Too late, Quinn. Should have thought about that before you had unprotected sex with him.
I ran my hand across my flat stomach. He wouldn’t be able to tell, but it still scared me half to death. Then the dreaded moment came, when we locked eyes. He had caught me staring at him. His expression told me he was shocked to see me, but after a few seconds he broke our contact and went right back to talking with his friends. It was as if he didn’t give me a second thought.
Anger boiled deep inside of me, and my hands tightened into fists at my side. He was ignoring me. I wanted to go over there and give him a piece of my mind, something I wouldn’t normally do, but these hormones had me acting crazy. Ginger put a hand on my shoulder to calm me down.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know he’d be here,” she told me. Somehow, I seriously doubted that.
“You tricked me,” I accused. “There wasn’t any makeup job.”
She gave me a sly look.
“You both need to talk, and there was a job.”
“No.”
“Oh come off it. You knew he worked on Timelines! There was a possibility he’d be here, and you came anyway.”
Had I really?
I tried to pretend his cold shoulder hadn’t affected me. I was glad I’d taken the time to make myself look presentable. My makeup was immaculate and my hair sat in a no fuss high ponytail. I smoothed out my blouse; my boobs had already increased at least one cup size. At least there was one reward to being pregnant, that plus being constantly horny all the damn time. Wait, that wasn’t a reward when I didn’t have anyone to have sex with me.
“Has he tried calling you again?” she asked me, I shook my head.
“Not recently.”
Barrett walked up from behind Ginger and put his arm around her. “My beautiful ladies, I have died and gone to heaven.”
Ginger laughed and wiggled out from under his arm, which only prompted him to put his arm around me instead.
“You wanna hang out tonight, Quinn? I can show you the LA nightlife.”
“We’re busy, Barrett. Go away,” I told him. This only caused him to flirt with me some more.
“One of these days, you’re gonna give it up and join me and Ginger for a threesome.”
“Gross,” Ginger and I both cried out at the same time.
Barrett gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before walking off. Ginger moved closer to me.
“Go talk to him,” she urged again. She pushed me forward. Stumbling, I almost fell onto a stage light. I turned and scowled at her. This moment had to come, but seeing him had brought back too many feelings. Feelings I assumed were long gone. I walked over to Chase, who was alone now, drinking that same bottle of water while texting someone on his phone. When I was only a few feet away, his eyes shot up and met mine. He smirked and put his phone in his pants pocket. His style was carefree and comfortable. I let my eyes skim over his plain white t-shirt that accented his tan.
“My, my. If it isn’t my favorite little party favor.” He looked me up and down before walking closer to meet me. What a party favor I was, indeed. The cockiness in his voice was demeaning, and the sudden urge to turn and run came over me.
“Don’t you take party favors home?”
“I couldn’t wait to try you out... You never called me back.”
I stepped a little closer to him and a magnetic energy flowed between us.
“You don’t date,” I reminded him.
“So?”
“So I thought we were on the same page.”
“What are you doing here anyway?” He made it sound like I was stalking him. Not gonna happen.
“I’m getting lunch with my cousin.”
“And you came all the way up here? Couldn’t meet at the restaurant?”
He’d caught me. Why didn’t I insist on meeting Ginger at the restaurant? I supposed somewhere inside I knew I might run into him.
“I didn’t—I didn’t think you would be here.”
“Sure.”
“Listen can we—um—meet somewhere later to talk?” I didn’t want to play games; his flirting wouldn’t work on me today.
His smile disappeared. His head cocked to the side in confusion by my question.
“Talk? That sounds serious. Is everything okay? You aren’t here to tell me you have some sort of STD or you’re pregnant or anything, right?” He laughed, and I joined in, even though it wasn’t funny. I stopped laughing and tried to remain serious. I didn’t want to tell him. Why couldn’t I send him a letter?
“Wait, you look kinda serious. Are you serious? Was what I said seriously right? Cause I wasn’t serious,” he said.
