Paper, Scissors, Rock

by Nicole S. Goodin

  “Now what?” Jasper inclined his head towards the gold phone I’d sat on the seat next to me.

  “Now I wait for it to—”

  Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ blasted out of the phone, interrupting me. I made a mental note to change her ringtone to one of my songs before I got it back to her.

  I smirked at Jasper. “Ring,” I finished smugly.

  I picked up the phone, ‘Hannah Banana’ was flashing across the screen. I swiped right to accept the call.

  “Hello?”

  “Oh, thank god,” her soft voice sighed. “You found my phone.”

  I settled back into my seat. “You could say that,” I replied, anticipation already pulsing through me.

  “Okay… so I’ll just come back inside the club and pick it up?” she asked, her voice a mixture of confusion and hope.

  I grinned.

  So far, so good.

  “Actually… I’ve just called it a night and headed home.”

  “And taken my phone with you?” she asked quizzically.

  “I can meet up with you tomorrow for a coffee and get it back to you?” I offered.

  The line went quiet for a moment.

  “Who is this?” she demanded.

  I chuckled. “Who do you think this is?”

  “Rock star,” she ground out, obvious irritation in her voice “Jesus, do you have a problem with speaking your own name out loud?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh again. My heart was racing and excitement was coursing through my veins, all just from talking to this girl on the phone.

  “Why do I have a feeling I didn’t lose my phone at all?” she snapped.

  “What exactly are you accusing me of, sweetheart?” My barely concealed laughter did nothing but anger her further.

  “I told you, my name is not sweetheart. And you know what? Keep it,” she stated angrily.

  Shit.

  “I’m not keeping your phone, Charlotte,” I replied quickly, slight panic seeping into my voice.

  “Well, then you’d better turn your off-the-charts crazy ass back around and return it to me,” she half yelled down the phone.

  Fuck.

  I glanced at Jasper for help. He grinned and shrugged, giving me a ‘what’d you expect’ look.

  I was torn. She seemed completely and utterly serious about leaving her phone with me.

  “Might be the only shot you get to see her again,” Jasper offered quietly.

  He was right, she could disappear and I might never find her. The thought of that bugged me more than I knew it should.

  “Alright,” I agreed. “I’ll bring it back.”

  I held the phone away from my ear. “Kelvin, back to the club,” I told my driver.

  “Right you are,” Kelvin answered quickly, pulling over to turn around.

  “I’m not saying thank you,” she stated in a pissy voice.

  I huffed out a laugh. “I wouldn’t have expected you to…” I glanced out the window. “Where are you right now?”

  “Out front.”

  Dammit.

  I only had minutes left before we got back there and this game was all over.

  “I’ll give it back if you let me take you out tomorrow,” I bargained, desperately clutching at straws.

  She growled. “You’re a sociopath, you know that, right?”

  It wasn’t the answer I was hoping for, but I thought I could hear a hint of humour in her voice… and she hadn’t said no, so I clung to it like a lifeline.

  When did I get so god damn desperate?

  “You do realize you’ve left me out in the cold, dark night, without a phone to keep myself safe?” she asked dramatically, pulling me back from my thoughts.

  “You’re with your friend. You have her phone,” I stated, not buying into her guilt trip one little bit.

  “She went off talking to some guy.” She huffed dramatically. “I’m out here all alone.”

  I knew the club well – there was no way she was alone, there’d be at least twenty people hanging around out front, most of them with cameras, and I was willing to bet that her friend was right there next to her… but still… my skin prickled with unease at the thought of her out in the dark night on her own.

  “Stay there,” I growled against my better judgment. I couldn’t stop my eyes looking out the window again to see how far away we were.

  Not long now.

  “Ooo look!” she exclaimed. “A dark alleyway.”

  She wouldn’t…

  “Charlotte,” I warned.

  “Oh! There’s some men down there, they look friendly… I might go say hi.”

  I could hear the clicking of her heels on the sidewalk.

  She can’t be serious…

  “Charlotte!” I barked at her as we rounded the corner to the front of the club.

  She didn’t answer.

  I tossed the phone on the seat and swung the door open before the car had even come to a complete stop.

  “Parker, what the fuck?” Jasper called after me.

  I leapt out of the door and my eyes searched frantically left and right before landing on her, right outside the club door, friend at her side and phone still at her ear.

  She winked at me. “Gotcha, rock star,” she called as she handed Hannah back her phone.

  “Dammit, woman,” I cursed under my breath as I prowled towards her.

  She sat her hands on her hips dramatically. “Where’s my phone?” she asked at the same moment I heard the first call of my name.

  “Parker!”

  “It’s Parker Sloan!”

  “Hey Parker, can you sign this?”

  Cameras started flashing.

  “Shit,” I mumbled. “Come on.” I reached for her arm, but she shrugged me off.

  “Just give it to me already,” she demanded.

  “It’s in the car,” I argued.

  “Go get it.”

  “I swear to god, woman, if we don’t get out of here, you’ll get trampled,” I begged.

  “They don’t want me.” She smirked knowingly.

  She was right. The only way I was getting her into my car was if they wanted her too.

