Page 37 of Rush
‘Here I am,’ Savi smiled, clinking her pink drink against his.
‘We’re lucky to have you with us, Cowgirl.’
15
The bed was empty. Savi was lying amongst the white cotton sheets, staring past the spot where Jesse should have been and out the window at a view of the Hollywood sign. Jesse hadn’t come home last night. Her boyfriend, who had begged her to wait in their room for him, was a no-show. No texts, and all eight calls of hers had gone to voicemail. She was used to him doing this when she was away for work, but not when she was right here. For him. She would have spent the whole break with her family in Wyoming, but instead she had jumped on a jet to Los Angeles the minute Jesse clicked his fingers.
Now she was pissed. Never in a million years would she have done this to him, but then again, Jesse never got on a plane for her. Ever. She would understand if it weren’t for the fact he had his own property in Story, near his parents. They could be alone there, away from prying eyes. But Jesse rarely came home if it wasn’t someone’s birthday, and it didn’t seem to matter to him that Savi spent a lot of time at home when she wasn’t working. It was always Tennessee or nothing. His terms.
She and Jess were meant to be taking Marco for lunch at some celebrity hotspot. A place where people like them went because they didn’t want to be photographed. It was so secret, the paparazzi didn’t even know about it.But apparently they served incredible vegan dishes to suit Marco’s diet, and garlic and rosemary focaccia to die for, and you had to be of a certain reputation to get in. Even if Savi and Marco didn’t meet requirements out here in the United States where motorsports weren’t as popular as in Europe, Jesse did.
Savi reluctantly dragged herself out of bed, not sure whether anger or disappointment was the strongest emotion clouding her brain this morning. A mixture of both, with a little fear sprinkled in for the part of her that wondered if Jesse was physically okay and who he had been with last night. She couldn’t escape the image of the girl wearing his cowboy hat.
She shot her teammate a text to ensure he was awake, before filling in the girls on how last night had gone. Their phones had been firmly put away most of the evening, and Kodie was furious that the group chat wasn’t flooded with videos oftheJesse Montalvo performing.
Confirming Marco was up and alive but treating himself to a room service breakfast before they headed out for the day, Savi took her sweet time getting ready, trying to put on a brave face. If Jesse could go about his day without giving her a second thought, she could do the same. She wasn’t big into makeup, just the basics. But her hair took time, and she had mistakenly scheduled hair wash day for this morning and was regretting it. Her curls took a lot of work, and her arms ached. Throwing on her red cowboy boots, she wished the restaurant they were going to later was the kind of place where it was appropriate to wear a cowboy hat. It would’ve saved her from the hassleof doing her hair, and then tomorrow she would be on a private plane without a care in the world what she looked like anyway.
She was halfway out the door when Jesse appeared at the end of the corridor, stepping out of the elevator. He looked like shit. Like he hadn’t slept a wink. Was he hungover? Still drunk? He didn’t look right, but that could be the guilt she hoped to god he was feeling for abandoning her like that. ‘Sav?’
‘Nice of you to show up.’ Her tone dripped with bitterness once she had processed that he was safe.
‘I’m sorry, Sav.’ His face dropped and he took three big strides towards her.
‘Are you, Jess?’ She held her arms out so he couldn’t get close enough to touch her. ‘You didn’t even attempt to get in contact.’
‘I was recording.’
‘How many times have I heard that one?’ She laughed sarcastically. ‘It’s your code for drinking in bars and acting like I don’t exist. You’ve done it from day one.’
‘I’m telling you the truth, Sav. The lyrics just came to me after you’d gone, and then we came up with the melody. Time got away with me. I didn’t mean to stay out all night.’ He rubbed the back of his neck, doing a really good job of looking uncomfortable. ‘We stopped for breakfast on the way back here which made us even later. I was hoping you’d still be asleep.’
‘What, so you could just crawl into bed next to me and act like you’d been there all night, thinking I wouldn’t notice?’ she demanded.
He didn’t say anything. Just stood there, unable to defend himself any further. He couldn’t. There was no excuse for it, he could have found ten seconds to let her know where he was. Then she would try to understand his side, even if it still hurt that he had chosen work over the limited amount of time they had together. But lately Jesse’s actions and lack of respect or care had started to pile up and Savi was beginning to realise just how many red flags there were. Asking another man to pretend to date her and not bothering to state his boundaries wasn’t even half the issue. This was so much bigger than Marco.
‘I don’t know what to say, Sav.’ He cast his eyes down, his scuffed boots much more interesting than coming up with an apology that sounded genuine.
‘I’m going out. Meet us at that restaurant at two, so you can be a man and show my teammate the respect you owe him.’ She slammed the door behind her so he would have to find his own key card to get in, and walked towards him. ‘Don’t you dare be late.’
‘Morning, Cowgirl. How ya feeling, this morning?’ Marco was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, the total opposite of Savi. She had a mild hangover, but it was overpowered by the anger bubbling inside her. She needed Marco to work his magic and make her forget about reality.
‘Jesse never came back to the room.’ She clenched her jaw and shoved the lobby door open, startling the doorman. Veering left, she and Marco made their way to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was most excited to see Dolly Parton’s star. Savi and her brother had grown upserenading their parents with ‘Dumb Blonde’, Weston donning a blonde wig and balloons stuffed under his shirt.
‘He what?!’ Marco rushed to keep up with her as she stormed on ahead.
‘So, if the energy is a little off at lunch, it’s because I’m trying not to rip his head off.’
‘I will eat in silence, let you two murder each other with your eyes.’
‘He’d better be accommodating,’ Savi snapped, reeling her attitude in quickly before she risked taking it all out on Marco and ruining his tour of LA.
‘I don’t care if he is or not. I’m not here for him, really. I’m here for you, I don’t need him to be nice to me. It’s not going to impact our deal, Savannah. I can promise you that. You can pretend to date me until Jesse gets his shit together and people stop caring about those photos, okay? I’m not going anywhere and I’m not gonna jeopardise it.’
Savi’s entire demeanour softened, and she looked up at him, the sudden urge to wrap him up in a hug taking over. So, she did it. A real hug, not one for show. There was nothing fake about it. ‘Thanks, Monaco.’
‘Let’s go find Dolly and Cher, shall we?’ He clutched her hand tightly and pulled her along.
‘You’re on a mission to find Cher?’
