My Rock #2 (The Rock Star Romance Series - Book #2) (7 page)

He must have really practiced for this one. It was
spot on perfect and I could tell from looking at the judges faces that they
thought so too. I was so into it that I didn’t even realize Molly sat down next
to me until it was over. I had tears in my eyes and when I looked over at her
in the seat next to me she said, “Wow, he was amazing.”

“Yeah,” I said. “He really was.”

“Are you going to tell him how amazing he was? Maybe
show him?” she asked with her eyebrows shooting up and down.

“No, Molly. I can’t. Nothing has changed since the
weekend. I can’t lose this job. Some things are a lot more important than sex.”

“Hmm, I just watched your face while you were
watching him. Are you sure this is only about sex?”

“I’m sure,” I told her. “Sex and nostalgia, that’s
it, I can’t screw this opportunity I’ve been given up for that.”

“Suit yourself,” she said. “But here he comes.” I
looked up and saw Tristan coming back into the room. He was supposed to go off
stage the other way. I don’t know why he kept coming back in here. He was
incorrigible sometimes.

“Hey Elly, what did you think?’ he asked me as he
walked by. I wanted to tell him I thought it was the most amazing song I’d ever
heard. I wanted to tell him that I thought he was going to be a star…again.

I wanted to kiss his full lips and wrap my fingers
up in his hair….But; I saw a few of the other contestants watching us so all I
said was, “Good job. I have to get back to work.”

I could feel his eyes watching me as I walked away.
I knew after the way he’d treated me that morning I’d waked up at his place
that I shouldn’t feel bad for not being “nice.” But I did feel bad. I felt like
no matter how cocky and arrogant he seemed to be, he needed reassurance and I’d
just passed on the opportunity to give it to him. My armchair psychologist
persona was part of what led to me getting into bad relationships. I always
wanted to believe that there was a reason people didn’t act the way they were supposed
to, and if you could uncover the reason, it could be “fixed.” My father tells
me that my affliction is kindness and naivety where the men are likely
suffering from an incurable case of ass-hole-
itis
. I
loved my dad.

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

TRISTAN

I was in the easy top twenty-four the night after
round four. The emcee didn’t even try his stupid pretend routine with me.
Everyone in that audience knew I’d blown it away. The girls in the audience had
signs with my name on it and my picture and they said things like, “Marry Me”
and “I love you!” I didn’t want to marry any of them, but I liked the
attention. And speaking of attention, I was a little pissed at Elly. She’s the
one who said she was a fan of mine and that she thought I was better at the
softer stuff. I had even taken that into consideration when I picked out my
song and changed up the score for this week’s song. I know she was as blown
away as everyone else; she just didn’t have the balls to admit it. She was too
afraid an ex-boyfriend who I still have never seen might see us talking. It
didn’t make any fucking sense, but at the final twenty-four party tonight I was
going to get her to tell me what was really going on.

The party was being held in the ballroom at the
Millennium Biltmore hotel in downtown L.A. It was a fancy ass place and even I
knew better than to show up in my t-shirt and jeans. I went shopping and had
some cute chick at Macy’s help me pick out something nice that didn’t make me
feel like I was wearing a business suit or a strait jacket. I ended up with a
pair of black cotton dress slacks and a black long-sleeved shirt with red pin
stripes and hot chick’s number. I played up the Fresh Voices finalist thing.
She ate it up…I think I could definitely make this work for me.

I showered and put on my new clothes when I got
home. I wore a red t-shirt underneath the long-sleeved black one and my black
leather boots…I didn’t tuck the pants into them; I didn’t think that would be a
good look for this crowd. I had stopped earlier and gotten my hair trimmed
again and I shaved and when I looked into the mirror, I hardly recognized
myself. I looked like a kid with the smooth face. I slipped my gold chain over
my head and I touched it with my fingers when it came to rest on my chest. I
was ready to go and if I do say so myself, I looked pretty damned good. Just
let Emmy try to resist me tonight.

