When I told him we were together, his response was, “About time.”
I don’t know whether that was meant in reference to the time it took Speedy and me to get together, which wasn’t that long, or that I finally got myself a girlfriend.
And that’s not as pathetic as it sounds. I could have had a girlfriend anytime I wanted. I just never did.
Not until Speedy.
“Right. Come on then. Let’s go take this boot off and make sure you’re all healed.”
“I’ll wait here,” Speedy says. Taking a seat in the reception area, she picks up a magazine from the table.
“Won’t be long, babe.” I kiss her.
“Oh, here. Don’t forget your other shoe.” She pulls it from her bag.
I brought my other shoe with me, so I won’t have to walk around with one bare foot and look like a cunt.
I take the shoe, grab another kiss, and then head to the X-ray department with Tate.
Forty-five minutes, and I’m boot-free and all healed.
About fucking time.
Tate walks back with me to reception. “So, things are going well with you and Ava.”
“Really well. I’ve asked her to live with me permanently.”
“Wow. That’s great, Gabe. I’m really happy for you. You, more than anyone, deserve to be happy. I hope Ava knows how lucky she is to have you.”
“She knows. I make sure to remind her every day.” I grin.
He stops me with a hand on my arm before we reach the reception area. “Look, I know I don’t say this often enough, but I am grateful for everything you did for me after Mom and Dad—”
“Tate, you don’t have to thank me for anything. I’m your big brother. It’s my job to take care of you. There isn’t a single thing that I wouldn’t do for you. I’ve always got your back.”
“Goes both ways, you know that?”
“I know. Now, stop with the sappy shit ’cause my girl is waiting out there for me, and I intend to take her home and fuck her good and proper now that I have my leg back.”
Tate’s cell goes off. He checks it. “I have to go. I’m needed upstairs. I’ll call you later.”
“Later.”
I leave Tate, and Speedy’s right where I left her.
“Well, look at you.” She gets to her feet, smiling and looking sexy as fuck.
“No more boot, baby. You know what that means?”
“That you’re driving the car home?”
I chuckle and grab hold of her hand. “Half right. Yes, I’m driving my car home, and as soon as we get there, I’m fucking you up against the living room wall. How does that sound?”
“Let’s go.”
It’s a race for who can get to the car faster. It feels good to drive my car again. But I have us back home in record time.
I’m on her the second the elevator doors close, pinning her to the wall and thrusting my tongue into her mouth.
We reach my apartment. The elevator doors open, and we stumble out, still kissing.
She drops her bag to the floor and kicks off her shoes.
I kick mine off, ignoring the slight pain in my foot.
She grabs my T-shirt and yanks it up. I break our kiss to grab the back of my shirt and pull it over my head, tossing it to the floor.
Her mouth immediately goes to my chest, and she starts kissing her way down, lowering to her knees.
She unzips my shorts and pulls them down along with my boxers. I kick them aside.
She presses a kiss to the tip of my cock.
I reach down and take her chin in my hand. “Don’t tease me, Ava. I’m a man close to the edge.”
Lust sparks in those gorgeous eyes of hers. She takes my cock in her mouth, and my head drops back, thudding against the wall.
This feels way too fucking good, and if she keeps at it, I’ll be coming way too soon.
I run my hand through her hair, and gripping the strands, I ease her head back off my cock. She releases me with a wet pop that has desire bolting down my spine.
“My turn,” I tell her.
Then, I grab her arm and pull her to her feet. I turn us around, and I push her back against the wall.
“You’re still dressed.”
“I am.”
I grab the front of her button-up dress and rip it open. She gasps. The buttons ping across the marble floor. I push the tattered dress off her shoulders. Next goes her bra. Then, her panties.
“Much better.” I run my eyes up and down her body. The curve of her hips. The softness of her belly. Her tits…those fucking gorgeous tits that belong entirely to me. As does her pussy.
All of her belongs to me.
And I’m hers completely. She owns me.
Something possessive and primal rips through me.
I slam my mouth down onto hers. Her arms wrap around my neck. I grab her ass and hike her legs up around my waist.
“I was going to lick your pussy, but I can’t fucking wait. I need to fuck you now.”
“Yes. Do it. Fuck me.”
I thrust up inside her. She screams out my name. I start to fuck her with the maddening intensity that I feel for her.
I pump every feeling I have for her into her with my cock, trying to show her how I feel with my body. I can tell her a thousand times that I love her, but it just doesn’t feel like enough. It’s not a big enough word to express how much I want and need and desire her.
“Gabe. Gabe. Gabe,” she chants my name.
“You feel me inside you? How deep I am?”
“Yes. Yes!”
“This is it, baby. Just you and me. Forever.”
“Forever. Yes, Gabe. God, yes,” her breathless voice whispers over my skin.
Her small hands slide up into my hair, tugging on it. My mouth drops to her neck, and I kiss and lick at her skin.
“Bite me,” she moans. “Mark me. Please.”
Her words are like gasoline on a match. Desire rages through my blood. It roars in my ears.
I sink my teeth into the delicate skin at the base of her neck and suck hard.
