Eli performed regularly at FFF, a least twice a month. This helped our clientele grow. FFF was quickly becoming one of the spots to be, for people of all sizes. Our community exploded, especially when new fans realized that we had so many things to do outside of the club. We had sports teams and raised money for charitable causes. We hosted benefits and drag shows. This was never a place one went to just to “hook up” with someone for the night. We were about fostering friendships and self-growth.
It spoke to people every bit as much as I hoped it would.
Eli surprised me by jumping into that community with both feet. He was the coach of the softball team, and contacted all his celebrity friends any time we wanted to raise money for anything. When we held a silent auction, he offered a coffee date with himself to raise money for cancer research.
I couldn’t have been prouder if we were a real couple.
Needless to say these commitments kept us busy all the way to Memorial Day, when our next joint project thrust us together in unexpected ways.
Gabby Huntington was coming to visit us for the first part of the summer, all the way to the Fourth of July, when we’d travel back to Colorado with her for a week with Eli’s mother and stepdad.
To say I was a little nervous about this was a massive understatement—kind of like saying you might get a little damp if you walked off the Santa Monica Pier. We had faked our relationship well for the press, and, to some extent, even my friends. But his family? Someone who was going to stay right in our house with us?
This was a pretty big challenge, made bigger by the fact I would now have to go back to Eli’s room.
Our friendly truce had been so successful that I was even more confused by my feelings than ever. He was more than a friend. He was my partner. In every way that didn’t involve sex, we were already a couple. And we faked that minor detail with such frequency that it seemed insignificant in the overall scheme of things.
But I had been burned before. I had lost myself before, trying to win the approval of the unattainable guy. I had hurt myself and called it love, which was why I preferred more casual relationships. Up till now, that had been enough.
This time, though. This was different.
The revelation took me by surprise, springing right from all those quiet moments when he’d do something particularly humanish and I felt myself soften towards him, like he was a three dimensional person instead of the world’s biggest jerk.
If I ever wanted to escape this sticky, stick web intact, I had to remain vigilant. I couldn’t just sleep with him and pretend it would be okay. Eli wasn’t a happily ever after kind of guy. No matter how much he might have wanted me now, probably more to satisfy his curiosity now than anything else, especially after that aborted blowjob, I would never ever be his “preference,” unless I changed into a whole other person by January 12th.
The clock was ticking.
And I knew neither of us would be able to forget about it as we lay together night after night, close enough to touch, with every reason in the world not to. I wasn’t what he truly wanted, not really, and one night with Eli wasn’t worth $500,000. That topped Caz’s hourly rate by a gazillion percent. (I should know. I checked.)
So I waited until the day of Gabby’s arrival to move back into his bedroom, putting off the inevitable as long as humanly possible.
A driver was bringing her around early that afternoon, mostly to divert attention from her at the airport should Eli Blake show up to pick her up. I wanted to make it more personal, pick her up myself, but I was sort of in the same boat. I wasn’t front page news anymore, but it wasn’t uncommon to see my name in a headline. The club was doing well. Per outward appearances, our relationship was steady and strong. And most importantly, I was the face of Tempestuous going into one of the most critical seasons of the year: swimsuit season.
They had already done an entire photo session at the house, with me in different types of swimwear. Eli was there mostly as a prop, which didn’t seem to bother him too much. He seemed perfectly content to shine the spotlight my way.
When the proofs came back, I could tell how much the sexual frustration drove the photo shoot. There was intense chemistry between us that leapt off of the page. It was sexy as hell, no matter what size clothing I wore. Tempestuous loved it and even offered me a bonus.
I decided to take a break along with Eli, to focus solely on Gabby. It was actually kind of cute to see him prepare for his little sister’s visit. He insisted that we go shopping, to get her a new friend for her stuffed animal collection. We ended up in a kid’s store just hours before she was due to arrive. While I browsed, he came up behind me with an enormous and stuffed giraffe, with big black eyes and protruding lips, which of course he gave a high, obnoxious voice to as he got into character behind the toy. “Hey, pretty lady. Care to take a fellow home and show him a good time?”
I laughed. “That thing is ridiculous.”
He laughed as well. “Yeah, but Gabby will love it. Giraffes are her fave. When she was learning her alphabet, she decided that she had to love everything that started with the letter G, because that was the first letter of her name. Her favorite color was suddenly green. Her favorite juice was instantly grape. She had her choice of a goat, a goose and a giraffe. After one trip to the zoo, where she got to feed one of these guys and he practically ate right out of her hand, she was sold. And it stuck, too. Her favorite color is now purple. Her favorite juice is pineapple. But she still loves her giraffes.”
He wore a sweet smile as he studied the outrageously expensive toy. I found my hand reaching for his, which he squeezed tight before he kissed me.
We were in public, after all. These kinds of PDAs were second nature to us now.