“Wait, what was that? I am serious, Chase. We need to talk.” I said with a puzzled look.
“Well, you sure didn’t want to talk when we were leaned up against that bench or on the gate.” His eyes were sparkling with amusement. He loved torturing me. I could feel my face heating up in embarrassment. One-night stands might have been the norm for him, but they weren’t for me. I didn’t want to talk about it.
I stuttered a bit, trying to get my words out. Just thinking about that night already had my head spinning. Even though that night was a huge mistake, the memory of his lips against mine was something I would never forget.
“I—I,” I began. He eyed me curiously then backed up and pulled his phone out of his pocket, as if he were getting a call.
“I have to take this, but we will meet up soon. I promise. I’ll call you.”
Without another word, he ran out of the studio, leaving me utterly confused as to what happened. I had my answer now. According to him, what we had was a one-time thing. He wasn’t interested in getting to know me. I slowly walked back over to Ginger.
“What happened?” she whispered in my ear.
“He ran away.”
My face burned with embarrassment and hurt. I just wanted to get out of there.
“What do you mean, he ran away?”
“I mean he’s not interested.”
She put her hands on her hips and scowled. “That doesn’t make sense. He asked me about you last week.”
“Well apparently he changed his mind.”
Chase
Quinn showing up at the studio was quite a surprise. I really expected never to see her again. I figured since she didn’t return my calls, she’d avoid me like the plague. It was intriguing the way she tried to act as if she weren’t nervous. I saw it all before, the shame and excitement. I couldn’t even look at her. The second I did, thoughts about being inside of her swirled through my mind and all it did was make me want her that much more.
I jumped in the back of the studio’s limo and pulled a bottled water from the cooler. I needed to cool off. After seeing Barrett with his disgusting hands all over her, I’d fought the urge to walk over there and knock him out. The guy flirted with everyone, but when he kissed her cheek, red flashed before my vision.
“Take me to the gym,” I sharply told the driver. I had a new movie to shoot soon and needed to get back into shape. I didn’t need Quinn getting under my skin and pissing me off. Last year, I had a small role on a few TV shows. This year, there were so many movie offers I had to turn most of them down. This was what I wanted though, the fame, money, and girls. Especially the girls.
Blame those ragged old converse she’d had on her feet, or the way she’d stood alone at the party. She didn’t seem to need anyone. She wasn’t mingling or name-dropping. She was just….there. Doesn’t matter. I don’t do dating. It’s kind of a rule of mine. Kept things simple. I was out of my mind when I considered breaking that rule for Quinn. The only girl who would get a date was Harlow, one of my oldest friends. She’s a runway model, and how I ended up with her as a best friend is beyond me. Though there had never been anything sexual between us, she was my right wing to all the movie premieres and parties.
According to the tabloids, we have been dating off and on for years, and she has been pregnant with my love child at least four times.
A bunch of shit, if you ask me. She was a good girl, a piece of modeling perfection untainted by Hollywood. I felt the same about Quinn. Maybe that’s why I’d run out on her and left her standing in my dust trail. She was acting too serious, and I didn’t like serious. She’ll get over it. I told her I would call her, but I won’t. Well, maybe I will. Just to see what she wants. My phone vibrated against my pants pocket. I pulled it out and smiled at the name that lit up the caller I.D
“Well speak of the devil,” I said putting the phone to my ear. Even though I couldn’t see her, I could imagine her amusement at my greeting. She’d even toss her coffee-colored hair back behind her shoulder as she spoke. Other than being dragged around the rumor mill with me, she stayed out of the spotlight as much as possible.
“Funny. How are you?” Harlow asked.
“Better now that I get to hear your sweet voice. How’s New York?” She was there for fashion week, an event I was terribly sorry to have missed. Half-naked girls on the runway? “Wish I was there.”
“I bet you are. I have some bad news. I can’t make the awards show next month. I have some scheduling conflicts with a photo shoot.”
