Always Rayne (The ALWAYS SOMETIMES NEVER Rock Star Romance Series) (6 page)

As I finish the last of my coffee I hear some stirring coming from Nic’s room. A few moments later he stumbles out
of the room followed by a half-dressed buxom blonde.

She’s struggling to button her top and pull her ultra-tight mini skirt to
a decent level when she spots me. It takes a few seconds before recognition registers on her face. I’m the same girl she was glaring at last night when Nic was talking to me. She gives me a catty smile as she places her hand on Nic’s arm.

“I had a great time last night,”
she says loud enough for me to hear.

“I’m glad,”
Nic replies.

“Maybe we can do it again sometime.” She makes a point of thrus
ting her ample cleavage in his face.

He shakes his head. “No repeat performances.”

“You won’t make an exception for me?” She pouts.

Nic
laughs. “I don’t make exceptions for anyone.”

The blonde heaves a sigh.
“Your loss.”

“Brad will call you a cab,”
Nic calls as she heads for the door.

“I’ve got a car,” she calls back as the door slams behind her.

When Nic turns around and sees me he looks startled. Didn’t he expect me to be up so early? Or maybe he didn’t expect me to see the way he treated his one day rental when it was time to turn her in.

I look down at my keyboard and just start typing even though I’m not sure
if what I’m writing is even coherent. I just don’t want to look at Nic right now.

“What are you writing?” h
e asks as he invades my personal space.

I glare at him. “You know exactly what I’m writing. You hired me to write it, remember?”

“You’re not going to write about the girls are you?”

I give him a sarcastic little laugh. “That’s old news, don’t you think? Everyone already knows you go through women as fast as you change clothes.”

“I’m always ready if they’re willing.”

I roll my eyes then look back down at my computer and start typing again.

Much to my chagrin Nic sits down on the sofa next to me. A little too close for comfort. He runs his fingers through his wavy dark hair in an attempt to calm down the bed head mess.

I hate to admit it but he actually looks kind of cute with messy hair. Kind of like a little boy.
Only Nic Rayne is too controlled to be vulnerable for too long. At least that’s the way he comes across.

“You’re a tough nut to crack, Shakes,”
he says.

“I think I need to get you a book of quotations or something because you’re like a master of old clichés.”

Nic places his hand on my shoulder as he looks over it to read what I’m writing and I freeze. Part of me wants to remove his hand from my body but another part of me actually likes it.

And I want to slap the part of me that likes it because that can only lead to trouble.

“
Nic Rayne is the definition of selfish and arrogant
,” he reads from my laptop. “
It’s so obvious that he doesn’t care about anyone but himself and the fulfillment of his own desires
.”

When he lifts his hand from my shoulder, I look up at him. He act
ually looks a little hurt and I feel bad…for a spilt second.

“Is that really what you think of me?”

I nod.

“Why?”

I laugh. “Is that a serious question?”

“I’m always serious, Shakes.”

“You’re a womanizer. A player, if that’s what they still call guys like you these days.”

“It’s not like that. These are adults. They have free will. I never lie and tell them it’s anything more than what it is.”

“And just what is it? What does it mean to you?”

He laughs. “That’s the point. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just fuc
king, nothing more.”

“Did someone say fucking?” Leo says as he rolls out of his room. He looks like he’s in even worse shape than Nic. “We did plenty of that last night.”

“Got that right,” Xander adds as he spills out of the room after Leo. At least his hair is combed.

“What’s shaking, Shakes?” Leo says when he spots me.

“Don’t call her that,” Nic snaps.

Leo looks stunned.
“Why not? That’s what you call her.”

“Exactly.”
Nic eyes Leo. “I call her that. You don’t. Got it?”

Leo frowns.
“Yeah, sure. Whatever.”

A few seconds later two girls, both in last night’s little black dresses, exit the room.
Neither one of them looks like she got any sleep. They both have the remnants of last night’s make-up crusted on their puffy eyes.

“I had a great time, Babe,” Leo says as he smacks the shorter of the two girls on the ass.

