Gravity Happens (Forcing Gravity) (23 page)

“Hi!” she said exuberantly.

“Hi?” I questioned, narrowing my eyes at her.

She grinned. “I have a lot to tell you,” she said coyly, and I nodded, thinking to myself that I might have to kill my two best friends for keeping s
omething so monumental like the fact that they were dating a secret.

Then Ethan leaned over from the driver’s seat and grinned at me. He looked happier than I’d seen him in months, and I knew instantly it was because of Nora.

“I totally want details,” I murmured to her as she let me into the backseat.

She just winked at me, so I knew she’d tell me everything
as soon as we were alone.

Chapter Fourteen

Ethan

“I’m going to the restroom,” Nora said as soon as we sat down in the booth at
a new Tex-Mex place she’d suggested.

Then she leaned over and kissed me just long enough and hard enough that I knew she was going to let me sleep with her that night. We’d been dancing around the subject since her booty call to me the weekend before, and as much as I’d wanted to jump right into her bed, I’d held off. I knew she was embarrassed by how brazen she’d been, so
just like with our first kiss, I was going to let her make the call when she was ready.

We’d spent almost all week together, aside from when we were in class and when she was working, and she’d even stayed at my house the past two nights, but we hadn’t gone past making out. Which was fine, but I was practically in blue ball hell
, since most times I’d get close enough to get excited, but we never took things far enough where I could actually finish. Tonight that was going to change. I could tell.

When Nora pulled away, she smiled and winked at me. Then she was gone, and
Logan was watching me from across the table with a smirk on her face. I hadn’t talked to her outside of a few texts all week since I’d been visiting Noraland regularly, and she’d been talking to Jase whenever she could. And I realized for the first time that we were both preoccupied by other people.

It was a first for us since I’d never had a girlfriend before, and dare I say that I was pretty sure Nora was my girlfriend even though we hadn’t labeled anything yet.

“What?” I asked, as she started to peruse the menu in front of her with that smirk still plastered on her face.

“Nothing,” she said
, and just shook her head and continued to look down, fighting the smile that was trying to poke through.

“Yes, we’re dating,” I said then, because I knew it was what she
was waiting to hear.

“You are!” she cheered,
her head whipping up to meet my gaze, her blue eyes alight. “That is so exciting! I’m so happy for you, E.”

Yup, I was moving on. I’d be lying to myself if I said I didn’t still carry a torch for her, but she would never be mine, and I think I
’d finally realized that. And in doing so, I’d scored myself a pretty amazing girl.

“Yeah, yeah. It’s great. I’m happy. She’s cool as shit, and I’m trying to block out the fact that her brother is Jase.”

“Hey,” Logan said, frowning suddenly. “Not cool, Ethan.”

“Sorry. I’m sorry. I will one day like him, I promise, but it might take a while. I’ve got history with the guy.”

She rolled her eyes. “That was like five years ago. So what if he was a douchebag in high school. Get over it. I love him, he’s in my life, and I’d like you two to be friends.”

“I’d like that too,” Nora said suddenly, sliding back in next to me, her hand immediately going to my leg where it stayed, resting on my thigh.

I liked
that.

“Fine, I’ll make an effort,” I promised, knowing I wasn’t
going to get anywhere with those two. They were both on Team Jase.

“Thank you,” Logan said, smiling brightly at me as her phone dinged and he
r smile was suddenly directed at it and what was surely a text message from Jase.

I watched her fire off a text as Nora’s hand slid higher up my leg. I turned to look at her.

“What are you doing?” I asked under my breath.

She shrugged. “Nothing much.”

I smirked at her coyness. “Um, it’s a little something.”

“It’s not so little,” she said, grinning wickedly at me,
as her hand brushed the edge of my dick over my jeans. I jumped, which made her chuckle.

It wasn’t the first time she’d touched me there. We’d messed around, took some of our clothes off,
and she’d teased me, but something about what she was doing felt different. She was more aggressive all of a sudden, and I desperately wanted to see what she had up her sleeve.

“It’s driving me a little insane,” I whispered, truly not wanting her to stop.

She grinned. “Good. That’s exactly what I was aiming for,” she said, as her hand moved higher.

I chanced a glance at Logan
as I sucked in a breath through my teeth, but she was immersed in her text conversation with Jase and not paying us any attention. Which was good, because suddenly Nora’s lips were at my ear, and her hand was full-on cupping my junk.

“I’m excited to go back to your place tonight,” she said softly, as she started to massage me. I felt her smile
against my earlobe. “I can see you like that idea.”

I turned to her. “What’s not to like?”

She grinned.

“So, what’s everyone ordering?” Logan suddenly asked, and Nora’s hand released me, forcing me to internalize a groan. I saw Logan’s eyes narrow. “What are you two doing over there?”

“Nothing,” Nora said, as she flipped nonchalantly through her menu. “How’s Jase?”

Yeah, way to distract her. Good job.

Logan smiled widely. “He’s good. The cast went out to dinner tonight, and now they’re having drinks at the hotel bar.”

“You wish you were there, don’t you?” Nora asked, as she closed her menu, having apparently decided what she was getting.

Logan shrugged. “I just miss him, but I’ll see him tomorrow.”

“Then why do you look sad?” Nora questioned.

Logan played with the edge of her menu. “Because after he flies out Monday morning, I won’t see him again for a month. I knew when he left he would come back for the Oscars, so that was something to look forward to, but now he doesn’t have a reason to come back.”

“He has you,” I suddenly spat out, getting irritated that Logan was devaluing herself.

