by Misti Murphy
She looks a little queasy. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. Sure.” She wraps her arms around her waist and curls into the table. Her phone beeps and she glances at the screen. “About this girl who keeps running away…”
“It’s weird, right?” I pick up a fried treat and take a bite before putting the other half back on the plate. I chew the sweet dough with its chocolate ganache and praline sprinkles. “She shows up. We have this connection that is so intense. And then she just…”
“Poofs.” She mimics an explosion with her hands.
“Exactly. And I don’t know why. Or if I ever will. She keeps promising to stick around but she never does.” I chuckle awkwardly. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this.”
“It’s okay. I don’t mind.”
“I suppose it’s nothing I don’t deserve. I’m not exactly the kind of guy who commits to more than a good time. Perhaps it’s karma that I finally like someone enough to want to get to know them and they don’t feel the same.”
“Rogue, I—”
“Listen to me go on and on.” I shake my head at my own stupidity. Ivy doesn’t want to hear all about how hard I’m crushing on Uma Cookie. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” she says. “But—”
The alarm on my phone goes off. With a grimace I climb to my feet. “I feel bad cutting and running after I’ve rambled on, but I have to get to set.”
She darts a glance at her own phone. Jumps to her feet and scoops up her bag. “I should really get to class too.”
“Maybe…” I glance around as I adjust the brim of my cap once more. “Do you want to do this again?”
“Coffee?” She looks surprised. Her mouth curves around an oh and then widens in pleasure. “As…friends?”
“Yeah. Of course.” I find myself tucking that long escapee tendril back behind her ear for her. My thumb brushes over the top of a couple of those freckles and she blinks up at me like… I don’t know… but she’s so fucking pretty. Was I blind the first time I saw her? Did I have my head so far up my own ass that I didn’t even notice? Or was it more to do with my unhealthy obsession over a woman who plain old doesn’t want to be found?
My phone beeps again. “I should go.”
“Me too,” she murmurs, but then her fingers twine themselves in my shirt and there’s this roar of thunder or the ocean or something in my ears.
It takes me a second to realize that sound is my pulse.
She removes her hand from my shirt and latches it above the other on the strap of her bag. “Class.”
“Right.” I put my palm to the small of her back. Let it drop to my side. We’re friends. We share the same therapist. She’s not old enough to be on my dance card.
I know it’s an excuse. It’s not like the six years between us is a big difference. And there’s a whole universe in her eyes that tells me she knows more than most coeds do about the real world. If things were different…but Uma Cookie calls to me like that last chocolate chip treat in the middle of the night. I have to know who she is and why she’s messing with me after she saved me. I have to know why she runs. I can’t just let her go. I at least need answers. “I’ll walk you out.”
A few moments later, we stand awkwardly on the pavement.
“Well, this was nice,” she says.
“I’ll text you.” I shove my hands in my pockets. That photographer is loitering again. What is it with him? Doesn’t he have anyone else to harass?
“Is that guy following you?” Ivy asks. “He was here, taking photos the other day too.”
“It’s one of the perks of being me.” I wink at her. Or really any of us A-listers. These guys are always following us. I’ve actually formed a relationship with some of them. But not this guy. He’s always around, but he keeps his distance. The closest any of us have gotten to him was outside the police station when Rebel was arrested for assaulting Alec Hawthorne.
“I really have to go,” Ivy says.
My phone starts ringing. It’s my assistant, who is already on set. “Catch you later, Ivy.”
She scurries off as I beat feet to my truck. My friend the brash photographer continues snapping pictures the whole time.
I lift my phone to my ear. “Kia, my sweet and utterly perfect assistant, what can I do for you?”
“Don’t butter me up, Rogue.” I can practically hear the eyeroll from here. “Kelvin is having a fit. You were supposed to be in scene an hour ago.”
“No.” I mock gasp. Normally I try to be on time and the kind of reliable, charming guy studios like to work with, but sometimes more important shit comes up. Like having coffee with Ivy. “Surely not. I thought it was only thirty.”
