“Crack of dawn? It’s eight-thirty!” I exclaimed. “You don’t even want to know what time I usually get up. Get ready, once I call Beau, he’ll be here within minutes, I’m sure.”
I walked over to my purse and scooped it up off the ground then searched to make sure I had everything I needed. After one too many late-night studio sessions and countless red-eye flights, I’d learned to carry the essentials with me at all times: toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, and deodorant. I slung the large bag over my shoulder and headed out of the apartment.
As soon as I opened the bathroom door, I was reminded that this was Rhett’s shared bathroom. There was Alex, naked as the day he was born, standing in front of the mirror with shaving cream all over his face. Music was blaring, and I couldn't get the door closed quickly enough before I saw him thrust his hips and spin around to a particularly upbeat part of the song. The door slammed, but I knew that he’d seen my retreating form. Mortification crashed into me, and I could feel that my cheeks were as red as the bottom of my favorite Louboutins.
There was no point in hiding from him. I really needed to use the restroom, and he would find me soon enough in Rhett's small place. I leaned my back against the wall and covered my face with my hands. Just because I wouldn't hide from him didn't mean that I wanted to show my face yet.
It wasn't that I hadn't seen my fair share of naked men. In addition to the guys I’ve slept with, I've been in plenty of backstage dressing rooms. Some people had zero modesty, and sometimes I was guilty of that. I've also been in my fair share of music videos in compromising positions with some of the industry’s most beautiful men.
It was more so the fact that I’d infringed on someone's private time. If there's one thing I respect, it's privacy. Especially when you're having your own personal concert in the bathroom. I wanted so badly to maintain a straight face, but I couldn't help the upturn of my lips when I thought about Alex thrusting his hips to a certain pop star's newest hit song.
“You better not be laughing at me out here.” I jumped, not removing my hands from my face. I hadn’t heard the door open.
I tried—I really did—but I couldn't hold back the laughter. I finally lowered my hands and looked up into his eyes. Alex still had his shirt off, but now a black towel surrounded his waist.
“I’m so sorry,” I managed to say between chuckles.
"I'm sorrier for Noah Reynolds. Poor sap," he said. I wasn’t following, and I was sure my expression showed my confusion. "Well, you're going to want to leave him now that you've seen all this." He gestured his hand down the length of his body, emphasizing the crotch region.
I smacked his bare chest. "You idiot," I said, but continued to crack up.
“You say that now. But tonight, when you and your movie star man are about to get it on, all you’re going to think about is Alex and his giant—”
My hand flew up and covered his mouth. There was no way he needed to finish that statement.
“Poor sucker…” He mumbled beneath my hand before it fell away. Alex shook his head and gave me a mischievous grin before heading toward his apartment.
I closed myself inside the bathroom and immediately started brushing my teeth. I didn't like the feeling in my stomach when I thought of being with Noah tonight. I was also mad that I didn't like that feeling. I wanted to keep writing. I didn't want to give up this momentum Rhett and I had. A small voice inside of me said that wasn’t the only thing I didn’t want to give up with him.
I quickly washed my face and ran my fingers through my curls before twisting them all back up on top of my head. It was time for me to go back to the real world of makeup, perfectly tamed locks, and a wardrobe that rivaled the cost of a private island.
Rhett's door was open when I returned, and I heard Alex's voice before I entered.
“She saw my dick.”
“What are you talking about?” Rhett replied in a bored tone. I imagined him rolling his eyes at what he probably assumed was gossip about last night’s conquest.
“Ever James, dude. Freaking Ever James just saw my dick!”
“What the fuck?” Rhett said, sounding much more involved in the conversation.
“Do you think she was impressed?”
“What. The. Fuck?” Rhett repeated.
“Get with it, man. Do you think she was impressed? I mean, of course she was, but it could have been better. I wasn’t prepared.”
“Shut up! Seriously, stop talking about your dick to me. How did this happen?”
I laughed into my hand and decided I was going to have fun with this.
