“Awwww, did you miss me, Ry?” Leah asks.
“You know I can’t go down there with you, I’d get ripped to shreds.”
Okay, so maybe not a fake pout.
“Where’s Syd?” I ask, not addressing anyone in particular.
“Still dancing with Rachel and Leslie.” Declan slides into the booth next to me. His thigh ends up pressed right alongside mine. I clench my teeth and breath deep to control my desire to sit on his lap and devour his mouth. A mouth that is closing around a beer bottle and sensually drinking, lips tasting… Ugh!
“Airplane girl! I thought that was you!”
I turn to find the source of the drunken shouts only to see Genius, my seatmate on the flight here, approaching our table.
“Hey Jeremy,” Dex says.
“Dex! How’s it going? I see you’ve met my friend.”
My eyes just about pop out of my head. “Friend? No, he sat next to me on my flight,” I explain to Dex.
Genius, sorry Jeremy, shoves one of the two glasses he’s holding right under my nose. “Here, I bought you a drink.”
I push his hand away. “Sorry, I don’t accept drinks from men I don’t know.”
“C’mon, don’t be uptight. You know me!” Jeremy holds out the glass again, spilling some over the side and onto my dress.
“Hey!” I scuttle back on the booth, pressing into Dex’s warm body.
“Jeremy, why don’t you take off man,” Ryker says from the other side of the table.
“What? I’m just getting reacquainted with an old friend.” He leans over, his face way to close to mine. “Isn’t that right?” The blast of alcohol from his breath has me turning my head away. I feel his fingers trail up my arm. I’m so skeeved out I feel nauseated.
“Jeremy, leave. Now, before I fuck you up.” Everyone turns to face Dex, shocked at the tone of his voice.
“Dex, chill,” Jeremy slurs. “I’m just chatting up a hot piece of ass.”
Dex stands up and walks around the table until he’s toe to toe with the drunk and sloppy idiot. “Get the fuck away from her and don’t ever call her that again.”
They stare at each other for a moment before Jeremy relents. “Okay man, no problem. I got ya.” He staggers off to who knows where to bother someone else.
“Thanks, Dex,” I tell him once he’s sitting back besides me.
“You met on the plane?”
“Yeah, he’s a complete idiot. I can’t stand stupidity, no matter how good-looking the package is.”
Dex grins, at what I’m not sure. But I’m not complaining.
“So, your brother is…” Dex starts, thankfully changing the topic.
“Yeah. He is.” I don’t need to hear the rest of his question to know what he’s asking.
Dex heard Syd talking to Drew earlier so I told him my brother was Andrew Forrester. I assumed he already knew. He’s in the industry for God’s sake and Sydney is so recognizable, everyone knows who she dates! But no, he didn’t, so now it’s out there. At least I know he’s not trying to use me to get to Drew. Funny, I’m not uncomfortable sharing that part of my life with Declan, the part I keep secret from everyone else I know.
Declan appears to think it over for a few seconds. He’s quiet for so long I’m almost afraid of what he’s going to say next.
“Huh. He’s kind of scary.”
I burst out laughing, partially because I’m pretty buzzed, and partially because that is so not what I expected him to say. My brother is far from scary. Well, he is to anyone who threatens our family, but to anyone he knows, he’s a big marshmallow. I mean, Sydney has him so whipped it’s hilarious.
“Scary? I guess it depends.” I look right into Dex’s eyes. They’re the clearest blue I’ve ever seen, almost transparent. Like the color the sky is on a day when it’s somewhat cloudy but not raining. Icy, that’s the best way to describe them.
“Depends on what,” he murmurs, his breath caressing my ear.
I shiver from the contact. “If you’re threatening someone he loves. Then you’re ten kinds of fucked.”
“I’m in luck, then. I’m the least threatening guy I know.” Dex has a big grin on his handsome face.
