Chapter 2
For a moment,I took in his handsome appearance. Without a doubt, he was simply dressed in jeans and a hoodie with a hat that hid his face. It was his signature look. He hated the red carpet, and most of the time, he never attended award shows because he hated getting dressed up.
It was his bright blue eyes that still held so much mischief in them—as if no time had passed between us—that truly captivated my attention. He looked older and more mature with a beard, yet the familiarity of standing there with him truly messed with my mind.
He was insanely sexy in that rugged bad-boy kind of way in which the media labeled him at far too young of an age. I knew it was the main reason he played into that wild card demeanor he was known for.
It was the same for me.
Sometimes it was easier to give people what they wanted than to try to find our own identities, if that made any sense. I think it was why so many child actors were sadly jaded before becoming adults. This industry chewed you up and spit you out if you let it. It was important to try to stay as levelheaded as you could, and thankfully, I had a loving and supportive family who kept me grounded at all times.
Giving in to what he obviously expected by the cocky smirk on his face, I complimented, “You look good, Aires.”
“Just good?” he baited.
“Handsome.”
His grin quickly shifted into a sincere smile. “How is it that this is the first time we’ve run into each other after all these years?”
“I guess we don’t hang with the same crowd.”
“Yeah, well, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Sucking in his bottom lip for a second before deciding to ignore my question, he grabbed the hem of his hoodie and pulled it off his body.
Once it was off, he offered, “I can buy you a drink, or I can buy you a dress.” He handed me his hoodie. “Or you can just wear this.”
I glanced down at myself and then back at him. “That’s like ten sizes too big for me.”
“You used to beg to wear my hoodies.”
My mouth dropped open. “I did not.”
“Bay?” he mocked in that “be fucking for real” tone that guys used. “You really want to pretend you didn’t steal half my wardrobe?”
“Why would I lie?”
“Oh, that’s right. Bailey Pierce-McGraw doesn’t lie, right? But let me remind you, you stole my hoodies so often that the writers actually wrote it into our on-screen relationship.”
I sarcastically rolled my eyes. “First off, I do lie or else I would have said you looked okay instead of saying handsome.”
He held back a laugh.
“And second of all, I didn’t steal your hoodies. Maybe it was all the groupies coming in and out of your trailer?”
“Groupies, huh?”
I stood on business. “Yeah.”
“That’s funny, considering the only girl I remember coming in and out of my trailer was you.”
My mouth dropped open again. “I was never your groupie.”
“No, Bay,” he adamantly rasped with a sudden hard edge in his clipped tone. “You were a lot of things, but you were never my groupie.”
My cheeks flushed.
My stomach dropped.
And all I wanted to do was pass out right then and there.
Why are his words having such an effect on me?
“Since you have selective amnesia, let me repeat that you can wear my hoodie or you can look like you peed yourself.”
With an offended expression, I remarked, “I do not look like I peed myself.”
He nodded to the mirror behind me before he spun me to look at my reflection.
“Shit…” I groaned, seeing he was right.
Without hesitation, our eyes locked through the glass.
“That’s an awfully tight outfit you’re wearing there, Bay. Do you need me to help you take it off? Because I don’t mind. Besides, it’s not anything I haven’t seen before.”
My eyes widened. “Oh my God. You’re as shameless as ever. News flash, Casanova. We’re not thirteen anymore. This isn’t you show me yours and I’ll show you mine, Aires.”
“Why are you looking at me like that was my idea?” He pointed at me. “You were the one who suggested it.”
“Only because the older kids on the show kept talking about body parts, and I was genuinely curious about what you were packing.”
Playing offended, he taunted, “So you used me?”
“I’d like to think of it as we used each other since we were the youngest on set and didn’t have anyone else to talk to about it.”
“Damn.” He stepped back, still looking at me through the mirror. “Here I thought I meant more to you than that. If I would have known that you were just using me, I would have never let you ride my cock, Bay.”
I jerked back, never expecting him to say that.
He placed his hands on my shoulders, laughing. “I’m kidding, Bay. You riding my dick is up there with my favorite memories.”
“Wish I could say the same.”
He laughed harder. “You do lie now.”
Reluctantly, I threw on his hoodie, but the pencil skirt I wore wasn’t making the cut. Slipping out of that next, I laid it on the sink. “There.” I nodded at him through the mirror. “Now I’m very Adriana Grande-like.”
Giving me a once-over, he baited, “My clothes always did look good on you.”
There I was with…
Nicholas Aires III.
To the world, he was the rebel heir to the Aires multibillion-dollar fortune.
