Alive With You (Real Love #1) (11 page)

CHAPTER 19

Claire

I pulled into Ace's Diner a little after 2 o'clock and saw Tara's car there. I went in to meet her and was surprised to see her without Dylan. "Hey, sweetness, where's your other half?"

"I let him go play with Winston for a while. Between Tyler and me, their bromance has been struggling. I owe you big time for the intro!"

"So did you hop on the magic stick? Inquiring minds want to know."

"Really Claire, the 'magic stick'? What is he? 50 Cent?" She was laughing. "I haven't heard that song in forever! The answer is no, I haven't. He's tried a few times to get really hot and heavy, but I just can't. I really like being around him, and he's beyond sexy, but realistically speaking, I've only known the guy for two weeks. It's crazy that I have a Pinterest file titled
YUMMY
and ninety percent of the pictures are of him, yet I can't bring myself to do more than kiss him. Explain that to me."

The waiter came to take our order. He'd heard us talking because he looked Tara up and down and smiled. "My stick is very magical, so if it doesn't work out with Mr. Yummy then let me know."

"I'm flattered, but the man has me hooked!"

"He's a lucky man; you're like a decorated version of Snow White. Flawless beauty with just enough punk rock to make a skater boy swoon."

"Wow, you know how to make a girl blush. I just might send my little sister in here. We have different dads. Hers is Native American so she's a decorated Pocahontas."

We both ordered french toast with bacon and as we sat and ate we continued our talk about her and Dylan.

"So how serious is this? Are we talking fun with a friend or meet the parents?"

"I'm not sure really. I know I'm really into him, and I think he's on the same page, I hope so anyway." She made a worried face and sipped her coffee. "What if I'm just a way to kill time? I've heard he can be quite the ladies' man and never has a girlfriend. How can I tell? What happens when some beauty queen spreads her legs? I just can't be that girl, you know, the one who fucks him just because he's Dylan Cross. That might just be what ends whatever this is."

"It's not really my place to say it, but since you're so upset, I'm going to as long as it doesn't leave this table. I know for a fact he's way into you. Winston told me you've clipped his balls. You're the only girl he's ever programed into his phone, and you have your own ringtone. He also said the only people with special ringtones are Dylan's mom and sisters. Yours is "Smile" by Uncle Kracker. Stop stressing, honey; this is something real, and it will happen in your own time." I squeezed her hand for reassurance. "I need to thank Detective Dickhead for being a perv. If he hadn't fondled me in Starbucks, I wouldn't have met them."

"We can send him a pair of your panties!"

I couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sure Gavin would love that! Actually, he probably would if they were post ejaculation panties; he's big on marking his territory. What better way to piss off the man who's obsessed with your girl than to send him her thong soaked in your semen?"

"That's pretty gangstah! It's pretty fucking gross, too."

"I settled on two different pictures of you, the one where you're spread eagled and the Frankenstein tattoo one. I'm using the 50s style zombie picture we took here last year, the
Thriller
dance from the party, the picture of Gavin and Tyler dressed in Freddy and Jason costumes fighting each other, and the one of Miles dressed as the kid from
Pet Cemetery
."

"I love that one. That kid is too much. I remember he carried Beth's poor cat around the whole day. That cat really does look like the one from the movie. It's creepy."

"I made a bunch of prints and business cards for KC's also. Oh, I forgot to mention the owner wants to keep one of you to hang in the gallery."

"Shut up!"

"For real. This all seems too good to be true. I have everything I could wish for. It's about time life dealt me a good hand!" I debated whether to tell her what happened earlier, but decided against it. "Did you hear Ty and Winston are official? It's so soon, but I guess sometimes you just know you've found the one."

"I heard about it, and I have to say I'm a little envious that I'm not there with Dylan, but I'm totally happy for them. I'll settle for the fact that I've been with him every day since we met, and he calls me beautiful more than he uses my name. Pet names are fun to have." She raised an eyebrow at me. "So what's this I hear about a certain threesome that took place?"

"Wow, who told you?"

"I'll never tell!"

