“Why do you pretend to hate me so much?”
“Oh, that’s not pretend,” I snap.
He wraps his fingers around the bottom of my glass, taking it from me and tossing back more than half of my beer.
“Hey, I was about to drink that, arsehole.” Tears prick my eyes, and I step out around him because the last thing I want is to show any sign of weakness in front of Levi.
“Hey.” He grabs my arm and I turn and face him.
“Listen, I’m really not in the mood for this.”
“You still wanna meet Josh Holme?”
I stare blindly at him. “Uh … yeah. It’s pretty high up there on my list of things to do before I die.”
“There’s a party at his house.” He grins down at me. “You wanna go play, Red?”
Was the Pope a fucking Catholic?Hell yes I wanted to go play.
I felt like shit. I was an idiot who’d let her heart get carried away, and more than anything I want to forget Cooper fucking Ryan. Because I know he’s sure as hell not thinking about me right now.
“Fine. But there had better be booze involved.” I sigh, and pretend as if my inner fangirl isn’t freaking the hell out right now that I’m going to a party at Josh’s house. Oh my fucking god, Josh fucking Holme.
“Oh there will be. Booze and anything else you want. Stick with me, kiddo, and I’ll get you so wasted you won’t remember what year it is. Let’s get out of here,” Levi says, taking my hand and leading me through the crowd of protesting women. One groupie throws herself in his path and pushes her fake ridiculously large tits against Levi’s chest. She looks up at him with wide doe eyes from beneath lashes as fake as her tits, and says in a saccharine voice, “Levi, you promised we’d pick up where we left off last night.”
“Not tonight, darlin’, I gotta get little Red to bed and save her from the big bad wolf.”
She gives me the obligatory onceover. “Seems little Red is big enough to do it on her own.”
That bitch. That was totally a hit at my weight. “Oh no, I couldn’t possibly do it on my own. I need Levi to help me out of these clothes, and then there’s the fact that I simply hate to sleep alone. He’s good at keeping me company, aren’t you, baby?” I say, running my hands up under his shirt. Levi stiffens for a second before catching himself. He lets out a low groan that I’m pretty sure I’m not even meant to hear.
When I extricate my hands out from under his shirt I accidently brush the bulge in the front of his pants. He groans again and smiles at me. I have to try not to yank my hand back as if I just got bitten because holy fucking shit, there’s well hung and then there’s Levi Quinn, and that man is in a class all his own.
Levi chuckles as the bimbo thrusts her chest out in front of her. “Well, when you’re done, you should totally come find me. I can even wait in your room if you like?”
“Jesus, bitch, take a fucking hint. The boy had you once—it’s never gonna happen again. He spends his nights with me.” Technically he does, and with Debbie, Zed, Coop, Ash and Leif, but she doesn’t need to know this.
“It’s true. Red here is our muse, and every good artist knows you don’t piss off the muse.”
We head out of the bar towards the hotel lobby as Levi pulls a phone from his pocket and dials the number of a driver that the concierge gave us. “Yeah, bring the car around, Jeeves.”
A minute later, we’re fighting our way through a crowd of overzealous Taint groupies who throw themselves at Levi and try to tear off his shirt. I’m jostled between paparazzi and fans and it’s complete pandemonium. When we finally do climb inside the black unmarked vehicle, I can’t help but laugh at the state of us. Levi looks as if he were attacked by a bear, and judging by the way he’s looking at me right now, my hair and clothes are mussed enough to make it seem like I just had really good sex.I wish. The only body I’ll be rolling around with between the sheets tonight will be BOB. I wonder if there’s a level-up for vibrator games.
“Jesus, Red, you’re looking all kinds of fucking tasty right now.”
I laugh nervously. “Right. What was that you were saying about the big bad wolf?”
“I can be the big bad wolf if you want me to,” he growls, sliding across the soft leather seat towards me. For a second, I study him. It’s not hard to see why women everywhere drop their panties for him. He may be an arsehole, but he’s a fucking charismatic one.
“Back it up, Vlad the Impaler,” I say shoving at his shoulder.
“Do you realise how easily I could have you right now?”
I glance nervously to the driver and back at Levi, thankful that we’re not alone. As though he can sense this, our driver—Bobby, I think he said his name was—asks where we want to go with a thick American accent. Levi smiles and then glances away, shifting in his seat and readjusting the gigantic erection inside his pants.
Levi checks his phone and gives Bobby an address, and then we’re whisked away amidst the flashes of cameras, both from fans and paparazzi. No doubt there will be another story in the tabloids tomorrow:Mysterious redhead leaves the Wynn in Las Vegas with Levi Quinn last night after reportedly checking into the MGM Grand earlier in the evening with Taint frontman Cooper Ryan. Who is this lascivious little minx hotel hopping with the Aussie band, and do fans need to be worried?
I laugh at how ridiculous that notion is, and Levi looks at me with a curious expression. “Are you laughing at me, Red?”