Taking Something (8 page)

At first, when we walked in and were seated in a small booth in the back corner of the restaurant, I thought for sure Sadie was going to make it another kiss-the-lips-off-your-face event, but luckily no sooner than we were seated had the people started rolling by to see Sadie.

“I'm so glad you're here with me tonight,” she whispered in my ear, letting her hand move under the table to my lap. “It's been a while since I had a date I actually enjoyed.” A moment of honesty. Maybe there was more to her than met the eye.

“Really?” I was intrigued. If I was going to make this thing work, I actually needed to get to know her. Perhaps she would sway me from thinking I'd made a huge mistake. “I can't imagine that you have any trouble in the dating department, Miss Sinclair.”

“I don't.” She chuckled. “There are a million guys that would love to be sitting here right now, but like I said before, I haven't met the right one. I've been looking. Believe me. We're never on the same page though. You know what I mean?”

“I think I do,” I agreed. Her humility, or lack thereof, had us on completely different pages.

“I've decided that I'm done waiting, Nick. I'm done listening to everyone else. I'm going to do what I want with my life.” Her fingers kneaded into my thigh as she worked her way up to my crotch. I must have been what she wanted to do, because her palm pressed into my dick as she nibbled at my earlobe. “I need a man that is all about me. My career. My hopes. My dreams. I think you can be that guy, Nick,” she confessed.

The sound of someone clearing his throat saved me from having to lie to Sadie another time and stopped her from noticing that I was only sporting a half-chub thanks to her comment about me being the guy who could be all about her. I had never been all about anyone but myself. I didn't see that fact changing anytime soon.

“Am I interrupting?” Landry Westwood stood before us, smiling.

“Not at all, man.” I reached to shake his hand, removing myself from Sadie's grasp.

“Hello, Landry.” Sadie smiled up at him. “How are you? Won't you join us?”

For a split second, I saw that fangirl look in her eyes that someone in her position should have been way past. She'd been around celebrities her whole life. Surely she was immune to Landry Westwood's blue-eyed charm.

“Thanks,” he said cautiously. “I actually wanted to stop over and ask Nick a couple questions. I'm working on something new and wanted a fresh prospective. I mean, if that's all right. Like I said before, I don't want to interrupt your evening.”

I really wanted to tell him that it was more than okay, but I knew my place. I was Sadie's guest and
boyfriend.
I had to let her call the shots, no matter how badly I wanted to work with someone like Landry.

“I don't mind at all.” She grinned, twirling a piece of her auburn hair around her finger. “So I see you've met my boyfriend, Nick.”

“I have.” The news of our sudden relationship didn't seem to faze him.

“He's pretty amazing,” she bragged as if I weren’t sitting right there. “You should hear some of the stuff we are recording. It's going to be my best album yet.” Her end game with Landry was escaping me. Why the hell she felt the need to tell him I was amazing was beyond me—not that I minded the boost.

“That's kind of what I wanted to talk to Nick about. I've got a couple new tracks I'm working on, and my dad can't quit talking about how great you're doing with Sadie.”

“Really?” I was confused. The two brief phone calls and handful of emails I'd shared with Hollace over the last few days had left me thinking he wasn't buying it. I'd forwarded on the tracks that she'd recorded so far and all I got was, “Sounds good” and “Glad she finally agreed to record that one.” Hollace was apparently a man of few words when it came to business.

“Oh, of course you can talk to him, but don't go getting any ideas about stealing my producer away.” She smirked as she scooted out of the booth, stood up, and smoothed out the tiny gold dress she was wearing. She reached across the table and grabbed her matching clutch, giving both Landry and me a full shot of her cleavage. She looked between us as she said, “I'm going to go chat up Sheena Lawson and see when her next album is dropping. Can't have her taking my performance spot at the American Music Awards next year.”

As Sadie sauntered away, Landry finally let the disbelieving look he'd been trying to hide surface.

“Boyfriend, huh? You don't waste any time, do you?”

“Time is money.” I tried to grin, but a strange twisting in my stomach distracted me. What the fuck was that? Surely not guilt. I didn’t have the emotional components necessary to feel guilty about lying to get a job done.

He ran a hand over his head as we both watched her saunter off. “What Sadie Sinclair wants, Sadie Sinclair gets, I suppose.”

The subject needed to change before he asked me why I was into Sadie. Her public fondling and constant ‘he's so great’ attitude was over the top, and I was not looking forward to how big of a douchebag I was going to have to pretend to be to match her sentiments.

“Shouldn't be surprised. We are talking about Sadie Sinclair,” he added. “She's pretty quick to jump into relationships.”

I'd seen the list of guys Sadie had been associated with. Turned out the rumors were more true than false.

“So what did you want to talk about? New songs?”

“Yeah,” he said, pulling out his phone. “I didn't want to say anything in front of Sadie, because nothing has been finalized yet, but I'm looking to do a duet. My dad thinks it would be a good crossover for us, but I'm not sure. It's a love song, and I can't imagine that Sadie and I would have the chemistry I think the song needs. You can't fake that.”

You most absolutely can.

“What I really wanted from you was to see if you had any suggestions on production.”.

Landry Westwood wanted my opinion? To say I was shocked was an understatement. Even though, deep down, I knew it was only a matter of time before people caught on to the fact that I did indeed know what I was doing, I just thought it would take a little more time. Maybe I'd underestimated my awesomeness. He asked for my email address to forward the track over. He punched my number in after that and said that he'd call me to see what I thought.

“I'll give it a listen.” I could have given him a few pointers on exactly how to fake chemistry. “So if you could sing it with anyone, who would it be?” I asked, curious to see if Landry and I were as musically compatible as I had hoped.

