Beauty and the Geek (Gone Geek Book 1)

by Sidney Bristol

  “Yeah.” She rubbed her sternum, pressing her palm over her heart. “It’s tearing me up inside that I’ve hurt my best friend, and she won’t let me be there for her because I’m the problem. I’d hoped…I don’t know…that she was at a point where it was all behind her finally. Sometimes I wonder if she’s been diagnosed with PTSD or something, and just hasn’t told us. She’s like that. She’ll have this huge news and just…keep it to herself, then casually drop it on us. Like when she moved to Florida? That deal had to have been worked out way in advance, and yet…she just typed in chat one night, By the way, moving to Florida in two weeks.”

  “Shit. Can I help? Can I apologize?”

  “It’s…it’s not like that. Piper has to do her own thing. When she’s ready to talk to me she’ll reach out. Until then…I might as well ram my head into the wall.” Tamara turned her face away, staring down the bed. “And now you’re going to pity me.”

  “Why would I pity you? Because of what happened to you? I’m not pitying you. It was wrong, and it shouldn’t have happened. I was trying to imagine how hard you kicked their asses.”

  “I’m pretty sure they tasted nail polish.” She glanced at him and again, he had no doubt she’d handled everything. But who’d been there for her? In the dark, quiet times when no one was watching, who did she turn to?

  Stephen stroked the lose strands of her hair.

  “I won’t ask any more questions. If there’s anything else, you’ll tell me when you’re ready. I won’t Google. You like what you like. And we like each other. It’s late.”

  “Do you want me to go?” she asked.

  “Do you want to go?”

  “Stephen.” She glared at him. “You just said you wouldn’t ask any more questions.”

  “Sorry, not sorry.” He chuckled. “But no, I don’t want you to go.”

  “Okay, then I’ll stay here. When do you need to be up?”

  “Seven.”

  “I probably need to be up more like six-thirty.” She screwed up one eye and looked at the clock.

  “Fine.” He sighed. “Six-thirty, and I’ll run down the street for breakfast. What do you have going tomorrow?”

  “I’m doing body double CGI stuff. They put me in a suit with sensors all over it, and they map how my body moves. Then the game designers will add the character to the form and they’ll be one step closer to done.”

  “I’m very familiar with the technology. That sounds like a cool job.”

  “It’s super hot and exhausting, is what it is. If I hadn’t been fired from Legend, I wouldn’t do this. The pay isn’t as great as it should be, but the guys are professional and nice, which is a change of pace. And I need that. I need to be around people I can trust and don’t have to constantly watch my back around. The next two days are going to be grueling. You won’t hear from me much because the techs can swap out and keep working me while the others take breaks.”

  “Oh.” He tried not to sound disappointed, but he was. They’d just found each other, and he was a greedy bastard. Though… “What about this weekend? I don’t have class Monday.”

  “Three-day weekend? Hm?” She laid her cheek against his shoulder and yawned. “I don’t have anything going on. Are you trying to say you want to see me?”

  “Yes.”

  “All three days?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did I just read your mind?”

  “Yes.”

  “What else can I read? Hm?” She nuzzled the side of his neck, up to his jaw.

  “Six-thirty is going to happen a lot sooner than seven.”

  “Fine.” She kissed his jaw and flipped the sheet up over them.

  He tugged it up over her shoulders before allowing himself to touch her, to slide his hand down her side.

  She was real. And she was in his bed.

  8.

  Tamara was about ready to die from overheating and exhaustion. But knowing the kind of goofs working the controls, they’d stage some sort of resurrection so they could finish the job. They were wonderful guys, and after the couple of weeks she’d had, it was nice working with people who wanted to tell fart jokes instead of talk about her cup size.

  Still, she was feeling the lack of sleep something fierce today. Shower sex had been a bad idea, but oh so good at the time. She was paying for it now. All the tension she’d carried with her since things went to hell weeks ago was gone. Or at least most of it was.

