Forcing Gravity (22 page)

Someone nearby muttered, “Jason Brady always gets the best pussy.”

I sighed. Yeah, there was absolutely no way I could compete with that. I guess dating Jase was fun while it lasted.

“That is so tacky,” Henley whispered to me.

“I know, right.”

“Do you think he’s going to sleep w
ith both of those girls?” she
asked, showing she was even more naïve than me.

“I would bet on it,” I said, shaking my head as I watched Jase leave the kitchen with the make-out twins.

“Henley?” Garrett asked tentatively. I’d forgotten he was standing with us.

She looked up at him with wide eyes, and I kne
w she was trying not to be star-
struck.
“Yes,” she
eeked
out so quietly I almost couldn’t hear her.

“Can I, uh, ca
n I give you a tour of the house
?”

I wanted to laugh at him. If I didn’t adore Garrett so much and know him so well I’d assume he was trying to get her alone, but I knew he figured taking her on a tour of the house would be a good way to talk to her and get to know her better. His intentions were completely
upstanding
.

After they left, i
nstead of sticking around
the kitchen, I finished my beer and grabbed another
one
before going into the living room to mingle with some of Garrett’s
friends from high school
that I recognized.

At some point, I figured I’d work up the courage to talk to Jase.

***

“Oh, my God,” Henley said, linking her arm with mine as she came up beside me
an hour later
. “I am in love.”

“With Garrett?”
I clarified, knowing he’d
been able to work
his charm on her
.

“Yes,” she sighed, resting he
r head on my shoulder. Even with
her heels, she was still a few inches shorter than me.
“Who are you staring at?”

I’d posted up by one of the large floor to ceiling windows at the back of the house so I could watch Jase without him seeing me. We had yet to cross paths, but that was because I wasn’t sure
I
wanted to encounter him. My opinion of him kept vacillating back and forth as I’d surreptitiously watched him throughout the night. When he was talking to his guy friends, he seemed like the guy I knew, but whenever any girl would saunter up to him, shaking her hips and sticking her tits i
n his face, his demeanor would change
, and he kind of
came off
like a jackass.

“Oh, Jason Brady,” she said, following my gaze.

Jase was talking animatedly with
two guys who had cornered him in the living room. I watched him throw his head back in laughter
, and it
was reminiscent of the first night I’d seen him at
Katsuya
. I hadn’t recalled it during the time we’d talked on Ethan’s upstairs balcony
,
since he’d seemed so normal, but at the restaurant
, while waiting for a table, Jase had
been vibrant and social, just like he
was being now. He didn’t seem
as disillusioned with the Hollywood scene as he’d projected to me again and again
when we’d talked
, and I wondered which guy was the real Jase Brady.

“Oh my God, he’s so cute,
”
Henley g
ushed.

And I’ve seen him shirtless,
I thought, recalling the hour Jase and I had spent making out in his bedroom. My lips had covered a decent part of the terrain above his waist, but even though that was just
a few nights earlier, it felt
like a lifetime ago, with a completely different guy.

“Cuter than Garrett?”
I asked, grinning at her.

She looked contemplative for a minute. “Garrett is hot in that boy next door kind of way, but Jason Brady has some sort of, I don’t know, unattainable quality about him, like he was sent directly from heaven or something.
”

I fought the urge to laugh. That was something only Henley, with her sweet accent, cherubic cheeks and ethereal blond hair could get away with saying.

“Don’t let Garrett hear you say that,” I cautioned. “He’s the one who actually played a fallen angel, so he might take offense to a comment like that. He’s extremely passionate about his acting skills.”

Henley giggled, but I wasn’t joking. “He’s such a sweetie, Logan. I didn’t think he’d be so down to earth and nice and so unassuming, but he is. He totally hasn’t let fame go to his head, but he is like so famous.
”

Funny, that was exactly how I’d described Jase. Now I wasn’t so sure.

“Oh, my God,”
she
continued. “
My friends back home would die if they knew I had just spent the past hour with Lucas from
Earthbound.
”

Uh-oh.
Garrett wouldn’t like that either.
Like Jase, h
e wanted people to like him for the guy he was, not who he played
in his
movies.

“Here’s your drink,” Garrett said then, coming up behind us and weaving his arms around Henley’s waist. She leaned back against his chest and smiled at me as she took the drink he was offering.

She spun in his arms and looked up at him. “Garrett, baby, you promised you’d show me the view. Can we go outside?”

“Sure,” he said, his face brightening as his gaze locked with hers. I could see in his eyes that he was enamored by her. “It’s right through there.”

He took her hand to lead her to the back porch, and she turned to me right before they went outside. “He’s so cute!” she mouthed and did a little happy dance behind Garrett’s back.

I smiled and hoped she wouldn’t make an ass of herself with him.

When I turned back around to see what Jase was up to, I realized he’d left the living room, so I figured I’d just ignore him and try to have fun. As I
talked to a friend of Garrett’s and his girlfriend
, I saw Jase reappear, but he was flanked by a girl with auburn hair who was whispering in his ear. He laughed out loud, and turned to whisper back to her, and my heart sank.
Then I lost him in the crowd for a good thirty minutes, and I was afraid he’d left
with the girl
, but at that point, I wasn’t sure I should even care anymore
.

