Trick - A Stepbrother Romance (13 page)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

PATRICK

I yawned and stretched before heading into my dressing room on the Six Angels set. I’d been worried that the news about what had happened at the fashion party might have leaked into the media and cost me my job on the show, but no one seemed to have heard anything, and I was safe for now. So was Lucy. Ron had come round to the whole thing and realized it wasn’t her fault, or mine, and his connections in the police department were helping to track down whoever was stalking me and trying to stir up shit.

They said it was most likely a crazed fan rather than someone who hated me, because they’d seen very similar cases before. Unfortunately, the person was proving difficult to catch out. He or she was smart for using Insta-Snap to communicate with me, because it was impossible to trace who sent the messages or where they were sent from. Because the messages were designed to disappear after ten seconds, there were no backups or user records on any servers anywhere, so the Insta-Snap development team couldn’t give us any information on who it might be.

I wasn’t entirely convinced on their crazed fan theory. Considering the person knew where we lived and was able to get my Insta-Snap details, it made sense that it was someone I knew, or at least someone who was close to someone I knew. I’d still been racking my brains like crazy, trying to figure out who it could be, but so far I’d come up with nothing. Yeah, there were a lot of people I’d pissed off in the past, but none that I could think of who might actually go so far as to stalk me and plant drugs in my stuff. Whoever it was really wanted to get a reaction out of me, and they’d been pissed as hell when I’d blocked them.

I could only imagine what their next move would be.

Right now, the police were checking out anyone who had any sort of access to the Calabasas house and property, seeing as we thought the stalker might be the same person who’d managed to circumvent the gate code when they tried to get in the house. Unfortunately, they weren’t having much luck. The list of people who had access was a lot longer than I’d assumed it was. Any staff who were employed by Ron knew the code to get through the gate, and a lot of his close friends did as well. I’d never personally given out any of the codes to any of my friends except Alex, but I knew he wouldn’t be doing anything like this.

So that was it. It was a waiting game, but hopefully we’d find out who the crazy person was sooner rather than later.

I reclined on the dressing room sofa, scrolling through my messages. Alex was texting me for advice on getting a new phone, and I sent him back some suggestions before looking up as my door opened.

“Knock, knock.”

Lexie Greyson practically purred the words at me as she entered and closed the door behind her, and I rolled my eyes. She was basically the same as every other vapid TV actress I had ever met. It was like they were all robots programmed to have the same shrill laugh, the same wide-eyed hair-flipping style of flirtation, and the same penchant for not wearing any underwear. If they actually were robots, I guess they’d be called the Hobot 3000 model, or something like that. Today, she was wearing a short white terry-cloth robe and practically had more makeup on than America could ship in.

“What are you doing in here?” I asked, my voice tinged with disdain.

She gave me what I guess she thought was a seductive smile, but it was hard to tell considering that at the tender age of twenty-five, she’d already had enough Botox to de-wrinkle several hundred Shar Pei dogs.

“Oh, don’t be like that, Trick,” she said.

I’d always hated that bullshit nickname.

“It’s Patrick. What can I do for you, Lexie?”

She batted her eyelashes at me again. “I wanted to know if you like my new tattoo.”

“Err, okay. What tattoo?”

She sauntered over to me and dropped the robe, letting it fall around her ankles in a pool of fabric. She was stark naked underneath it. I had to admit, she had a fairly decent body, but she had absolutely nothing on Lucy with all her wondrous curves and glowing skin. Unlike Lucy, Lexie’s beauty definitely didn’t come from within…unless we were talking from within a bank account.

She put one leg up on a chair and stuck her hands on her hips, giving me an expectant look.

“Well?” she said, gesturing towards a small tattoo on her inner thigh.

“Jesus, put your fucking clothes back on,” I said, trying to look away. It was difficult, seeing as her nude form was reflected in the mirror to the side of her.

“Don’t pretend you don’t like what you see,” she said, her eyes darkening. “I know you want me. You have ever since we first started working together.”

“Nope, I haven’t, and I don’t,” I said.

“Why’d you kiss me on our first day of filming then?” she said, drawing closer to me. Her pink nipples were hard, and I averted my eyes again.

“It was just a fucking joke. Seriously, put your robe back on.”

“It wasn’t a joke,” she said, her voice getting huskier as she tossed her dark hair over her shoulder. “I know you don’t have a girlfriend. The only girl I ever see you hanging around these days is your sister.”

I ignored her and flicked my hand towards the door, hoping she’d take the fucking hint and finally leave. Instead she leapt onto the sofa and landed right on top of me, and she immediately started to grind up and down against my crotch. For fuck’s sake.

