The Avoiding Series Boxset

by K. A. Linde

  As soon as Chyna made it up to the VIP area in her favorite club, she took her dark Ray-Bans off and pulled her long black hair down from the loose ponytail at the base of her neck. Recently, it had been easier to hide behind her glasses. No one in VIP would say anything though. She was secure in her identity here.

  The club was packed, and she had to fight her way through the club, even in the VIP section. It was much more crowded than normal for a Thursday night, but she appreciated the cover that gave her. Plus, it meant it was more likely that she didn’t know everyone. She was ready for some normal. She wanted to prove Alexa right.

  The bartender had two shots of tequila waiting for her when he saw her approaching the bar. God, she loved him! She had been gone for two months, and he still knew exactly what she wanted. At least one man did.

  She took one after the other, appreciating the never-failing bite as it burned its way down her throat. The lime that she chased it with had never tasted so refreshing. She took the martini from the bartender and left the bar to scope out the scene. A group of girls in the corner waved her over. She recognized one or two from the private school she had attended during middle and high school. They weren’t her favorite people in the world, but she was looking for normal after all.

  “Chyna Van der Wal,” the first one said, standing uneasily with her drink in hand. She threw her other arm around Chyna’s shoulders. She was nearly as tall as Chyna with long, wavy blonde hair and a snooty upturned nose. Her parents had old, old money, and she let everyone know it. “It has been too long.”

  “Totes true,” the second one chimed in. She had a round face with a short chin-length brown bob and dimpled cheeks. She looked like she had put on a few pounds since high school and was hiding it behind her boob job.

  “Good to see you, Layla,” she said to the blonde. Then, she turned to the brunette. “You, too, Amy.”

  The two girls scooted their friends over to give Chyna room to join their group. Feeling obligated, she sat down. Layla introduced Chyna to the rest of the girls, but she wasn’t planning to be around for much longer, so she didn’t pay attention. In fact, she had other things on her mind, like getting wasted, dancing away the rest of the night, and stumbling home to try and forget the rest of the week.

  “So, what have you been up to?” Chyna had seen Layla at the MET sometime last year. She had tried to avoid her, but Layla had somehow cornered her on the way out. She had just graduated from Yale with her bachelor’s in interior design or fashion or something Chyna knew Layla was likely never use as a stay-at-home mom.

  Layla thrust her left hand out, revealing the massive diamond on her finger. “I got married!”

  “Nice,” Chyna said unenthusiastically. Marriage was pretty low on her list of priorities. Actually, it might not be on the list. Sex sounded nice though. Nice, straight, rough, vanilla sex.

  “And, I’m engaged!” Amy followed it up by showing off her own rock.

  “Great,” Chyna said, barely glancing at their rings.

  “And, you…” Layla said wide-eyed. “You’re all over New York. Following in mommy’s footsteps, I see.”

  God, she remembered why she hadn’t been friends with these bitches in high school. The bite of jealousy in Layla’s voice was so unbecoming.

  “How did you get to model for Marco’s anyway? I’m still trying to get him to return my calls. I heard he designs wedding dresses, and hubby said I could get whatever I wanted,” Amy crooned.

  Chyna clutched the armrest at the mention of his name. She couldn’t escape him. She just couldn’t get away from any of it. She put her glass down on the table and stood. She hadn’t even noticed that she hadn’t taken a single sip from the drink. “I have to go.”

  “Wait!” Layla called. “Where are you going?”

  “Away.”

  “What’s wrong?” Amy cried, standing as well.

  “Nothing. I just…you know what? It doesn’t matter,” Chyna said, turning away from them.

  “Rude much?” She said heard Layla call at her as she walked away from their table.

  She didn’t stop or turn around. She made it to the center of the dance space and began grinding her body to the beat. She wasn’t drunk enough to forget what had just happened, but she tried to fill her mind with the music, the dance, the grip of someone’s hands on her hips. Still Marco weaseled his way into her thoughts even then.

  She wasn’t supposed to care about what she had done. It was no more than he deserved. He might have been about to surprise her with the cover spread of his new advertisement, but that didn’t mean anything. How many other women had been cover models for him? How many others had he photographed in his studio? How many other models had he tossed aside for the next thing? And how many had left him?

  She was sure that she was the only one.

  The only one dumb enough.

  “Hey, baby, what’s your name?” the guy whispered into her ear while she pushed her ass against him.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Chyna said, pushing her hands up around his neck and rolling her body back against his. Her name was too recognizable at the moment. Maybe he hadn’t seen the advertisement. Maybe he hadn’t seen her name written in shiny gold font at the bottom. But, she wasn’t taking chances. Tonight, she was just some anonymous girl in the VIP lounge.

  “I like that,” he breathed into her ear. They danced for the next three songs before he leaned forward and spoke to her again. “You want to get out of here?”

  She debated. He was cute and a good dancer. He definitely fell into the high school jock category as far as looks went. He was kind of built like a baseball player with shortish blonde hair and a cocky smile. She could dig that cocky smile. It usually meant good things in the bedroom…or it meant terrible things. Taking a second look at him, she guessed the former.

