“Fuck my house. Drive to Bel Air. Turn off now!” I smack the dashboard.
“Whoa—is everything okay?”
“No. No, no, no.” Guilt eats at me.
Cole doesn’t do pictures—at least not naked ones—but we dared him once. He crashed girls’ night and we dared him to take a full-frontal pic and send it. He did on the condition that Macey showed him her tits. She never did, but she got the picture. It was deleted, but…
“Fucking asshole!”
Corey reaches over and slides his hand around my thigh. “Where’s his house?”
“Third turn, the one with the giant apple trees,” I mumble, looking out of the window.
Corey pulls up, and I wrench my way out of the car. Then I run up the driveway and bang on the front door. Cole answers with a weak smile, and it hits me straight in the gut.
I wrap my arms around his neck and hug him tight. “I’m sorry. Shit, this is my fault.”
“Why? Did you hack Hollywood’s stars?”
I shake my head and let him go. “But I made you take the picture.” I walk past him.
“Hey, you didn’t push the button. I did. It was a laugh—even if Macey still owes me a tit pic. I had no idea it was saved to the cloud.”
“I can’t believe you were hacked! What kind of bullshit is this?” I run my fingers through my hair. “Who else did they get?”
Cole goes to the laptop and brings up the article. He reels off the names of several of the biggest movie stars and singers. “My agent called me. She has alerts on all of us—the second my picture went up, she knew.”
I swallow. “What are you gonna do?”
He shrugs. “Get laid more often?”
“Cole!” I stare at him. “I’m here feeling guilty because we made you take the pic and you’re thinking about your dick?”
He holds his hands up. “Hey, it was a good picture. It’s a legitimate thought.”
I blink. My best friend: the only hacked person in Los Angeles thinking about how much more sex he’s going to get.
“Seriously though,” he continues, quieter. “I don’t know. We’re negotiating for Chasing Tucker. It’ll be my first big lead and this could ruin that. My dad’s out now seeing if he can do any damage control, but short of finding the hacker and wringing his neck, I’m not sure he can do much.”
“You can sue,” Corey says.
I had no idea he was here. I thought he was still in the car.
“There’s no one to sue,” I reply.
He nods. “You can sue whoever operates your cloud. They’re supposed to be safe. It’s an invasion of privacy.”
“Right.” Cole brightens. “I’ll call my dad and get him to call his lawyer.”
“I have a better idea.” Corey pulls his phone out. “You got somewhere I can make a call?”
“Sure. Go through to the kitchen.” Cole waves over his shoulder, looking at me.
I shrug, perching on the sofa. Corey winks at me then walks past, his hair still wet from his post-training shower.
“What happened here?” Cole motions between us.
“We…made friends,” I answer vaguely.
“So, you’re dating.”
“Not defined.” I crane my neck around to the kitchen to see him. “Is it bad if I go spy on him? I wanna know what he’s doing.”
“He’s making a call,” Cole replies dryly.
“Now I get why you’re up for the lead in a romantic comedy. You’re fucking hilarious.”
He laughs, and I’m glad. I’d rather have the laughter over the sad look that was in his eyes a few minutes ago.
“Sorry,” I whisper again, looking down. “You want me to get my mom to make sure you keep the contract?”
Cole nudges my arm with his elbow. “Fuck off, Leah. I don’t need your charity. I’ll go in tomorrow and charm the hell out of the producers. I swear, Shannon Hunt has a crush on me.”
“Ew! Shannon’s, like, fifty.”
“I’m not against the older woman.”
“Ew, Cole!” I slap his thigh.
He laughs just as Corey walks back into the front room, pocketing his phone. He stops in the middle of the room and grins.
“What did you just do?” I ask suspiciously. I’m not sure I like how his eyes are glinting.
His smile widens, and he walks toward Cole. “You got your phone?”
Cole nods and hands it to him. I frown as Corey inputs something before handing it back.
