Lockhart

by A. E. Murphy

  “Behave. I’m still mad at you for how you reacted last night.”

  His smile fades. “I apologise for upsetting you, but not for how I reacted.”

  “That doesn’t even make sense.”

  “Don’t flirt in front of me.”

  “So I can flirt behind your back?”

  “No.”

  “Can I converse?”

  “Feel free, but no flirting.”

  “Why? If we’re keeping this as platonic as a sex relationship can be, then what does it matter if I flirt?”

  He sighs heavily and rubs his face with both hands when we reach a red light. “Because I don’t want anybody thinking I can’t satisfy the woman I’m spending my time with. If she’s giving her attention to other men then it makes me look inadequate.”

  “Ego trip,” I say in a sing song voice.

  “Do as you’re told.”

  My eyes roll to the window. “Fine, I won’t flirt. Okay?”

  “Thank you. Me neither.”

  “Good.”

  “Good.”

  “We sound like idiots,” I snort, which turns into full on giggling.

  He joins in laughing.

  “I sure hope you have something in your suitcase for me to wear tonight.”

  “Of course.” He sounds affronted but his mood soon changes and he says, “I can’t remove the image of you being pleasured by another woman out of my mind.”

  Fuck.

  “Let’s just not talk about that.” I mumble, my cheeks heating. “Ever.”

  His answering chuckle tells me that he’s never going to stop talking about that.

  *

  “You are stunning,” Lockhart tells me as I stare at myself in the mirror.

  The dress I’m wearing is divine; I can hardly believe it myself.

  Midnight blue chainmail-like material covers me from head to toe. Literally. It clings to my body, revealing the space between my breasts to my navel, and fans out from my thighs with a slit going up to just under the front of my hip. The top covers my head in a large yet delicate hood that has to be pinned to my hair.

  It’s me. I would choose this. Lockhart knows me well.

  He has also covered my hair. I don’t like this.

  He shouldn’t be trying to control my image, though I don’t bring this up with him now. I don’t want to cause any arguments before the premier and seem ungrateful.

  I just wish he’d enjoy my new hair that I love so much.

  My makeup, which is still perfect from earlier, I touch up and darken a little around the eyes. This is so exhilarating. I’m going to get a taste of what it feels like to be famous. I just wish Kai and Dane could be here experiencing this glamour. It feels wrong being the advocate for a band that they created.

  “Just a second.” Lockhart frowns, kissing my jaw and moving to the other side of the room with his phone in hand.

  I wonder who that could be? He doesn’t look happy to be accepting the call.

  Raising my leg, I let the fabric fall around it to ensure nobody can see my underwear at different angles. I should be fine as long as I’m not caught by the wind.

  This dress is heavier than it looks so I should be okay. I hope.

  Bleh! I’m obsessing.

  Lockhart speaks to whoever is on the line in Italian. Dear God, thank you for this experience. It is so bloody sexy I can hardly cope. I want to drop on all fours and ask him to take me, but we already did it against the door and we’ll be late if we don’t get going now.

  He hangs up after a few tense sounding words and then turns to me with an appreciative smile as if nothing happened. “I don’t think we can leave.” His eyes turn black with heat.

  “We have to.” I hold up a hand to ward him off and take a step back. “I want to have my picture taken and be ogled at by a thousand men.”

  He growls. I grin wickedly and pull open the door for him before bowing and motioning for him to exit. As he passes, he slides a hand into the thigh slit and tickles my knickers with his fingers.

  “You really need to stop that.” I grip onto his bicep and peer up at him through my lashes. “My willpower is only as strong as yours.”

  And then he douses it all out by asking a question I’d hoped he’d never ask. “Why did you quit?”

  I try to pretend I don’t have a clue what he’s referring to. “Quit what?”

  “You know what. You just didn’t turn up and you weren’t suddenly ill like everyone said.”

  I shrug. “Do you think Scarlett Johansson will go tonight? I fucking love her.”

