Camp Paramore
Page 28
Security greeted me at the side door and escorted me to my room. They waited for me to shower and change into my dark blue Elie Saab cocktail dress and heels, and then walked me back down to where Avery met me at the bottom of the grand staircase.
He ushered me into the main ballroom. My heart pained when he didn’t kiss me. I felt guilty like I didn’t deserve his kindness. He was being friendly but not like we were lovers. It was like we were friends.
“Let’s eat. I’m starving,” he said.
When we got to the dining room, I was surprised to see everyone was waiting for us. A large spread had been laid out for all of us. Wren, Ethan, Sienna, Sean, Travis, Maya, Kim, Jenna, Caitlyn, and Pierce, who even flew Lucy in for the weekend, were there.
I smiled and hugged a few of those sitting closest to me. Even Sara and Colt were there. Caitlyn told me during the week that since she didn’t have anywhere to go for Thanksgiving that she hunted Avery down and apologized and repented for getting caught up in my silly plan. I suppose I deserved that, too. Caitlyn was just covering her ass. I was willing to let everything be my fault.
Avery held my chair like a gentleman and sat down beside me. He never reached for my hand or placed his hand on my lap like he always did before. I felt like an outsider even amongst all of my friends. I was disappointed that I couldn’t get Avery alone. I had so many things to say.
Everyone fell into idle chitchat about the holidays and I sipped nervously at my wine, pretending that it was all okay, that I wasn’t going to lose this great man beside me.
Laughter rang out all around me but I didn’t hear what was said. I was too distracted within my thoughts.
Ethan and Wren asked how my classes were going. I lied and told them it was going well.
Sienna chatted to Sara and Maya about the bridesmaid dresses and then I realized that I didn’t even know what her colors were going to be.
Dinner went off without a hitch but I couldn’t help but feel so distant from everyone. Being with Dorian had isolated me. He didn’t want me socializing with my friends.
I skipped dessert and set off to the bathroom, trying to find some excuse to clear my mind. I needed to relax. I couldn’t breathe.
I changed directions, made my way to the front entrance, and stepped out into the cold mountain air. I walked around the far side of the front deck so that I could be hidden from view if anyone came looking for me.
My heart raced. My palms were sweaty. My chest tightened. I felt like I was suffocating. What the hell was wrong with me?
“Aria,” I barely heard Sara call my name when the tightening in my chest paralyzed me. I bent over, put my hands on my knees, and tried to take a deep breath. I couldn’t, though, and that made me panic more. Tears were streaming from my eyes. At least they were working.
Sara came around the corner and stood next to me. “Take a deep breath,” Sara soothed. She rubbed my lower back and guided me towards the bench nearby.
I sat down, trying to suck in a deep breath. Sweat glistened my brow and the cold from the bench pierced through my dress and helped cool me. Sara held my hand and rubbed my back until I could finally breathe again.
“How long have you been having panic attacks?” she asked. I looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “First one then?” she asked. I nodded. “Geez, Aria. You’re a mess,” she added. “Come on, talk to me.”
My words never came, just the waterworks. I choked and sobbed trying to get a grip on what I was feeling. I was soaring through all these emotions. I was feeling heartbroken to think that I may be losing Avery.
“He doesn’t love me anymore,” I finally uttered.
“Who, Avery? Jesus, Aria, you’re reaping what you’re sowing. But you’re being ridiculous.” I glared at her. “Okay, that may have been a bit harsh, but still,” she added. “I think it really hurt him to see you leave with Dorian last week,” she said. “I would kick your ass for it if I wasn’t so exhausted,” she admonished.
I just stared down at the freshly fallen snow. I was losing my best friend along with Avery. Why couldn’t they see I was doing this for Avery?
“Do you hate me?” I asked.
“You know that I could never hate you,” she said in a somewhat discerning but calmer tone. “But you need to see things clearer. This situation is emotional for everyone. There’s a lot going on this semester and it can mess with your head. You’re dividing your emotions between two men and a heavy workload from school and something’s got to give. And if you hurt Avery, you’re going to have a lot of pissed off people around here. A lot of those guys in there would take a bullet for him.” I nodded; feeling exhausted all of a sudden.
“Aria,” I heard Avery call out for me. I wiped my eyes quickly and tried to recompose myself. Sara pulled her lips into a thin line. That only meant one thing. She wasn’t forgiving me or understanding my point of view.
Avery finally stepped out from behind the pole and his eyes registered that I had been crying. Worry washed over him.
“Avery, you talk some sense into her. I’m exhausted and she’s having panic attacks. I think she needs a drink.” He stepped forward to take Sara’s place as she quickly exited. I breathed in Avery and I calmed even more. I fought back the tears that were resurfacing. I had to get myself together.
“Can we talk?” I said, wanting to get this over with. The look on his face was guarded and I couldn’t help but feel the regret hit me like a huge sledgehammer because I was the one to put it there.
“Avery, I’m sorry,” I gushed as we waited outside the main doors.
“For what? Carelessly putting my supposedly secret camp on the twenty-four hour news cycle?”