“Come on,” she continued, pawing at the front of my pants. “I know what you’re like. I’m probably one of the only actresses you haven’t fucked, so here’s your chance.”

“Fuck, get off me!” I said, grabbing hold of her shoulders.

I was about to push her the hell away when I heard the door open. Shit.

It was Lucy.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

LUCY

I stood there in the doorway to Patrick’s dressing room, my face frozen as I saw the naked girl on him, and finally I blinked and shook my head.

Then I turned around and ran.

God, what the hell had I been thinking? Of course Patrick was still an asshole. Why did I think he could have changed so fast? He’d simply wanted back into my pants again, so he must have decided to lay on the charm and let me think he’d become a wonderful person. He’d certainly fooled me.

Then again, maybe this was my fault. I’d never tried to initiate any sort of talk with him where we discussed what we were and whether we were exclusive. I’d just stupidly assumed we were exclusive.

Every time I thought I was growing up, along came something like this to remind me just how immature and naïve I still was.

“Lucy, wait!”

I heard him call out behind me, but I ignored him and dashed around a corner towards the wardrobe department. He caught up with me a second later and grabbed me by the arm.

“Wait!” he repeated.

I slapped his hand away and turned to him, glaring. “Wait for what? For you to tell me how you’ve secretly been sleeping with Lexie Greyson for God knows how long?”

He shushed me and pulled me into an empty room so no one would hear us arguing.

“That wasn’t what it looked like,” he said.

I rolled my eyes. “Please. That’s the oldest line in the book. I know what I saw.”

“Yes, and what you saw was Lexie naked on top of me.”

“Exactly!” I said, my face etched with fury. “So you aren’t even denying it?”

“No, I’m not denying it, I’m trying to explain. Just give me thirty seconds to talk.”

“Fine,” I replied, glancing at my watch. “Thirty seconds.”

“Look, she came in to my room, took her robe off and practically begged me to fuck her. I told her to fuck off, and then she jumped on me on the couch. I was literally just about to shove her off when you came in.”

I finally looked up into his eyes. “Really?” I said in a small voice. I still wasn’t sure if I should believe him or not. It had looked pretty damn suspicious, what with the hot naked actress grinding up on him and all.

“Yes, really,” he said. “It’s my fault. When I kissed her to annoy you the other week, she started thinking I was interested in her. She’s been hitting on me for ages now.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that?” I asked.

He scratched his head. “Shit, I don’t know. I guess I just didn’t want you to worry. I don’t want her and I never have. Since this whole thing started with us, there hasn’t been anyone else. I thought you knew that. It’s you I want, Lucy. Only you.”

My face softened, and I cursed myself for jumping to conclusions so fast. It was stupid. I should have given him the chance to explain before storming away.

“Okay,” I said. “I’m sorry. I just saw her there naked and thought…”

He slung an arm around my shoulder. “I know. It looked really bad. I’m not surprised you thought it was something else. And don’t worry, it won’t happen again. I’m gonna talk to her later and tell her that if she ever tries any shit like that with me again, then I’ll report her to the producers. You know how strict they are with all their morality clauses and shit.”

He tilted my face up for a soft, gentle kiss, and then he looked into my eyes.

“I need you to try and trust me. I know I haven’t made it easy for you in the past, given our history, and it might take you months or even years to fully trust me, but we have something here. We both know it. We’ve gone through too much shit in the last few weeks to just end things over a misunderstanding. So do you think you can try?”

I looked up into his unwavering eyes, and my pulse doubled as I saw the earnest expression in them. He was right. If anything was ever going to work between us, I needed to trust him. I needed to let go of the past and believe in him.

I needed to believe in us.

“Lucy?” he said softly. “Can you do that?”

I realized I hadn’t replied yet.

“Yes,” I said.

I hoped to God I was making the right decision.

CHAPTER TWENTY

LUCY

“Wake up...”

I gently prodded Patrick in the chest, and he stirred and moaned before rolling onto his side. My Dad had gone to work early, and Julia was visiting relatives in Santa Barbara, so I’d sneaked into Patrick’s room for an early morning cuddle sesh…with extras. Penelope was somewhere in the house, but she hadn’t seen me come into this room, and she never came upstairs to change bedsheets and towels until midday anyway.

“Come on…” I said, poking him again.

When he didn’t wake, I put my head on his shoulder and snuggled into him, and he sleepily wrapped his arms around me. Inhaling the masculine scent of his body, I tilted my head up and touched my lips to his, tentatively at first and then more insistently as he finally awoke, tongue sliding between my lips.

“This is a nice surprise,” he murmured, pulling away a second later. “I thought I was dreaming.”

He tangled a hand in my hair, and I reached down into his boxers, still kissing him fervently. I pulled his cock out, and he groaned as I stroked up and down his length with my hand.