The giraffe sat in the back seat on the way home, its head sticking out of the sunroof. Next to him sat a bounty of things to make his sister’s trip more fun, including some DVDs and all her favorite foods for a private dinner at home, which amounted to a ton of junk that siblings might share.
“If we had more privacy, I’d set up a tent out back,” he said with a slight scowl. It was the first time I had ever seen him inconvenienced by the fame he had fought so hard to achieve.
But this was his sister. He rarely spoke about her. He rarely spoke about his family, period. No one had ever seen a photo. If he referred to a sibling, he didn’t mention age. He gave very little, except for one pat answer.
“I asked for the fame, she didn’t.”
For me, however, he expounded a little. “She deserves to have a normal childhood. And you know what kind of crazy people are out there. They go after famous kids unabashed, hounding them with the paparazzi, ready to take a photo, any photo, and sell it to the highest bidder. What kind of person needs to see a photo of a kid that bad? It’s sick.”
I found myself asking a question I never thought I would ask him. “What happens when you have kids of your own someday?”
He slid a glance to me. “According to some people, I’m not fit to be a dad.”
I looked away. I knew he meant me.
His voice softened. “I suppose a girl like you wants kids someday.”
I shrugged. “I guess I’m supposed to say yes. I don’t know. Like you said, relationships are hard enough. Check back with me when I’ve been in one for more than a few months.”
He laughed. “I guess we had more in common than I thought, Sunshine.”
I gave him a side-eye scowl. “Must you call me that?”
“I like it,” he decided.
I snorted. “I’m not a sunny personality. You of all people should know that.”
“True,” he conceded. “You’re more like a solar flare. As long as I wear my sunscreen, though, I can risk the burn.” He winked at me and I just rolled my eyes.
“Just do me a favor. Don’t teach it to your sister.”
He laughed again. “No promises.”
He smiled just like a kid. In fact, the way he grew ever more excited the closer
it came to Gabby’s arrival, the cuter and younger he appeared. It was like all the cynical stuff melted away. He even behaved himself, without cracking wise with not-so-subtle innuendo. That had never stopped over the past few months, though it wasn’t as laser-focused as before.
That was a part of who Eli Blake was. Eli, the big brother, however, was another person entirely. I saw that the second he opened the door and his little sister flew into his waiting arms.
Gabrielle Huntington was your typical ten-year-old girl. As a preadolescent, her body was starting to morph out of its baby fat stage with awkward developing curves that already made her look years older. As a result of these emerging hormones, her long, dark brown hair was a little stringier and unmanageable. She was stuck somewhere between childhood and teenhood, and her body was simply trying to find its place. Immediately I fell in love with her, all the way from her geeky TV-show themed T-shirt to her sparkly purple toenails.
She had bright green eyes and a smattering of freckles on her upturned nose. Her smile lit up her face like a parade as Eli hugged her tight. He lifted her right off the ground and spun her in a circle, making her giggle.
“Look how grown up you’ve gotten, G,” he said as he kept her in that strong, protective, loving embrace. “Who told you that you could do that? I don’t remember signing off on this.”
She laughed. “I turned in the paperwork, sir,” she teased right back, in what felt to be a familiar routine between them. “In triplicate!”
He pulled back just enough to look into her face. “I don’t recall ever seeing these forms, Miss Huntington. I’m afraid you’re just going to have to stay a little girl.”
He gave her a loud peck on the cheek, which turned into a loud, obnoxious raspberry. She giggled even more and hugged him tighter.
For the briefest moments I wondered what it must be like to win and earn Eli’s love and not be perfect. Gabby was the only one on planet Earth who knew.
“I have someone I want you to meet,” he said before he returned her to her feet. He took her by the hand and walked her to me. “This is Carly Reynolds, my girlfriend.”
Hearing him refer to me as such had never really lost its weirdness. Yes, we were in a relationship. Yes, we lived together. Yes, we often canoodled for the whole wide world to see. We had a relationship. But girlfriend? It still didn’t ring true, no matter how softly or affectionately he might have said it.
“I know who she is,” she told him before she flung herself into my arms, hugging me every bit as tight as she hugged Eli. “I’ve been dying to meet you,” she said to me at last.
“The feeling is mutual,” I replied. And I meant it.
“How did you know about Carly?” he asked her when we finally broke apart.
“Mom,” she said and he nodded. This news did not appear to please him.
“Ah. And what did she say?”
Gabby slid me a glance before she turned back to her brother. “It doesn’t matter.” She hugged him again. They both quickly changed the subject. Eli carried her piggyback down the lapacho flooring towards the living room. She spotted his coveted golden statuette, the one he won because of his song for her, sitting right on the bright red grand piano that Eli had nicknamed Laverne.
“Oh my gosh!” she squealed. “Let me see!”
He carried her right to Laverne, where she practically leapt off of his back to get her hands on our smallest, but most important, roommate.
“It’s heavy,” she said as she lifted the statue.
He leaned forward. “It’s yours.”
Her eyes opened wide as she stared up at him. “For real?”
