Page 14 of The Masks We Wear

Harvey stops in his tracks, satisfied with my ability to turn down the joint. Ivory speaks up, “Brody, relax. She was trying to be nice.”

Okay, I’ve had enough. I jump out of the seat just as the hairdresser finishes in perfect timing and charge away from them. “Fuck that! You want to be nice? Get clean with me and stop waving drugs in my face when you know I’m struggling.”

I charge away and into a dressing room, sliding the curtain closed and sighing audibly. I hear Ivory and Aria laughing about something completely unrelated and feel my chest sink. I’m already the odd man out. All it took was sobriety. I knew this would happen. This is the start of the end. Now that I’m sober and they aren’t, they’ll get bored of me and think I’m no fun and they’ll either kick me out of the band and replace me or ice me out until I leave on my own, and from there the fans will do the same. Because the truth is, Brody Drake is a fucking nobody. She’s average in height, weight, size, personality, everything, but Sticks…she isn’t. She’s unique and she’s talented and people love her and find her fun. Sticks can only be Sticks when she’s high or drunk or both and now…I don’t have access to either of those things anymore which means I’m just boring Brody Drake.

Chapter 8

Harvey

Brody rushes into thedressing room, closing the curtain behind her after her little outburst. I’ll admit I didn’t see it coming. I expected her to take the joint Aria Kane offered her and run with it, locking herself in some room until she smoked the entire thing, but she didn’t. I was fully prepared to have to confiscate it and argue with her, but she refused it on her own. A small wave of pride washes through me at the thought. Maybe Brody Drake is stronger than I thought.

I didn’t know she had this side to her, one that was able to put her foot down on something. The Brody Drake I’ve come to know this week has been stubborn and argumentative at every given opportunity. She likes pushing my buttons and getting me riled up, she likes to argue and fight, but this one? Maybe there’s more to the girl than what meets the eye.

I followed her to the dressing room, remaining a foot outside. She’s perfectly safe in the dressing room so she doesn’t need me for anything, but for some reason I wasn’t able to stay away. I felt a tug in my chest the minute she stormed off and my feet started following her before my brain could tell me to stop. I realize what she’s supposed to be doing in the dressing room, changing, which means she could be naked or almost naked in there. The image of her this morning, rustled with sleep with her tank top barely covering any skin and her tanned legs in just her underwear. I felt arousal stir inside myself and felt my cock twitch at the sight and I knew without a doubt that I had to put distance between us, so instead of arguing with her, Iwalked away. I’ve never been attracted to a client before. I’ve worked with models, singers, fashion designers, you name it. I’ve worked with so many beautiful women and have never once been attracted to any of them orarousedby any of them until Brody Drake. The thought pisses me off. This girl is a constant headache for me in every single area of my life.

The silence from inside the dressing room is deafening. I don’t hear the rustling of clothing or her muttering, “motherfucker” under her breath. She’s silent. Her silence concerns me because she’s usually so vocal. Should I say something? What can I do for her if somethingiswrong? I’m not comforting or reassuring in any way. I’m not emotional and I can’t deal with the emotions of others aside from Lucy. Brody has been off since she sat in the makeup chair. Once she heard her friends, she looked like an excited child whose parents just got home from work. She was desperate to see them, and that makeup artist was getting aggressive with her face. I should’ve broken his nose but I thought it would piss off Selene Stone and probably ruin the shoot, so I refrained from the action even though my hands were balled into fists at my sides when I saw she was visibly annoyed by his aggressiveness. The best part about it is that I don’t know why I was so enraged by him doing that to her. It isn’t in my job description to defend her from a bully, but I couldn’t help myself.

I could see in her eyes that something wasn’t right when she was talking to her friends. She looked frustrated and almost hurt but I don’t know why. I’m assuming whatever it is has to do with why she stormed off and is still hiding silently in the dressing room. She’s been in there for a few minutes which I find worrisome considering the girl never shuts her damn mouth. “Brody?” I say, low so that straggling ears can’t hear. She doesn’t say anything. “Brody?” I call a little louder this time, a hint of worry creeping into my voice. Why isn’t she responding?

“What?” She snaps from the other side of the curtain. There’s that attitude.

“Are you…alright?” I instantly feel repulsed with myself. I don’t care how she feels or if she’s okay. I’m not here for mental or emotional protection, I’m here for physical protection and sobriety.

She sighs. “Fine.”

I can hear the lie in the word, but it isn’t my problem. I turn to walk away but stop after one step, unable to walk away from the dressing room. I huff under my breath and look over my shoulder to make sure nobody is watching. “Are you dressed?”

“Yes.”

I push the curtain aside and step into the dressing room with her before my brain can convince me otherwise. I’ll just ensure she’s okay and then I’ll leave and let her get back to work. She sucks in a surprised gasp as I enter and close the curtain behind myself. The room is small which means I have to stand close to her and the heat that radiates from her body and into mine from how close we stand is enough to bring the thought of her this morning back to the forefront of my mind. Fuck.

“What are you doing?” She whisper yells.

“What happened with your friends?” I ask, ignoring her question.

She looks down and anxiously starts playing with her fingers. “Nothing, it’s fine.”

I raise a brow in clear disbelief, “Yeah and elephants can fly. What happened?” I press.

I watch as she wipes all the anxious emotion from her face and her features contort into anger. She puts a wall up between us right in front of my eyes and backs until she hits the wall, putting as much space between us as possible. “I don’t want to talk about it so get out. I have to change.”

I shake my head at her, “We’ll talk about it later.”

“No, we won’t.”

“We will.” I demand as I open the curtain and step out, leaving her to change.

“Motherfucker,” She mutters under her breath, and I can’t help but smile at the sound.

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“YES! STUNNING!” THE PHOTOGRAPHERpraises the girls as he snaps pictures of them. Brody wears a fire engine red corset top with lacing up the sides and a heart cut out in the front the back, revealing plenty of her tanned flesh and leaving nothing to the imagination. I do my best not to look at her, but I can’t help but steal a few glances. She’s beautiful even though I hate to admit it and she looks sinful in red. I want to unlace the corset and see what’s underneath, but I remind myself at every waking moment that she’s a client and entirely off limits. Her corset is paired with a pair of matching red lace up pants which accentuate her curves.

Though the makeup artist was a total ass, he did a damn good job on her makeup. Her eyes are dark and sirenic, another temptation that feels specifically tailored to me even though I know it isn’t. Her lips are glossed and full and for the slightest of seconds I imagine what it would be like to bite her bottom lip.

“Aria, turn your head more to the left. Yes! Perfect.” The photographer exclaims.

The set the girls are on is made up of life sized, BuildingBlox pieces. Brody sits at the center on a stack of Blox pieces and Aria stands beside her with Ivory on the other side. Ivory and Aria are into the shoot, genuine smiles on their faces though I think the smiles are mainly caused by their lack of sobriety. Brody’s smile looks forced and unnatural on her face. Her eyes look empty, and she seems like she’s mentally in a far off place while her body sits on the set.

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