Текст книги "Something True"
Автор книги: Jessica Roe
сообщить о нарушении
Текущая страница: 1 (всего у книги 7 страниц)
Something True
Jessica Roe
Other titles by Jessica Roe
The Guardians:
Undone
United
Fortunate:
Because of Him
Something Real
Falling For Him
SOMETHING TRUE
JESSICA ROE
Copyright © 2015 Jessica Roe
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
For every high school English teacher I ever had. . .
English teachers are the rock stars of education
Chapter 1
Ibbie
ACTING IS MY life. There's nothing I adore more than getting up on that stage in front of a rapt audience and living my part, but I'm not gonna lie. . .it drains the crapping hell out of me. In a good way, of course. Immediately after curtain call each and every show I'm filled with this rush of exuberance yet this fatigue that just makes me want to drop down in the dressing room and sleep right there on the carpet. I may not be the lead in the theater production of Pride and Prejudice that I've been a part of for the past couple of months, and I may not exactly love playing spoiled and selfish Lydia Bennet, but I never fail to put my heart and soul into each and every performance.
Which is why I'm exhausted when I arrive at Kandy's after another night's show. My best friend, Blair, and her half sister, Jemma, have worked here for a while, and since then this bar seems to have become our regular hangout. As far as bars go, it ain't so bad.
A zombie dodges by me, chasing after a giggling sexy bunny, and a vampire with way too much gel in his hair slaps my butt as I walk by.
“Nice ass. I could just take a bite out of it,” he jokes, flashing his plastic fangs.
I wink, because my ass is nice, even if he is a drunken weirdo with no social skills whatsoever. Poor little vampire.
A grim reaper twerks against me, and I sigh as I edge away. Normally I love every single thing about Halloween because it is, without a doubt, the most awesome day of the year, but I'm just too tired for this crap tonight. I want to be at home in my comfy bed with my comfy pillow and snugged up in my comfy pjs, but tonight is the first night the whole gang has been together since Blair got all good and engaged to Silver, my ex high school history teacher (which makes their relationship both yeesh yet oddly sexy) last week, so obviously we're getting our celebrating on. And I am benevolently forgiving Silver for stealing my BFF away from me for ever and ever, because that's just the kind and saintly sweetheart I am. Though I don't know who I'm kidding, because that guy stole my BFF from me before we even became BFFs to begin with. Luckily he doesn't mind sharing her with me, or I'd have to get all plot making and off him, Game of Thrones style. But not sharing in that way, because that would be yick. Not that I don't love Blair to bits or anything, but I most certainly do not want to get all up in her lady parts.
“Woo! Ibbie's here!” she cheers happily when I finally push through the throngs of people and approach their table. I have to grin, because Blair so very rarely gets drunk enough to be a cheerer. In fact, she hates drunk cheerers. Usually she's pretty good at knowing her limits and sticking to them, but clearly she skipped over that line at least an hour ago. Sat on Cowboy Silver's lap, tonight she's dressed as Wonder Woman – shiny cape, tight little outfit, red knee high boots and all. I'll bet Silver had to do some serious persuading to get her into it. That's love for ya.
Closest to where I'm standing, a slightly less drunk Reid the 1950's Gangster holds out his fist for me to bump. “How'd your show go, Ibbs?” He's been to the show before. They all have, though it was especially funny seeing a tattooed tough guy like Reid sitting through a performance of Pride and Prejudice. He got some funny looks that night for sure, like just because he didn't necessarily fit the mold of regular theater goer then he didn't belong. Some people can be so judgy.
“It was awesome. I was awesome. Because, you know, I'm me.” Not that I like to brag or anything.
Being Lydia Bennet wasn't my first choice – I'd auditioned for the role of Elizabeth obviously. But since it's my first real show since finishing college, I'm still proud as fudge of myself for getting the part. Besides, one day I'll get that lead, I know it.
I slip into the only available seat, making sure to groan extra loud and hard because it's next to Walt, Reid's excruciatingly annoying best friend. Ever since Reid and Jemma became a thing a year ago and we all started hanging out, this guy has become the bane of my frigging existence. And sure, I'll be the first to admit that I have a tendency to over dramatize things, but not when it comes to him. Walt Vega is Evil. With a capital E, that's right.