“Would I lie to you?” he asked and she furiously shook her head. Such a thing was absolutely unthinkable. She then grasped Oscar even closer.
He parked himself on the bench to play for her, and she eagerly jumped in the spot next to him. She held her prized possession tight as he began to play her song, without her even having to ask. I leaned over the piano to watch them. He softened as he sang to his sister, a promise—a vow—that he’d always be there for her, no matter how far apart they were.
Gabby stared up at him with sheer adoration; one afforded to beloved little sisters. He returned it, her besotted older brother.
One of my ovaries might have actually exploded.
After it was done, she held Oscar under her arm to clap for him. “I loved it.”
He leaned into her. “I love you.”
She giggled appropriately. “Sing me another one.”
He did just that, singing a popular tune from an animated movie that I could tell right away was her favorite. She sang along with him, and I was somehow startled by the power in her voice. During the chorus, she turned to me, to wave me in so that I could sing along. I could neither sing really well nor sing badly, so I joined in.
After we were done, she turned back to Eli. “Have you written anything for Carly?”
His gaze drifted towards me. “Not yet. Working on it. But nothing is quite special enough for my Carly.”
For some dumb reason, a slight tremor raced through my body hearing him speak possessively about me like that.
“I’ll help you,” Gabby decided. She set her new golden friend back on the piano as she clanged away on the piano. Though Eli was exceptionally touchy about anyone near or around Laverne, he let her do as she pleased.
“So how’s school?” he asked.
She shrugged as she kept playing. “School is school,” she said with a shrug, one that I knew immediately was anything but offhand.
“Honor roll, I trust,” he grinned and she gave him a side-eye glare like I might have done.
“Of course,” she said.
But there was something more there. I wondered if Eli noticed it, too. If he did, he didn’t make a point of it. Instead he decided it was time for lunch. Gabby clapped her hands immediately.
“Oo, let’s do a picnic on the beach!” she suggested.
His face fell. I could tell that he hated to deny her anything. “No can do, G. You know that.”
My heart broke for the both of them. To protect her, he had to keep her secluded in his multi-million-dollar fortress. It just seemed wrong somehow.
“Go to the dining room,” he told her. “Everything is already set up.”
“Okay,” she pouted. “Can I take Oscar?”
He leaned into her again. “You can take any ol’ thing you want,” he promised, booping her on her nose with his forefinger.
It took me aback to see him use that gesture so affectionately when I always took it as patronizing.
She took off for the dining room like a shot. Eli smiled at me as he took my hand so we could follow behind. We heard her squeal before we got there.
Her newest stuffed animal, the gigantic giraffe, sat at the head of the table, looming over our picnic of chili dogs and chips. Oscar was forgotten in a second, though he was placed gently beside the new toy. “I love him!” she squealed as she grabbed it by its impossibly long neck. “What’s his name?”
Eli shrugged. “You can name him anything. George. Gerard. Guillermo.”
“Gigantor,” I added with a grin and Eli smiled down at me.
“Gene,” she decided instantly as she stared into its big brown eyes. “He’s totally a Gene.”
She sat at the head of the table, with Gene on one side, and Oscar on the other, as we enjoyed our meal. She regaled us with tales from Colorado, though most of her conversation centered around school and her friends, not her parents.
Apparently it was a touchy subject.
Finally she decided she needed to hear how we both met and fell in love. I let Eli do all the talking.
“Carly worked for my agent,” he said. “I met her nearly a year ago. We were friends first, but then I realized I couldn’t get her out of my head. Every relationship I had in the meantime felt like a substitution for what I really wanted.” His eyes met mine. “So I went after what I really wanted.”
Ga
bby heaved a sigh as she grinned at us. “Was it love at first sight?”
“No,” Eli answered her, honestly this time. “But then I looked again.” He squeezed my hand before he brought it to his lips.
I had to wonder if it hurt him to lie to his sister, when it was crystal clear that this was the one relationship he wanted to keep his integrity.
“How about you, Carly?” she asked. “Was it love at first sight?”
I shook my head. “I hated him, actually.”
Her eyes opened wide. “Really?” I nodded. “Why?”
Again I looked at Eli. He watched me carefully for my answer. “Because it took him more than one glance to fall in love with me,” I finally said. I kept in character, yet still told the truth. At least partially.
Gabby giggled, especially when Eli leaned forward to kiss me, chastely but firmly on the lips.
We finished lunch and then we retreated to the media room to watch some movies. He had a few screeners from the studios, of movies that weren’t out yet, which seemed to appease her somewhat that she couldn’t go outside. The ocean beckoned us with its thunderous crashing waves, which we could hear just outside on the beach she so coveted. Yet we were stuck indoors, trying to make the best of things.
He ordered a pizza for dinner, and we played a board game together. She promptly whooped both our butts. After a piece of ice cream cake, another favorite, we played video games all night, including a karaoke game and a dance game.
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