"You know, Rhett… that shared bathroom is a lot more fun than you let on," I said, waltzing in. Rhett was sitting in the window with it propped open. Now that it was light outside, I noticed he had a picturesque view of a brick wall. I’d been distracted watching him blow out a string of smoke through his lips.
He smashed the stick into an ashtray and was waving the lingering smoke out the window when I realized that he hadn't taken a single smoke break last night. Maybe he had been just as invested in writing together as I had been.
“Damn it! You are the quietest rock star I’ve ever met!” Alex cried, throwing his hands up in the air.
“She’s the only rock star you’ve ever met, dumbass,” Rhett scolded. “Now what’s this about the bathroom?”
I decided to keep messing with Rhett. Riling up Alex was a bonus. “I was very… very impressed…” I said, playing up my raspy voice that I knew guys loved.
Alex instinctually stepped toward me as if my voice had lured him in. In my peripheral, I noticed Rhett step down from the window. His eyes were darting between the two of us.
“What were you impressed with?” a small angelic voice interrupted us.
I spun around and smiled when Sienna walked into Rhett's tiny apartment. She looked beautiful with her usual pin-straight dark hair styled in big flowing waves down her back. Once again, she was dressed stylishly in an outfit I was drooling over.
I forgot what she had asked until Alex responded with a cocky grin. “My big d—” I instantly reached out for his arm and dug my fingernails into his skin. He yelped, successfully cutting off what he was saying.
"Rhett's songwriting skills," I ad-libbed. "We worked all night and actually got two songs almost fully written." There was no way I was going to continue my joke about Alex’s package with Sienna in the room.
“No way?!”
I was pumped by her excitement. Finally, someone to share the exhilaration I had been feeling all morning.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it? I can’t believe it’s really happening.”
“This is unreal,” Sienna squealed. “It’s about time those words of yours are finally heard!” She squeezed Rhett around his waist and he leaned into her as well.
When he released her, he joined me at my side and tossed his arm around my shoulders. "I'm not taking all the credit. Ever contributed just as much as I did. She's a natural."
I smiled up at him. “But you knew how to get that out of me. I had no idea I could do that.”
Sienna was staring at me, and she smiled when I met her eyes. "You look beautiful today… something's different." She must have realized how that came across because she quickly amended her statement. "You always look amazing, but something is different today."
“No makeup.” Rhett smiled widely. “I will take the credit for that.”
“That’s what it is! Damn, I hate you. How can you look even better without makeup? That’s so not fair.”
“You guys are ridiculous.” I waved them off and started for my phone so I could call Beau before he called the National Guard.
“Did you like the movie last night?” Sienna asked Alex quietly, although I didn’t know why she even bothered. This place was so small I could have heard her across the hall.
"It was a chick-flick…" he responded dryly.
“You laughed. A lot.” She smiled up at
him adoringly, and yet he still had no clue. The boy was beyond oblivious.
My excitement peaked. “You guys hung out last night?” I couldn’t contain my grin.
“Well.” He looked pointedly at Rhett. “You wouldn’t hang out with me and Gage was MIA,” Alex stated with a frustrated wave of his hand.
Shit.
“Oh… so I was just, what… your last choice?” Sienna’s doting eyes morphed into a glare while her hands perched on her hips. “That’s why you called me? Because no one else was available?" She tried really hard to appear mad, but I could see the hurt plain as day on her face.
“What’s the big deal?” Alex looked baffled, ignorant of Sienna’s feelings.
She turned away from him slowly. Rhett and I watched as she erased the pain from her eyes and took a deep breath before looking at the two of us. “I came here to say ‘hi’ and to warn you about the mob outside. Somehow your secret is out about the two of you holing up here for the night.”
“Shit,” Rhett cursed.
“I have to work, or I’d be happy to help. See you later, Ever and Rhett.” The way she enunciated our names left no question that she was upset with Alex.