She still looks a little shaken up as if she’s not sure what she’s supposed to do next. The taller of the two girls looks over at Xander but he just turns away.

“Come on,” the taller girl says. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Once the girls have gone
Xander says, “Have you seen Raven?”

Leo shakes his head. “No, Dude. After we picked the girls for the night I think she went to bed.”

“Alone?” he asks.

“Probably,” Leo replies. “I didn’t ask. And why do you care so much if she was alone. It’s not like you weren’t getting your fill all night long. Those two girls were smoking hot.”

“Yeah, they were okay.”

“Dude, they were almost as hot as Brooke.”

Xander nods. For a split second I wonder if Brooke was with both Leo and Xander. She never mentioned it. She just talked about Leo. But would she actually tell me if she was with two guys at the same time?

“If we didn’t have our one-night-
only policy, I’d find that hot little piece.”

“Excuse me,” I say and the three guys all stare at me. “Leo, you do realize that Brooke is my best friend and roommate, right?”

He raises an eyebrow then tilts his head like a puppy who’s just heard his name being called. “You know Brooke?”

“Yes. I know Brooke. I’ve known her practically my whole life. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call her a hot little piece or any other derogatory name, at least while I’m within earshot, okay?”

“Yeah, sure.”

The three guys are still staring at me, looking like scolded children.

“Can I ask a question?” Leo actually raises his hand like I’m his teacher.

“Sure, what?”

“What does derogatory mean?”

Xander
elbows his brother. “It means quit acting like an asshole in front of Harper.”

Nic
hops up from the couch. “Why don’t the two of you try to find Raven and see if she wants breakfast? I’ll order us room service if you find out what she wants.”

“Will do,”
Xander says as he pulls Leo out of the room.

“Sorry about that,”
Nic says when we’re alone again.

“Sorry about what?” I glare at him.

“Those assholes.”

“You’re sorry about them? Look in the mirror. How are you any di
fferent?”

He
gnaws on his bottom lip like he’s nervous, or thinking about something. Maybe both.

“I don’t want you to hate me.” To my surprise,
Nic actually sounds sincere.

“I don’t hate you.”

“But you don’t like me very much either?”

For the first time I can actually see a hint of sadness underneath his arrogant façade.

“What’s not to like?” I say sarcastically. “You’re a big star. You’re a famous actor. You front a popular rock band. Everyone thinks you’re gorgeous. You’re every girl’s dream.”

“Maybe I don’t want to be every girl’s dream. Maybe I just want to be one girl’s dream. Maybe I just want one girl to like me.
The
real
me. Not Nic Rayne the celebrity. Just Rayne.”

“And what girl would that be?”

“You know what girl I’m talking about.”

I’ve never seen
Nic so serious. He’s no longer hiding behind his arrogant grin. He’s just looking at me, like he wants me to actually see him. Not the star. Not what everyone else sees. Just him. Just Rayne. The guy behind all the glitter.

Before I can respond, Leo and
Xander wander back into the room with Raven trailing behind.

“Found her,” Leo states to no one in particular.

“Real tough,” Raven says. “It must have been quite a challenge to try to find me in my own room.”

“We’ll finish our conversation later,”
Nic whispers in my ear.

His breath on my neck and his close proximately make me feel things that I’m not so eager to feel.

When I look up at him, he gives me his arrogant little grin again. It’s almost like he knows he’s whittling away at my resolve not to get involved with him.

Five

“Have time to finish that conversation we started?” Nic plops down in the seat next to me.

“I was hoping to get some reading in,” I admit. “I’m not much of a flyer.”

He laughs. “Have you ever been on a private plane before?”

I shake my head. “I’ve only been on an airplane once in my life. My parents liked to take vacations within driving distance. But we did take a trip up to Seattle once for my cousin’s wedding.”

“What were you planning on reading?” he looks at me expectantly. “I just happen to also have a book with me. Although I’ll probably fall asleep before I get much reading in.”

“You may want to consider spending more nights sleeping and fewer nights engaging in bedroom gymnastics.
Just a suggestion.”

