by B. B. Hamel
“Whatever you say,” I grunted at her.
“Okay.” She turned and disappeared back into the bedroom.
So much for sleeping in the bed. I’d better get used to these damn couches, and quick.
I didn’t have much time to be annoyed about that. There was another knock at the door, and I had a pretty good guess about who it was.
I walked over and pulled it open. “Morning, Liv.”
“Put a shirt on,” she muttered, “and let me inside.”
I stepped back and she walked in. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Is your wife around?”
I heard the shower running and shook my head. “Sounds like she’s busy.”
“Good.” Livy sat down at the table and poured herself a cup of coffee. “Sit. Let’s talk.”
I sat down and sighed. “The fuck is this about, Liv? It’s early.”
“I know what’s happening with this girl,” she said.
I stared at her, grinning dangerously. “You’ve finally noticed our love?”
“Don’t bullshit me, Nash. I know this whole thing is a charade.”
“Why would I marry some random girl for absolutely no reason?”
“I’ve been wondering about that actually,” Liv said. “I know you hate this whole tour. I know there’s something going on here that I’m not aware of, and frankly I don’t really care about it.”
I smiled at her, listening. Livy was a capable person, bright and intuitive, and I knew she had figured all this out the second she saw us get off the plane.
What I didn’t know, though, was why she’d decided to bring it up now.
“Okay, Liv,” I said. “What’s your theory?”
“I believe you think marrying this normal girl will somehow endear you to the publishers. You’re probably hoping you can end this book tour sooner that way.”
I nodded. “I do fucking hate this tour, but I married Selena because we’re in love.”
Livy nodded. “Sure. But if that weren’t the case, this is what I’m offering.” She paused to sip her coffee. “I won’t tell the media that you sleep on the couch most nights. I won’t tell them that I’ve never seen the two of you kiss, flirt, or really act like a newlywed couple. I’ll even put in a good word to the publisher.”
“In exchange for what?”
“Behave. That’s all I ask. Stop making my life a fucking stressful hell. Show up to media events on time. Stop staying out all night with random hookers. Try and be more sober.”
I laughed at that last one.
“I’m not asking for perfection here, Nash. Just stop being such a dick.”
I nodded slowly. “If what you said were true, that’d be fine with me.”
“One thing more,” she said. “What’s your endgame here?”
I looked at her for a second. I didn’t believe that Liv didn’t have some ulterior motive here, but I did know that she could be useful.
“If it were true,” I said, “I want back in the game. I want active duty again. No more of this pretty-boy media star. I want back in the shit.”
Liv nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Good.”
She stood up and looked at her phone. “You and Selena have an interview in an hour. Then we leave for Brown.”
“Sounds good.”
“I hope this talk was useful,” she said.
“Sure was.”
She quickly walked out of the room.
I leaned back in my chair, shaking my head. Liv was a crafty mother fucker. I knew I needed to be careful with her, but I had underestimated her completely. I was going to have to really watch myself, and figure out what her game was.
I stood up and barged into the bedroom. I walked back toward the bathroom door and threw it open. She had left the door unlocked. Poor girl was too trusting.
“Nash?” she asked.
“It’s me,” I said. “Need a hand?”
The enclosure to the standing shower was all glass, but unfortunately it had mostly fogged up. I couldn’t see a thing.
“Get out of here!” she said.
I laughed. “We got an interview in an hour.”
“Okay. Now get out.”
“Sure you don’t want some company?”
“Nash. Out.”
I laughed and left the room, shutting the door behind me.
What an eventful morning. Selena was back to pretending like she didn’t want me, and Liv wasn’t pretending about anything anymore.
This might be a fun tour after all.
17
Selena
Of course Nash had to go and act like an asshole.
Of course the morning after it happened, after I finally gave in to him and slept with him, he had to act like a dick.
I was conflicted. Of course I was conflicted, since I had done the thing that I wasn’t going to do. I couldn’t help myself. I’d wanted to sleep with him, but I felt strange after it had finally happened. We were in a business deal, after all, and sleeping with him only muddied those waters.
We weren’t really married. I had to remember that.
So of course I felt a little awkward.
But that didn’t mean he could act like an asshole. Maybe that was his way of trying to smooth things over, but it definitely did not work very well. In fact, it only made me even angrier. Of course he didn’t understand why or really even stop to think about what he was saying. No, he was just a big, dumb jock. A sexy as fuck jock, but an asshole anyway.
As I sat there with the bright lighting shining down on me, the makeup girl doing her thing, I wished I could run away. But it was way too late for that. I was already committed to doing this thing whether I wanted to or not.
My parents knew about us. Hell, half the country knew about us now. My phone had been blowing up all night, but fortunately I’d had someone there to distract me from it.
Even with how angry I was, I couldn’t stop thinking about that sex. Nash was insatiable, starving for me, and so damn sensual. I’d felt things I didn’t know I could feel, because he’d taken me and made me feel them. He was rough, strong, and powerful, and he pushed every single button I had. When I’d thought we were finally done, it turned out that we were just getting started.
