BAD WICKED TWISTED: A Briarcrest Academy Box Set (114 page)

“You think you know me, but I
could
get a tattoo or a body piercing if I wasn’t so terrified of needles …” she trailed off, a sad expression on her face that made me chuckle.

Aw. She was gorgeous the way she was, and I secretly thought Spider got off on it too. I leaned in. “Have you talked to Spider lately?”

She shook her head. “No, and I don’t want to talk about him. What’s going on with Sebastian? Have you talked to him?”

I exhaled. “No, but I did send him a text that the pictures were in my possession and that I’d explain everything later. He tried to call me, but I’m not ready to talk to him. I’m still working with Hing on some details.”

“I love how you love him,” Mila said softly. “You’re sacrificing your privacy for him.”

Yes, I’d sold the journal to Hing. “It was for both of us. I couldn’t let Blair destroy his career and my life. There comes a point where you just have to stand up and fight for yourself.” I suddenly smiled, for once the memory of my father filling me with joy. “My dad always said that the remedy is in the poison.”

Mila smirked. “Hmmm, does that mean I should just screw Spider and get him out of my system?”

I shrugged. “Maybe.”

She bit her lip. “Back to Sebastian, he’s talking of getting on the road soon. He wants to get out of LA for a while. I think—I think he’s hurting.” She sent me a sad smile. “I’ll still stay here in LA, though.”

“But—but he can’t do that. I’m staying here—and the orphanage.”

“But what about your career, V? If you’re not going to New York, then what?”

I got giddy with excitement. “Okay, well, this morning I called the chancellor at the Manhattan School of Music and we talked. I explained how I couldn’t leave, and he said he’d put in a good word for me at the LA College of Music. He knows a few of the deans there, and he said they’d love to have me. Later, maybe, once my confidence is built up—I can apply for the symphony here.”

Mila smiled. “I’m happy for you. Just don’t leave Sebastian hanging if you can’t be with him.”

Of course I wanted to be with him.

I picked a red silk dress off the rack and held it up to my neck. Silky and with a plunging neckline in the front and back, it was gorgeous and not even practical for playing the violin.

Mila grinned. “You’ll need tape to hold it in place. I say it’s perfect.”

I found my size and headed toward the dressing room. “Why don’t you pick out something for yourself?”

She focused on the lingerie section to her right. “Maybe I will.”

THAT NIGHT, I busied myself taking care of last-minute gala details at the Wilshire Hotel. The hotel staff scurried around setting up tables and the bar while the Vital Rejects roadies checked-in to set-up the music. The staff set-up the podium too, where the honored speaker was a California Senator, thanks to my connections in New York.

Everything was on schedule.

Sebastian and Spider swaggered in just as the last table had been covered and dishes put out. All the pieces were in play, and tonight was my last chance to put everything on the line for him. Whether he loved me or not, I was willing to give him every part of me. I’d decided to roll the dice and live one day at a time.

He stalked around the room looking divine in designer jeans and his notorious mink coat from his music video. He looked like a sexy blond gangster, but I knew better. He was deliciously sweet.

I watched him smile and sign autographs.

He was
it
. And I didn’t just mean star quality, but I meant
it
for me. I’d do anything for him because even though I’d said that loving means losing, it doesn’t. Loving means sacrificing.

His eyes flicked over at me, and I straightened my red dress, then my hair. I took a step toward him.

Some of the crowd parted, leaving us standing in front of each other. He ran his eyes over me, and I quivered at the need blazing in his gaze. He took a step toward me, a determined look on his face. I licked my lips, preparing my words.

But a fan walked up to him. And then Mrs. Smythe walked up to me.

The kids from the orphanage arrived via a bus. I greeted them at the door and Mrs. Smythe then led them to where Sebastian and Spider were on the stage. They showed the kids their instruments and did another round of autographs for them.

I couldn’t take it any longer. I made my way up to the stage. His eyes followed me the entire way.

I said hi to the kids, but they really only had eyes for the guys.

He jumped down from the stage. “I hope you don’t mind that I worked it out with Mrs. Smythe to let the kids come early. I’ve done the guitar lessons, but not everyone at the orphanage has gotten to meet us.” He smiled uncertainly.

“No, thank you for thinking of it. The kids love it.”

He looked down, almost seeming shy. “I see why you help them. It’s liberating in how it makes you feel. Like you’re making a difference. Doing something important. I want to do more of that kind of thing.”

“Sebastian—”

“V—”

We both spoke at the same time and then stopped.

“I’m sorry I pushed you away yesterday,” I said softly.

“I’m sorry I let you. Look, can we go somewhere and talk before this gets started? There’s something I need to tell you.”

Hing chose that moment to enter the room. “I should stay here and greet people.”

Sebastian sighed, his eyes following mine. “You’re changing, V. I mean I like seeing you grow, and if it means you’re leaving me, then I’m okay with it.”

“What? No, I’m not leaving you.”

Just then Blair walked in and made a beeline for us. Sebastian’s mouth opened as she dropped a sizable check in my hand and gave us each cheek pecks. “Thank you darling, for everything. I adore you both to the moon and back. Here’s my fifty thousand along with an additional ten.” She smiled brightly and waltzed off in a haze of perfume.

Sebastian had gone pale. “What the fuck? Am I in Bizarro World?” He grabbed my hand and started walking for the exit doors that led out into the hotel. “I don’t know what just happened, but I’m taking you out of here.”

“I told you I had her taken care of,” I said.

“How?”

I came to a halt. “Stop. I can’t do another walk-in cooler episode with you. I have guests.”