“You’re a bad girl for waking me. I’m telling someone,” he said, arousal glinting in his eyes.

“Shh,” I whispered before lowering myself down to his groin.

Briefly glancing up at him, I ran my tongue suggestively across my lips and saw him bite his lower lip to stop himself from groaning again. I moved my head back down, still stroking up and down his shaft with my hand, and then I took him in my mouth. I licked around the head of his manhood, deftly flicking my tongue over and around the sensitive tip before sliding more of him down my throat. He gripped my hair with his hands, and my head bobbed back and forth as I gradually increased my speed.

Patrick moved his hips, thrusting deeper into my mouth, and with the hand that was still gripping the base of his cock, I reached down further and gently cupped his balls.

He was breathing heavily now. “Shit…Lucy…you’re amazing.”

I vaguely wondered how many other girls he’d said those words to over the years. I had to admit, the thought made me a little jealous. Jealous of all the other girls he’d been with back when we were in school and jealous of all the unknown women he’d been with since then. But now wasn’t the time for jealousy or distrust. I’d promised him I’d try to trust him with everything since the other day when I’d caught Lexie mauling him in his dressing room. It didn’t matter how many other girls he’d been with. All that mattered was that I was the only one for him now.

His body jerked forward slightly a moment later, and his hot release spurted into the back of my throat. I swallowed and moved back up the bed with a smile, and he circled an arm around my waist.

“Fuck, that was amazing.”

He leaned down and kissed me, and I pulled away. “I forgot to say…good morning,” I said.

“It
is
a very good morning, thanks to you,” he said with a playful smirk. “Shit, what’s the time?”

“Almost time for you to head off. You have that morning show interview soon, remember?”

“Ugh. Yes. I better go shower. Are you coming to the set with me?”

“I would, but I have to stay here and make a bunch of calls to organize your next appearance on ET.”

“That’s cool. I promise I won’t get into any trouble while you’re not there,” he said with a wink.

He slipped out of bed, and I called out to him. “Oh, by the way, have you heard any more from the police about the stalker?”

He shook his head before disappearing into the bathroom.

“No,” he replied, his voice echoing against the tiles. “But they’re still running background checks on everyone who’s had access to this house in the last few months.”

“Have you heard anything from the stalker?”

“Nope. Nothing in the last week or so,” he replied. “Maybe they’ve decided to give up and leave me the fuck alone. Y’know, I feel bad for ever suspecting Penelope. She’s an awesome housekeeper. You should’ve seen her face when your Dad told her they have to run background checks on everyone who knows the gate code, even her. I think she was more than a little offended.”

“Yeah, I know. She’s cool. But they have to check everyone just in case. Gotta start somewhere.”

I heard running water a moment later, and I sighed and lay back as I waited for him. Maybe I could join him in the shower…no, that would be too much. He’d never make it to his TV interview in time if I did that, and it was my job to ensure he kept a good reputation and showed up to work commitments on time.

His phone vibrated on the bedside table a second later, and out of curiosity I quickly glanced at it, hoping it wasn’t P.G. sending him more insane threats. Instead, something equally concerning popped up on the screen. It was a text message which said:
Okay. See you then. Looking forward to partying all night ;)

The contact who’d sent it was saved in Patrick’s phone as ‘Lex – New Number,’ and my heart immediately dropped into my stomach. Was it Lex as in Lexie Greyson?

I knew it was wrong to go through someone else’s private things, but I couldn’t help myself from picking it up and going through the entire message thread. The winking-face emoticon had really made my spidey-senses tingle.

Lex:
Does Lucy suspect anything?

Patrick:
Nope. All good on that front ;). Haha.

Lex:
Good. So are we still meeting at Rossitano’s tonight? Seven-thirty?

Patrick:
Yep, plan hasn’t changed. We should sneak in the back just in case.

Lex:
Okay. See you then. Looking forward to partying all night ;)

Wow. Just…wow.

So he
had
been lying to me about something going on between him and Lexie. Here they were making plans to sneakily meet up behind my back and ‘party’ right under my nose. He must have also told her about his relationship with me, considering how she’d asked if I suspected anything, and worst of all, they were laughing at me and how dumb I was for not being suspicious.

That scheming prick. It seemed that Patrick, with his golden hair and silver tongue, had deceived me.

Again.

I guess I didn’t know for an absolute fact that the messages on his phone were seedy, even though they certainly appeared to be so. This time I didn’t want to immediately jump to conclusions despite what was right in front of my face. I was going to try to stay calm and have a rational conversation with him about it, and if it turned out he was cheating, only then would I blow up at him.