I study Dex carefully. His dark, almost black hair is ruffled from dancing all night. I can see a faint smattering of freckles across his cheeks and nose, barely noticeable in the dim lighting of the club. His shirt is oversized, but after watching him film half-naked all day, I know exactly what’s underneath. It’s the stuff fantasies are made of, even hidden by that huge shirt.
“I don’t know, after what I just saw you do to Jeremy, some people might find you threatening.”
Drew would instantly hate anyone I was dating, threatening or not. That’s just how he is. He’s a Neanderthal. The hit before you speak kind of guy. He means well though, most of the time. Thank God he doesn’t live in Boston, I couldn’t deal with him flipping out every time I had a date, which sadly isn’t that often.
Dex’s eyebrows arch over wide eyes. “What! No way. I’m a nice guy. Ask anyone.” He turns to Ryker, who is sitting across from us, his tongue down Leah’s throat. Get a room. “Ry, tell Allie that I’m a nice guy.”
Ryker peels his face from Leah’s and smiles. “He really is, Allie. He’s like a boy scout or something. Didn’t you graduate with a 4.0 GPA, Dex?”
Dex blushes. I swear to God, the man actually blushes. “Stop it Ry.”
“No, Dex.” Ryker turns to me. “He got a full ride to some uppity Ivy League business school and flew through the classes in three years. Isn’t that what you told me, Dex?”
“I ummmm, sort of.” Declan stumbles over the words, clearly embarrassed by the praise.
“What? You should be proud of that.” I reach under the table and take his hand, squeezing it. “Don’t ever play down your intelligence Dex. It’s a disservice to you.”
What the fuck? Why am I sitting here spouting drunken Nietzsche-type advice?
“You’re amazing, you know that?” he whispers.
How do you answer that? I have no idea, so I decide to wing it.
“Not nearly as amazing as you.”
His eyes drop to my mouth and his pupils dilate, eclipsing the icy blue. Dex slides his hand over my thigh, gently massaging my leg. From the dark look on his face, I’d say my response was perfect.
Hmmm, sometimes winging it works. I’ll have to remember that.
Chapter 4
Declan – now
My head is spinning in confusion. One minute, we’re all sitting at a dark little pub called Birdie’s, grabbing a few drinks and some food. A few Google Alerts, some angry phone calls, and a hasty back door exit later, and Allie’s cowering in the hotel elevator with a panicked look on her face. Leah is scowling, cartoon steam practically coming out of her ears. Ryker just seems relieved that his hoard of fans didn’t catch him.
Sydney turns to us, hopefully to explain what the fuck is going on around here.
“So someone overheard a conversation me and Allie had earlier this morning and they heard us last night in your suite, Leah. That’s why Drew called, to tell us about another CelebCast article.”
Allie starts trembling and cowers into my side.
What the…?
“Someone recorded you and wrote about it?” I can’t hide my shock at finding out that people I know are being spied on by tabloids. Ryker had mentioned something about a tabloid, but didn’t really go into detail. I figured it was the usual bullshit, not that they were planting recording devices in private hotel rooms.
Allie nods, but won’t look at me. I have no idea why she’s scared and embarrassed, but she shouldn’t be. That shit isn’t her fault.
Sydney makes it sound as if she let Allie down somehow.
“I’m sorry Allie. I swept the place last night when we got back from the club. There was nothing there! I don’t understand. All we did was sleep, we didn’t leave at all.”
The knowledge that these bastards can reduce a
confident, beautiful, outgoing girl into a nervous wreck pisses me off. I’ve only known her for a few days, but I feel protective of her, something I’ve never felt before.
Everything about this situation is fucked up.
“Well, we’re all going to your room and we’ll check it for you. You’re not getting recorded again.” I sling my arm around Allie’s shoulders and pull her close, letting her know that she can count on me to be there.
Ryker and I use some sort of detection device to check the room for bugs, but we don’t find a thing. It’s frustrating to come up empty, but if we actually found one I’d probably lose my shit in front of everybody so we’re probably better off this way. Leave the spy games to the professionals.
