Ever Lonely (Ever James Band Book 1)

by Kimberly Lauren

  He griped and I swear I heard him say, “You do that plenty.”

  I smiled at him as he rolled his eyes and closed the door. His room was directly across the hall. No one could even attempt to enter this hallway without passing Beau and his many sentries.

  I was sure my security team could rival the President’s. Except I have to pay for mine, not the taxpayers. It was not a pretty bill. One time I performed at a benefit at the White House. I would bet money there were more people in my security and Secret Service than there were attendees.

  As I walked into the kitchen, my phone buzzed again. I tried to feel annoyed that Rhett was still texting me, but that little butterfly in my stomach was flapping its damn wings. I quickly grabbed the phone out of my pocket and slid the unlock button.

  Hey, Ever. I don’t know if you remember me but it’s Sienna - we met last night. I was just wondering if you were still okay with tonight. I know you’re super busy :-)

  Even though I may have been disappointed that it wasn't Rhett, I laughed at Sienna's innocent message.

  The hotel door quickly opened, and Beau's large form took up the space in the doorframe.

  “Now who the hell’s that?” He gestured toward the device in my hand.

  Beau knew almost before I did that a new number was contacting me. And typically, any girl my age would pitch a fit at the fact he monitored my phone so closely. Trust me, I did for the entire first year he worked with me.

  I bitched. He smiled that irritating smile that said he wasn’t going to change one bit. I learned to get over it. He wasn’t prying into my privacy, he was protecting me.

  “It’s Sienna,” I mumbled back while typing my reply.

  “Should I be worried you seem to be giving your number away to strangers like candy lately?” his gruff voice asked.

  “You know what they say about strangers and candy!” I sing-songed.

  "Why do you insist on making my job more difficult than it needs to be?" he asked while turning to leave again.

  "How mad would you be if I told you I accidentally gave away my phone's passcode to Rhett yesterday?"

  "Hell, girl! You're just trying to make me have a heart attack. That kind of thing doesn't accidentally happen. Change it."

  “It was an accident.”

  “Change the code, Ever,” he barked before leaving the room. I laughed as I sent off my reply to Sienna.

  Of course I remember you! I'm not THAT busy. Just come over whenever tonight. The 4 seasons – tell the men in black the password is – Beau has a nice ass ;-)

  She quickly replied, Omg, I can’t say that about Beau Campbell!

  I always forgot that Beau was a legend in his own right. He had often been called "ruthless," "brutal," and even "ferocious." But to me, he had never been any of those things.

  Sure you can. That’s the password. Just have Gage say it. I chuckled at the idea of Gage’s face when he had to utter those words to the large men downstairs.

  “EVER!” Lola yelled from somewhere in the suite.

  "LOLA!" I laughed while shouting back.

  I reached into the stainless steel refrigerator and grabbed a coconut water from the bottom shelf. I was twisting off the top when Lola waltzed into the kitchen holding a black shopping bag. She wore a flowing teal dress that fit her curves perfectly and was casual—yet not too casual—for a night out. The teal in her dress matched the teal tips in her hair. Last week, she had fuchsia. Next week, it would probably be lime green.

  “That’s cute,” I said, gesturing at her body.

  “Thanks, I just got it on the way here.” She reached around me and grabbed an iced coffee. It looked delicious and like something that contained way too many calories. As all delicious things do.

  "It was only a two-minute car ride… how did you manage to go shopping?"

  "Well, it's also a fifteen-minute walk, which is what most of us did. I happened to spot this beauty in the window," she said, twirling in front of me.

  I was instantly envious. Oh, how I craved her ability to go out in public so freely. No one bothered her or ambushed her. She could walk down the streets of New York and do something as simple as window shop. I was transferred from one building to another by car, even if it was only two doors down. All so no one could harm me.

  “You know I don’t care for that sad face,” she said, pinching my cheeks. “I got you something as well.”

  My mood instantly brightened. I watched her turn toward the bag she had brought in earlier and pull out a handful of black fabric.

