The Price of Love (A Price Novel Book 1) (27 page)

“Yes, I think so.” I said. “Why?”

“This last year has been the best year of my life, and I am so thankful for you. I’m so excited to start a new year with you.” He kissed me.

“Well, so am I.”

“I just wanted you to know that, that’s all.”

That made me a little nervous. Sitting up, I turned on the lamp. “What does that mean, Slayde? I feel like you aren’t telling me something.”

“It’s nothing like that. I just know that with this movie coming out, and you starting your internship this year, it’s going to be a new adventure for us both. I just wanted to let you know what was most important to me, and that’s us. So when it gets hard, we can hold on to that, and let that get us through the not-so-fun parts.”

I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but I turned the light back off and lay down.

I really didn’t want our vacation to end. I wasn’t ready for school to start back up, and I sure wasn’t ready for Slayde to be gone again. But I was happy about one thing: seeing Milly.

When I walked in to the house, it looked like maybe she had already been there a few days. “Mills,” I called, and went to her room, opening the door. But I didn’t find Milly there. I found Eddie. In just his boxers.

I walked back out, thinking he was definitely as hot as I had thought.
Go, Milly!
But where was Milly?

Eddie came out with his clothes on. “Sorry about that. I didn’t know you were here.” I walked over and hugged him.

“Where’s Milly?”

“Gone to get food. Are you hungry?”

“No, Lexi insisted we eat before we left.”

“Where’s Slayde?” Eddie asked.

“I guess getting the luggage. He was right behind me.”

Eddie went out to help. I liked Eddie. That’s when I remembered that they’d never met. I ran outside. “Slayde, Eddie.”

Slayde smiled. “We figured it out.”

They both came in with our luggage and put it on our bed. “Thanks, man,” Slayde said. I realized I was staring at Eddie. Slayde must have remembered that I had said he was my type, because he put his arms around my waist, pulling me to him. “Where’s Milly?”

“Right here.” We turned around to see Milly with a case of beer and two pizzas. “Hungry?”

“Just ate,” Slayde said. “Looks like you had a good holiday.”

“Yeah, my family was all at my parents’, and as soon as I could get the hell out, I did. I’ve been back four days. Eddie and I have been just enjoying doing nothing. He has to work tonight, though,” she said, poking out her lip.

“Well, we may just have to come by for drinks from our favorite bartender,” I said, looking at Eddie.

Slayde squeezed me playfully, again reminding me of what I’d said. “I thought we were going to a movie, Arden.”

“Oh yeah. Sorry, Eddie! Milly, you wanna go see a movie?” I asked.

“What movie?” she asked.

“Some chick flick, I’m sure,” Slayde remarked.

Eddie said, “Hate that I’m gonna miss that.”

Slayde laughed. “You and me both.”

I swung at him.

After Milly and Eddie ate, Eddie left for work, and Milly joined Slayde and me in our room, where we were putting away our clothes.

Apparently I hadn’t gotten out of the whole checking out Eddie thing. Slayde didn’t seem mad, but he wanted me to know that he noticed. “Arden, I’ve never seen you flirt with anyone other than me, but you were flirting with Eddie.”

“Oh, Slayde, I don’t have a problem with her flirting with my boyfriend. I flirt with hers,” Milly said, batting her eyes at Slayde.

“Boyfriend?” I asked.

She smiled. “I guess.”

“Like, you’ve talked about it?”

Slayde, realizing this had just become a Milly-and-me conversation, left the room.

“Well, he introduced me to his mother as his girlfriend,” she said, lying back on our bed.

“You met his mother?”

“Yes, and his dad and sisters. They’re great.”

“Hello! You didn’t think that was at least worthy of a text?”

“Oh, I wanted to wait and surprise you.” She smiled. “Merry Christmas.”

“Well, I am surprised. But I’m really happy. It’s a good surprise.”

Slayde fell asleep on the couch while Milly was giving me the lowdown, and he was just so cute that I couldn’t wake him. So, Milly and I watched two of the
Twilight
movies in my room, had cold pizza and wine, and caught up. It was some Milly time that I had seriously needed.

“I can’t believe Brady acted like that in front of his girlfriend,” she said.

“I know. It was very embarrassing,” I said.

“Are he and Slayde OK?”