“That’s too bad, Harlow. I was looking forward to a night alone with you.”
Such a disappointment, but I didn’t want to make her feel bad so instead I played it off.
“Oh, you’ll get over it. I know your publicist can get scores of actresses to go with you. Though… it would be more fun if you would just settle down already and get a girlfriend.”
My face scrunched up as if I’d eaten something sour. A girlfriend was the last thing I wanted.
“Unless you agree to be my girlfriend I am afraid that I’ll die single,” I teased. We both knew that would never happen.
“Whatever. One day you’ll find a girl that will make you want to settle down. We both know I’m not that girl. Listen, I gotta go toodles, Chasey!”
Pressing the end button on my cell, I threw the phone on the seat beside me and chuckled. Only Harlow could get away with calling me Chasey. I didn’t mind so much that she had canceled on me because I could have another date by that evening. Some hot actress or maybe even that intern from the studio.
When the limo came to a stop, I jumped out and made my way in through the backdoor of the gym. Alex, my personal trainer, was going to whip my butt into shape for the movie. He was ruthless, but I was ecstatic with the results. Pulling my shirt over my head, I threw it in my bag. I put my earbuds in and cranked it up before jumping on the treadmill. Alex waved as he walked out of his office.
“Thirty minutes, Crowley. Then we’ll work on reps.” He went back into his office and left me alone to run out my frustrations.
“What’s up, dude?” Barrett stepped beside me and nodded toward the weights. “Spot me?”
I pulled out my earbuds and nodded before following him. He did a few reps in silence before talking.
“You wanna go out to the club tonight?”
“Sorry, man. I’m pretty tired.”
“What’s with you?” He lifted the weights high in the air and set it back down on the stand. I put some more weight on the barbell. Barrett continued with his reps.
“Nothing is wrong. I’ve been shooting all week. Maybe this weekend.”
Barrett set the bar back down and sat up for a moment.
“Come on, I really need to go out tonight,” he pleaded. “Ginger hasn’t let me out of her sight in days.”
“Ask Tucker.” I slapped Barrett on the back and walked back over toward the treadmill.
“But Tucker isn’t as good of a wingman!” I heard him complain before moving on to another weight machine.
A few minutes into my workout, my phone began to buzz.
Damn. I would never get out of here with all these distractions. Seeing my mom’s name on the screen, I immediately picked it up. Being a good son was important to me, I never ignored her calls. I slowed the treadmill down to a walk and answered.
“Hey, Mami.”
“¡Hola! Just watched a preview for your new movie, and I cannot wait until next week.”
My mom was my biggest fan, which was appropriate since she had made so many sacrifices to get me here today.
Her voice was a soothing calm to my stormy life, and I hated that we lived so far away. She had moved to Florida a few months back. Living closer to her family had always been part of the plan, but my dreams of becoming an actor called for us to be on the west coast
“Thanks. Oh hey, before I forget, I have some time off in a few months. After I film this movie, maybe we can go on vacation or something.”
“As long as you bring that brown-haired girl with you… What was her name?”
What? Was she talking about Quinn?
“Who?”
“Harlow. Yes, bring that sweet, young Harlow girl.” I could just see my mother jumping up and down in excitement. Her thick-rimmed glasses would be falling off her nose.
“I think that she’d prefer to spend time with her own family.”
“Chase Crowley, son. You are almost twenty- three years old. You need to find a wife and settle down.”
“We’ve been over this before, Mami. I’m not interested in settling down. I prefer to be on my own.”
I could hear the tsk tsk in her voice. Her accent always got stronger when she was mad.
“Listen here son, you are living in the fast lane, trying to experience everything and everyone. You need to slow down and enjoy the view before you get to old. Just because things didn’t work out with your father and me doesn’t mean you should avoid all relationships.
“Hijo, Mas vale que no vuelva a ver tu rostro en mas revistas!”
