Trusting Gibson (Last Score Book 2) (16 page)

Tori’s blunt and condescending assessment of what I was to Gibson made me furious, but I knew she mustn’t get a rise out of me with her snarky comments. Looking her dead in the eye, I stared her down, tired of seeing the same stupid, smug smirk on her face. I almost hoped that she’d do something like sneer, or just anything but that. The one thing I was damned sure about, was that it would take a lot more than Tori’s comments to make me back down.

My training at the hands of Kace made me an expert at hiding my feelings when I was under threat. This time I would at least be able to show this skill off for my own benefit.

“Well Tori, I guess you could be wrong this time. You see, Gibson moans—
a lot
when he’s inside me. And…oh girl when he comes, he just keeps right on going. Did you know that…that he fucks himself hard again? And there is just something in that incredibly dirty mouth of his that is so sexy it sets my pussy swimming. I mean for a guy, he’s pretty vocal and it almost makes me insane with lust.

“Let me tell you, I’ve never experienced anything more erotic than the guttural sounds that come out of that man when he comes.” I left a pregnant pause for her to get her head around everything I was saying, until I saw her smirk quiver, then I delivered my death nail. “So I’m not sure, but maybe you’re right, maybe my pussy does do amazing things but I guess you’d have to ask Gibson about that.”

Tori wasn’t looking half as confident and cocksure of herself by the time I delivered my informative and rapid response to the verbal slap she had tried to deliver me.  “Oh, and Tori…what’s the bet that I’ll
still
be here and Gibson will
still
be sticking it to
me
long after you’ve gone?”

Staring her out, I couldn’t believe I had actually said all of that to her. If someone had told me I’d say something that crude to another woman I’d have been mortified, but desperate times called for desperate measures. And to be frank, I couldn’t have cared less what she thought about me after her earlier treatment anyway.

By the look on Tori’s face, I could see that she hadn’t finished with me, “What does it feel like to be a groupie, Chloe? To constantly wonder when the guy that’s fucking you will suddenly get bored?”

Tori was changing tact and trying to humiliate me. Breathing steadily, I busied myself dishing food onto a plate, conscious not to react to her attempt to draw me into her manipulative argument. Picking up a fork, I glanced at it and I smirked, because I was sorely tempted to flick some food at her for her bitchy behavior.

However, I knew her game so I took a deep breath and didn’t do it myself, because that’s exactly what someone like her would have wanted. Instead, I shuffled the food around my plate with the fork and then made another conscious effort to stuff some food in my mouth to prevent me from rising to the bait. Chewing it slowly, I had no intention of responding until I had swallowed it down. All the while I was chewing, I was figuring out what to say.

Making Tori wait was making her agitated and I noticed her knee start to bounce as one heel rose off the chair and she bounced on the ball of her foot when she became even more impatient.

“I have no idea, Tori, I would have thought you’d have more of an idea what that feels like than me. Didn’t you say that Gibson had done a ‘one and done’ on you before? Maybe it’s you that needs to share the low-down on those feelings, because having had Gibson inside me many times now, it just keeps getting better and better for us. Plus, if you factor in that we’ve just come here fresh from doing media interviews today about being a couple, I sense that you fall into the ‘groupie’ category much more than me.”

Tori looked as if she was still trying to formulate her retort, her mouth opening and closing like some fish out of water, when the door to the hospitality suite opened and Emma slipped into the room. After a quick reconnaissance of the situation, she strode over like a little dynamo in my direction.

“Hey, Chloe. Finally! I made it. Mmm,” Emma gushed with a familiarity that made her seem as if we were close. Turning her nose up, Emma sniffed the culinary delights in front of me. Humming in appreciation, glancing warily at Tori, and I could see Emma was obviously assessing the scene. From where I was sitting, it was easy to see that Tori was most definitely ticked off about something. “Is that Chinese food? Is there any going spare?”

Tori stood up on the chair seat and tugged at the hem of her t-shirt, straightening it down over her hips, then stepped down onto the floor. I watched Tori regard Emma, sizing her up, but she began to address me.

