Rock Star: The Contest (Book 2 of a Bad Boy Romance) (8 page)

“Oh, and don’t think for a moment I don’t have proof.” She held up what looked like a diamond studded phone and pressed a button. A short video of Chase and me kissing played out.

“Fail, and I delete it.”

She snorted and jumped into her car and sped off.

I took a seat for a moment, allowing the weight of what I was feeling to settle. My mind churned it all over. On one hand I could make it all go away by quitting there and then, but knowing her she would then release the video, or I could fail and trust her that she would delete it. But would she really delete it? I mean, she was the kind of girl that probably would have made a duplicate copy and then used it later if she lost the contest. It was perfect for blackmailing. Though I couldn’t see Chase caring about that. He’d had enough bad things said about him in the media. His name had been smeared more times than I could count.

I had to think this through. She wasn’t going to get away with this.

W
e closed
up early that night. I watched Sophie stroll off with Teddy, his arm loosely around her shoulders, hers around his waist. It was hard to think that we had been together only a few months ago. I had thought long and hard about making the decision to let Meghan know how I felt for her. I knew that I would hurt Sophie in the process. There was no easy way around it.

I truly did have feelings for Sophie. Those hadn’t changed, but they weren’t the same as what I felt for Meghan. Seeing her with Chase had made me realize that I had taken for granted the years we spent together as friends. There were countless times I could have told her how I felt. But I wasn’t really sure, to be entirely truthful.

When you grow up with someone, you assume they will stay the same. When you live in a small town and they own a business, you don’t imagine they will up and leave, or settle. I had always felt a deep love for Meghan.

It wasn’t as if I fell in love with her the first time I saw her. I was too young then. I spent time with her because of our parents’ friendship. It was nothing more than that. But it had developed over time like a fine whiskey. I had watched her develop from a girl to a woman. Long, dark flowing hair, her body changing. Her breasts looking larger. She was no longer the girl I went to school with, the girl that I shared apple juice with at her parents’. She was sexy, funny and someone I could see myself living with. Not just having sex. But settling down, or pursuing our dreams together. Me playing guitar and her singing. I wanted that for her. It wasn’t like I didn’t. I wanted her to travel and see the world, but I wanted to be there with her. Right beside her.

We had grown up together. I didn’t want to see her go. But now I felt as if I was losing her. Losing her to the music industry, to Chase, even that guy Luke had got a rise out of me. She was kissing everyone else except me.

I had just figured the whole thing with Chase would blow over. That he would leave and never come back. She would learn her lesson and see that the guy who really loved her, was always here. And would always be here for her. I wanted to be that sure thing. That rock that she could rely on. And yet I felt like a joke, or a punch line to a bad joke.

I stared in the mirror at my appearance. I wasn’t anything like Chase. He had the great hair. Mine was buzzed. He had the rock-hard physique, mind was more of a dad bod. Soft in areas that should have been hard. He had the latest clothes, mine were the same old. No wonder I couldn’t attract her. I was her friend. That’s how she saw me. Just a friend.

But what I would have given for a kiss of her lips. Just to see what she would do.

I decided that evening to head over to Charlie’s place. He ran a clothing store for men. It was high-class and fancy. The kind of trendy clothes that city folk wore. Nice shoes, and accessories. He had so many things to choose from it was mind-boggling.

I removed my clothes in the dressing room and changed into a new pair of jeans. They would be the only pair I had that didn’t have a tear in the knees. I slipped into a pair of new shoes. That was completely new and foreign to me. I had always worn sneakers. My mother had tried to get me to wear regular shoes when I was a kid but I had only tossed them into my school bag when I got to school. I then would slip into my runners.

It wasn’t that I didn’t think it looked good. I just never seemed to be able to pull it off without looking awkward. I felt more comfortable in baggy clothes. Hoodies, caps, sweats and sneakers. Most folk wore them in our town. It wasn’t like any of us were going to a gala. This was Lakeside, it had more farmers than fancy folk.

“Wow, Spike, that is strange.”

I frowned, pulling at the shirt I had on. It looked good but it was weird. Just friggin’ weird to see myself in new clothes. I didn’t feel right.

