“I’m sure I won’t be the first girl that you, you know … in that place,” I said a bit uncertainly.
“No,” Johnny said, gently caressing my face. “But you’ll be the last.”
He kissed me tenderly before letting me go.
Chapter 24
The next morning my face was splashed all over the gossip magazines. One of the headlines read “Johnny Creel in Love?”
I should have expected it. After all, Johnny was always in the papers. At least, he used to be when he was rich. It wasn’t like any of the paparazzi had ever followed him to Starlighters or anywhere else he had gone with me. He had been old news for a while, but now he was a hot topic again. He was once again the son of a billionaire, and everybody expected him to go right back to his womanizing ways. People were naturally curious, as the Johnny Creel had never dated anyone seriously before. Clara, Tony, and I used to laugh over the gossip columns at work. I’d never forget the article that hinted Johnny was “well-endowed.” We had howled with laughter over that one, and we wondered if it was true. Clara and I had even tried to check out his package through his jeans, just out of curiosity.
Well, now I could confirm that sometimes even the paparazzi got the facts right.
I scanned through the headlines on my phone. It was both unsettling and exciting to see my picture in the news. It was scary to see how quickly the reporters were able to discover my identity. In the initial articles, I was simply the “Mystery Woman,” but it wasn’t long before they’d identified me as “Rosemary Sutton, Johnny Creel’s former personal assistant.” Ugh.
Somebody in the restaurant had told the news about what had happened with Johnny’s former girlfriends. There were a couple of pictures of Johnny yelling at the girls. It looked like they were taken from one of the nearby tables at the restaurant, judging by the angle. There were also a few pictures of Johnny and me sitting at our table after we’d switched sides. Those photos were a better quality, which made me wonder if somebody had tipped off the paparazzi about what was going on and they’d shown up a little later. A source at The Federal, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said of Johnny’s new girlfriend: “Mr. Creel’s lady love was as gracious as she was beautiful.” I smiled, wondering if that quote had come from Francis.
There were also some pictures of Johnny and me standing outside, waiting for the valet. It was frightening to think these people were everywhere, taking photos of our private life. Even so, I couldn’t help liking some of the pictures. There was one in particular of the two of us gazing into each other’s eyes. You could see the gentleness, the love in his eyes. He really looked like a changed man.
Naturally, they included a photo of us kissing, too. I sighed. Johnny had better have lots of window coverings and heavy security for his penthouse, or else they might get photos of us doing a lot more.
My cell phone rang. Knowing it was Johnny calling, I answered saying, “I’m famous!”
“I’m sorry,” came Johnny’s sweet, worried voice.
I laughed. “It’s okay, Johnny. Really.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. It’s not like there’s anything we can do about it. I’m not thrilled, but I guess it just goes with the territory of dating a celebrity.” I sighed a bit irritably. “As a woman with her own accomplishments, I admit it’s annoying to be known only as Johnny Creel’s girlfriend, though. I’ve always dreamed of being famous, but I hate being famous just because of the man on my arm.”
“I never thought of it that way, but now that you mention it, that really is unfair.”
“And now everybody just thinks of me as your former secretary.”
“Rosemary, I—I don’t know what to say. Everybody who knows you personally, knows you’re so much more than that.”
I hated hearing the sadness in Johnny’s voice, so I changed the subject slightly. With a laugh, I said, “I can only imagine what Clara and Tony will think if they hear about this. They’ll think I’ve completely lost my mind.”
“Probably,” Johnny said. “And I can’t blame them. Poor Cody will be heartbroken. He was in love with you.”
“He was not! He just had a little crush, that’s all.”
“He was pretty hot for you, that’s for sure.”
“Cody was so sweet,” I said with a smile. I hoped he found a good job somewhere, and that he would find a nice girl who would appreciate his genteel nature. “I wonder what people at my current job will say. My boss will think I’m gonna quit, since I’m dating a billionaire.”
“Gonna have to quit anyway if we go to New York,” Johnny said.
“Yeah, about New York …” I began slowly.
“What?” Johnny said, sounding worried all over again.
