Love Ever After: Eleven All-New Romances!

by Nina Lane

  What the heck kind of place did she live in? It was gorgeous and wow, money. Donovan must be paying her a mint. Or was this because of her husband? The husband they never saw, nor Lila ever spoke of. When she got through the lobby, she found the elevator and a panel. Okay, that was what the code was for.

  She pushed in the six digits and found then pressed L3 when she got inside.

  The glass elevator gave her a bird’s eye view of the impressive windowed lobby and sleek blue couches that surrounded a wide reflection pool and fountain. There were tables and chairs everywhere and a small cafe tucked along the side. Man, she could get used to that. Making her own coffee every morning was getting old. What was it about having some barista make the perfect foam?

  Her belly growled. She’d rushed from the studio to practice and then right to the Fluff to be there for Simon. A Hostess chocolate cupcake was not dinner.

  When the ornate brass and glass elevator opened, she followed the dark wood hallway. It was set up much like Simon’s apartment with one door on either side of the hallway. She knew Lila was well-off, but she hadn’t realized Oblivion’s pseudo-manager was quite at this level. Before she could raise her fist to knock, the door swung open.

  Lila stood there with a high ponytail, lipstick pink yoga pants and bare feet. Huh. This was only the second time she’d ever seen Lila dressed down. Each time was more surprising than the last. She wore a white, off the shoulder workout top a la Flashdance and a matching pink sports bra peeked from the opening. Not to mention she was makeup free. “What the hell is going on?”

  She didn’t know how to handle a stripped down Lila with everything else. “Hi.” And Margo busted into tears.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Oh.” Lila’s blue eyes went wide with panic. “Um. Well, shit.” She hauled her inside and closed the door. Lila patted her arm awkwardly. “I don’t do tears, so stop.”

  Margo nodded and they flooded even harder. “I don’t know what’s wrong. I can’t stop them.”

  Lila sighed and pushed her inside. She steered her onto a white leather couch. “Scram, Spot.” A young white cat with a thumbprint sized black spot on her head leaped off the couch and onto the matching white chair.

  Margo gave a watery laugh. “You have a cat?”

  Lila sat across from her. “I’ve acquired a cat. Jazz’s doing.” She gave the cat a side-eye. “We like each other well enough. At least when she’s not throwing up on my white leather, the little heathen.” The sleek cat wound around Lila’s waist and bumped her arm before sitting next to her. The cat lifted a paw, daintily licked it and smoothed it over her ear.

  Figured that Lila’s cat would be as fastidious as her owner.

  “So…” Lila scrubbed her hands down her thighs. “Tell me what’s going on.” She held up one hand. “Minus the waterworks.”

  Margo dabbed her cheeks with her wrists and tried to stem the tears. What the hell was up with her? She rarely ever cried and with Simon she’d done it at least half a dozen times. Most of them worried tears, granted—but still—tears on the whole were not part of her life.

  “Oh, he got it in his head that he wanted to really sing at practice. He’s mostly been playing rhythm guitar and singing a little. But this time, it was different. He was so determined to sing and it…” She took a shaky breath.

  Lila winced.

  “Yeah. It wasn’t good. It was like he’d forgotten everything that Jerry taught him.” She blew out a slow breath. Tears were not helping, dammit. “I’ve heard him, Lila. He’s good. Different than he used to be. Not so…” She tugged out the ponytail holder from her hair and twisted the heavy duty elastic around her fingers in frustration. “Not so frat boy having fun at a party with a decent voice, I guess. More like an accomplished singer. He has range and control now.”

  Lila sat back and Spot hopped on her lap. She absently dragged her hand along the cat from head to tail. “I didn’t realize it had gotten to that level yet. He’s been babying it for so long.”

  Margo shrugged. “In front of everyone, yes. It’s just because he’s so afraid to let anyone hear him at anything less than perfect.”

  “He’s never been perfect. That was part of his charm.”

  “I know. I agree, but he’s so…pigheaded.”

  “Yeah, we don’t know any of those types,” Lila muttered.

  Margo managed to laugh a little. “Jerry is truly the best thing that’s ever happened to him.”

