F*ck Buddy

by Scarlet North

  Slow and sensuous, he claimed her mouth like he was savoring her, eventually pulling pack when someone behind him cleared his throat. Grinning, Liam stepped to the side, so his brother could get a look at her.

  “Get a rooooom,” his brother told them with a smile she couldn't resist.

  “S'up, Sis?”

  Ugh, was he really calling her that, while wearing that devilishly, charming smile to boot?

  Indeed, he was. And she wasn't offended, she realized. Probably because he wasn't judging them. The only thing she felt coming from Corey was acceptance.

  “Corey,” he informed her, extending his hand.

  “Jackie,” she offered back, shaking hands.

  “You guys ready? My stomach's ready to cave in after that spar.”

  “That why you guys look like you've been run through a wood chipper?”

  “That's... another story entirely. I'll tell you over lunch. Come on,” Liam answered, his hand closing over hers.

  Making their way down the stairs, they piled into Liam's Mercedes and rode to a small spot set off from the beach, 'Donovan's.'

  It was a quaint, little spot that specialized in a sort Anglo-French mashup. Everything on the menu had two different names, one in English, the other “en Francais.” And the prices... Well, they were more in Liam's realm of wherewithal, but Jackie didn't fret about it. Unlike her previous life, she was going to allow herself to be doted on. She'd always strived to be “the good girlfriend,” but in reality she'd had a problem with accepting things from others.

  Maybe it came from the hard times she'd known in her mother's house, where they'd learned to make due on very little, DIY queens that they'd mostly been. The concept of having money was altogether new to her, and the way she saw it now, she might as well settle into it. Because she was doing well now, and her man? He was doing especially well.

  Sitting back and staring out at the ocean when the server put their orders in, a smile ticked her cheek. This was... maybe symbolic of what it was like when you connected with someone who wanted similar things. Things like peace and good times with the people you loved.

  His brother Corey was friggin' hilarious.

  She loved him already.

  Everything just sort of felt right today. Maybe that was the universe's way of telling her things were going to work out just fine. Despite the fact that her man was going to be her stepbrother as soon as her parents tied the knot.

  “What're you thinking about, hmm?”

  Dazzling her with that brilliant smile of his, Liam creased a brow. Jackie flushed a bit, feeling her admiration tint her cheeks.

  “Good things.”

  “You're so mysterious.”

  Winking, she took a sip of her water, looking back out at the beach, starting at the sight of a photographer.

  “Liam.”

  “Hmm?”

  Lifting his eyes, he saw the photographer, too, but soon his expression relaxed.

  “He's taking pictures of the gulls.”

  Following his eyes, the tension left Jackie in the instant.

  “Oh.”

  “Why's that matter?” Corey asked, slipping his cell phone back into his pocket.

  “I, uh...”

  “She's worried about publicity.”

  “I can speak for myself, thanks.”

  “That's what it is, isn't it?”

  He met her with a pressing gaze, and she couldn't help but relent. Yeah, that was it, but she'd still rather speak for herself. Her mother had a habit of answering for her, and it was kind of a pet peeve.

  “Until we figure out how we're going to approach this... I don't know if pictures are wise. You've got a business, and I do, too.”

  Watching the discourse between them, Corey took a sip of his water and set it on the table, interjecting while there was a window for him to slip in to the conversation.

  “Look, neither of you should even worry about this. It's an obvious marriage of convenience, right? Dad doesn't do anything that doesn't profit him. And he could have any material girl he wants without having to marry her - as deep as his pockets run. This is about business. No offense to you or anything, Jackie, but I'm pretty sure your mom knows that.”

  Jackie's brow quirked, and she let Corey's words settle awhile.

  It certainly made sense. Made more sense than any other scenario, actually. Holy fucking shit, had her mom married this guy, so he could expand VitaGourmet? Like truly without saying a fucking word to her about it? How entirely fucked up.

  ~

  They dropped Corey at the shop before Liam drove her home, and she was a bit tingly with anticipation over it. She was going to ask him up, naturally. Roxy had taken a trip out to see her sister in New York, and well... if they were going to do the boyfriend/girlfriend thing properly, they might as well start now.

  He was pretty banged up, though, so... they'd likely just be cuddling tonight. But she liked that idea. Thinking of it filled her belly with a warm glow that stretched for the entirety of the ride home.

  “I like your brother.”

  “He likes you, too.”

  “How can you tell?”

  Liam shrugged as he pulled in front of the house and set the gear into park.

  “He gave me a thumbs up when you turned your head. He wouldn't have bothered if he thought I was wasting my time.

  “Shit. I got a thumbs up?”

  “You certainly did.”

  “We'll have to celebrate. You're, uh, staying the night, right?”

  “I wouldn't be anywhere else,” he answered with a grin.

  ~

  The buzzing of Liam's cell shook them out of their lover's coil, bent and twisted up in one another's limbs as they were, and when Jackie stole a glance at him, her heart melted at the brilliant smile on his face.

  “What is it?”

  He looked up a moment before returning his attention to the phone.

  “My agent. I'm cast for the show.”

  “Show?”

  “National Ink.”