“Chloe, didn’t Gibson tell you…
band
members only? If you want to bring your… little friends to one of our gigs, ask Charlotte to leave tickets at the door, for fuck sake. This space backstage is where we relax.” Checking out Emma’s non-reaction to her comment, the sneer was back on Tori’s face. “It isn’t a fucking café for your mates to drop by. You just don’t get it, do you?”

The only reaction from Emma was a raised brow, but before she could speak, I placed my fork on the plate and cleared my throat which got Tori’s attention away from her and back on me.

“Tori, this is my friend Emma. Get used to seeing her, because I intend on taking her everywhere with me from now on. You don’t like it, I suggest you take that up with Gibson.”

Emma snickered back at me, her eye contact reassuring me that I had done well, before she sat on the seat Tori had been standing on and shuffled it in toward the table.

“Guess the mistress of the house has spoken, Tori. Seems to me that I have nothing better to do with the rest of my life anyway, so travelling with a band and Chloe… well, it sounds like there are loads of fun times ahead. Count me in. You think we should invite Lois as well? I hear she’s hysterical to have around.”

Whatever else Emma did in the future was alright with me, because at that moment I could have kissed her when I saw Tori’s back straighten and her chin draw back about three inches in reaction to Emma.

Tori strutted around the table and slapped her red chipped nail polished hand in front of Emma on the table. She leaned closer to Emma’s face, but side on. My eye was drawn to Tori’s t-shirt, which gaped at the neck. I could see all the way down to her navel.

Tori drew breath and spat her retort at Emma, “You have no fucking idea who you’re talking to, do you?”

Emma’s threw me a glance and a slow half smile curled the edges of her mouth, then she pushed her seat out, sagged back against it and crossed her leg at the knee, then I saw a deliberate eye roll for effect before she stared intensely at Tori.

“Actually, I do. Tori Sparks, 26, Born February 24
^th
1989, state of Michigan. Parents—Ida and Stan Sparks… no siblings. Moved to the Midwest at seven years old when your father began working for Steps Engineering Company. Education: Mustang High School graduate, didn’t progress to college because a private benefactor paid for your place at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Flunked out of there after two years to play in a mediocre indie band called ‘Wintler’. The band folded after three male band members committed a felony on a minor in a motel room and went down for a long time.

“You then toured with various B-list bands as their sessional keyboard player. But you know all that. Anyway, criminal history: seventeen parking tickets unpaid in the Boston area alone. A fine for antisocial behavior… defecating in a public place, two assaults on females in the state of Massachusetts—you want me to continue?”

Tori’s terrified face was a picture—her face distorted—eyes wild. “What the fuck is this? Where did you get all this information? Who the fuck, are you?”

Emma stood slowly and swiped a spring roll off the paper plate, took her time to inspect it, then bit into it. Lifting a napkin, she wiped her mouth while chewing, then swallowed noisily. After this she turned her head to look Tori square in the eye.

“I’m Emma. I thought you’d established that already. That’s
who
I am. The ‘
what
’ this is…well like I said, I’m Chloe’s friend. You fuck with my friends, you fuck with me. Got me? How do I know about you? Well, that’s my job…to know who is most likely to pose a threat to my friend here.  Although, to be honest from what I’ve seen so far, Chloe is more than a match for you. However, I doubt you are smart enough and are probably too insular, up your own ass and self- important to have figured that out for yourself yet.”

Emma’s knowledge stunned me in regards to Tori, she’d only been hired this morning. Pushing my chair back, I stood up in time to see Gibson watching out of the corner of my eye. Turning to look at him, I smiled warmly at him and thought he was worth the aggravation of handling Tori. Gibson smiled warmly, looking a little shy at being caught watching me. It made my heart flutter that he was seeking me out from across the room.

That little smile was all the fuel I needed to deal with Tori and her bad-ass behavior.  I strolled around the table and stood next to her. Then placed my hand on her shoulder, feeling about half as confident as I wanted to, but knowing I had to make an impact on her. Patting her shoulder, I said, “Like I said, Tori, it seems like Gibson wants me around so much that he’s hired not one, but two bodyguards, to make sure I’m kept safe from spiteful bitches like you. So…Tori, suck up or pack up, because your little dude-attitude is going to earn you a one-way ticket home if you can’t change your ways. That’s not me saying that by the way, that’s my observations of how tired my boyfriend seems to be of the way you’re treating me.”