"It just happened. Gavin and I had some hard-core fuckage the night before that left a lot of bite marks on me. Ty saw them the next morning when she came into my room and bugged out on him. She started touching and kissing them and then got up to leave. He pulled her back down, and before I knew it, there was a lot of touching, sucking, and fucking followed by a sexy cum-shared kiss. It's the craziest thing I've ever done, but I loved every second of it."

"Sounds pretty hot! I've seen you two kissing before, but that kiss would have been fun to watch!"

"I didn't know you were into girls."

"It's been a long time, but I've had my share of pretty ladies. I had a steady girlfriend in college for about a year, and then I was a dick and fucked her brother. Let's just say that didn't end well. The shitty thing is she was way more fun in bed."

"Holy shit! I never would have pegged you for the asshole in a break-up. My sweet little Tara is a cheater."

"Shut it, woman! Let's get out of here. Lunch is on me."

We left the diner, and when I got to my car, I saw the words "HE'S MINE" keyed into the side of my car and all four of my tires slashed. My hands started shaking; I'm not sure if it was anger or fear.

"Tara, wait!" I knew I had screamed for her but couldn't hear my own words because of the thumping in my head.

"Jesus Christ, who the fuck did this? You call Gavin, and I'll call the cops."

Gavin got there before the cops did. "Holy shit! Who the hell—"

I cut him off. "
You
tell
me
. You know you're the only man in my life, so who else would this crazy ass bitch be referring to? Just tell me the fucking truth, Gavin. Who were you fucking before we were official? I know there's nobody else now, but who did you cut off last week? It's got to be the same chick who left that picture under my door." I was screaming so loud they must have heard me across town.

"I told you before, I haven't touched another girl since the day I met you. That's the truth, and you better fucking believe me." He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. He looked like he was going to cry. "Because if you don't believe me, then we don't have the bond I thought we did. I never once lied to you, and I never will."

Tears poured down my cheeks. "I'm sorry, Gavin. I believe you. I'm just scared and angry. I'm so mixed up."

"It's okay, honey. We gotta figure out who's gone all stalker before someone gets hurt."

The cops pulled up in in a black SUV, and I wondered why it wasn't just a patrol car. The doors opened, and of course, Cole and Morgan got out of the car.

Gavin threw his hands in the air. "Wonderful, just fucking fantastic. Of all the cops in Acceta, we get you two LA dickheads."

Cole came up and hugged me. "Are you all right? I was at the Acceta station when the call came in. I told them you were family, and they let us take it."

Gavin looked furious. "She'll be just fine if you keep your hands off of her. You can do your job without touching my fiancée!"

"I'm okay, Cole. I just want to figure this out before anything really bad happens. A picture of Gavin and me was pushed under the door to the shop the other day. I didn't take it seriously, but now, I wish I had."

Cole turned to Gavin with a serious look on his face. "I want you to put aside your hatred for me and look at it like this: we both love her and would do anything to protect her. I lost her because I allowed myself to become a piece of shit woman beater who'd fuck any whore who'd spread her legs. I was too dumb and drunk to realize all I needed was the goddess I married. I let alcohol ruin my life, and by the time I changed my ways, I was too late, she loves you. I'll never get a second chance. You won, so stop dick measuring."

Morgan just stood there for a minute then looked at Gavin. "If I don't help you, Grammy will disown me."

Cole focused on Gavin. "Is there anyone who comes to mind that could have done this? Any ex-girlfriends or women you rejected? Were you sleeping with anyone else?"

"No. I have an ex-wife who is somewhere in NYC, but she left me five years ago. I've been trying like hell to get Claire for the last two years, so there's nobody. There's that Sasha girl though, but I doubt she'd do this. She's just a chick who tried to get me to sleep with her, but I shot her down."

"I'm going to want to speak to her anyway."

I chimed in on their conversation. "She's an immature young girl, but she's also a single mom. She's not going to get in trouble with the law because she got shot down for a booty call. I really need to get going though. I have to get ready for the expo. Can we finish all this tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll call you tomorrow. Leave me your car keys. I'll text you the info on when and where you can get pick it up." He kissed his thumb and pressed it to my cheek. "I'm going to figure this out. I promise I will." He looked at Gavin. "You won, be good to our girl."