Sydney excuses herself to her room after Leah and Ry take off, leaving Allie and me alone for the first time since we met. I put my hand on her lower back and direct her to the couch. She looks so sad. I have to try to do something to make her feel better.
“Hey, do you want anything? A drink?”
Allie looks up at me with a desolate look in her eyes, that playful spark I enjoyed is gone.
“No, if you could just… I don’t really want to be alone right now and I don’t want to leave Syd. Can you stay?” Her voice is so small, so vulnerable, it makes me want to wrap her up in my arms and hold her until everything is better.
“Sure. Want to talk about it?” I’m not sure if I should ask, but it seems appropriate.
“Not tonight. Maybe once reality sinks in.” She gives me a sarcastic little laugh before pulling her feet up onto the couch and snuggling closer.
“Okay.” I let her sink into me, let the warmth of her body and the scent of her hair envelop my senses. I’ve never been the protective type, not that any girl has ever given me a chance. But I find that I like being the one Allie turned to when she needed someone. I could get used to this role.
It takes a minute for me to figure out where I am. I blink my eyes, waiting for them to adjust to the dark room. A person shifts next to me and I spot a tangled mess of dark hair, I remember everything. The pub, Ryker’s insane fans, the tabloids, the spying, it all comes back at once.
I sit up and realize we’re in her bed. Together. I’m fully dressed though, and from the looks of it, Allie is wearing sweats and a T-shirt. She moves again and I smile. We were up half the night talking, something I’ve never done before. Hell, I’ve never shared a bed with a girl before. Not overnight and especially not without at least some version of sex happening.
My cheeks flush when I remember what we discussed. I drop my head into my hands, humiliated. Stupid me, I told her how I took my hard-earned Ivy League education, the one that made my Irish parents so proud, and never used it, not for one single day.
Declan – then
“Dex! What’s wrong with you lately? You losing your touch or what?”
I glare at my roommate Seth from where I’m studying at the kitchen table. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He laughs. “It means, you haven’t had a chick in here in months. Usually, there’s at least one or two a week, if not more. Did your dick fall off or something?”
Clenching my pen tight, I talk myself down from beating his ass before answering him. “No Seth. I’m busy, that’s all.”
I know that’s not all there is to it. That day in the library fucked with my brain. I ran through all of my hookups in my head, tried to figure out what the fuck is wrong with me, why I can’t score more than a one-night stand. The answer wasn’t pretty, or maybe that was the problem. I’m too pretty.
No one takes me seriously. They think I’m a hot body and face with nothing going on between my ears. Girls don’t hang around long enough to find out the truth and if they do, they think I’m full of shit. No one who looks like me could possibly be intelligent. I’ve spent the last semester hiding under hideous clothing just to prevent the random come-ons.
“Well, something’s up with you. Is graduating getting to you? You don’t even look like yourself. What’s with the baggy clothes? Don’t you work at Abercrombie and get free clothes and shit?”
“Lay the fuck off, Seth. I’m studying for finals.” I snap at him, watching as he recoils in shock. I never raise my voice. I’m the calm, easygoing roommate. Well, not anymore.
“Alright. No worries.” He returns to watching his movie, not bothering to talk to me again.
“I gotta get to work anyway.” I slam my book shut and stalk off to my bedroom. Can’t show up at work wearing old clothes that are two sizes too big.
“Hi Dex.” My manager, Kathy, greets me as I walk into the back room after my shift ends.
“Hey Kath. What’s up?”
“Can we talk for a second?” She points towards the tiny office next to our employee break room.
“Sure.” I dutifully follow her, flopping down on the chair opposite her overflowing desk.
“So, Dex. Did you know that the company only uses store employees in their ads?”
“Huh?”
Wow, way to prove your intelligence, idiot.
“Those big pictures on the walls, the magazine ads, they’re all former store employees.” Kathy smiles at me as she shuffles through a stack of papers.
