She smiles. “I know.” A proud look passes on her face.
My eyes bug out at the realization that she may go a little too far with her skills. “Please don’t go too over the top.”
She pauses and smiles. “Trust me, let me do what I want to do and if you don’t like it, I promise you can wipe it all off and just apply your BB Cream.”
I nibble on my lip nervously before throwing my hands up. “Fuck it. Do it.”
In the end, Nettie not only wanted to do my make-up, but she also straightened my hair dead flat as well.
“All right…” she steps back and smiles, “…I’m so fucking good! You’re stunning without make-up of course, but damn.”
She steps aside so I can see in the mirror, and I barely recognize the girl staring back at me.
“Wow,” I squeeze out. She’s gone heavy on the eye make-up, smoky black eyeshadow covers my eyelids, my lips perfectly smeared with a bright red. My already sharp nose looks more defined—I look like me, only on steroids. There’s no doubt that Nettie is amazing at what she does.
“You look smoking. Ryder is going to kick himself when he has Alyx on his lap. Alyx is an eight—even with make-up on. You’re a ten without make-up and an off-the-charts ten with it.”
I laugh, shoving her in the shoulders playfully. “You’re so full of shit. How long have they been seeing each other?” I ask, trying to act casual while I wrap up my hair straightener to put away.
She thinks over my question. “I think it started when they began recording. I don’t think it’s anything serious.”
“Nothing is ever serious with Ryder.”
“He still refuses to be seen with her in public, though, which is funny. It’s a huge blow to her ego.”
“Well, they probably have equally large egos, so they can massage each other’s all night long.” That thought makes me sick to my stomach. I know just how good he is with all night long massages, especially ones that involve his tongue.
Nope. Don’t go there.
After dropping a couple of shots of vodka, we begin making our way down to the bar. I feel a lot more at ease with my decision to come now, and I’m again grateful that I’ve found a friend in Nettie.
Our heels clink across the glass tiled floor, as we giggle to each other about how this night could get awkward very fast. Nettie is wearing a tight little mini skirt that sits firm around her waist and a sparkly black crop top. She looks edible. We round the reception area, not missing the stares we receive from the workers. The bar and restaurant sit behind the reception desk, on the other side of the hotel so we head toward it, pushing through the doors, and finding our table instantly, easy to do considering we’re the only ones in here. I take it they booked the place out. Snobs.
Nettie grasps my hand lightly and smiles while I follow her to the table. Belinda smiles at me so I smile back. I’m doing everything I can, not to look at Ryder, even though I can feel his penetrating stare boring into the side of my head.
“Damn,” Ryker whistles from his seat and Tommy laughs.
“Shut up, Ryker,” I mumble.
Alyx looks at me, narrowing her eyes slightly. “So, you’re my fashion assistant?”
I fight the urge to roll my eyes and point out that I was sitting behind her for the eleven-hour flight. “That’s me.” I take a seat next to Elijah after he pulls it out for me with a small, “hello.”
Oh fuck, this night is going to be interesting.
I spare a glance around the room and it’s all dark walls in mid reds with candles setting the atmosphere to an intimate setting. The place is relaxing, but not my cup of tea. I prefer the sun and light. These colors would give me a headache. The waiter comes to our table, pouring Moët into our wine glasses. I smile up at her in a brief thank you.
“To be honest,” Alyx says, flicking her hair over shoulders and fiddling with her perfectly manicured fingernails, “I don’t need fashion help.”
We’ve been down this road already. I look at her with a smile, again, attempting to bite my tongue. I drink some of the sparkling champagne in hopes that it will help.
I need to slow this down if I want to walk out of here with functioning legs.
Elijah puts his elbows on the table. “So, where are you from Phoebe?” I’m thankful for the change of subject.
“Westbeach, I live between there and Hollywood at the moment.”
“You own property in either of those towns?”
“Yeah, I own a house in Westbeach. And I roommate with my friend in Hollywood when I’m there for work,” I say, taking another sip of my drink.
I fucking hate this. Why did I come? Oh, that’s right, Nettie.