  I grabbed her arm and pulled her flush against my body. “Challenge accepted,” I murmured before pressing my lips firmly against hers.

  The surprised, breathy gasp she made before I felt her warmth did nothing to ease the hard-on I’d been sporting since she’d come onto my radar. I imagined her making that very noise as I fucked her six ways to Sunday.

  My hands gripped her neck and jaw lightly as I kissed her. Her lips were soft and sweet, just the way they looked.

  Perfection.

  Cameras flashed liked crazy behind me.

  Her breath hitched as though she’d only just realised what she was doing and she pulled back abruptly. “What the hell are—”

  I cut her off with another kiss, more persistent this time.

  I felt the exact moment she gave in to me. Her grip tightened on my arms – before she was pushing me away, now she was pulling me closer. Her lips opened and moved against mine. I slipped my tongue into her mouth, teasing and probing hers. She tasted like lemon and vodka.

  All the noise, the grabbing and the cameras fell away. It was just me and her and it wasn’t for show anymore. I backed her up against the block wall and pressed the length of my body hard against her.

  She moaned in my mouth and I was totally and utterly lost to her.

  “Ah, Casanova… might wanna move this party somewhere more private.” I heard Jasper’s voice, right behind me.

  Charlotte sighed into my mouth. I got a thrill knowing she was as disappointed as I was about stopping this.

  I begrudgingly looked around – J was right. The crowd was closing in and this mess was about thirty seconds away from getting out of control. There was no way I was having that happen – not with her here.

  I’d made a mistake coming back here without Sammy and his team, Kelvin may have been more than
just a driver – I wouldn’t be stupid enough to go without any form of protection in a situation like this, but still, he was only one man and there was only so much he could do with this swarm of idiots.

  “Let’s go.” I tucked her under my arm and pushed through the crowd towards the car. Surprisingly, she let me lead her without putting up a fight.

  “Parker! Who’s the girl?”

  “Is she your girlfriend?”

  Shit.

  The questions fired rapidly at us. I felt like a total asshole. I’d just intentionally put her in the middle of my media circus, and all just to get her to take a ride in my car.

  Idiot.

  “What’s your name, honey?” some douche asked Charlotte, shoving his cell phone in her face.

  No fucking way.

  “Don’t even fuckin’ think about it. Don’t even look at her,” I growled. I gave him a murderous glare and he backed up quickly.

  Jasper had already got Hannah into the car and he and Kelvin were doing their best to clear a path for me and the tiny woman next to me.

  “Get in,” I murmured in her ear.

  She slid in, with me right behind her.

  “And my name is not honey!” Charlotte yelled over her shoulder at the dickhead that had gotten in her face.

  I slammed the door shut behind us with a chuckle.

  The car was filled with silence for a moment.

  Well that was intense.

  I didn’t know what had rattled me more – the passionate feel of Parker’s kiss… or the craziness that followed after.

  I took a deep breath and took a few seconds to take in my surroundings. I was sitting next to Parker, Hannah was opposite me, Jasper next to her.

  Of course the rock star has a limo.

  I glanced around and spotted my phone on the seat between us. I reached for it, but Parker was too quick, he snagged it off the leather and leaned back, holding it in the hand furthest from me.

  “Oh c’mon,” I whined. “Would you stop being such a pain in the ass?”

  Parker grinned and shook his head.

  Jasper laughed.

  “Is he always this much of a stalker?” I asked Jasper.

  He looked at me quizzically for a moment, like he was trying to figure something out.

  “Nope,” he eventually said with a shake of his head. “Never... I dunno what’s got into him.”

  Honest… I like it.

  Parker flipped him the middle finger, but didn’t deny it as he continued to tap away on my phone.

  I turned my attention back to the man causing me worlds of trouble. “What the hell do you think you’re doing on there anyway? And how’d you figure out my pin?” I lunged for my phone but he moved swiftly out of the way.

  “Really, Charlotte?” he asked, clearly amused. “One, two, three, four wasn’t exactly rocket science. Even for me.”

  I blushed. “Fine. I’ll change it,” I mumbled. “Can I have it back now?”

  “Just… one… more…” A phone rang from somewhere in the car and he grinned triumphantly. “Done.” He handed it back to me.

  “Did you just call yourself from my phone?” I asked in outrage as I snatched it from his hand.

  He nodded, not an ounce of remorse on his stupid, cocky face.

  “Saved my number for you too.” He grinned.

  “Did you now…” I deadpanned as I clicked on my recent calls.

  I couldn’t help the small smile that escaped my control. He’d saved his number as ‘Sexy Rock Star’.

  “You sure think a lot of yourself, huh?” I asked as I tucked it safely back into my bag and away from Parker.

  He just laughed.

  I glanced up at Hannah and Jasper; they were both regarding us with curious expressions.

  “What?” I asked.

  Jasper just shook his head in response.

  Hannah raised her hand timidly. “Um, I have a question?”

  “Hannah, right?” Parker replied as he slung his arm over my shoulders. It was so casual, you’d be forgiven for thinking the two of us were as close as they came, not total strangers. I considered shrugging it off, but decided it was pointless – the man had just had his tongue in my mouth, this was by far the lesser of the two evils.

