by Misti Murphy
“Of course,” he says.
“It’s a good idea.” I can practically see the cogs turning in Summer’s brain as she speaks. “You two need to show a united front. As far as the media is concerned it was your relationship that went wrong and led to Alec’s involvement. The fact that you’ve been so distant really helped cement that idea. Show them that was never the case. Support each other.”
“What about those people who will assume I’m being a controlling jerk?” Rebel asks.
I cough into my hand. “Harley Roberts.”
“You’re there to corroborate the story. Not tell it,” Summer says. “Just support Ro like you have this whole time. People can tell the difference between what’s genuine and a wheelbarrow full of manure.”
I’m not sure that’s true. After all, Hollywood still thinks Alec Hawthorne is their golden boy next door and not a fucking rapist prick. It pisses me off that he’s gotten away with so much. But Ro is going to take him down, and we’re all going to be there with her to make sure it happens.
“Well, that’s all I wanted to tell you,” Ro says. “We should go back and enjoy the party. I hate to ditch Bianca like this.”
“Bianca probably hasn’t noticed we’re missing.” I climb to my feet as do the others. I’m ready to mingle. Maybe find myself a girl to handcuff to my side. But Ro needs to know that this is more important. “I’m glad you’re going to do this, Ro.”
Chapter Sixteen
Ivy
“Whose party is this?”
“Bianca Del Ray’s,” Adira says. He’s carrying a huge box in gold wrapping with “Happy Birthday” embossed all over it and a million rainbow colored ribbons strung around it. “It’s her annual Halloween birthday bonanza.”
“I didn’t know you knew Bianca Del Ray.” I frown as I traipse up the steps behind him. He’s wearing a barely there white bikini with gold armor plate detailing and Roman sandals that lace up to his thighs. A gold and silver headpiece made out of metal leaves sits on top of his auburn wig.
His body ought to be illegal. I feel positively frumpy next to him in my cat burglar costume. Ben follows close behind. He’s dressed as a vampire. But not the newer, sparkly version. He’s an old school Count Dracula from Transylvania, complete with fangs and a red-lined black cape. Only he’s too cute and sweet to pull off the creepy vibe that would really make the costume work.
“It’s a new development,” Adira says as we pass through the front entrance into the foyer, decked out in what can only be described as what happens when you feed a unicorn LSD. “She came to me for a very rare birthday gift to herself.”
“Is that what’s in the box?” Ben asks as he glances around.
“Mmm. No.” Adira smirks with untold mischief.
“You didn’t invite her to Mojito Bar.” Not that he invites everyone to perform, but we’re talking about Bianca Del Ray. The actress is a diva and a star.
“Let’s just drop off this gift,” he says.
“She’s exactly your type,” I say. “Like, exactly your type. Why wouldn’t you invite her?”
“Because I haven’t met her yet,” Adira mumbles as he adds the present to the pile of gifts. “I wonder who her decorator is? We could use them at the Mojito Bar.”
“I’m sorry…what?” I gape at him. He hasn’t even met Bianca Del Ray? And she invited him to her birthday party? And allowed him to bring guests?
A man who barely fits his muscles into the bit of string covering his… er, willy, grabs my wrist and slides a candy beaded bracelet onto it. “Have a good time. Don’t forget to collect your party bags on the way out.”
My face burns when he checks me out and gives me a wink. “O-o-o—”
“Okay,” Adira says, as he nudges me aside, then bats his lashes at the guy. “My turn, handsome.”
“This is wild. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Ben sidles up to me after he’s been bejewelled by the female version of Tarzan with a bit of orange floss covering her private parts, as I take in the crowd that spills into every room and corner of Bianca Del Ray’s mansion.
The party flows outside too. Around a rectangular, pink pool with two circular shallow seating areas at one end and a fountain at the head that squirts water into the air in short pumps. “It sort of looks like a...”
Ben follows my gaze. “Penis?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you two ready to have some fun?” Adira asks. He has several candy bracelets up his arm and a phone number written on the inside of his wrist in Sharpie. He pulls one yellow bead between his teeth and breaks it off its string.
