13. Liv
13
LIV
S poiler alert: It didn’t blow over.
In fact, things took a turn for the worse that very evening.
The kicker is that I only have myself to blame. If I hadn’t snapped at Travis, things probably would have blown over like Grace said they would.
Instead, Spotlight Secrets got the scoop of a lifetime.
An anonymous source close to the pair has confirmed
that Max and Ms. Winters are indeed in a
committed relationship.
But the story doesn’t stop there. That
same source also revealed the truth about
why they’ve kept their relationship a secret for
so long.
“Seeing those photos confirmed something
I’ve suspected for years. When I confronted
her, she looked me dead in the eyes and
admitted that she and her brother were having
an affair.”
That’s right, dear reader, this city’s current obsession
doesn’t just share a love nest. They also share genetics
and a predisposition toward violence.
“I said to her, ‘this isn’t right. You need
professional help.’ She started screaming obscenities
at me. I knew I had to leave before she got
physically violent.”
I think I can speak for us all when I say these are
two very sick individuals and management needs to…
Gee, I wonder who that inside source could possibly be?
I don’t think Travis is stupid enough to take my sarcasm at face value. In fact, I don’t think he’s stupid at all.
I think he’s smart enough and vindictive enough to take what I said and twist it to further his agenda and that’s precisely what he did.
If I become miserable enough from the media hounding me, I just might quit.
If I quit, that senior analyst position is wide open again. And since he’s been so loyal and steadfast through two of his partners cracking under the pressure, they’ll surely see his worth and give him the job now.
That tactic was what broke Alice. He assumes it will also break me.
There’s just one flaw in his plan. I’ve got the stubbornness of a retired Marine First Sergeant thanks to Dad and the burning rage of, well, myself.
That doesn’t mean it’s not hard to deal with.
Travis’s bullshit interview inspired every girl who hated me in high school to come out of the woodwork and give their perspective to any media outlet willing to listen. None of their quotes were flattering, but at least they had the balls to put their names on the statements. There was no anonymous source nonsense from them.
Interestingly enough, each of the women used me in high school to get close to Max, and they absolutely lost it when he rejected them. One of them even broke into our house.
Those interviews dumped a truckload of lighter fluid onto the fire Travis had already started. My trash was rifled through and several reporters had tried to break into my apartment building to get to me.
The morning the “anonymous source” interview came out, I tried to leave for work like usual. I didn’t even make it two steps outside before a horde of reporters were sticking microphones and cameras in my face. When I refused to give a comment, they got in my personal space, shouting at me and trying to bait me into losing my temper.
I could work from home but come Sunday I’ll be in Vegas doing a color commentary and a press conference. Scott and I came up with a plan to squash the story during the conference, but I’m still dreading it.
Before all this mess happened, I always thought the guys were being overly dramatic or exaggerating when they would complain about the media. Yes, it sucked, but they also knew what they were getting into when they started playing in the pros.
Everybody knows that the media follows celebrities around, so it was hard for me to have a lot of sympathy for them, especially when they were making at least three times my salary.
From my perspective, they had seemed like bratty toddlers wanting to have their cake and eat it too. Now that I’m on my third day of being a prisoner in my own home, I don't feel that way anymore.
It’s been so stressful that I can hardly keep any food down. I wake up nauseated and I’m more exhausted than I've ever been in my life.
I can’t even open my curtains to get a drop of sunlight. The second they even twitch, an army of drones rises up and heads straight for my apartment windows.
Someone with more sanity would probably have quit by now, but I refuse to let Travis, the media, or anyone else bully me out of my dream job.
Unfortunately, tenacity does nothing to cure cabin fever. I’m ready to climb the walls. I can’t even get takeout to mitigate the boredom because the delivery guy could be a reporter.
I have too much pent-up frustration to cook and not enough energy to use my vibrator. So, to cope I’m looking at food online I can’t have and men I should stay away from because that’s what a mentally stable person does. If you say so, psycho.
Connor is out at a club surrounded by women, as usual. Going off the pictures he’s posting, it looks like he’s having a great time. I probably would be too, if I was doing body shots off some perfectly proportioned bimbo.
Not that I’m jealous. He’s a grown man and can do whatever he wants with whomever he wants. The fact that I’m hoping he breaks both his legs and spontaneously goes bald tonight is completely irrelevant to the situation and none of anyone else’s business.
Dimitri apparently didn’t get enough hits in during practice because he’s out competing in a celebrity boxing tournament. It’s for an anti-poaching organization, so I’m not too bitter about it. Not that I’d have a reason to be, he doesn’t owe me a thing.
Aiden is at home making thirst traps for his socials that I definitely did not watch multiple times. He stopped posting a while ago which means he’s gone out or is in his art studio.
The thought of fucking him on his drafting table pops into my head and sends me spinning. And just like every other time I’ve let my emotions take charge, I end up making a bad decision.
About twenty minutes later that bad decision is in my kitchen unpacking takeout bags.
“I got gelato. Chocolate chip for you, hazelnut for me.”
He tosses me the smaller bag and I put it in the freezer.
“Here are the pickle chips.” Aiden makes a face. “I hope you're feeling hungry, because you’re on your own with those. And the stars of the evening are a double stack burger for me, club sandwich for you, and a large order of fries to share.”