It had started out innocently enough. I mean, I'd tried to be nice to the guy when we first met – even though he's kind of terrifying looking with all those tattoos and the three eyebrow rings and those piercing eyes, a brown so dark they're almost black. But every time I spoke he acted like I'd vomited up turds all over his jeans and then he had the nerve to call me a goblin who talked too much. Now that's was just mean. Then came the annoying texts – I still haven't forgiven Reid for giving him my number – which quickly moved onto verbal sparring matches between us every time we were unfortunate enough to be forced to spend time together, and that escalated into the stupid, irritating pranks that just make me want to tear my shiny blonde hair out. Like that time last month we were alone in his friend Christen's kitchen and he dared me to put my palms on the counter and balance two beers on the back of my hands and then he just left me there. So sure, I had to retaliate by signing his email up to a bunch of gay porn newsletters. But he went way overboard when he somehow charmed his way into the apartment I share with my cousin while I was out and stole all of my underwear and gave it to the super creepy homeless guy who lives by the back of our building. That was not cool. Not cool at all.
Walt is the worst.
“What the hell are you supposed to be?” he wants to know, set to full-on-abuse-Ibbie mode the second he sees me as always. He looks me up and down with those dark eyes. They match his dark, evil little soul.
“Take a wild frigging guess, dumb ass.”
“An escaped mental patient?”
I gesture to my black and yellow striped shorts and cropped top, then wiggle my fuzzy yellow antennae his way just because I know it will irritate him. “Duh, I'm a bumble bee. Buzz buzz?”
“You're an idiot,” he replies dryly.
Ugh, this guy drives me crazy. And not even in the good way. It's not like he has to talk to me.
“God!” Jemma exclaims, rolling her eyes. She's dressed in a tiny red dress and has a pair of black horns on her head and a little pitch fork in her hand, so I'm guessing she's a devil. A slutty devil. “Do you guys really have to start this crap tonight. I wanna get my buzz on.”
Blair giggles manically at Jemma's inadvertent pun, then she starts buzzing into Silver's neck. He can't stop himself from laughing as he pulls her more firmly onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her. Drunk Blair is so frigging cute it's unreal.
I ignore Jemma and turn back to Walt, because I just can't help myself when it comes to him. “I see you dressed up as an asshole tonight.”
He glances down at his black t-shirt and jeans, frowning. “I didn't dress up tonight. I look the same as I always do.”
“Exactly.”
He glares at me for that.
“Okay, time to lay it off, guys,” Silver calls across the table. “Tonight's for celebrating only, 'cause my woman's gonna be my wife!”
The rest of the table whoops and lifts their drinks. Blair pulls off Silver's cowboy hat and shoves it on her own head before wrapping her arms around his neck. They laugh into each others mouths as they kiss, so undeniably happy – even when they're all tipsy and diddly. It's beautiful.
And then I see tongue and it gets gross.
I steal Walt's drink before he can protest, because clearly I need to catch up with the people around me. Performing means more to me than anything in the world, but sometimes it can wreak havoc on my social life. I knock the drink back, then cough and splutter as I slam the glass on the table. “What in the crappity crapping hell was that?”
The disgustingly amused eyebrow Walt raises at me is as black as his spiky hair. I hate that he's so good looking – someone as evil as he is should be an ugly old hunchback. It would only be fair. But his sharp nose somehow works on his angular face, and those pronounced cheekbones. . .yeah, they're to die for. Jemma told me that one of his parents is Mexican, which shows in his dark olive skin. Tough guys like him have never been my type – I've always been attracted to actors and performers like myself – but if I didn't hate him so much, I'd have to admit that he's sexy as sin. Sin being the operative word. Luckily for me, I do hate him. With a passion.
“It's whiskey, you amateur,” he says with a smirk.
“God. What are you, a forty year old alcoholic? You closet psycho.” I don't even care that my comeback makes no sense. “Drink something decent so I can steal it and not die in the process. Jeez.”
“Something decent? Lemme guess – lemon drops, princess?”
“Ugh, call me princess one more time and I swear I'll make your penis wish it had never been born.”
Blair starts snickering again like that's the funniest thing she's ever heard.
“Too late, that already happened the second I met you. Princess.”
“Grow up, idiot. You're such a kidult.”
“Okay, time out. Both of you. Let's separate the two of you before drinks get thrown again.” Forced into father mode for the pair of us (again), Reid stands and grabs the back of my chair, dragging it around the table and putting me in between Fábia and Dahlia. Fábia is an old friend of Walt and Reid's, and Dahlia is Jemma's roommate, and the two of them have been looking ultra cozy recently. I make a mental note to probe Dahlia for gossip the next time I get her alone.