  “So it was a little setback. What’s with the leaky face?”

  Margo laughed and sniffed. “We had this fight earlier today. He wants me to really move in.”

  Lila’s eyebrow arched.

  “I still have the Boston house.”

  “If you get rid of that place, I’m disowning you as a friend.”

  “No, I’d never get rid of it. It was my grandmother’s, for one. But there’s a difference between subletting or renting it and keeping all my stuff in an empty house just in case.”

  “Look, I understand the need to be careful. My marriage shows that.” Lila twirled her finger around her head. “That’s why I have this place.” Margo opened her mouth and Lila pointed at her. “Not relevant to this conversation. You are really good at avoiding things. In fact, it’s an unenviable trait you share with your man.”

  Margo crossed her arms.

  “Don’t get all defensive. You know it’s true.”

  She stood up and wandered to the window. “It’s not just the living situation. He hates that I’m always working and he’s always working. If I’m not at the LAP, then I’m rushing off to the studio.”

  “The LA Philharmonic, I get. But do you need to do so much studio work?”

  “No. It’s not even the money aspect so much. It’s just that I love it too much to stop. The orchestra is…rewarding in its way. But the stuff I’m doing with Deacon and Gray?” She turned to Lila. “It’s really amazing stuff.”

  “Simon’s jealous of that, too.”

  “I know.” Margo tipped her chin up enough that the tears wouldn’t leak out again. Instead, the half dozen lights in Lila’s ceiling sparkled with the wash of emotion.

  Lila sighed and set the cat next to her and stood. “Wine. We need wine if I’m going to watch you blubber.”

  Margo gave a shaky laugh. “Gee, thanks.”

  Lila padded over the hardwood in bare feet, her toenails a vibrant purple. “It’s fine. Believe me, I’ve dealt with musicians for years now. Tears I can deal with—mostly. I’m just not used to them out of you.” Lila pulled down a huge bottle from her glass front wine fridge. She made quick work of the cork and met her at the couch.

  Margo dropped into the corner, her back resting between the cushion and arm of the couch. She accepted one the glasses and held it as Lila poured. “Okay, that’s enough.” Lila kept pouring. Margo raised her other hand in case she needed to use her damn hand as a second glass.

  “Drink up and tell me what really happened.”

  “I did.” Margo took a careful sip to get the golden wine down past the lip, then a gulp. “That’s good.” The crisp, dry wine had a hint of pear.

  “California isn’t just for rock stars. Wine country, darling.” She raised her glass. “To truth.”

  Margo’s shoulders slumped. “I told you—”

  “No, you told me what happened at practice and you glossed over the fight—but Simon having a bad practice might make Jazz cry in sympathy, but not you. Something else is going on.”

  The wine went down a little too easily. Margo peered at her glass that was already half gone. “He told me to just go. To just leave.” The lump in her throat kept getting bigger. She tried to swallow it down with wine, but it wouldn’t budge. She finished the glass and lifted the bottle for a refill.

  Lila did the honors then sat down again. “Why would it bother you? It’s what you’ve been waiting for, right?”

  Margo’s mouth almost missed the edge of the wine glass. “What?”

  Lila p
ulled her feet up onto the chair and sat cross-legged. The cat instantly jumped into the bowl created and curled into a ball. Lila rolled her eyes. “The cat would crawl inside me if she could.” She took a rather large swallow herself. “What do you expect? The guy’s nuts about you and all you do is shut him down at every turn.”

  “I do not.” She drew a gray pillow onto her lap. “I’m just being cautious.”

  “No.” Lila pointed at her with her glass. “You’re running. I get it. Totally get it.” Her wide china blue eyes were a little distant. She cleared her throat. “Look, I’m not exactly the poster child for happily ever after. My…husband is a bastard. My ring is just convenient to keep guys off me. I’m simply too busy to worry about that crap.”

  Margo squinted at her. “Crap? You mean sex? Companionship?”

  Lila shrugged. “More trouble than it’s worth.”

