The Next Contestant (32 page)

Every goddamn night Kimber is at Muze and she does the same shit but with different guys, every motherfucking night.

I try to ignore her but tonight she steps up her game, dances with multiple guys but then she makes her way to the stage, climbs up next to Tiffany and I have to move closer, so I drag the brunette I picked up earlier toward the front of the stage. At first, Kimber dances casually with Tiffany, until the next song is announced as a special request but the DJ doesn’t mention the request-ee.

Porn Star Dancing blares through the sound system. I watch Kimber pick up her pace. I can’t unglue my eyes from her. The way she’s moving, dancing so fucking seductively with Tiffany, and some guy. Her back is against his front and she slides down, swaying her hips as she goes, and then back up. She begins to really move, never missing a beat, in perfect rhythm with the song and soon, she becomes the center of attention. People stop dancing to watch her, even dick-breath has backed off to watch her. She faces me, closes her eyes, her lips parting, then slowly, she opens her eyes, stares heatedly at me, licks her lips, slides her hands over her breasts, continues down her abdomen, and she swings her hips as she goes down in a squat. She comes back up and faces Tiffany. They begin to dance erotically, as if they’re going to make out…

The guys are roaring, fucking loving it. It pisses me off but here I am watching her, having erotic visions of her legs spread wide underneath me, her on top of me, then up against a wall. Then she ruins the moment when she jumps off of the stage and falls into the arms of some blond dude.

“Fuck it. Fuck her,” I hiss under my breath. “I’m back in the game.” I turn to face the brunette I dragged up here, grab her hand, and lead her down the hall toward the private door.

Fuck.

I can’t fucking do it.

“Sorry, change of plans.” I release her. “I’ve got to go.”

She yells some shit at me but I ignore her and leave.

A few nights later, Kimber still ignores me and shows up with another guy, but this time, when I approach her, she excuses herself and walks toward me. Finally!

When she’s close enough, I reach out and grab her arm, drag her into a corner where there are hardly any people.

“What the hell, Kimber?”

“What do you mean, what the hell?” she asks coyly.

“You’ve given up on us, you’re already dating?” The irritation is clear in my tone.

She pries my fingers from her arm and shoves past me. She pauses, then glances over her shoulder. “I’m just doing what you’re doing. Making it look good, Jax.” She turns to face me. “You know, a little kiss here, a little kiss there… maybe straddling a lap or two. Nothing you haven’t already done... to make it look good,” she says haughtily then turns and walks away.

I find a willing female, and take her upstairs.

I do it every night for the next week, showcase whichever girl I’m with, parade her in front of Kimber but never let her see where I go as I attempt to take them upstairs, but I can’t bring myself to do it.

Then the bitch walks in, walks up to me as if she owns me, and this time, I’m going to fuck with her. I lead Timber to the private door, and take her the fuck upstairs.

I THINK JAX
is dating. I don’t know what I expected. I’m not a good player and I’ve failed at my own attempt to play him. I thought it was the right thing to do.

But this? This having a different girl under his arm every night? And witnessing his ‘affections’ for them, in public. He always disappears with whomever he’s with, and finally, my curiosity gets the better of me. Tonight he’s with that whore whom he knows I hate. I watch, follow, and duck behind others when he pauses to look over his shoulder. As if he knows… or wants to make sure nobody is following him.

I know where he’s heading. Bile rises in my throat as I recall my first visit to the second level, but I’m thankful I’d managed to steal my brother’s key because, of course, Jax, after taking her through the door, locks it.

Nervously, I fumble with the key and finally manage to unlock the door. After slipping inside, I quickly lock it and lean back against the cool metal surface to catch my breath. Once my heart settles down, I march up the steps, slowly turn the knob, and pull lightly on the door, praying it won’t creak.

Jaden is sitting in the wingback chair again, much like he was the night I first came up here. My stomach twists at the thought, and I know this is a bad idea. Everything within me screams to turn away, telling me I don’t need to see to know Jax is probably back in this twisted thing they have going on.

I wait.

I watch.

I wait.

A door slams and I peek around the chair. A leggy blonde storms down the hall and stops at the elevator. It’s Timber. I can’t believe this, can’t believe he’d be with her. God it hurts and I feel sick.

Timber turns and eyes Jaden with a scowl on her face. The elevator dings and she steps inside. Five minutes pass. A door slams again.

My heart sinks. His beautiful face… his blond hair is messy like he’s just had—

“Dude, you kicked her out after five points. Why?” Jaden asks.

I shrink behind the chair and pray neither of them sees me.

“So fucking what,” Jax hisses.

“That’s it for the night. Game’s almost over.”

I hear feet shuffling, then fists pounding against a wall.

Shit!
I startle and scoot away from Jaden’s arm, which is reaching toward the outlet. He tugs on the laptop cord and yanks it free. My pulse is pounding in my ears so hard it’s drowning out the sounds around me. Sweat trickles down my cheeks and I keep praying Jaden doesn’t see my legs. He’s leaning over and packing his laptop into its leather travel case, then pauses. I swear he can hear me breathing. I can hear me breathing. But then he’s gone and I lean down and see his feet heading toward the elevator where Jax is presumably pounding the wall.

I glance at the leather case, then around the chair to find Jaden and Jax, their arms flying up, but not punching, rather more of a heated frenzy, and back at the case. I grab it, drag it behind the chair, uncurl my legs, and push myself up.

My first instinct is to duck down, but when I see the guys aren’t looking my way my instinct is to run. I charge toward the door, push through it and break for the stairs. The echo of the door banging shut startles me and I stumble down a few steps before righting my footing. And then I hear feet pounding the stairs and they’re not mine and my heart pounds harder. I reach the bottom of the steps, push through the door, thankful I didn’t lock it when I entered earlier, stop and dig my keys out of my front pocket, then fumble with them.
Finally
! I find the right key, shove it into the deadbolt, and lock it.