CHAPTER 20

Claire

I was determined tonight would be amazing and to let go of the dark cloud over my head. I had my prints and canvases put together with the business cards. All that was left was to get myself ready. I hopped into the shower and thought about what to wear, dressy but punk, hot and kind of badass.

The bathroom door opened. "The sitter just picked up Miles. I want to talk about today. I need to know that you believe me when I say there's nobody else."

"All I have to say is I believe you, and you need to believe me when I say that. I don't want to talk about any of this tonight, though." I stepped out of the shower and pressed my wet body against him. I ran my fingers through his soft hair as he held me close, his strong hands running up and down my wet back. "I'm blocking out the negativity of today and focusing on the positive, and so far, every positive had something to do with you."

He gave me his Prince Charming smile and ran his hands from my belly up to my breasts, cupping them in his palms. Gently, he stroked his thumbs over my nipples as he stared into my eyes, like he was searching my soul. He fell to his knees in front of me and put his lips on my belly. "I love you more than life, Claire. I don't know why Miles said what he did today, but I hope it's true. You own every piece of me; you have since the day we met. Now that I finally have you, I want nothing more than to put a tiny little life inside you. I want to make you a mother again."

I pulled him up and kissed his hands. "You already have. You gave me a son I adore, and if you haven't put a little peanut inside me yet, then you will soon enough."

"You should go get dressed. If you stay naked in front of me too much longer, I'm gonna bend you over this sink."

"You're an ass, but I still love you"

He gave me a hard slap on the ass as I left the bathroom. I looked through my clothes and found nothing that worked. I was starting to get nervous. I wanted to look just right for the occasion. I remembered Tara had left a bag with a few outfits she didn't wear for me to try on, and there it was. My punk rock princess had saved the day. The maroon skirt had black skulls on it and ended mid-thigh. It looked great with the short-sleeve, open-back, mock turtleneck that showed all my upper body tattoos. For an extra twist of punk, I put on my maroon and pink Iron Fist zombie heels with my black, thigh-high stockings. With my long hair flowing, my fingers and toes painted black, and just a little makeup, I was ready to go. I looked in the mirror and actually felt sexy.

I headed downstairs, hoping Gavin would like my outfit as much as I did. He was sitting on the couch watching an old episode of
Hard Law
when he saw me. My irresistible lover looked so fine dressed in his dark jeans and a tight, black, dress shirt, which enhanced his muscles. I couldn't wait to run my hands up and down his rock-hard abs. When he had his hair tied back the way he did, his handsome face and bright blue eyes lit up the room.

"Well, what do you think?" I slowly spun around for him to get a full view. I strolled toward the front of the TV, but he was already walking toward me, undoing his belt. He lifted my skirt and quickly bent me over the love seat.

"Well now, I see someone wants to be my naughty girl. You know what I like to do to naughty girls, don't you?" With a hard smack to my ass, he shoved the crotch of my panties to the side and started rubbing my swollen clit, changing paces back and forth from slow to fast. "You're so fuckin' hot. Just looking at you makes me hard." He gripped my throat and his dominant voice growled in my ear. "I'm gonna take what's mine now, kitten. I'm gonna fuck you 'til you scream." Shoving himself deep inside me, he pounded hard and fast while tightly wrapping his fist in my hair. The harder he pulled on it, the harder he fucked me. My knees went weak, and I felt my orgasm building up, my inner thighs soaked with my arousal. My pussy was throbbing, and I could feel it clenching. "That's it, darlin', squeeze my cock with that tight little pussy." We erupted, cumming hard together. "Tell me, love, whose pussy is this?"

"Oh, it's all yours!"

"Good girl." He bit my neck then pulled himself out of me.

"I guess you like the outfit." I smiled then adjusted myself. "I need to go clean myself up really quick since you can't keep your hands off me."

