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“Fans?” I ask, confused.
“Yes. Apparently, he and his friends, wherever they go, a little caravan of people follow them. Isn’t that wild?” she says excitedly.
“Yeah, it’s wild,” I repeat, a hollow pain spreading in my chest as everything starts to fall into place.
The rest of the world is starting to get glimpses of him, and just like me, they’re struck dumb and in love. He’s got fans. Famous, wealthy and glamorous friends. I am the only one who missed the memo that Graham’s ambitions had done a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn. I’m also, clearly, the only one who thinks there’s anything wrong with that.
Even if there’s something about Nanette that he doesn’t like, he’s obviously made his choice. From what I can see, Graham likes being surrounded by all of this exceptional beauty and talent.
Even if it’s rotten at the core.
Capes
Graham
My eyes roam over the sea of gyrating bodies on the dance floor below the VIP balcony of Omar’s newest venture, Tattoo. I’m the face of the new advertising campaign that he’s launching next month. It’s my first ever. We thought it’d be nice to have my graduation party here and get people excited about our collaboration.
I hadn’t considered that Apollo would be here. It didn’t matter that the party started at 5 p.m. As soon as word got out that The Four Horsemen were in one place at once, every woman in Los Angeles would be in here dressed like it was midnight on Friday.
“Man, this Fifty Shades of Grey shit is killing my vibe.” Dave leans over to shout in my ear. I pulled back from him, wincing at the vibration his voice let loose on my eardrum.
“Why are you screaming in my ear? The music’s not even that loud up here.” I scoot away from him. He ignores me completely and moves closer to me. “I can’t believe I’m wearing a fucking suit tonight,” he says, throwing back his bourbon and tugging at the tight-fitting sleeves of his suit jacket.
“I haven’t had to work this hard to get pussy since before my growth spurt when I was thirteen. That fucker Grey’s not even fucking real, man, and suddenly, we’re all trying to fucking look like him.”
“Do you think that maybe you have to work hard for pussy because you curse like a fucking sailor?”
“Girls love a guy who says ‘fuck.’ All that gentlemanly shit you play at is out. Girls want an alpha. Not some pussy who says ‘please’ and calls her ‘sweetheart.’”
“Yeah,” I scoff at him. “Says the man who calls women ‘girls’.” I roll my eyes.
“Yeah, well you can act like you’re a gentleman, Graham. But only one of us has a ‘PussyPhone.’”
Just then, the phone he referenced lights up. My stomach tightens when I see Nanette’s calling. I send it to voice mail.
I take a sip of my gin and tonic and grimace at the bite of it. I never drink. But tonight, I need all the help I can get. Everything is such a mess.
I feel sick to my stomach when I remember Apollo’s face when she saw Nanette at the restaurant last night. I couldn’t even look at her. She’d left without saying goodbye. I didn’t blame her. I fucking hate Nanette, but she’s got me by the balls.
I look back at Dave and find his attention has moved back to the dancers. And that his eyes are trained on the one person he shouldn’t ever look at. Not like that.
“Get your filthy fucking eyes off her.” I lean down and murmur in his ear. He throws his head back and laughs.
Her dark, pin straight hair falls to her waist, flies behind her like floating raven’s wings. The same way it had looked the first time I saw her.
In the lighting of the club, they glitter like polished chips of onyx as she twirls across the dance floor with
some motherfucker whose hands are hovering too close to her ass.
She turns, and her sharp, high cheekbones come into focus. A second later, she whirls again, and this time I get the full, breath seizing view of a heartshaped face that is punctuated by a dimple in the middle of her softly pointed chin.
She’s laughing. Her berry stained lips part to reveal generous pink gum and her small perfectly straight white teeth that gleam as the flashing lights above slide over them. Every time I see it, that enchanting smile launches a thousand dreams in my heart. Tonight, I push them back down.
She came, but I know it’s not because she wants to congratulate me. She hasn’t looked at me since our eyes met when I was walking across the stage.
“Yeah, you get your filthy fucking eyes off her first.” Dave’s amused whisper doesn’t bother me. Between him, Reece and Omar, we’re the closest. He knows more than anyone else what my life is really like. He doesn’t have a malicious bone in his body, and he’s the least judgmental person I know. Maybe it’s because he’s stoned all the time. Or maybe, it’s that he has a very off kilter moral compass when it comes to sex, women and life in general.
He leans back and crosses his arms over his chest as he continues to observe Apollo. “She’s fucking mesmerizing. I don’t understand why she’s not famous or something.”