  But, did she want to leave with some guy that she just thought was cute, even if he had a smile that she knew held promise? “I don’t think so,” she finally responded.

  He didn’t acknowledge her refusal as he continued to dance with her, his movements getting impassioned. His hands ran up her sides, and as she began to pull her hands down from around his neck, he reached up and locked them back in place. She obliged his forceful behavior and kept on dancing with him. That was good enough for now. He was a good enough distraction.

  He took this as encouragement and moved his hands back down her arms. His hands got adventurous, rounding the curves of her breasts and then trailing down her flat stomach to the waistline of her black shorts. His fingers dipped under the material and fluttered lightly across the inside of the seam. She dropped her head backward onto his shoulder as his touch heated her body. Maybe this was the easiest way to forget.

  They were pressed in on every side by a mass of bodies dancing in the darkness. She couldn’t tell one person from the next, and it was giving him courage he likely wouldn’t have had otherwise. His lips found the side of her neck, kissing up to her ear. She tilted her head sideways, giving him easier access, as she enjoyed the taste of pursuit.

  She laughed at his boldness, but she didn’t stop him as his hand moved farther into her shorts. His finger stroked her silk underwear in time with the music. She rolled her ass in circles against his hardening cock, teasing him despite her refusal.

  “Tease,” he growled into her ear. He pinched her clit through her panties. Her body arched backward into him, surprised by his forcefulness. She had clearly been right about her assessment of that smile. “Come home with me.”

  When she nodded, he released her and pulled his hand out of her shorts. She let him take her hand, and she followed him out of the club. See, back to normal.

  They took a cab to his place, and she told Carl to tail them. She already knew she wasn’t going to stay the night with this guy.

  They reached his apartment building fifteen minutes later, and he practically dragged her up to the second floor. She followed, trying to get into the haste and enthusiasm that was
radiating off of him. By this point, she was wishing that she had finished her martini earlier. Another drink would do her some good. He had clearly had a few more than her.

  He jiggled the door open and pushed it with his hip. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into his apartment. Their lips crashed together before he even got the door closed behind him. He tasted like whiskey and cigarettes. He stumbled backward, trying to guide them to the bedroom in the dark, but he ran into an armchair and fell over the edge. He stood up laughing awkwardly.

  “Sorry. Guess my roommate trashed the place,” he said apologetically.

  Chyna had no doubt that his roommate did not trash the place, or at least, he had something to do with the disaster she could see even in the dark. Men!

  Once they finally made it into his bedroom, he scooted a pile of clothes off the bed. Chyna tried not to judge her surroundings, but she was really wondering how he had made it into the VIP section at all. This was why she had always brought people back to her place. It was really easier. But, under her present condition and the fact that her face was everywhere, she thought it best not to draw any more attention to herself.

  His lips found hers again, and she tried to push energy into the kiss. He was demanding passion, and she wasn’t feeling it. Normally, she didn’t care as long as she got something out of it, but tonight just sucked.

  She tried to push Marco and everything associated with him out of her head as she forced herself to concentrate on his kisses. His arms wrapped around her hips, pulling her into his body. She eased into him; she wanted this.

  They fell backward against his bed, which creaked with their added body weight to the poor frame. His hands found the end of her shirt, and he awkwardly pushed it up to her throat. He flipped her bra up, rather than unsnapping it in the back, and he massaged both of her breasts between his hands. She tried to feel something, anything for this guy. God, he was caressing her breasts like he was surprised she had them rather than adoring their beauty!

  He kissed around her right nipple before sucking it up between his lips. He pinched it gently between his teeth until it became a small peak. He worked on the other one until it matched, continuing to massage the right breast like he was playing with Play-Doh. Chyna closed her eyes and let her head fall back, wanting nothing more than to let herself feel the heat that had traveled through her body in the club.

  One of his hands found her wrist lying limp on the bed. He grabbed it and placed her hand on his erection that was throbbing through his dress pants.

  “Play with him,” he told her, pressing her hand down harder.

  Her eyes flew open, and she stared up at the ceiling. Had he just said him?

  “Come on, baby. Play with him,” he repeated. He helped her by unzipping his pants, shoving his boxers down over his dick, and showing him to her.

  It was nicely sized but nothing to write home about.

  In the split second she stared at it, hanging over the edge of his boxers with pre-cum dripping from the tip, she decided she was better than this. What the hell had she been thinking? How had she ever gotten to this point?

  She went through life accepting the short end of the stick, thinking she deserved nothing more than what was handed to her. She fucked millionaires and busboys alike because she was gorgeous and rich and could get away with it. She could get away with not caring what anyone else thought, thinking she wasn’t worth much more. It was easier not to get attached, not to allow anyone else to see that she wasn’t worth their time.

  But, this guy was clearly not worth her time.

  “Sorry, I can’t believe I’m doing this, but I can’t sleep with you,” Chyna said, sitting up and adjusting her top so it was no longer strangling her.

  “What?” he asked, sitting up next to her.

  “This just isn’t working for me.”

  He hid him back in his boxers, and then he zipped up his pants. “You’re joking?” he asked, glancing away from her.