  She drank deeply from her water bottle and used the moment’s respite to check her phone. Adam’s name came up in her missed calls. He’d probably texted her, too, but she had those programmed to auto-delete after he’d gone on a text-rant calling her a whore and slut for refusing to give him a blowie. Oh, the irony. And what kind of adult man called a blow job a blowie anyway?

  Her heart skipped a beat at Stephen’s name in the notification bar, which went a long way in boosting her mood, but still nothing from Piper.

  Crap.

  Tamara glanced around before daring to open the texts from Stephen. A picture of her panties in his hand—she hadn’t been able to find them before she had to hit the road—and a few lines of text. Completely random. Normal stuff.

  Thinking about you.

  How do you feel about Thai food?

  She was anxious. Things never went well for her. There was always another shoe about to drop. Last night…they’d gone from strangers to intimate in more ways than just the physical. She hadn’t meant to open up, tell him that much, but…it was Stephen. She’d told him just about everything in their regular chats, so it’d just felt right. This thing between them was happening so fast, and she was waiting for an anvil to drop out of the sky and squash, but right now—it was good. In a way she hadn’t experienced in a long time. She needed this, badly. It was a honeymoon period, and she was going to wallow in it for as long as she could, though she couldn’t shake the guilt for being happy either. She’d lucked into this great guy, but at what cost?

  “Tamara, you ready?”

  “Yup.” She fired off a quick text, and pushed her phone deep into her bag.

  The rest of the afternoon passed much the same way as the morning. She jabbed, punched, and grappled with the air while they recorded arm and torso motions. By the time she peeled out of the suit, she was seriously reconsidering her Hangout with the girls later that night.

  It’d been Rashae’s idea. Get them all on camera, talk stuff out. But Piper hadn’t yet accepted the invite, and the way Miranda and Rashae were avoiding the topic was all Tamara really needed to know.

  She wasn’t yet forgiven.

  And that blew.

  Which meant they’d spend tonight either talking about it, or not talking about it. She didn’t know. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to go through it. How many times and ways could she tell Piper she was sorry and a horrible person?

  Tamara waited until she was in her car before daring to look at her phone again. This time the text from Stephen was safe.

  Call me?

  She smiled and activated the Bluetooth before pulling out the lot and dialing his number.

  “Hey,” he said after a few rings.

  “Hey, you home?”

  “Yeah, it turned out to be a short day, thankfully. You?”

  “Just leaving the studio. I’m exhausted.”

  “What? You mean you actually get tired?”

  “Shocker, I know.” She eased back into the seat, content to listen to his voice. They’d had a verbal relationship for so long that this? It was comforting. Familiar.

  “Hey, I was thinking…”

  “Uh-ho.”

  “You want to get out of town this weekend? Go up the coast?”

  “What? Like a road trip?” That sounded like a great idea. Especially if Adam was gearing up to be obnoxious. She’d heard a few rumors and horror stories about him showing up at his girlfriend’s houses and going nuts. The last thing she wanted was to have to put Adam on his ass.

  “Yeah. Nowhere in pa
rticular, just drive until we feel like stopping and stay somewhere.” There was an edge to his tone, some subtle meaning she didn’t understand, but that seemed to be Stephen’s way. He wasn’t as direct about things as she was. Was this the kind of thing he wrote out in his notebook before talking about it? She didn’t know.

  “Okay, sure.” In time, she hoped he’d just say it. If he had questions or doubts, he could tell her.

  “You talked to Piper yet?”

  “No.” She sighed.

  “Why not?”

  “She’s a stewer.”

  “A stew-er?”

  “Yeah, Piper gets upset about something, goes radio silent, and stews. Which, in this case, could be really bad. I wish she was just angry at me for something I’d done intentionally. That would be easier to apologize for than this. I just hope she’s not spiraling.”

  “Spiraling?”

  “Yeah, she hasn’t done it in a while, but I just worry about her. She’s in Florida, and I can’t fly out there, especially if I don’t know if she’ll talk to me. You know?”

