Chapter Fourteen

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Dominic

 

 

 

This was going to be three days of absolute hell. I’d expected to be bored out of my mind and that would have been bad enough. Instead it was something more like actual torture. Leah was officially bursting out of her shell here, dancing to the music with a sexy confidence that made it impossible to look away from her. Laughing at something Audrey said, her face glowing and her eyes practically sparkling, she looked happier than I’d ever seen her. That in itself wasn’t bad, but my reaction to her was. Every time she brushed against me as she danced I had to clench my hands at my sides to keep from doing anything stupid. Like putting them all over her body. When Audrey pulled her in so they could take a selfie I actually found myself wanting to pull her back, to keep her right up against me. And that was not good. I needed to get my shit together and resign myself to three days of tiny outfits, sexy dancing, and close proximity.

This job had never sucked more than it did now.

Even beyond that, everything was irritating me. Davis kept making comments about girls he thought were hot, most of whom were way too young for him, and then alternatively making fun of what people were wearing like he was someone’s dad all of a sudden. And then there was Audrey, who I didn’t trust at all. Davis had called it with that little nickname. She was trouble. I saw it every time she whispered in Leah’s ear and then looked over at us. It felt like she was planning something, which made us have to be on guard even more than we already were. When the set they were watching ended, Audrey led Leah out of the crowd to the more sparsely populated grass behind it. Small groups of people were sitting on blankets, and one of the groups said something to the girls as they passed, soon shifting to make room for Leah and Audrey to join them. This group was definitely 420 friendly by the smell of things, so Davis and I stood nearby and waited it out.

“You have to,” I heard Audrey say. “I’m making you say yes.”

“No, Audrey, it’s not like that. I promised my dad no drugs, it was one of the conditions of my coming here.”

“He probably meant, like, cocaine. Weed’s not like an actual drug.”

Still, she refused, and I caught Audrey throwing me and Davis a dirty look, like it was somehow our fault that Leah wasn’t blazing up. “They’ll tell on you, won’t they?”

Leah glanced over. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

Others from their group were starting to look over, paranoia all over their faces. One of the guys, a scruffy college-age looking kid, asked, “Who are those guys?”

“Her brothers,” Audrey replied quickly. “They’re her brothers. Leah, your brothers are making people nervous.”

“Don’t worry about them. They don’t care if you guys are smoking weed. Carry on. I’m gonna go wait with them.”

She left the group, seeming to breathe a sigh of relief as she walked over to us. “I really didn’t want to get high,” she confided in a low voice.

“We wouldn’t tell your dad, for the record,” Davis said. “Not about shit like that.”

With a smile, she said, “I know. I just didn’t want to.” She took a long swig on her water bottle, and then glanced at me but didn’t say anything else.

“You having fun?” I asked.

“Yeah. I think Audrey’s getting annoyed with me, though.”

“Why? Because you didn’t get high?”

“Not just that. Because I have rules. And…bodyguards.”

“She doesn’t like us?” I asked, pretending to be affronted. “I never would have guessed that from the way she keeps glaring at us.”

“T can get over it,” Davis said. “Seriously, she can fuck off if she wants. We’ll keep you company.”

She rolled her eyes. “Thanks, but I don’t want her to fuck off, as you so nicely put it. We’re having so much fun. It just feels like…I don’t know.” Sighing, she broke off for a moment and glanced back in the hazy direction of the group. Then, she looked at Davis again. “The thing is, you guys are weirding people out. Can’t you relax a little? Hang out with us like you’re here as our friends and not our bodyguards.”

It wasn’t an unusual request. A lot of bodyguards were more friendly with their clients when the clients requested it, in an effort to blend in. Some guys got way too into it, though, drinking and partying and in general just being completely unprofessional. And those guys caused the whole idea of the “buddyguard” to have a bad rap.

Unsurprisingly, Davis immediately shot her down. “That’s not a good idea, Leah.”

“Come on, Davis. Please? She’s going to get tired of this and ditch me, and then my entire trip will be ruined. You don’t have to buddy up with anyone. Just act like you’re here with us. Stop standing around and being creepy.”