“That's tough. There are a lot of great singers out there. It's a damn shame that Gianna Grayson decided to quit singing,” he said, catching me off guard by bringing up the woman who had been in the back of my mind all night. “She would have been a perfect match for this one. Her voice is fucking amazing.”

“Decided to quit?” This was a revelation. “I assumed she never made it.”

“Oh, she could have. Had a huge deal lined up with my dad. But walked away.” He shrugged. “I'd always heard that she just got tired of the spotlight and couldn't handle the pressure. There was a while I was sure that she was going to zoom right past me and Sadie.”

“Hmmm.” I nodded. “That's interesting.” I started to think about what Gia had said to me the other day about me not knowing a damn thing about her. It was true. I didn't, but for reasons unknown to me, I wanted to. Maybe Landry could give me some insight. “So what happened?”

He hesitated a moment. I looked him in the eyes, because that's what you do when you're trying to gain someone's trust. You look them right in the goddamned eyes and show that you're invested in what they are thinking or saying. Even if you're just fishing for information. It must have worked, because his demeanor lightened and he started talking.

“Seven years ago, when we were all coming up, we were all thick as thieves. We hung out all the time. Me, Gia, Sadie, Sheena Lawson, and a few other youngsters. There were lots of wild nights, if you know what I mean.” He chuckled.

It made perfect sense that they would have all been friends. All the same age. All in the industry. I kind of remember seeing things about them in the press—the new generation's Brat Pack. Of course, that's about the time Lila and I had been fighting tooth and nail to find a way out of the Chicago slums. Not much time for celebrity gossip.

“I thought Gia was going to be the one who hit it big. Things started to get super competitive. We were all fighting for that spotlight. Then one day she was just…gone.”

I scratched my head. “I don’t get it. What would make anyone give up a chance like that?” I would have given my left nut, my first born—anything—to make it in the music world.

“Who knows? She and Sadie were always the closest. Probably from the TV show thing.” He shrugged. “Sadie's always stayed quiet when people ask her about it. In fact, after Gia left, our little clique pretty much parted ways and we started fending for ourselves.”

We sat in silence for a moment, Landry staring off quietly. Maybe I shouldn't have pushed him down memory lane.

“That's the past though. We've all done things we wish could change, right?”

I nodded.

More than you know, friend.

“Well, I've taken up enough of your time,” he said. “Plus your girlfriend is on her way back over. I don't want to ruin your date.” He grinned.

All I could do was laugh as Sadie slid back in the booth. As soon as her ass hit the leather, Landry's slid out.

“Leaving so soon?” Sadie asked.

“Yep. Gotta make the rounds before my publicist blows a gasket. Give me a call later this week, Nick. We'll get together and chat some more.”

“Sounds good, man,” I agreed. First, a night out with Sadie Sinclair. Next, a meeting with Landry Westwood. My stock was definitely on the rise.

“It was so good to see you, Landry,” Sadie drawled, reaching out to touch his arm. She grinned up at him as if to tell him he was the luckiest guy in the world for her to be touching him. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought she was trying to seduce him.

He looked down at her hand and then back up at her.

“You too,” he shrugged with a polite smile, obviously unaffected by Sadie Sinclair. “See ya, Nick.”

A quiet, defeated sigh came from Sadie as she watched him walk away. Looked to me like I was right about her being a fan. A little part of me cheered at Landry not caring who she was or how she looked. Sadie needed to be knocked down a peg or two.

“What was that about?” I asked.

“What?” she played dumb.

“That flirty little scene with Landry.” I chuckled. “Should I be jealous?”

“No, I was just being polite.”

“Whatever you say.” I shook my head. Judging by the way Landry hauled ass when Sadie returned, I had nothing to worry about. He wasn't interested in her as far as I could tell, which meant she'd keep me around to fill the void. If being with Sadie meant that I was going to get invites to hang out and offers from people like Landry, then I was perfectly content being her boyfriend, even if I wasn't her first choice.

“Look at my baby setting up meetings,” she cooed, changing the subject. Her patronizing would have pissed me off had I not been thinking about the info bombs Landry had been dropping.

He wanted my opinion on music. Plus one. He wanted to get together soon. Plus one. He revealed that Gia had given up her career on her own accord after I'd been a total dickwad to her about that morning. Minus two.

My score in life was definitely not as high as I wanted it to be, but the way I figured, I was going to come out way ahead in this game. Starting with the new plan I concocted as Sadie dragged me back to her place for the third night in a row.

It was all going to start first thing in the morning.

“G
OOD MORNING,
Gia,” I said as I swaggered into the kitchen that morning. I hadn't been able to sleep since my mind had started whirling with the new plan. I had tried to sleep after I’d sweet-talked my way into just cuddling with Sadie when we got back to her place. Of course she’d tried to get me to do more, but I just hadn't been feeling it. I'd actually suggested I go back to my hotel for the night and I could have sworn her head had started to spin.

“Why would you do that?!” She threw her hands up. “You don't want to be with me now?”

“We should slow down a bit, Sadie,” I said, trying to charm her back into her panties and talk her off the ledge. She really was close to a nervous breakdown.

I imagined every man on the planet scowling at me for denying her. This was Sadie Sinclair for Christ's sake. She was rich, famous, and beautiful. I should have been thrilled that she was giving me the time of day. I sucked it up and rubbed up on her for a while. Kissed her and told her she was pretty.

I finally gave into her advances and let her give me a blowjob. That seemed to appease her need for affection. I know, I know. It was a fucked-up system, seeing as how I was the one who was actually gratified, but when she finished, she curled up next to me like a happy little kitten and fell asleep. I welcomed the silence. I was starting to think the only time I enjoyed being with her was when she was sleeping.