Page 11 of Tattoos and Heartbreak
Realizing belatedly that I wasn’t just hung over but also stark naked in a bed with twisted sheets that indicated I hadn’t slept here alone.
As I turned, I saw several things in flashes. Dark red hair. Skin fair enough that it matched the sheets it was laying on. Freckles across a tiny nose and a face so beautiful I would have thought I was dreaming it.
Except I wasn’t.
Because now that I was looking at the face, I remembered it from last night.
I hadn’t come up and gotten drunk by myself after the run-in with those photographers. I’d gotten drunk, yes, but I definitely hadn’t done it alone. I’d gone to the room next door, where I hung out with two girls I didn’t even know. And then I’d brought one of them back to my room with me because she’d been so interesting, so sweet, that I hadn’t wanted to let her go yet. I hadn’t wanted to be like her—never that, because it wasn’t possible—but I’d wanted her sunniness around me for a bit longer.
And here we’d had more to drink, and at some point—amidst all the secrets we’d been sharing with each other—she’d said something that had grabbed me by the heart and made me realize that I’d never, ever been so into a girl in my life. I’d wanted everything about her. Her smile, her laugh… her body.
I’d taken her. I’d stripped her and buried myself in her and moved until I could barely stand it, my cock hard enough that I thought I might die from the pleasure and her hands wrapped in my hair, her body surrounding me as I pressed my mouth against her neck and moaned her name again and again.
And we hadn’t just done it once. We’d laid in bed talking, my fingertips trailing over her velvet skin as she told me more about her childhood and I hid my past. She’d gone on and on about her sisters, how they’d performed for their parents and how she’d learned the guitar early enough that she couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t been playing. She’d asked whether I played anything else and whether my parents were proud of my career, and I’d...
God.
I’d told her the things I’d never told anyone else. About growing up in the orphanage and winning a contest when I was young, then getting a manager and being shoved into the music industry with no one to look after me.
And then I’d pulled her onto me, turned onto my back, and brought her down on my cock again. Just so I could lose myself in the warmth and perfection of her.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I was supposed to be cleaning up my image so that Olivia and Connor weren’t damaged—and I was supposed to be doing it quickly so I could save my band’s spot on this tour. And instead I’d gotten drunk with the girl next door and dragged her into my bed.
And there was no way in hell I was going to get out of this, because she was also the sweetest, most innocent person I’d ever met in my entire life. I’d not only fucked the girl next door but also fucked someone who had probably never even met a real live rock star before and had been so starstruck that she hadn’t known what she was doing.
Oh. My. God.
I slid out of bed as quietly as I could, grabbed my clothes off the ground, and put them on so quickly it was probably some sort of record. I found my shoes in no time flat, grabbed my wallet, and left the room.
Please, please let her leave before I got back. And please let her keep her mouth shut. Please let her leave the tour and never come back, and please let this be the end of it. Because I couldn’t afford the trouble I was going to get in if anyone found out about this.
And I didn’t want to see her face when she woke up and realized that she might be the biggest mistake of my entire career.
LILA
Anna was looking at me with eyes so narrow I wondered if she could even see through them.
“So you’re telling me you two went to his room and just talked, and then you fell asleep on the couch and that was that? Nothing happened between you?”
I gulped and tried to keep my face as neutral as possible. I mean I was obviously failing—the way she was looking at me told me that much—but I was going to do my absolute best. Because Anna was already mad at me for having flirted with Rivers Shine like he was the last man on earth, and like she hadn’t been warning me all night to stay away from him. She looked like she was about to explode with frustration at what I’d done.
And she only thought I’d fallen asleep on his couch.
She didn’t need to hear that what I’d actually done was stay up most of the night drinking and flirting with him, only to actually fall into bed with him at the end of the night, my body screaming with need for him and his body proving to be quite willing. And after that...
I almost groaned aloud at the memory of his teeth on my skin, his fingertips dancing along my hip as he moved to spread my legs for him. I felt my back arching of its own accord as I felt the ghost of that touch and remembered the way he’d slid into me and moved so slowly, so deeply, that I hadn’t had any doubt about it being more than just sex.
And the way he’d said my name as he increased his pace...
“Lila,” Anna snapped. “Are you even listening to me right now?”
No, I hadn’t been listening. I’d been too busy remembering how Rivers’ weight had felt on top of me, and the way my body had responded to him.
“Sorry,” I gasped, knowing full well that my cheeks were flushing. “It was a long night and I’m not feeling that great.” I grabbed for my coffee and gulped it so fast that it scalded my throat. “I need more coffee, do you need more coffee?”
I got up before she could respond and walked toward the coffee bar of the diner we’d managed to find for breakfast, trying to get my brain back on track and remind it of the only thing that actually mattered about last night.
