Hollywood Rebel by Misti Murphy
Chapter Nine
Summer
“Why are you dressed like that?” my best friend and roommate Jennie asks as she crosses the living room in a red lace thong and boob tape holding her ample cleavage in place.
“Why are you dressed like that?” I call after her as she disappears into the tiny kitchen we share, before tossing a kernel of popcorn up in the air and trying to catch it in my mouth.
“Because it’s girl’s night, duh,” she says, returning with an icy cold bottle of vodka and two glasses. Pointing at me, she indicates my choice of sweatpants and a blue tank top that actually fits me and doesn’t smell like Rebel. “What’s your excuse? Why aren’t you getting ready?”
“I thought girl’s night was code for boxed wine and bad movies in our pajamas.”
“Well, you thought wrong, sista.” She pours a generous drop of the clear liquid into a glass and hands it to me. “We’re going dancing.”
I groan and sink deeper into my curled up position on the sofa. I love dancing, but after the week I’ve had I was really hoping for a quiet night in. My muscles are aching, and I think I might be coming down with a cold from getting soaked in the rain, plus I really need to work on Rebel’s social media now that I have access to his accounts. “Can we do it next weekend instead?”
“No.” She pours herself a drink and puts the bottle down so she can toss the shot down her throat. “You need this as much as I do. I know you do. Besides, we’re meeting people we went to school with.”
“I haven’t seen anyone from school in six months.” Most of them, not since we graduated. I haven’t had the time while I’ve been trying to work my way up from lowly coffee bitch to the job I actually studied for. So the idea of catching up with friends sounds good.
“Even more reason we should go out tonight. Bray will be there,” Jennie singsongs as she refills both our glasses. “You should wear that dress with the low back.”
“The crushed velvet?” It’s the skimpiest dress I own. A random online purchase under the influence of a nice drop of chateau de cardboard and a bestie who thinks less is more applies to clothing. “I thought you said it was girl’s night.”
“Change of plans.” She grins. “And in that dress Bray won’t be able to take his eyes off you.”
“I’m not interested in Bray.” I take another sip of the vodka. It’s not Bray’s stable brown eyes that I see when I imagine someone staring at me. It’s the ice and fire blues of the fiend himself. He’s volatile and dangerous and he makes my pulse race.
“Babe. You should see your face right now.” Jennie laughs. “Worst poker face in history.”
Ugh, I don’t know what I was thinking. Rebel is an asshole. I don’t like him. I loathe him. If he wasn’t my golden ticket to keeping my job with Bernadette…“It’s not like that. At all. We’re just friends.”
“Didn’t you two hook up though?”
“I wouldn’t say we hooked up.” He’s a nice guy and we might have made out at a party when we were both attending Cal State, but it never went anywhere. I wasn’t in a place to date, and we settled into this great platonic friendship instead. “Besides, it’s ancient history.”
“We only graduated twelve months ago.” Jennie shakes her head like I’m letting down the entire female population as she hurries off to get ready. “Now go get changed. We’re supposed to be meeting them in an hour.”
“But—”
“I won’t take no for an answer,” she warns me.
“Ugh, fine.” I put the bowl of popcorn on the junky crate we found on the curb and have consequently used as a side table ever since. Climbing to my feet, I take my vodka to the bedroom to get dressed.
“You look fire,” Jennie says when we meet in the living room forty minutes later.
I’m wearing the crushed velvet and I’ve done my makeup. My hair is in soft waves that bounce around my bare shoulders. I’ve even pulled on a pair of heels that I am so going to regret after a couple more drinks when my balance isn’t so great and I end up T over A.
She’s donned a short, strapless figure-hugging black dress with sheer panels that run the length of both sides. She picks up her clutch and drops her favorite Red Vixen lipstick into it.
I adjust the straps, which are the only thing that is securing the front of this dress to my torso. “Uh, look who’s talking? When did you buy that?”
“This morning. The Uber is here. Are you ready?”
“One minute.” I locate my wallet in my work bag and relocate it and my phone to a much smaller pouch that straps across my body. “Let’s go.”
It’s a short trip from the apartment to the club where we’re meeting Bray and the others. On the way Jennie fills me in on who else is coming. It’s mostly our old study group, but a couple of them are bringing their boyfriends and girlfriends.
The Uber driver is polite and friendly and turns up the radio when Jennie screams over the new Miley Cyrus song. My phone rings, but we’re both too busy belting out the lyrics for me to bother answering. It’s probably one of my brothers checking in on me like they usually do on the weekends. He’ll leave a message and I’ll call back when I’m home again.
