by Morse, Jody
Wow. Colton King had just called my voice amazing. That was just pure awesomeness. “Thank you. So do you.”
“I know.” He shot me a grin.
I rolled my eyes. “Someone’s a little cocky.”
“You know it.” His light eyes darted over in my direction.
A blush rose to my cheeks. Was that supposed to be a sexual innuendo?
I wanted to think I was only just imagining it, but I knew that probably wasn’t the case. He was probably hinting at the fact that I knew, firsthand, just how cocky he really was.
The only problem with that was that I didn’t know. I didn’t even remember seeing his, um, cock…let alone how big it’d been.
“So, what made you decide to write your own songs?” I asked in my quickest, swiftest attempt of changing the subject. “I feel like it’s so rare for anyone to write their own stuff nowadays.”
“That’s just me, I guess. I’ve always danced to my own tune. I’ve never been a follower. Why do you think I never got into the party scene?”
“You didn’t?” I raised my eyebrows at him, surprised.
His blue eyes flitted over to meet mine. “Don’t you follow the tabloids?”
“Actually, I make it my life’s mission to avoid them.”
He cocked an eyebrow at me. “Why?”
I shrugged. “I just hate reading about myself. The less I know about what the public thinks of me, the better.”
“Me, on the other hand… I’d rather know than be left in the dark about it,” he admitted. "Anyway, if you read them at all, you would know that a lot of the magazines talk about how I haven’t partied as hard as a lot of celebrities our age.”
That was weird, considering we always seemed to end up leaving together when we were drunk. Then again, I didn’t party that often, either. In fact, I’d only gotten drunk three times this year. It was either by bad luck or a freaky coincidence that Colton and I had somehow ended up at the same place at the same time on two of those occasions.
“So, how are you feeling?” Colton asked after I’d gone silent for a few moments. “Hungover yet?”
“Actually, I feel okay,” I replied with a small smile. And it wasn’t just because I was walking alongside him. I actually didn’t feel hungover even a little bit.
“That surprises me,” Colton replied.
“Why?”
He shrugged. “I just figured you’d be a lot more gone today.”
“I told you I could handle my booze like a champ,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, you did. I just don’t see how, with all you drank.” He shook his head.
“I’m kind of immune to alcohol. I used to drink a lot. Years ago, back when…” I trailed off when I realized I couldn’t really tell him when without explaining that my mom was gone, and as comfortable as I actually felt talking to him, that was one thing I just didn’t want to get into. I had no problem with pretending my dad had died, but I knew I’d get choked up when talking about Mom. So I lied. “Back when I was twenty-one.”
Well, actually, I didn’t lie. It was technically the truth; I did drink a lot between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one.
“I see. But you don’t drink that much now?” Colton asked with raised brows.
“Not really,” I replied, even though I knew it was probably unbelievable to him.
“That’s good.” He stared down at his feet as we reached a clearing where there were a few park benches. He sat down on one and motioned for me to sit next to him.
I plopped down and stared at a bird that was hopping around on the ground a few feet ahead of us, mostly so I didn’t stare at Colton. I didn’t want to look like that creep who couldn’t take her eyes off him, even though it was sort of really hard to.
“I’m sorry about last night. When I told you I had a problem with you drinking. I wasn’t trying to be bossy or fatherly or anything like that.”
“It’s okay,” I replied with a shrug, not wanting to rehash the conversation from the night before. Well, mostly the part about my dad. I wanted to stray away from any topic involving my family.
“No, it’s not okay.” He shook his head. “I have no right to put my nose in your business. If you want to get drunk off your ass, that’s up to you. I just worry when I see anyone getting wasted to the point of recklessness. I know how much drinking can destroy things. Alcoholism runs in my family,” he explained.
“I understand,” I whispered. If only he knew how much I really did understand. My mom’s main vice may not have been alcohol, specifically, but she’d always had a drink to wash the pills down with.
“Good.” Colton exhaled sharply. “It’s not something I like to talk about, but I just felt like I owed you an explanation.”
“It’s okay. If you ever need to talk about it, I’m always here,” I assured him, glancing over at him. I thought about adding that we had more in common than I realized, but I really didn’t want to open that can of worms.
“Thanks.” He leaned in closer to me then, closing the distance between us.
My heart raced. He was going to kiss me. I just knew it. And while it probably wouldn’t be our first kiss, it would be our first sober kiss—the first kiss between us that I would be able to remember, the first one that would actually mean anything.
Just as I was confident he was going to bring his lips down on mine, his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and glanced down at the caller ID.
“Shit. I need to take this,” he grumbled, rising to his feet.
As he took a few steps away from me for some privacy, I sunk down on the park bench, feeling defeated. Who could be so important that they could stop whatever was about to happen from happening?
Only one thought came to mind, and that was Mystery Girl.
That would’ve been just my luck.
Chapter 17
“So, he just bolted?” Skylar asked with wide eyes as she scooped some vanilla fro-yo into a sundae glass.
“Pretty much. I mean, don’t get me wrong. It worked out for the best, because I had that shoot with the people from Cosmo today, anyway,” I replied.