  “Stop swearing. Answer the question.” He presses the elevator button and we wait patiently in silence. After realising I’m not going to talk about it, he sighs and doesn’t mention it again.

  “So…” I click my tongue as the elevator descends. “Will she?”

  “Will she what?”

  “Be there.”

  Raising a brow, he looks at me as though I’m the crazy one.

  “Scarlett Johansson!” I snap. “Will she be there?”

  “Oh.” He smiles, shrugging. “Probably.”

  Something tells me that his questioning is far from over.

  I wake up, unsure of where I am or how I got here. My mouth tastes like aniseed and sand. Ugh.

  With a spinning head, I try to sit up, only to feel a hand on my shoulder pushing me down.

  “You should probably try to open your eyes before you start to move,” Lockhart chuckles and places a glass in my hand. He helps me sit up and pops two pills onto my tongue before helping me drink the water. “Good girl.”

  “Oh my god,” I grumble, rolling onto my side and pulling the blanket over my head. “I feel so ill. How much did I drink?”

  “Enough to fuel a small army of beastly men.” Climbing in behind me, he curls his boxer brief clad body into mine and tickles my arm and fingers with his. “You’ll never drink that much again.”

  “Agreed,” I whisper. It feels as though the bed is swaying. “Did I make a fool of myself.”

  “On the contrary, you made a few friends. Do you truly not remember?”

  “I will soon.” I nuzzle the soft blanket. “I just need more sleep and a nap.”

  “That’s the same thing,” he laughs, his chest vibrating against my back. He’s so warm, like a soft, fleshy radiator. “Promise me you won’t drink so carelessly again.”

  I turn into his chest, still hiding under the blanket. “I will do my best.”

  He sighs, kisses the top of my head and rubs my back. “Have a nap and go to sleep.”

  “That’s the same thing.” I grin, kissing his chest, right above his nipple, and relaxing my body. “We’re breaking the rules.”

  I receive nothing but silence and find that I’m too tired to argue anyway.

  My nap is as unsettled as my stomach. Memories from the previous night flood my brain. Flashes of cameras, eating fancy food on trays that seemed to float around the room, held by waiters and waitresses that just looked happy to be there.

  Mingling at the after party and introducing myself to celebrities in my drunken fuelled state. Nobody seemed to mind. I met some lovely people who accompanied me on this crazy autograph rampage. Lockhart, though annoyed at first, seemed to enjoy my company the later the night got. I no doubt embarrassed him to begin with but he soon saw the fun in it.

  Especially when everybody else saw the fun in it. I always have been the centre of the party, especially when vodka is involved, which it was.

  “We need to get up soon,” Lockhart rolls me onto my front and pins me between his body and the mattress. His cock rubs between my legs through the fabric of his boxers.

  “Not right now. I’m achy from last night.”

  “Last night was a fumbled mess.” He buries his face in my neck. “I’m mortified and I was hoping the vodka in your system would remove it from memory.”

  “You fell off the bed.” I remind him, smiling into the soft pillow.

  “I
wasn’t my best,” he grumbles.

  “Trust me, you did great. Now get off me.”

  “No.” He continues to grind until I dig my elbow into his ribs and roll away from him, flipping the blanket from me as I go.

  “Can I use your shower?”

  “You can use whatever you like.” He watches me walk across the room in nothing but my bra.

  *

  We set off less than two hours later and even though I offer to get the train back to Nottingham from London, where the premier was held, Lockhart refuses, stating that he doesn’t get to drive often enough these days as he’s always stuck in the office.

  The drive is fairly quiet and entirely sweet. He glances over at me every so often and smiles. He promised me he’d be a bastard. He is in no way, shape, or form being a bastard.

  I want to get to know him better but I’m too scared to. If I figure out just how wonderful this man truly is, there will be no going back. There’s a reason this man is single. I must remind myself of this constantly. He isn’t married yet and he isn’t even dating, although I don’t know if that is because of choice or something else. Like the fact he’s a sadist. He no doubt gets tired of hearing the same woman scream over and over.

