Tangled Mess (9 page)

“You’re probably right,” I said,
opening the door. Without another glance, I left the bathroom, relieved that I’d ended it with her when I did. If she was this obsessed after a few tumbles in the sack, I could only imagine what would have happened if I’d have actually accepted a home-cooked meal from her. Hell, it wasn’t as if she’d been some naïve, young woman who’d been taken advantage of. There was nothing pure or wholesome about Amber. From what I’d remembered, she’d pursued me hard and fucked me even harder, which I thought had worked well for both of us. I was obviously wrong.

“Hey Ransom! What’s up,
brother?” hollered Vance in his gravelly voice. He was sitting at the bar with his twin, Kurt, who I noticed was now ogling Amber’s friend’s tits, along with everyone else at the bar. Both guys were dressed in the usual biker attire of ripped jeans, leather vests, and bandanas covering their long, red hair.

I walked back over to the bar
, and shook both of their hands. “I didn’t think you guys were going to show. I sent you a message about two hours ago.”

“
Fuck, I tried calling you back but...your phone must be dead or something,” replied Vance, scratching his red goatee. He stared at my head and smirked. “Aw…man, why in the hell did you go and do that for?”

I ran a
hand through the top. “Like it?”

Kurt
snorted. “You look like a fucking executive at IBM or Lockheed Martin. What, you in the market for sophisticated putang now that you’re back on Icon again?”

“Hell, Ransom could get any putang he wanted, haircut or not
,” said Vance, lowering his voice. “Wouldn’t surprise me if he’s already had every piece of ass in this place.”

“Since there are
only about five broads here,” replied Kurt. “You’re probably right. But I tell you what,” he lowered his voice and looked over at Amber’s friend lecherously. “If Ransom can get me in good with that chick there, hell, I’ll shave my head, too. Fuck, I’ll shave both of them.”

“I
sn’t that the girl you were dating a few months back?” asked Vance as Amber sat back down, her eyes stabbing me viciously from across the bar.

“Yeah,” I answered,
turning away.

“She looks pissed. Shelly just poured her a shot of tequila, too.
” He chuckled. “You know what that means?”

M
y cue to leave. A pissed off woman and tequila were not a good mix.

“I’ll catch you guys later,” I said
, nodding towards my security guys, who immediately stood up.

“We just got h
ere,” replied Vance, surprised. “Come on. Have one drink with us.”

I glanced back over towards Amber who was staring at me as Shelly poured her another shot. “
Sorry, next time. I’ve got something important I need to do.”

“You mean with Sonia?” asked Vance. “She called me looking for you.”

“No
, and if she calls again, do me a favor and don’t tell her you saw me.”

“
You can tell her yourself when you get home. She was pissed off, and headed towards your place last time I talked to her. About an hour ago.”

I sighed.
“Great.”

“Ransom, what’s up with all of the pissed off women?” smirked Kurt.
“You need help putting a smile on their faces, I’d be happy to volunteer.”

“
If it were only that easy,” I replied.

Vance chuckled. “Ransom’s always on some woman’s shit-list
. Hell,” he pulled out his wallet. “I wouldn’t doubt if there was a bounty on your head with all of the girls you’ve kicked out of your bed.”

I
scowled. “Fuck that. I’m not
that
bad.”

“Are you kidding me? What about
last summer when three chicks were fighting over you on the bus? Two of them ended up in the E.R. One had a broken nose and the other had a concussion,” replied Vance.

“They were
all crazy,” I replied, remembering that nightmare. I’d passed out with two chicks in my bed until another girl I’d had the previous night somehow made it back onto the tour bus. She’d launched herself at the naked girls, and I’d barely made it out of bed unscathed, myself.

“So, what happened with the third one?
She get
the
prize?” asked Kurt, grinning wickedly.

“What she got was kicked off the bus,” I said.

Vance burst out laughing. “Yeah, but that was after she
got down on her knees…”

“Bullshit,” I interrupted, although my mind had been pretty muddled that night. 