  Hannah nodded in confirmation of her name and blushed.

  I rolled my eyes. I’d never seen my best friend blush once.

  “Go ahead,” he encouraged.

  She lowered her raised hand. “Um… well…” She glanced back and forth between us, and then at Jasper.

  He winked at her in encouragement which only made her blush more.

  Huh… more blushing… interesting…

  “Well… what the hell is happening here?” she finally asked.

  Parker chuckled. “Here as in…” He gestured between me and him.

  She nodded, wide eyed. “You’re Parker Sloan,” she replied quickly. Her voice caressed his name like he was royalty.

  I rolled my eyes again and huffed out a breath.

  “And we’re in your car,” she carried on. “And you’re looking at my best friend like she’s a tall glass of water and you’ve been wandering in the desert for days.”

  Parker and Jasper both laughed and I couldn’t help but join them. Han was always cracking me up with the stuff she came out with.

  “And you’re Jasper Jones.” She turned to face him. “You know they say you’re the only one who can keep him under control,” she stated.

  Jasper raised his brows at her. “He just kidnapped you and your friend here, right after he carried her off the dance floor and stole her phone like some kind of caveman…” He pointed out. “Does it look like I have his ass under control?”

  Hannah giggled.

  “I knew I didn’t just lose it.” I pointed my finger accusingly at Parker.

  I left Jasper to do his best to explain the current situation to Hannah, even though it seemed like he was nearly as confused about it as she was.

  Parker grinned at me, again, totally unremorseful.

  Shit…

  When he smiled like that it caused a deep dimple in his right cheek that was far sexier than I wanted to admit.

  “This isn’t normal behaviour, you know that, right?” I choked out.

  He laughed loudly and made an attempt to slide me across the leather seat, closer to him.

  “Does it look like I do normal?” he asked with a hoarse voice, right at my ear.

  Nope… nothing normal here…

  I twisted my body in his direction and tucked one of my legs up under myself, effectively putting some distance between us.

  He frowned at my obvious resistance, but sat back and angled himself towards me.

  “You’re crazy,” I stated.

  “You’re beautiful,” he replied.

  Mr. Smooth…

  I shook my head at him and tried to hide my smile.

  “Do you always stalk women?” I asked.

  “Do you always make men work so hard for your attention?” he threw back.

  My smile broke free at that question and he grinned back at me.

  Damn that dimple.

  I studied him hard and finally admitted to myself that I liked what I was looking at.

  Dammit…

  More than like…

  He’s not my type... at all.

  He was covered in ink. Nearly every visible inch of his arms and chest were covered in designs and pictures. An image of a guitar on his deltoid caught my attention.

  I couldn’t deny it was fascinating to look at, he was like a living breathing piece of art. All that ink made me want to explore and see what else there was to see.

  His dark hair was flopped forward onto his face again. His grin was wide and easy, like he didn’t have a care in the world, and his eyes were sparkling the same way that they did when he was on stage.

  I would know – I’d seen countless pictures and clips of this man singing. Hannah bought every single gossip magazine there was, ev
ery damn week, and it’d become habit for me to flick through them. She also wasn’t shy about her YouTube habits and was always forcing me to watch one clip or another of her latest crush.

  I didn’t know why he was doing it, but having him looking at me like that was making me nervous. He was intense. The man was more in tune with his sexuality than anyone I’d ever met. It rolled off him in waves that screamed ‘I’ll have you, and you won’t regret it’.

  Maybe I’ll let him have me…

  “Stop making those eyes at me,” I demanded suddenly, shocked at the direction my thoughts were heading.

  “What eyes?” He smirked.

  “Those rock star eyes.” I pointed at him. “Stop it.”

  “Make me,” he replied, still looking at me in the exact same way.

  I sighed. “You are bat-shit crazy, boy.”

  “And you are beautiful, legs.” The reply rolled off his tongue, and this time I felt myself blush.

  “Legs?” I asked with a frown when I realized what he’d just called me.

  He smirked and raked his eyes over the exposed flesh on my legs, nearly making me shudder.

  “Those damn sexy legs.” He almost groaned.

  His reaction did crazy things to my insides. Things I tried to bury deep, deep down.

  “Ah… where are we going?” Hannah asked, breaking through the tension building between Parker and I.

  I took a deep, steadying breath and tried to get my wits about me as I looked out of the window.

  “Home,” I replied at the same time as Parker answered, “My place.”

  “What?” I spun back around. “We are not going to your house.”

  “Ignore her. We’re keen,” Hannah interrupted quickly.

  “Hannah, what the fuck?” I demanded, my new-found anger shifting from Parker to my so-called best friend in a flash.

  She just shrugged at me, not in the least bit bothered by my reaction.

  I groaned in frustration.

  Barking up the wrong tree there…

  She’s a lost cause.

  I looked to Jasper for help, but he was just staring at Parker with curious eyes and a surprised expression.

  I turned back to Parker. “Rock star, there is no way I’m going home with you.”