“Now that's fuckin' better,” Walt grunts.
I do the mature thing, and I stick my tongue out at him across the table.
+++
A SHORT WHILE later Walt disappears to the bar to hit on a gorgeous red head who seems super into him – you know, because she doesn't know him. Seeing my chance to get revenge for the underwear incident, I sidle up behind him and wrap an arm around his narrow waist.
“Hey, baby,” I coo, reaching up to kiss his stubbly cheek. God, does the guy not know how to shave or something? “I missed you over there.” Sticking out my belly as far as it can go, I rub it lovingly and gaze up at him.
When he stares back at me in disbelief, I smirk evilly. Yeah, take that one, bitch.
Chapter 2
Walt
MY CHEEK BURNS ferociously where Ibbie's lips pressed against it, even though it was for just one short second. It fucking burns, like she set me on damned fire. For a moment I just stare down at her in pure confusion, unable to form words, unable to form thoughts, and then I see that little smirk on her face and I realize that she's screwing with me. Of course she's screwing with me.
Camille the naughty school girl, who'd been about two minutes away from agreeing to come home with me, glares at me in disgust. “Jerk,” she spits, spinning and flouncing away.
I'm still in shock from the feel of Ibbie's lips on my skin and the warmth of her arm around my waist, so it takes my empty mind a second to catch up. Then I'm just torn between being utterly pissed at this little heathen for ruining a sure thing and impressed that she can get her tiny waist to stick out that far. She looks like she could be five months fucking pregnant. No wonder Camille looked at me like I was a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of her shoe.
“You're an ass,” I tell Ibbie.
“I'm hilarious,” she counters.
“How'd you even get your stomach to do that?”
She pulls her arm away from me, smiling smugly, and immediately my skin screams out for her missing contact. “It's a special skill.”
“Yeah, you put that on your fuckin' resume?”
“Duh.”
Dismissing me now that she's successfully ruined my night, she leans against the bar and signals the bartender. I've been waiting to be served by him for twenty minutes but the second he clocks her smiling prettily he immediately flashes over. Not that I can blame the guy really. With that bouncy blonde hair and those big eyelashes and her skintight fucking bumble bee costume, she looks like Barbie's better looking sister. She orders two lemon drops – yeah, I totally called that one – and pushes one my way. Rolling my eyes, I slide it back, because there's no way on earth you'll catch me drinking that shit. Shrugging, she slugs them both back then slams the shot glasses down with a satisfied smile. When she smiles like that, she gets these two little dimples on each of her cheeks and they sock me in the gut. Every. Single. Time.
“Thanks for ruining a sure thing,” I bite out, because that's just how I react whenever she's in front of me and my insides start doing a fucking circus show. “What the hell was that for?”
“Mainly for kicks and giggles,” she replies airily, tossing her hair behind her shoulder. “And also because I owed you one. That creepy hobo is now wearing my best panties as a hat, you jerk.”
I can't help but laugh at that, which only makes her glare. “What?” I demand innocently. “It was funny.”
“Well I'll be the one laughing when I cockblock you every time I see you anywhere near a hot girl. Every time.”
“You wouldn't.”
“Watch me.” She pretends to shoot me with a pair of finger guns, then she blows away the imaginary smoke. “Cockblocked!”
“How about a big fat fuck off?”
“How about we call a truce?”
Quit messing with her? And miss the way she gets all angry and fired up and grouchy? “Fuckin' never.”
“That's what I thought.”
“I think we both know what this is really about.”
She arches a thin eyebrow at me. It's a shade or two darker than her hair. “We do?”
“You were just jealous.” Each time I say something that angers her, her cheeks get these two brilliant pink dots on them. I'm obsessed with those dots. “Obviously you want me all to yourself – not that I can blame ya, princess. But this hot bod ain't for you, girl.”
Instead of storming off in outrage like most girls would, she pretends to gag. This girl is never afraid to give as good as she gets – it's one of the things I like most about her. I've never enjoyed being around anyone the way I do when I'm fighting with her. “I hate that our friends are friends and that we actually have to see each other. Like, regularly. You make my life miserable.”
Ouch. That one stung. But I'm shit hot at hiding when things get to me, especially when it comes to her. Hell, no one knows that she gets to me, after all. At least, not in the way they think she does. I school my expression into something lazy and amused. “Please, you love when I screw with you. Bet it gets your panties all hot and wet when you're laying in bed thinkin' about me at night.”
