment the red, silky number that was draping all of her former centerfold glory.

I did the duties expected of me and told them how pleased I was with the outcome and how much I’d enjoyed working with my girlfriend. Sadie had pretty much made it clear to me that if I wanted to continue working as a producer I was exclusively hers.

The final payment for my services on this album had been deposited into my account the day before, and as pleased as I was about the surplus of money I'd acquired, it still didn't fill the emptiness I felt. Even the promises of the royalties to come, if one of the songs took off, wasn't enough. Guess I'd just have to live with it. At least until Sadie tired of me and cut me loose.

That probably wouldn't happen for quite some time. She'd become even more bitter and vindictive than I'd imagined possible. I could see her holding on to me for a while, especially since Landry seemed to be happy with Gia. She'd given up her dream guy to make sure that we were miserable together.

About the time I thought things couldn't get any worse, the former object of Sadie's affection stepped from the open elevator out onto the roof with the forever object of my affection tucked under his arm.

What is she doing here?

I tried not to stare at her, not wanting to alert Sadie to the fact that they were there, but she was a vision. Her long dark hair was elegantly pulled up with a few fallen pieces blowing around her face in the evening's slight breeze. All of her gorgeous curves were being hugged perfectly by the material of the royal blue dress she was wearing. Her eyes found mine for just a second before she looked to the ground, almost as if to hide the soft smile I saw settle on her lips.

She turned on Landry's arm to pose for the mass of photographers waiting to get their picture and revealed that the back of her dress was even sexier then the front, in that it had no actual back. Just a thin ribbon of material was holding it in place. My body and brain simultaneously remembered how amazing she looked with nothing on. If she wore that dress to get noticed, it was definitely working—for me and my cock—and it pissed me the fuck off.

I couldn't believe that she would come here. She knew full well that I'd be attending. What, did she want to rub it in my face that she'd moved on to bigger and better things? Show me how much she wasn't missing me?

Everyone in the crowd turned their heads to see the newest it-couple arrive. The flashbulbs of the photographers allowed at the event lit up the night sky. Ever since the story of them broke, it was all anyone could talk about—or photograph apparently. I felt Sadie tighten her hands around my bicep, not taking her attention away from Evette. She'd seen them too and obviously wanted to remind me just who I was at the party with. I thought that Landry would be there considering that he and Sadie are label mates and it was expected, but I never in a million years thought she'd come as his date. Especially since she and Sadie had fallen out.

When she turned back around, her eyes were right back to me. She bit her lip, and it made me want to do the same.

God, I fucking miss her.

If she came here to rub it in my face that she was with Landry, then she had failed. If she came here to drive me insane, then her plan was working perfectly.

The way she kept looking at me wasn't the way a girl who wanted nothing to do with a guy looked. It still didn't change the fact that she was there with him or that she had told me we couldn't be together. She had to have listened to the countless voicemails I'd left for her, telling her how badly I wanted her back in my life. She and Landry probably had a good laugh over the text messages where I'd begged her to talk to me.

I felt myself start to smile at her until the nagging voice in my head reminded me that she wasn't mine. I couldn't deny the way she was looking at me—her lips slightly parted, her eyes saying that she maybe wasn't over me as much I had thought she was. She was on his arm tonight, and from what the magazines had been saying, they were together. So why in the hell would she keep staring if she didn't have something to say? I had to talk to her.

Hollace leaned in and his hand found my shoulder, garnering my attention. “You really knocked it out of the park, kid. I see big things in your future.”

“Thank you, sir,” I replied, sneaking another glimpse in Gia's direction. “And thank you for taking a chance on me.”

“I like a guy who knows what he wants and what he's doing. And you do both.”

I smiled and nodded, accepting his compliments but knowing deep down that he couldn't be further from the truth. My new friend guilt set in quickly, and I grabbed another champagne flute from the tray passing by me to shut him up.

Landry and Gia were making their way over to where we standing. The closer she got to me, the faster my heart raced.

Maybe I could steal her away for a second, get a chance to talk to her alone, and find out if I was reading too much into that smile of hers.

Just as they approached us, I felt Sadie tug on my arm. “Dance with me?” she asked, not waiting for an answer. She practically pulled my arm out the socket as she pushed through the crowd and far away from Gia and Landry. “Come on.”

“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice harsh, much like the way she'd just pulled me away from the one person I wanted to see.

“I was doing you a favor. Didn't think you'd want them rubbing their relationship in your face.”

“Or you didn't want them rubbing it in your face?” I fired back. Sadie wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me close to her, moving her body against mine to the beat of the music. “Scared they are going to call you out on being such a bitch?”

“Hardly,” she scoffed, covering the pissy look in her eyes with a fake smile. “He doesn't even know I am the reason why he didn't know about the baby. I have to shoot a video for our single with him next week. Things don't need to be awkward between us. That song is going to make me way too much money for me to let something that frivolous get in the way of that.”

“You are unbelievable.” I flouted the notion. Nothing about the lies Sadie told were frivolous. I watched over her shoulder as Hollace and Evette greeted Landry and Gia, his hand never leaving the small of her back and twisting the knife he didn't even know he’d placed deeper into mine. The happy couple exchanged hugs and pleasantries with his parents, seeming to all be happy to see one another. “What makes you think that Gia isn't going to tell him?”

“She wouldn't,” she answered matter-of-factly. “She signed a non-disclosure agreement when she started working for me. If my name so much as comes out of her mouth, I'll ruin her life.”