  “Go try it on.” She shoved it in my hands. “People are going to start arriving soon.”

  I chugged the rest of my water and tossed the bottle into the recycling bin. She smiled at the added pep in my step. One would think by now I would be used to receiving new things, but it still made me just as happy. Especially when Lola picked it out.

  “I actually got you a present tonight, too. But it won’t be here until later,” I told her, thinking about the six-foot hunk named Gage I knew she would be immediately attracted to.

  “I love surprises!” she said, smiling widely.

  “Thanks for filling in as my assistant today on top of everything else, Lolz,” I said as we made our way into the bedroom. She always got ready with me before our parties.

  “Have you heard from Rose at all?” Her tone was cautious—and for good reason.

  “She knows better than that.”

  “You’ll have to talk to her, Ever.”

  “I know. Just not now.” I walked into the spacious bathroom and let the warmth from the heated tiles soothe me. All I wanted was to forget today had ever happened.

  The walls and floors were made entirely of marble and should have made it feel cold, but it felt like a beautiful sunset surging up through my soles. There were floor-to-ceiling windows with a brilliant view of Manhattan and beyond. The scene at night was my favorite. There may have been too many lights to observe the stars here, but the city lights created their own twinkling galaxy.

  Lola promptly went into primping mode. She grabbed a comb and began teasing my hair. Out of habit, she always worked on me first and then herself. I held still while she worked her magic. Thankfully I had just come from a shoot, so she didn't have much to do.

  “Do you ever think we’ll come home from a long day, put on our sweats and… I don’t know, just make double chocolate brownies and watch horrible romantic comedies?” I sighed, trying to remember the last time we had a lazy night.

  She eyed me in the mirror and mimicked a bored yawn.

  I laughed. “I forget I’m talking to the girl with a lifetime supply of condoms in her purse and some very strange lubricants. I’m pretty sure I saw a jalapeno-flavored one.” I shivered while being equally repulsed. “Don’t ever tell me why you would have that.”

  “It’s actually a great story…” she started. I moved away when she took the teasing comb to her own hair.

  “No. Please no.” I held up my hand. We laughed as I stripped out of my clothes.

  Lola tossed me a jar of La Mer body cream, and I began slathering it on. With the harsh winter of New York approaching and being manhandled all day, my skin felt as if it had been scraped with sandpaper.

  “You can’t wear a bra tonight,” she informed me. “The outfit won’t allow it.”

  Lola often thought of clothes as having their own personalities. She never spoke ill of them, afraid they might betray us on the red carpet or in another public setting.

  I scooped up the outfit she had gotten for me tonight and headed for the massive closet attached to my master. I hadn't even looked at what she had purchased, but I knew just the shoes I wanted to wear tonight. I pulled off my dress and flicked off my bra, letting them fall to the ground as I browsed the lit shelves.

  Each one had been meticulously organized by type of shoe and then arranged by color. I probably should have been ashamed that this wide selection wasn't ev
en a third of my collection. All the others were safely packed away while the renovations were being done in my apartment. But I wasn't ashamed because I loved them too much, and I had worked hard for these damn shoes.

  I continued scanning the rows, looking for the pair I had been dying to wear, when I felt big, warm hands come around my hips and a nose nuzzle into the side of my neck.

  “Ah, just the girl I was looking for.” His Australian accent was heavy tonight.

  The only problem—Noah wasn't Australian. His current character, Liam Baker, was. What most of his fans didn't know was that Noah Reynolds was a method actor. An extreme method actor. He not only became his character, he practically absorbed them.

  Liam Baker was the hunky Australian who came to New York to find a girl he had met ten years ago on the beach in Melbourne. He was passionate and romantic as hell. I would take Liam Baker a thousand times over the disturbing psychopathic scientist that Noah played a few months back.

  The tough part was getting the real Noah. I didn’t want a fake character that was only going to stick around for a few months at a time. The second I started to look forward to him, he was gone.