Her heels dig into my ass, pushing her pussy even closer to me. Her hands drop to my back, and she rakes her nails into my skin.
“Fuck yeah.” I pump in and out of her. “That feels so fucking good.”
She drags her nails up and down my back, and I take her mouth in a desperate kiss.
We’re all teeth and tongues and total fucking need.
“Are you close? ’Cause I can’t hold off much longer. It’s too fucking good.”
“I’m nearly there. Just keep doing…God, yeah, just keep doing that.”
Knowing just what will set her off, I hold her up under her ass with one hand while the other pinches her nipple hard.
She screams. Her muscles clamp down on my cock as she starts to come, setting off my own orgasm.
I pour everything I have inside her. It shakes me to the core.
My legs are trembling, my heart pounding.
Her head drops to my shoulder.
“Jesus,” I utter.
“Yeah.” She lifts her head from my shoulder and tenderly kisses my jaw.
I turn my head in and capture her lips with mine.
She hums a sweet sound and wraps her arms around my neck.
“Love you,” she murmurs.
“Love you, too.”
I give her one final kiss and then push off the wall. I carry her to the bathroom to clean up.
I deposit her on the counter and run the faucet, wetting a cloth under it. I wring it out and then wipe between her legs.
I clean myself up, and still naked, I pick her back up and walk us to the living room.
“We not dressing?” she asks.
“No point. I’ll only be getting you naked again soon.”
I put her down on the sofa, and she stretches her gorgeous body out on it. I walk over to the window and open it.
I grab my smokes off the coffee table and light up.
“Baaahh
h!”
“Shit! Gucci’s still in the kitchen.” Speedy bolts up. “I can’t believe I forgot to let her out. That’s your fault, distracting me with hot wall sex.”
“Good to know I have that effect on you. You stay there. I’ll let her out.”
I head to the kitchen and push the door open. The moment I do, Gucci head-butts me in my leg and then bolts off to the living room to find Speedy.
“You’re welcome,” I call after the little brat.
I go back into the living room, and Ava’s on her phone, a blanket wrapped around her.
“No, that’s fine. I can make that day. Sure, yeah. That’s great. Thank you so much.” She hangs her phone up, a big smile on her face.
“Good news?”
“I got a job!”
“No way! That’s amazing, babe.” I drop my cigarette in the ashtray and go over and hug her. “Where’s the job?”
“Here in LA. At a theater downtown. They need a new wardrobe mistress. Their last one just upped and quit on them. So, they need me to start pretty much straightaway.”
“That’s fucking great. I’m happy for you.” I reach over and grab my cigarette. Then, I sit back and take a drag.
“I’m happy for me, too.” She snuggles into my body.
“So, when do you start?”
“They want me to go in on Monday.”
“So, I’ve got two more days with you.”
She tips her head back and looks up at me. “You’ve got forever with me, if you still want me?”
I lean my head down and kiss her lips. “I’ll always want you.”
“Good.” She plants another kiss on me. Then, she moves her head and tucks it under my chin.
I take another drag of my cigarette and watch the smoke curl up into the air.
“What a great day,” she murmurs. “You got your boot off, and I got a new job.”
“We should go out. Celebrate.”
She sits up and turns to me. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I smile. “Go get dressed ’cause I’m taking you out dancing.”
Ava
My hair is up in a sleek ponytail with some strands framing my face. My makeup is neutral, my lips red. I’m wearing a Victoria Beckham dress that I snagged from the last film I worked on. It’s a calf-length fifties-style dress with a rosebud pattern, cinched waist, and asymmetrical high neckline. I’ve red heels on my feet.
I spray my favorite perfume on, and I’m ready to go.
I look at my reflection in the mirror.
My cheeks are flush. I look happy.
That’s because I am.
I’m going out dancing with the man I love, and I’ve just gotten a new job. There’s a lot to be happy about right now.
I smooth my hands down the front of my dress. Grab my clutch and head out of my room to Gabe. Gucci trots along behind me.
When I walk into the living room, my heart nearly trips over itself.
Gabe is standing at the window, his back to me. He’s wearing a gunmetal-gray suit. His hands are pushed into the pockets of the pants.
“Hey.” I smile.
But he doesn’t reply. Doesn’t move. Doesn’t turn around.
“Gabe?” I step closer, my heels clicking against the floor, suddenly loud in the silence.
“Why?” That one word, whispered with a serious intensity, confuses me but sends a warning signal to my brain that something’s definitely not right.
“Why what? What’s wrong, Gabe?” I take another step closer, putting my clutch down on the arm of the sofa.
Finally, he turns. And I wish he hadn’t. His face is like stone.
My brow furrows. “What’s happened?”
His hands drop from his pockets. He balls them at his sides. “Why did you do it, Ava?”
“Do what? You’re going to have to help me out here because I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t play fucking stupid!” he roars, surprising the hell out of me. “I know, Ava. I fucking know. Just tell me why you did it.”
I frown. “Don’t yell at me like that, Gabriel. And I honestly don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. What did I supposedly do?”
