Page 28 of The Pursuit of Happiness

Sly brushes the hurt off his face at her rudeness and offers me a hand. I take it and immediately let the fake girlfriend switch flip. He doesn’t release my hand once I’m out of the car. Instead, he wraps his arm around my waist and ushers me into the club. Paps scream obscenities about me that have my stomach churning and bile rising up my throat and Sly stiffens. His face contorts with anger in a way I never thought possible for him given his sunshine personality. He looks like he’s about to snap, but I’m not sure why. Is he that bothered by paps saying those things about me? I squeeze his hand that rests on my hip and he meets my eyes. I give him a reassuring smile and he relaxes only slightly, his deep set frown present until we’re inside and away from the paps. Once we’re inside, he doesn’t remove his hand from my hip.

I lean into him and whisper, “Let’s enjoy the night.”

He nods, his shoulders easing as he lowers his head to whisper in my ear so nobody else can intrude on whatever it is he’s about to say, “It’s impossible not to enjoy any amount of time spent with you, Kane.”

My chest explodes with warmth and those damn butterflies resume their rave. My lips part and I want to say something but I’m not sure what. It’s so hard to read Slater. He says and doesthese things that lead me to believe he’s interested in me but then I’m not sure because of our current situation. “Sly, I-”

“Are you guys coming?” Ivory cuts me off and saves me the rejection from whatever was about to come out of my mouth.

Sly exhales and looks disappointed as if he was anticipating whatever I was about to say and I exclaim, “Yes! Coming!” I follow Ivory to our section and Sly follows close behind me. He grabs my hand so we don’t get separated and I’m beginning to get so used to the feel of his hand in mine. Our hands fit together so well and I’m sure our bodies would too. Well, I’m sure they did. From the photos I saw of our own sex tape, it seemed as though they did.

We make it to the VIP section that Selene had reserved for us and I notice Thunderstrike’s presence immediately. It seems they’re all here. Nate, Rogan, and Miles. I looked them up online after the tape out of curiosity. Well, curiosity about Slater. Okay, fine. I stalked him online, sue me! Nate’s eyes light up when he sees me. He rises from his seat and reaches a hand out for me to shake, “Hi, Aria. I’m Nate. It’s nice to finally meet the girl Sly won’t shut the fuck up about.”

I look at Sly to find his ears bright red with embarrassment. I squeeze his hand and smile at him before turning back to Nate. “It’s nice to meet you, too. Sly talks about you so much I’d think the two ofyouwere in a relationship,” I laugh to lighten up the mood. I didn’t exactly lie. Sly did tell me all about his friendship with Nate when we went to lunch. He explained Nate is his ride or die best friend and the two of them are closer to each other than they are with Rogan and Miles.

Nate grins, “How did you know? We’ve been together for a long time. We have an open relationship though which is why he’s with you.”

I laugh at Nate’s joke and hear Sly laughing under his breath behind me. Miles rises from his seat and reaches for my hand,“Ignore him, he talks out of his ass. I’m Miles.”

I shake his hand, “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” he smiles.

My eyes automatically land on Rogan who is staring at me so hard it feels like he’s looking through my soul. I won’t lie, it makes me slightly uncomfortable. Not even so much because of the intensity in his green eyed glare, but because he’s scowling at me like I kicked his dog in front of him three times. As far as I remember, I only met Rogan once and it was the night that shall not be spoken of. “Hi,” I say awkwardly.

Rogan’s nostrils flare with anger and goosebumps form on my arms as I watch him give me a serpentine smile. “Hello, Aria. Long time no see,” he smiles at me, but it isn’t a genuine smile. It’s a smile laced with poison.

I nod uncomfortably, “Yeah, I guess so.” I must subconsciously take a step back because my back meets the hardness of Sly’s body and he looks down at me with concern. I quickly right myself and feign indifference, focusing my attention on Brody and Ivory, “Can’t really excite every person, yeah?” I ask them, giving them wide, deeply uncomfortable eyes. I don’t know what it is about Rogan, but he makes my skin crawl. Judging from the tense shoulders both of my friends have right now, I’d say I’m not the only one.

When we first started our career and we were getting into a shit ton of trouble with not only the law but Selene, we developed a secret code so we could sneak off sets or out of the studio or meetings. We would string along a sentence and the first letter of every word would form a message of its own. We haven’t done it in a while and I hope they pick up on the message. Usually it was only meant to help us sneak out and find a place to get high. Now I just want to inform them with one word to be careful around Rogan.

Brody’s eye twitches and I know immediately that she’sdeciphered my message. Ivory picks up on it a moment later, nodding as she takes a sip of her margarita. The guys watch us with keen interest, Sly with a confused look on his face, but Rogan…Rogan’s eyes don’t once stray from me. He stares at the side of my face so hard, he’s making me feel exposed. My skin is crawling and I don’t know what it is about him that’s doing this to me.

“Isn’t daylight obsolete next to light in kinder environments? Honestly it’s magical,” Brody smiles at me, feigning innocence as she takes a sip of water. The guys have no idea what she’s talking about, but Ivory and I get the message loud and clear.I don’t like him.It seems we’re all on the same page.

Rogan raises a brow and focuses his attention on Brody, “Is that water?”

Brody nods but doesn’t respond.

Rogan laughs, “Since when do you not drink? I thought you were supposed to be the wild one of the pack.”

Brody fixes him with an icy glare, her eyes narrowing, “Since I realized there’s more to life than getting fucked up seven days a week and not remembering anything the day after.” Her tone comes out curt and Rogan gives her a disgusted look at her attitude. “Not that it’s any ofyourbusiness,” she mutters under her breath.

“No need to be a bitch, Brody. I was just making conversation,” Rogan scoffs as he raises his drink to his lips.

“Woah,” Sly intercepts right before Ivory and I can intervene. “Watch your mouth. Show some respect,” he furrows his brows in irritation.

Rogan gives Sly the angriest of glares, “Don’t get involved to impress your girlfriend. It doesn’t make your dick any bigger.”

Sly’s face goes pale instantly and Nate grabs his arm and ushers him away most likely to cool down before he says or does something crazy. I feel cold where his body heat was onlymoments before and I find that I miss his presence.

“Dude, you need to chill,” Miles gives Rogan a stern look.

“Don’t get involved,” Rogan snaps.

Miles shakes his head and sighs. Brody whips her phone out of her pocket and starts typing. She gives the phone a confused look which then contorts to worry. She raises her phone to her ear a moment later and answers, “Hey, no. Everything’s fine.” I know right away that it’s Harvey on the other end.

Rogan watches her closely and smirks, “Is that your boyfriend? Tell him you’re in really good hands.” He says it so loud that Brody’s face pales. Harvey must have heard that and is probably freaking the fuck out on the other end.

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