Authors: Andria Large
As
soon as I get out, cameras start flashing and people start yelling to us. Alex
has to step in front of us to push a couple of overzealous paparazzi out of the
way. Ace wraps his arm around my waist and holds me close to him as we walk
into the restaurant. Once inside, I close my eyes against the dots dancing in
front of me. Holy shit, that was intense.
"You
okay?" Ace asks quietly.
"Other
than being blind?" I grunt.
Ace
chuckles.
The
hostess seats us immediately in a secluded corner. Alex sits at a table a few
feet away to run interference with anyone looking to interrupt our dinner. Ace pulls
out my chair for me and pushes it in as I sit. I laugh to myself as I think
about how funny it would have been had he done the opposite. Ace sits adjacent
to me. Which surprises me. Usually the guy will take the seat across from their
date. He smiles at me as he scoots his chair in.
"What's
so funny?" he asks.
"Oh,
I was just thinking about how funny it would have been if you had pulled my
seat out from under me instead of pushing it in." I snicker.
Ace
barks out a laugh. "Yeah, that would have been pretty hilarious and I
would have forever been labeled as a douchebag."
I
shrug. "Yeah, probably."
The
hostess is all smiles when she hands us our menus. "Your waiter for
tonight is Joe and he will be with you shortly," she says sweetly.
Ace
and I both say thank you and open our menus as she walks away. I glance at Ace,
wanting to see if he is checking her out as she walks away because honestly, if
I were a guy, I would have. She is one of those gorgeous blonde bombshells with
the perfect body types. But when I look at Ace, he's staring at the menu. I
glance at Alex. He is practically drooling as the hostess walks by him.
"Wow,"
I mutter, shaking my head in confusion.
Ace's
eyes flip up from the menu to meet mine. "What?"
"I
just thought you would have checked out the hostess' ass as she walked
away," I say with a dismissive wave of my hand. "I mean, I think Alex
jizzed in his pants over there."
Ace
fought off a smile. "I see. But I have no need to look at her when I am
sitting with the best looking woman in here," he says with a shrug.
I
narrow my eyes at him. "Ace, you better stop with all the sweet talking
before I start to believe you," I murmur before looking down at my menu.
And I really, really want to believe him.
"Nikki,
I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it," Ace says.
I
lift my eyes from the menu to meet his. His sincerity hits me straight in the
gut. My stomach flips over and my heart starts to race. I swallow hard.
"We're
not really together, Ace, so just stop. You can't say things like that to a
woman who means nothing to you," I whisper harshly.
Ace's
eyes flash angrily. "Do you really think you mean nothing to me? You think
after almost two months of being with you that I wouldn't develop feelings for
you? Come on, Nikki, give me some credit here, I'm not a complete
asshole," he whispers fiercely in return.
I
stare at him in shock. Is he for real? Could the wild, bad boy Renegade
actually have feelings for me, the lowly dancer?
"What
are you saying?" I breathe, my heart going a mile a minute.
Ace
leans in toward me, threading his fingers into the hair at the back of my neck.
His lips brush mine as he whispers, "I want us to be in a real
relationship, not a fake one."
He
kisses me on the lips. A chaste kiss by our standards. "Really?" I
gasp, my heart now taking a flying leap up into my throat.
He
pulls back just enough so that he can see my eyes. "Yes, really," he
says seriously.
A
small, excited laugh bursts out of me. "Okay."
The
smile that spreads across Ace's face takes my breath away. "Yeah?"
I
nod quickly. "Yeah."
"So
does that mean that you have some feelings for me, too?" he asks
hopefully.
"If
I didn't then I wouldn't have just agreed to be your
real
girlfriend." I chuckle.
Ace
laughs. "Fair enough."
The
rest of dinner goes great. We talk and laugh and have an awesome time together.
I'm floating on cloud nine. I didn't think I wanted a boyfriend until I fell
for Ace. My only problem now is going to be dealing with my dad and his dislike
of the man I love.
~Ace~
I'm
sitting on the couch in the bus as we make our way to Alabama for our next
concert. We already did most of the East Coast, so now we have to work our way
west. Lizette and Beau are snuggled together on the couch across from me.
Everett is plucking away on his guitar at the other end of the couch that I'm
on. Dean is sitting at the table with a notebook and pen, writing a song. And
Roland is sitting across from Dean eating a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
"Dude,
you are killing me with the crunching," Dean mutters to Roland without lifting
his eyes from his notebook.
"Sorry,"
Roland replies around a mouth full of cereal.
My
phone beeps and I glance at it to see that it's a text from Nicole.