Acting confused, he said, “But standing around and being creepy is what I do.”

She groaned, clearly frustrated, and I couldn’t help but feel a little bad for her. Then again, I felt like she was overthinking the whole thing and giving Audrey way more effort than she probably deserved. “Davis…”

“I don’t know. We’ll see. Go back to your friend.” I was all too familiar with that type of response from dealing with Cory. He was obviously hoping she’d let it go and forget about it.

And she did, at least for the moment. She went back to Audrey and for the next couple of hours they floated to different people, taking pictures, getting drinks, laughing at everything and generally having a blast. But Audrey still acted put out by our presence, doing juvenile shit like making a big show of scratching her eyebrow with her middle finger aimed at us.

“What do you think?” Davis asked me under his breath. “You want to buddy up? I’m fucking bored, anyway.”

“Your call,” I replied. In truth, I didn’t like the idea of it, because it just wasn’t my style. But Davis was the boss, and ultimately, he called the shots.

He signaled Leah over while Audrey was looking through a strand of sunglasses from one of the vendors. Somewhere along the line a braid had appeared down one side of her hair, giving her a cute hippie look. Approaching us, she glanced first at Davis, then me.

“Hey, bros. What’s up?”

With no preamble, Davis said, “We’ll try it your way. And only on a one-time basis.”

Her eyes flickered and grew wider. “You mean…”

“We’ll do the buddy shit. But just this once, and only on a trial basis. Once the concert’s done, it ends, you hear me? You know I love you, but I can’t be your friend when I’m on the job.”

Her face lit up and she literally jumped up and down with excitement before hopping forward to throw her arms around Davis. “Thank you, thank you!”

Even watching this, I wasn’t prepared for the way she came to me next, standing on tiptoes to wrap her arms around my neck and gently pressing her entire weight against me. I hugged her back automatically and tried to keep it casual, but I didn’t miss the way she lingered for a few seconds longer than she needed to, or how natural it felt to have her in my arms. Neither of us missed my thumb snaking under her thin t-shirt to rub once against her bare back above her shorts. I heard her breath catch as she pulled back, and I cursed myself. Why the fuck did I do that?

“Thanks, Dom,” she said softly.

“No problem.”

Audrey bounced over to us, now wearing ridiculous purple sunglasses with perfectly round frames. “Why are we hugging? Are they leaving? Are we saying goodbye?”

“No, they just agreed to chill out a little. Be a little more friendly around us and a little less Men in Black.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” she said, not looking very optimistic.

“Sweetheart, no one’s asking you to believe it,” Davis said. He really didn’t hold back with her. “This is not about you.”

“Davis. We said friendly.”

“What? That is how I friendly. Am I not doing it right?”

“No,” she said flatly. He just shrugged as if to say, Oh, well.

“Whatever,” Audrey said, shooting a glare at Davis. “I don’t need him to fake like me. Let’s head over to the first stage. The Cold Fire is going on soon.”

 

 

Davis slipped into the role of friend easily, despite being older than the average concert attendee and this not being his scene at all. He became more affectionate with Leah, more mouthy with Audrey, and in general seemed about ten times more relaxed. It wasn’t as simple for me. As I watched Davis step back to take a photo of the girls holding their drinks up, I felt uneasy about this whole thing. I knew my role in my job, and I had no trouble socializing in my private life. But combining those two halves of me felt unnatural and somehow wrong.

Leah and Audrey both had their phones out and were texting while sneaking glances at each other, which made me think they were probably texting each other. I hated when people did that. It always made it seem like they were talking about you, no matter what. I mean, yeah, it was loud out here, but not that loud. My suspicions were confirmed when Leah turned back to look at me. When our eyes met she came over.

“Hey, friend,” she said, bumping her hip against mine in greeting. I looked down to watch this action and then looked back up, arching an eyebrow. “You’re not having fun.”

“Just watching you and your little friend over their plotting.”

She laughed. “Plotting? We’re not plotting. She’s just being dumb.”