I wait for her to get embarrassed at that, and she doesn't disappoint. Those cheeks get even brighter and her big, bright blue eyes widen comically. She looks like she belongs in a Disney movie. I bet birds fucking dress her in the morning and make her pancakes and clean up her mess while she's out on stage making everyone fall in love with her. “You know what you are? You're just a gross freak. From now on keep whatever futurenanigans you've got planned to yourself and leave me out of them – bug somebody else for a change. I'm done with you.” Yeah, she says that a lot. “And stop wriggling those eyebrow pubes at me!”
“Jesus, it's like talking to a fuckin' coconut. I don't even understand half of what you say.”
“So don't talk to me, ya dumb mo. It's not rocket science.”
This girl gets me more riled up than anyone I've ever met. I'm about to retort when a hand claps down on my shoulder, and Ibbie immediately perks up with interest at the figure behind me. This pisses me off, but when I spin and see my brother, Aleix, standing there, a grin stretches out my cheeks involuntarily. Aleix is only a few years older than I am, but when our mom went and abandoned us when I was twelve he took care of me, watched over me and never once failed to have my back. The guy's my fucking hero.
“Hey, bud. Knew you'd be here.” He nods at the bartender and the guy quickly makes his way over, even though he went back to ignoring me the second he'd finished with Ibbie. But that's just the kind of man my brother is; people look at him and automatically know he's a guy they want to get things done for.
“You only just finished with your clients?”
“Took them out, wined 'em and dined 'em, got the deal.” He flashes me a toothy grin as he orders us a couple of beers. “I always get the deal.”
Ibbie is watching on curiously, obviously trying to figure out the connection between the two of us – it's always the same when Aleix and I are together. He catches her looking and stands up straighter with interest. A flare of something white hot and jealous flames in my chest.
“Well hey there, beautiful.” He takes her hand and brings it to his lips. “I'm Aleix, Walt's brother. And who might you be?”
She blinks in surprise. “I'm Ibbie. Now wait just a cotton picking minute, did you say you were his brother?”
Though Aleix and I look alike with our dark hair and our dark eyes and our similar features, we're just about as opposite as two guys can get. Aleix is a management consultant, and he fits the part well – he's smooth, polished and educated with his smart suits and his shiny shoes and his expensive watches and his classic good looks. And I'm a tattoo artist who barely scraped his way through high school. When people look at me they see a grumpy, tattooed, pierced punk. When they look at my brother, they see a man who's got his life together.
“You got it.” He flashes a smile at her. It's his deal closing smile, and of course it works on her. I can practically see the stars forming in her eyes as she gazes up at him. “So may I get you a drink, beautiful Ibbie?”
She flutters her eyelashes. “You may.”
When she turns to the bar, Aleix quickly shoots me a look. “Not stepping on your toes, right?” he asks quietly. “She's not one of yours?”
I want to tell him to back off, to tell him to keep his hands off her because she's. . .because she's. . .mine. But she isn't, so instead I grit my teeth and force out a smile. “Go for it, man.”
+++
FOR THE NEXT hour I'm forced to watch the two of them flirt. Ibbie eats up the shit he's dishing out like she's never met anyone so goddamned charming before, and it drives me fucking crazy. It drives me fucking crazy because I like the stupid girl so much I don't even know what to do with it.
Yeah, I like her. I'm an ass to her, but I like her.
Hell, I more than like her. I've been head over heels for her almost from the very first time Jemma brought her around. She annoyed the hell out of me at first – was just this psychotic, crazy as shit little pixie who wore stupidly bright clothes and never stopped talking long enough for anyone else to get a word in. When somebody annoys me like she did, I'm a dick. I just don't see the point of playing nice. The more I saw her, the more irritated I got. She drove me insane to the point of distraction. I couldn't stop thinking about her.
It didn't take me long to figure out that I was in love with the girl I hated. Except I didn't hate her, obviously. Not at all. But by the time I realized how deep my feelings ran it was too late, she already thought I was an ass.
She was just so different to the other girls I knew, and so much better than me. I knew that, and it pissed me off. Guys like me didn't get princesses like her. And I. . .I didn't know how to act around her, how to be around her. The feelings I had, I didn't know what to do with them. So instead of being a decent guy and apologizing, I just kept lashing out. Didn't help that she gave it right back, that she drove me just as crazy as I drove her.