“You know exactly what you did. You sold me out. You fucking sold me out, Ava.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Gil called me.” Gil is Gabriel’s manager. “Bradford Digby’s fucking lawyers called Gil to notify him that a story on me is going live on Digby’s trashy fucking news site in an hour.”
“What?”
“Don’t play dumb. It doesn’t suit you. Did they not tell you that it’d be going live so soon? What were you going to do? Just up and disappear before I found out it was you?”
“Jesus, Gabe!” I tug on my ponytail, frustrated. “I honestly don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. I didn’t sell any story to anyone. I haven’t spoken to anyone. I don’t know what’s going on here, but it doesn’t have anything to do with me.”
He advances across the room so quickly, it forces me back a step.
He looms over me, face taut with anger. “You recorded our conversation. When I told you about my parents being in prison, about me fucking women for money, you got it all on tape, and then you sold it to Bradford fucking Digby!”
“No!” I gasp. “No, I didn’t!”
“Liar,” he hisses. Then, he laughs an empty sound. “Well, you sure got lucky with that conversation. I bet you couldn’t believe your fucking luck. No wonder you were pushing me to be honest with you. I bet you weren’t expecting what came out of my mouth though. It was probably as close to winning the lottery for you, hearing all that. Did you record all our conversations? Or just that one?”
My hands ball into fists at my sides. “I’ve never recorded any of our conversations.”
“Liar.”
“I’m not lying!”
“Just fucking stop, Ava. The lawyers sent Gil the interview that you signed off on and a copy of the recording of our conversation.”
He pulls his cell from his pocket and presses the screen. A second later, the room is filled with the sound of Gabe’s and my voices.
“I used to sleep with women for money.”
“What?”
“And my parents are in prison for drug trafficking, racketeering, and murder.”
He presses stop on the recording.
“Gabe…I don’t know how our conversation was recorded, but it wasn’t me.”
He swipes the screen on his phone and turns it to me. “It’s all there, in black and white, Ava. Every single thing I told you. As quoted by you.”
I grab the phone from him and scan the words in front of me. I catch sight of my name.
…details from the woman who knows him best. His live-in lover, Ava Simms.
“No,” I gasp, my eyes flying to Gabe. “No, I didn’t do this. This wasn’t me, I swear.” My heart is pounding in my chest, my mind reeling with confusion.
“Stop fucking lying to me!” he yells.
“I’m not lying! It wasn’t me! Someone else recorded our conversation because it wasn’t me.”
His eyes fix on me, cold and hard. “Swipe the screen.”
“Why?”
“Swipe the fucking screen!”
I do as he said, and there’s a document.
“You probably recognize that. It’s the contract you signed with Digby, giving him exclusive rights.”
“I didn’t sign any contract! You have to believe me!”
He laughs hollowly. “And I suppose that isn’t your name and signature at the bottom either.”
I zoom in on the bottom of the document, and there, in black ink, is my name and signature. It’s mine. I recognize it as mine.
“No.” I’m shaking my head. “Gabe, I didn’t sign this. I would never betray you like that. I swear to you.”
He snatches his phone from my hand and turns his back on me.
“Gabe.” I step up to him and place my hand on his back.
“Don’t fucking touch me.” His voice is so chilling that I shiver. “Don’t ever fucking touch me again.” He turns to look at me, and his eyes look right through me. “I just hope the money was worth it.”
“What money? Gabe, I swear on my entire family, I swear on Gucci’s life, I didn’t do this.”
He steadily stares back at me. “I don’t believe you.”
It’s like a blow to the stomach. I fold my arms over the ache his words just put there.
“How much did you get? How much was I worth, Ava? If you’d told me you needed the money, I would have given it to you. You wouldn’t even have had to fuck me. I’d have given it to you for free.”
“I didn’t get any money from anyone! Jesus, Gabe! Listen to me! I have a thousand bucks to my name. Here, I’ll show you.” I grab my cell from my clutch. I pull my online banking up and thrust my phone at him, showing him the screen.
He barely looks at it. “It means nothing. People can have more than one bank account.”
“But I don’t have another bank account! I have one! I didn’t do this, Gabe. You have to believe me.”
He stares at me. Black eyes devoid of anything but anger.
“I can’t believe this is happening.” I drop my phone to the sofa and press my hand to my shaking head.
Tears push at my eyes. My lips tremble. I bite down to stop from crying.
“Gabe, I didn’t do this. You know me,” I implore, my voice shaking with the force of the emotions running through me.
“I thought I did. Clearly, I was wrong.”
“Please…I didn’t do this. I know my name is quoted on that story and that my signature is at the bottom of that document, but I’m telling you”—I press my hand to my chest—“it wasn’t me. I didn’t tell any journalist anything. I haven’t told anyone about what you told me. And I never would. You have to believe me.”
I look at him, begging him to believe me.
It feels like forever before he speaks, “I don’t have to do a fucking thing.”
I suck in a sharp breath. “You really think I’m capable of this? That I could do this to you?”
“Yes.”
A word has never cut me more. I feel like I’ve been sliced open and left to bleed out.
Breaking Hollywood Page 19