Chapter 33 Luca
I could not believe that dickhead just unlocked the door and waltzed in like he owned the place.
Jack appeared in the doorway behind Mark, following him into the room.
They surveyed the chaos, and I had no doubt they were jumping to the right conclusion.
My lips twitched as Mark’s face grew redder the longer he looked.
I couldn’t find it within myself to be even remotely displeased that we hadn’t had time to clean up the room.
In contrast to Mark, Jack looked around the room like a proud father. His gaze flicked to mine before he wiped a hand across his mouth in an awful attempt at trying to hide his shit-eating grin.
Mark’s eyes flared as they noticed the bottles fallen from the vanity, Matilda’s costume in the corner of the room, and our skates, which still lay where I’d dropped them.
It made things look worse; we hadn’t even had sex.
But sex has never felt as good as that before.
The need that had overcome me the second our lips touched had been inescapable, and I’d known the burning underneath my skin wouldn’t ease until I’d made her come.
Did I still need to be touching her? No.
Was I going to stop? Also no.
She looked too good to resist. Wild blond waves framed her face, flushed cheeks, and slightly parted, swollen pink lips.
And then he had to go and ruin it. I narrowed my eyes at Mark, wondering why the fuck he was in our dressing room right now.
But he just glared at Matilda, his lip curling up in disgust. “What was that out there?” he demanded.
My hand halted mid-stroke on her calf. I did not like the tone he took with her.
“What do you mean?” Matilda fiddled with the hem of her sweatshirt.
“You know what I mean.”
“Mark, please, can we just leave this—”
“No. You embarrassed me in front of the whole channel. Everyone knows that we were together, and you’re just rubbing—”
Her eyes widened, the color draining from her cheeks. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
“I’m not sure if your eyes work, buddy. But I kissed Matilda, not the other way around. She didn’t do anything,” I interjected. He narrowed his gaze before disregarding me completely.
“The channel is going to be pissed, too, so well done for that.” He changed tactics. It was clear as day he had zero ammunition other than being a territorial asshole. My fingers twitched against Matilda’s legs, itching to hit something.
“And why would the channel care? It will probably help their ratings,” I stated.
His face flushed a deep red, while his hands clenched at his sides. He’d clearly expected to find Matilda here, toss out some half-baked accusations, and rely on her guilt to do the rest.
“This is a family-friendly show. We don’t need viewers complaining because she’s”—he glared at Matilda—“acting like a whore.”
This douche had better be joking. I sat up straighter, holding his gaze.
“You speak to her like that again and I won’t be so fucking civil with you.”
He laughed humorlessly, shaking his head at my comment but keeping his eyes trained on Matilda. “You’ve got yourself a new defender now?”
Matilda swung her legs off me and rose from the sofa. I followed, offering my silent support.
“What’s wrong with you? Are you actually calling me a whore because we kissed? We’re not even together anymore, Mark. Why do you care?”
Pride welled up inside of me. She was standing up to him.
He barked out a short laugh. “Because I write your paychecks. You have to do what I say.”
Heat flared in my chest, my lips parting in disbelief at his pathetic, desperate words. Was he really stooping so low as to use that as leverage? Matilda hesitated for just a moment before pressing on. “We didn’t break any show rules, so we’re fine.”
Although her tone didn’t hold the same edge as mine, she spoke with a finality and tenacity that made me so proud of her.
“It might not be in your contracts, but I can get you kicked off the show faster than Luca can land himself in the headlines with yet another scandal. I’m not sure the Dirty Dancing producers consider being fired from a national TV show as ‘fixing your image.’ ”
That was like a bucket of ice water. We needed to tread carefully here, as neither of us could afford to be kicked off the show.
I kept my face neutral and unbothered, not wanting to give him any ammunition. Mark’s gaze flickered between us, anger flashing in his eyes when they settled on Matilda. “Or is that what you want now? Drugs and orgies?”
“Why are you saying this, Mark?” She crossed her arms, our bodies brushing with the movement. Mark didn’t miss that either. “We’ve been broken up for a while now.”
“That’s not the point.” He jabbed a finger in her direction.
“Everyone knows we used to date and now you’re kissing someone else on my show, at our place of work!
It’s a big fuck-you. To be embarrassed in front of everyone on the channel.
People we’ve worked with for years. I thought you were more professional than that. ”
Matilda flinched but held his gaze. Jack remained uncharacteristically silent.
“Do you want to talk about embarrassing people, Mark? How about why we ended?” She said the words casually, but the slight lift at the end of her sentence said otherwise.
Mark narrowed his eyes, Matilda’s unspoken message hanging in the air.
What the fuck did that mean?
My instincts willed me to tell Mark to fuck off, to do something to show Matilda that I was on her side. But she was holding her own and finally sticking up for herself. I brushed my arm against hers, silently communicating that I had her back.
He surveyed the room again, our mess fueling the fire.
Did he want to get back with Matilda? Was that what this was about?
They’d been broken up for a year before I arrived, so he couldn’t have wanted her that badly.
Maybe he was just your standard showbiz narcissist: entitled, manipulative, and controlling.
He didn’t want Matilda but didn’t want anyone else to have her.
