Naughty

by Arabella Quinn

  She took a sip of her drink, which suspiciously looked like a cocktail. "Well, you did blow me off last night. I wanted to see you. You know, we haven't talked since Thanksgiving."

  Nick almost laughed out loud. They never talked. In fact, he suddenly realized that he didn't know too much about her outside of the bedroom. It seemed preposterous that she suddenly wanted to talk now. He decided to play along to see what she was after. "Okay. What do you want to talk about?"

  Marissa squirmed in her seat. "I don't know. Normal stuff. What's going on with you? Do you have any plans coming up?"

  Huh. This was strange. What the hell was going on with her? "Plans? Well, I plan on just relaxing a bit since I spent the most part of this past year on tour. I'm sure the guys and I will get together soon to start recording the new material. So what are your plans?"

  She looked around rather furtively. "Me? Uh, you know, the usual."

  No he didn't know. What the hell did she actually do with her free time anyway, outside of her part time job? "Is this why you wanted to meet, Marissa? So that we could talk about nothing?"

  Her eyes snapped angrily, but then she quickly smiled. "Not nothing. Just normal couple stuff. I'm interested in you and what you're up to, that's all. So I guess you took your sister home? Is she feeling better?"

  He ran a hand through his hair. "Yes, I drove her to her car this morning. She's feeling much better."

  Her brow furrowed as she muttered under her breath, "I'm sure she is."

  "What's that supposed to mean? Are you angry with me for some reason?" He didn't know what was going on with her and he was beginning to seriously not care.

  Her eyes softened as she reached for his hand. "No, I just don't feel like we're as close as we used to be. I miss you. I miss being with you."

  It was the perfect opportunity to end this farce of a relationship. "We were never close, Marissa. We had a great physical relationship, but there was never anything solid behind it. No emotional attachment. No love - not even friendship."

  Her voice rose as she got agitated. "How can you say that? We are friends. And lovers. Of course there's an emotional attachment."

  He noticed a few people look their way - the last thing he wanted was a huge scene. He kept his voice steady and calm. "I think you know that isn't really true. This just isn't going to work out between us. It's better if we just walk away from it now then trying to force something that isn’t there."

  She sipped at her drink sullenly. "Is there another woman?"

  Technically there was. But that wasn't the reason behind the breakup and he wanted to keep Allie out of all this. "No. The problem is with you and me."

  Marissa sighed. "Nick, I know you're around a lot of women and a lot of temptation. I'm okay with that. I think it's normal to be scared to commit to one person fully. Especially when you're on the road so much and touring. But I'm okay with you occasionally having sex with other women."

  It seemed nearly impossible, but the conversation had gotten even stranger. She was trying to hang on to him by giving him permission to fuck other women?

  "Marissa, I don't think that's the kind of relationship I want. I hope we don't split with hard feelings, because I never wanted to hurt you. But, I don't see us going any further with this. It's time to end our relationship for good and hopefully we can still be friends."

  Her face crumpled. "Nick, please don't say your breaking up with me. Give me another chance. I've been a little distant, it's true. I just wanted to give you some space. But I can change-"

  This was harder than he thought it was going to be. He was sure that Marissa didn't truly love him, so why was she taking it so badly? "I'm sorry. We gave it a good try and had some fun. But it's over. You're not going to change my mind."

  Her face turned stone cold. "Is it because of Allie?"

  Alarm bells started sounding in his head. "What does Allie have to do with it?"

  "I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" Her eyes glittered with malice.

  He started sliding from the booth to leave. "Marissa, stop playing games with me. I think this conversation is over. I'll see you around."

  Words dripped from her mouth like acid. "Hold on, Nick. You think you can waltz in here and just dump me like that? Like some cheap whore? A whore like your precious sister?"

  Nick stopped in his tracks, his jaw clenched. "What are you talking about?"

  "You're a bastard for cheating on me. You're a sick bastard for cheating on me with your sister. But you're not going to get away with it." Marissa's words landed like a blow to the stomach.