“Which I’m sure was probably awesome, but still. You have every right to be disappointed about Colton just leaving like that.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I think it was mostly just that it was weird how it happened, you know? It was so out of nowhere. Once he got off the phone, it seemed like he was really upset for some reason. He told me we had to come back here so he could get his car and go. He didn’t really say much of anything on the walk back, and then he was gone without more than a goodbye.” I let out a sigh. “I think he’s probably just dating someone.”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t think that’s it.”
“Really?” I raised my eyebrows. “You don’t think he’s just a manwhore?”
“Well, I’m sure he probably is a manwhore. He is Colton King, after all…but I don’t think a girlfriend is the one who’s calling. If she is, things clearly aren’t going well, and in that case, he has no real reason to answer or rush to leave at her beck and call, you know? He’d probably just ignore her call.”
“I guess you’re right,” I replied, even though I wasn’t entirely convinced. “Who else could it be, though?”
“Do you know anything about his family?” she questioned as she sprayed some whipped cream onto her frozen yogurt.
Just that someone in his family was an alcoholic. But I wasn’t about to tell her that. Skylar was my best friend and I knew that, regardless of what had happened in Nashville, I could trust her with anything, but this felt like something that just needed to stay between Colton and I.
“Not really,” I lied.
“Maybe he’s just a mama’s boy and goes running any time she calls him to open a jar of pickles for her,” she suggested. “Or maybe there was some type of family emergency he doesn’t want to talk about. You never know.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I sighed. “This is why I don�
��t date. I hate dating.”
Her lips curved into an amused smile. “Hmm.”
“What are you ‘hmming’ about?” I narrowed my eyes at her.
“Oh, I don’t know. Suddenly, you’re talking about dating the guy. What happened to not mixing business and pleasure, Miss I Have Willpower?”
“My idea of not mixing business and pleasure sounds great in theory, but come on…let’s be real. This is Colton King. It’s impossible for any girl to work with him and sleep in the same bed with him on more than one occasion and not want something more.”
Skylar laughed. “You’re lucky we didn’t actually bet on this, because you would’ve been out of money.”
She was right. I so would’ve lost. And while I didn’t actually care about losing money, I did care about losing a bet. I had way too much pride for that.
“Do you want any of this?” she asked, motioning to the frozen yogurt container.
I shook my head. “No, I need to start working on burning off all of this junk food I’ve been eating lately. My trainer is going to be pissed once he finds out that I’ve gained three pounds this week.”
If those girls thought I was chunky before, I didn’t even want to know what they would think if they saw me now. I knew that three pounds was hardly anything in the long run, but it felt like I was sporting a small baby bump.
Was I sporting a baby bump?
Crap.
That thought hadn’t even occurred to me. I didn’t know much about the whole pregnancy thing. I didn’t think it was possible to start showing that fast, but I realized that I should probably take a test. Even though I always used protection, it was another one of those cases of what would my drunken vajayjay do.
So, an STD test and pregnancy test both needed to be on my to-do list. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and texted Natalie.
Can you schedule an appointment with the gyno for me? I’ll take the earliest appointment they have available.
Her text message bleeped on my cell phone a moment later. Yeah, no problem. I’ll do that first thing tomorrow morning.
Thanks, I wrote back, breathing a huge sigh of relief. I didn’t think my assistant would question it, but still. The last thing I needed were her questions, especially since she knew what had gone down between Colton and I.
“So, what’s on the agenda for tonight?” Skylar asked as she dug into her frozen yogurt.
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“A Gilmore Girls marathon on Netflix and fro-yo night it is, then,” she decided for us. “By the way, you’ll be happy to know that I can start paying you back soon. I got a job.”
“Where?” I asked.
“That little fruit smoothies shop down the street. Fruit Fusions.”
“That’s exciting. When do you start?”
“Tomorrow. I’m not sure how it’s going to go. I have no idea how to work a blender, but I’m a smoothies maker.” She shrugged. “Whatever. Money is money, right?”
“It sure is.” And if this album with Colton didn’t help revive my career, it was something I was going to be short on.
As we sat down in the living room and Skylar turned on Netflix, I grabbed my cell phone. I wasn’t sure why, but I had this sudden urge to read celebrity gossip. More specifically, I had the sudden urge to read about Colton.
Apparently, I was already beginning to obsess over him. Ugh. But it wasn’t my fault. He was the one who mysteriously took off without telling me where he was going. Not that he owed me an explanation, but you know.
Once one of the most trustworthy celebrity gossip blogs loaded, I scrolled through the recent posts.
I was about halfway down the list of today’s posts when I noticed Colton’s name. I glanced down at the timestamp on the post.
5 hours ago.
Colton King Spotted with Tessa DeLong!
I swallowed hard as I stared at the picture of him hugging Tessa, this pop singer who I sort of hated.
Well, okay, it wasn’t that I hated her, especially not now that I knew what a douchebag Jake was. It probably wasn’t her fault. But she’d tried to “meet him for coffee” (AKA screw him) when he and I first started seeing each other. Now I knew that he’d probably just told her he was single when he really wasn’t, but...still.