“Yeah, but he’s going to be really busy. His schedule is so intense with filming and publicity appearances in New Orleans, not to mention he’s flying to New York in a few weeks to do an interview and a photo shoot for
Rolling Stone
to promote the movie.”

Nora shook her head. “Yeah, but I know my brother, and he’ll do what he has to do to close the distance. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“Yeah, you’re right. He probably will,” Logan said, but I didn’t believe her.

“He will,” Nora insisted. “Trust me.”

Logan smiled and shrugged. “Yeah, you’re right. He will.”

I was glad she’d finally found her common sense. Even I knew Jase was crazy about her.

Throughout the rest of the meal, we had easy conversations about school, surfing and even Spring Break. I was considering going to Cancun, but when Nora said she was staying in town to teach a week long horseback riding camp to underprivileged girls, I thought I might want to stick around. I could always surf in my backyard. It was one of the perks of living on the beach.

As we were leaving the restaurant we were suddenly bombarded by three photographers who started to talking to Logan.

“Hey Logan,” one said, and she looked up at him.

I knew instantly by the look on her face that she knew him, and she didn’t like him. She looked away and didn’t say anything, but he suddenly thrust something in her face.

“Any comments on this?” he asked, as the other photographers snapped pictures of us waiting for the valet to bring my car around.

“No,” she said tightly, looking away from what I could tell was a picture
of Jase and Chloe.

The photographer grinned as if he’d known what her reaction would have been. “Yeah, I figured as much. That online website used an old picture, because they didn’t have a new one. But they do now.”

“What?” Logan asked, her head snapping up, and I knew she instantly regretted playing into the photographer’s hand.

He smirked at her. “Take a look. You can be one of the first to see it. They just uploaded it an hour ago. My buddy’s been camped out down in New Orleans, and it seems your boyfriend was cozied up with his ex-g
irlfriend tonight. Any thoughts?”

Logan just stood th
ere looking like she’d seen a ghost.

“Come on, Lo,” I said, suddenly grabbing her arm.

The car was there, so Nora climbed into the backseat, and I shoved Logan in the front seat as the guys behind us continued to take her picture. They didn’t stop until we drove away.

“What was that all about?” Nora asked, as Logan furiously typed something into her phone.

I saw Nora lean over the seat to get a better view. Logan suddenly held up her phone
, and Nora sucked in a breath. The picture was grainy, and it was taken with a telephoto lens, but it was pretty clear that Jase had been at dinner, Chloe was sitting next to him, and she was leaning into him and practically sitting on his lap as they both laughed.

“Lo, that doesn’t mean anything,” Nora insisted. “It’s probably another old picture. Just ignore it.”

Logan shook her head. “No, I bought him that shirt for his birthday. The picture’s recent. Charlie’s also sitting next to him. I can see half of his face.”

“Well, it doesn’t mean anything except they went to dinner. Don’t read into it. It’s what Chloe wants. I would bet that she’s not above trying to get as close to him as she can by any means necessary.”

I didn’t know Chloe, but Nora seemed to, and I knew she’d had some run-ins with Logan before, so I tended to side with Nora. Chloe seemed like a shady bitch if you asked me.

Logan suddenly steeled herself. “I know. You’r
e right. It’s fine. I trust him,” she said, almost as if she was trying to convince herself that she believed what she said.

I looked over at her as I drove. She was sitting up straight and looking out the window.
It pissed me off that she was so insecure all of a sudden. She never used to be like that.

“You
should
trust him, Lo,” I said, not believing I was saying it, but I was being honest. I didn’t think Jase would hurt her. He loved her. That much I knew.

She didn’t respond. She just continued to look out the window at the scenery.

“You still want me to drop you off at his house?” I asked her.

That had been the
original plan since he’d be arriving back in L.A. around noon the next day, and I knew she wanted to be there when he got home.

She
turned to me with new resolve in her features.

“Yes, I still want to go there,” she said confidently. “
You’re right, Ethan. I’m not going to let this get to me. He’s an actor. He’ll have to go on location from time to time, and I can’t wig out and get all crazy when he does or when some picture of him and a pretty girl shows up online. I’m not doing it anymore. Jase deserves at least that from me.”

“Good plan,” Nora said,
patting Logan on the shoulder, playing the role of her cheerleader.

Logan nodded once, and I turned on the radio, feeling like there might be a need to break the tension just a bit.
I didn’t think the conversation needed to be dwelled on any longer since it would just agitate Logan if she overthought her relationship. At the end of the day, Jase was a good guy, and I needed to start believing that, even if it was only to remind her how good she had it.

We dropped Logan off at
Jase’s house, and I waited until she was inside before I backed out of the driveway and made my way back down through the Hollywood Hills. As we stopped at a light at the bottom of the hill, Nora’s hand slid back to where it had been during dinner.

I looked over at her and smiled. “Hi there.”

“Hi,” she said, her eyes hooded as she looked at me and simultaneously rubbed her hand over the bulge in my jeans.

As I started to pull forward into traffic, she started to pull down on my zipper. Within seconds her hand was inside my pants, and she was massaging me in a way that was slowly driving me crazy. I was glad I hadn’t drank at dinner, because with what she was doing to me, I suddenly felt drunk, and if alcohol had been added to the mix, I might have crashed my car.

I closed my eyes at a light and took a few deep breaths.

“You okay over there?” she asked, and I opened my eyes to look at her. Then without thinking, I leaned over, grabbed her face in my hands and pulled her lips to mine, devouring her mouth as she started
to move her hand faster over me, but this time her hand slipped into my boxers. Back and forth, back and forth, running up my length and down, her fingers wrapped around me, skin to skin.