I felt out of place just walking into the fancy old
hotel alone. When I got there, I found myself wishing that I had a date. I
didn’t want to bring one though. For one thing, I don’t know anyone these days
who would have come close to fitting in at this hotel. I also didn’t want to be
straddled to another woman all night. I knew what I wanted, and it was Elly.

 
I used to
feel right at home in places like this, when we were on tour we never stayed at
less than a four star. Most of it was a blur though. I spent a lot of that time
high as a kite or drunk off my ass. I’d been popping my mom’s Xanax since I was
thirteen, and I’d talked her into taking me to the doctor and getting me put on
Ritalin. When I wasn’t taking that one I had made a fortune selling it.
Sometimes I’m not sure which memories are real and which are some drug-infused
delusion. I do remember the way it felt to have audiences rising to their feet
and girls screaming your name. I remember what it felt like to be deferred to
like you were royalty at a restaurant or hotel…How it felt to pop in on Good
Morning America while the teenage girls screamed and cried and begged you to
sign their torso’s. Girls like Elly. Sweet, fresh, normal girls.

I swallowed my reluctance and followed the signs to
the “Grand Ballroom.” I showed my ticket to the man at the door and I was asked
to step to the side for a photograph. There were a ton of reporters there,
snapping photos of their own as well. I was surprised at how many people were
there. The party was only for contestants, staff and their dates, but there
must have been over two hundred people there. I wondered again if I should have
brought a date but then decided that I’m glad I didn’t as soon as I caught
sight of Elly. My mouth went dry at the sight of her and I felt the blood from
my head running quickly to other places.

She looked so hot I had no idea how I’d keep from
walking up and putting my hands all over her. She was wearing a short little
red dress that came to just above her knees. Her legs weren’t long, but they
were really well-defined and the sight of them uncovered like that made me want
to push my way between them. The dress wasn’t low cut but the tops of her
breasts were showing and damn if I didn’t want to touch those too. She had her
hair all curled pretty and it hung down across her shoulders and she had on
more make-up than usual, but not too much. She was gorgeous and the funniest
thing about it to me was that she didn’t seem to have a clue. I found that a
lot sexier than a girl who was full of herself.

She was standing with the two other interns that
work the contestant side of the show. I wondered if the guy was her ex that she
told me about the first time I saw him, but I’d seen them together since and
there didn’t seem to be any history or chemistry there.

The other girl intern saw me before Elly did. I’m
sure she knew something about us by the way she elbowed Elly when I was on my
way over. Elly looked up and I saw a flicker of panic cross her face. She
turned around the other way and suddenly had a lot to say to and older guy in a
suit. What the fuck? I didn’t want to look like a complete idiot so I kept on
in the same direction, stopping at the food table and making myself a little
appetizer plate.

“Hi Tristan.” I looked up and saw Elly’s friend, or
co-worker, or whatever she was. I can’t ever remember her name.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“I just wanted to congratulate you and say that your
last song the other night was amazing.”

“Thanks,” I told her. I looked up and saw Elly
watching us and said, “Too bad everyone doesn’t feel that way.”

“I think most of us do,” she said, looking in Elly’s
direction. “Some of us just can’t put it in worlds. All that matters are the
millions of votes you got, right?”

She was right, that was all that really mattered.
“Damn straight,” I told her.
 
I looked
back over at Elly and realized that for a woman who seemed to be trying to
avoid me, she sure looked at me an awful lot. Molly wandered away then and I
was forced to talk to a few of the other contestants and a couple of musicians.
I spotted Elly again, this time she was sitting alone at a table. I started
towards her and she saw me again and got up. What the hell was her problem? She
started towards the back of the hall and I followed her. She turned the corner
and darted into the ladies room.

I pushed open the door and followed her in. I was
happy to see there was a padlock on the door. I flipped it over and looked back
at her.

She was looking indignantly at me and she said, “No
way, I’m not having sex with you in here.”

I laughed, “You think I followed you in here for a
quickie?”

“Well, that’s what happened the first time we met.”