  How the fuck could she know that? Nick swallowed nervously. "You're crazy."

  She smiled nastily. "I don't hear you denying it Nick. Aren't you going to deny that you're fucking sweet little Allie? Your sister?"

  He wanted to wring her neck, but he needed to keep cool. "Keep your nasty accusations to yourself, Marissa. They make you look like a bitter psycho."

  "Really Nick? What would people say about the bass guitarist for the hit band Cold Fusion fucking his little sister? It would be quite the scandal."

  "They would know it’s a lie." He kept his voice even.

  She twirled the ice in her glass. "Not if they saw the video. And it's a very explicit video. It would go viral on the internet within hours. It would be all over the entertainment media and in all the gossip rags. You and Allie would be the talk of the town."

  Nick's mouth went dry and he felt his heart pounding in his chest. "You're making this up."

  She laughed. "You don't look so good, Nick. Do you need a sip of water? Imagine my shock when I went to your place last night to surprise you. Remember the extra key? Instead, what I got was an eyeful. And a very pornographic video, of course."

  Nick's mind was scrambling. Dread had settled in the pit of his stomach like a lead weight. He felt sweat breaking out on his forehead as he tried to calm his frenzied mind and think.

  She was clearly enjoying herself as she continued. "I made sure that you were clearly identifiable. Hell, any sixteen-year-old girl who follows Cold Fusion would recognize the tats on your arms. And of course I had to get baby sister. I got some really good shots of her."

  His voice was quiet but menacing. "Why are you doing this Marissa?"

  Her eyes flashed with anger again. "Because you screwed me over, Nick. Plain and simple. If you don't want me to go public with the video, you have to send your slutty sister packing. Get her completely out of your life- without telling her why. And no more women, except me, from now on."

  She was insane. "You're going to blackmail me into staying with you? How is that going to work? Why do you even want to be with me? I know you don't love me."

  She frowned. "You're wrong. I do love you. And you will love me too someday. You'll just have to trust me."

  "This is insane, Marissa. You can't threaten to ruin my life and expect me to have feelings for you. It's not going to work. I won't go along with your craziness." How could he reason with her? It didn't even make sense. This was all so fucked up.

  She arched her brow. "You think I won't release the tape? I'll do it Nick and it'll destroy you."

  He didn't care about himself, but this would be devastating to Allie. His gut clenched in agony just thinking about it. He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, trying to bluff. "No one would care. Maybe if it were Tyler it would make news, but not me. And, Allie's not my real sister. It's no big deal."

  She shook her head. "Oh, they would care. Step-sister, whatever. It's your sister! That's fucked up. The gossip rags would eat it up."

  Nick ignored her. "It would be embarrassing and it might be in the headlines for a few days, but as soon as the next scandal came along, it'd be old news. No one would care anymore. It would do nothing to my career. Hell, it would probably even enhance it."

  She tapped her fingernails on her empty glass. "Maybe. But what about little Allie? She's not a rock star and she's a woman. The media would crucify her. She would be humi
liated; it would ruin her life forever. What would her parents say? I mean, your parents? Oh, wait, same thing! And just think, she would always be haunted by the fact that it was her own brother who destroyed her life."

  "Marissa -"

  She stood up. "Get rid of Allie today, Nick. Or the video goes public tomorrow morning." She turned and left.

  Nick sank back against the booth. His whole world had just been shaken to the core. What the fuck was he going to do now? He felt trapped.

  If he told Allison the truth, she might be stubborn enough to risk all the consequences of the video getting out. Despite what he had said to Marissa, that would be devastating, most of all to Allie. Marissa was his mess and he needed to figure it out without letting his mistake ruin Allie's life. He had to protect her at all costs.

  He had known all along that there was no future for them together. The best thing for Allie would be for him to make a clean break. He had to be blunt and convince her that they were over. He had to convince her that he was an uncaring asshole, so that she would move on and stay out of Marissa's crosshairs.