“They haven’t spoken.”

“Is Slayde upset?”

“No, he’s pissed. He doesn’t think Brady has a right to be mad.”

“Well, he doesn’t at you, but at Slayde, he does. Slayde should have told him. I thought they were closer than that.”

“They are, but I guess Slayde knew he would act that way, so he didn’t tell him.”

“Or maybe Slayde felt guilty about it.”

That pissed me off. “About what? Brady cheated on me. Numerous times. With my sisters, don’t forget.”

“Is that why you went out with Slayde? He’s Brady’s brother.”

“Are you serious? I don’t care what Brady thinks. He can kiss my ass.”

“OK, just checking.”

We were interrupted by Slayde walking in with his eyes half-closed. “I missed you, Milly, but you aren’t sleeping with us. Go to bed,” he said, falling into bed.

“Fine,” she said. “’Night. Love you too. Glad you’re home.”

“Love you.”

After she shut the door, I whispered, “Slayde?”

“Hmmm?”

“You still awake?”

“Depends.”

“Well, that’s not why, but I want to ask you something.”

He opened his eyes. “What?”

“Why didn’t you tell Brady we were dating until our trip?”

He rolled over on his back and let out a deep breath. “I guess I didn’t want to fight with him. I knew he was going to be pissed, but I can’t help it. He’ll have to get over it.”

“Are you sure that’s why?”

He looked at me. “Yeah. Why else?”

I shrugged and rolled over to turn off the lamp. “Just checking,” I said.

He reached around my waist, pulling me to him. “While we’re just checking — what’s up with you and Eddie?” he asked, kind of laughing.

I giggled. “Nothing. I just think he’s cute, that’s all.”

“Oh, OK,” he said, kissing the back of my head. “Good night.”

W
hen Slayde’s movie came out in February, it was a huge success. I was happy for him, and happy the filming was over. But I knew that wouldn’t be it. This movie was based on a series. So when Slayde called and told me he’d been offered a contract to commit to two more movies, I was not hugely surprised.

I was sitting on my bed studying when he called to give me the news. “You are never going to believe this, but they want to me to commit to two more films. What do you think?” he asked.

“That’s great. Are you going to do it?” I asked.

“Well, I want to. What do you think?”

“If you want to do it, then do it.”

“You’re OK with that?”

“Slayde, this is your life, baby. It’s your choice. I support you.” I felt awful lying about my real feelings, but I felt awful being that selfish. I would have to pretend I was happy about it because he was so excited.

*****

We entered a whole new world with the success of his first movie. Everywhere Slayde went, the press was hounding him and taking pictures of everything he did. It was crazy, and I really hated it. I missed the days when we would snuggle up in the hotel all weekend and go out with our friends and no one cared who he was.

Living with a celebrity was starting to wear on Milly and me. Slayde hadn’t changed one bit, but the way we had to go about life sure had. The paparazzi knew where we lived and showed up all the time, whether Slayde was in town or not. What med student wants to come home to that after class all day? Milly and I started spending more time in our dorm to escape the madness.

One particular day was really bad. Milly and I were going to have a huge test the next morning, and we had been in the library for hours the night before, so we were exhausted. We had decided to stay at the house and were almost home when this freak jumped out of the bushes and started asking where Slayde was and were we still together. He followed us, getting into our personal space and taking pictures, until Milly and I went inside. It was so strange — nobody cared about us.

When we got inside, Milly looked at me. “You think this is going to last forever? Maybe we should move.” She shot me a sincere look of concern, and I had to admit I knew where she was coming from.

When Slayde called on his way home that night, I was already feeling grumpy. It wasn’t that this was his fault, but it was because of him that this was happening. He said, “I think I am just going to stay at my parents’ tonight. I just drove by and it looks like there are paparazzi outside. I’m tired and don’t feel like dealing with that tonight.”

I had already been close to my boiling point, and that was it for me. “Are you freaking kidding me?” I shouted. “You don’t want to deal with it? What about me? What about Milly? We didn’t ask for this, Slayde, and we don’t have the luxury of going to stay at our parents’.”

“You can stay at the dorm.”

Oh my gosh, is he that stupid?
“You’re right. That’s exactly what we are going to do. You just do what you gotta do, and I’ll see you around.” I hung up.