  She tipped her head to the side. “Then you’re not doing it right, because wow. Like a lot of wow with a side of whipped cream, champagne strawberries, and orgasms. Loads of them.”

  “Meh.”

  “Okay, I kind of get the indifference to sex. At least before Simon. I didn’t know it could be so…exciting.” At Lila’s bland look, she shrugged. “You don’t even know.”

  “I don’t need to.”

  “There’s all these sides to it. Not just the naked parts. In fact, one of the most amazing experiences of my life was when we were all pretty much clothed.”

  “We?”

  “Oh.” Margo frowned. That can of worms was probably a little too weird. She’d never really told anyone about that night on the bus. It had been right before Simon had collapsed on stage.

  “You don’t get to say something so cryptic then not follow it up with details.”

  “I thought you didn’t want them.”

  Lila looked down at her hand, then spun her wedding ring with her thumb. “You obviously want to tell it.”

  “It was weird. The four of us were on the bus.”

  “Four?”

  “Yeah. Someone Nick knew from another tour. Tori?”

  “I didn’t think there was such a thing as a recurring groupie.”

  Margo’s eyebrows shot up at Lila’s cool viper tone. Evidently, she’d heard the name before. “Nick seemed to know her. He’s not really the bang-a-groupie type all that much. I mean, he’s been with a few girls—”

  “Got it.”

  Margo pressed her lips together and studied her wine glass. “It’s okay. I don’t need to give you the details.” She laughed. “I don’t know why I was anyway. I never do that. In fact, I went out with a few girls from the orchestra the other night and they wanted them. Not my style.”

  “Then obviously something of importance happened.”

  Margo thought back to that night. “There was a lot of making out. Just mostly kissing and groping. And dancing. Yeah, a lot of dancing.”

  “Nick doesn’t dance.”

  “No, it was more me and Tori. We’d had enough alcohol to get a little silly. Definitely more of a performance thing.”

  “Do I want to know?” Lila’s huge blue eyes met hers over the rim of her glass.

  “I don’t know. It was the sexiest thing I’ve ever done in front of someone who wasn’t just Simon. Nick likes to watch.”

  “Okay. That’s good—too much information.” Lila took a bigger drink and refilled her glass.

  Well, that was interesting. “Things were getting hot and heavy with me and Tori.”

  Lila’s eyes got wider.

  “Nothing happened…really. More of a sexy dancing that got a little racy. But you know guys. Especially those two guys. And when we traded off to our guys.”

  Lila choked on her wine. “Traded? You and Nick?”

  “No. I was dancing with Tori. Then I went back to Simon.”

  “Oh.”

  Margo hid a smile behind her glass. So, that’s where things were headed.

  “You…with Nick and Tori?”

  Margo waited a beat and laughed when Lila leaned forward. “No. We just made out.”

  “With them?” she asked, eyes wide.

  “No.” Margo cleared her throat. “Sort of in front of them.” Was her face hot? It felt hot. “But it was only a few minutes. Then Simon scooped me up and we were in my bunk before I knew what was going on.”

  “I bet.”

  The first time Simon had told her he loved her. Like he needed to hide her away from everyone. Her heart sped up and drummed in her ears. As if he didn’t want to share. Oh, God. She stood up. “Do you have food? I need food.” The apartment tilted. “Definitely need food. I just drank two fish bowls of wine and I’ve had two tiny chocolate cupcakes.”

  “Chinese?” Lila seemed eager to change the subject as well.

  “Yesss.” She followed Lila to the kitchen island.

  “Anything in particular?”

  “All of it?”

  Lila laughed. “This place is fast and oh my God, the egg rolls. Who needs sex when you can have the dumplings and egg rolls from Mr. Lee?”

  “I still say you’re doing the sex part wrong, but I do love egg rolls. Oh, and lo mein. Beef and broccoli?”

  “I’ll just order a bunch of stuff.” Lila picked up her phone and started tapping and swiping.