“That’s the number for my dad’s lawyer, Neil Harmon,” he says. “He said to call him and arrange a meeting. He’ll waive fifty percent of his fee since you’re a friend of mine.”
I blink at Corey. Quickly. Because—what?
“For real?” Cole stands up. “I’m not fussed about the waiver, but seriously—thanks, man.”
They shake hands then do that guy hug thing where they smack each other’s backs, and the whole time, I’m sitting here, staring at them.
Is this the fucking Twilight Zone? Did I get sucked into a parallel universe?
“I gotta go meet my mom for dinner, but I’ll call you when I’ve seen Neil, all right?”
I jolt my eyes from Corey to Cole. “Of course.” I hug him. “Say hi to your mom for me.”
“Nah. If I do that, she’ll make you do dinner again. I won’t make you suffer through that shit, too.”
I wrinkle my nose. “New boyfriend?”
“Boy toy,” he replies with disgust, letting us out of the front door. “Hey, Corey. Really, thanks.”
“No worries.” Corey smiles, wrapping his arm around me and guiding me to his car. Then he opens the door and I get in without saying a word.
I’m confused. I don’t know—I don’t understand—why he’d do that. For whatever reason, he hates Cole. At least, I always thought he did. But now…
I stay silent as we drive out of Bel Air and toward the Hills. Corey surprises me at every turn. There’s always something. It’s not always good, I admit, but it’s something. I’m starting to wonder if, one day, he’ll surprise me so much that my heart will just give up the game and go kaput.
And I don’t mean the romantic kind of kaput. I mean the ‘what the hell? I’m done’ kind of kaput.
I get out of the car at his house and grab my purse from by my feet. Chewing the inside of my cheek, I follow him inside and text my mom to make sure she’s seen the threat the hacker made when he posted the pictures. But I can’t linger on it. My brain is so fuzzy.
Is Corey using Cole’s misfortune to prove to me that he cares? Is it all a manipulation game, or does he genuinely want to help him?
I drop my purse at the side of the sofa and kick my shoes off. Corey walks into the kitchen and grabs the phone.
“Pizza?” he asks.
I nod, not looking at him.
“Pepperoni?”
I nod again.
“Cheese? Stuffed crust?”
I nod for a third time, and I can’t even find it in me to smile. He just got my favorite pizza in one shot, like a fucking pro, but I’m so hung up on this Cole thing that I can’t even like that. Or—hey. Maybe it’s Corey’s favorite pizza and he’s taken advantage of my silence to order it.
I don’t really know him at all.
“You all right?” He walks over to me and puts a can of Diet Coke in front of me.
I nod. I feel like a fucking motorized toy. Nod, nod, nod. Over and over. I’ll nod my head off my neck soon.
“Sure?”
Again with the nodding. Jesus. I just don’t trust myself to speak. It would be easy. So easy to speak. So easy to ramble a bunch of words that mean a lot but make no sense at all.
Corey sits next to me and hooks his arm over the back of the sofa. His fingers play with my hair, and as he grabs the remote and turns the TV on, a shiver cascades down my spine. I fail to mask it, because his hand stills for a second.
Even the hair-playing is messing with me. Sending tingles from my scalp and across my skin. It’s a surreal feeling, especially when I was so angry with him forty-eight hours ago.
And now… Now, I have to admit to myself that I don’t want to be anywhere else but here.
Even if he does have me mind-fucked.
“Seriously. What’s up?” He shifts so he’s facing me.
I raise one shoulder, playing with my fingers in my lap.
“Babe,” he says in a low voice. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t fuck up again already, so what is it?”
“Why’d you do it?” I look up at him, letting my hand relax. “Call your dad’s lawyer?”
“That’s what’s buggin’ you? That I did something
right
?”
“I… Yeah.”
“You confuse the fuck out of me, darlin’.”
“I’m a woman. Confusing guys is what I do.”
Corey shifts a little more and cups my cheek with his hand. “Look at me.”
I shake my head, but he fights it and I find myself looking at him anyway.