“Maybe you need to spend more time engaging in bedroom gymna
stics and less time sleeping. Just a suggestion.”

I pull out a paperback copy of
Joyland
by Stephen King. Much to my surprise when I look over at Nic he’s holding the same book and giving me his signature grin.

“Were you spying on me? How did you know what book I was rea
ding?”

“I’m not spying on you. Although I wish I would have thought of it. It’s probably a great way to get into a girl’s panties. But I really am reading th
is book.”

He opens the book to where he’s dog-eared the page. “See?”

“Okay, fine. You’re really reading the book and not trying to get into my panties.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Hold on. I never said I wasn’t trying to get into your panties. I just said I was really reading the book and I wasn’t using
it as a ploy.”

I can feel my cheeks getting hot
. I know I’m probably blushing.

“So what are my chances?
” Nic asks.

I frown.
“Of what?”

“Getting into your panties?”

“How about slim?” I’m not sure why I say that because it’s not completely true. I’m beginning to have a few thoughts about Nic that include him and my panties.

“And what do you consider slim?
Maybe ten percent? I’ll take those odds. What were the chances that a guy like me from the wrong side of the tracks would ever become a superstar?”  

“There you go with the clichés again. And just what do you mean by wrong side of the tracks?
Bad neighborhood? Dysfunctional family? Could you be a little more descriptive?”

“I could but I’m not going to. I could check all of the above if I wanted to.”

“Don’t want to share any of your dark past with me?”

“I’d rather share my bright future.”

I can’t help but laugh. “Okay, not exactly a cliché but a very corny line.”

He shakes his head.
“Tough crowd. You really know how to undermine a guy’s confidence.”

“You have plenty of confidence to spare. I could undermine ninety percent of your confidence and you’d still be the cockiest guy I’ve ever met.”

“You’re killing me, Shakes. You really are.”

“You mean there’s actually a female on the planet
who’s going to make you work for it?” Raven takes a seat on the opposite side of us. “I didn’t think I’d ever see the day.”

Xander
doesn’t waste any time taking a seat next to Raven. He slings an arm over her chair and I’m surprised when she cuddles up next to him. She doesn’t exactly come across as the cuddling type. I notice that Xander also pulls her close to him. If I didn’t know better and had just met them I’d think they were a couple.

When Leo takes a seat on the other side of
Nic I brace myself for some kind of ridiculous or obnoxious comments.

“
Nic hasn’t joined the mile high club yet. Maybe Harper can help him out.” He laughs at his own joke but Nic just glares at him.

Looking a bit uncomfortable, Leo slumps in his chair.
“Just kidding, Bro.” 

“So what’s your friend Brooke been up to?” Leo glances in my dire
ction.

“Same old Brooke stuff.
Work. Sleep. Probably more sleeping than working. Why are you so interested?”

Leo shrugs. “She got a boyfriend?”

I laugh. “What do you think?”

He shakes his head like he really doesn’t have a clue.

“She slept with you a few days ago. She doesn’t have a boyfriend.”

Nic
laughs. “Fucking a guy in a band and having a boyfriend are definitely not mutually exclusive.”

“Brooke isn’t attached,” I assure him. “And I don’t think she wants to be any time soon.”

“That’s cool,” Leo says.

When I look over at Raven and
Xander I can see they’ve fallen asleep in each other’s arms. They look peaceful together.

“I think they’ve got the right idea,”
Nic whispers in my ear.

“I have to admit, a nap does sound tempting.”

Nic taps his shoulder. “It’s not much of a pillow but it’s all yours.”

“Thanks but I’m okay.” I lean back in my chair and close my eyes.

As I begin the drift off to sleep I can feel my body swaying closer to Nic. I’m not sure I want to lay my head on his shoulder but I’m too sleepy to stop myself. When my head finally rests on him he lays his head on mine. It feels a lot more comfortable than I want it to. 

I’m much too tired to give it any more thought. I decide to take Brooke’s advice for once in my life and be young, go with the flow and not overthink every moment of my life.

I just enjoy Nic’s warmth until I fall asleep.