  “Shit. That's fucking excellent.”

  “Monumentally so.”

  His eyes rested on her, then he lowered his head to steal a kiss.

  “I have to meet with him to get the papers signed, though. You gonna be around tonight?”

  “Uh, yeah. Around 9. I have a pre-class seminar today. Extra anal chef teaching it.”

  Liam chuckled at that.

  “I know the type.”

  He grinned and pulled her close, holding her, just holding her. Radiating a belonging she didn't ever think she'd felt so palpably. Not even with her mom. Pulling into it, Jackie basked in its glow, opening to him in a way that terrified and thrilled her in the same turn. Nipping her lip, he pulled back slightly and eyed her a long time.

  “I don't want to leave you.”

  She laughed softly at that.

  “For a handful of hours? What's a handful of hours?”

  “An eternity.”

  Grinning, she dragged a finger down his cheek.

  “Go. Go show the world how amazing you are.”

  “They already know that.”

  “Humble, much?”

  Smiling, he brushed his thumb gently over her lips.

  “Never.”

  They lay together an extra hour before he finally resolved himself to the task at hand, the one he'd been working for a ridiculous amount of time. And this time, when they parted, neither of them were left with a hollow feeling, or anger, or self-doubt. Instead, they were filled with something neither of them had known intimately before they'd met. A wholeness, maybe? It plumed inside of them and radiated without, connecting them so deeply, they knew the other felt it just as keenly.

  When Jackie finally dressed and made her way to her pre-class, she did it with a lightness she hadn't felt a day in her time at Shoreline before that. It affirmed what she'd been ignoring since she'd met Liam, and she tucked herself into the security of it, hiking her backup higher up on her
shoulder, eager to get through her class and put the day behind her.

  Sweeping into the front hall, she made a beeline for the class board, scanning it for Chef Beakman's name. Shit. There were so many classes today. So many names, and mid-day traffic had only left her five minutes to get to class.

  She couldn't be late.

  “Hey beautiful.”

  Snapping her head up with a creased brow, Jackie's eyes fell on Colin, and a pit instantly formed in her stomach. He was the very last person she wanted to see right now. Managing a shrug, she turned her attention back to the hall sheet.

  “What class you looking for?”

  “Is there something you need, Colin?”

  “Whoa, whoa.”

  Raising his hands like he'd stolen something, and she was the cop sent to take him in, he tried and failed to win a smile with that charming grin of his. Only, it didn't come off even a third as enchanting as it had when she was a month younger, and far more stupid.

  “You okay, beautiful?”

  Leaning close, he tilted his head, a mock-depth of overdone concern in his eyes.

  “Fine. Just checking off the next item on my to do list. Nice running into you.”

  Her words were monotone and clearly disinterested, but assholes like Colin are resistant to the obvious, and he leaned a little too far into her space even so.

  “Want to take the edge off later?”

  “I have to go, Colin.”

  She'd go up to the next floor and look at that board if it meant getting his creep vibes off of her. What the hell was wrong with him?

  Shooting an arm in front of her when she made to leave, he leaned in so close she could smell what he had for lunch. Eew.

  “Back up, Colin.”

  “You haven't returned my calls. How come?”

  “Maybe, learn to take a hint.”

  “Feisty.” He laughed. “I like this side of you.”

  “Back off, Colin.”

  “We were good together. We should-”

  “Back. The. Fuck. Off. Colin.”

  Shoving him off, Jackie made her way quickly down the hall, not stopping for a second to take a look back. When she did finally make her way to the pre-class, it was all she could do to concentrate. Her skin was crawling the entire time, and the minute she got home, she couldn't get out of her clothes fast enough to shower.

  She knew Colin was a creep, but she never thought he'd stalk out on her like that. For a second there... Pushing past her thoughts, she immersed herself in the best standing spa she could simulate. Thankfully, it helped, and after a half an hour or so, she was ready to emerge with a clearer mind. Things were going far too well to let some jilted ex-lay get under her skin because he felt like he couldn't enchant some attention out of her whenever he took a notion to.

  Fuck him.

  She had better things to focus on. Much happier, hotter, gorgeous things. Slipping into her robe, her head snapped up at the sound of her buzzer, and she quickly shrugged her feet into her slippers, half-hopping her way over to it. Exhaling all of the tension left in her, she checked the peephole before looking out.

  Quirking a brow, she opened the door to the deliveryman waiting there.

  “Package for Miss Rhodes.”

  “That's me.”

  “Sign here, please.”

  Extending an electronic box, with a stylus dangling off from it, the delivery man waited for her to give him her signature, looking about as enthused with his job as a Vegan at an all-you-can-eat-meat buffet.

  “That oughtta do it,” he told her when she passed the digital contraption back, bending to lift a box and handing it over to her.

  “Have a good night.”

  “You, too,” she answered with a far off, preoccupation ringing her tone as she backed into her apartment and closed the door with a nudge of her hip.

  She hadn't sent for anything, but the moment she saw the sender's address, all of the butterflies came alive in her belly again. He was sending her gifts now. Because he was just that awesome. Nipping her lip, she hurried into the living room and plopped down on the rug, tearing into the paper to get to the expensive-looking, black box within. There was a card attached to it, but she never read those first.