"Bye," he called to her retreating backside. She slammed the door shut without so much as a wave in his direction. "What the fuck?" he asked us. "Is she mad at me?"
I huffed in frustration. “You’re an ass,” I said, but I was already distracted with my phone.
Great. 112 missed calls, 72 text messages, and my voicemail inbox was full. That’s what I got for turning it on silent. I exited out of my notifications and sent Beau a message for pick-up.
“Go to work, numbskull,” Rhett stated.
“Girls are so damn frustrating!” Alex grumbled.
“No! You are—” I started.
“Pipes…” Rhett interrupted. “Drop it.” I glared at him but didn’t say another word.
Alex walked out, but not without a few more complaints about the opposite sex. I was still looking at Rhett for clarification.
“They need to figure out their issues themselves. Don’t get involved.”
“I was just helping Sienna!” I raised my hands in frustration.
“She’s had this crush on him for over a decade.”
“Exactly. It’s time to start pushing.”
“Sienna should make her feelings known more clearly. Or maybe Alex just isn’t interested in her like that.” He shrugged nonchalantly.
“Did he say that?” I asked, feeling sad for her all of a sudden.
“No. I’ve never talked to him about it.”
"See! He's completely unaware. Maybe he just needs someone to point it out to him. I was helping."
Rhett placed his hands on my shoulders. “Butt. Out.”
“Men…” I grumbled. “Where is the romance these days?” I turned away to pack up my notebook.
“Does it even matter when you girls want the asshole anyway?”
My stomach dropped. There he went again, pointing out areas of my life that seemed to be lacking. Ignorance was bliss.
The irony wasn’t lost on me that I’d been trying to make Alex see something he was blind to, yet I was too afraid to have my own eyes opened.
— ELEVEN —
After I convinced Rhett to find an alternate exit out of his building—which, by the way, consisted of going to the roof and climbing down a fire escape—we made it back to the hotel. He’d tried to persuade me yet again that it didn’t matter if the cameras captured pictures of me in my comfy attire and bare face, but I wasn’t having it. Yes, someone more rational than I would probably worry more about being spotted coming out his apartment early in the morning. But “rational” is never a word I have used to describe myself.
Rhett had pushed me far enough out of my comfort zone in the past twenty-four hours. Baby steps.
We met Kingston, my personal trainer, in an available hotel ballroom. He didn't have any issues with Rhett joining us. To him, it was just another person to torture.
I had a love-hate relationship with King. Although my body had never looked better, I hated that he pushed me to the point of almost puking every session. Which was the point Rhett and I both had reached at the moment. We lay on our backs on the hard floor with our legs and arms splayed out in defeat. My eyes were squeezed shut, trying to block out the harsh light from the fixtures above us.
"Fuck, I thought I was in shape…” Rhett groaned next to me. “Why does this hurt so bad?"
I laughed and then moaned at the pain it caused my abs. "You have to learn to look like you're tired quicker. The easier you make it appear, the harder he'll be on you."
Rhett pushed up from the ground, and I smiled at the way his wobbly legs tried to stand. My back, on the other hand, was still firmly glued to the floor. It was nice down here. I could stay like this all day.
"Yeah, well, I'm still trying to figure out why I had to run a shit-ton of sprints while he got to stand there and watch you do a thousand squats." Rhett lifted his water bottle and squirted the clear liquid into his open mouth. A few drops escaped, and his tongue darted out and over his lips.
As quickly as my sore muscles would allow, I rolled over onto my stomach. Watching that tongue did things between my legs that I needed to ignore. “He caters to everyone’s specific needs,” I said to the floor.
I strained my neck to look up at him, and Rhett reached out a helping hand. I accepted the gesture, slowly getting my Jell-O legs to move.
“Yeah, I’m thinking King was catering to his own needs,” he replied.
My eyebrows scrunched. "What are you talking about?" Snatching his water, I took long gulps while still attempting to calm my racing heart.
“All I’m saying is, I don’t think it was a coincidence that half of your workout was squats and lunges, considering what you’re wearing.”