"You, my dear, are intoxicating. Don't clean up too much. I want you to walk around with my cum soaking your panties. I want you nice and juicy, and it drives me wild when you smell like me."

"I love when you're so primal, baby. It turns me on to know how badly you want me." I tugged his beard a little. "Let's go before I saddle you for round two, I don't want to be too late."

We met Tara and Dylan at the Penne Vista and were greeted by Sarah Jenkins. She shook our hands then proceeded to hug Gavin, pressing her breasts against him. When she finally let go of him, she ran her hands down his chest. "Nice to see you, Mr. Price! Can I call you Gavin?"

"Of course you can." I could see how awkward he was feeling, but he held it together.

Tara whispered in my ear. "She'd like to call him more than that while he plows her out."

"You're an asshole, Tara!" I had to force myself not to laugh.

Sarah turned to us and smiled. "Right this way, ladies."

As we were escorted to our spot, Gavin and Dylan took seats at the bar. It was the most interesting bar I'd ever seen. It had a sapphire blue top, and the entire bottom was a huge fish tank full of exotic fish. They had to be saltwater fish because they looked like they were straight out of
Finding Nemo
. I had to take a picture to show Dave; he'd love it.

This gallery was huge. Only a wing of it was being used tonight, and that on its own was impressive. The bright white walls and pillars were a perfect contrast to the black marble floors. Black leather love seats were randomly placed next to glass end tables. There were sapphire blue suede benches wrapped around the bottom of each pillar. Once I started hanging my pictures, I noticed Sarah's facial expression had changed a bit. She was looking at my hand with what I wanted to think was an unintentional grimace on her face. Tara smiled at her, which seemed to snap her back into focus.

"What a beautiful ring. Who's the lucky man?" She glanced over at the guys. "I'm assuming that gentleman over there with Gavin."

Tara chimed in before I could answer. "No, that one is mine. Gavin finally picked up his balls and told Claire how he felt. Can you believe he bought that rock two months ago? They weren't even a couple. He thought of her when he saw it and knew one day he'd get the nerve to propose." She looked at Gavin then back to me. "When you're as tight as these two are, dating isn't necessary."

I smiled at Tara. "Enough about me!"

"Own your story, girl. It's not often people get a real life happily ever after." She had a point, so I let her finish. "For the last two years they've been joined at the hip, they're best friends. No physical relationship at all, just the pure love of two soul mates waiting for the right moment to admit to themselves and each other that they were meant to be." She took a sip of her wine and smiled. "Now someone needs to write a love story about that!"

"Well, Ms. Michaels, you're one lucky woman."

"Yes I am!" I smiled and waved at Gavin, blowing him a kiss as I watched her walk away. "Way to be a bitch, Tara, and good job staking your claim on Dylan. I'm kind of thinking she'd rather have Gavin though."

"Do ya think?" She laughed until she noticed a blonde Barbie-type walk up to Dylan. He was smiling as they were talking, and he jotted something down on a piece of paper. She shoved it in her little Michael Kors clutch bag and continued to flirt with him.

"Claire, what do I do? He just gave her his number, and I can't go say anything; it's not my place." Her face turned white as a ghost and she got shaky. "Oh God, I'm going to be sick. I should have just fucked him, what was I thinking?" Why did I even think I had a real chance? Just look at her. She's the total opposite of me. She's the type I see him wanting to be with. Girls like me don't walk the red carpet. I don't want all that. I just want him."

"Tara, chill for a minute. Regardless of the fact that you aren't interested in him for his career, the public looks at him as Aaron Dean. Women are going to approach him, and he's going to have to be personable, make small talk, sign an autograph, and maybe take a picture. She approached him. He chooses to spend all his time with you. Shit Tara, he's here because of you." I hugged her so she'd calm down.

We looked at them, and Dylan was pointing at Tara. He winked at her and called her over. Barbie looked at us and walked away. There was a half-hour left until the doors opened so we headed to the bar to be with them. Gavin pulled me in for a hug and kissed my forehead.

"Sweeter than a thousand!" Flashing his sweet smile, he kissed my hand and whispered in my ear. "I hope you didn't mind Mr. Dominant sneaking out before we left. No matter how hard I try, sometimes I can't control myself with you."