“Sure. Okay, that makes sense I guess.” It doesn’t make sense, but whatever. As a marketing major, I’d think they’d want to choose from a larger pool of models to represent the brand, not just sales clerks.
“Store managers can nominate employees that they think are right for the campaigns.” She hands me a piece of paper. “I nominated you, and they want you.”
I sit up straight in the chair, my mouth gaping. Hesitantly, I take the paper from her outstretched hand. “What do you mean, they want me?”
Kathy laughs, but she does it in a way that doesn’t make me feel as if I’m being patronized. “They want you to go to New York, Dex. To be one of the models in the ads.”
This can’t be right. “I’m in school,” I tell her, shaking my head.
“I know. You graduate in what, a week? Corporate doesn’t need you there until the twentieth. That’s plenty of time for you to finish up and make the meeting.”
“But…”
“Dex, from what I understand, the pay is unbelievable, for very little work. Go, see if you like it and if you don’t” she shrugs, “no harm done. You can come back to Philly afterwards and get the job you studied for, hopefully with a fatter bank account.”
Kathy stands up and opens the door to her office. I follow her out instinctively, my mind whirling through all of the options she just presented.
“There’s contact information on that paper. At least find out what they’re offering, Dex.”
“Sure.” I nod, letting my feet take me to my car without paying any attention to my surroundings.
Somehow, I get home without crashing my car and immediately hole up in my room. This offer, it goes against everything I’ve spent the last few months hiding from. Not using my looks, wanting people to see me, not my face or my body. But the money, my parents could use it. Hell, I could use it. I’m going to graduate with nothing but a shitty bed and a rusty old Honda.
I’m so confused I honestly have no idea what to do.
Declan – now
“Holy shit, Andrew Forrester.” I’m sure I look like a complete idiot in front of everyone, but hearing that Allie’s brother is one of the most recognizable actors in the world, and actually having him in front of you while you’re eating breakfast, are two very different things.
I’m too stunned to listen to everything, but it seems as if Sydney and Drew are having some sort of reunion. If I were more coherent, I’m sure I’d feel like I was intruding on a private moment. Instead, I sit there with my mouth gaping open in the kitchen of Syd and Allie’s suite.
“Unclench Drew.” Allie gets up from the table, crossing over to the entryway to give the big, angry looking guy a hug. “It’s so good to see you big brother.”
I blink back my surpr
ise and notice that Andrew Forrester is shooting daggers right at me. My gaze drops to Allie, who’s still in her sweats, hair all messed up, and I realize that I’m disheveled, wearing last night’s clothing, sitting at his sister’s breakfast table where we had just been discussing a tabloid article that depicted him cheating with his costar.
Allie’s words come back to me. “He’s only scary if you’re threatening to someone he loves.”
Oh shit.
His dark stare never moves from my face. “And who’s your friend, Allie.”
Allie rolls her eyes, giving a loud, dramatic sigh at the same time. “Drew, this is Declan Foster, Dex, this is my brother Andrew Forrester.” She uses the same irritated tone of voice that he used to ask about me. Sydney smiles as if it’s funny, which it probably would be, if I weren’t shitting in my pants.
The only way out of this is to pretend I didn’t do anything wrong.
Because you didn’t, asshole!
Andrew, no Drew, doesn’t know that though. Clearly, he thinks I spent the night molesting his sister. He has no clue that I gave up casual sex earlier this year, tired of being used by women. I stand up and offer to shake his hand, eager to make things less tense.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Hmph,” is all I get in return. But he does shake my hand. I consider that to be a good sign.
Allie huffs and turns to me. “Real charming isn’t he?” She takes her finger and digs it right into his chest, hard. “Don’t be a jerk.”
Holy shit, talk about poking a sleeping bear. I try to keep the situation light by making a joke. “No worries Al. If I had a sister I’d want to beat up everyone she went out with too.”
My words prompt the larger man to take a step towards me. I flinch back in shock at his furious expression. “So, you won’t mind if I pound you into next week then?”
Reluctantly Famous Page 3