  His fist slammed down on the table. It was ironic. He was breaking up with two women that day. First Marissa, who he had no feelings for - except maybe hatred now, and he ended up being stuck with her. Now he had to break it off with Allie, which was going to hurt like hell because she made him feel all sorts of new things, and she'd be lost forever.

  ***

  I had just hopped out of the shower when my cell phone rang. My heart skipped a beat when I saw that it was Nick calling. We had parted earlier in the parking lot on good terms. In fact, he had left me with a sizzling kiss and a suggestive grope of my ass. He had mentioned that he would call; I just hadn't expected it to be so soon.

  I drove home in a daze of happiness. If I was truthful with myself, I was ecstatic that Nick was breaking up with Marissa. I couldn't help but wonder if that meant that he had deeper feelings for me. I had always loved Nick, but it had been in a 'schoolgirl crush' sort of way. Now that we had been as intimate as we could possibly be, I knew that I was in deep. I had surrendered my heart to him.

  Every waking moment was spent thinking about him. I wanted to be near him, all the time. And it was a Saturday, I hoped like hell he was calling to see me again tonight.

  I answered the phone feeling playful. "Hey, sexy."

  There was a pause before he answered. "Hi Allie."

  "What's up?" I wrapped my towel tight around my body and sat on my bed.

  Nick's voice sounded strained. "I went to see Marissa. We decided to give our relationship another shot. I can't see you anymore."

  The smile melted off my face as my heart plummeted to the floor. Shock rendered my speechless.

  Nick spoke quietly. "I'm sorry Allie. I never wanted to hurt you. But we both knew that it could never go anywhere. It was just sex. We can’t be together anymore and it would be best if we didn't hang around together either.”

  I forced air into my lungs. "What? I don't understand…" My voice trailed off as my body started trembling.

  "Forget about me, Allie. Find a guy who can give you what you deserve. I'm really sorry." He hung up.

  I stood motionless as a cold numbness seeped through me.

  Chapter 14

  Nick stared into his empty glass. It was still early, yet he couldn’t remember how many drinks he’d had already. In a few hours, he wouldn’t be able to walk, but that would be Marissa’s problem to deal with. Hell, she was the one making sure he didn’t go too long between drinks. He was certain that, as usual, once she dumped him off safely at his home for the night, she would go out again and hook up. He hadn’t laid a hand on her since the day she had begun blackmailing him, but she just laughed and shrugged her shoulders when he spurned her advances.

  At some point, Nick had realized that things couldn’t keep going on the same way. He could only stand back and watch while Marissa fucked other men right under his nose, while she was insistent that one mistake on his part, and she would release the video. Month after month he had waited, trying to figure out her end goal, to no avail. Why the fuck was she torturing him?

  On two occasions, he had stayed in her apartment and had the opportunity to search for the video. He had come up empty. There was nothing on her cell phone either. If she hadn't taunted him with vivid details that she could have only known by being there, he might question if the video actually existed. For almost two months, the thought of finding the video and deleting all traces of it had kept him hopeful. Now, with that seeming impossible, he was utterly despondent. She had him by the balls, and she just wouldn’t let him go.

  There was only one thing that kept him from just giving up no matter what happened, and that was Allie. If he could just hold on until Cold Fusion’s tour resumed. In two weeks, they were heading off on the second leg of their tour. Marissa wouldn’t be able to police him while he was on the road. He’d get some of his freedom back, and maybe whatever power trip she was on would lose its luster. At the minimum, he would have a little bit of breathing room.

  Then maybe he could work out a solution to this disaster. And get Allie out of his head. A day didn’t go by that he didn’t miss her or fantasize about being with her again. He was beginning to think that he was in love with her.

  He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn’t see the goth-looking girl approaching until she was right in front of him.

  “Are you Nick Hudson, from Cold Fusion?”