“I think it’s time for us to go.”
“Really? You mean it?” he said, sounding excited.
“Yeah. Let’s quit talking about going and start making actual plans,” I said, my stomach fluttering. My dream was so close I could almost taste it. We were really going to move to New York City! I felt like just having an audition there would be a dream come true. “We can move any time after Spamalot closes.”
“I’m on it, princess! I’ll start pricing out places to live, either in New York or just outside, if you want. I can start looking up stuff online at work. What are they gonna do, fire me?”
“Thanks, Johnny. Thanks so much!”
“You know what the best part is? The best part is that I finally get to live with you. Rosemary, you’re last thing I think about when I go to sleep and the first thing I think about when I wake up. And someday soon, I’ll turn over and you’ll be there in the bed right beside me every single day.”
I nodded, tears forming in my eyes. My emotions swirled crazily inside. I was going to move to the city of my dreams with the man I loved. I was barely able to choke out the words, “I love you, Johnny.”
“Don’t cry, Rosemary,” Johnny said, and I could tell he was smiling. “I love you too.”
Chapter 25
I pulled my Lambo to a screeching halt in front of The Federal. Goddamn did it feel good to be driving again! Before I went broke, I never really appreciated the total freedom I’d had. Not only did I no longer have to take the stinkin’ Metro, but I could drive as fast as I wanted. Give me a speeding ticket, I didn’t give a shit. I could easily afford it, plus whatever insurance hike I might get for the points on my license.
I hopped out of my car and grinned at the valet, making sure to look him in the eye. I was never mean to servers and valets before, but I also never appreciated how hard they worked. Now I tipped better than ever and made sure I paid attention to people who used to be invisible to me.
“Thanks, Joey.” I said as I tossed him my keys. I always tried to remember the names of all the service people who helped me.
“Anytime, Mr. Creel!”
“Oh, please. Call me Johnny. My dad is the one who’s important enough to be called Mr. Creel.”
Joey grinned and said, “Okay. Johnny it is.”
I sauntered into the restaurant and waved to Francis, then I gestured toward the bar so he’d know I didn’t need a table. He smiled and nodded. Waitstaff and service people always smiled, but lately I found their smiles seemed more genuine. Treating people like actual human beings had that effect.
It was a Friday night, and Rosemary had rehearsal. I didn’t feel like sitting home all night, so I figured I’d go hang with my friends for a while. I hadn’t sat at the bar with them since I got my money back, and I found I was looking forward to it. As usual, lots of heads turned as I walked through the restaurant to get to the bar. I felt guilty for dragging Rosemary into the paparazzi circus, but personally, I loved the attention. I’d missed the attention.
“Hey, hey!” I said, announcing my presence at the bar. Aaron, David, and a couple of other guys held up their drinks and cheered me loudly. Christina was there, eyes already flashing with desire. Fuck you, ya gold digger, I thought. She’d wanted n
othing to do with me when I was poor, and now I had a woman who loved me no matter what. Neither Christina nor any of her shallow friends would ever get their hooks into me again.
Aaron clapped me on the back. I could see he’d already been here a while; his eyes were already kinda glazed over. “Sooo good to see ya, man!”
“You too.” The bartender came up to me right away. “Hiya, Ethan.”
He blinked, looking surprised, then smiled. “What can I get for you, Mr. Creel?”
I was tempted to insist he call me Johnny, but I felt weird doing that in front of my friends. “Anything on tap is fine.”
Ethan nodded, then went to get my beer.
“You picked a good night to come,” Aaron said, waggling his eyebrows. His choice of words had been deliberate. “Lotta niiiiice ladies here tonight.”
“Nah, man. I’m taken,” I told him.
Aaron scoffed, and I didn’t blame him. He’d known me for years and couldn’t fathom me with just one girl.
“I saw the pictures in the paper,” David said. “She’s pretty hot.”
“Yeah, she is,” I said with a smile, picturing my pretty, red-haired, green-eyed girl. “And she’s really sweet and smart and funny. And she’s talented, man. Like you wouldn’t believe. She can sing like an angel.” I left out that she sang showtunes, because I knew the guys would give me shit about it. Let them think she would be the next Celine Dion or something. “She’s the one, man.”