  “Noah…” I hummed as he kissed along my neck.

  “Yes, darling?” he whispered into my ear, accent still thick as ever.

  His hands cupped my breasts, and I let my head fall back against his hard chest. He spun me around, pushing me up against the wardrobe door. His short blond hair was styled back away from his forehead, and his jaw was clean-shaven. Whenever Noah had to shave, it really showed off his baby face, something girls usually swooned over.

  His jawbone wasn't stark and chiseled like Rhett's, and his features were much more clean-cut compared to Rhett's edgier looks. Noah wore a white Italian woven dress shirt that Rhett would undoubtedly never be caught dead in.

  The second I realized the comparisons that were racing through my head, I wanted to slap myself. Damn Rhett for intruding where he didn’t belong.

  I grabbed hold of Noah and kissed him eagerly. I caught a brief whiff of a cheap women’s perfume coming off him and tried to think about anything else.

  There were a million reasons Noah might smell like perfume. He could have just come from filming an intimate scene with his costar, or a fan could have gotten ahold of him on his way into the hotel.

  See… a million reasons.

  I kissed him harder.

  Pushing all thoughts away.

  He lifted my legs and wrapped them around his waist. We both groaned as he sat me on the edge of a dresser.

  “Bloody hell, you feel amazing,” he moaned into my neck.

  Was I about to have sex with Noah, my boyfriend, or Liam, the fictional Australian? He ground into me, and at that moment, I didn’t care.

  “Ever James! You better not be doing what I think you’re doing in there!” Lola shouted through the heavy wooden closet door.

  “I’m doing what you think I’m doing,” I called back while still holding tightly to Noah.

  “Bugger. Come back later,” Noah hollered.