“No…yes…for that…but what I mean,” I clipped. “I’m sorry that I’m hurting you.” Avery grimaced.
“I don’t want to fight with you,” he said.
“That’s just it. You’re not fighting at all. Scream at me at least. Say something, I can’t take this silence between us.”
“Do you want me to punch something to show you how angry I am? I already embarrassed myself enough with this situation. I refuse to do it again.”
“I can never forgive myself for what I’ve done. I don’t know how to fix things so that you can forgive me,” I said.
“I already forgave you, Aria. I’m just not going to forget.”
“How can you forgive me?”
“You are in my world now, and betrayal is a regular part of this world. It really is the saddest word in the English language,” he said.
“What? I never asked for any of this,” I scoffed. “I did this to help you.”
“And I agreed, remember? There’s more going on here than you know,” he said towards me. “I can’t really talk about it now, but who do you think authorizes the access to all the playrooms so he can fulfill all his fantasies? He puts in a request ahead of time. I always know what’s going to happen.” I opened my mouth like a fish gaping out of water.
“What about my prank?”
“You were reckless and exposed us to the outside world. I can’t have that here. Don’t ever do it again or I’ll have to remove you. As for Dorian, if you can’t separate what’s going on here and end up losing yourself in him, then you better damn well know that I won’t give up without a fight.”
“I don’t deserve you,” I said through the outpouring of tears.
“Just don’t give him your heart, Aria. That’s all I ask of you,” he said.
I pulled Avery closer and closed my eyes. I knew that we had so much more to talk about but I couldn’t find the words.
In reality, I only wanted to stay in Avery’s arms. But reality is a bitch, and it bites. Hard.
The reality was that Avery never took me back to his place at the end of the night. He took me back to my room and that bit harder. Avery was still angry with me. There was no talking my way out of this. It was so complicated. We’d hit a wall and I didn’t know if we could get over it.
*****
Seeing the stark reality that I may be losing Avery the same time he may be losing his business because of the leaked photos was concerning. Something had to give. Avery needed to catch Tor soon and save Paramore.
I pushed through my fogginess and made my way to the shower, hoping the steam would help. I washed and shaved in all the right places then toweled off and threw on my robe. I quickly dried my hair and pulled it into a ponytail. There was a knock on the door. I answered, still wearing my robe, and there stood Jenna.
“I was asked to bring this up to you,” she said as she handed me an envelope and a small brown box. I opened the envelope, pulled out a small white linen card, and began to read.
“Oh my god. Dorian is going to enter me into the Poker Run tonight. I think this might be my punishment for having sex with Avery last Saturday. That son of a bitch, he’s going to parade me in front of the whole place. It’s the goddamn Camp Olympics all over again.”
“The Poker Run, huh? Well, this should be interesting,” Jenna said. Just then, Caitlyn came through the door with room service right behind her.
“Hey, I got us breakfast. Oh god, what now?” she asked, staring at our faces.
“Dorian is planning on entering me in the Poker Run tonight,” I answered.
“Cool, we get to be Sybian buddies again. Chase Taylor is going to enter me, too! It will be fun, it’s for charity.”
“Charity…yay,” I said sarcastically. “What do you even wear for a Sybian Poker Run?” I asked.
“Nothing, that’s the point,” Jenna said, as she smiled and handed me some dry toast.
*****
I met Dorian at his suite shortly before 8p.m. The air was stale in the hallway as I knocked lightly on his door. I wore the black Versace cocktail dress that Dorian sent in the brown box this morning. When he opened the door, my breath took sharply. He looked very handsome in his black Tom Ford tuxedo. It was as if he’d stepped right out of a James Bond novel.
“We’re going to have such fun tonight, Luv,” he said as he kissed me on the cheek.
The Casino Royale was one of Paramore’s biggest parties. Although, this year Tor had made sure that it was going to be much smaller. A lot of big stars stayed away this year, and my fireman’s stunt last week didn’t help. Avery couldn’t be happy with the turnout. Casino Royale was generally the big charity fundraiser of the year. But I really wasn’t looking forward to the Poker Run.
As we got into the elevator, I turned toward Dorian and asked. “Is the Poker Run my punishment for last week?” He stared straight a head but flashed a crooked smile.
“Luv, you will know when you’ve been punished.”
“Oh,” I said, as I lowered my head to the floor. The elevator opened and Dorian took my hand.
“Let’s get you some drinks, Kitten. I want to win tonight,” he said as he guided me through the ballroom to the bar. Kim was working with a couple girls I didn’t know. I wasn’t sure where the twins were. I would think they would have had to be here at one of the biggest parties of the year.
We stepped through the elegant main floor ballroom that had been transformed into a large Monte Carlo styled casino. It was simply glamorous with large frescoes hung on the walls and sculptures along the atrium. Poker, Roulette, Craps, and Blackjack tables were perfectly aligned in a grid pattern with the bar along the left wall. Slot machines chimed and whirled along the remaining walls.
Avery mentioned earlier that he liked having the slots there for all the noise and excitement they generated, but he felt they cluttered up the place so he pushed them off to the sides. The couches still rested by the fireplace but the other tables were moved and spaced evenly about the room.