  “Yeah, I just…” she began, shrugging. What could she tell him? The thought of his pre-cum getting near her grossed her out? He had played with her breasts like a kindergartener? She wasn’t at all interested in him? He would never live up to an Italian fashion designer? He would never live up to Adam? God, why was he still on her brain?! And, why did he have to be at Alexa’s last weekend? Focus!

  “I don’t understand.”

  “What don’t you understand?” she asked, standing. Placing a hand on her hip, she leaned into it and stared at him, raising her eyebrow. “This was a mistake, plain and simple.”

  “So, we’re not going to fuck?” he asked, standing up from the bed to look at her.

  “No,” she said with a shudder, “definitely not.”

  “Whatever,” he said as if he wasn’t offended. “I just wanted to say I slept with a supermodel anyway.”

  Chyna felt like he had punched her in the face. She kept the shock off her face, but she couldn’t keep her stomach from clenching like a vice grip.

  Really? He knew who she had been all along. He had just wanted to fuck her, so he could tell all of his friends that he had slept with the girl in the New York Times advertisement. What an asshole!

  Thank God she had made the right choice!

  “I doubt you ever will,” she said, stomping through his house.

  “You were easy enough to get home,” he called from the door of his bedroom.

  “It’s too bad you don’t even know how to use your dick,” she called over her shoulder, wrenching the door open.

  “Cunt!”

  She smiled. Now there was a compliment.

  As she walked out of the door, she realized how much she could not wait to meet with Cassandra and get her life back on track. Because she was crumbling in her new existence.

  MAY—TWO MONTHS EARLIER

  Chyna heard the door click closed in the living room, and she jumped up from her closet floor. She had turned the place upside down, debating on what to bring for two months in Milan. She always packed heavy. Well, she had always had someone pack heavy for her. She and Adam had just returned from Alexa’s graduation party in Atlanta, and her two biggest Louis Vuitton bags were still stuffed full of garments she had never worn. How could she possible decide what she was going to wear two months out?

  Trying not to think about it anymore, she wandered out of her bedroom and down the hall. “Hey, you,” she said, walking up to Adam and throwing her arms around him. “How was work?”

  He bent down and kissed her on the mouth. “I’m glad it’s over, and that my night belongs to you.”

  “Me, too,” she said before she deepened the kiss.

  “I wish all of my days belonged to you,” he whispered against her lips.

  “They do,” she said, threading her fingers through his hair.

  “Except for those two months when you go to Italy.”

  Chyna sighed, resting her head against his shoulder. “Are we having this conversation again?”

  “Nothing wrong with me wanting you close.”

  “No, there’s not,” she agreed. “But, come on, Italy for a photo shoot for two months. It’s a dream come true.”

  He held her tighter. “I didn’t know it was your dream though.”

  “Well, it is,” she said, breaking his hold. “I really don’t want to talk about this again. I feel like we’ve had this same discussion a dozen times since I got the job offer.” She shook her head and started walking back to her bedroom.

  “Can we talk about how you got this job again?” Adam asked. “Seems kind of suspect.”

  “Is it suspicious because someone thought that I could perform a job well or because I want to go?” she demanded, her anger rising.

  This was ridiculous. He just couldn’t fathom why anyone would hire her. She had no prior experience, no references, and no in to the modeling world besides a mother who no longer spoke to her. Yet, she still managed to get this job. He didn’t understand that she needed none of that. Sh
e still managed to get this job. She just needed a break, and she had found it.

  “Why do you have to change the subject?” he asked, striding down the hallway after her.

  “Because you make it seem like I can’t do whatever I want to do,” she said, pushing the door open with her hand.

  “I never suggested that. I merely want to know how you ended up getting a modeling contract thousands of miles away from me without batting an eyelash.”

  “Oh, so you think I batted an eyelash?” She whirled in place. “Is that what you think?”

  Adam walked slowly up to her, standing all tensed-up in the middle of her bedroom. He placed his hands on her arms and stared down into her eyes. “No,” he said with a wry smile. “That’s not what I think.”

  She stared up into his hazel eyes that were looking so intently down on her, and she felt bad for getting so riled up. She was leaving in twenty-four hours and didn’t need this bickering. Why did she have to get like this? He only had her best intentions at heart.

  “I was merely curious about the circumstances surrounding a job that you didn’t apply for or know anything about. I don’t want you walking into some kind of scam,” he told her reassuringly.

  “I’ve told you about how I got the job,” she said, not breaking eye contact. “It’s not a scam.”

  “Tell me one more time,” he requested, running his hands down her arms.

  “I met Marco,” she began.

  He raised his eyebrows.

  “Mr. Moretti,” she corrected, “the fashion designer for Marco’s clothing line, at his grand opening.”

  “And, you got those tickets…” he prompted.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. They showed up at my front door.”

  “Right. They showed up at your front door,” he said, his voice disbelieving.

  Chyna soldiered on. She was telling him the truth, even if he was refusing to believe her. She didn’t know how she got the tickets, and frankly, she didn’t care because those tickets led her to get the job. “Mr. Moretti offered to do a photo shoot with me when we met at the opening.”