“You were so fucked up you don’t even remember,” replied Vance. “I walked in on her blowing you, man. Not more than fifteen minutes later.”

“
Fuck, she owed me for those expensive sheets she ruined by giving one of the girl’s a bloody nose,” I protested as the memory came back. She’d gotten down on her knees and begged to make it up to me. What could I do?

Vance took a sip of drink
. “Anyway, the point is, Kurtis, when you’re a celebrity women are
always
throwing themselves at you. Obviously, you’re going to piss some of them off when they find out it’s just sex and nothing more.”

“How come you don’t have women problems
like that?” asked Kurt, staring at his brother. “Hell, you’re the drummer.”

“Have you looked
at your mug in the mirror, lately?” he chuckled. “Neither of us is that pretty. Not like Rans, here.”

“
That and Billie Jean,” I replied.

Billie Jean was his
fiancée. She was also spunky, intelligent, and beautiful. Ever since Vance had met her, he’d turned down many free pieces of ass.

“Damn right
,” said Vance. “I’ve had enough tail in my life to know that once you find someone with more than just a nice pair of tits, and a great ass, that you hold on to her. No way am I going to fuck up something special like that just to wax my dick when we’re on the road.”

“
Maybe that’s what you need, Ransom,” said Kurt. “A woman to keep you out of trouble.”

“
Right. Women
are
the trouble,” I replied.

“I’ll take that kind of trouble, any day,” said Kurt looking back over at Amber’s friend.

“You can have it,” I said as Amber stood up, swaying slightly. She said something
to her friend, who looked at me and snorted.

“I’ll catch you later,” I
said as she began staggering towards us.

“Better call sec
urity,” laughed Vance. “She’s baring her fangs, and her claws are out.”

“Yeah, you
run away again!” she called as Bowzer and Jimmy escorted me outside. “Fucking asshole!”

Tiffany

It was after seven-thirty by the time I made it back to my one-bedroom apartment in
Stanton, only twenty minutes away from the shop. At the last minute, I’d stopped at a video store, and picked up a movie,
Safe Haven,
which I’d been meaning to see for several months.

I set the movie on the
coffee table, and grabbed the growing stack of bills from my counter. With a sigh, I fell into my new mauve chaise, thankful that I’d splurged for it last month. Everything else I owned was second-hand, including the eighties-style ugly, brown leather sofa sitting across from me. My next few checks would definitely go towards more new furnishings. If I was going to spend a lot of time alone in my apartment, at least I could enjoy the view.

As I finished opening the
mail, my stomach began to growl, reminding me that I’d forgotten to eat lunch. Felicia’s cookies had all but disappeared by the time the teens had left the salon, so I needed something quick. I stood up and went into the kitchen to heat up a frozen pasta meal in the freezer, and as I reached for a package of pasta, my cell phone rang. I set the box on the counter, and grabbed the phone from my purse. The number displayed wasn’t anyone I recognized.

“Hello?
”

“Taffy?”

Oh hell.

Ransom.

“Yes.” I pulled my hair to the side and walked back over to the counter. “So, I thought we agreed to stop communicating?”

“I don’t specifically remember agreeing to anything
like that.”

“Ransom…”

“Look, I just forgot to pay you,” he answered, quickly. “That’s really why I’m calling.”

I picked up the
fettuccini. “Don’t worry about it,” I said, opening up the cardboard box.

“
Hey, I don’t feel right about leaving it like this. What’s your address? I’ll swing by and drop it off.”

“No,” I
protested. “Obviously that’s not a good idea.”

“
Still worried, huh? Look, nobody recognizes me with this new haircut. In fact, I’ve been hanging around at Bastion’s and went pretty much unnoticed the last couple of hours.”

“Bastion’s? What is that, a club or something?”

“Bar.”

“Hey
,” I said, turning on the microwave. “If you really feel that strongly about paying me, just send a check directly to the shop.”