Though the crowd was light, the tables still held plenty of people. A few of the braver congressmen were flown in along with several Texas billionaires. The celebrities were light, except occasionally, a couple of B and C-list movie stars would walk through probably hoping to get pictured by Tor and increase their public profile. There were still a few brave A-listers here tonight like Chase and Tate. Tor was definitely more interested in the Hollywood A-list. All of the photos released were of A-list stars like Mandy Candylane, Tate Channers, and Dorian. I was surprised that any of them came back.
One photo released last week was of Dorian eating alone in the restaurant, presumably after going down on me, and sending me to my room. He probably had to get the taste of Avery out of his mouth.
“You know, I’m one of the leading candidates to play the next James Bond,” he said with a sly grin as we stood next to the bar.
“That’s cool,” I answered, nervously scanning the room for Avery.
“We have an hour before the charity Poker Run gets under way. I would recommend you use that time to get bonked,” he said, handing me an Appletini. “These are for good measure,” he added, pointing to four shots of Jameson that Kim set on the bar in front of us. There were two for each of us. Dorian held up his glass to make a toast. “Your life can change with one spin of the wheel. Arm yourself, Aria, because no one here will save you.”
I flashed a fake smile and we each downed both shots in succession.
We chatted with several cute couples at the bar, who at different times, offered to go back upstairs to swap with us. Dorian politely declined and ordered more drinks.
By 9p.m. the room was spinning and I wasn’t sure I could still do this.
After finishing my last Appletini, I looked up just as Avery walked into the ballroom with Travis and Pierce at his side. They made their way over near the end on the opposite side of the massive fireplace where a tall burgundy curtain formed a large crescent moon. It hid a C-shaped stage with ten large machines that I suspected were the custom made Sybians for the poker run. There was a single microphone off to the side of the curtain illuminated by several royal violet colored spotlights.
The mic switched on as Avery stepped up to it. The curtain began to open unveiling ten of the most beautiful Harley Davidsons I had ever seen. They were spaced evenly in a semi circle. These machines were quite larger than normal Harleys, almost one-third larger in fact, and they were custom made with each one costing nearly $250,000.
Each bike rested on it’s own small platform and gleamed with polished chrome except for an all black one near the center. That one had black chrome with accented black rims. They all had Sybian appendages where the seats were normally mounted. Hydraulic arms anchored the bikes and provided three-dimensional movements for the contest.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the fifth annual Casino Royale Poker Run!” The crowd cheered.
“Tonight’s competition has a $10,000 buy-in. Ten players will compete and the winner of the poker run will get to donate the proceeds of the contest to their favorite charity. Each player will select a champion to ride for him or her, and after every round, the winner will receive two cards. The losers from each round will only get one card. At the end of the competition, the players will put together their best poker hand from the cards their champion has earned. The best five-card hand wins. Are you ready to meet your players?”
Again, the crowd cheered.
Avery turned to the players. “Each one of you will present the housegirl you chose as your champion,” he said, then walked down the line and introduced tonight’s players. He stepped up to the first one and held the microphone forward.
“My name is Tate Channers and Aja Holcomb is my rider.”
Aja stepped out of the crowd and up next to him. She was an actress, from Bollywood, who was serving as a housegirl this semester; she had light cara
mel skin and was very beautiful. The crowd cheered once more. Then Avery stepped to the next player.
“My name is Chase Taylor and Caitlyn Camden is my rider.”
Caitlyn walked up next to Chase, flicked her hair, and smiled. She only got a few cheers so she mashed her breasts together and the crowd wailed.
“Allura Bronte is my rider,” Allura’s naughty footman, Jacob Preston said, as Allura stepped next to him. Allura was a statuesque blonde with sharp chiseled features and very muscular arms.
Then, Avery reluctantly stepped in front of Dorian. The two exchanged competitive looks of malevolence. Everyone waited with clenched breath, as the two peered into each other’s eyes frostily for an epic span of microseconds, until Dorian spoke.
“Maybe we should get a dog together,” Dorian said cheekily.
Avery wasn’t amused and held the mic for him to speak. Dorian reached out and grabbed the mic from Avery, further chilling the ice in his veins.
“My name is Dorian Macallan and the beautiful Aria Mason will be my champion this evening,” Dorian said. Everyone cheered the loudest by far, as I nervously walked up next to him and surrendered a deep breath. Dorian made sure to slide his arm around my waist. Avery’s lips narrowed as Dorian handed the microphone back to him. Dorian was extremely popular with everyone who wasn’t a close friend of Avery’s. With some of the guests like the Texas billionaires, he was more popular than Avery. What is it about Texas? They are always so independent.
One of the Texas Billionaires, an older man named Casper Dobbins, announced that he was in and that his rider would be Carmen Harlow. She had dirty blonde hair and provocative eyes. She took her place at his side. Caitlyn had become friendly with her but I never had the chance to meet her.
Avery went on to introduce the rest of the Texas Billionaire’s club. Rhett Denning chose his house girl Claire McCoy to ride for him.
Chet Garner picked Tallulah Greenwich. She must have had the longest legs out of any other girl at Paramore.