  "Ew. Hope Crocodile Dundee is worth it," she grumbled, and I heard the bedroom door slam closed.

  ~~~~~~~~~~

  I looked in the full-length mirror as Noah helped zip me up. Lola had done her job well once again. The black jumper she picked out looked damn good. This one had tiny black shorts that were attached to a top made of see-through black lace. Underneath was a flesh-tone fabric hiding the goods, but I would definitely need to wear fashion tape to keep the deep V-neck from sliding even a fraction. The back also sported a deep V, and Lola was correct—a bra would not work.

  I reached up and grabbed the dreamy Jimmy Choo lace cutout booties that were perfect for this outfit. Maybe spending a few grand on shoes was frivolous, but once you wore a decent pair of heels that supported your feet as well as these did, you could never go back to bargain ones. Plus, I could never find a shoe this gorgeous on the shelves of Target.

  Noah started to exit the closet, and I reached for his arm. "Walk out with me."

  “Seriously?” he questioned.

  “Yeah. It’s okay for us to actually be a couple sometimes,” I scoffed at his question. As if my request had been ludicrous.

  I rushed to the bathroom to touch up my lipstick and tease my curls, all while checking my outfit in yet another mirror. After adding a few strips of tape here and there, everything was in place and nothing seemed to be in danger of falling out.

  I took a deep breath and tried to ready myself for another long night with people who were really only here to be part of the celebrity scene. Noah was waiting by the closed bedroom door and opened it for me when I approached.

  The room was already loud, but the distinct sound of Champagne bottles being opened rose above the music. It was close to eleven, and our “friends” had started the party without us. I often wondered if they would even notice if I never showed up. Forget that it was my place, my liquor and my security letting them in.

  “Noah!” a group of girls screeched the second we stepped foot into the oversized living room.

  The marble fireplace was blazing full-force. I didn’t understand the point of it since the French doors leading to the balcony were wide open, allowing the cold New York air to blow in. The television above the mantel blasted music videos. At least, for now, it was on something decent and mood lifting.

  "See ya, babe," Noah quickly tossed out. With a slap to my ass, he was off to visit the group that had called out for his attention. I jolted forward on impact and resisted the urge to rub the probably reddening area of my butt.

  "Get your hot ass over here." Lola's voice pierced the crowd. My eyes scanned the room. The ceilings were high, and the walls were covered with Mother-of-pearl tiles, casting a shimmery warm glow. The room was stunning, but a bit much at the same time.

  I finally spotted my beautiful brunette friend in the kitchen, throwing back a shot of clear liquid. Leave it to Lola to be leading the party.

  Before I could make it to the kitchen, I noticed my new friends huddled around a high-top table. Sienna looked amazing in an ultra-short nude dress with a black lace-embroidered fabric overlay. On her little feet, she wore leather ankle boots that gave her just enough lift but still kept her petite stature.

  “Sienna!” I called out on my way over. “You look smokin’ hot!”

  She blushed and tugged the hem of her dress a little. The fabric was incredibly short, her legs on full display tonight. Walking to the hotel must have been cold for her. What we women sacrificed for fashion.

  I once performed in Times Square on New Year's Eve in something that was the equivalent of lingerie. I was convinced I was going to lose a finger or an entire limb to frostbite. But I didn't, and the show looked amazing. Totally worth it.

  Standing around the table with beers in hand was her brother Gage and Alex the Bartender. They both looked deliciously casual, as guys were so lucky to frequently pull off. I bet it took them a whopping ten minutes to get ready tonight.

  “Do not encourage this…” Gage covered his eyes and gestured down the length of his sister’s body.

  “What? She’s killing it.” I laughed.

  “She’s practically naked,” Alex griped. Sienna shot him a glare and turned her back to him. When Alex caught a glimpse of the fully nude-colored backside of her dress, he shook his head in disbelief.

  “I can’t believe we’re here!” Sienna announced. I smiled at her enthusiasm.

  “Yeah, Ever,” Alex said, stating my name slowly. “I can’t believe we’re at Ever’s party. Or that Ever couldn’t even give her favorite bartender her real name.”

  I burst out laughing at his annoyance for being played last night. “How long did it take you to figure it out?”

  "Right about the time the bar erupted after you left. Everyone was reeling from the fact that they just saw Ever James!" With extreme sarcastic enthusiasm, he clapped his hands while jumping u
p and down.

  My head fell backward from laughter as I pictured Alex finally realizing I had pulled the wool over his eyes.

  “Yeah… while you’re over there laughing at your own jokes, not cool with that damn password, Ever,” Gage spouted.

  Sienna and Alex immediately laughed at Gage’s disgruntled expression. Then I remembered the ridiculous password I had given to Sienna earlier.

  “I had to say that shit to three of the biggest dudes I’ve ever met in my life. And guess what? One of them was fucking Beau Campbell. He was not impressed.”

  I held on to Sienna’s arm as I tried to control my amusement. That alone just made my night. I could only imagine the look on everyone’s face when big, strong Gage had to tell my even bigger, intimidating bodyguard that he had a nice ass.

  “You owe me,” he continued to grumble. “You know what Rhett’s password was? His damn name.”

  I straightened up at that. “Rhett’s here?”

  "Yeah, he's over there pouting." Sienna pointed across the room. "We made him leave his security blanket at home." I gave her a questioning look. "His guitar."

  I spotted him leaning against an open balcony door, glaring across the room. When I followed his line of sight, I saw that, oddly enough, he was glaring at Noah. It wasn’t just a glare, it was a full-on angry scowl.

  My heels were clicking across the marble floor before I realized I was moving in his direction. The icy cold air hit my naked skin, and I shivered while running my hands down my bare arms to ward off the goosebumps. Rhett turned my way before I could rub warmth back into my body.

  He hurriedly leaned his head out the door, pulled in a deep inhale from the cigarette he must have been holding outside, and pressed the half-smoked tip to the rubber sole of his shoe. I watched his lips form the perfect circle, allowing him to release his lungful of smoke, then he reached out to pull the French doors closed.

  His eyes moved slowly from my heels to my face, and I didn't hate the smirk on his lips, which only made me mad at myself. “You look nice,” he offered.

  “Why are you here?”