by K. A. Linde
But from day one, she and Damon had made perfect sense. It was her own fears and doubts that had created the wedge between them.
Letting go of her past wouldn’t happen overnight. But if she didn’t start today, then she could lose Damon, and that wasn’t acceptable.
Resolved to make this better, Trihn reached for her phone, and it immediately started ringing in her hand. She startled, sitting up in bed and looking at the display.
A smile lit her face. Always in sync.
“Hey,” she said into the phone.
“Trihn,” Damon said with a breath. “I was up all night, thinking about you.”
“Me, too.”
“Shit, I am so sorry. I should never have left last night.”
“No, you were right. I understand why you did it.”
“You do? I still don’t,” he said quickly. “I should have stayed. I should have been there for you. I should have reminded you a thousand times that you were the one for me instead of blowing up on you. You can’t help your fears, and all I did was make them worse.”
“Stop,” she said. “Please stop. You don’t need to apologize. I should have trusted you instead of freaking out about Chloe.”
“But I should have drawn a bigger line in the sand with her. There should have been no reason for you to ever doubt that something was going on. Ever.”
“I know. I wish I hadn’t freaked out. I don’t like that the anxiety gets ahold of me like that. I’ve just never known anything besides cheating and heartbreak,” she told him. “It’s not fair to you for me to assume that you’re going to be the same. I don’t want to compare you, and I’m going to be better. I’m just trying to figure out this loving relationship thing.”
“Well, I’m still going to be here. We’ll figure it out together, okay?”
“Okay. I wish we’d figured it out last night, so you could be here in my bed right now instead of on the phone.”
Damon laughed. “Yeah. There are a lot of better things we could be doing right now. I’m pretty sure none of them involve arguing or sleeping.”
“Mmm…no, not at all.”
“Fuck, I miss you. A couple of hours was not enough time with you.”
“I know. I miss you, too. Next time, we should use our time much more wisely.”
“I have every intention of doing just that,” he said, his voice low and husky. “Stripping you naked and running my hands down your body.”
Trihn slipped back under the covers of her bed and closed her eyes, imagining just that. “I like the sound of that.”
“You moaning in my ear when I grab your hips and pull you toward me.”
Trihn whimpered softly into the phone at his words.
“Just like that,” he said. “I spread your legs apart to take a taste of you.”
“Damon,” she groaned, not sure if she was stopping him or telling him to continue.
“Are you touching yourself?” he asked. His voice was strained. “I want to imagine you fucking yourself while you’re thinking about me.”
Trihn slipped her hand under the hem of her tiny sleeping shorts. She ran her finger across the wetness pooling in her center from his words and started rubbing slow, gentle circles around her clit.
“Trihn?”
“Yes.” She had forgotten that she hadn’t said anything. “Yes, I am.”
Damon grunted, as if the power of that confirmation turned him on even more. “I would give anything to see this right now.”
“You lick and suck me until I orgasm,” she ventured.
“No. I lick and suck on your clit with two fingers inside you, and you come on my fingers so hard that I can do nothing but bury my dick inside you.”
“Oh God,” she murmured, picking up the pace as her own orgasm hung just out of reach.
“Fuck,” Damon said, his breathing erratic. “I’m just imagining you moving on top of me with your tits bouncing and your smile euphoric.”
“You holding me in place and working my hips.” Her body shuddered, and she felt her orgasm hit. “Oh. Oh God.”
“Christ,” he growled at her words. “You just came.”
“Yeah,” she breathed.
And then she heard Damon exhale heavily into the phone.
“Whoa,” he murmured. “That was…fuck, I’m going to need a shower.”
She laughed breathily. “That makes two of us.”
“You’re so sexy when you talk dirty.”
“Me? You were the one talking dirty,” she said.
“Yeah. Shit. I wouldn’t take it back. Listening to you come on the phone is only second best to seeing your face when you release in person.”
Trihn’s cheeks heated at the comment, despite what they had just done. “When exactly do you think you’ll get to see that again?”
“I wish I knew the answer to that. I want to go with you to New York when school is out, but I think our first tour date is around then.”
“Right. I understand. Where are you opening the tour?”
“St. Louis, and then we’ll be all over the country. I’ll send you a schedule. Maybe I can try to get some time off right before our New York show and go with you then.”
“I like that idea. I’ll have to tell my parents we’re pushing the date back. I don’t really want to go without you if I don’t have to.”
“And I want to be there to meet the rest of your family.”
“Okay. I’ll call my mom when we get off the phone to tell her what’s going on.”
“Trihn,” he said softly, “I’m sorry again about blowing up last night.”
“I’m sorry, too. I want to trust you. I’m going to do better.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
They ended the conversation, and Trihn hopped into the shower.
She knew that she needed to call her mom. She would want to know about the fashion show and when Trihn was coming to New York, but Trihn was dreading the call. It would be easier just to call her dad and push the date back, but she knew she’d hear from her mom about it again anyway.
Despite the fact that she knew that she needed to call, Trihn put it off. She had finals to study for, and since the fashion show had taken up all her time, she felt so far behind in her classes.
