Page 21 of Dangerous Curves

I chuckle. “It’s an acquired taste.”

“So, you know all about me and my relationship but what about you?” she asks.

“There’s not really anything to tell.”

She raises her eyebrows in question. “Somehow, I doubt that. One Google search would prove otherwise.”

I study her and she blushes. “Did you Google me?”

Kenndrix shrugs. “Maybe. I was curious after we saw each other the first day on set.”

Something about her taking the time to Google me makes my heart feel happy. “There’s no one special enough to call my girlfriend.”

“What about Poppy?”

I sigh, heavily. “It’s an arrangement, mutually beneficial but it’s not a relationship.”

“Maybe that’s how I should refer to Ronin as from now on.”

“You deserve better,” I say. It slips out before I have time to think it through. The whiskey and Kenndrix, clouding my judgement. I watch as Kenndrix’s eyes flare with anger and underlying hurt. She stands up abruptly. “Kenndrix?”

She moves past me. “You don’t get to say that shit to me.”

Nineteen

Kenndrix

I stand in front of the mirror feeling like another person. I rarely get “dolled up” as Willow likes to say, at least not to this extent. It’s not the first time since I decided to get dolled up that this question has run through my mind, ‘What am I doing and why?’ I’m playing with fire and I’m bound to get burned as well as drag Jaxx and Ronin through it as well. Ronin will be unphased I’m sure. Losing me would cause him no loss of sleep. He’d simply move on. We’re both well aware of the type of relationship that we share. After everything I witnessed today at the photo shoot, I’m beginning to think that the cheating rumors hold more truth than I had originally thought. Burning Jaxx is the issue. I don’t want to hurt him. So, why am I doing this?

I touch up the red lipstick before grabbing my clutch and heading down to the bar. Bars have never been my thing. I’ve spent my fair share of time at JamesTown especially when Kynlee was trying to gain Ace’s attention, but it was never really where I wanted to be. However, this bar has a different feel to it. I scan the area, but my eyes instantly find Jaxx, the natural pull we have towards one another leading me directly to him. A beautiful, slender redhead is currently vying for his attention. Jaxx looks bored. A little green monster that goes by the name of jealousy is rearing that ugly head within me.

A guy in a nearby table nods in my direction, giving me the boost of confidence I need to cross through the bar and approach Jaxx and the redhead. His reaction to me both shocked and thrilled me. It shouldn’t have, but it did. Jaxx always did have a way of making me feel like I was the only girl in the room but then my anxiety riddled brain would play with his words and twist his actions until I believed he was just giving me pity attention. It was wrong and dumb but that’s how anxiety works.

After the redhead disappeared, Jaxx and I found an ease in which to talk with one another. It’s something I didn’t expect after how we had been lately. Hours later, and after spilling my heart out to him, I was feeling warm and fuzzy headed from the few sips of whiskey I had taken from Jaxx’s glass. Then somewhere along the way, he said the wrong thing. He told me I deserved better. It shouldn’t have hurt the way it did, but it was like he plunged a knife directly into my heart. How could he tell me I deserved better?

Now, I’m stomping my way through the lobby of the hotel until I make my way to the elevators. I feel his presence as he enters and I quickly duck inside the silver and gold elevator with the soft music playing. I turn to push the floor number. As soon as I get to the room, I’m packing and catching the first flight back to Los Angeles. This was all a mistake. I was trying to run away from Jaxx and instead I run straight into him, thousands of miles away.

Jaxx enters the elevator just as the door begins to shut. He smirks, his eyes darkened by the whiskey and lust. “I can say whatever I want, especially if I mean it.”

“Just shut up, Jaxx.”

He stalks towards me. The elevator seems to be moving at a snail's pace. Once he’s close enough, he encloses me with his body. His large hands on either side of my head. Our breath mingles in the few inches between us. “You want to make me shut up.”

I roll my eyes. “You’re being ridiculous.”

“No, that was always your role. You were always so damn stubborn. You could never see how much I loved you, how your freaking owned me. I would have moved everything in this world for you.”

My emotions take over and tears prick the backs of my eyes. I shake my head, still in denial. “Jaxx…”

“We’re not over, Kenndrix, not by a long shot.” His lips find mine in a greedy kiss full of every pent up emotion you can imagine. One hand grips my hips pulling me closer to him, eliminating all the space between us. The other hand tangles into my hair, giving me no access to control the kiss. I’m at his mercy and nothing has ever felt so good. My nails dig into his biceps as he devours me. I allow myself this fleeting selfish moment with him. It won’t last, it can’t, but for now I’m his and he’s mine, just how it was meant to be.

The elevator comes to a stop and the doors open. Jaxx grabs one of my hands and leads me down the halfway to his room. I’m ushered inside as soon as the door is open. My head is muddled with all things Jaxx. He slams the door and yanks me back into him. His hand comes to rest over my heart. “This is how it was supposed to be. It was always supposed to be us.”

His words weave my broken heart back together while shredding it all over again. This is temporary. He has Poppy and I have Ronin. What is happening right now between us is the biggest mistake, but it’s a mistake I want to make. I need to make.

I throw my caution to the wind and wrap my arms around his neck and pull him closer to me as his hands run down my body until they hit the back of my thighs. He yanks me up so that my legs wrap around his waist. Jaxx always lifted me as if I weighed nothing. The first time he did I remember the panic and embarrassment but he had quickly kissed it away. Right now, I don’t feel any of that. I’m not in my head, I’m in this room with Jaxx and it’s all I need.

Twenty

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