Mark exhaled another huff of humorless laughter and shook his head.
“If you want any tips, man to man,” he sneered, lip curling in a knowing smirk as he held my gaze, “just throw some praise at her, and she’ll suck you so fucking—”
I lunged at him, and Matilda squealed at my sudden movement, hand flying to my arm, while Jack jumped between Mark and me, attempting to stop my attack. I shoved him out of the way, but Jack didn’t budge. “Let fucking go of me,” I snarled.
“He’s not worth it.” Jack struggled, arms wrapping around my chest.
“See ya later, boys.” Mark smirked, triumphant, as he strode out the door and slammed it behind him. I wanted to wipe that smarmy smile off his face and made to move after him, but Matilda was suddenly in front of me, holding her hands up.
“He can’t talk to you like that.” I pushed my way out of Jack’s restraint and pointed to the door. My chest rose and fell in quick succession.
“We can’t get kicked off the show.” She held my gaze, and I knew she was right, but it still pissed me off. I hated that he could throw his power around like that and get away with it, especially knowing he’d been treating Matilda like this for the last year.
“She’s right, Luca,” Jack added, stepping back and crossing his arms.
I shook my head, the anger still coursing through my body.
“Why don’t you report him?” I demanded, turning to look at Matilda. “He’s constantly talking shit about you, and you just let him get away with it.”
She raised a skeptical eyebrow. I got it: Reporting it would get her nowhere.
“Is the show worth it for you?” I stared at Matilda, searching her face for a reason why she put up with his shit.
Her smile was tight-lipped and grim. I knew what she would say before the words left her mouth. “I need to get my mum off my back…” She trailed off, her mouth parting as she searched for the words. Her cheeks turned a deep pink as she shifted her weight from side to side. “And the money.”
“The money?”
“Before this year, the winner’s bonus was never the reason I stayed.
Even if I had been partnered with anyone who I might have made it to the final with, I don’t know if I’d ever have considered quitting afterward.
But this season—” She paused and nodded to herself.
“I need the winner’s bonus. If I ever want to quit the show, I’ll need it as a buffer.
I live by myself and it’s not cheap, but if I have the money, I can take a risk. ”
I’d forgotten about the bonus. She’d mentioned it a couple of times in passing, but since then, the only reason she’d given for needing to win was to repay some crazy sense of debt she owed to her mother. Had that changed?
Despite everything, the thought made me want to smile. Matilda didn’t love being on Stars on Ice, and the fact she was even considering leaving the show when it would be the opposite of what her mother would want of her was amazing.
“Why didn’t you say you’re thinking of quitting?”
“Well, I’m not going to if we don’t win—I can’t afford to. And that’s a bit embarrassing, I guess.”
“That’s not embarrassing.”
She gave me a look. “What are you being paid to be on the show?”
“I don’t know.”
“Exactly.”
Fuck.
I looked to Jack, hoping he’d confirm that Matilda needing to work wasn’t embarrassing, but she continued before he could say anything.
“It doesn’t matter, Luca. But that’s why I wasn’t rushing to tell you about my money issues.”
“I get that, but I would never judge you for it.”
Matilda’s lips parted, a fleeting hint of vulnerability crossing her face as our eyes locked. My hand twitched with the need to touch her, to close the small space between us. She didn’t move, but there was something unspoken in her expression that made it impossible to look away.
“OK, as much as I’m loving these new soppy-as-fuck vibes between you two, it’s making me feel severely uncomfortable.
” Jack moved across the room, the crystals from Matilda’s dress crunching under his feet.
“And how much longer are we going to pretend that this room hasn’t been violated by you two and your bodily fluids? ”
The tension eased immediately. We all laughed. Matilda’s cheeks turned the brightest shade of pink as she buried her face behind her hands, muttering an almost unintelligible “Oh my god.”
I gave Jack a look and mouthed, What the fuck, man?
He held up his hands in surrender. “Joking, Matilda. The studio wombat obviously raided the dressing table; I heard it loves the new Chanel perfume.”
She dropped her hands from her face, raising her eyebrows. “What about you and Lily?”
“What do you mean?” It was Jack’s turn to look sheepish.
“Just that you seemed awfully close the other night for people who barely know each other.”
“Oh, remind me. Was that the same night Luca was asking whether you’d been—Oof.” He clutched his stomach where the water bottle I had thrown at him landed. The fucker must have overheard us.
Another wave of laughter rolled through the room, and despite Jack’s questionable techniques, he’d eased the tension completely.
“Also, on the bright side, you’re back in the headlines.” Jack waggled his phone at us.
“And we got first place!” Matilda bounced in her seat as if only just remembering that we’d smashed our performance. It felt like hours ago that we’d been on the ice.
“Yeah, the media has been going crazy already,” Jack added. “All good stuff, though; people are going wild for the kiss.”
A faint smile graced her lips before she clapped her hands.
“I have the choreography sorted for next week, and it’s been approved.
We’re all good to go with the Encanto dance.
” Jack’s smile widened, and I rolled my eyes.
“We should probably tidy up the room before we go to…” She trailed off, looking at the mess.
“I’ll get a vacuum, while I am begging you two”—Jack glanced between us—“to please clean all the surfaces.”