“We’re staying?” Why does this feel like it has setup written all over it? “Are we even supposed to be here? When you said we were going to a party you made it sound like it was with the queens.”
“Did I?” He touches his chest and acts like he’s totally innocent. “It won’t hurt to look around now that we’re here, will it?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
Adira laughs. “Ben, what about you? Are you ready to not be a stick in the mud?”
“Hell, yes. Thanks for inviting me to come with you guys, Adira.” Despite his easygoing hands in pockets posture, Ben practically vibrates with excitement.
“Ivy wouldn’t have come without you,” Adira murmurs under his breath.
I glare at him before I glance around for a private spot where people aren’t congregating. “Why don’t you go have a look around, Ben. We’ll join you in a minute.”
“Okay.”
I grab my bestie’s arm and tug him toward the gift room, which is more of an alcove or perhaps gigantic closet. It has paper sliding doors that I pull shut before turning on Adira. “Spill it. What are we really doing here?”
Adira runs his sparkly, gold manicured tips along the top of the giftbags. He darts a hand into one of them and pulls out a watch that is more than likely worth more than Jaffa. “Ooh, I cannot wait to wear this baby.”
“Adira,” I snap. I have a feeling we’re not here because of Bianca Del Ray at all. “What are we doing crashing Bianca’s birthday party?”
“We’re not crashing the party.”
“We’re not?”
“No, we’re on the list. We’re celebrating.” He drops the watch back into the bag and pulls out the newest tablet. “Come to momma.”
“It was Rogue Maddox, wasn’t it?” I cross my arms over my chest as I watch him intently.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The way his voice modulates tells me all I need to know.
“He’s here.” I point to the ground beneath my feet, which seems to be shifting as we speak. He’s here and he wanted to see me so badly he bribed Adira with an invitation to this celebrity bash. Oh my God, he moved heaven and earth to get me here. Because he wanted to see me. My heart gives a squee and then dives into my belly with such a splash it makes me queasy.
He probably knew Adira wouldn’t be able to turn it down. All this glitz. All this glamor. It’s Adira’s kryptonite. “I asked you to tell him you didn’t know who I was.”
“I did tell him that, Love.” He takes my hands in his as he looks down at me fondly. “I told him Uma Cookie didn’t exist. And that I couldn’t help him. And he was sweet enough to get me an invitation to Bianca freaking Del Ray’s party anyway. He seems like a great guy, and he’s infatuated with you. Maybe you should give him a chance.”
“He’s infatuated with Uma Cookie, not me.” I stamp my foot. Maybe I’m acting childish—my mother would certainly take this moment to tell me so—but I’m trying to give up my obsession. Especially after he made it pretty obvious that nothing should happen between us. He called me too young. And even if that wasn’t an issue, which let’s face it, isn’t for me, he barely recognizes me. I’m not interesting enough to draw his attention, let alone keep it. And if I were; oh-whoa, it would get messy. “And I can’t keep being her.”
“Then don’t.” Adira cups my face with one hand and reorgan
izes the curls in my magenta wig. “You’re amazing just as you are, Ivy. This last month or so you’ve started to come out of your shell. You’ve made friends and kissed a boy and did…other…unmentionable things. You’re finding your feet. Why not tell him that Uma Cookie and Ivy Love are the same person?”
“I-I can’t do that.” All my fear and insecurities come rushing in. Ivy Love is weak and scared. She has trouble standing up for herself. Uma Cookie has none of those problems. And Uma Cookie won’t lose if this fantasy dies here. But if I keep obsessing about Rogue Maddox everything gets complicated. I shake off my thoughts. “It doesn’t matter. I’m with Ben now.”
“You’re with…Ben?” Adira frowns. He knows we’ve been hanging out these last few weeks. Studying together. Going to the movies. “Since when?”
“Since right now,” I say. “He asked me out and I’m going to tell him yes. It makes sense. We’re the same age. We have things in common.”
“What things?”
“School. We take the same classes. And he’s sweet.”
“I’ll give you that.” Adira sighs. “He’s a real peach.”