If Colton had to be dating anyone, did it really have to be Tessa freaking DeLong?
Plus, now I knew that Skylar was wrong. The reason Colton had bolted on me was clearly was for another girl. And even though I knew there was technically nothing really going on between the two of us, it still stung.
Chapter 18
An impatient knock on my front door dug me out of my deep sleep.
I sat up quickly and took in the scene around me.
No. This wasn’t happening.
Cartoons were playing on the TV and empty bowls littered the coffee table after my night of endless, emotion-driven snacking.
I hadn’t bothered to go to bed early because Colton had never gotten in touch with me to tell me if we were still on for this morning’s writing session. I’d apparently dozed off sometime during George Lopez. I hadn’t even showered since… If I wasn’t sure how long it had been, it had definitely been too long.
I started to panic. I was not good under pressure and I didn’t want to let him see me this way.
If I hid out under the coffee table, would he give up and go away? Not likely. He was still knocking incessantly.
I jumped to my feet to run my dishes over to the kitchen sink. I needed to do something about my hair. And my clothes, which I was pretty sure were the same pair he’d seen me in last. Yuck.
I jogged to the bathroom and hopped into the shower, peeling my clothes off and flinging them to the floor while attempting to drench my hair at the same time. Skipping the shampoo and soap, I turned the water off and climbed back out.
I wrapped a navy blue towel around me and walked calmly (or, rather, pretended to walk calmly) to the front door, hoping my heart rate would slow down by the time I reached it.
Taking a deep breath, I pulled it open.
Colton’s lips immediately twisted into a grin. “I woke you up, didn’t I?”
“Look at me. See the wet hair? I was clearly in the shower.”
He looked me up and down. “Uh huh.”
“I was,” I insisted. I was standing there in nothing more than a towel and he doubted my story? Really?
“I believe you. Can I come in?” he asked when he noticed I hadn’t stepped out of the way for him.
“Can’t you come back later?”
He gestured with the carton of two drinks he held in his hand. “Coffee will be cold if I do that.”
“But I’m in my towel.”
His eyes roamed down my body. “I can see that.”
“We can add ice cubes later. Who doesn’t like iced coffee? So you should really think about coming back later.”
“I’ve already seen you in your towel, so you should probably let me in so you can shut the door. Unless you want to stand here arguing with me in the doorway, giving whoever could happen to pass by a show.” He held up his hands the best he could to form a camera clicking motion, and even added in the shutter sound.
Okay, okay. I got the point.
The hallway was empty and the front desk would hear an earful from me if the paparazzi were to ever end up outside my apartment, but I knew they were pretty good about keeping unwanted people out. Though, I hadn’t even met any of my neighbors so I couldn’t say if they were the type to go try to sell Viola Pierce photos.
“I wouldn’t be giving anyone a show. I do have a towel on,” I pointed out.
“That’s what I’ve been saying. It’s completely not interesting, you being in a towel and all.”
I sighed, turning away from the door and heading to take a real shower. “I guess you can come in.” Asking him to come back later would’ve been completely rude of me.
“I can see that you woke up on the bright and cheery sid
e of the bed this morning,” he said, closing the door behind him.
“You’re very familiar with that side of your own bed.”
He chuckled. “I’m in a good mood. One of us has to be, I guess.”
I wrinkled my nose at him, shaking my head while I mouthed, “Yeah, probably because you spent all night sucking face, or other body parts, with Tessa.”
I didn’t say it loud enough for him to hear me, of course. I probably would’ve died right then and there if he did.
“Are you mocking me? I can see you shaking your head,” he said.
“I have water in my ear,” I lied.
“And you remedy that by talking to yourself?” he asked.
I whirled around, officially caught in the act, to look at him. He pointed down the hallway. I followed his finger.
Damn you, Viola Pierce, for putting a mirror at the end of the hallway to ‘make it look bigger.’ Seriously, like this place wasn’t big enough to begin with?
“It works wonders. You should try it next time something annoying gets in your ear.”
I walked confidently to the bathroom, hoping that a full blush hadn’t risen to my cheeks, because he’d see it, in the mirror that I’d completely forgotten about. I sucked.
Closing the bathroom door behind me, I headed straight over to the shower to wash away my embarrassment.
As I stood under the hot water, letting my conditioner sit in, I heard the door open.
“Male is entering the bathroom.”
My eyes flew open. Oh, no, he didn’t.
“I thought I locked that door,” I said, poking my head out from behind the shower curtain.
He had his hand covering his eyes. “Don’t worry, that purple shower curtain is too dark to see anything through.”
I rolled my eyes. “What did you want?”
He held up my phone with his other hand. “This keeps going off.”
I glanced at the screen to see that Nat was calling. “So? It’s a phone. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but that’s what its job is.”
“I know that. But I thought these particular calls were important.”
“They are. You can just leave it on the sink. Thanks,” I said, poking my head back in so I could finish my shower in peace.