“I dunno. What do you think? You think she’d like this?”

He nodded. Charlie had been a friend of my father’s. Even though he owned a classy clothing store, he had tattoos like me, and drove a Harley. I liked that about him. But he knew how to look good when the occasion needed it.

“Pull the sleeves down. I know tattoos are cool, man, but not all women like them.”

“She’s seen them before. It’s not like I’m meeting someone who I don’t know what she likes.”

“Well, if you did know we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“Good point.”

I pulled the sleeves down. Now I looked like a school kid, all prim and proper.

“Here, take this belt, and wear a watch, it makes you look sophisticated.”

By the time he was done with me, I had to admit, I thought I looked OK. Actually better than OK. I was rocking this outfit. Now if sweet cheeks didn’t like this, I would give up.

“Oh and word to the wise. Shave.”

“Shave?”

I had always worn stubble, after reading a magazine about how women loved stubble. However, I couldn’t ever seem to get it the right length. Either it was too long or too short. Then I tried one time trimming it and I ended up looking like a character out of a freak show.

“And dab a bit of this on.”

He handed me some aftershave. I had never worn that in my life. Like that was crazy. I kept myself clean, but it was always just plain old white soap and some Old Spice deodorant that was always on sale down at the local pharmacy.

I sprayed on the cologne and nearly choked. It was like a scene from a Mr. Bean movie, when he’s trying to get through the department store and gagging on all the perfume.

“You’ll get used to it. The key is a good pair of shoes, clean appearance and that you smell good. Those are three things a woman will always pay attention to.”

“Fuck yeah. Sweet cheeks is gonna love this.”

“Oh, and you might want to drop the term, sweet cheeks.”

“Huh?”

I looked at him.

“C’mon, it’s time to man up and not act like a kid who she used to drink milk with.”

“But she’s got sweet cheeks. They are absolutely divine. That girl has an ass on her that I could get lost in for an entire day. I just want to put my face between them and…”

I made a jiggling sound.

“God help you,” Charlie said, turning back to the clothes.

I handed him some money. He’d given me a steep discount. He told me that he usually donated to charity, but he felt that my situation could pass as charity.

I left there feeling pumped that day. I felt confident and good. All right, I didn’t have Chase Bryan’s devastatingly good looks or maybe even his charm and musical swagger. But I had something he didn’t have. Years. I had years on him. I knew her like the back of my hand. All her little quirks, and things she loved. It would have taken him a long while to figure them out as Meghan kept her cards close to her chest. She didn’t just let anyone in.

I had it all planned out. I would order some takeout Chinese from Wong’s place. She loved chicken balls and sweet and sour sauce. It was her favorite. I would then swing by the liquor store and pick up some beer, and a bottle of red wine, maybe a small bottle of booze which I would have on hand just in case shit got real. I had all intentions of getting groovy with her between the sheets. I was going to work my charm and help her to remember that the guy she’d grown up with could be as hot as any other guy.

When I arrived at her place that evening, I let myself in with the key she’d got cut for me. I mean, Chase didn’t have that, did he? She obviously didn’t trust him enough to give him his own key. Hell, we were nearly a married couple.

I had picked out the movie
Halloween
. She had always loved that. We watched newer movies but there was something to the old ones. The classics. We knew the dialogue and would make jokes.

I set up the Chinese in dishes and covered them to keep them warm. I glanced at my watch, it was closing in on seven o’clock when I heard her come in. I stood up and did one final check in the mirror. Yep, I was rocking this outfit.

When she walked through the door, her eyes widened. Yeah baby, that was exactly the expression I was hoping to get.

“Spike? No way.”

“Yes way, swee…” I caught myself about to say sweet cheeks and quickly changed it to “sweet girl.”

Boom. I was on fire tonight.

“Listen, I got us some Chinese. Those chicken balls that you like.” I was about to make a joke about balls but decided against it. I could almost hear Charlie giving me his speech. Women don’t want a kid. They want a man. Be a man.

“And…” I waved the DVD cover of
Halloween
.

She was speechless. That was a good thing, right? She was wowed, or looking as if she was about to go into shock. I walked over to her and took her bag.