“I like him.” I shrug. I do like him. He’s great. He’s just…not Rogue Maddox. Which makes him the obvious choice. The right choice. I need to stop wishing on a fantasy and start living in reality. “My brother won’t lose his shit if he finds out I’m dating Ben Duffy. He would over Rogue. He’s a Maddox. You know how he feels about the brothers.”
“Screw your brother. Who cares what he thinks?” Adira’s face pinches and his brown eyes darken.
I wish I could be so black and white about my family. Just the idea of being free of them teases me with the sensation of a weight being lifted off my chest, but it’s quickly replaced with the weight of my guilt. I sigh as the heavy sadness that comes with thinking about my dad settles on me like a dark cloud. “I can’t.”
Adira purses his lips. “Yes, you can. You aren’t going to make your decisions based on what that demon who calls herself your mother wants.”
“Aren’t I?” Nicole would tell me that I can’t escape my predestined future. She’d remind me of all the ways I’ve failed to live up to her expectations. And I’ve spent so many years trying to live up to them…trying to be enough to make her love me…
“No.” Adira grips my shoulders and shakes me once. “No, you’re not. You don’t owe that woman your life just because she half-heartedly fed and clothed you. Your mom either needs to change her expectations or you need to walk away.”
“We made a deal,” I say woodenly. My guilt over not keeping my promise to my dad fills my chest. I can’t let him down.
“Big Dick Love would be so pissed right now.”
“Would he?” I wish he were here so I could hear that from him. “I feel like he spent my whole life asking me to get along with her. It was the last thing he said to me before he died.”
“That may be so.” Adira sighs as he looks to the ceiling. “But he has a better view now, and he would, at the very minimum, tell you not to hide from the uber pretty man with the nice tatts and sexy personality.”
“Ben’s nice too,” I say.
“Yeah, but you don’t like him as much as you do Rogue. That lovable scoundrel is all up in your feels.”
“But I’m not up in his.” I’m simply a mystery that needs to be solved. For curiosity’s sake.
Adira opens his arms and gestures for me to come in for a hug. “You do what you gotta do, girlfriend. If that is your new friend Ben, I have condoms in my bralette. Just ask.”
“Oh my God.” I giggle as I step back. “Seriously?”
“Yes.” One of his eyebrows arches in perfect Cruella de Vil fashion as he opens the double doors with a flourish. “Duh. Now come on. You can work out who you’re dating tomorrow. It is not every day you get invited to a celebrity’s birthday party. It’s exciting.”
“Speak for yourself.” I roll my eyes as we hurry out to find Ben.
Above us something moves. It catches my attention and makes my heart skip a beat before I can even lift my gaze to the second floor balcony.
Rogue Maddox’s rascally blues lock on mine.
He’s so devilishly handsome in his cop costume. His dark slacks and collared shirt are topped with a SWAT vest and wide utility belt. A pair of handcuffs dangle near the outline at his fly. Gray sweatpants season be damned, he doesn’t need them to make my mouth water.
“My goodness, I do love a man in uniform.” Adira clutches at his chest when he stops to see what has caught my attention. “I wonder, now that you’re not interested, if I can get him to show me his night stick.”
I’d shoot him down with one look, but I can’t tear my gaze away from Rogue’s beautiful face, even as he notices Adira. It only makes him focus on me more intently as he moves ahead of the group he’s with.
“There you are.” Ben wraps an arm around my shoulder.
The words I said to Adira earlier about how there could never be anything real between me and Rogue come rushing back to me. It was literally two minutes ago. How could I have forgotten so quickly? Just because Rogue Maddox is here, coming toward me, making my heart skip, skip, skip doesn’t change the fact that I can’t have him.
Oh, how I wish I could.
“Do you want a drink?” Ben asks.
Rogue hesitates mid-stride. Frowns as he moves to the edge of the gallery. I catch a glimpse of his confusion. He knows Adira when he sees him, but he’s not sure I’m me. Ben has thrown him off.