“Having fun?” Garrett asked me
a little while later
, s
id
l
ing up next to where I was standing by the entrance to the back deck.
He and Henley had been out there for almost an hour.

I shrugged. “Sure.”

Garrett grinned at me. “Thanks
for bringing Henley.
Her southern accent is out of control, and she’s
so
smoking hot. Can she stay here tonight?
She said she wants to.”

I felt like his mother, and he was asking me if a friend could sleep over. I had no control over what Henley did. She was a big girl.
I put my
hand on my hip and appraised Garrett
. His hands were pressed together in front of him in prayer style, and he was mouthing, ‘please’ over and over again rapidly.

“
It’s totally her call,
Gare
,” I said,
laughing at how cute he was being.
“If she wants to, then go for it.”

“Who the fuck invited that asshole?” Ethan asked, suddenly appearing on my other side.

“Which one?”
Garrett asked, surveying the room.

He had a point. There were a lot of douchebags and hangers-on there that night. The party had erupted, and everyone who came over seemed to have brought ten friends with them. Garrett and Ethan really needed to consider being more selective in the future. I know they were new to the scene, but exclusivity was always better in these situations.
I’d learned that from my mom and
Luiz
over the years.

“Jason Brady,” Ethan growled. “I fucking hate that guy.”

“I invited him
,” Garrett said, “and you can thank me when you meet the girls that came with him.”

I
rolled my eyes, wondering if tho
se two could think with their dicks any more than they already were.

“Whatever.
He’d better not start any shit.
Hey, Lo,” he said, finally acknowledging me with a kiss on the cheek.

“He won’t,” Garrett assured. “Where’s your girl?”

“Bathroom,” Ethan said, surveying the room. I was wondering if he was re
gretting bringing his date home with him
.
“Motherfucker!”

Garrett and I both looked at him in surprise and then followed his gaze to wher
e we saw Lizzie flirting openly
with Jase. Before we could stop him, Ethan marched over to them and shoved Jase from behind.

“Ethan!” I gasped, but he didn’t hear me.

“What the fuck do you think
you’re doing, asshole?” he demanded
, when Jase turned around to see who had pushed him.

“Ethan!” Lizzie cried, not at all happy with him.

“Do I know you?” Jase asked arrogantly, and I could see the cocky Hollywood celeb come out in him in that moment.

“It’s
my
fucking
house,” Ethan said, shoving
Jase’s
shoulder in an antagonizing way. “You don’t need to know me. You just need to know that I don’t want you here.”

“Shit,” Garrett hissed, as he stalked across the room toward his brother. I followed behind him, not sure what exactly I could do to help the situation. Maybe I could calm Ethan down before he took a swing at Jase.

“I w
as invited,” Jase said, shoving Ethan’s shoulder in the same way he’d been shoved.

“Yeah, well this is me uninviting you,” Ethan said, before he pulled back and punched Jase
square
in the jaw. “Stay away from my girl.”

I gasped out loud, my hands flying to my mouth. What the hell was Ethan thinking? I saw Lizzie roll her eyes. She wanted to be claimed about as much as Ethan truly wanted a girlfriend. He was just being macho and territorial because he felt like it.

“Fuck you,” Jase responded, and before I knew it, he lunged at Ethan.

“What is going on?” Henley asked, coming up next to me, her eyes wide. “Is that Ethan? Why is he hitting Jason Brady?”

I answered none of her questions because Jase and Ethan were going at it, and I was trying to figure out how to stop them. Thankfully they each only g
ot a few punches in before Garrett pulled Ethan off of Jase and Freddie pulled Jase back.

“You need to leave – now!” Ethan growled, trying to pull out of his brother’s grip. Garrett just held him tighter.

“I don’t want to stay where I’m not wanted,” Jase said matter-of-factly.

His jaw was starting to swell, and he had a cut under his left eye, but he didn’t touch his face. I could tell he was trying to show Ethan
that
he hadn’t hurt him. He straightened his
s
hirt and turned toward the front door without another word. I watched Freddie start to collect their group so they could leave.

“Shit,” Garrett hissed, shooting his brother a look of exasperation. “I’ll be back.”

“Where are you going?” I asked.

He turned
to
glance
back
at me.
“To smooth things over with Jase.
I don’t need anything negative out there about me, especially from someone who
se
word carries a good amount of weight in this town
. I’m
guessing he won’t be a big fan of the guy whose brother took a swing at him
. You’d better not have fucked anything up for me, E,” he cautioned. “If you did, I will seriously kick your ass.”

Ethan just stared at his brother, slightly open-mouthed, no doubt wondering why he was chasing after Jase and not dismissing him like Ethan had.

“Jesus, Ethan,” I admonished, once
Garrett was at the front door
. “What were you thinking?!”

Jase had hit Ethan square in the right eye, and it was already looking puffy. Lizzie suddenly appeared with an ice pack.

“
Not you too, Lo,” he said, shaking his head. “
I fucking can’t stand that guy, and then he was hitting on Lizzie.
I had ever
y
right to go after him.
”

“No, you didn’t,” I insisted, shaking my head. “He’s friends with Garrett. You shouldn’t have done that.”