Chapter 12

Ethan

I woke up feeling like someone had used my head for a punching bag the night before. My face hurt and my skull throbbed as colors flashed in front of my eyes.

"Fuck," I groaned and rolled over, not sure where I was. It wasn't home. "Where am I?"

"Get up, pretty boy. I just made us some bacon and toast. I'm gonna eat your half if you don't come the fuck on. You know how much I love bacon." Liam's voice was an automatic comfort.

"What happened?" I forced myself to sit up slowly as the room spun.

"I'm gonna say you either drank a whole fucking lot while I wasn't watching, or you were drugged. I found your ass naked in a broom closet and the girls split." He pressed his hands to the doorframe and tilted his head. "You fucked that girl bareback?"

"What? No. Hell no." I got up and turned to press my hands back to the top of the bed. "Fuck, I feel like death."

"Right, well, I'm gonna warn you now, I'm pretty sure that girl fucked you while you were drugged up. There was... um... evidence of it everywhere."

I glanced back at him. "What? No one saw that shit but you, right?"

"Right, unless the bitch took selfies with you."

"This is your damn fault." I stood up and walked toward him aggressively.

"Chill your nuts. I didn't force you into a broom closet, and since when do you drink anything that doesn't come in a fucking bottle that you watch get opened? You know how women are? You're the most famous guy in Hollywood. Shit, bro."

I stopped in front of him as anger burned through me. "I gotta call Deza."

"No need. She's on her way over here now. She blew up your phone this morning."

"Seriously?" Terror raced through the center of my chest as I walked quickly to the bathroom. I slammed the door behind me and hit my knees, losing the contents of my stomach and hating myself. There was a reason I didn't go out to clubs or anywhere public where liquor was involved. I wasn't very good at holding my own. I'd reasoned the night before that having Liam there would make it all okay. I forgot what a torrential fuck up he was on purpose.

"Get out here right now!" Deza's voice was loud and sharp.

"All right, but stop yelling. I feel like my fucking head is going to explode."

"I swear to God, I'm going to kill you Ethan Lewis."

"Yeah, yeah." I opened the door and let my eyes run down her body. "You look hot."

She slapped me, causing me to step back in shock. She was rarely violent with me, but by the look on her face, the shit was bad. Really bad.

"Stop talking and get in here. We have to figure out what to do about you and your stupidity before Frank calls me. Eon is fine with you being a billionaire playboy and acting like shit, but getting drunk in a popular club and swinging your dick all over the place? No! Just no! I hate you sometimes." She turned and walked to the kitchen.

I ran my fingers through my hair and tried to think past the part of the night where I followed Dara or Sarah or Kara back to the back room. Nothing would register after that.

"I showed my cock to the club?" I walked into the kitchen and stopped short as Deza turned on the news. They were having a field day with me and Liam dry humping some slutty girl on the dance floor. The title of the breaking news was, "The boy we once knew and loved... corrupted by fame."

Liam snorted and handed me a plate of food as Deza whipped around and pinned him with a look that had to leave his balls running up to hide inside of him.

"Sorry." My brother lifted his hands in surrender as I moved up beside Deza and ate a piece of bacon.

"I thought you said you got me out of there after the closet shit." I didn't glance over at her as she turned to face me.

"Closet shit?" she growled.

Liam moved up on the other side of me and grabbed one of my two pieces of toast. "Nope. I just said I saved you from that shit and got you dressed again."

"Dressed again!" Deza shouted at the two of us.

"I was drugged, all right?" I snagged the piece of toast from Liam before turning to face her. "I went out to have a good time with my brother, and he brought two chicks. I was trying to find other people to be interested in seeing that you've cock-blocked me from the one girl that leaves me hard and happy as fuck. I did what you asked me to do."

"This is not what I asked you to do!" Her hand was shaking as she pointed a finger at me and poked me in the chest. "You're going to ruin your career like every other idiot in Hollywood has."

"And you care because it ruins your career," I barked back at her and shoved more food in my mouth.

Her expression softened as tears filled her eyes. "Fuck you too, Ethan."