“Yes.” I blink, breaking the spell Rogue has on me and turning my attention to the boy beside me. Ben is cute and friendly and sweet. More than that, he’s safe. I need that in my life more than I need excitement and the kind of dangerous and overpowering connection that there is between me and Rogue. “Let’s get a drink.”
We make our way through the press of people in costumes toward a witch who is brewing drinks in a cauldron. Adira disappears before we make it to the bar. Ben orders a couple of purple cocktails that are presented in martini glasses, smoke pouring off the top of them.
They taste like blackberries and apple vodka. “This is so cool.”
“It’s dry ice,” Ben tells me. “Do you and Adira get invited to parties like this often?”
“Actually, no. This is a one-off. Although Adira does have a lot of celebrity clients.” I hide my half-truths in the rim of my glass as I take another sip. My mother has thrown her fair share of parties and events that drew the crème de la crème of the city. Billionaires, businessmen, celebrities. I’ve been to more than I can count. Certainly more than I would ever want to admit to. I’ve hidden in more powder rooms and alcoves, attempting to avoid the spotlight, than most people too.
Nicole is all about how things look on the outside, but our family has fallen apart. My dad was the glue that kept us together. He was the only reason I could deal with her. He’s the only reason I still do.
“Do you want to have a look around?” Ben asks, his head on swivel. “Is that Ethan Stone and Lincoln Landry? I love their action movies.”
He’s like a kid in a candy store. Enchanted. “Maybe you could say hi.”
“Oh no, I couldn’t,” he says. “Is that Rebel Maddox?”
I rub at the back of my neck as a distraction from the constant feeling that someone is observing me. Surreptitiously I lower my head and pretend to be stretching my neck as I glance behind me.
Rogue Maddox is standing in the middle of the room, watching me. Studying the shape of my body and my face. Deciding whether his eyes are playing tricks on him or I am who he thinks I am. And when he works it out, I am going to be powerless. Incapable of getting away, if he comes for me. Wishing he’ll give me no choice but to be his.
“No, that’s Rogue.” My pulse is already racing like he’s chasing me. Anticipating his next move. “They’re twins.”
“Do you know him?” Ben’s brow furrows. “He’s really eyeballing you.”
“A little. We met on campus.
He spilled coffee all over me.”
“Was that the day you borrowed my sweatshirt?”
“Yes.” The only way out is to remove myself from the situation. I grab Ben’s arm. “Let’s look around.”
“I heard there’s a whole haunted house upstairs,” he says as we move on. “Are you up for it?”
“Oh, definitely.” I urge him toward the staircase.
He glances back and the furrow in his brow deepens. “You met him on campus?”
“They’re filming a movie on location,” I say. I leave out the part where I drove Rogue to the hospital after he was shot and the night we spent together and a million other stalkery moments.
We take the stairs to the second floor where cobwebs and spiders abound. People with Halloween masks and weapons jump out to scare us. Jason. Freddy. Chucky.
Acrobatic ghosts float overhead, hanging from silks.
We scream and laugh and scream some more. My heart is racing. And my grip on Ben is sweaty by the time we’re two-thirds of the way around.
“This is amazing.” Ben grins from ear to ear. He tugs me out of the way of a wailing banshee. We skid around the corner and out of her reach, giggling all the way.
I smile up at him.
His eyes turn warmer as they linger on my lips. He hooks a finger into his mouth and pulls out the fake pointed incisors that are part of his costume. Bows his head as his gaze moves to mine before dropping to my lips again.
My heart is beating a million miles an hour. From excitement over the haunted house and trepidation because he wants to kiss me. That is what this is, isn’t it?
“Have you thought any more about our conversation?”
“I have,” I admit as I step back toward the wall, out of the way of other guests as they move onto the next scare.
He places a hand on the wall beside my head. “And?”
I’m nervous. I lick my lips. Dating him…or anyone…starts to change things. I want to be ready for that. I’m just not entirely sure that I am. Otherwise I would not be praying that Rogue Maddox can see me right now, would I? I wouldn’t be so obsessed with a man that I can’t possibly have a real relationship with. And the last thing I want to do is hurt my friend. “You are a great guy.”