Nicole:
HELP ME!
I
snort. She's on the bus with the female dancers. I'm gonna have to talk to
Lizette about switching her over to our bus. No one really knows that we're
actually dating now. I haven't had the chance to really tell anyone, plus it's
only been about two weeks since we made it official. I hate that she's on the
other bus having a shit time.
Me:
What's wrong?
Nicole:
Hillary is trying to tell me how big of a player you are, how you cheated on
your ex about 10x, that's why she broke up with you, smdh...
"Bullshit,"
I snap out loud.
Everyone
glances over at me after my little outburst.
"Everything
okay?" Beau drawls.
"Hillary
is talking shit about me to Nicole," I mutter as I text Nicole back.
"Speaking
of Nicole, how did that date you had with her go?" Roland asks, glancing
over his shoulder at me.
I
can't help but smile. "Really well, actually," I say.
Lizette
giggles across the aisle. "Aw, I know that look, Ace."
I
raise an eyebrow at her. "What look?"
"The
googly-eyed, head-over-heels look." Everett grins at me.
I
gape at him. "What? I do not look like Beau!" I cry, pointing across the
aisle at him.
"Hey!"
Beau exclaims as everyone else laughs.
"We...uh...we're
actually really dating now, not just faking it," I say softly.
"No
shit?" Dean asks in surprise.
I
look over to find him looking at me in shock. "Yeah, I..." I clear my
throat. "...I really like her. We get along really well and have a lot in
common." No
need to tell them that I'm completely in
love
with her yet.
"That's
really awesome, Ace," Everett says, patting me on the shoulder.
"Thanks,
buddy." I smirk.
"You
two make a really cute couple," Lizette muses while eyeing me knowingly.
I
roll my eyes at her.
"Speaking
of which, can she ride on the bus with us when we leave to go to the next
gig?"
"Sure,
I don't see why not." Lizette shrugs.
"Hillary's
gonna have a fucking fit. You know that right?" Dean murmurs, giving me a
pointed look.
"I
was never with her! I fucked her once! I don't know what the hell her deal
is!" I huff, throwing my arms up.
"She's
obsessed with you," Everett says distractedly as he looks down at his
guitar, plucking lightly at the strings.
I
look over at him. His sandy brown hair is a mess and sticking up in all
directions. His square jaw is shadowed with a day's worth of stubble. He's
usually clean-shaven, but we've been on the bus all damn day, and it's hard to
shave when the bus is bouncing.
Usually, he's nothing but a big ball of
tension and anxiety. The man has serious OCD issues and has a hard time dealing
with it. Even with the medication that he's on, he struggles with it. It
hinders him from doing things sometimes. Especially if he doesn't do his little
rituals, like flicking the on/off switch on his mic ten times. The problem with
that is that it always ends up in the off position. Luckily, the sound manager
knows this and hands it to him in the on position; otherwise, we'd have to do
the show without him because he'd be stuck backstage flipping the switch on and
off.
"And
what the fuck am I supposed to do about that?" I ask him.
He
glances at me, his hazel eyes thoughtful. "Give her something else to
focus on? Like another guy," he replies.
"You
volunteering?"
His
eyes go wide and he shakes his head vehemently. "Hell no!"
I
snort and turn to look at Roland and Dean, but they are both already shaking
their heads.
"No,"
Roland says sternly.
"No
fucking way. I don't want some psycho chick obsessed with me." Dean
grunts.
I
make an aggravated noise. "Lizette, can't you just fire her and get rid of
her that way?"
"She
got a warning, now she has to do something else. I can't just fire her for no
reason. And I'd have to find another dancer to take her spot."
"Dammit!"
I bite out.
"Let’s
just hope that she's stupid enough to act dumb again," Beau says.
I
just grunt in agreement and hope like hell that she fucks up so Lizette can
fire her ass.
~Nicole~
We
finally make it to the hotel at around midnight. It was
an
exhausting ride having to listen to Hillary spew
her bullshit. There was
nowhere to hide on the bus. Now, I just want to crawl into bed and go to sleep.
I need a good night sleep before the concert tomorrow. I'm just about to get
into bed when there is a knock on my door. I go over and check the peephole - it's
Ace. I open the door to see that he's dressed and ready to go out.
"Hey,
babe," he says, giving me a kiss on the lips.
"Hi,"
I answer, letting him in my room.
"Dean
and I are gonna go out for a little bit, wanna come?" he asks.
I
sigh. "No, I'm gonna go to bed."
"You
sure?" he pouts, giving me his puppy dog eyes.
I
smile softly and wrap my arms around his neck. "That's not going to work
on me tonight."