The call cuts out at the same time Miley does.
Jennie giggles and apologizes to the Uber driver for our terrible singing voices.
My phone starts to ring again.
“They’re insistent tonight.” Jennie glances at me over her shoulder. “Which one is it?”
I roll my gaze at her as I pull my phone free from the pouch. “Probably Burke.”
“Burke’s hot,” Jennie says.
“You say that every single time.” I shake my head and glance at the screen. My belly flip flops. It’s not Burke. It’s not any of my brothers.
The device keeps ringing.
“Are you going to answer it?” Jennie asks, curiosity coloring her voice.
“I…” It’s Friday night and Rebel Maddox is not my problem. At least not for the next forty-eight hours. Even if answering him is tempting. I chew on the inside of my cheek. No, after today, after the tickle fight and the hand holding, I need to put boundaries in place or he’ll walk all over me. The fact that any of that happened under the guise of work in the first place is ridiculous. I let out the breath I’m holding. “I’m not.”
“Really? Who is it?”
I push my thumb down on the red spot on the screen and swipe him away. “Owen.”
“Damn, girl. You took on the big dog.” Jennie grins, her eyes wide.
God no. I could never ignore Owen. I don’t know why I lied to her, and such an implausible lie at that. But it’ll only mean more questions if I correct myself now. She’ll think I’m being weird.
Thankfully we pull up to the pavement outside the club.
“Come on, I see Bray and Posey in line.” Jennie grabs my hand and pulls me out of the Uber after her.
The line isn’t that long, and it moves fast while we catch up with our friends.
My phone starts to ring again as Bray sidles up to me. “How have you been, Summer?”
“Good. Great actually.” I pull the damn device out of my bag again. Rebel’s name is on my screen. Get the hint, I scream at him telepathically and hope he’ll suddenly get an itching need to go throw his phone in his pool. Or maybe run over it with Emmy, who was an absolute dream to drive, as it turns out.
“Should you get that?” Bray asks.
“No.” I swipe the call away. “It’s a client. An overbearing, demanding client who has no concept of personal time.”
My phone immediately starts to ring again.
“Perhaps you should answer it.” Bray shrugs. “Otherwise, they’ll probably keep calling.”
“Good point.” I smile up at him, and he smiles back. He’s a good-looking guy with a sweetheart personality. Nothing like the man on the other end of the line. Thankfully I get to hang out with the sweet one outside of work and not the bossy, rude jack hole. I hold up my finger to tell him I’ll only be a minute as I dart out of the line to answer the call. “Yes?”
“Red?”
I tip my head back and ask the man in the moon for the ability to handle the things that I cannot control. “What do you want, Rebel?”
“Where are you?” His gruff response comes right back at me.
“It’s Friday night. I’m out with my friends.” And that is as much as I’m willing to give him. “Can this wait until Monday?”
“Where, Red?”
“Just out.”
“Is that music? I can hear music,” he says.
“I’m at a club,” I admit. “Dancing with my friends. Happy?”
“What’s it called?”
“I don’t know.” I sigh audibly while I read the name of the club on the sign above the building. Empire. He’s exasperating, and if he imagines for one second that I’m going to tell him where I am he’s so wrong.
“Come on, we’re going in,” Jennie yells out to me while she waves her arms to hurry me up.
Bray steps out of line to join me. “I’ll wait with you, Sum. We can get back in line.”
“Who the fuck is that?” Rebel growls down the phone line. The sound vibrates right into my eardrum and down my spine to a point in my belly that apparently likes it for some reason that is totally beyond me.
“No that’s fine.” I ignore Rebel to talk to Bray. “I’m ready. Let’s go in.”
“Where are you, Red?” Rebel is still breathing down the phone line like he wants to climb through it to get to me.
“I’m not working tonight, Rebel,” I say as Bray takes my hand to lead me inside. “If you have something you need me to deal with in a hurry then message me the information. I’ll have a look at it before I see you on Monday.”
“Drink?” Bray asks when I drop my phone back in my bag.
“Please.” I cling to his back as we make our way to the bar. He squeezes my fingers in his. It’s nice and comfortable between us. There’s no weird power exchange or emotional eruptions. Bray is the kind of guy my brothers would probably almost accept if I were to date him.