“Patrick,” I said as he emerged from the bathroom. It was difficult to keep the stiffness out of my voice. “Can we talk about something?”

He rummaged through a set of drawers to find some socks. “Sorry, babe, but I really need to head out now or I’ll be late. We’ll talk later?”

“It’s kind of important.”

He looked over at me and grinned. “Unfortunately, so is this interview, and I have to shoot scenes all day after that. But I promise we can hang out and talk later, okay?”

“Tonight?”

He rubbed his chin. “Mm…not tonight. I have a meeting with the Six Angels producer tonight. It’ll probably run late, so don’t wait up for me. We’ll talk about whatever you want tomorrow. I’ll take you out for white hot chocolate. Your favorite.”

He gave me a beatific grin and grabbed his phone and wallet. Meeting with the producer tonight? Ha. I knew better.

Liar.

With that he was out the door, and I seethed as I sat there, trying to think of all the things I wanted to say to him. I felt sick to my stomach at his betrayal. How could he do this? He’d been so convincing every time he told me I was the only one for him. We’d talked and shared all kinds of intimate details of our lives, and I honestly thought I knew everything about him. Not only that, he’d helped me so much. He’d saved me the night I thought Jimmy was going to rape me or seriously hurt me, and he’d saved me again when we got into the car accident. Without him, I might be seriously hurt or even dead. So why would he do all that and then screw everything up by cheating on me?

He obviously wasn’t going to let me talk to him anytime soon, and even if he did, I knew what a good liar he was. He’d fooled me more than once
,
and I’d been dumb enough to fall for his crap again and again…hook, line and sinker.

I suppose I’d been fooling myself the whole time as well. Where could this possibly have gone, anyway? We couldn’t tell our friends. We couldn’t tell our parents. We couldn’t tell
anyone.

But that didn’t mean I didn’t feel something real. I knew I did. That was the worst part of it all. I’d really thought I was falling in love with him…and now this had happened.

Screw it. There was only one thing I wanted to do now.

I wanted to catch him in the act, for real this time, just so I could finally get it through my head once and for all that he was a liar who’d never really love me back. I was going to go to Rossitano’s tonight and walk in on him and Lexie on their cozy little date, and there was no way he’d be able to deny that something was going on between them then.

As I planned out all the things I was going to say to him when I caught him, my phone buzzed. It was my Mom.

“Hi, Mom,” I said, lying back on the bed.

“Hi, honey. Are we still on for dinner tonight?”

“Huh?”

She tut-tutted at me. “Don’t tell me you’ve been working so hard that you forgot our plans.”

Crap. I had forgotten. She’d called me the other day to ask if I was free for dinner, and I’d totally blanked.

I needed a way out of it. I couldn’t go to dinner with her, because I wanted to spend tonight staking out Rossitano’s so I could catch Patrick and his paramour.

“Um…I think I might have double-booked myself, Mom,” I said.

“Nonsense. You can cancel your other thing. I haven’t seen you in ages, because you’ve been so busy. There’s a nice Italian place downtown. I think it’s called Rossitano’s. Shall we go there?”

My eyebrows shot up. Now that was a happy coincidence. Patrick would freak if he saw me walk in with my Mom, and I was going to make damn sure he saw us. He wouldn’t even be able to chase me down and try to deny anything, because he knew full-well that my Mom had no idea about our romantic involvement. Instead, he’d have to awkwardly sit there with his side piece in a haze of torrid guilt until one of us finally decided to leave.

“Oh. Okay. Sure, that sounds good,” I said.

“I’ll pick you up just before eight,” she replied. “See you then, honey.”

I threw myself into my work for the rest of the day, arranging media appearances and charity events for Patrick the duplicitous snake, and by seven I was almost too tired to go anywhere.

Too bad. I was going out to dinner, and I was going to make him squirm.

Mom picked me up at a quarter to eight, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I remembered that Patrick’s texts had said he would be arriving at the restaurant at seven-thirty. At this rate, Mom and I would be arriving there just after eight, so I had plenty of time to walk in and catch him.

I took a deep breath and followed my Mom into the candlelit restaurant. I scanned the room, trying to spot Patrick and Lexie, but they weren’t here. In fact, no one was here. The whole place was empty. There weren’t even any wait staff loitering around the tables, which were quite oddly arranged. A lot of them seemed to be missing, and the rest were arranged closely around the edge, leaving a massive empty space in the middle, kind of like a dance floor.

“What the…?” I said, my voice trailing off.

Mom grinned, and as I spoke, someone blew a party whistle from behind one of the tables. Practically everyone I knew jumped up from where they’d apparently been hiding. Patrick was in the center of the group…minus Lexie. They all grinned wildly at me and shouted out.

“Surprise!”