The smell wafts under my nose like an image in an old cartoon. I know what euphoria smells like now and I am instantly drunk on it.
Abandoning all reason and good sense, or at least what was left of it, I throw my arms around him, peppering kisses on every bit of exposed skin I can get to.
“You are my favorite person in the entire world right now.”
It’s all fun and light-hearted giggles right up until it isn’t.
I don’t know who moved but instead of my lips landing on his chin like I intended, they land squarely on his mouth. All the air gets sucked out of the room as Aiden’s warm hand cups my cheek and he deepens the kiss, my hands fisting in his shirt.
He can probably hear my heart with how hard it’s pounding.
The week I stayed at his place, there was always a frantic energy to everything we did. It was like we were both afraid of running out of time.
But not here.
His hand slips to my lower back as he takes his time exploring my mouth. Everything around me blurs out of focus until the only thing I’m aware of is him. The look on Aiden’s face is one of abject devotion.
For the first time, I realize how much I could hurt him if things go too far, and it terrifies me. I won’t allow him to get cut on the ring of thorns surrounding my heart. He was my friend first and I can’t destroy that.
So, I take a breath, stuff everything down, and say, “We shouldn’t be doing this.”
“Why not?”
“Because it can only end badly. The press will keep hunting me like an animal. Max will kill you if he finds out, and I have no idea how Connor and Dimitri will react. Maybe if New York didn’t happen we wouldn’t be having this conversation, but it did, and I’m just as confused about the three of you now as I was ten years ago. And that’s not even accounting for the commitment issues. If this gets any more serious, I’ll end up ruining it and lose almost every friend I have.”
“Anything else?” he asks calmly.
“Isn’t that enough?”
“No.”
“Then what else can I tell you that will make you see why this is such a bad idea?”
“If you can look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t want this, I’ll never touch you again.”
“Even if this stays casual, it’ll still end in disaster,” I say to the floor.
He tips my chin up, forcing me to look at him. “Then tell me you don’t want it.”
“We both know I can’t do that.”
“Then stop racing six steps ahead to borrow trouble. Be here with me right now and let tomorrow sort itself out on its own.”
I know my feet are on the ground in the same way I know my heart is at the edge of a high dive.
My voice is shaky as I whisper, “Okay.”
I’m so nervous I almost miss his sigh of relief.
Then, as if I weigh less than a feather, he scoops me into his arms and carries me into the bedroom. He sets me at the edge of the bed and I immediately start moving toward the middle.
“I put you there for a reason,” he says, dragging me back into place.
He drops to his knees at the edge of the bed and my breath catches in my throat.
Every nerve ending in my lower body lights up as he slides my pajama bottoms down my legs. When he sees I’m completely bare beneath them, he lets out a low moan.
“You’re killing me, angel.”
Heat floods my core as he presses open-mouthed kisses to the inside of my thighs.
“It’s completely unfair for you to be this perfect,” he says, nudging my legs further apart.
I clutch the bed sheets as he plants light kisses everywhere except the one place I desire most.
My legs are shaking. My breath comes in short gasps when his kisses turn into light nibbles.
Then without warning, he sucks my clit into his mouth. My hands fly into his hair, and I scream his name.
He grips my hips hard as he continues to lick and suck my sensitive bundle of nerves.
I’m somehow both everything and nothing all at once.
I feel my walls start to flutter as he slips a finger inside me, but when he adds the second my vision goes white with pleasure.
“There’s my good girl. Let me feel you come around my fingers.”
“Please. I’m almost there… I need… I…”
“Tell me what you need, angel.”
“Harder.”
He lifts my leg over his shoulder and thrusts his fingers into me harder and faster. With this new angle, it doesn’t take me long to finish.
My whole body shakes as he traces his tongue from my entrance to my clit.
“Fuck. You taste even better after you come.”
His words flip some kind of switch in me. I pull him up onto the bed and have him on his back before he registers the shift in position.
My fingers make quick work of his jeans.
I need him. Right now.
I bite my lip at the sight of his hard length.
I flick my tongue across his tip and his entire body shakes. Call it compulsion or obsession but I have to please him.
My lips wrap around his cock and I take him into my mouth as deep as he can go. His hand grips the back of my head and I let him fuck me like a toy.
Each moan he makes gets me even more wet. I might come again just from the sounds he makes.
Right when I think he’s about to finish, he pulls me back up to eye level.
“As much as I want to come in your very talented mouth, I need that pretty pink pussy wrapped around me more. Will you let me fuck you, angel?”
“Yes.”
He grabs my waist and eases me onto his cock. Just the feel of him inside me has my eyes rolling back in my head.
I try to go slow, to draw it out and let him watch me ride him, but the feel of his cock inside has my resolve crumbling.
Aiden thrusts up into me, hitting my sweet spot each time. I’m so lost in the feel of him that I almost forget how to breathe.
“I’m so close, angel. I want you to come with me.”
I grab his hand and place it on my breast. “Then touch me.”
Instead of teasing me with his fingers, he leans up and sucks my nipple into his mouth. His other hand drifts down between us to play with my clit.
I feel my whole body start to clench, and with one skilled flick of his thumb we both come blissfully undone.