  “Florida. I thought she was from L.A.”

  “Well, she is from here, but she moved to Florida for a long-contract gig. It’s up in about six weeks and then she’ll be moving home again, back to L.A. All of us girls have plans to meet up and party that last weekend. Hopefully, she’ll be talking to me by then.”

  “You think she’d hold onto it that long?” he asked.

  “It’s Piper. You don’t really tell her what to do.”

  “And if you can’t patch things up with her?”

  “Then I’ll keep hating myself a lot. It bothers you, doesn’t it?”

  “It clearly upsets you, and it was an accident, so yes, it bothers me. But more of an…I’m concerned about her kind of way. And I owe her an apology, too.”

  “You’re a good guy, Stephen. I’ll try to get a hold of her before this weekend, how about that?” A sick sensation settled in her stomach. Try was the operative word. She could try all she wanted, but until Piper was ready to talk, there would be no changing their situation.

  “Cool. What else are you doing tonight?”

  “Girl chat stuff. No boys allowed.”

  “Are you going to talk about me?”

  “Hell yes. These are my closest friends.”

  “Are they…”

  “Are they the ones who saw the dick gif?”

  “Yes, they did.”

  “Shit.”

  “Hey, I think they’re jealous.”

  “I’m sure. Christ, I can’t believe I did that.”

  “Yeah, not going to live that one down any time soon.” Tamara was going to enjoy holding that one over his head. He seemed to be a good sport about it, which was a major bonus. She liked a guy with a sense of humor and brains. “So, anything else you want to do this weekend?”

  “Relaxing? You like the beach?”

  “Love the beach.”

  “Cool.”

  Again, there was something brewing under the surface, some little detail she wasn’t picking up on.

  They continued to chat, about anything and nothing. Small talk. He kept her company right up until she got into the shower, and even then she was half tempted to ditch the girls in favor of him coming over. But on the off-chance Piper showed, she wanted to be present.

  Half an hour later, showered and with dinner in hand, she turned on her webcam and clicked the Hangout invite at the appointed time.

  Her monitor flickered and two boxes popped up. In one, Miranda cradled her psycho cat Lola in her arms while Rashae was bent over something, her fingers working furiously.

  “Still haven’t finished Black Widow?” Tamara asked.

  “No,” Rashae said in a way that made Tamara sorry she asked. “She got the measurements wrong. I had to let everything out a quarter inch. Fuck me.”

  “Piper not joining us?” Tamara wanted that detail out of the way.

  “No, she has work,” Miranda said.

  “Work. Okay.” Tamara packed up her disappointment. She didn’t get to be frustrated with her friend for being upset.

  “Did you meet him?” Rashae asked.

  “Who? The dick gif guy? Sam…?” Miranda perked up.

  “Stephen. And yes, I saw him yesterday. And this morning.”

  “What?” Miranda shrieked.

  “Hell yeah.” Rashae flashed them a grin.

  “Spill! What happened?” Miranda sat forward until she could lean on the desk, chin propped in her hand.

  “I decided that if I was going to set everything straight, I wanted to see him face to face, you know, so there’d be no doubts whatsoever. So I went to the school and met him after he’d finished lab time. We grabbed burgers, and then I went back to his place.” Tamara couldn’t help smiling. The way he made her feel…she couldn’t remember a connection like that. It was special. Unique.

  “You slept with him already?” Miranda asked.

  Rashae glanced up, frowning at the bottom of the screen. “Dude, they’ve been having cyber sex? For a while.”

  “Yeah, but—I don’t know. She just really met him. I guess he wasn’t a creep?”

  “No, I was the creep who just showed up at his work.” Tamara laughed and shoved food in her mouth. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best thing to do. She’d had a few creepers show up at the production site for Legend, wanting to talk to her.

  “And?” Miranda was practically bouncing.

  “And it went pretty well.”

  “You’re withholding details.” Rashae directed her glare at Tamara this time.

  “Do you really want a play-by-play?”