However, he’d forever be the boy who experienced fame for the first time with me and knew me in and out in ways nobody else ever did. To go through the ups and downs of having to share your life with the world with someone who really understood the significance of it formed a connection I couldn’t begin to explain.
For years, it felt like Aires was the only person in the world who knew firsthand what it was like to be a public persona. We grew up together. We were the only two on set who were the same age and the youngest of the cast and crew. We spent hours every day together.
We even had a private teacher on set for us since we were there at all hours of the day and on weekends. For eight years, Aires was not only my best friend but he was also the very first boy I had a crush on and eventually thought I loved. To have him in my corner when sometimes it felt as if I didn’t have anyone was something I could never forget.
He was embedded in me.
Branded into my blood.
Seared into my skin.
But that was just the beginning of our complicated relationship of firsts. The ending was two years after we claimed each other’s virginity. After our show was canceled, our lives once again changed, and our careers went on different paths that never led back to one another.
We were young.
He was the bad boy.
I was a good girl.
We were doomed from the start.
I grabbed my skirt off the counter and tossed it in my bag, trying to ignore the overwhelming feelings he evoked and the memories he triggered.
His scent.
His warmth.
His touch.
It was as intoxicating as it was back then.
He grabbed my chin, making me look at him. “How have you been, Bay?”
“I’m great.” I smiled. “Life couldn’t be any better. I’m living the dream. I’m so blessed?—”
“It’s me, Bay.” He moved his hand to caress my cheek with the back of his fingers. “I’m not looking for the rehearsed PR response.”
“It’s not.”
He lightly booped the tip of my nose. “You have become quite the little liar, haven’t you?”
I walked backward to the door, teasing, “I’ll never tell…”
“There you are,” Alexis announced, finding me walking out of the bathroom with Aires in tow.
“Huh.” She smirked, fully aware of who Aires was to me. “Nice hoodie. Let me guess, a quickie in the bathroom for old times’ sake?”
I rolled my eyes. “Funny.”
“Look what the cat dragged in,” she mocked, patting Aires on the chest. “To what do we owe the honor of the king’s presence?”
“Nice to see you too, Alexis.”
“This is like a Kids Club reunion!” she celebrated in a high-pitched voice.
Alexis was only on our show for a season when we were fifteen. It was actually how we met while Aires and I were there from the beginning of our eight-year run.
“This is perfect!” she squealed, bouncing up and down. “We can all reconnect! It’s so meant to be!”
“Alexis…”
“Oh, come on, Bailey. You promised you were going to.”
I grumbled, “I said maybe.”
“Maybe just became yes.”
Aires glanced back and forth between us with a curious smile. “What is she talking about?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing,” she countered, trying to open my purse.
“Alexis…”
“Stop being a party pooper, Bailey. Aires isn’t going to tell on you, and he’ll probably want to partake, so stop freaking out. He’ll be fine with it.”
“Be fine with what?” he questioned, his eyebrows pinching together as he kept his eyes on me.
Before I could answer, Alexis snatched the small plastic bag from my purse. “Found them!”
It was only then that Aires realized what she was talking about.
“Well, look at that.” He snickered, leaning against the doorframe in the hallway. “Little Miss McGraw is a lawbreaker.”
“Please,” Alexis teased, opening the bag. “We probably bought these from your dealer. Now open your mouth, Bailey.”
“Alexis—”
Aires interrupted me. “Are you rolling?”
I shook my head. “Not right now.”
He grinned. “Have you ever?”
It was my turn to ignore his question. “Don’t you want to meet Molly, Aires?”
“Am I dreaming?” He glanced around the open space. “Is this really happening right now? America’s Sweetheart is asking me if I want to do drugs with her?”
“Well, when you say it like that?—”
He stepped toward Alexis and cunningly opened his mouth, rendering me speechless.
“You asshole!” I called him out as he swallowed the tablet with Alexis’s champagne. “You’re making me feel bad, and you’re down?—”
“Bay…” He walked toward me and then caged me in with his arms on the sides of my head, leaning on the wall behind me. With his lips now inches from my mouth, he murmured, “You know I could never say no to you.”
My lips parted.
“It’s your turn to go down the rabbit hole, pretty girl.”
My gaze shifted to Alexis, who stood there like a kid in a candy store, enjoying the exchange between Aires and me.
Smiling wide, she mouthed, “Do it.”
Let’s just say I learned at an early age to always go with my gut, but at that moment with him, I threw caution to the wind…
And opened my mouth.