I can still feel Ryder’s gaze fixed on me when Nettie kicks me under the table. I ignore her and also regret telling her in a way, now she’s going to analyze every little detail between Ryder and me.
“Still racing?” Leo asks under the rim of his beer. I like Leo. He’s different from the other boys in the band. He doesn’t have an ulterior motive behind his questions.
I nod my head with a small smile. “I’m in the middle of building my own circuit.”
His eyes shoot up, Ryder shifts, changing the position of his arms.
“Like a race circuit?” Alyx spits, the disdain in her voice.
“Yes, a race circuit. I purchased a huge plot of land specifically for it.”
“Classy,” she mumbles under her breath.
“Not even slightly,” I retort with a little venom in my tone and a smirk on my lips.
Her eyes narrow slightly and I hear a round of chuckles come from around the table. Maybe little Miss Pop Princess doesn’t have a lot of fans that actually work for her.
Leo leans onto the table. “So, this circuit. Is it just for you to ride your toys on, or for everyone?”
“I’ll be holding an event every three months where the best girl racers fly in from around the world for a race meet. I already have a huge client base of rich men who are just itching to splash some money on a bunch of babes shifting around corners. For the girls to get the gig, they have to sign a contract willing to share a percentage of their earning to appropriate charities. They all signed no problems.” I stop talking when I realize I just rambled on in front of a whole lot of people.
Leo sits back into his seat and Ryker slaps the table in excitement. “I’m definitely coming to that shit!”
I laugh. “Please don’t,” I say shaking my head behind my glass with a teasing smile.
He slants his eyes and places a palm over his heart, trying to look hurt. “Oh, come on, Phoebs. I’ll even let you, you know…lick a certain something off my finger.”
My eyes widen in shock and I kick him under the table with as much force as I can muster.
My eyes swing to Ryder, who’s now looking at Ryker. He slaps his brother upside the head and we both say, “Fuck up, Ryker.”
Ryder swings his attention back to me and for the first time tonight our eyes lock. His stare has a direct line to the box of fireworks that sits deep in my belly stamped ‘Attention to Ryder Oakley’ and I find myself clenching my thighs together tightly. Cringing in my seat, I pull my eyes away from him.
“Have I missed something here? Do you all know each other?” Alyx asks with annoyance in her tone. Nettie chuckles from beside me.
Ryker opens his fat mouth. “That’s putting it lightly,” he mumbles, looking around the table. I watch as his face changes into that of a Cheshire cat.
And that’s the exact moment, I know that I’m fucked.
“I fucked her, all right! We had two weeks of mind-blowing sex where she did some pretty fucking kinky shit and turned my fucking world upside down. Then I left her, in the middle of the night…we all left.”
My eyes narrow and I shake my head. “Fuck you, Ryker. We did not.”
He laughs, drinking some of his drink. “All right, I lie. It wasn’t me, it was Ryder.” A hiss escapes my mouth and I look to Alyx who throws me the worst look I think I’ve ever
seen come from her face.
“Ryker. Fuck up.”
Ryker laughs from under his breath. “Oh, Phoebe knows I love her. I can’t believe you dumb fucks haven’t put two and two together. How can you miss the…” he connects his fingers together, “…pull between these two. It’s intense. How have you not worked it out?” he repeats himself and I decide I’ve heard enough. Standing from my chair, I head straight for the exit. Right before I push open the doors I hear Ryker say, “White Tiger? You bunch of fucktards.” And the whole table gasps. My step falters a little at the drop of that name.
What the hell has that got to do with anyone else?
There’s no way I can do this for four weeks.
I fucking quit right now.
“Nice one, Ryker,” I hear Nettie spit to him before following me out.
I keep pushing the elevator button, thinking that will rush it down to me. I place my palm over my eyes and kick off my heels, sinking to the floor.
Nettie walks up to me. “Are you okay? Ryker is a fucking dick.”
I laugh out loud if I can’t cry, I laugh. “You know what Nettie, I really don’t care. I just want to leave. I don’t need to be here, nor do I want to.”
She kicks her heels off and sits her ass next to me.
