Chapter 6
Chapter Six
VANESSA
I knew it was a mistake from the very start.
Like, duh.
From the moment I convinced myself to actually initiate the call, to the moment I brought him into the little ill-conceived scenario with me, I knew I was just making things weirder between us.
And yet…I couldn’t help it.
“Van…you okay?”
I blinked, looking up to see Elodie standing right in front of me, her face pulled into a concerned expression. “Huh?”
“I asked if you were okay,” she said, stepping a bit closer. “You look like you’re kind of in a daze.”
I was in a daze—thinking about Alec’s dick glistening with his cum.
But obviously I couldn’t say that.
Or… could I ?
Something had gone wrong with a piece of lighting equipment mid-scene, so Elodie and I were on standby, waiting to get back to it. There were a few café-style tables just off set, so that’s where I’d chosen to hang out while the stylist made some fix to Elodie’s hair. Now she was back, and it was just the two of us in this little area, and…
“ I had phone sex with Alec ,” I whispered to her, making her eyes go wide.
She glanced around, double-checking that no one was nearby before she sidled closer to me, completely scandalized. “ Biiiitch . Are you…you’re playing right?” she asked, and I shook my head.
“Nope,” I told her. “I’m very, very forreal.”
“Alec… Everett. Gentleman Alec?”
I huffed. “Girl… Gentleman Alec asked me if I knew how beautiful I looked with my fingers in my pussy, so…I’m having second thoughts about just how much of a gentleman he really is.”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Elodie murmured, shaking her head. “I wouldn’t have expected—wait! If it was phone sex, how…?”
“Video call, babe, keep up,” I urged. “I…it’s been a few days, and I…I don’t know how to talk to him, how to act around him…”
“Didn’t y’all have scenes together just yesterday?”
I nodded. “Yeah, but like…that’s work . It’s different. And that was awkward too, honestly,” I admitted. “I have no idea what prompted me to like… take it there with him…”
“Uh…maybe that scene y’all had to do?” Elodie suggested, laughing. “I mean, I wasn’t on set, but I did read the script, and let me tell you…I know what would’ve been waiting for Shaw in the dressing room after.”
I grinned. “Yeah, but…that’s y’all. Y’all had history, and were still in love, and all that. Alec is…a friend. He’s so damn sweet—the day that stupid-ass video came out, you know he came by my house and brought a bottle of my favorite perfume? I started crying like a freaking baby, and he wasn’t even weird about. He held me, and…shit, we kissed.”
“Okay, you play too much,” Elodie fussed, giving my shoulder a gentle shove. “Talking about you don’t know what made you take it there . Between that interview, a sweet-ass gift, a kiss, and freak-nasty simulated sex, um…I’m a little surprised your virtual pussy is the only one you’ve put on him.”
I rolled my eyes. “Why, ’cause that’s the typical slut thing to do?”
Immediately, Elodie’s face pulled into another frown, and she shook her head. “What? Van, no . Don’t even play with me like that, you know I’m not on that type of time,” she said.
“Yeah.” I sighed. “I know. Sorry. Projection.”
“Well, if you know, then stop ,” she insisted. “My whole point is that…it seems like there was a lot contributing to the exact perfect conditions for something to pop off between you and Alec. I mean, the man is fine, talented, and just honestly… cool. He’s easy to be around, easy to talk to, and he clearly likes you. If you did take it all the way there with him…what would be the problem?”
My eyes went wide. “All the way there meaning…what exactly?” I asked. “Like…fucking him?”
“Like dating him,” Elodie corrected. “I feel like he’s probably good for more than a fun ride.”
“Which is exactly why it’s never going to happen,” I explained. “Can you imagine the field day the blogs would have? Not to mention, it would ruin his image.”
She scoffed. “Girl, bye —have you not seen that man trying to get the internet to understand he is good and grown?” She shook her head. “And besides that…learn from my mistake, sis. Don’t let these people who have nothing better to do than talk about people that don’t know they exist have you second-guessing yourself, and…whether or not you’re good enough for him.”
“I didn’t even say all that.”
“But you’re clearly thinking it,” Elodie countered. “But girl…be forreal. You would honestly elevate his platform, and besides that… does he care about these fans he would supposedly lose? Because again, going back to that interview…”
“He was drunk. ”
“And we all know what they say about that, don’t we?”
I sighed. Of course I knew she was referring to the old cliché of a drunk mind speaking sober thoughts, but I wasn’t so sure.
Actually…I was quite confident he wanted to sleep with me—that was nothing. Half the damn population wanted that.
But where it came to something deeper, something real , I?—
Wait a damn minute.
Why was I even thinking about that ?
“El, I know you’re all wrapped up in love of my life mode with Shaw, but that’s…it’s not my reality,” I explained. “That’s not where my head is.”