Whoever’s on the other side, Jaden or Jax, has made it to the bottom. I hear the snick of the lock. I tear out the exit into the dark employee parking lot. The cold air bites and dries the sweat on my forehead. I’m so freaking scared I’ll get caught I forget which way to go, but finally sprint toward the front of the building.

I’m thankful to find a number of people hanging out in front smoking, and carrying on. I stop running, clench the leather bag against my chest, and walk briskly toward my car, and hit the unlock button on my key fob. I fall into the front seat, shove the bag into the back, and lock my doors.

Before I start my car, I take one last glance at Blaze…

…and duck! Fuck. Jaden is rushing toward the parking lot frantically searching left, right and every which way. I didn’t see Jax, but he could be out there, but I don’t dare to check. I lay low and pray they don’t see me or go window-shopping and find me because he’ll know. Jaden will totally know it was me who swiped his laptop, and escaped into the stairwell.

I MAKE IT
home but I’m too shaken, too nervous to check the content on Jaden’s laptop. Instead, I whip my clothes off, throw on a cami, wash my makeup off, and jump into bed. I lie there and wonder if I really want to see what’s on that computer. I don’t but I do. Of course I’ll torture myself with it. Curiosity rules and I’m sure it’ll kill this cat, but I’m a sucker for punishment.

At some point, and I don’t know when, I fall asleep. I wake at five am. I glance at the bag lying on my bed and smile like it’s my lover. I pet it and speak to it. “You’re going to share all your dirty little secrets with me, aren’t you?” I laugh at myself for being coy.

And then shoot straight up. “Fuck! Oh my god. I’m so stupid!” I weep for an hour straight. I have this computer that I stole and realize it’s definitely more than a grand. If I get caught, will I be charged with a felony?

“God.” No. No, no, no! Can my life get any worse? I dig the laptop out, open it, and power it on. I click on the single icon and of course! It’s password protected. What was I thinking!

“Tiffany. I need Tiffany.” I send her a text knowing she’s still in bed:
Code red! Come over ASAP when you get this!

I get out of bed and jump in the shower knowing I won’t be able to sleep. I get out, dry and straighten my hair, and don’t bother with makeup.

“Shit!” I laugh. “Fucking shit!” I rush to the living room and drag my laptop in to my bedroom. I open it, hop on the internet and scroll through my bookmarks. I find the tutorial I saved and then I drag Jaden’s computer next to mine. I open it, turn it on and once I see the ‘starting windows’ logo, I abruptly shut it down and start it again. By doing this, it automatically brings up the Windows Error Recovery. I scroll down to ‘Launch Startup Repair’ and select it.

By the way, I don’t recommend anyone do this unless it’s to gain access to their own computer. It’s probably illegal.

Windows searches the files and then launches the Startup Repair. I do the things needed to gain access to the command prompt and then change the settings.

I finish and exit the command program, and then the arrow next to where the password would normally be required to gain access, which there is no longer a password… because I basically erased it, and I’m in!

I snoop through Jayden’s computer and find the… videos. One is marked video files 1, the other marked video files 2, which are the numbers on the first two rooms upstairs in the ‘mini Hampton.’ I also see a ‘rules’ video and decide to watch that first. The screen is black but the audio is loud and clear.

“Kissing is an obvious sound. So say kissing scores you 5 points.” Kolby’s voice!

“But—” Nick interrupts.

“Ah, ah, ah. Hear me out. Kissing is 5 points. Anything after that is 10 points each. Fucking is the final call. 20 points. So here’s how we know there is no cheating. You gotta get the chick to tell you what she wants. Like, ‘you want me to suck your tits? Take your shirt and bra off and tell me what you want.’ You can’t miss a step ’cause if you forget to have her tell you what she wants, you’re screwed. No points. No exceptions. Don’t even let her stroke you, suck your dick without having her call it out. If I say suck my dick and she goes down on me, then I gotta have her call it out. She’s licking your cock, grasp her hair, and pull her back a little. ‘Tell me baby, you like that? Tell me you wanna suck my cock. I wanna hear it from those pretty little lips.’ Y’all get my point?”

I already feel sick, but I torture myself further and begin to watch the video 1. It’s dark and grainy but I can tell it’s Jax standing in the room, by the bed. His chest is bare but he’s still wearing shorts. His hair is ruffled and sexy and his lips are pouty. He looks up and I swear if this were live right now, if he could see through the computer screen, I’d swear he’s staring right at me. His eyes are stern, and he’s smiling when a female appears on the screen. She’s wearing a black tank and barely there tan shorts.

His hands draw her in after she mouths something, and then he flicks open the button on her shorts. He stops and after she mutters something again, he removes her tank top. He looks up again, a devious smile spreads across his lips as he grabs her ass. I feel sick and I don’t want to watch anymore, but I can’t seem to make myself stop. It’s like I need to torture myself, see everything he’s about to do, seize my heart until it’s nothing but ashes to get over him. She’s talking, he removes her bra, and then he just stands there, like he’s waiting for something, then she speaks again and he pinches her nipple. He does all kinds of things, but always after she tells him what she wants. I watch this, and the next and the next. I don’t know how many videos I watch of Jax and so many different girls, all going through the same routine. She tells him what she wants to do to him, then she does it. She tells him what she wants him to do to her… he does it. But what I notice the most is that he doesn’t fuck any of them. It’s a minor relief, if any relief is to be had. I also notice the footage is dated. All of them are before he met me. A bigger relief!