“Put your feet up. Tonight I’m going to wait on you. You always tend to everyone else. Let Spike do some of the work.”

She smiled. That was a good sign. That had to be. At least she wasn’t crying or slapping me.

“How did your day go?”

What the hell was I saying? I was acting as if we were a married couple.

“Good.” She sat back and watched in amazement as I dashed around the room grabbing a few plates, glasses and napkins.

“Wine? Beer? Whiskey?”

“Wine sounds lovely.”

I grabbed the wine from the fridge and uncorked it. I kept glancing over and noticed she was checking me out. Oh yeah, I was nailing this shit real good, wasn’t I? Now I was starting to get a little paranoid. Maybe she didn’t like the outfit.

“So what do you think? Huh? Huh?”

I pointed to the clothes.

“Charlie’s?”

“Yeah. I thought I would grab a few clothes. I haven’t gone shopping in a while.”

“It looks good on you, Spike.”

I came over and handed her a wine, making sure that she got a good whiff of the cologne.

“Is that cologne?”

“Oh that? Yeah. I like to splash a bit on from time to time.”

I eased in beside her and started serving up the food. Over the next hour we sat and ate, and watched
Halloween
. She kept a little distance between us. I would have been lying to say that I didn’t want to kiss her there and then, and go on to make love to her. As she looked fine no matter if she was dressed up or returning from a hard day.

“You want me to rub your feet?”

She frowned.

“Nothing freaky. Just you look like you’ve had a hard day.”

She put her glass down. Oh shit. Did I say the wrong thing?

“I mean, you look good but a little tired.”

Her eyes narrowed even more. OK, this was going badly.

“Sure.”

“Sure?”

“Yeah, as long as you don’t mind.”

“Oh I don’t mind.”

She had been wearing flip-flops and had no socks on. She swung her legs up and leaned back, continuing to watch the TV as I began massaging her feet. I could feel myself getting aroused by the second. Who would have thought?

“You know, this is good. This was a good idea,” she said.

“We haven’t done it in a long time.”

“You’re right. We should do this more often.”

That was it. I couldn’t handle it anymore. I wanted to taste her so bad.

“I can rub your back if you want?”

She must have had some tense muscles or not seen where I was going with this as she agreed. A few seconds later she was face-down on the sofa and I was straddled over her. Gazing at that sweet ass. While I rubbed her back, I pushed up her top just ever so gently until her skin was exposed. I could almost see the crack of her ass. I wanted to lick the small of her back so badly. I kept massaging, trying to stay composed, but it was difficult.

I couldn’t handle it anymore. I reached down and kissed the back of her neck. In the next second I found myself on the floor. She had flipped me right off.

“Spike. What the hell are you doing?”

There I was sitting on the floor. Her eyes immediately went to my crotch, where I had an erection. It was pushing against my jeans. She immediately diverted her gaze away.

“Oh God. I should have known.”

“Look, Meghan. It’s not what you think. I just wanted to…”

“Get in my panties. Yes, I know.”

“No. I mean, yes. I mean no. I just wanted to do something nice. I can’t help it that you are so gorgeous.”

“Gorgeous?”

She got up and pulled her top down, and pulled her jeans up, now realizing they were riding down low.

“I know we used to do this as kids, but we’re old now and I’m seeing Chase.”

I exhaled hard and dropped my eyes. All that planning, all that work and it was going so well. I wish I could have rewound time and just enjoyed being with her, instead of making it into what it had become.

I got up. “I know you’re in love with him. But where do I come into all of this? Don’t I matter?”

She stepped forward, reaching for my face like a mother would try to console a child. I swatted her hand away.

“Spike, you’ll always mean a lot to me. I love you. But just not the way you want me to. I don’t know how else to get this out without it sounding bad. Without it hurting you.”

“Just friends?”

“Yeah.”

“The friend zone. I hate it.”

She let out a small chuckle.

“But it’s better than not being friends, right?”

“I guess.”

“Look, I need your help. Something’s come up and I think you could really help.”

“Oh God. This better not involve another tattoo on your boyfriend as I swear I will draw a vagina or a dick on him next time.”

She let out a laugh.

“No, something better.”