"D." I walked after her as she turned and marched back toward the front door. "Come on, Deza. I took a punch for you. You know I love you."

"That's not what's being questioned here." She opened the door and glanced over her shoulder. "You think I put up with you and your bullshit because I need you to keep my career running? Try again."

I wasn't sure what to say, but didn't have time to react anyway. She slammed the door in my face and left. I needed to go after her, but my head was throbbing and my stomach sick as hell.

"Come on, dude. You can explain yourself later to her. So the fuck what if we went out to have a little bit of fun? No one got pictures of you in the closet. I'm sure of it." He gripped my shoulders and squeezed. "You'll make up with Deza. You always do."

"Where did you find those girls, dude?" I pulled away from him and walked toward the kitchen. "A nunnery?"

He snorted. "They were pretty horny, right?"

"Too horny." I sat down at the table, a little weirded out that I would find anyone a little too horny. I lived in that state most of the time. Or maybe I just thought I did.

"You get the girls next time, all right? I got the hookup from a friend of a friend. In a normal situation they would have been perfect."

"Right, so next time, let's just come over here and not try to go out in public like normal people. You're stupid rich, and I'm famous. This stuff never works well for us." I finished my breakfast and handed him my plate. "What am I going to tell Deza? Or Frank? Hell, Frank might actually understand a little. He's a guy. He gets how old it is to sit around and pretend to live all the damn time."

My phone buzzed and I picked it up to see Deza calling.

"Hey. You know I'm sorry. I love you with all of my heart. You're the only woman in my life," I blurted out my feelings as fast as I could before she hung up on me.

"I love you too, but I hate you more right now. I need you to be at Eon studio six on Monday morning for a few hours. We need you to make a quick cameo in Tricia's film. The lines are quick and easy. I left them in Liam's living room for you. Don't call me today. I need to have a drama-free day without you, or Darren, or anyone's shit."

"You just going to stay inside all damn day? Everyone has drama, D."

"No, I'm having breakfast with Riley, the only person I know who has real troubles in life. I'm hoping it will calm me down and remind me why I do this shit every day."

"Everything all right with her?" My heart skipped a beat.

"Yeah. She's wanting a coach, so I'm presenting a few to her this morning. None of your concern."

"A female coach, right?" Aggression raced through me. Why was it okay for Jace to bone my girl, but the thought of any other man stepping into the picture left me hot headed and ready to fuck someone up?

Because she didn't love Jace. Simple enough. Sex was sex and he'd been her toy for a long ass time. They would come to an end soon too, but for now, Jace was acceptable. No one else.

What is wrong with you? Fucking bi-polar ass.

"No, Clayton Welms."

"What? Come on, D. You know I can't stand Clayton. He shouldn't even be a coach. He's a total prick!"

"You hate him because you used to be close to him, Ethan. He's a great coach and he made you a better actor. You need to stop looking at him as competition. He's not interested in stealing anything from you."

"Right, but that's because the fucker already marked that off his bucket list," I barked at her.

"Are you yelling at me? After what happened this morning?" Her voice was hardening again. I could deal with the Clayton Welms issue through Frank or even Riley if I had to. Upsetting Deza again in a matter of a few minutes was hazardous to my health. Time to suck up. Dammit.

"All right, well, I'm here if you need me. I'm sorry about getting hot over Clayton. It's your business and not mine. Be sweet to me and forget about him though. If you do, I'll let you pet the monster later tonight. Sounds fun, right?"

"Fuck you too, Ethan Lewis."

I was grateful to hear the smile in her last response before she hung up on me.

"She still hate you?" Liam handed me a glass of orange juice.

"Yep." I glanced down at my texts and realized Riley's name was near the top. "Oh no."

I read through it and let out a long sigh.

"Let me see." Liam grabbed my phone and read the drunk text out loud. "Oh fuck. This is better than that time you called up our cousin, Sicily, and proposed to her."

He was laughing so hard he was crying. I grabbed the phone from him and couldn't help but smile. No one else needed to fuck up my life for me.

I was going to make sure I did that all by myself.