“What are you doing?” I ask and she shrugs. “If you get hemorrhoids, I get hemorrhoids.”
I laugh at her, leaning my head on her shoulder. “We look like a complete hot mess right now, sitting on our asses in this five-star resort with no shoes on.”
She shrugs. “I don’t care what people think.”
I gathered that.
She turns to face me. “You said you weren’t a runner, has that changed?” she asks through her big eyes.
There’s no thinking over her question. “No way, I’ve never run in my life. But this, fuck this is testing all my theories.”
She pats my hand. “I’ll be here, and we will not come to these pissy ass things again. We will just work for the entire four weeks.”
I sigh. “I really wish I could do that. I want to, but I will be seeing him…a lot.”
She looks to me, her eyes softening. “Did you see how he was looking at you?”
“And Jesus Christ…You’re the White Tiger?”
“Him looking at me is nothing. He left without a goodbye, he hasn’t said as much as a hello to me since I’ve been here and he’s with Alyx now. How he looks at me, is irrelevant. Yes, I am, well, to him anyway. Long story, and what does that mean? Does that have some significance to you all?”
She nods her head. “Yeah, it sort of is.” Her eyes bug out, but she doesn’t continue on the matter. “Okay, screw him. However, don’t leave, Phoebe. You’re stronger than that. Get that cash money, and then leave.” I chew on my lip, thinking over her words. She’s right, if I leave, I’m no better than my mother and everyone else that bails when shit gets rough. That’s not who my dad raised. I’m stronger than that.
“All right then, I’ll stay.”
She smiles a huge beaming smile at me. “It was the speech, wasn’t it?”
I laugh and shove her. “Yes, it was the speech. We are laughing hysterically at each other when Elijah and Dolton walk around the reception area toward us, loosening their ties. We both stop our laughing. “It took you both long enough,” Nettie says from beside me. I look at her in confusion.
“I know, sorry about that,” Elijah replies, unbuttoning his top button.
Dolton looks to me. “Sorry about all that. Gotta love these fucking celebrities.” I laugh, waving his apology away. “You don’t need to be sorry. But I agree fucking celebrities is right.” We get up off the floor just as the elevator door pings open.
While we are walking down the hallway, we all laugh over how expensive it must be here. I have learned a little about both Elijah and Dolton from our elevator ride. They’re together, I sort of guessed that anyway, and they’ve known Nettie for years. They’re the ones who referred her to the job with Alyx. They all met each other at beauty school. They’re both open and loving, and you can see the adoration in their eyes toward Nettie.
“You guys wanna come in and drink the rest of this liquor? Since we’re not paying for it and all.” I wiggle my eyebrows and they laugh.
“Good point.”
Elija is the manlier one—if that makes sense? And Dolton is the feminine one.
“Pajama sleepover?” Dolton asks with a gleam in his eye.
“Yes, pajama sleepover,” I repeat with a smile.
Thirty minutes later, they return to our room just as we’re pulling out all the little bottles of liquor. It’s still only six in the evening, so we have a bit of time to burn. I suffer from insomnia so without a little help tonight I probably won’t be able to sleep after all the drama from downstairs. Handing each of them a tiny bottle, we twist the tops off. “Here’s to rock stars and girl racers!” I laugh and we all clink our drinks together before dropping the whole bottle of burning liquid down my throat.
“Woah!” Dolton throws his empty little bottle down onto the counter.
“Music!” I point out, pulling my Beats by Dre Pill dock that I bought with me out of my bag. I plug my iPod into the aux cord and walk back to the kitchen to pour more drinks. There’s only one thing I have on my mind right now, and that’s getting as drunk as possible.
“Let’s play a game,” Nettie quips from beside me.
Oh, this should be great fun.
After two rounds of ‘Never have I ever’ we are well and truly smashed. The game rather turned into ‘Don’t judge me but…’ after we ran out of ‘Never have I ever’s.’” I wobble over to the sound dock, pushing play on Disturbed ‘Inside the Fire.’ Nettie gets up and screams in pleasure. I laugh at these bunch of idiots that I’ve had the pleasure meeting, and while my head is swimming from the effects of the alcohol, there’s a knock on the door. Attempting to walk as straight as I can to the door, I laugh at Nettie jumping around the bed like a lunatic playing her air guitar. Swinging it open, my eyes land on Ryker and Leo.