"I like when he decides to visit. There's nothing like a good spanking every now and again."

"I hope you know all that dirty talk is just playful. I don't ever want you to think I consider you my property; you're my queen. If anything, you run the show, you have me under your spell."

I ran my hands up and down his firm chest. "I know, baby."

Dylan pulled Tara next to him and lifted her chin. "I hope you don't mind, but I told that chick who was just undressing me with her eyes that I was here with you." He softly kissed her lips. "Tara, I saw your face when she came up to me. I only signed an autograph. I wouldn't take a picture with her, and I damn sure didn't give her my number. Am I here with my beautiful date, who I can't seem to tear myself away from, or my friend who happens to be a girl? I'm pretty sure it's a date; at least, I was hoping that's what it was. Women will flirt with me, and I'll smile and talk to them because I have to." The tip of his tongue ran up her neck before giving her little nibbles. "I'm here with you, gorgeous. No random fangirl is changing that."

"I'm not even gonna lie, I was a little intimidated by her, but you called me gorgeous. Mr. Cross, you've just made me a very happy girl."

Tyler snuck up behind us and pinched my ass. "Tonight is the night, doll. I'm so proud of you!"

Dylan nodded to Winston. "Fangirls are among us." He picked up Tara and spun her around. "This one needs some thicker skin if she's gonna be with me." He gave her a peck on the cheek. "It's almost 7. You guys should go stand by your pictures."

Tara and I made our way back as the doors opened. Waiters in tuxedos floated through the crowd with champagne and hors d'oeuvres. Some people seemed like true horror fans, some we could tell were going to re-sell. My pictures of Tara were big sellers, and the diner one was a hit, also. The picture of Miles was just for display; I didn't feel right selling a picture of my son.

Tyler took over my station so Gavin and I could look around for a bit. We looked at the different types of pictures people had. There were so many different takes on horror. I fell in love with a picture of a crow perched on a black metal fence; it reminded me of the movie. I talked to the photographer a little and ended up buying the canvas for the shop. Gavin pointed out a picture that made the ones I took of Tara look like they were from a children's book. It looked like a horrible picture of a rape.

"That's too raw even for me, and I can be a sick fuck." He shook his head at the photographer. "Not to mention that kind of looks like my ex."

"I think she looks really familiar too. She kinda looks like that chick from the shop who creeps me out. I can't picture her doing that though, but who knows."

We walked up to the picture and stared at it for a minute before approaching the photographer. I began to talk to a guest who'd recognized me from KC's while Gavin spoke to him.

"Who is this in the picture?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Not sure what her name is. She's a freak and a half, and a loony bitch, but she's hot as hell and was literally begging them to do that to her. She signed off on me taking pictures, but I can't remember her name." He looked at me and then at Gavin, "Your girl is beautiful and looks like a real lady. Why would you look twice at this tramp?"

"She looks just like my ex. Her name is Mara. She has different hair and more tattoos than I remember, but I haven't seen her in five years."

"I took this about two weeks ago at a party in LA. Sam, that's it, her name is Sam."

Gavin said goodbye to the photographer and stepped back toward me. "Let's go see how Ty's doing."

"Tara just went into the bathroom. I'm going to do my girlfriendly duty and join her. I'll meet you back there."

I went in the bathroom and Barbies 1 and 2 were in powder room section loading more makeup on their faces. They were talking about Tara, and I knew she would hear them.

"Can you believe he's here with that freak show? It has to be a contest or publicity thing. There is no way someone like him would choose that over this." She ran her hand down her body.

Barbie 2 chimed in, "Maybe she's a co-worker. Either way, he's leaving here with us. Threesome tonight, girl!"

There was no way I could keep my mouth shut. I was hoping once she heard my voice, Tara would come stand up for herself. I joined them in front of the mirror, acting like I wanted to touch up my lipstick. "Oh, I recognize you. You're the girl who tried to pick up Dylan. Sorry, but he prefers to spend his time with a classy woman."