He ignored me and pulled me out into the hall. “I don’t see any coolers. How about that room to the left?” He didn’t wait for my answer but walked across the hall and pulled me inside.

I looked around at the mop and broom. “The cleaning closet? Really?”

“Doesn’t matter where we are, I’ll always want you.” He tilted my face up. “I hate fighting with you, V. I’ve been miserable for the past twenty-four hours, and it has little to do with my career, but all to do with you.”

“I know.” I touched his face. He looked different. Softer. As if he couldn’t take not touching me too, his thumb rubbed my bottom lip.

“Did you know that I could stare at you for hours? You’re like a fucking Picasso painting. And your eyes … don’t even get me started. I want to wake up to them every day for the rest of my life.”

Then he kissed me. I moaned as he pressed me up against the wall, his hips fitting against me.

He pulled back, his gaze tender. “I have a confession to make, so bear with me. First off, when it comes to Geoff, I kinda go bonkers. Because I know that if he loved you once with just an iota of the way I love you, then he’s never going to be over you completely. I know I need to work on my trust issues. I know I have a messed-up way of looking at girls, but here’s the thing I figured out … you are
not
those girls. You never will be. I’ve known you were different from the first moment I watched you play, and if you want to go to New York, then I’ll suck it up. Hell, I’ll go to couples therapy to make sure I don’t let it blow up in our faces. I’ll move to Manhattan. I never should have walked off from you yesterday. I was upset thinking you would leave me, and it colored everything I said.”

“You love me?” I clutched his arms.

He pressed his forehead against mine. “I do. You’re part of me. You’re in my heart, in my brain. I’ve touched you, made love to you, tasted you. I can’t ever forget that, and knowing you and your beauty on the inside, I’m never going to be able to watch stars or comets without thinking of you. I’m never going to be able to eat a cheese puff or watch
Star Wars
without wishing you were beside me.”

His hand drifted up to touch my hair. “I fell for you so hard it scared me, and I couldn’t admit it to myself. I was scared of being used. Scared of losing the most important thing in my life.”

Elation soared.
He loved me.

He continued. “Before I got your message about the pictures, I threatened Blair today that I’d go public about our fake relationship. I told her I was in love with you and that I wanted to marry you and surely she had a decent bone—”

“Married?” I sucked in a breath.

He nodded. “Someday you’ll be Mrs. Sebastian Tate.”

“You’re so sure?”

He swept his hands around his chest. “Have you taken a good look at this sexy piece of male? Chicks are dying to get with me.”

I slapped his arm. “Blair? She listened to you?”

He shrugged. “She told me you had the pics, and then I got crazy worried. What did you give her? Please tell me it wasn’t money.”

We’d both been busy, protecting the other.

I touched his face, his shoulders, his chest, my hands finding their resting place over his heart. “I—I sold my personal story to Hing so he can develop it into a movie. I got a few million in the process, along with an assurance that Blair will get a tiny part in the current movie he’s making.”

He paled, a wrinkle between his brows. “Why would you do that to yourself? You hate attention.”

“But I can do it one time, especially if we’re together, and then once the entire story has been told, no one will care. It will all be laid bare. Raw. Just like my music. I also have complete say on everything, even down to who they cast.” Emotion clogged my throat. “I—I chose you.”

“What do you mean you chose
me
?”

“Yes, it’s my life, but it’s going to be told from a guy’s point of view.” I smiled softly. “Yours.”

Instead of looking elated, he looked confused, his eyes searching mine. “I love you so much, but I can’t allow this to happen. It’s insane for you to open yourself up like that.”

I shook my head. “I
want
to tell my story. I didn’t at first, but that was before I realized how much life I have to live. I want others to see how my life was and most of all, how I survived the grief. Because I have. And the money will keep the orphanage running for years.” I smiled. “My heart aches to see you—playing
me
. Because you have been where I am. You know my pain.”

I kissed him, chuckling a little at his still stunned face. “I love you, silly. I’d do anything for you.”

He closed his eyes and then opened them, a dawning light of wonder in them. “I love you with or without this movie.” He bent his head to me. “You are the most beautiful person I’ve ever met. Inside and out.”

I grinned. “It gets better. I’m not going to New York. The orphanage is where I want to be right now.” I toyed with the button on his shirt, feeling shy. “Maybe I could go on the road with you in between my semesters at school.”

He picked me up and twirled me around. “That is my dream, V.”

He pulled a piece of paper out of his jeans. “I wrote a song for you. I’ve actually been working on it for weeks, and I know it’s too early to sing it in public because I didn’t want to put the spotlight on you—but may I?” He held it up.

I felt myself glowing. I nodded.

“With your permission, I’d like to make it the first track on the next album. Spider agrees.”

I leaned against the wall. Out of breath.

“I don’t have my guitar, but it’s so powerful that a cappella suits it. You ready?”

I nodded, and he whipped out of his coat and tossed it on the floor. He hummed to get the right pitch. Then he snapped his fingers to a beat in his head, emotion evident on his face, and sang.

Get up, dress and eat,

Move my fingers, my feet.

Play my popular song,

All day long.

Violin Girl in my dreams,

I got it bad it seems.

Dark and twisted,

Music with skin.

I saw you there,

Across the way.

Play your song,

Laying it bare.

Date girls, drink champagne,

Try to forget the pain.

Weep, sweat, and plead,

Violin Girl, you make me bleed.

Quote Romeo and Juliet like a fool,

When all I wanted was to be cool.

Did you know they end in tragedy?

Violin Girl in my dreams,

I got it bad it seems.