Page 7 of Leah

“Holy shit,” she suddenly whispered from next to me.

I looked up from my book and at the television. I immediately tensed at the images of Carter’s face all over the screen. He was walking out of a restaurant, his head down, hand wrapped around another that belonged to his latest piece of fluff.

Honestly, how many times did I have to watch the same thing just with different chicks in different places? You’d think I’d have gotten used to this by now, but the trigger of emotions that ran rampant through my body in the seconds that followed these moments proved otherwise.

That could have been me.

The paparazzi had ambushed him like a pack of wild dogs, and they were howling questions at him, all of which went unanswered. He didn’t respond in any form to any of them, ashe forced his way through the crowd. Soon after, his bodyguards stepped in to ward the evil men with cameras away.

“Jesus,” Mel muttered. “They treat him like he’s royalty.”

“Rockstars sort of are,” I returned numbly.

“Do you hear what they’re saying?”

I didn’t have to hear it. The clip cut off and a new story of Carter emerged, this time of him with some long-legged model.

“Buzz has exclusive footage of bad boy Carter Matheson and Panda Alwright doing the dirty on camera. No, folks, not the dirty as in another Carter sex tape— and we can’t forget that one, can we, ladies?”Oh, my God, not this again.“No, I’m talking a fight that occurred out front of a club that resulted in Alwright throwing her suspected engagement ring at him. Seems like trouble in paradise for this bad boy.”

“Buzz?” I let out in confusion.

“That’s the program’s name. They call themselves Buzz. Like, you know, the latest buzz and they’re all over it with their team of paparazzi.”

“And what’s this chick’s name?” There was no way I’d heard it right.

“Panda Alwright.”

I grabbed the remote and muted the garbage and turned to her. With one raised brow, I stared at Mel sceptically. “Don’t fuck with me, Mel. What’s the girl’s name?”

She tried to keep a straight face but ended up bursting into a fit of giggles. “Her name isPanda Alwright.”

What was it with Carter and these horrifically named girls? First Pomposa, and now Panda?

“She’s the spawn of another famous model,” Mel went on to explain. “I guess around the time she was born, her mother had been a spokesperson for this ‘Save the Pandas’ charity foundation.”

“Oh, my fucking god,” I cursed, shaking my head. “Why do celebrities do this?”

She just shook her head, laughing into the couch cushion.

When I looked back at the television, I was surprised their story was still going on.

“I’m going to bed,” I told Mel, standing up. “I’ve got a big day tomorrow.” Mostly, though, I needed to be away from the television. I didn’t like hearing one shred of information about Carter. Too many memories, and I’d done well up until this point to avoid them.

It was actually a must for my case.

“Night, Leah,” Mel called out to me as I disappeared inside my room.

Nowthiswas my sanctuary. It was more of an office than a bedroom, filled with bookshelves complete with every book I loved, no matter the price, bought specifically to adorn these walls. My desk was huge, taking up practically one side of the room, and the surface was covered with magazines of every passion I’d taken up since being on my own without the baggage of relationships.

Aside from my attempt with Brett, of course. He’d been my first in two years, and let’s not discuss the events that transpired two years ago. I was still trying to forget it.

My magazines ranged from exercises to investment opportunities to photography. I’d done what I could throughout school to get my mind off Carter, trying hard to instil my independency, and mostly trying to convince myself that he was right all along. Love was overrated. It wasn’t real in the way I thought it was, and even though some men had caught my attention throughout the years, they never held my interest for long, or at least long enough to screw them.

That step was huge for me.

Every time I had come close, I’d wound up imagining Carter over top of me, touching me—

I collapsed into bed and set my alarm on my cell phone. I was annoyed to find a text message already there.

---