I winced. Spanish flew from her mouth when she got particularly angry. Things hadn't just not worked out with my father. He’d left us high and dry when I was ten years old. That was something I couldn’t fathom any father doing. And something I could never do to my own child. Since then, the two of us had a strained relationship. I groaned loudly and stopped the treadmill so I could concentrate on the conversation.
“I’m not afraid of relationships. All the girls here are superficial and fake. Trust me; you don’t want me to end up with any of them anyway.”
She followed with an inevitable long sigh before she said, “Okay. I hope to see you soon, son.”
“Yes, Mami. I’m busy shooting a movie over the next month or so, but I’ll find time to fly down there in October. I promise.”
We said our goodbyes and hung up. As much as I loved my mother, she was right. This fast-paced lifestyle was getting old. I craved something different. I turned the treadmill back on to full speed. That something I wanted went by the name of Quinn, and if I couldn’t get her out of my system, I would keep working out until I was too tired to think of her.
Chapter Five
Quinn
The water is dark and muddy. Fear paralyzes my body, but it is nothing compared to the coldness I feel from my ears down to the tips of my toes. But nothing, not even the cold, matters; I don’t want to live alone in this world. I stopped caring months ago, when Bash left me behind. I let my body relax and indulge my emotional numbness. “How could you leave me?” I have screamed those words over and over so many times, and if I could open my mouth right now, I would scream them again. The water filled the car minutes ago, and now my lungs are burning, aching for the air I don’t deserve. Moments pass. A wave of fear moves through me. What am I doing? But it’s too late. I inhale instinctively and let the water fill my body. It fills my nose and throat first, and then the worst pain imaginable hits me as it fills my lungs.
The pain; that is the last thing I remember.
I shot up from my bed, wrapping my arms around my chest. I could still feel the burning inside my lungs and it was a few minutes more before the feeling subsided. With shaky legs, I stood up and went into my bathroom.
I braced my arms over the porcelain sink and took a few deep breaths. Just one glance in the mirror ma
de me to shutter at the bags under my eyes. The dream replayed the worst memory I had. My hand hovered over the makeup brushes. I didn’t wear much makeup these days. These tiny bristles had once been my life, but now they were foreign to me. Against my better judgment, I picked up one of my brushes and blended concealer under my eyes. It didn’t cover the puffiness, but it would do. My job required pretty girls who smiled until their mouths hurt.
I hadn’t wanted anyone to know, but one of my- coworkers had been at the OB/GYN at the exact same time I’d had my initial appointment. Then she’d ran her mouth to everyone at work. After finding out about my pregnancy, my boss wanted to give me a “safer” job. Now, I was stuck as a hostess, the money wasn’t as good, but hell, my feet hurt after waitressing all night. I spent most of the day with my head in the toilet anyway, throw in pretending to suck up to rich clients, and then you had my worst nightmare…almost. I pulled my hair up into a loose bun at the top of my head and secured it with a few clips. I needed to leave soon if I was going to make it to work on time for my double shift. We were slammed on Fridays. I took a step back and looked at myself in the floor length mirrors that covered the bathroom walls. I smoothed my hands over my white button up blouse and sighed at how noticeable the tiny bump on my stomach was becoming. According to the books, I wasn’t supposed to be showing. I was two months along, but I swore that there was something there. Maybe it was my imagination.
It had been over a week since Chase had told me he’d call and still nothing. I didn’t mind though, it was exactly what I expected.
Zilch. Zero. Nada. Nothing.
Ginger appeared in the doorway and leaned her head against the wall.
“Has he called yet?”
“Nope.”
“That bastard,” she said, her hands curling up in fists at her side.
“It’s okay,” I told her flatly. I didn’t want to argue about it anymore. It was a one-time mistake, and I didn’t want Chase Crowley drama for the rest of my life. If the press ever found out, my privacy that I’d traveled across the country for would’ve all gone to waste. The thought of the entire world knowing my secrets made me sick. I forced myself not to think about it.
The Last Thing Page 5