So I kept bugging her and bugging her like that annoying kid on the playground pulling the pretty girl's pigtails, because all I ever really wanted was her attention. I sure as hell got it.
I piss her off because I love the fire she gets in her eyes when she looks my way. As for guys, whenever I see her with one I do everything in my power to scare him away. That's my genius plan and I'm sticking with it.
I'm seriously pathetic.
And now I'm sat here watching my perfect older brother, the one guy I can't scare away, sweep the girl I'm crazy about off her feet, and there's nothing I can do to stop it.
Reid joins me a while later at the bar as I watch Ibbie and Aleix dance. I've never talked about my feelings for her with him, or with anyone, but he's always known me better than most.
“You okay?”
I take a sip of my drink, but I've been staring over at Ibbie and Aleix – at the way her body moves and the way his hands are all over her fucking skin – for so long that the ice has melted and it tastes like shit. “I'm fine.”
“You should go ask her to dance.”
“Don't know what you're talkin' about.”
Reid was never one for accepting bullshit. “If you don't do something you're gonna lose your chance with her.”
“Dude.” I shake my head, abandoning the drink on the bar. “Don't go there.” Because there's just no point. Ibbie already hates me, and even if she didn't I could never offer her even close to anything Aleix could.
“Just let her see the real you for once.” He grins. “You know, the one who ain't a complete dick.”
“I said I don't know what you're talkin' about,” I reply stubbornly. Standing, I slap his shoulder a little too hard. “Anyway, I gotta split. Got a client in early tomorrow.”
“At my place?”
“Digby's.” Ever since Reid opened up his own tattoo shop, I've been splitting my time between his business and the tattoo shop we used to work in together when we first started out. I earn more with Digby, but Reid's been my best friend since middle school and I'd do anything for him. “This guy can only come in Sunday mornings, so I need to shoot and get some sleep.”
“Just give yourself some credit,” Reid continues, clinging to this Ibbie thing like a dog with a bone. “And give her some too.”
Backing away, I hold my hands up in front of me. “Look, we both know she's too good for a shit like me. Let's not go there, okay?”
“That's the same thing I thought about me and Jem. You see that stopping me?”
“I'm going,” I say sternly, spinning and pushing through the crowds of people.
“Just wanna see you happy too, bro,” he calls to my back, but I don't turn around.
+++
EVEN THOUGH I really do need to be up early in the morning, sleep is impossible when I get home to my apartment in Bushwick. There are too many images of Ibbie and my brother taking up space in my head and it makes me want to smash the hell out of my furniture. I try to lose myself in my charcoals for a while, but for the first time I fail to disappear into my art.
Aleix finally gets back an hour and a half after I do, still completely sober. He rarely drinks more than a beer or two, unwilling to lose control and composure, especially when he's trying to seal a deal – whether that be in business or with a woman.
“Thanks for letting me crash here tonight. Didn't feel like driving home,” he tells me, loosening his tie and collapsing on my leather sofa. “I should just buy an apartment here. I'm in the city enough.”
Yeah, that's how rich big bro is. Rich enough to own a house an hour outside the city and still be able to afford a casual apartment for when he can't be assed driving home. Why the hell would a girl like Ibbie want me when she could have someone like him?
“You get Ibbie home okay?”
“Course I did. Escorted that cutie right to her front door.” That's Aleix for you, ever the gentleman. It's why, despite the fact that he's after the woman I want, I can't hate him. He's just a good guy. Way better than me.
“Planning on seeing her again?” I ask casually, flicking on the TV.
“Hell yeah. You've seen her right? That chick is hot as hell.” And funny, and smart, and sweet, and mother fucking crazy. “Did you know she's an actress? Never dated an actress before.”
I keep my eyes planted firmly on the TV screen, though I have no clue what's even showing. “You sure this is a good idea? You live pretty far away.”
“Dude, it's just an hour. Not like I need to hop on a plane.”
“I don't know, I don't think you and Ibbie are a good fit.”
“This 'cause the two of you don't get along?” I see him grin out of the corner of my eye, and I realize Ibbie must have told him. “Or 'cause you wish you got along better?”
I whip my head around to face him. There's a knowing look in his eyes, and it rubs me up the wrong way. “I just think you should back off, that's all. She's got stuff going on. Her shows and. . .and her. . .other stuff.”
He roars with laughter, punching me in the shoulder and stealing control of the remote. “Come on, baby bro. Lighten up. It's just a little fun.”
I resist the urge to punch him. But only just.