He orders a ready to drink vodka for me and a pale ale for himself. Draws me toward the dance floor. Jennie and Posey have caught up with a couple of our other friends. The girls are dancing, and the guys are clumped in a group watching them.
“Come here.” Jennie grabs my arm and pulls me onto the dance floor.
Bray still has my other hand, so he follows. The others crowd around, and Jennie pulls out her phone and flips it to selfie mode, capturing us all in a group shot.
“You want to dance?” Bray asks as the group breaks apart.
I sip from my drink. “Okay.”
Thirty minutes later we split from the dance floor for more drinks. It’s cooler away from the writhing bodies. Bray’s fingers trail over my spine as he guides me to the bar. His breath stirs against my ear. “More of the same?”
“Sounds good.” I ignore the fact that he’s a little too handsy. It’s probably just me, because I’m constantly on while dealing with Rebel. We’ve always been like this, haven’t we?
He buys another round, and we find an empty spot by the wall to drink them.
He taps his finger on the top of his beer bottle and frowns at me as though he wants to say something.
“What’s on your mind?” I wrap my lips around my straw and suck.
“We’ve had a lot of fun together over the years, haven’t we?”
“Absolutely.” We were somewhat inseparable from the get-go. We went to all the parties together, dressed to match if it was a themed event, and then hung out in the corner and ignored almost everyone else.
“I had such a crush on you from the moment I saw you.” His gaze searches mine. “I still think about that kiss.”
“But I was too independent.” I push gently at his arm.
“You had so much to accomplish. It made sense that we didn’t date,” he says.
“Totally.” I have goals and ambition. There is too much that I need to prove to my brothers and myself to get sidetracked by a boy. Rebel’s face pops into my head anyway. Those stormy blues and that dirty smirk. I shove the image away because he isn’t going to ruin my night out. “Getting close to someone isn’t something I’m good at anyway.”
“That’s just because you’ve been too busy.” He pushes a tendril of my hair out of my face.
The crowd grows silent. It’s odd. The way the music grows louder and clearer, but at the same time there’s a weird hush. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Bray’s focus shifts from me to something over my shoulder.
I turn to see what’s going on. Security gestures for people to clear a path as they walk the trio through the crowd to the VIP section. I gape with absolute mortification at Rebel and Rogue and Riot. I ask him to consider going out in public and he decides it’s okay to take over my night off? “What the absolute fuck?”
“What’s wrong?” Bray drops his lips to my ear.
Is he stalking me now? How did he even find me? “This cannot be mere coincidence.”
“What can’t?” Bray is genuinely confused.
“Hey there, Red.” Rebel stops in front of me. His brothers flank him. He looks so at ease despite everyone staring at them.
Well, us now. I’m not so immune to it. All those eyes make me itchy.
“You know this guy?” Bray chokes out as he takes in the man who has decided to push his way into our evening. His eyes grow wide as he takes in the tattoos that adorn all three brothers. The scowl that furrows Rebel’s brow and makes him look menacing in the club lighting.
“Everyone knows me,” Rebel says, so matter of fact, there’s no ego to it.
“I mean…yeah. Of course, you’re Rebel Maddox.” Bray leans forward to offer his hand. “I’m Bray.”
Rebel stares at it but doesn’t reciprocate. “Summer, I need you.”
“I told you I’m unavailable.” I hold my ground. “I’m out with my friends. We’ll pick up where we left off on Monday morning.”
“You wanted me to go out,” he says, like it’s my fault he’s ruining my evening. “I’m here. I can’t do this without you.”
“He really can’t.” Rogue slings an arm around Rebel’s shoulders. “He needs you, Summer Heart. He needs you to keep him from creating a spectacle of himself.”
“He has you.” I appeal to Rogue before I turn to include Riot, the quiet younger brother. The one, who as far as I’ve been able to find out, hasn’t spent a night in jail. Rogue might be hit or miss, but surely Riot won’t let them get into trouble.
Riot shrugs. “I think you better join us.”
“But my friends.”
“Can fuck off,” Rebel says.
“What he meant to say is they should join us.” Rogue grins lazily while he taps Rebel on the shoulder. “He forgets his manners from time to time. Turns into a bit of a Neanderthal.”
Why couldn’t he be charming like Rogue? Or cool like Riot? Why did I have to open my mouth and tell Bernadette I would represent the biggest dirtbag of them all?
“Come on, Red.” He winks at me. “It’ll be fun.”
I doubt that very much. “Fine.”