Almost immediately, I wished I hadn’t.
Along with a picture of me inhaling the heroin smoke was a message:Don’t want this getting out in the public domain, do you? You really should consider getting me that cash.
I leaped up and turned around before emptying the contents of my stomach into the toilet. The stale taste of tequila filled my mouth as I came back to an upright position, trying to control my breathing.
The image on the phone taunted me along with Carl’s threat. I couldn’t keep ignoring him, but I didn’t want to give him what he wanted. Without another thought, I deleted the message and the picture.
Someone hammered on the door of the cubicle, asking if I was going to be much longer. I couldn’t very well hide out in there until closing time. Reluctantly, I unlocked the door and stepped out, throwing an apology in the direction of the girl who was waiting. I ran my hands underneath the tap, ignoring the looks of the other women waiting who thought they knew who I was. I wasn’t in the mood for polite conversation.
Scott was alone at the table when I returned.
“What happened to your friends?” I asked, sliding in next to him.
He shrugged. “Gone to get more drinks? Gone to the ladies? Gone home?” His words were starting to slur. I could tell he was on the verge of having had too much to drink. “Don’t really care though, Saff. You came back.”
Briefly, I closed my eyes. Scott wasn’t the person I wanted to be with. That person was at his uncle and aunt’s place when I should have asked him to be here with me, to protect me. I needed him.
After a beat, I felt lips on mine and a hand caressing the back of my neck. Instantly, I tensed, my eyes bursting open as I pushed Scott away. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Come on, Saff, you know we’d be good together. Think of all the chemistry we have onstage,” he drawled.
“Fake chemistry.”
“Ha, you’d know all about fake, wouldn’t you?”
I froze. “How doyouknow?”
“Word gets around, Saff. Particularly when you’re inRoccia’s pocket.”
Joel.But he couldn’t know. We hadn’t told anyone about the fake relationship. Only those closest to us knew. When Tris and I went to the charity dinner in Manchester, we didn’t give any hint of the fact we weren’t a real couple, although by the end of the evening we were. Thinking of what happened in Manchester made my groin tighten. I wished Tris were here now.
“Tris and I are solid.”
“Now, maybe.”
“Now and forever.” I stood firm.
Scott raised his eyebrows. “I know you, Saff. You’ve always been good for a shag, a few dates here and there…”
I cringed at his description, knowing anything before Tris fell into that category, knowing what he was saying was true. Or at least it had been.
But I had changed.
Scott’s hand was on my thigh, insinuating its way under the hem of my skirt. I slapped it away, but he grabbed my wrist. “Come on, babe, what’s one kiss going to hurt?”
He lunged in my direction, lips locking onto mine as I struggled to get away.
It was only the flash of a camera on a phone which made him stop. “Hey!” he yelled at the culprit, who turned tail and scurried away through the crowd.
In that instant, I knew Tris would see the picture and assume the worst.
And why wouldn’t he? I really was the worst for letting Scott do that to me. I pushed my way out of the club and headed back to the hotel. I sat cross-legged on the bed, phone cradled in my hands, wondering what the hell to do as tears streamed down my cheeks. It was nearly three in the morning. Tris would be sleeping. Much as I needed him to know what my side of the story was, I couldn’t wake him to tell him. Pulling one of the pillows from the bed, I curled up around it, clutching it to my stomach for comfort.
I’d tell him everything in the morning.
12
Tris