I raise my eyebrows. “Well, hello there rock stars. What can I help you with?”
Ryker smirks. “You’re being a public disturbance, Phoebe.”
I drop my smile until I see a slow, crooked grin spread across his lips. “We want in.”
Smirking at him, I cross my arms over my chest. “Apologize for being mean.”
He laughs, looking at Leo, who nods his head with a shrug. Ryker rolls his eyes, pulling me under his arm. “I’m sorry little T. You know I love you, right? And for the record, that’s the second time I’ve told you that I love you. Which, by the way, I’ve never said to anyone…ever, let alone a chick.”
I smile up at him from under his arm. “I’ll settle for that. And I love you, too.”
His eyes soften before he lightly kisses my head. “Slow down the drinking,” he mumbles quietly into my hair, “but if you must blow off some Oakley steam, I’ve got your back.” He slaps my ass and I walk into the kitchen to grab their drinks. I think Ryker is fast becoming one of my most favorite people.
By midnight, we’re all smashed and the last thing I remember before my eyes shutting is seeing Ryker in Nettie’s heels with nothing but his briefs on next to me. I try to shove him off my bed, with no luck. He’s as heavy as he is big. I huff, pulling the covers down off my bed, and get in with a smile before shutting my eyes.
My eyelids won’t open, and my head throbs. “Holy fuck,” I groan, attempting to get out of my bed. Looking down at what I’m wearing, I see I have someone else’s pajama bottoms on, I guess it’s one of the boys. I look around the room and see Elijah, Dolton, and Leo all crashed out on the floor with Cheetos strewn through their hair with lipstick and make-up smothered all over their faces. The sight brings back memories from last night of Nettie piss-drunk and attempting to do their make-up. I laugh to myself before leaving Ryker in my bed, walking to the bathroom. I dodge all the bottles and food lying around the place, and all
the make-up thrown around everywhere. It looks like a scene from The Hangover. I’m half expecting to find Mike Tyson and a tiger in the bathtub.
Walking in front of the mirror in the bathroom, I laugh. “Oh. My. God.” I’m wearing a Twisted Transistor top that hangs down my thighs with bright red lipstick written across the top saying ‘I fucked Ryder Oakley.’ I chuckle to myself, pulling down the pajama bottoms before swiftly removing the shitty top and tossing it in the corner. I turn the faucet on and wait for it to heat up before stepping in. Running the shampoo and conditioner through my hair, I scrub up quickly getting out of the shower and wrapping a towel around myself.
There’s a knock on my bathroom door. “Phoebe, I need to pee,” Nettie says urgently. I unlock the door, swinging it open for her. She dashes to the toilet, sitting down, and sighing as she begins her peeing.
“Do you have any boundaries?” I ask her with a smile. Melissa and Nettie would get on like a house on fire, this much I know. Everything with Nettie feels natural as if I have known her my whole life. The door swings open again and Dolton walks through.
“Hurry up, Nettie.”
“Oh Jesus,” I mutter, clutching my towel. There’s no way I can witness a second peeing session. I make my way back to my bed just as Elijah is stretching his arms out.
He sees me and laughs. “You’re a good time Speedy.”
I smile. “Shit, I told you that did I?”
He flicks his blond hair, laughing again. “You sure did.” I think over my thoughts hoping that I hadn’t said anything else.
Tapping Ryker with my foot, I clutch my towel. “Ryker, get up.” He doesn’t move. Rolling my eyes, I remember having to wake him up a couple times during the two weeks we all spent together, and he sleeps like a dead man. Walking to my sound dock that still has my iPod plugged into it, I turn on Five Finger Death Punch ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ the song fits him—perfectly, and it’s one of his favorite songs. I’ll sing it at his wedding one day. I say that because there’s no way he would ever be married. I turn the volume up, placing the dock right next to his ear. A slow smile creeps onto his lips, his eyes slowly opening.