Tori’s head hung and she looked defeated, but I wasn’t stupid enough to think she’d roll over and it would be all downhill after our altercation. Winning the war one battle at a time was the only way with flaws like hers.

CHAPTER 14 - LUST

Gibson

Something happened on the plane, I’m not sure what but I shut down and just couldn’t keep looking at Chloe. I suppose I was afraid she’d say what I’ve been half expecting her to and what I didn’t want to hear—that she couldn’t stay. I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I wanted her.

Chloe was amazing during the media interviews and at the time I was convinced that we were really on track as a couple, but during the transfer back to the plane her insecurity was almost palpable.

When I heard people around me in the past mention they were feeling in emotional turmoil I used to think that feeling was for insecure, weak-willed and self-indulgent people, but since I met Chloe I’ve had these scattered emotions and thoughts for the first time in my life, so I think I’m finally able to relate to that.

When Chloe thanked me for taking care of her, it came out of nowhere. I wasn’t expecting it and no one has ever said anything like that to me before. I’ve been trying to put my finger on it but she gave me this look that’s too hard to describe, but it made my heart squeeze tightly inside my chest and the love I felt for her almost paralyzed me.

When she said she really liked me, I felt that admission took a lot of guts from her. She was a survivor of an abusive relationship, so when Chloe admitting to having some feelings for me, I figured that was a massive step. The relief I felt at learning she was starting to warm to the idea of us was like someone had taken a ten ton weight off my chest and I was inhaling clean mountain air.

Instinct made me want to kiss her hungrily. I fought that feeling but I had no words to describe the emotions going on in my head, so I couldn’t even tell her what her words did to me. When I allowed my lips to touch hers I became choked with my feelings, so I just broke away and whispered, “Thank you, darlin’.”

Suddenly my eyes stung with tears and a lump form in my throat. I wasn’t ever one for getting caught up in the moment but this wave of hope, fear and love just collided somewhere deep inside and I felt that I’d say or do something to ruin it. So I remained mute, slumping back in my seat with my eyes closed. I reached blindly for her hand and willed her to understand how much she meant to me.

With all the confused, unfamiliar emotional stuff came extreme tiredness. Anything emotional seemed to drain me and I could feel it closing me down, but not before Chloe squeezed my hand tightly.

Progress had been made today and I was determined to keep building on that. I knew that I couldn’t make Chloe love me, but I was going to make it fucking difficult for her not to see how much she meant to me.

Drifting off to sleep was easier than being awake trying to connect the dots about us, and when I woke the mood between us had shifted and the closeness we shared at times was back.

Arriving at the venue with Chloe before M3rCy’s performance felt less worrying than at previous performances, because I had confidence in the two security guards I’d just hired, so as of now Chloe would never be left alone and it would give her girls to confide in.

Living this life can be pretty freaky at times even when people love you. I had to protect Chloe, because I know some people are fanatical, so I knew there would be a lot of negativity directed at her because of her relationship with me.

Len caught my attention as soon as we walked through the dressing suite door. I was starving but I still had to be briefed on any issues prior to our performance before I could relax and eat. Persuading Chloe to go on ahead, I enjoyed watching her tight little ass in her skin tight black jeans head off in the direction of the Chinese food we had ordered.

During my discussion with Len, I was relieved to see the first of the two women I’d hired to take care of Chloe arrive. Emma slipped into the room quietly and smiled reassuringly at me, scanning the room at the same time, she surveyed the scene. Simon almost stood but I put my hand up and looked at each of the guys while I spoke.

“It’s okay that’s Emma she’s with Chloe.”  Simon raised an eyebrow because she was just his type and I smirked to myself but then scowled at him, because the last thing I needed was him fucking the hired help and taking her off her game of keeping my Chloe safe.