I’d let him sleep in my bed with me, something I hadn’t thought I would do. I couldn’t exactly kick him out, not after what we had done all night. It would be silly to care about that after I’d felt his thick cock filling me up from behind over and over.
Still, I was conflicted and angry with myself. I’d thought I had more self-control, but apparently that went completely out the window whenever Nash was around me. He had this effect on me, turning me into this sex-crazy maniac that needed his body.
I sighed and Nash glanced at me, grinning. “Something wrong?”
“Nope,” I said.
He leaned in closer to me. “You okay for this?”
“Fine,” I said.
“Great. One word answers. Real grown up.”
I smiled at him. “Thanks.”
He laughed at me. “You’re actually pretty cute when you try to be mad.”
I wanted to say something, but Melissa Carpenter, the journalist from the day before, walked into the room.
“Nash!” she exclaimed. He stood up, smiling. She hugged him, and I noticed that her hand moved dangerously close to his tight ass.
“Hello, Melissa,” he said. “Nice to see you so soon.”
“Well,” she said, “when your lovely Livy asked if I wanted to do a follow-up, how could I say no?”
He laughed. “Liv does love to give you access.”
The two of them sat back down in their chairs and the crew busied themselves setting up the cameras and getting microphones set up on our clothes.
“Selena,” Melissa said, finally acknowledging me.
“Hello. Good to see you again,” I said.
She looked back at Nash. “So tell me, are you giving me the go
ods today?”
He looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“Come on, Nash. You guys eloped out of nowhere, and nobody had ever heard of her before that. There has to be a story.”
“We told the story yesterday, Melissa,” he said coolly.
“Between me and you, I just don’t believe it.”
“If there were a story, you’d have it.”
She smiled, but the crew finished setting up and the director was motioning for Melissa to settle in.
I instantly could tell that this was different. Yesterday had been pretty easy overall. She hadn’t asked anything too hard and hadn’t really pressed the issues that maybe didn’t make perfect sense.
But today she seemed more intense.
“Three, two,” the director said, pointing to the camera on one.
“Good morning. I’m here with Nash Bell, bestselling author. Today we’re talking with him and his new wife, student Selena Wood. How are you two this morning?”
Nash’s agitation from a minute before was completely gone, replaced with a large smile. “Great, Melissa. How are you?”
I looked between the two of them and it suddenly hit me like a truck: We were on live television. I quickly looked at Melissa and plastered a smile on my face.
Why didn’t anyone tell me this was live? I thought to myself over and over, trying to stay calm.
“So, Nash, the world wants to know: Who is Selena Wood?”
He laughed, so charming and confident. “She’s my wife. She’s a student at U Penn and one of the smartest people I know.”
I smiled at him and Melissa nodded. “Selena,” she said, looking at me, “how are your first days of marriage?”
“Hard,” I said, and Melissa laughed.
“Hard already?” she asked.
“I mean, great,” I said quickly, “but tough doing all of this media stuff.”
Melissa nodded. “Of course. You’re not used to this sort of thing since you’re just a student.”
“Right,” I said. “But I want to be a part of Nash’s life, and this is it right now.”
“Tell me,” Melissa said. “Why the sudden marriage?” Nash went to answer, but Melissa shook her head quickly. “Let’s hear from Selena,” she said.
“Well, it was like we said yesterday. We decided to elope because we were impatient. Neither of us wanted to wait until the tour was over.”
“Why Vegas?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Why not Vegas? It’s an amazing city.”
“But you don’t seem like a Vegas person,” Melissa pressed. “It seems very strange that you two would run off to Las Vegas to get married when you could have easily done it in your hometown.”
“I guess you don’t know me very well, Melissa,” I said, smiling.
“We’ll have to fix that very soon, right after this break,” she said.
“You’re clear,” the director said.
“Good job, guys. Back in five.” Melissa got up and walked off.
Nash leaned in toward me. “Good job,” he said.
“This is live television,” I said to him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
He cocked his head. “I thought you knew. I thought Livy told you.”
“She didn’t tell me anything.”
He laughed. “Shit. Well, you handled it well enough.”
“I’m so pissed at you.”
“Yeah, no kidding. Try and tone that down on camera, though.”
I glared at him. “Don’t tell me what to do.”
“You didn’t mind that last night.”
I blushed, memories coming back. “Don’t talk about last night.”
“So many rules. I’m a fan of breaking rules, though.” He grinned at me, leaning closer. “How about a kiss? You know, for the camera.”
“No, thanks,” I muttered, turning away.
Melissa came back, sipping some water, and sat down in her chair. The director motioned at her and did his little countdown. The red light on the camera came back on as soon as he hit one.
“And we’re back with Nash and Selena Bell.”
“Wood,” I said suddenly. “Selena Wood.”