I couldn't argue that. Maybe my Spandex shorts were a little tight and a lot short, but they were damn comfortable. And I was sure King wasn’t the only one appreciating the view…
As I walked toward the exit, I peered over my shoulder at Rhett. Letting the confidence leak from my voice, I asked, “Are you complaining?”
He smirked, and I swear I saw a hint of that dimple before his rough voice said, "Pipes, you continue walking in front of me, you won't hear a peep out of this mouth."
I turned before he could witness my huge smile. “That’s what I thought.”
I was almost certain Beau hadn’t heard our conversation, but he sure as hell saw the mega-watt grin I was sporting. I couldn’t wipe it off my face even if I wanted to.
“Smiling after a workout from Kingston? That’s a first, sweets,” Beau said. He held the door for both of us to pass.
I bumped Beau with my shoulder on my way out, knowing exactly what he was getting at. I heard him chuckle quietly, but he kept any additional thoughts to himself.
“Rhett! Ever!” Rose called from down the hallway. She held a phone in one hand and a tablet in the other with a notebook pressed against her chest—her typical business-as-usual tools. “I’ll talk while we walk.”
“Where’s the fire, Rose?” Rhett teased.
“Once you hear your schedule, you’ll understand.”
“My schedule?” he blurted.
“Yep, hang on tight, buddy, you’re booked.” I laughed because this was exactly what I had been warning him about.
"Ever, I need you to get upstairs for hair and makeup.” Surprise, surprise, I thought sarcastically. “Rhett, you need to shower and get ready for an appointment I booked for fitting and styling. Ever, you have a meeting with your voice coach, but I might be able to squeeze Rhett in to join you."
“Whoa, whoa…” Rhett waved his hands in front of him. “Fitting? Styling? Voice lessons?”
“Clothes,” she said, as if it should be obvious. “You need a wardrobe. A style that fits the image.”
He arched an eyebrow. “I have clothe
s.”
"You need more," she challenged. "This is in your contract." I’m sure she knew that would seal the deal.
“Does it say in my contract that I have to use your stylist?” he inquired. When she shook her head, he quickly added, “Then I have one.” We both looked at him in question. He had a stylist? “Sienna. She’s a fantastic stylist. I trust her to stick to stuff that suits me. If I have to play dress-up, I want Sienna.”
"She's a stylist?" I asked, although I didn't expect an answer. "That makes so much sense! She has amazing style!"
“She is a stylist… at Barneys. She hasn’t done any celebrities, but like I said, I trust her.” He ran his hand roughly through his sweaty hair and then proceeded to wipe his hand on my shirt.
I swatted his stomach in disgust, and he retaliated by tickling my sides. I hated being tickled. I couldn’t help but laugh even though it was anything but funny. And turned out, that fight-or-flight instinct was real. I swiftly reached over and pinched a sensitive nerve in his triceps area, which I knew was already sore from today’s workout. I guess fight won out.
Rhett yelped and jumped away from me. His face was one of shock and pure admiration.
Apparently he wasn’t the only one. A booming clap came from behind us, and Beau's roaring voice called out, "Excellent job, sweets!" I turned to see a rare, mile-wide smile on his face, and he continued to praise me. "Exactly what I taught you! I never wanted you to actually have to use your self-defense, but that was beautiful!" He hugged me to his side with a tight squeeze.
I returned the hug around his waist and stuck my tongue out at Rhett playfully. He laughed and raised his hands in defeat. “The girl has moves! I retreat, I retreat!”
“Children!” Rose snipped. “If you’re done, I would like to finish.”
“Geez, Rose…” I sullenly replied.
"Sorry, Mom…" Rhett mumbled, but I caught his devilish smirk. I reached out to smack him in the stomach again. He trapped my hand before I could make an impact and then wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I started to laugh but quickly swallowed it when Rose whipped around to glare at us.
Ever Lonely (Ever James Band Book 1) Page 15