She spent the rest of the weekend studying and decided she would call after her classes were over. Tuesday was a reading period anyway, and then all of her finals were on back-to-back days.
As she was leaving her last class of the day, her design teacher held her back. “Trihn, can I speak with you?”
“Sure.” She jogged over to the front of class. “What’s up?”
“Well, first, I wanted to congratulate you on your win. I don’t think we’ve ever had a first-place win by a sophomore student. That gives me high hopes for your future academic career in fashion here at LV State.”
Trihn smiled bright. “Thank you. I’m really excited about everything that’s going on.”
“And, second, Teena wanted to talk to you in her office for a few minutes about what is happening, moving forward. She said she was free all afternoon.”
“Oh, great! Thank you.”
“Good luck.”
Trihn hurried over to Teena’s office, and as she was waiting for Teena to be free, she received a text message from Damon.
Wish you were here.
Me too.
No one tells you the part of music that is a job. And it’s definitely not the music.
Trihn laughed at his comment. She knew he was in promotion hell.
Maybe you’ll learn to love the spotlight.
Don’t hold your breath.
You’re doing exactly what you want to be doing and the thing you love most in the world. Millions of people would kill to be in your shoes right now. Enjoy it!
You’re right. I love you.
Love you too. Gotta go. Meeting with Teena.
Knock ’em dead.
Trihn stuffed her phone back
into her purse and then entered Teena’s office.
“Ah, Trihn. Good to see you. Congratulations again with the fashion show. I knew that you had it in you.”
“Thank you. I can’t believe this is real life.”
Teena smiled. “It’s a huge accomplishment at such a young age, but I don’t think that is anything new to you.”
Trihn shrugged. She’d had her fair share of adventures, but this, she felt she had truly earned.
“In any case, we need to get you out to New York as soon as possible.”
“We do? I thought the fashion show wasn’t until July.”
“That’s true, but you’re going to need to be there sometime soon to make sure everything is set for your trip. I have a whole list of things that you’ll have to accomplish out there, and once we settle on a date, I can book you a flight and hotel and then finalize your itinerary.”
“Oh, okay,” she said, deflating.
She was about to tell her family that she couldn’t come home without Damon, and now, it sounded like she couldn’t wait to do this stuff. There was no way she was going to be able to push this back to the start of July when Damon would be in town for the NYC show.
“Is that a problem?”
“No, not at all. I can make it work.”
“I didn’t think it would be an issue. You’re from there, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Wonderful. Will you still require a hotel in Manhattan then?”
Trihn nodded without hesitation. “Yes. I don’t have anyone I can stay with in Manhattan.”
Her parents lived in Brooklyn, and there was no way in hell she was going to stay with Lydia.
“Excellent. As soon as you pick a date, we’ll get this all cleared away.”
Trihn left Teena’s office, feeling let down. She was excited—and nervous, stressed, overwhelmed—to do the work for the fashion show in New York. But she’d thought she could do all the work from here. She was not looking forward to being in New York and dealing with Lydia’s upcoming nuptials.
Trihn raised her chin and reached for the confidence that Damon had instilled in her. She was not going to be a pawn in Lydia and Preston’s game.
Trihn would go to New York for work, and that was it.
A FEW WEEKS LATER, Trihn stepped off the plane at JFK Airport in New York City. She twisted her neck and felt a pop, releasing the tension from the six-hour flight into the city. It wasn’t a flight she relished taking and even less so knowing that Damon was so far away, playing a show in Orlando that night.
It was still crazy to think that he was out on the road, touring the country, when only a couple of months ago, he’d been fired from his job as a DJ and started working at Posse. Not to mention, “We Never Met” had debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number two, had been sitting at the number one spot for the last two weeks, and the music video—which she had finally watched and hadn’t been as bad as she’d thought—had around seventy-five million views. The full album had skyrocketed straight to number one, and Trihn had no clue when it was ever going to move.
She hurried down the terminal, ready to be out of this airport. She always preferred LaGuardia, but the nonstop flights to JFK were better. And she hadn’t had any control over her flight since the school provided it.
She wheeled her hardside spinner suitcase through the airport and then out to the baggage claim. Her dad was supposed to be here, so she wouldn’t have to drop seventy-five dollars on a cab to the city. But when she scanned the line of people, she didn’t see him.
She was just pulling her phone out to give him a call when she heard her name.
“Trihn, over here!”
Trihn followed the sound of the voice and sighed heavily when she saw who it was.
Lydia stood off to the side in wide-leg cotton pants and a crocheted bra top. Her blonde hair was parted down the middle and hung nearly to her waist. She had on a headband to complete her ensemble. She couldn’t have looked more different from the rocker-grunge style that Trihn always sported.
Trihn wheeled her suitcase over and stopped in front of her sister. “I thought Dad was coming to pick me up.”
“I volunteered when I found out you were coming into town.” Lydia pulled her into a hug that Trihn reluctantly returned. “I’ve really missed you.”
“I was home for New Year’s.”
“That was almost five months ago,” Lydia said. “I used to see you every day.”
Trihn wanted to say, Whose fault is that? But she held her tongue and just shrugged. “Yeah. We should go.”