“You better be on your way,” Kia says.
I peel out of the parking lot and rev the engine more than necessary so she can hear it through the line.
“Don’t be a douche,” is her response.
“You know you love me.” I chuckle and then stop when I see Ivy talking to a man. It shouldn’t bother me, but for some reason it does. Maybe because I’ve grown a little fond of her over these accidental meetings of ours.
Or it could be the friendly way he’s talking to her. Like they know each other well. And when she touches him as I drive past I bite down solidly on my own teeth. Thanks to Uma Cookie I know what jealousy feels like. But I can’t be jealous right now, can I? That’s not what this is. The urge to turn my truck around and escort her to class has nothing to do with possessiveness. I’m just feeling protective toward her…because she’s such a shy little klutz.
“I love my job,” Kia retorts, which is about as close as she’ll come to admitting she adores me. And the annual bonuses I hand out to my team. Hers is always the biggest. “Just hurry up.”
“Five minutes.” I hang up.
Chapter Twenty-One
Rogue
“What are you doing later?” Gia Moon asks me as we walk out of the lecture hall where we’ve been filming the class scenes that take place throughout the movie.
“Going to go visit my brother so I can rub it in his face how wrong he is about something and then I’m going to hunt me down a cookie.”
“Okay.” She wrinkles her button nose as she strokes her fingers over a length of her midnight hair. “I have no clue what any of that means. I was hoping you might be able to run through tomorrow’s scene with me. I’m a little nervous.”
“Ah shit, Gia.” I rub at the back of my neck. I should have thought. Gia’s new to the business, this is her first movie, and tomorrow we’re moving away from the thriller scenes to the more romantically risqué aspect of the film. I’m supposed to get her out of her clothes and onto the desk in the office set at the studio. I should have expected she’d be nervous. “Do you want to quickly run through part of it now?”
Her nervous olive irises glance back into the building behind us. “Could we? Would that be alright? I just don’t want to mess it up.”
“Honestly, you’ll be fine,” I say, as I recall the lines that lead up to the moment. Then the stage directions. “The first shot will be the hardest, but after that it’ll be old hack before you know it. They’ll make sure everything looks perfect. All you’ll need to do is follow my lead and remember to say your lines at the right time.”
She rubs her lips together. “Sounds easy. So why am I so nervous?”
“Here.” I slide an arm around her waist. “It doesn’t mean anything. We’re just two people standing really close.”
“Okay.” Her hand lands on my shoulder.
“I’m going to squeeze your ass. They’re going to take close-up shots of bits and pieces that will increase the on-screen chemistry.”
“Alright.”
Her legs wrap around my waist, as I lift her off the ground like I will in scene before I lay her out on the desk. Settling my other hand on the back of her neck, I squeeze. “How are you doing? You handling this okay?”
“I mean we’re just talking,” she says, but then she
licks her lips and I guess at what is really making her nervous.
“It’s the kissing, huh? First time fake kissing or you’re worried my breath smells like turnips?”
She giggles. “Neither. But it’s weird. Don’t you think? Getting down to my bra and panties is no different than wearing a bikini, but kissing…”
“It seems intimate, huh? Your boyfriend worried?” I put a finger under her chin and tip her head back a little. “That you’re going to be kissing such a prime piece of beef?”
She slaps my shoulder. “He knows this is part of my job.”
“Exactly,” I say. “It’s no different than changing over the fries at McDonald’s or packing groceries at Trader Joe’s.”
Gia laughs. “Yeah, okay. If you say so.”
“I do say so.” Little known fact about me. I was working at a fast-food chain when Rebel took his first acting job. It was only a few hours a week and I had to balance it around school and sports and helping Riot with his homework and looking after mom. It never seemed like enough though. Not when Rebel made sure we kept the roof over our head and the bills were paid and there was always some kind of food on the table. Those last six months before Lady Luck smiled down on us were the worst. So having to kiss a pretty girl as part of my job isn’t exactly fucking terrible.