I glanced over toward Davis and Audrey was now next to him, holding her phone out and angling it down on them. Holy shit. Was he actually taking selfies with her? I was going to give him so much shit for that later. Then I paused, taking note of the way Audrey had gone to Davis as soon as Leah had come over to me. Right after they’d been having their secret little texts. The fuck they weren’t plotting.

“What’s she doing over there?” I nodded toward them. “Providing distraction?”

A cute blush came to her cheeks and she gave this confused little laugh, like she didn’t know what I was talking about. “I think she just likes to annoy him.”

I leaned down to speak closer to her ear. “You girls are up to something. And, hint, I don’t play games.”

In response, she lightly punched my chest. Her knuckles grazed my stomach as she lowered the hand, and then she broke the contact. “You’re just being paranoid. The only thing we’re plotting is how to get you guys to relax. You in particular.”

“And you’re the girl for that job?”

“Want Audrey? We can switch.”

“I do not,” I said slowly, “want Audrey.”

There was that cute little blush again, but she held my eyes and stepped in closer so her front brushed mine. “Then you get me.”

There was so much weight in that comment that neither of us moved or spoke for a minute, like we were taking time to roll it around in our heads. Finally, I put my hands on her waist and turned her so that her back was to me, almost brushing my front. Speaking into her ear, I said, “Watch the show.”

And it was like that between us for the rest of the afternoon. Little touches, like the way she took every opportunity to playfully smack me or bump her hip against me. Or the way I guided her ahead of me with a hand on her lower back, which didn’t make her pull away like it once had. And then there were the loaded glances we kept sharing, looks that would have guaranteed a night ending in sweaty sex if she were anyone else. But we couldn’t go there, so I didn’t know why I was even letting us play at it. Maybe because it felt natural to do, and it was the only thing that pulled me out of professional mode. Before, that had always been a bad thing. Now it was expected, and I couldn’t help myself from taking advantage of it.

Night came, and after watching one of the bigger names play at the first stage, we went into the VIP section that was to the left of the stage. Both girls refused to enter this area during the performances because apparently it wasn’t a cool place to hang out, but they liked to use the restrooms there so they could skip long lines. Here is where they met a group of four kids, two guys and two girls, all dressed in what seemed to be standard festival wear: little crochet bikini top type things on the girls barely hidden by short flowy dresses, and skinny jeans with loose patterned tank tops on the guys. It turned out this group was staying at our hotel, so they were instant friends with Leah and Audrey. Suddenly the day went back to sucking.

When we headed back to the hotel at midnight, all I wanted to do was settle in and go to sleep – yes, apparently I really was the boring old person that made Lucas constantly give me shit – but the girls made plans with the preppy foursome to meet at the bar in the hotel. One of the girls was clearly into me, a short brunette named Cassidy, but all I could focus on was the douchebag across the table who kept flirting with Leah. Audrey was at the other end of the table giving equal time to Davis and the other two, maybe flirting with all three of them, but on our side of the table it was uncomfortable and awkward. Leah kept frowning at Cassidy any time the girl leaned in too close to say something to me, and I couldn’t stop keeping watch on the kid who was trying to flirt with her. He was too touchy and I didn’t like it. He had his arm laying on the back of her chair and kept brushing her shoulders with his fingers as he talked to her. At first, she smiled politely but I could tell she was increasingly getting agitated with his hands all up in her space. When his other hand came to lay on her thigh, she moved it away with a slight smile, still trying to be nice about it.

“Dude, stop,” she said quietly. She was looking down to the other end of the table, trying to catch Audrey’s attention, but that girl was in her own world where all attention was focused only on her.

The girl on my side wasn’t being as handsy, but she was still leaning in too close under the guise of wanting to talk to Leah and the douchebag, and I was about two seconds from asking Leah if she wanted to call it a night. Even though that wasn’t my place to do at all.

However, when the douchebag squeezed Leah’s leg right above the knee as he was talking about how he’d had shots earlier with a girl who proceeded to puke all over the place, I couldn’t sit still any longer. This was such a bad call, but before Leah could push his hand away, I reached out with my own and shoved it off her.