  “Yes,” Miranda and Rashae said at once.

  Tamara laughed, throwing her head back.

  “I haven’t had any,” Miranda whined.

  “That’s because you’re a work-a-holic.” Rashae pointed her shears at the screen.

  “Look who’s talking, Miss I-Can’t-Put-The-Work-Down.” Miranda stuck out her tongue.

  Tamara chewed, happier than ever to have these women in her life. But the circle wasn’t complete. They were still missing Piper. Of all of them, it’d been Piper who made a place for her in the group. Given her friends. A circle of trust. And she—Tamara—had been the one to break it.

  Stephen spread the two beach towels over the sand. He kept glancing over his shoulder at the group of twenty-somethings a couple yards away. It was hard to ignore their staring, though he wasn’t entirely sure if they were looking at him—or Tamara.

  He plopped down on the towel and fished his sketchbook out of the tote. He’d promised Tamara it would only take five minutes to get his idea down, and the clock was ticking.

  One page was folded over, which was enough on its own for his OCD to kick in. Every page had to be perfect.

  He frowned at the wrinkled page.

  Of course it would be that one. The one with his list. The test list.

  He should rip it out. Something. Having it around was bad, but he also couldn’t stand the idea of tearing a page out, either. It wasn’t as if Tamara would see it. They’d already covered that his sketchbook was off-limits. But it wouldn’t have to be, if he got rid of the list. It was bothering his conscience, regardless. Maybe he just needed to get a new sketchbook, and then cutting a page out wouldn’t matter.

  “Come on, already!” Tamara yelled from the water.

  He straightened and squinted out at her.

  Tamara stood thigh-deep in the surf, her multi-colored striped bikini accentuating some of the most interesting parts of her anatomy.

  And she was smiling at him.

  Stephen tossed the sketchbook back in the tote. Screw it. He had the bare bones down. It was time to live in the moment.

  He blew out a breath and shoved his sunglasses on. She hadn’t suggested the beach. He had. What crack had he been smoking?

  Oh, right. He’d wanted to go out with a girl like any normal guy. Which meant putting up with the stares. The ones t
hat telegraphed what’s a girl like her doing with a guy like you? He was used to the blatant looks when he was out on his own. But this was different. Because somehow he had to measure up to her, and he couldn’t. She was a ten to his two.

  This was stupid.

  He was annoying himself, for fucks sake. Why the hell had he thought testing her like this was a good idea? It was ridiculous, but they were here now, and she was enjoying herself.

  Man up, dude.

  Stephen waded into the surf toward Tamara.

  Her grin was huge. Dazzling. And all for him.

  He was completely rotten for thinking he had to test her. But he wasn’t sorry they were spending time together.

  She flicked water at him, splashing his chest, and turned into the surf. He followed, enjoying the opportunity to admire her ass all over again. At least until she waded deep enough that he couldn’t see it.

  He pushed forward, diving under the water, and caught her around the knees. Her hands gripped his hair and he stood, hoisting her up above the water. Tamara clung to his shoulders, laughing, one hand over her face.

  Stephen shook the water from his face and eased up on his grip. Her body slipped through his arms until she was back on her feet.

  “I thought you were about to dunk me there for a second,” she said.

  “Nah, your hair’s still dry. I’m not an asshole.”

  Her brows lifted and she tipped backward into an oncoming wave, going completely under.

  Stephen grinned and reached for her, but she was gone. He stepped, but something grasped his ankle and yanked. He never had a chance. He pitched forward, face first into the water. The last thing he heard was her laughter following him under the waves.

  It was on.

  They chased each other like kids, dunking, splashing and horsing around for the better part of an hour. By the time he shambled back onto the beach, breathless and exhausted, Tamara had just begun to lag.

  “You’re killing me.” He at least made it to their towels before flopping down, legs like jelly.

  “You don’t look dead to me.” She sat next to him and poked his shoulders.

  “You’re not even breathing hard.” In comparison, he was still sucking down huge lungfuls of air.