Acting casual, I snatched Noah’s phone off the floor then strolled into the recording booth, ensuring I signed out of his Facebook account on the way there.
“Emily just called,” I lied, interrupting Noah mid-song.
He pulled off his headphones before accepting his phone I was holding out for him. The confusion on his face doubled when he returned Emily’s call and got her voicemail.
While he left a message, Slater questioned, “Emily was calling, eh?” He stood in the doorway of the studio with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
“Yep.” I sat down and picked up my guitar I was tuning before I hacked into Noah’s phone.
“At two in the afternoon?” Slater’s brow arched higher, calling bullshit even more than his mocking tone.
My eyes darted up to his. With a smirk, I shrugged. “Maybe one of her classes got canceled?” I strummed my guitar, hoping to avoid further interrogation from Slater.
Thank fuck it worked. “Yeah, maybe.”
Fortunately for me, Emily didn’t mention anything to Noah about not calling him earlier that day. I couldn’t help the sly smirk that morphed onto my face when I realized my sneakiness had gone undetected.
I wasn’t so lucky a few weeks later. . .
* * *
The sound engineers and Mickey have left for the day, leaving just the band and me in the studio. We’ve been putting in long hours the past few weeks, striving to get enough songs to fill an album. I tried to convince the execs to put “Player” back into the line-up, but they keep refusing. They argue that no girl likes a player. I can attest that that notion is full of shit. All girls like a player. . .except perhaps Jenni.
“Look at this.” Marcus’s smile beams as he heads for Slater. “I thoughtwewere the ones set for fame.”
After taking in the magazine article Marcus is showing him, Slater hands it to Noah. He scans the open pages before his lips etch into a large grin. He notices my curious gaze and passes the magazine to me. When my eyes absorb the two-page spread, I don’t initially see what they’re going on about. It's only when I hand the well-known magazine back to Noah do I see a small photo of Jenni in the top left-hand corner of the page.
I snatch it back, my eyes widening.
Holy hell, she looks hot as fuck.
She's wearing a sparkling mini dress made from nothing but shiny beads. Her hair is pinned to the side, exposing her delicate neck, and her lips are bright red in color. The contrast between her lips and skin makes her blue eyes even lighter than normal.
My rapidly stiffening dick softens when I notice she has her arm wrapped around a blond guy wearing a black suit. My jaw tightens when I read the small caption next to the photo: “Christian Doherty attending the premiere of his new movieChasing Kate in New York with his date.”
My eyes dart over the pages, seeking more photos of Jenni. I do notice Christian in a handful of photos that are part of the article about the opening night of his movie, but Jenni doesn’t appear in any others except the first one I saw her in.
“Who is this Christian guy?” I question anyone listening.
Marcus and Noah shrug, as unsure as me, but Slater isn’t as quick to deny knowledge of Christian’s existence. He just smirks before spinning on his heels and walking out of the room.
I leap up from the floor and follow after him. “Do you know who he is?” I follow him outside so he can have a smoke.
“What’s it to you?” He flicks a match head to light the cigarette dangling out of his mouth.
I play it cool. “I’m just curious, that’s all.”
My calm tone hides the fact my heart is racing a million miles an hour. When Slater’s amused gaze lowers to my balled fists, I unclench them, then cross my arms in front of my chest.
“She’s my friend, so I want to make sure she isn’t getting herself into any trouble.”
In reality, I want to know what the fuck this guy means to Jenni, and if she’s sleeping with him. Even though I can’t comprehend why the thought is annoying the shit out of me, it is. Very much so.
“He’s her friend too,” Slater replies.
I release the breath I'm holding in, grateful Christian and Jenni are just friends.
My relief doesn’t last long.