“Hands off,” I said, staring him down. “She told you to stop.” Seriously, why was the word no such a hard concept for idiots like this to comprehend?

“Jeez,” he said, holding his hands up and looking at me like I was crazy. “I talk with my hands, it’s just how I am. I don’t even know I’m doing it. Sorry. Fuck.”

“I told you to stop,” Leah said. “You knew you were doing it. But, whatever. I’m tired. Have a good night, guys.”

She rose to her feet and I followed suit, as did Davis. Audrey looked up blankly.

“You going up?”

“Gotta save my energy for tomorrow,” Leah said with a quick smirk.

“We’re young. We have all the energy.”

“Not me. I need sleep.” She waved, and Audrey shrugged and went back to her conversation, so the three of us went to find the elevator.

“Ugh,” she moaned, leaning her head back once we started to ascend. “I can’t believe how worn out I am. I feel so bad for making you guys suffer through all this.”

“It’s our job. And, believe it or not, we’re being compensated quite nicely.”

“Davis. It’s bad form to discuss your salary with me. And, besides, you’re supposed to let me think you just really enjoy my company.”

“I always enjoy your company, Miss Leah. I just enjoy getting paid more.”

She shrugged, and the elevator dinged as we arrived on our floor. “Fair enough.”

We entered the suite, and I said I was going to do a quick sweep.

“Fine with me,” Davis muttered as Leah stood by the closed door, patiently waiting. “I gotta piss. See you in a few.”

Everything looked good, windows sealed shut, curtains closed, balcony door locked from the inside. Nothing moved or tampered with. I paused in Leah’s room, looking at how clean it was compared to Audrey’s. The bed was barely mussed and her suitcase was closed, no clothes strung out anywhere. Somehow the room already smelled like her. Shaking my head, I started to continue on my way so I could get out and leave Leah to her sleep. But then something caught my eye on the dresser: a sheet of paper that had been folded up and creased in every direction but now lay open, covered by jots of black marker. I wasn’t in the habit of looking at other people’s stuff, especially on the job, but I saw the words “bucket list” and it was like I was propelled by some outside force. I stepped forward and picked up the paper, quickly reading through the numbered items.

“What are you doing?” Leah’s voice came from the doorway, and I didn’t even look up. I’d already been caught, no use pretending like I wasn’t doing what I was clearly doing. Besides, this was…interesting. “Is that my list? Are you serious? Give that to me!”

She marched forward and I let her grab it from my hands, but it was too late. I’d already read it. “You really made a summer bucket list?” It would have been funny, if not for some of the list items.

“Oh, my God. That’s none of your business. I can’t believe you read that, it’s private.”

“It was out, and it caught my eye. Sorry.”

“Yeah, you could at least try to sound sorry when you say you’re sorry.”

Skipping right over that, I asked, “What was the thing on the list that was all blacked out?”

With a pucker on her forehead, she looked down at the list, then back at me. Almost warily, she said, “Seeing my mom.”

“Oh. That’s why the pen got so angry.”

She shrugged, still watching me with this cautious look on her face.

“And what’s with the stuff further down? Hook up with someone you’ll never see again? Why would you want to do that?”

She exhaled. “For fun. For the experience.”

“Is that why you’re all on the prowl this summer? Like with that kid back in California, and now some douchebag at the concert?”

“Oh, please. I’m not on the prowl. I’m just trying to open myself up a little. See what happens.”

I intensely disliked that notion for reasons I didn’t want to name. “And what was the other thing? Make someone never forget you? What does that even mean? How would you know if they remember you or not if you never see them again?”

Heat rushed to her face, and her eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t understand. Just forget it, it’s none of your business.”

“Alright.” I said it like I agreed, even nodded my compliance, but then I was off and going again in the next breath. There was really no stopping me when I put my mind to something. “I just don’t see the point in living your life from a to-do list. You can’t force things to happen like that. I mean, why do you think it went so wrong with the California kid? Or the idiot downstairs? Because you’re too focused on trying to cross a fucking item off a list instead of letting things happen naturally.”