“Okay.” She nodded. “That’s the same thing I thought before Shaw and I got together the first time though—just a heads up.”
“ El. ”
“I’m just saying.” She laughed, tossing her hands up. “I think sometimes…we kinda get stuck in our ways with certain things, even if that’s not really serving us anymore. I don’t want to see that happen to you.”
Shit.
Leave it to Elodie to put something like that on my mind five seconds before we got called back to set, ready to resume shooting for the day. I managed to bury it enough to keep my preoccupation from affecting work, but once I landed in my trailer for the night, it was all I could think about.
Was I really just stuck in my ways?
Maybe.
It had been five or six years since my rap career exploded, and I wasn’t yet knocking on the door of thirty. So pretty much every adult relationship in my life, even the ones I wanted to be more than sexual, were short-lived, marred by trust issues, jealousy, and envy.
It was always something .
This one wanted to tamp down my autonomy, that one hated the attention I got, another one believed every rumor that spread about me supposedly sleeping my way to the top, and yet another was deeply insecure about the astronomical differences between our levels of income.
It was exhausting.
I’d dated regular guys and other superstars, hoping to find some sort of equilibrium I soon realized simply didn’t exist.
Keeping things casual was the only way to protect my sanity.
And so far, that decision had never proven itself to be anything other than a good idea, and not even one person had made me second-guess it.
Well… only one had made me wonder.
A knock at the door to my trailer pulled my attention, and I glanced down to make sure I’d properly belted my robe post-shower so I wasn’t exposing anything by accident. Prior experience told me it was either Charlotte or Elodie at my door—one offering script and scene notes, the other offering drinks or dinner, or both.
I knew which I preferred.
But it wasn’t either.
“ Alec ,” I breathed out. “Um…what are you doing here?”
While I hadn’t been able to avoid him completely, I’d definitely been ignoring texts and calls, dodging anything that wasn’t explicitly work. I had a feeling he’d been simply letting it slide more than I was actually succeeding, and his presence in the door felt like hard proof of exactly that.
God, he looks good.
He wasn’t due on set at all today—I’d checked—but here he was, in fresh sneakers, jeans, a crisp tee, and a freaking chain .
Inside, I was screaming.
“I was hoping to catch you before you went home—do you have plans?” he asked, draping himself in the doorway, so close I could smell the hint of smoke in his cologne, feel the heat from his body.
“Um…no,” I admitted when I couldn’t seem to bring the lie to my mouth. “Why?”
“Let’s get something to eat,” he said. “Maybe sushi?”
My eyes went wide. “What, like…publicly?”
“You ashamed to be seen in public with me?” He smirked, and I shook my head.
“It’s not that, but Alec…come on. You know ?—”
“I don’t know shit,” he interrupted, grabbing my hand. “Except that I want you to have some dinner with me. Don’t overthink it.”
“The only thing I want to do is overthink it though.”
“ Don’t .” He laughed, planting a quick kiss on the backs of my fingers. “I’ve got a quick meeting with Nolan, then I’ll be back to scoop you up. We can ride together.”
“What about security?” I asked, searching for anything.
“They’ll be close, don’t worry,” he countered, already letting my hand slip out of his as he stepped back. “It’s going to be a good time—don’t sweat it.”
Like hell.
Sweating it was the only thing I was sure about.
* * *
“So…what did you have to talk to Mom and Dad about?” I asked, breaking the—somewhat—comfortable silence we’d fallen into at the tiny corner booth we were tucked in.
We were flanked by security, mine and his, on either side, and even though the server had recognized us immediately, she swore up and down that our “secret” was safe with her.
Probably not, but…it was fine either way.
It was just sushi—not exactly romantic and could easily be explained away. I was so glad the change of clothes I’d brought for the day was just a little comfy athleisure set and nice sneakers—I was cute without looking like I was dressed to impress.
Somehow, that took a bit of pressure off the whole thing.
“Just Dad,” Alec chuckled, using his chopsticks to put a piece of pickled ginger in his mouth.
Why was that sexy?
“He wanted to talk to me about an idea I’d pitched him…kind of a scripted reality thing, here in Vegas,” he continued once he’d finished chewing. “I figured I’d give WAWG the first crack at it, since they’re the biggest show in town.”
I nodded. “Makes sense. You’d be one of the actors?”
“Head writer.”
“ Oh, ” I gushed. “I…didn’t know you wrote too. Did you take classes or something, or taught yourself?”
“A bit of both—once you’ve read hundreds of scripts, the pacing, formatting, even the storytelling to some degree, it kinda comes natural to you. It’s something I’ve thought about for a long time, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started feeling the need to…mix it up a little, you know?”
“Uh, yeah .” I laughed. “You kinda have to—otherwise, people will box you into being just one thing. Which can have benefits, for sure, but…then they start to close that box up, and that one thing starts feeling like a prison.”