He
grins. "Always worth a try."
I
lean up and press my lips against his. "You go, have fun."
He
nods. "Okay," he murmurs before kissing me softly.
"Don't
get too drunk.
Remember that we
have to work tomorrow," I say, giving him a pointed look.
"I
know. I promise, I'll be good," he says, giving me one more kiss before
heading for the door.
"See
you in the morning," I say, following him to the door.
He
turns and smiles at me. That smile melts my heart every time he aims it at me.
God, I love him so much.
"Okay,
goodnight, baby."
"Goodnight."
I smile.
After
Ace leaves, I climb into bed and turn out the lights. I fall asleep as soon as
my head hits the pillow, dreaming about Ace and how great everything has been
between the two of us, and how well we get along. I never expected to come into
this job and end up as Ace Vaughn's girlfriend. I didn't expect Ace to be the
kind of guy that he is. I guess I expected him to be a pompous ass, but he's so
far from it.
The
next morning, I wake up refreshed, take a shower, and get dressed. I try to
call Ace, but he doesn't answer. It's only 10:30 am, so I'm guessing that he's
still asleep. I decide to go to the Starbucks that is on the corner to grab us
both a coffee before going to wake him up. After getting the coffee, I head to
Ace's room and knock on the door.
A
minute later, the door opens to reveal Hillary holding a sheet around her, her
shoulders bare as if she is naked underneath. I blink at her for a moment
before looking at the number on the door. It's the number that Ace told me was
his room. Hillary smiles smugly.
"What
the fuck?" is all that comes out of my mouth as I push past her to find
Ace.
I
stop dead when I see him sprawled out on the bed on his stomach, completely
naked. My breath catches. No! So many emotions race through me. Devastation is
the biggest one. How could he? How could he with her - of all people? Even
drunk I didn't think he'd be that stupid. I turn to look at her and she's
watching me, her eyebrow raised in an "I told you so" fashion.
I
slam both coffee cups down on the dresser and go over to the side of the bed. I
grab Ace's disheveled hair and yank his head back, pulling it off the pillow.
"Ace!"
I snap.
Ace's
groans as his eyes flutter open. "Ow," he grunts. "Why are you
pulling my hair?"
I
shove his head away as I let him go. "I hope she was worth it," I
hiss furiously.
Ace
gives me a confused look and rubs his head where I had a hold of his hair.
"What are you talking about?"
"Seriously?
You can't fucking deny it when the tramp is still in your room, you piece of
shit!" I bark.
Ace
looks around and I can see when his eyes finally find Hillary because they widen
in shock. He sputters as he shoots up into a sitting position. "Hillary?"
he squawks. "What the
fuck are
you doing in my
room?"
He
seems to realize then that he's naked and pulls a pillow over his lap. I can't
tell if he's honestly shocked to see her here or if he's just playing the part
because he got caught.
She
chuckles. "Oh, Ace. You’re so funny. You might as well tell her."
"Tell
her what exactly?" he growls.
"That
we slept together last night.
I
mean, it's kinda obvious, no reason to deny it," she scoffs, brushing her
hair over her naked shoulder.
"We
did not! I don't know what the fuck you're doing in my room but we did not
sleep together!" Ace shouts furiously.
Right
now, I can't make heads or tails of this. I don't know if he's lying or not.
We've only officially been together for a couple of weeks and I've only known
him a total of about three months. He seems genuinely stunned and livid but he
could just be a really good actor. It's not like I've never seen the articles
about him being a player and a cheater. There were multiple stories about his
apparent cheating when he was with his last girlfriend. So I don't know what to
think right now. One thing I do know is that I need to get the fuck out of
here.
"You
know what? You two can figure this the fuck out because I'm done listening to
this shit. Tell Lizette to send out that press release about us breaking up
because we're done," I snap and head for the door.
"Nikki!
She's lying!" he calls after me but I keep going. I wrench open the door
and slam it behind me.
I
race down the hallway to get as far away from Ace and Hillary as I can. I can't
believe it. I just never thought that he would do that to me. I never believed
the rumors but I guess they were true. He's a player. My heart is shattering
into a million pieces by the time I make it to the elevator. When it opens,
Alex is standing there. He frowns at me as he steps out.
"What's
going on?" he asks.
"I
just walked in on Ace and that bitch Hillary, that's what's going on!" I
croak, barely able to hold back the tears that are threatening to consume me.
I
will not cry over a man who has cheated on me. He's not worth it. I deserve
better than that. He doesn't deserve my tears. I just can't get over the fact
that it was with Hillary. That fucking bitch!