“
Checks can be tracked. You’re the one who said we shouldn’t have any kind of connection away from the show.”

“True
, and you should feel the same way.”

“Like I said, I really don’t give a shit about Icon.”

If you really hate the show so much, why don’t you just quit?”

“It’s not that easy. Just… let me come over for a little while. I
promise to be a complete gentleman.”

I thought about that kiss in th
e shop and it made my belly tingle. In fact, the thought of being alone with him in my apartment was already giving me some wicked fantasies. I should have shut him down right there.

But not me.

Not the girl who
would have once done anything to be alone with Ransom. Obviously, I was still
that
girl. “Okay.”

He paused.
“Okay?”

“Uh, yeah,” I replied, reminding myself that I needed the money
anyway, especially during the competition when I wouldn’t be working. Hell, maybe I
was
being a little paranoid about him coming over. It wasn’t as if someone had my apartment bugged or monitored. I gave him my address.

“
Great, I’ll be there within the next hour. Are you hungry? I could pick up a pizza along the way.”

I stared at the microwave. I had to admit, pizza sounded a
lot better than a rubbery frozen meal. “Sure, that sounds good.”

“
Awesome. What do you like on your pizza?”

“Everything but-
”

“Anchovies,” he finished.

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“Oh, come one…
all of those sleepovers you and Remy had together?”

I laughed. “That’s right, and you used to eat
all of the leftover pizza for breakfast, before we woke up. I remember how furious it made Remy.”

I also remembered
how hot he looked in his black and orange flannel pajama bottoms. I pictured his broad shoulders, sculpted pecks and sexy abs bending over the pizza box those Saturday mornings and my mouth went dry.

“I used to love
it cold, and haven’t had any for years. We order pizzas all the time when we’re touring but there usually aren’t any leftovers. The guys are like garbage disposals.”

“Your band members?”

“Yeah and the roadies. Those guys can eat.”

“What about the groupies?”

He chuckled. “They aren’t usually there for the pizza.”

“I imagine not.”

I wondered how friendly he was with the roadies and felt a stab of jealously, which I
knew
was ridiculous because,
hello
, he was a celebrity. Heck, he probably had sex with a different girl every night.

And
I was tripping?

Pathetic…

“You still there?”

I cleared my throat.
“Okay, yeah, so I’ll see you in a little while? Just to warn you, though, you can’t stay long. I rented a chick-flick and have to get up early tomorrow morning.”

“Hey, I’m down with chick-flicks.”

“Since when?” I snorted. “You used to tease the hell out of Remy and me when we’d rent them.”

“I just liked teasing you.”

“Things haven’t changed.”

“
Nope.”

I smiled. “
It’s getting late. So, I’ll see you soon, I guess?”

“
No backing out now.”

“Right.”

After hanging up, I threw away the frozen meal and made a dash for the bathroom where I took a quick shower. When I was finished, I slipped on a pair of white shorts and a light blue-laced Jersey tank-top, pulled my hair up into a ponytail and then applied some pink lip-gloss. When I was satisfied, I raced back into the living room, straightened up as much as possible and then lit two vanilla scented candles. As I was putting the lighter away, the envelope from American Icon caught my eye. I’d read through the most of the packet last night but not the small print, which I knew would include the rules of the contest, and probably a stringent clause about not socializing with the judges. Sighing, I pulled out the packet and began reviewing the pages I’d missed.

“Damn.”

Sure enough, it stated very clearly that any interaction away from the show with the judges, camera crew, or anyone else associated with American Icon was prohibited, and the penalty was exactly what I’d imagined- disqualification.

I sat back and sighed.

Disqualification.

In black and white.

Well, no questioning it now. Grabbing my cell phone, I called Ransom back.

“You can’t come
over here, Ransom.”

“Too late,” he replied. “I’m just entering your lobby. In fact,
can you buzz me up?”

I closed my eyes and groaned
. “No, Ransom. Call your guys back, please. If someone sees you here, I just know that I’m going to get disqualified. Hell, I’ve probably screwed myself by cutting your hair in the shop, earlier.”