  She was too much of a kid where gifts were concerned.

  Gingerly lifting the lid, she gasped when her eyes fell on the dress folded in gold, tissue paper. Squeaking, she lifted it out, standing to let it fall against her, like a kid in a candy store. Sexy, inky, and svelte. It must have cost a fortune. Reaching down for the card envelope, she fumbled to open it:

  Keystone Plaza

  National Ink Casting Party

  Friday at 8

  Be my +1

  -Liam

  Hugging the dress close, a twinge took her gut. A casting party meant cameras. Cameras meant publicity. And God, this dress.

  Sighing, she ran her hand over the frock, swallowing her nerves and making her way to the closet to hang it before it wrinkled.

  Liam

  There wasn't a woman alive more beautiful to him.

  His heart pluming in his chest as she exited the car, he watched her for a stretching moment before he emerged himself. Taking in the entrance to the tat studio and dorms he'd soon be hosting competitions in for National Ink, he gave the photographers and guests the required wave before taking Jackie's arm and making his way into the building.

  It was a moment he had long been waiting for. The crown jewel of opportunities that would cement his brand in the eyes of the nation, and the international viewers tuning in. After this, Raw Ink's expansion was all but assured.

  “Red or White?” A redheaded server with full sleeves of inked mermaids and sailor motifs asked, giving him a suggestive glance he politely ignored.

  “What do you think, sweetheart? Red?”

  Jackie grinned.

  “Definitely Red.”

  Pursing her lips before she caught herself and forced a smile, the redhead, lifted a wine flute each from her tray and passed them over to the pair, giving them a serviceable nod on her way out of the foyer where Liam and Jackie had positioned themselves.

  The party was just winding up, but there were plenty of spectacles underway to keep them occupied while they waited for the media circus to make their way to him for the never-ending series of two minute interviews that would soon serve as teasers for the episodes they had yet to record.

  Liam was proud of himself, especially for being cool under pressure, but most of the ease that evening was wholly attributable to the woman beside him. Inclining his head, he stole a kiss from her, fully aware of the many cameras hovering around. He could feel her tense before she relaxed into it and kissed him back, and he raised his head with a purposeful glint in his gaze.

  “The only thing that matters is us,” he told her.

  She parted her lips to respond, but another voice intruded before she could get a word out.

  “Making your way up the ranks, huh? Explains a few things.”

  Colin smiled through his glare then catching Liam's expression he made his way past them, making a show of taking the arm of a random beauty and saying something that was probably extremely corny to make her laugh. He was just as much a dickhead in real life as on the show, and it took all of a second for Liam to shake his comment off. No way he'd let that little half-celebrity fuck screw this up for him.

  “You alright?”

  Jackie's mouth twitched up into a forced smile.

  “He's not worth the brain space,” she managed, though it was obvious his comment cut a little more deeply than she liked.

  “Come on, I'll introduce you to the director.”

  They circled the party, meeting all of the “who's whos” before heading upstairs to catch a view of the amazing back lawn the cast would soon be enjoying. The mansion was amazing. High ceilings. Exquisite, marble flooring. An indoor lagoon. And outside? A garden to rival all gardens. Liam could only imagine what sorts of “missions" the writers had
planned when the show got underway.

  Reaching the top landing, the lovers headed out to the balcony, pleased to find it empty. Pressing her against it, his lips found hers again, and they kissed for what seemed like forever before finally coming up for air.

  “What do you think?”

  Jackie smiled but it was a smile that didn't entirely reach her eyes.

  “It's... amazing.”

  Liam tilted his head.

  “What's wrong, Jackie?”

  Averting her eyes from him, she shrugged, turning her attention to the amazing front lawn.

  “Tell me.”

  Looking to him, she gave him a half-shrug.

  “I just... I don't know how wise it was for you to bring me out with you. With the show... It's bound to come out that our parents are engaged. I don't want to-”

  “Shhh...”

  Pressing a finger to her mouth, he cupped her cheek.

  “I don't want us to be a secret, Jackie. You understand that right?”

  “I'm not suggesting-”

  “I want everyone to know how I feel about you. You're the realest thing that's ever happened to me, and I know we're strong enough to surmount whatever the hell might come.”

  She took a deep breath, but eventually nodded, holding his gaze like she wanted to believe him, even if she didn't just yet. But that was her way, wasn't it? Worry. Suspicion. She had a need to have her bases covered, and some things just can't be planned.

  ~

  “You're... father,” Toya said uncomfortably, extending the phone to Liam with a look that told him the old man hadn't exactly called with a pleasant tone.

  “Tell him I'm working,” Liam answered, flipping another page in the episode notes he'd been given to digest over the weekend.

  “He's insisting you take the call. I'll just... leave this right here.”

  Giving him an apologetic shrug, Toya lowered the phone to the desk and headed back to her station without a glance back. Sighing, Liam stared at the phone a long minute before he finally picked it up.

  “Yeah?”

  “You just won't be satisfied until you fuck up everything that's given to you will you?”