Milly came in. “What was that about? You guys don’t fight.”

I looked at her like she was nuts. “Yes, we do. We just don’t usually do it that loud.”

“So, what did he say that made you get that loud?” I summarized our conversation and she laughed. “OK, he deserved that. But maybe he has a point. Maybe we should stay at the dorm full-time for a little while. I’m tired of this shit every day.”

I was too, but I felt like I was leaving Slayde, and I didn’t want that. I loved living with him. “I don’t know what I want to do, but tomorrow night I am definitely staying there.”

I felt my phone vibrate on the bed beside me. It was Slayde, and I cut it off. I wasn’t in the mood for this, and I knew he would eventually get me to forgive him if I had to talk to him, so I just chose to stay mad.

I should have known that he wasn’t going to let it go, and about two hours later, when we were reading in my bed, he came home.

“Thought you were staying at your mommy and daddy’s,” Milly said.

He ignored her sarcastic tone. “I changed my mind.”

“How nice of you to decide to slum it here with us,” she said.

“Shut up, Milly,” he said and went to take a shower. I never looked up from my notes until he shut the bathroom door.

Milly started laughing quietly and rolled over on her back. She whispered, “I knew he’d come home.”

I rolled my eyes and just shook my head. I had known he would too, which was partly why I hadn’t answered his calls. “Well, since he’s staying, let’s go to your room and study.”

We gathered all the books and notebooks that we’d spread out on my bed and carried them to Milly’s room, where we began to reassemble our workspace on her bed. We had just gotten it all back the way we had had it when Slayde opened the door. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked.

“Sure, what do you need?” Milly asked.

He ignored her. I could see he was pissed, and I got up and followed him to our room. “What’s your deal?” he asked, once I’d shut the door.

“My deal? Seriously, I know you aren’t that dense.”

“I just didn’t want to deal with it, Arden, that’s it. It wasn’t personal.”

“Well, I totally understand, and Milly and I have decided that we don’t want to deal with it either, so we won’t be staying here for a while.”

I started to leave and go back to Milly when he grabbed my arm. “Are you serious?” He wasn’t trying to fight anymore; he was upset, and he had started chewing on his cheek. “So, you’re leaving me? Moving out?”

Taking a deep breath, I said, “No, I just need some space. We — Milly and I — just need some space.”

“From me?”

“From your life, Slayde.”

“Well, that worries me, because you are my life.”

“Well, right now I feel like an accessory to your life, and I really don’t like it.”

“But you said you were OK with me doing this. I thought you supported me.”

“Supporting you and being harassed because of it are two different things. I don’t like not being able to walk into my house.”

“OK, then stay at the dorm a while. Can I come stay too?”

“They will just follow you. What would be the point?”

“So, what then? We aren’t living together anymore?”

“Let me get through these tests, please, and then I’ll stay here when you’re here. You can come get me.”

“What about Milly?”

“I don’t know. That’s up to her, but right now she’s got to make a B on this test, so we have to study.”

“Are you sleeping in there with her?”

“I doubt we will be sleeping at all. The test is tomorrow.”

“Well, good luck.” He pulled me to him and kissed me. “Good night.” I went back to study.

*****

For the next few months, that’s what we did. Milly and I stayed at the dorm unless Slayde was in town, and he would come and get us.

I was getting ready to start my internship, and I was completely stressed out. I had no time for anything. Slayde was home less and less often, and it was beginning to bother me. I knew that he missed me and would rather be home with me, but he had a commitment to his career and couldn’t do anything about it.

He was flying all over the world, promoting his movie and doing interviews and talk show appearances, and sometimes he would be home for less than twelve hours at a time. I supposed that was better than nothing, but I wondered how much longer I could live like this. Of course I joined him whenever I could, but I only had so much free time, and tagging along with him down a red carpet while people screamed his name and took photos was about as fun as a bad day in hell.

I was in a bad place. I couldn’t imagine life without Slayde, but at the same time, I felt like I was already living my life without him. I had put more than eight years into school, and I wasn’t going to stop now, no matter how successful Slayde became. I still had my own dreams. He had mentioned more than once that he wished I would take a break from school and go with him, but he didn’t push the issue. He knew how important my future career was to me. However, sometimes I wished I could do just that.