“Now I’m going to press my lips to yours so we can get rid of these first day jitters and then tomorrow we should be good to go, making jokes and complaining about what the other ate for breakfast.”
I brush my lips across hers in the briefest of kisses before I pull away. “Coconut lip gloss, not bad.”
She laughs. “That wasn’t as awkward as I thought it was going to be.”
“See, no reason to be nervous.” I wink at her. “My breath isn’t that bad.”
She titters. “Thanks, Rogue.”
I give her finger guns as I step back. “Now don’t go crushing on me, okay?”
“I don’t think I’m in any danger of that,” she retorts. She’s a good actress and it’s fun hanging out with her, but our chemistry is definitely in the friends category.
I laugh as I push my hands in my pockets. I have shit to do. People to see. Victories to crow about. “Well, I will see you tomorrow.”
The pain in my eye socket is sharp and instant the moment I turn to leave. My neck cracks with the whiplash of a punch I was not expecting. It almost knocks me out of my shoes. For a second I assume it’s Grant and he’s pissed that I kissed Gia. But I’ve met Grant and he understands the business we’re in. This kid isn’t him. Doesn’t look like him either.
“You bastard.” The lank kid holds his fist like it hurts. He shakes the hand like it’s gone numb on him.
I fucking hope so after he plowed it into my face. My eye throbs and I can taste blood in the back of my throat. Hmm, apparently a coffee date with Ivy wasn’t enough to clear my karma. Only a black eye to match hers will do it. Makeup is going to want to kill me when they have to hide the bruising tomorrow.
“Do you want to even me up on the other side?” I ask the kid. I don’t even know who the fuck he is, but okay, he looks a little familiar, like maybe I’ve run into him before and slept with his older, hot sister.
“Are you okay?” Gia asks, rushing down the stairs and grabbing my arm.
“I’m fine.” I ease out of her hold. “He’s just a kid. With a grudge. Nothing to worry about. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay.” Gia leaves in a hurry. Don’t blame her. She’s a sweetheart. Her image is almost squeaky with how clean it’s been up to this point.
“This is bullshit,” the kid spits. “She likes you, you know.”
“Who, Gia?” I don’t glance behind me. There’s no way I’m giving this man child another chance to hit me. I doubt he’s even made it out of his teens, and I’d hate to have to cut his years short.
“Ivy,” he shouts at me. “You fucked her at that party, didn’t you? Then dropped her. I knew you would. She spent three days crying over you. And then she shows up with black eyes and a broken nose.”
“Hey, hang on a minute. That was an accident.” I put my hands up. “She literally ran into a wall. You can ask…” I don’t know if he knows about Dr. Keller. “There were witnesses. I didn’t touch her. Ivy and I are just friends. Whoever made her cry, that must have been someone else.”
“Fuck you.” He sneers. “For some reason she’s into your fuck boy bullshit. You slapped those cuffs on her and probably fed her some pretty lines. She’s not the kind of girl you can do that to.”
“You.” I recognize him now. I know where I pissed him off. Bianca’s birthday party. Halloween. He was wearing that vampire costume. Wait…oh…fucking what?
I waggle my finger at him as puzzle pieces start coming together and the picture they’re creating… it feels like my head is going to explode. “You’re Uma Cookie’s friend.”
“That’s not—”
“But you said Ivy…” I pace a tight box on the pavement. “I cuffed Ivy?”
“Look, I think I got carried away.” He tries to retreat. “Maybe I have you mistaken for somebody else.”
I stare him down. He might be the messenger, but fury is on the tip of my tongue and in my muscles. Ivy is Uma. Uma is Ivy. And I just need a freaking minute… “Don’t fucking move.”
“Shit,” he says.
“That’s right,” I snap at him. I had coffee with Ivy only a few hours ago. I talked to her about my fears. I told her about how Uma kept promising to stick around and then running away. I told her I’d felt like I was going crazy. I even told her about my mother. And she didn’t say one fucking word. Not. One. Damn. Word.