“You panicked. Do you know that? When Cole texted you, I’ve never seen you so afraid. You yelled at me, Leah. When you realized what had happened, you screamed at me to drive to Bel Air because you needed to fix it. Then we got there, you talked, and I realized what was happening. And, babe”—he strokes his thumb across my cheek—“the second you knew you couldn’t help, it hurt me. You looked so fuckin’ helpless. Your best friend was hurting and there was nothin’ you could. But I could.”
“But why?” I whisper, my eyes finding his. Blue, bright, gorgeous. “Why did you do it? You didn’t have to.”
“If Cole’s happy, I know you are. I knew that, if he could smile, you could, too. And, Leah, if there’s anything I’m afraid of, it’s that I won’t get to see you smile again.” Corey leans forward, his nose brushing mine. “So I did what I could.”
“Neil isn’t waiving the fee, is he?”
“What?”
“You’re paying it, aren’t you?” I pull his hand from my face. “For me.”
“No. For Cole. Because he doesn’t deserve this shit. It’s a violation.”
“But you’re doing it for him, for me.”
“Yes,” Corey admits. “Because I’m selfish, too. Because I want to look at you and see you smile. I’ve seen you sad all too much the last few days, and I don’t want that again.”
I swallow and edge away from him. Not because I don’t want him to touch me. I do. God, I want him to fold me into his arms and hold me until every ounce of confusion is swept out of my body.
“I want him to be okay,” he says softly, letting me have my distance. “Because as helpless as you felt, shit, babe. I felt helpless, too, because you stood there staring into space, hopin’ for some kind of fucking miracle. The least I could do was be the miracle.”
I exhale slowly through my nose, emotion building, swirling, going totally crazy inside me. Then, without another thought, I lean forward, my lips sealing over his.
His arms go around me firmly, and he pulls me on top of his lap. I straddle him and wind my fingers into his hair. His lips are hot against mine, searing into me. Sparks flow through my veins with every sweep of his mouth, and I push myself toward him, further and further.
Because, oh my God. I know Neil Harmon. I know his fees. Mom has used him in the past. For Corey to pay half his fees... Six figures for approximately a month’s work is standard.
Instead of the doubt I felt earlier, there’s a renewed vigor inside me. As my fingers tug Corey’s hair and my lips caress his and his hands tease beneath the hem of my shorts, something else ignites inside me.
The need to know him. The real him. It’s stronger than before. Now it’s all-encompassing. I need to know Corey Jackson. What makes him tick. Why he has to be the arrogant asshole the media adores portraying him as when I know he isn’t.
“Leah…” My name falls from his lips in a thick whisper, and he flips me onto my back. He easily slides between my legs, his hard cock straining against the tightness of the denim separating us. I feel it rubbing against me, teasing my clit, hinting at more.
I hook my legs around his back. In this moment, the game can fuck itself. The rules can fold and anything from outside can go find something else better to do. In this moment, it is me and Corey, desire and lust, desperation and insanity, all coiled into a throbbing ball of impending pleasure, begging for release.
All there is is us. Leah and Corey. Passionate touches and feverish kisses and maybe some hope, too. It’s an intoxicating mix, a dangerous one, but one I want to play with.
For the first time, I want to play with danger. I want to tease the edges of our connection and see if it’s really as real as it feels.
His hands… They slide beneath my shirt. His fingertips are soft yet rough against my skin, and they’re probing, digging into my skin in a deliciously painful way. My brain says that it’s because he needs to hold on, too, because he can’t do anything else but hold on.
And for now, I will believe.
Because.
“Fuckin’ pizza,” he breathes against my mouth.
Every inch of my body is aching against him, for him, with him, but I sigh as the doorbell rings again.
Corey parts my legs and gets up. But before he goes, he grips the sofa, and still leaning over, he whispers, “We aren’t fuckin’ done here, babe.”
I touch his face before he disappears. His eyes burn into mine, blazing bright blue.