Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
ROME
Jasper.
More like Casper.
He’s paler than my white dress shirt, and he gelled his hair like he’s afraid a tornado is going to rip through and destroy it.
“Over here, Rome.” I turn, along with my date, toward another camera on the red carpet.
My hand hovers over Rebecca’s lower back.
I can’t seem to touch her in the way that I usually do, considering the entire reason I brought her was to end the rumors of something going on with Tessa and me.
Maybe it wasn’t the entire reason, but it was part of it.
I thought bringing Rebecca would get my mind back on the straight and narrow, away from this back and forth with Tessa, but here I am, gaping at her as I walk past her and her date posing for a photo.
And that dress.
Who the hell was in charge of the wardrobe? Surely Rosa Negra Couture’s line had dresses that were a little less revealing.
Tessa’s entire back is exposed.
I’ve already pictured myself breaking her date’s hand for brushing his fingers across her spine.
“Thank you, Rome. You’re free to go on in.”
Rebecca and I are ushered off the carpet, making room for Beck and his date.
I recognize her from that first night in Vegas, at the bar, which seems like a lifetime ago. If I remember correctly, she’s Tessa’s friend.
Rebecca stops walking on our way to the bar area. “You look amazing in that dress,” she says to someone. “Like it was made for you!”
I already know without looking that she’s referring to Tessa.
Even on the days when Tessa is at HQ for more than twelve hours, she looks amazing—not that I’d admit that to her. But tonight? She’s downright irresistible.
“Oh.” Tessa shifts awkwardly, and it’s obvious she’s avoiding me. “Uh, thank you.”
“Told you,” Jasper whispers loud enough for me to hear. “That dress is going to kill me tonight.”
Not if I get to you first.
The rest of cocktail hour is spent mingling with Rosa Negra Couture’s top performers, potential sponsors, media representatives, and my other personality that can’t seem to get it together where Tessa is involved.
Every slight brush of Jasper’s hand on her back, or hip, or even his hungry gaze in her direction, makes me twitch with jealousy, and that’s not something I’m used to.
I’m desperate for it to disappear.
“Are you okay?” Rebecca peeks at me over the rim of her glass cup. “You seem tense.”
Rebecca has been to a handful of events with me and plays her part well. She never misses out on an opportunity to attend as my date, because the more the media focuses on her potential relationship with me, the less they focus on her actual relationship with her much older modeling agent.
It’d be a scandal in the modeling community.
Just like anything between Tessa and me would be a scandal in the F1 community.
Ethics and all of that.
“I’m fine.” I adjust my bowtie. “I’m just worried about the race.”
I am worried about the race, because as of late, I’m having a difficult time concentrating on the actual skillset I possess to win.
“You’re under a lot of stress.” Rebecca’s eyes soften around the edges. “I’m sure your father is beside himself from you up and leaving Pierce.”
Funny.
I haven’t really thought much about my father.
Our attention is pulled to the front of the room, where a man and two women wearing dresses similar to Tessa’s stand in front of a microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, if you will find your seats.”
“Unveiling moment,” I mutter. “Come on.”
This time, I force my hand to Rebecca’s lower back. I guide her through the moving crowd to our table with my heart pounding a million miles a second, hopeful that Tessa is at the same one.
Why? Because the thought of her being near makes me downright wild.
It doesn’t take me long to spot her.
Her long brown hair is pulled back into a sleek bun, showcasing her shimmering cheekbones. There’s a piece of silk from her dress that wraps around her neck, and the only thought that comes to mind when staring at it is what would happen if I untied it.
I pull out a chair for Rebecca, purposefully leaving the one next to Tessa empty, and scoot her closer to the table.
“Thank you,” she says quietly.
I linger behind Rebecca’s chair, playing Russian roulette with my choices.
Left or right?
I eye the empty space on the other side of Rebecca, and I know it’s where I should sit.
Yet, my body has a mind of its own as I sink down into the seat beside Tessa.
I’m aware of every little thing she does.
Her breaths.
The effort she makes to scoot closer to her date.
The fleeting glances out of the corner of her eye, like she’s trying not to look at me.
I reach forward and grab the bottle of exclusive tequila. My leg brushes against Tessa’s bare leg, that high slit in the side of her dress drawing my attention. The exposed part of her dress shows how her ribs expand, and they don’t deflate until I settle back in my chair, no longer touching her.
Interesting.
“Good tequila,” I say to the table but really to Tessa.
Anything to get her to look at me.
Jasper leans past Tessa to nod in my direction. He reaches forward for the bottle and pours some into Tessa’s empty glass and then pours a much larger amount into his own before downing it in one swig.
I chuckle. “Better slow down, Casper.”
Tessa flicks her eyes to mine with her eyebrows drawn together closely. “Casper?”
My mouth twitches with humor, and I turn away.
Quinn and Beck make it to the table just as the speaker is garnering the room’s attention. Beck whispers something in her ear, and she shushes him, causing Jasper to snicker loudly.
Tessa shifts in her seat again.
Her date is pouring himself another drink, and out of the corner of my eye, I see him down it just as quickly as the first.
The room erupts in a round of applause when the curtain opens up to a line of Rosa Negra Couture formal wear that the majority of us are dressed in tonight, courtesy of the event. Jasper moves toward Tessa, his mouth hovering over her ear. My chest constricts, but I keep my focus up front.
“You should be the model for their line,” he whispers, except it isn’t a whisper at all. “‘Cause you look smokin’ hot in that dress.”
Quinn turns around and shushes him with her eyes alone.
Tessa clears her throat, and I swear she moves closer to me.
Rebecca elbows me gently.
“He’s drunk,” she mouths.
Clearly.
It isn’t until he reaches across Tessa again that I act.
I grab the bottle of tequila and move it out of his reach. My leg brushes against Tessa’s again, and this time, I let it linger longer than last time.
Jasper scoffs in my direction, but I ignore it.
I’m cutting him off.
I may not like him, and I’d prefer it if he got so drunk security had to remove him from this event, especially because his hand has crept onto Tessa’s thigh, but I refuse to let him embarrass her by getting belligerent.
Tessa sits up higher in her seat, and if I’m not mistaken, she’s angled herself toward me.
It isn’t evident to the rest of the room, and maybe not even her, but that’s just the thing lately–I notice everything when it comes to her.
Like how her breathing hitches when I press my leg against hers again, or how she drops her hand to her lap to grab onto Jasper’s.
I lean back in my seat and casually look below the table.
Tessa’s fingers are wrapped around Jasper’s wrist, and every time he tries to move his hand farther in between her legs, she shoves it away.
A faint growl slips from my throat.
I glare at his hand, like I have the power to stop it.
She hears it, and so does he.
I glare at him and calmly shake my head no.
He has the audacity to smirk at me.
My fists flex.
Tessa glances at me and then to him.
Sensing what’s going on, she tries to shove his hand away again, whispering something so low, I can’t make out what she says.
The next five seconds move in slow motion.
He grumbles something and removes his hand from beneath the table, only to reach across Tessa for her untouched glass of tequila. Except, instead of getting a good handle on it, he fumbles it.
The sharp smell of liquor fills the air, and Tessa’s rushed gasp cuts across the space between us. The liquid spills over the table and onto her legs.
“Oh, shit,” Jasper says loudly.
Van, from the next table, glares at us with a silent warning.
I do the same, but it’s directed at one person only.
Jasper.