  And boy can he make me scream.

  Sigh.

  “What are you looking at me like that for?” His lips twitch and he drops his sunglasses over his eyes.

  Placing my hand on his thigh, I gently slide it towards his groin and then back towards his knee.

  “When will I see you again?” I ask softly.

  When he doesn’t respond for a long while, I repeat my question and tap his leg.

  “I’m thinking.” He chews on the inside of his lip and places his hand on top of mine. “Not for a few days.”

  “Okay.”

  “Is that all right?”

  Shrugging, I give him a confused look. “Whatever you need, as agreed.”

  “Song lyrics,” he chuckles.

  “They very well could be.” I type them into my phone before I forget them. “Can you sing?”

  He chuckles and shifts in his seat. “That’s a debatable subject.”

  “Sing for me.” I turn fully in my seat, my leg bent and resting against the console between us.

  “Only if you play for me.”

  Nice try. “I can’t just play.” I turn back around.

  “Why?”

  “It’s… it’s complicated.”

  “Does it have anything to do with your uncle passing away?”

  “It has to do with a lot of things that I don’t want to discuss,” I grumble, looking at my stubborn reflection in the wing mirror.

  “You started it.”

  “I asked you to sing.”

  He grins and strokes my hair with his left hand. His right hand remains on the steering wheel and his eyes on the road. “I asked you to play.”

  “I can’t.”

  “You won’t,” he corrects, still stroking my hair. “Maybe one day you’ll grant me the pleasure.”

  “Maybe.” I lie to appease him because I know it’s never going to happen. I lost the ability to play like that. It’ll never return. “We’re almost there.”

  The air in the car changes. I feel a solemn chill surround us both and try my best not to question it. It’ll force me to think about things I don’t need to think about and put things in my head that don’t exist.

  “That we are.”

  We drive the rest of the way in almost silence. I sing along to the radio on occasion, excited for the day I’m driving on the motorway and one of my songs comes on. The thought makes me giddy.

  When we arrive back at the bus, Enri and Dane are outside speaking to a few people from within the hotel. They look to be happily chatting and don’t even turn to look when the heavy, guarded gates to the secluded parking grounds close behind us.

  I climb out of the car at the same time as Lockhart and move to the now open boot. He reaches for my bags but Wayne beats him to it, seeming to appear out of nowhere and then vanish just as quickly.

  “Please don’t drink like that again,” Lockhart suddenly demands, shaking his head and cupping my jaw with one hand. “Promise me.”

  “I promise I won’t push my limits,” I assure him and then try to step around him.

  A hand grabs the front of my shirt and I’m yanked roughly back to him. His lips press against my own and a warm, wet tongue, tasting sweet from the fresh orange he just drank, tangles with mine.

  I groan, forgetting where I am and who is watching until he presses me up against the side of his car and grinds against me. This is a display. He’s doing this on purpose.

  “Don’t walk away from me without saying goodbye.”

  Blink. “I thought you were coming with me, you psycho,” I hiss, pulling his hands off my body.

  “Fine.” He grins menacingly. “Don’t walk away from me without clarifying my intentions.”

  I roll my eyes but my lips betray me by smiling. “I’ll see you soon, Lockhart.”

  “See you soon, Wild One.”

  With flushed cheeks and an aching womb, I make my way to Enri and Dane. Dane has his brows raised in surprise and Enri is glaring at Lockhart over my shoulder as his fists clench by his sides.

  “Hey, guys,” I say and yawn, trying to act as naturally as possible. “What’s cooking? Smells good.”

  “Did you just kiss our boss?” Dane hisses, looking perplexed.

  “I can smell egg. Is Kai cooking?” I avoid his question and ask my own instead.

  Enri doesn’t follow us inside.

  “Are you insane?” Dane hisses.