“That’s great,” David said. “I’m happy for you.” He lifted his scotch and toasted me. David made the rounds with the girls too, but nowhere near as much as Aaron—or me in my heyday.
I felt a hand on my back and I heard Christina say, “Yeah, right. We’ll see how long that lasts. Pretty soon you’ll realize she’s not good enough. I hear she was your secretary, for God’s sake. It was obvious she’d never set foot in a place like this before. A girl like that belongs at Denny’s, not here.”
Anger flared inside me and I shrugged Christina off me, though I felt like punching her. Had she been a dude, she’d be on the floor already. “Get the fuck off me. I love my girlfriend, and I don’t want anything to do with you.”
“You say that now,” Christina said in a singsong voice, but at least she quit touching me. She had an amazing body and she was an incredible lay, but right now it was hard to remember ever being attracted to her. What a bitch!
Aaron reached out for Christina. “Don’t listen to him. He’s gone crazy.”
Christina smiled and allowed Aaron to caress her back, and help ease her wounded pride.
Ethan kept my beers coming, and pretty soon I was feeling nice and relaxed. I loved the freedom of knowing I could drink as many of these twenty-dollar beers as I wanted and not have to beg someone else to pay. I had my car, but at this rate I couldn’t possibly drive home. I’d just call for a limo and sprawl out in the back on the way home. Life was good. After all, I had a lot to celebrate tonight. I was rich again, and I deserved to let loose a bit after all those months of hardship. Besides, I’d be moving to New York soon, and I wouldn’t be able to hang out with my buddies anymore.
I glanced around the bar and restaurant to see lots of eyes on me. People dining in the restaurant watched me curiously, as I was as big of a celebrity as they were likely to ever see up close. The women at the bar were eying me up too. I loved the attention from the ladies, but I had learned the hard way that most of them really didn’t give a shit about me personally. Any one of them would love to land me as a husband because I was rich and famous. I’d had women fake pregnancies with me at least half a dozen times in an effort to trap me. It was pretty fucked up. I’d always demanded a paternity test—you can do them while the girl is still pregnant nowadays, so it never worked. Still, it was pretty fucked up.
“Ya see that blonde one over there?” Aaron asked, nudging me and spilling some of my beer.
I turned around to see a gorgeous leggy blonde with her boobs spilling out of her top. My cock twitched just looking at her. I couldn’t help it. It was so easy to picture myself upstairs in one of the fancy rooms, banging the shit out of her.
“Yeah?” I said, finally turning back to the bar.
“She’s into experimentation. Seriously, she’ll do anything in the sack, as long as you buy her something pretty.”
Well, that explained why she was draped in gold and diamond jewelry. There was a time I would have been all over that. Fuck her brains out and then take her to Tiffany’s. Now, even in my drunken haze, the thought wasn’t all that tempting. Trying new sex stuff could be fun for a while, but right now all I could think of was Rosemary. I genuinely preferred making love with her. Feeling her warm body beneath me, the way she gripped my back and cried out my name. I loved pleasuring her, and nobody made me feel as good as she did. Sexually, and in every other way possible. I felt a twinge of sadness, wishing she was here with me. I didn’t know how much fun she would have around these guys, though. The truth was, I had more fun hanging out with her friends than I did here.
Ethan brought me another beer and I grinned at him. “Thanks,” I said sloppily.
“You stayin’ here tonight?” Ethan asked, looking a little worried.
“Nah. But I ain’t driving either,” I assured him.
“Okay, cool,” Ethan said.
“Hell yeah, he’s staying here!” Aaron bellowed. “He’s gonna get laiiiid.”
“Fuck that,” I said quietly. I was too drunk and tired to argue, but there was no way I was getting laid tonight. My girl was out, so sex was out.
I glanced up at the television in the bar and saw they were talking about Something Rotten! being in town for a few more days. Rosemary and I had seen it a few nights ago, and I was really surprised at how clever and funny it was. Christ, if Aaron or David had any idea I’d gone to a musical, they would never have let me live it down.