“
Taffy, calm down.”

I began to pace.
“I can’t.”

He lowered his voice. “D
o you have a roommate or nosy neighbors?”

“No.”

“Then who do you think is going to notice me?”

I stopped.
“I… Oh my God! What if you were followed?”

He chuckled. “I’m not a criminal
being investigated.”

“But you’re famous. Don’t you have the paparazzi following you everywhere?” I asked, looking out the window down below.

“They’ve never followed me.”

“You’re lying. I’ve seen
you on television getting angry with them.”

“I don’t recall that.”

“Maybe you were trashed?” An image of him flipping them off came to mind. Another where he pushed a camera man out of his way and told him to ‘fuck off’.

“Maybe.
Listen, my guys have already dropped me off, and I’m holding a hot pizza and a bottle of red wine. Better let me up before someone
does
notice me hanging out by the mailboxes.”

“Fine. I’m apartment
three-twenty-four. Go straight up the stairs, and it’s the first apartment on the left.”

“
Top floor?”

“Yes,” I said, pushing the buzzer.

Two minutes later, I was pulling him into my apartment. “This is such a mistake.” I said, slamming and locking the door.

His lips curled up. “I do
n’t think I’ve ever heard a woman say that to me before.”

“
This is totally different, and you know it.” I bit my lip and looked through the peephole. “Are you sure nobody followed you?”

“Yes, I’m positive.
Relax.”

I turned around. “Easy for you to say.”

“Where do you want this?” he asked, holding up the wine and pizza.

“
I’ll take that,” I replied, grabbing the bottle. “Just put the pizza box on the coffee table. I’ll go and grab some plates.”

“
Okay. I hope you like Dolcetto.”

My eyes widened.
“Dol, what?”

“The wine. It’s a Dolcetto. I heard it goes great with pizza. I’m a beer and tequila drinker myself.”

“Oh. Well, thanks for getting it. Would you like me to pour you a glass, too?”

He sat down on the sofa. “Sure, I’
ll try some.”

“
Okay. I’ll be right back,” I said, walking into the kitchen with the wine. Once inside, I uncorked the wine and filled two glasses.

“You need any help?”

I sucked in my breath and turned to find him standing close.

Too close
.

I backed up to the counter.
“Wow, I didn’t even hear you walk in to the kitchen.”

With an amused grin, he moved
closer and grabbed the glasses. As he did, he bent close to my neck, his lips only inches away. “You smell great,” he whispered, his warm breath on my skin.

“Uh, thanks,” I replied, feeling a tingle run down my body.

He straightened up
, and turned around. “Don’t forget the plates,” he said leaving the kitchen.

Trying to compose myself,
I opened up the cupboard, and grabbed a couple of my mother’s china plates, the ones with the blue flowers that she’d cherished so much. No matter how nervous I was, this night was special. Not only did I have a celebrity in my apartment, but it was
him
.

Ransom
.

I may never get this chance again.

I followed him back into the living room, and paused for a second, watching as he sat down.

Damn if he didn’t make my ugly sofa look good.

“So, um, if you aren’t feeling like a movie,” I said, sitting down next to him, “we could just have dinner?”

He opened up the box of pizza and grabbed one of the plates
. “You’re still trying to get rid of me, aren’t you?”

I smirked.
“You’re quick.”

He flashed me a dimpled smile.
“Relax babe,” he replied, handing me a plate filled with pizza. “I’m already here, in your apartment, and nobody else knows it.”

“Your bodyguards know.”

“
Actually, to tell you the truth, they don’t know I’m visiting someone related to the show. Fact is, I told them I was at a buddy’s place.”

“
Well, when are they picking you up?”

“
Whenever I tell them too.” He smiled wickedly. “So, Taffy, I guess that means I’m
yours
for the entire night.”

He may have been teasing me, but I didn’t miss the message in his eyes. He was offering
more than just pizza and waiting for my reaction.