I took a step forward and she took one back. She
acted like she was afraid of me almost and I didn’t understand it. I’d never
hurt her.

“I didn’t follow you in here for sex. I just want to
talk. Elly, why are you avoiding me?”

“I’m not avoiding you,” she said.

“Okay then why the fuck are you flat out ignoring
me?”

“I’m not,” she said. “I told you, we just can’t be
seen together.”

“Why? I see you talking to the other contestants
here. Why the fuck am I any different?”

“Because…”

“Because what, Elly?”

“Because if anyone finds out that we’re having sex
we could both be in a lot of trouble.” I don’t think she meant to blurt it out
like that. She put her hand over her mouth and then looked underneath the two
stalls, checking for feet.

“Why? What kind of trouble?” I asked her.

“Tristan, there are rules that say no one who works
on this show can date or sleep with the contestants. They lay those rules out
for us very clearly at the beginning of all of this. We even had to sign a copy
of them so they know we fully understand. There’s no gray area there…If they
catch us….I can lose my job and you will get disqualified. I don’t want to be
responsible for that.”

“Let them kick me off. After the way I blew it away
last week my agent’s phone has been ringing off the hook. Fuck ‘em.” I hadn’t
really heard from Mitch but I had done show business long enough to know that
if his phone hadn’t started ringing with offers for me yet, it would soon.

“Okay, maybe you don’t care, but I do,” she said.
“This internship is really important to me. It’s important to my career…I need
this. I can’t afford to get fired. All of the producers are here tonight, even
the big wigs. I can talk to the other contestants and not feel nervous about it
because I haven’t slept with any of them. I’m looking at a promotion if I don’t
screw this internship up.”

“Good to know you’re only avoiding me because of the
sex. Since you’ve already got it down pat, it shouldn’t be a problem to just
keep sneaking around, right?” I told her with a grin as I took another step
towards her.

“Stop it!” she said, taking another step back and
coming into contact with the wall.

I wanted to fuck her right there. I fucking love sex
and I don’t care who cares how I live my life. Mostly though, since I started
having it with Elly, I remembered what it was like to do it with a warm body.
The way she moves and the noises she makes…she’s not so out of her mind that
she may or may not remember it. I know she remembers me…I took one more step to
close the space between us. Her cheeks were flushed and I could hear her
breaths quickening. I started sliding her little dress up then, dragging my
fingers along her thighs as I did. I expected her to push me away, and when she
didn’t, I got braver and I slipped my hand underneath and slid my fingers down
into her panties. I put one finger against her slit and she moaned. Then I used
two fingers to rub against her hard clit and she moaned louder. Then I slid
those two fingers in her suddenly moist pussy and I moved them back and forth.
She let out a groan and suddenly she was up on her toes and her lips were on
mine. She slid her tongue inside my mouth and I felt my cock jerk. We kissed like
that while I caressed her sweet pussy for a long time. We may have even gone
further, but there was someone knocking at the door.

“I’ll be right out,” Elly called in a strangled
voice. She pulled away from me and slipped into the stall. I washed my hands
and she came out and washed hers. Then she pulled open the bathroom door a
crack and said, “It’s clear, go!” I started to slip out and she said,
“Tristan!”

I turned towards her and she said, “Your place after
the party.” I grinned and slipped out and into the men’s room just before a
stuffy looking old lady came around the corner. I had to stay out of sight for
a few minutes until my cock was ready to rest again.

CHAPTER
TWELVE

ELLY

 
I spent the
rest of the evening telling myself that as soon as this party was over, I was
going straight home. There was no way that I was going over to Tristan’s
apartment and I can’t imagine why I said that I would. Okay, I know why I said
I would. For Christ sakes the guy had his hand down my panties only seconds
before and damn does he know what he’s doing down there. I feel like such an
incredible pervert every time I look at him, especially tonight. I haven’t seen
him dressed up so nice since he was twenty years old and on the cover of every
magazine at the supermarket counter. Back then I’d imagine that the day would
come when I’d know what it was like to kiss him. Now I know what every stinking
part of him is like and I crave it…