  Thank all the gods for menu apps. Margo wandered around the space. It was huge and open with high ceilings and hardwood floors. Everything seemed to be white—the built-in shelving, the furniture, even the kitchen. The city view was pretty nice too—but she was drawn to the bookcase. And the pictures. There was at least half a dozen framed shots of Lila with a young man. In them, he seemed to range from late teens to twenty or so. In each one, Lila had her arms linked around his waist and a huge smile on her face. The pictures were at various famous spots: Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and she was pretty sure one was Hawaii.

  Margo picked up a frame. “Who’s the cute dude?”

  “My son.”

  Margo almost dropped it. “Pardon?”

  Lila laughed. “Step-son obviously, but pretty much my kid for all intents and purposes. Best part of my marriage.” She picked up the one of the Grand Canyon in Margo’s hand. “We used to go on very appropriate and educational vacations,” she said in a stern voice. “At least we did for a few years. Until we got too busy.” She took another gulp of her wine and put the frame back down, brushing her fingertips over the boy’s face. “Michael.”

  “He looks happy.”

  Lila shrugged. “We had our moments.”

  Margo frowned and followed her back to the couch. “You don’t talk about him.”

  “I don’t get to see him much anymore. But when I do…” Her lips spread into a huge smile. “We have fun.”

  “And your husband?”

  Her smile dissolved. “No.” She looked down at the simple gold band on her left hand. “No, not so fun.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “Definitely not.” Lila propped her elbows on her knees and cupped her wine glass. “We were talking about you and Simon.”

  “What if I don’t want to talk about it?”

  “Well, since the mention of Super Slut’s name—”

  “Don’t call him that.”

  Lila tipped her chin down and peered at her through her lashes. “See. If you didn’t want to talk about it, you wouldn’t have automatically corrected me.”

  “You never call Simon that.”

  Lila whistled. “Oh, the names I’ve called all of them in my head. You have no idea.”

  “Like what?”

  “No way. I’m not drunk enough to fall for that one. Nor am I drunk enough for your evasive maneuvers. So lame.”

  Margo sighed and angled herself into the corner of the couch once more. He’d said he loved her—told her so many times. “What am I supposed to say? He broke up with me.”

  “No, you had a fight.”

  “No, I’m pretty sure it was a break up.”

  “You’ve
been waiting for him to break up with you.” Lila lifted the glass to her mouth and waved her off. After a healthy swallow, she leaned forward to refill her glass. “He’s nuts about you. I mean nuts. Do you realize that since you guys have been together, he hasn’t been seen with any other women?”

  “Of course he has. He’s surrounded by models.” Margo frowned into her glass. How had it emptied already? Was there a hole?

  “Sure, he’s been in the vicinity of other women. Hello, models like to party.” Lila rolled her eyes and dug out the phone she’d tucked under her thigh. She opened up a web browser and pulled up pictures. She leaned over to her. “Just look.”

  “You’re actually going to let me touch your phone?”

  “I’m right here. Not that you could figure out the password on my contacts list anyway.”

  Margo snorted. “What am I…” She trailed off. There were tons of party pictures of Simon, but she was right. In all of them, he leaned in for a picture, but his body was definitely turned away from the woman. And more than half of them had his fake smile. The one he used when he was at the end of his rope with pushy fans.

  She swiped through a few more, stopping at one where a woman had her arms around his neck and her lips smashed into his cheek. Instead of amused, his brows were down in a frown. He also seemed to want to be anywhere than where he was. Considering the woman in the picture had landed on all of the beautiful people’s lists, it was a bit humbling. In her mind, Simon had a model on his lap every photo shoot.

  “Yeah.” She twirled her fingers at Margo. “That face right there? That tells me a whole helluva lot.”

  Margo handed her the phone. “They’re just pictures.”

  Lila let out a gusty sigh. The doorbell rang and she stood and crossed the room. She turned around, her hand on the doorknob. “And you’re stubborn. I don’t want to add stupid to that list, woman.”

  Margo slumped lower into the cushions as Lila took care of the food. Margo wasn’t stupid, she was just being careful.

  Lila came back with a huge white tray full of food and another bottle of wine under her arm. She’d actually taken things out of the containers and put them in individual bowls.

  “I’m not sure how to eat Chinese food that isn’t in a white box.”