Alec let out a dry chuckle, nodding as he draped an arm across the back of the booth. “I’m pretty familiar with that. Unfortunately.”
“That’s why you took the Jude role, right? So people can stop thinking you’re corny?”
He shrugged. “I’m sure people will think that’s corny too.” He laughed. “It was more important to me for people to see that I have range—that’s how you get career longevity. I was getting caught up in the type-casting shit, and I knew I couldn’t let that ride.”
I giggled. “Aww. Always the perfect love interest or wise hero, never the toxic triggerman,” I teased, cuffing him under the chin. “Until now, at least.”
He grabbed my hand, easily swallowing it with his. “What about you? I know you don’t always want to be the vixen, even though you look so damn good doing it.”
“Not at all.” I sighed, using my free hand to take a deep gulp from my water glass. “I have to be very careful with the next role I take—I love being Kami, since she’s not just sexy, she’s a badass too. But even that can get old quickly and end up being another trap. I want to…I don’t know. Write and star in a fuzzy rom-com or something.”
A grin spread over his face. “You want to write too? Like, for TV?”
Damnit.
That…wasn’t a topic I really talked about yet, with anyone. Whenever I mentioned writing, people naturally assumed I was talking about music, which wasn’t incorrect. I was award-winning in that arena too, with hits I’d penned for myself and others, even in non-rap genres.
But writing music and writing scripts weren’t remotely the same things.
“I kinda…already started it…” I admitted, cringing as I waited for his response.
My face got hot when he leaned in, speaking right into my ear to say, “You know I’ma need you to slide any and all episodes in my inbox, right?”
“It’s not finished.”
“I don’t care.” He shrugged. “Finish it. That’s simple, right?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he started laughing, because we both knew—starting a writing project and finishing it were on two completely different planes.
“It probably sucks,” I told him. “I have exactly zero experience—just a subscription to screenwriting software, a love for laughter, and a huge lexicon of movies in my head I’m trying my best not to copycat.”
“Shit, what else do you need?” He shrugged. “Your plot, story beats, all that…it’s all figured out?”
“For the most part.”
“Okay then…what, you need an executive producer? I do that too sometimes,” he offered, and I could tell it was fully in earnest, which was…
Shit.
“We can’t produce something that isn’t finished,” I argued.
“Then like I said… finish it, ” he urged. “You need eyes on it? Feedback? You know you happen to be sitting next to the Black rom-com king…”
I laughed. “I recognize that,” I said. “Um…yeah, actually. I think some feedback would be really helpful. Since again…I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“I’m sure it’s great.”
“Based on what exactly?”
“Based on the writer,” he said. “You’re smart, you’re funny, you can act, you know what a good script looks like. As long as you’ve got the story, you’ve got everything you need.”
I scoffed. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, but…I’m not as sure as you are.”
“That’s cool. I can be sure for both of us then.”
Through this whole part of the conversation, he had never backed away from that first invasion of my space, but…I wasn’t really complaining. I didn’t mind being so close to him—was enjoying the hell out of it, actually. Especially since the restaurant was a bit chilly—enough that I realized I was actually the one who’d moved even closer, seeking his body heat.
The proximity made it very easy, maybe even necessary, for him to kiss me.
The taste of ginger lingered in his mouth from earlier, sweet and spicy, and just a little intoxicating.
Or maybe that was the sake bomb.
In any case, instead of letting reticence pull me away, I sank into the kiss, fisting a handful of his T-shirt to keep him close. His hand rested at the back of my neck, doing the same.
It took the flood of moisture between my legs to remember where we were.
Tucked away, yes, but still very much in public— too public for this.
He must’ve picked up on my sudden discomfort because he pulled back, just enough to look me in the face.
“My call time in the morning is… hellishly early,” he said.
We both knew he was giving me an out, and I absolutely took it.
I nodded. “Yeah…it’s getting pretty late.”
“This wasn’t too bad, right? I wasn’t terrible company?” he teased, fully pulling away to take a swig from his water as I giggled.
“No,” I agreed. “Not bad at all.”
“Does that mean…you’ll let me take you on a real date?”
I raised an eyebrow. “A real date?”
“Yes, Vanessa—a real date. I pick you up, bring flowers?—”
“Spend the night in my panties…”
He smirked. “Yeah, maybe. If you want that.”
“If I want it?”
“Yes, gorgeous,” he said, leaning back into my space. “I know you’ve got your reservations, so…I’m following your lead.”
Following my lead but applying just enough of the exact right kind of pressure that had me ready to climb into his lap, setting be damned.
“Let me think about it,” I said, and he nodded.
“Cool,” he chuckled, planting a soft kiss against the side of my head before he slid out of the booth. “But…I think you already know the correct answer.”