“You can’t always wait for things to happen. I’ve been waiting for things to happen my entire life and it’s gotten me nowhere. You have to make it happen. That’s all I’m doing, I’m being more assertive and pro-active about what I want.”

“Okay, so then explain to me how hooking up with a stranger you’re never going to see again is going to enrich your life.”

She gave a frustrated exhale. “I didn’t say it would enrich my life. I just want to have the experiences other girls my age have. Are you really trying to slut shame me right now?”

“No. I’m not shaming you for what you want. I’m shaming you for how you’re trying to get it, and who you’re trying to get it from. Some stupid, drunken hookup with a college boy who wouldn’t know how to handle you. Trust me when I say it would be an empty, regrettable decision.”

“You don’t know that. You don’t know what they could handle, or anything about them.”

“Oh, I know about them. That’s the kind of experience and knowledge that can’t be forced. They wouldn’t know where to begin.”

Her mouth opened and then closed, and for several seconds we just stared at each other. Finally, she spoke and it was with a soft challenge. “And you would?” She didn’t let me say anything before she continued. “Except you won’t.”

My breath caught at her boldness, but I didn’t back down from it. I merely corrected her statement. “Except I can’t.”

All the walls between us, all the pretense, seem to fade away in that moment. I watched as she stepped closer, still clutching that list.

“And that’s the thing. I go through all the right steps and everything feels like I think it should. But then I get close to them, and it’s just…like everything in me shuts down. There’s nothing. It doesn’t feel the way it feels…” She bit into her bottom lip, suddenly looking unsure. And though I was pretty sure I knew what she was going to say, I encouraged her anyway.

“What?”

She looked up at me and the space between us was almost nonexistent now. “It doesn’t feel the way it feels with you. With you, everything pulls me closer. All you do is look at me and I feel you everywhere.”

I knew the feeling. I was feeling it now, looking into her expressive, earnest eyes. “Leah…” Here’s where I should have calmly, but politely, taken a step back and shut down whatever was happening between us. But then she came closer, her heat pressing right up against me, and what I did instead was say, “Fuck it,” and pull her in with both hands. She met me halfway, eagerly sliding her arms around my neck and letting me grab her mouth with mine. I think in the backs of our minds, we both knew we were on limited time, or maybe the last month of foreplay had fucked with us more than we knew. Because there was no hesitation or playfulness or feeling things out. My hands were all over her in an instant, one buried in her hair and the other going down to mold around the soft curves of her ass so I could pull her up against me. She pushed into me and stretched up and opened her mouth so I could devour her with my tongue, and in that instant I forgot everything. Where we were, what we’d been doing, what we’d been talking about. The long list of reasons I should not be mauling her and kissing her like I was starved for her in the middle of a hotel room. In that moment there was only her. The warmth of her mouth and the wet silk of her tongue. Her tits pressing into my chest. The sexy little moans she was making in the back of her throat. It was all fucking overload but I could not get enough, and we clawed and rubbed and grabbed at each other as we chased more. One of her legs wrapped around me so the outside of my thigh was placed at the inside of hers, and by some depraved force of the universe, the phone in my pocket vibrated just as she did this and she broke the kiss with a surprised yelp. She didn’t move her leg, though.

I was so turned on by the look on her face that it took me a minute to catch on to the fact that my phone was ringing. And even then, I didn’t want to answer the stupid thing, or silence it. I wanted to press it against her and make her moan. But reality slowly swept back in, and I gently lowered her leg to the floor so I could grab the phone. It was Davis, of course.

I wasn’t sure I could even speak normally after what had just happened, but I cleared my throat and gave it my best shot. “Yeah.”

“Where the fuck are you?”

I glanced at Leah, who was flushed and panting and looked about as out of it as I felt. “I’ll be back in a sec.”

“Yeah. Okay.” His voice was full of sarcasm, and I knew I was going to get an earful when I got back. He ended the call and I tried to get my breathing back to normal as the situation before me came into sharp focus. What had just happened?