“Are you going to tell her?” he asks.
I stop moving long enough to glare at him. “What do you think?”
“I’m screwed.” He drops his ass on the stairs to the building and exhales heavily.
“You’re in love with her?” I ask.
“I like her.” He shrugs. “A lot. But I’m also her friend. That punch was coming either way. You hurt Ivy. And now you’re kissing some other girl like Ivy doesn’t even exist.”
“Gia’s my costar. We’re making a movie here.” I frown. Surely he knows that. It seems like the whole campus has been abuzz with the news. “She was nervous about the shoot tomorrow.”
“So you kissed her?”
“That is the scene we’re shooting tomorrow,” I snarl at him. What is it with this dude? Has he never seen a movie before?
“Shit.” He shuts his eyes, pinches the bridge of his nose, and groans. “I screwed up. Ivy is going to kill me.”
“You think you’re screwed.” I laugh mirthlessly. I don’t know how I didn’t see this coming.
You know how they say your whole life flashes before your eyes when you drown? Well, right now every encounter with Ivy and Uma are morphing into one time stream. I can fucking see it all. Clear as day. The shape of her face. Her wide eyes. The way she smells. Like jasmine and blackberries. The way she always seems to have this nervous energy. The fact that despite my rules I end up asking her out on a coffee date.
Sure, I told myself it was a karma thing, but I was lying, alright? I was fucking lying. When I asked her about her birthday, I knew it was because I was attracted to her. Which makes a whole hell of a lot of sense in context. The things I’ve done…fuck.
But she was lying too.
About everything.
“You.” I grab the kid by the back of his shirt and haul him to his feet. “Where’s Ivy now?”
“I-I don’t know,” he says.
“Don’t lie to me,” I snap.
“Um.” He glances around as though he’ll find a clue in the air around us. “Okay, she might be at Adira’s shop. She works there sometimes.”
“Message her and check,” I order. “And no funny business. She and I have some things to hash out and she is not getting the chance to run away from me again.”
His eyes widen at that bit of news. So he didn�
��t know she was the one who took off on me then. He tugs his phone from the pocket of his pants and holds it like he’s weighing up whether he’s willing to help me. “You didn’t hurt her, did you?”
“Hurt her? No, I didn’t hurt her.” I laugh harshly. I’m angry and I have every reason to be, but I still don’t want to hurt her. When she’s Uma our connection is quantifiable. I truly believe she wants to be there as much as I do, but after…I just can’t believe she’s as deceitful as my brother would try to convince me. Even with seeing Dr. Keller. “And I won’t. I want an explanation as to why Ivy is pretending to be someone else. Do you know how many times I’ve asked her to stay and she’s bolted on me?”
His lips droop even more, probably realizing that he has no chance with her. He starts tapping away at the screen on his device.
I watch him like a hawk. There’s no way I’m letting her slip out of my grasp again, because her friend decides to give her a heads up.
He hits send.
His phone makes a sound like popcorn as her response shows up. “She’s at Adira’s shop.”
“Great.” I know where that is.
He shoves his phone in his pocket. Walks the couple of yards to where his bag is lying on the ground. He must have dropped it when he saw Gia and me working on our scene. He blows out his cheeks and has the decency to appear sheepish. “Sorry about your eye. I really was just looking out for Ivy.”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Back to my dorm.” He pushes a thumb over his shoulder. “I have to study.”
“Not until I find Ivy,” I say. There’s just no way I can risk letting him out of my sight if I want to have any chance of talking to Ivy at all. “Until then you’re with me.”
He considers his options, but unlike Uma-Ivy Cookie he doesn’t run. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Jeep’s over here.” I lead the way.
“Adira’s shop is—”
“I know where it is,” I say as we jump into my vehicle.
He holds onto the grab handle as we speed through traffic toward Hunt Luxuries. “Do you really need to drive so fast? Ivy isn’t going anywhere.”