Melissa smiled. “Of course. You’re keeping your name?”
“It’s a part of my identity,” I said. “I don’t want to be Selena Bell, as much as I want to be his wife.”
Nash laughed. “She’s so modern.”
“How do you feel about that, Nash?”
“Oh, it’s fine with me,” he said. “I just want to do whatever will make her happy, you know?”
“I’m sure you’ll do anything to keep your new bride content,” Melissa replied.
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. She was flirting with him so obviously that it almost made me sick.
Nobody seemed to notice my annoyance, though, as the conversation turned back toward Nash and his thoughts about the marriage. He was charming and eloquent as always, and although Melissa seemed to press him harder, she still didn’t try to crush him.
Finally, the interview ended without too much difficulty. Melissa stood up once the cameras were all clear. “Thanks again for doing this, Nash,” she said.
“Anytime,” he said.
“Good luck to you both.” She smiled and walked away.
I stood up and tossed my microphone aside, walking back toward the food. Nash caught up with me a second later. “What’s the hurry?” he asked.
“That woman is so clearly trying to fuck you,” I said.
“So?”
“So, it’s pathetic.”
“What do you care?” he asked, grinning. “I thought this was just business.”
“It is just business,” I said, annoyed.
“It wasn’t just business last night.”
I blushed again. “Stop bringing that up. We’re pretending it didn’t happen, remember?”
“Maybe you are, but I can’t stop thinking about that sweet fucking pussy of yours,” he said, coming closer to me.
I bit my lip and was suddenly very aware of how wet I was. “Try harder to forget about it,” I said.
“I’d rather just feel my cock between your legs again,” he said. “I’ll slap that thick ass, pull your hair, fuck you rough and deep until you come screaming my name as loud as you can. That’s what I fucking want.”
I took a deep breath, excitement and desire rushing through my body. “Maybe you can get that from Melissa,” I said, and turned and walked away.
I heard him laughing as I rushed away from the set, heading toward our hotel room. I was thankful we had done the interview right in the hotel’s media room.
As I walked, my anger started to slowly ebb. Nash had the ability to simultaneously piss me off and make me soaking wet with that cocky smile and his strong arms. He was such a dick, and yet I kept thinking about what he’d done to me last night, the way he’d made me feel.
I had no clue what I was doing.
But I knew I had a flight coming up, and so I headed back to the room to pack, my mind a stormy mess.
18
Nash
Selena was in a foul mood, which wasn’t a big shock.
I didn’t bother trying to get her to talk as we drove from the hotel to the airport. We sat there in silence together, Selena trying to pretend like I was dead or something. At least Livy wasn’t around to witness this lovely display of newlywed happiness.
But then again, Selena had done well during the interview. There were a few strange moments, but overall she’d held up well. And I couldn’t believe that Livy hadn’t briefed her about it being a live interview; that seemed like total madness. I knew I had to have a conversation with her about that, even though I didn’t feel like it.
Finally, the car pulled up outside the airport, and I spotted a few paparazzi lingering around, trying to look inconspicuous. To my trained eye, though, they stood out like assholes.
“Ready?” I asked Selena.
“For what?”
“Pi
ctures.”
She frowned. “Whatever.”
The car pulled over and I stepped out without another word. If she didn’t feel like talking, well, I wasn’t going to fucking make her.
I walked around to the back of the car and popped the trunk, which only made the poor driver anxious.
“Relax,” I said to him, handing him a twenty. “I got it.”
He smiled and nodded. I unloaded the bags and handed Selena her suitcase. We headed toward the terminal.
That was when they pounced.
“Selena! Do you really love him?”
“Selena! Are you in this for his money?”
“Nash! Why her? Are you cheating already?”
Selena walked fast, her head down, trying to ignore the flashes. I just smiled at them, trying to ignore it, but really I was just amused by their blatant attempts to rile us up.
“Selena! How big is his dick?”
I had to laugh a little bit at that one.
“Wanna see?” I called to the guy.
He nodded. “Hell yeah!”
I laughed and followed Selena inside. The photographers were stopped by airport security, and so we were safe for the time being.
“Why are you joking with them?” Selena asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Bored, I guess.”
“Well stop,” she said. “It’s embarrassing.”
“What do you care?” I asked, smirking at her.
“Just don’t.” She turned and headed toward the security line.
I sighed, shaking my head. Damn girl was going to be the death of me, I was sure of it.
Her mood didn’t improve on the plane, and I had no idea why. As soon as we were seated, her headphones were on and she was ignoring me. She still didn’t have her own stuff yet, though Livy had sent for it and promised it would arrived when we got to Brown. So everything Selena had, she had because I was generous. And I sure as hell had given her some of the best sex of her damn life. So why was she so damn cranky?
I settled into my first-class chair and ordered a whisky from the stewardess. She brought it and I sipped, leafing idly through SkyMall, thinking about all the stupid shit people spent their money on.