  She was so not his type. He was surprised she even knew his band considering her look - black from head to toe, including her hair, lips and fingertips. But that didn’t stop his cock from twitching. He hadn’t been with a woman in so long, it didn’t matter who he set eyes on– they all pretty much made him horny at this point, and this girl had a cute face.

  He smiled. “Yeah, that’s me. Do you listen to Cold Fusion?”

  Her face lit up. “I’ve been listening to you since you first started out! I’m a big fan. Even if I listen to more alternative stuff now.”

  He was watching her lip piercing as she talked excitedly. His groin tightened. Suddenly, he wanted to feel the metal bar in his mouth, against his tongue. Then feel it work its way lower.

  He needed to act quickly. “Why don’t we go –”

  He saw Marissa approaching. That didn’t take long. “Nick, here’s your drink.”

  Marissa handed him a new drink and turned to the girl. “Beat it, honey. Nick’s not interested in someone as dreary as you.”

  The girl’s mouth dropped open for a second before her eyes flashed angrily. “And he’s interested in a bitch like you?”

  Nick laughed, but Marissa merely arched her brow. “Apparently, he is. I’m his girlfriend. So get lost and don’t come back.”

  Nick shrugged and smiled at the girl before she left, hoping she didn’t feel too badly.

  Marissa looked disgusted. “You’re getting so desperate, Nick, you’re starting to attract losers. It’s making us both look bad. Stop being so damn stubborn. You just have to say the word and you know I can make you feel so good. You're only hurting yourself.”

  He took a big gulp of his drink, barely tasting it. “Why are we still doing this, Marissa? I’m reaching the end of my limit here.”

  She looked at him quizzically. Maybe she was trying to figure out if he was bluffing or if he really was ready to give up, the video be damned. He had no idea about anything regarding her anymore.

  “Before you do anything stupid, let me remind you of the video. In fact, I’ve been meaning to e-mail you a little snippet from it. Once you see it, I’m sure it’ll refresh your memory as to exactly why you won’t reach your limit.”

  She was such a bitch. Just two more weeks. He drank some more. “You know, maybe you should show me the video. I’m beginning to think it’s probably not that bad.”

  She looked angry. “Oh, it’s bad. It pisses me off every time I watch it. Maybe we should get some of our friends together. We’
ll have a little porn watching party. Then you can ask them how bad it is.”

  Nick didn’t answer. If it were just him, he wouldn’t care so much. But how could he do that to Allie?

  Marissa turned to him, her face softening in an instant. How she turned her emotions on and off so fast, he had no idea.

  She leaned against him. It wasn’t the first time she had tried to entice him sexually, but no attempt had worked since she had begun blackmailing him. Nick remained rigid and unmoving, but he could feel his cock responding to her.

  She looked almost angelic. “Nick, I don’t want to fight with you anymore. You’ll be gone in a couple of weeks and then I’m going to miss you so much.”

  Nick didn’t move as her arms wrapped around his back and her chest pressed against his. For one desperate moment, he thought about giving in. Just one night of sex. It wouldn’t mean anything.

  He had almost decided to give in to his raging needs when he caught her self-satisfied smile as she rubbed against him and felt his hard-on. She was such a manipulative bitch, he pushed her away.

  She frowned slightly. “I guess not then. I’ve been thinking about our relationship, Nick, especially with your tour coming up. I think we should get engaged now, so that we can have an engagement party before you leave.”

  Nick shook his head and laughed bitterly. “You’re fucking insane.”

  Marissa ignored him. “I think you’ll like my proposal. It’s a way for you to get out of all of this. Either we get married or I release the video. Your choice. All I ask from you is that we stay married for two years. After that, we can split up on friendly terms if you want. I’ll give you the video and forget it ever happened and you can get on with your life.”

  Nick was staring at her like she was crazy. “I would never marry you. You’ve got to be kidding.”

  She kept going. “Once the ring is on my finger, I’ll look the other way. You’d be able to fool around with whoever you wanted, as long as you were discreet. And it would just be for two years. We wouldn’t even have to see each other that much.”