Hey, you!” Aaron said, snapping his fingers at Ethan. Good Christ, I hated when he did that. How could you snap your fingers at another human being like that? Ethan wasn’t a fucking dog. He was a guy who stood on his feet all night, working his ass off to wait on a bunch of rich assholes. I was so drunk, I was afraid I might have said that out loud. Guilt tore at me when I realized I probably should say that out loud. But I just couldn’t do it in front of the guys.
“Yes, sir,” Ethan said, plastering a fake smile on his face. He probably wanted to punch Aaron.
“Do you want to be a bartender your whole life? Is that, like, your dream?” Aaron chuckled out his own cleverness.
“No, sir. I’m in school,” Ethan said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.
“Oh yeah? What you studyin’? Business? Law? Med school, right? You’re in med school.”
“No, actually I’m a theater major,” Ethan answered with a weak smile. He looked like he was bracing himself for Aaron’s response.
Aaron roared with laughter and pounded the bar with his fist.
“Don’t you want a real job?”
Ethan politely excused himself to go wait on another customer. When he walked away, I couldn’t help joining Aaron’s mockery. It was shitty of me, but I was drunk and high on being rich and powerful again. I’d never say anything to the kid’s face, but Aaron didn’t know that.
“Oh, come on. I’m sure theater majors get plenty of pussy,” I said, cracking up at my own joke. “Then again, I guess it’s not pussy most guy theater majors are after anyway.”
Aaron and a bunch of other guys howled with laughter, and I felt like I was on top of the world. I was rich, powerful, and sexy. Like they said, women wanted to be with me and men wanted to be me.
“Johnny.” I was vaguely aware of David’s voice coming from next to me.
“Seriously,” Aaron went on. “Why wouldn’t you want to get a job that’s actually worth something?”
“I dunno,” I answered. “I guess they think it’s romantic being a starving artist.” I said the word “romantic” with air quotes, but I coul
d barely muster the coordination to do it. I might have accidentally flipped off the whole bar.
I was dimly aware that the leggy blonde that Aaron had pointed out was now standing right behind me, eying me up and down. She put her hand on my back. Stupid whore. Screw blondes. I only wanted redheads. My pretty redheaded girl.
“You know what’s romantic, Johnny,” purred that bitch Christina in my ear. Where the fuck had she suddenly come from? “That night in your penthouse apartment during that big thunderstorm and all the power went out. We did it in every position in every room of your place. And there are a lot of rooms …”
“Johnny!” came David’s nagging voice again. He sounded like my dad, bitching at me.
“Hey, kid, come here!” Aaron yelled for Ethan.
“Yes, sir, can I get you something?” Ethan asked, looking tired.
“No, I can get you something. If you want a real job, you can come work for me. You’d make a ton of money and you’d get a ton of, you know, pussy or dick or whatever it is you’re into,” Aaron said, waving his beer around.
“Aaron’s right, kid,” I said. My nice-guy filter had vanished in an alcoholic vapor. “Girls, or guys for that matter, don’t usually go for musical theater losers. And you know their parents are soooo proud! ‘Sure glad I spent a fortune on that theater degree so my kid can make minimum wage waitin’ tables for the rest of their miserable life.’ God, what a waste! I didn’t get all the pussy I got by being in the arts,” I said with a sneer.
“So, Johnny, which room should we try tonight?” Christina asked as she wrapped her arms around me.
“Johnny, for God’s sake, turn around!” David said through clenched teeth.
I turned around and saw, to my horror, Rosemary standing there, looking like someone had just sucker punched her in the face. Or in the heart.
*****
I just stood there, frozen with horror, listening to a man I thought I knew saying horrible, disgusting things. And all the while, he had girls hanging all over him. That wretched Christina woman had her claws sunk in good. Johnny was completely wasted and was obviously getting ready to take her upstairs and fuck her senseless. Revulsion rocked through me when I realized he had been fucking her, and God knew who else, the whole time he was dating me.
Losing His Shirt Page 23