  “What’s up?” Kai asks and I can’t stop the bark of laughter I release upon seeing him in a naked lady apron. He’s fully clothed beneath, but the visual of his head on an image of that body does a lot for my sense of humour.

  “Guess who’s fucking Lockhart?” Dane snaps, brushing past me and pulling himself up onto the table.

  I gape at him. “Dane!”

  “Are you kidding? Please tell me you’re kidding?” Kai begs, turning the gas stove off.

  “We’re just having fun; it’s not a big deal,” I grumble and start towards my room, but Kai steps into my path.

  “At whose expense?” Kai snarls, throwing his apron onto the ground.

  “Chill out, Kai.” I sigh. I can understand his concerns but I won’t allow him to get in my face about it.

  “What happens when you do something to piss him off?”

  My eyes roll heavenward and I can’t stop myself from puffing my cheeks out with a blow of air.

  “You need to end that shit before it ends our career,” Kai snaps and Dane doesn’t disagree.

  “A bit hypocritical of a statement don’t you think, Kai?” I snap back, giving him a lingering glare.

  Even though they’re right, I know they are, I just… I like spending time with Lockhart. Why does it have to be made complicated? Why can’t it just be about the sex without everybody sticking their two cents in? Especially somebody who has recently done something far more severe than I.

  “It’s not like that.” I finally squeeze around him, shouldering his chest as I go. “We’ve come to an understanding.”

  Enri steps inside. “The last girl he came to an understanding with was forced to quit too.”

  I tense at his voice and stop before I reach the door.

  “I don’t want to embarrass you or… make you feel unworthy of his affections, because you most certainly aren’t.” He clears his throat and nods to Dane and Kai, who both make themselves busy. Kai turns the stove back on and Dane slides onto the bench seat. “But you’re just one of many in his eyes. I can tell you three promising females who were just having sex with him that fell off the radar when he got bored. The last one was also my starting act.”

  That can’t be true. I refuse to believe it.

  “The fact I can see the hurt in your eyes just goes to show that it isn’t just sex to you anymore.�
� He steps into my zone and leans around me to open the door. I’m guided inside and the door closes behind him. “You need to end it. My cousin… he’s a bastard. In the beginning he’s all sweet, chasing you, but as soon as you start to show him anything other than just sex, he’ll throw you away and your career with you.”

  “It can’t be that way,” I murmur, hating myself for getting involved in any of this.

  “You need to walk away. I can protect your career now. I can keep you on board now, but not if you mix with him anymore…” He shakes his head slowly and cups my cheeks with both hands. “Walk away, Cerise. Don’t get sucked into his bullshit.”

  “Three?” I ask, finding this hard to swallow.

  “The first two were women I met, newly starting out. The third, as I said, she started for me.”

  “Three,” I repeat, swallowing down the nausea I feel.

  He nods, his green eyes, a similar shade to Lockhart’s, searching my own. “You don’t need to have anything to do with him from this point. Rep will hire you a publicist and protect you. You’ve just got to cut him off.”

  “How?” I push his hands from my face and pace to my bed. “How do I just cut him off? He’s tenacious.”

  “We’re basically away now for a good while. He’ll move on before you get back. I know my cousin well.”

  The thought makes me even sicker than before. Have I truly been played so easily?

  “How do I tell him?” I ask, not turning to look at him because I don’t want him to see the weakness of my soul glistening in my eyes.

  “I suppose that would be the hard part. He hates rejection.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you want me to talk to him?”

  My head shakes frantically. “God no. I’ll deal with it. This is my mess.”

  “I’m really sorry, Cerise. It is for the best.”

  “I know.” It’s getting too complicated too soon. “Thanks, Enri.”

  “No problem. What are friends for, right?” He yanks on my braid and stalks past me. “I’m going for a nap.”

  “Me too.” I climb onto my bed after kicking my shoes off and pull the curtain across. “When are we leaving for Manchester?”

  “First thing.”