“Oh, right, sure. Do you have more luggage? Did you check a bag?”
“Nope. Just this one. It’s a short trip.”
Lydia’s face fell, but she quickly recovered. “Oh. Well, we’ll make the most of it then!”
Trihn saw Lydia glance down at her ring and waited for it to happen. Any minute now, Lydia was going to thrust that thing in Trihn’s face and want her sister to be happy for her. But to her surprise, Lydia just took the suitcase out of Trihn’s hand and started walking out to the parking lot.
They didn’t say anything to one another as they crossed the street to a shiny black SUV. Lydia clicked the unlock button and popped the trunk. Trihn assessed the vehicle. She didn’t think Lydia had a car. In fact, Lydia was potentially even a worse driver than Trihn had been when she lived here. Las Vegas had caught her up pretty quickly. She had to drive everywhere there, but Lydia hadn’t had that advantage.
“Nice car. When did you get this?” Trihn asked.
Lydia looked up at Trihn after hoisting the bag into the trunk and shutting the hood. “It’s Preston’s.”
“Oh.” Trihn hurried around to the passenger side to hide her distaste.
Lydia got in the car, backed out of the parking spot, and drove them to the exit. Trihn was right. Lydia wasn’t any better of a driver than Trihn remembered. It was almost painful.
“Do you want me to drive?” Trihn asked.
“What? Why?”
“Because I do it all the time, and it looks like you haven’t driven in a long time.”
“It’s fine,” Lydia said. “I wanted to drive you into the city. I really wish that you were staying with me.”
Trihn froze. “I’m going to be super busy. I didn’t want to inconvenience you.” Or be anywhere near Preston.
Lydia read straight through her comment. “It wouldn’t have been an inconvenience at all. It’d have been great to have you around.”
“Well, I’m really just here for work. I have a full itinerary, and the university put me up in a hotel. So, I’m just going to stay there.”
“Right,” she said, deflating. “Dad mentioned that.”
“Yeah.” Trihn looked out the window to avoid the tension.
“I’m just really glad you’re here. I thought you might actually not come home.”
Trihn didn’t have it in her to tell Lydia that she hadn’t wanted to come home, and the thought of seeing her sister and Preston and having anyone bring up their wedding had nearly kept Trihn’s ass firmly in Nevada. She figured her silence was clue enough. And they remained in silence the rest of the way into the city.
It was sad honestly. Trihn had been so close to Lydia before this. She had looked up to her sister, practically idolized her. And now, their relationship had been reduced to rubbish, all because of some stupid guy. If only Lydia could see it that way.
Lydia pulled up in front of the hotel where Trihn was staying in Midtown. It wasn’t as pompous as some of the surrounding buildings, but she didn’t intend on spending a lot of time inside either. Even though she’d left New York for good, that didn’t mean she didn’t miss her home. And she wanted to make the most of the time she had while here.
Trihn hopped out of the car and grabbed her bag from the trunk. Lydia awkwardly stood there, shifting from one foot to another.
“Okay. Thanks for picking me up,” Trihn said.
“Of course. It was good
to see you.”
“Yeah.”
“I hope we can spend some time together while you’re here. Pencil me into your busy schedule.”
“We’ll see.”
Lydia reached forward and pulled her into a quick hug before disappearing. Trihn was so surprised that she’d let her. With a shake of her head, Trihn went to check in at the hotel. She didn’t know what was up with Lydia. Is this an act to get back in my good graces? Or is she actually trying to be better?
She deposited her bag in her room and changed into black jeans, a white V-neck, and flats. Even though she had her own style, it had been ingrained in her since her modeling days to show up neutral, like a canvas waiting to be painted.
She returned to the streets with her itinerary pulled up on her iPhone. She had to check in at an endless list of places to make sure she was approved and ready to go. She needed to see the venue. She needed to check the dressing rooms. She needed to consult security and shipping to figure out the best method to get her designs here in one piece. She needed to consult the makeup artists and hairstylists, so she could portray her vision. She needed to have a meeting with the board for the fashion show and with her own personal assistant, which was just insane, and another meeting with the camera crew. And the list went on and on.
By the time she had done only half of those things, Trihn felt exhausted. No wonder Teena had scheduled her to be here for three days to get through this stuff and why she hadn’t come along to deal with the tedious details.
Trihn walked up to a vendor to get a bottle of water. She paid for it with cash, which she always liked to have on hand in the city, and then started skimming the magazines. This had been a habit while she was modeling. She’d liked to see if any of her friends had made it onto the covers, and when she’d had free time before dance, she would pick one up and flip through to see if she could find a familiar face.
Trihn jolted. “Whoa!” Speaking of a familiar face.
She snatched the tabloid magazine out of the stand and stared at the cover. In big letters, it read, Chloe’s Secret Love, and it had a giant picture of Chloe and Damon on the cover. Trihn opened the tabloid and flipped to the page listed. There, in detail, was a series of pictures of Damon and Chloe together. In one, they both had their heads down as they moved through a crowd. A similar picture had Damon with his arm slung over Chloe as they walked into an arena. A few other pictures had them standing side by side at various venues.