Rich Man

Blake Wheeler must be the single busiest male on the face of the earth. Well, with women, anyway. Obviously, if you’ve paid any attention, you caught that everyone treats Blake and Lex as though they’re dating. That’s not the case. At all. As a matter of fact, that’s Blake’s cover for seeing Tera, one of Lex’s best friends.

So now the question proposes itself:

“Why cover for Tera? Does the rest of the group not approve or something?” I asked quietly from outside of the dressing room door. There was a great series of shuffling before the creaking door came open and out stepped Lex, who was obviously reluctant to answer.

Twirling once in the large full-body mirror to our left, she answered quietly, “Yes and no. It’s not that they don’t approve; everyone loved her. It’s just-“

“Hey, are you guys finished? I just got a call from Hunny. Says we’re invited to a concert tonight by one of his friends,” Avery exclaimed, running toward us.

I swear to God a vein became visible out of frustration on my forehead, but I knew I’d have this whole ridiculous Blake situation explained eventually. “What should we wear?” was my alternative question to “Would you leave so we can finish our conversation?”

“Well I think he said we’re going to see Ciara and like two other artists on tour. I guess he knows a guy who knows a guy. Anyway, that translates to dress comfy but cute.”

“Heels?”

“Only if you want to. A cute pair of sneakers or maybe really pretty flats will do it.”

It took me no more than two minutes to come to the conclusion I’d be wearing some of the stuff I bought on that single shopping trip. I had made a killing too, which was always useful. Then again, having no real fixed budget was pretty nice. “Alright, well then should we head home?”

“Let’s get our stuff and go.”

-

My laptop sat at the foot of the bed blaring a happy tune while I changed in front of the mirrored closet. So far the only outfit I felt like wearing made me look like a rock star. Shrugging, I continuously tried things on. It occurred to me that I’d be judged by the group the second I walked out of my room. I mean, think about it. I was the new girl that everyone still wasn’t sure about and because of my wonderful scene with Lucic and Bergeron, I wasn’t sure how open their arms were to me at this point.

I’d appeal more to the guys if I ripped out the heels and the leather jacket… But at the same time, I don’t need Tera thinking lowly of me initially. After all, according to Lex, I’m meeting her tonight when she “runs into” Blake. That also means I’ll be getting answers. Joy.

“Nice music choice,” called a voice now familiar to my ears. “Can I come in or are you changing?”

“Come on in,” I replied, slipping on an undershirt and a pair of shorts.

In waltzed Bergeron, designer jeans and all, with his hair spiked every which way like he just ran his hands through his dry, smooth hair and went crazy. That imp-like half smile of his died out as soon as he caught full wind of my half-dressed state and it seemed to calm him down. It was a curious reaction to me, which he tore his eyes away and to my lap top instead to browse through my loud playlist. There was no sign of attraction in his eyes, but embarrassment almost as if he was acknowledging that looking at me somehow displayed a lack of respect.

And I wasn’t even in my underwear yet.

“Maybe I should go?”

“No, you’re fine. Besides, this was what I was wearing this morning when we talked. You didn’t seem to care then.”

At the sound of my statement, his eyes narrowed. “Uh… I couldn’t see you under your blanket.”

“Exactly, much like you staring at my computer screen means you can’t see me now.”

“Smart-ass,” he chuckled, changing the song and hopping off the foot of the bed. He casually made his way over to me in the small hall, which leads to the bedroom’s bathroom.

“Nice sex hair.”

“Why, thank you. I can give you some too if you like it that much.” That effortless lazy grin and hot breath against the back of the neck nearly sent my hormones into a frenzy. Nearly.

“Wishful thinking?”

“Or foreshadowing.”

“Maybe your wildest dreams are a little too wild.”

“Or yours aren’t wild enough.”

Whirling around, face reddened, I jabbed him in the chest with my forefinger. “Sorry, but I don’t play with children. If you came to get in my shorts, fuck off.” The defensiveness. I hated it, but with some people it worked as a clear insult. However, with others…

“On the contrary,” he replied as though I hadn’t said a word. Before I could say a thing, his hand found the low part of my hip and he pushed me back with the whole of his body practically into the open closet. Eyes maybe two inches from mine, I could tell his smirk was at full strength. It was as though all at once at this close proximity I could read his thoughts through his eyes. And to be honest, that only made my immanent downfall in this situation all the more painful.

“You’re not a challenge enough for me.”

And, as he reached behind me and grabbed a jacket, I felt an unfamiliar sting of defeat pierce the very depth of my conscience and thus my most severe fears of him were realized. Not only could he manipulate me, but he was well aware of it and there was nothing yet I could do to change that.

-

For the entire car ride up until we entered the Garden, I felt unbelievably uncomfortable. He seemed to be everywhere now and with him always was a girl. And they were always pretty girls at that, the kind you saw while flipping through fashion magazines wearing all of the really beautiful or bizarre clothes you’d have to break a leg off in order to afford. It seemed as though every time I glanced his way he would be smiling a magnificent smile only daunting to me. “You can’t compare to any of these women who adore me,” it taunted, “And the best part is that you can’t do shit about it. How does it feel to be helpless?”

“Are you okay?” For the volume of the surrounding room, his voice was quiet a if to try and hide the fact that he was genuinely concerned.

I turned slightly and attempted to regain as much arrogant strength as I possibly could. I think I know how you feel, Looch. Helplessness is what makes you so cocky. Show-boating can make you feel better about yourself. “I’m alright. The smell of alcohol is giving me a slight headache, though.”

It took the boy a few seconds to reply as his eyes worked themselves over my facial expression, but when it finally dawned on him to reply, he did so with a smile unlike his others. It was small and genuine, truly amused rather than better-than-thou in any way. It was actually kind of refreshing. “Figured you weren’t a drinker. Need some air? I have a key so we can get in and out through the player lot.”

“No, no, it’s okay. I appreciate the offer, though. Uh… When does the show start?”

He seemed to draw nearer as the makeshift hall to back stage grew more and more crowded with staff and fellow VIPs. “Any second now.”

“Man, you have impeccable timing,” I commented as the music started no more than thirty seconds later. The entire group flooded out the hall and bolted up a set of guarded stairs to join the rest of the flocculating crowd, packing into their seats. We, on the other hand, made our way to the standing area in the front of the stage where at least a few hundred people were pressed against each other, jumping to the beat of the opening song.

Before you jump to any conclusions, the answer is yes, I had been to a concert before. However, they usually involved having fixed seats. Lex and Avery grabbed me by an arm and dragged me through the crowd to where Blake, Milan, his hoard of girls, Bergeron, and his hoard of girls were all partying it up by a speaker that made my entire body vibrate. To make matters worse, as I was the only one dancing by herself, Patrice was nearly thrown into me by the pulsating crowd. Apparently this would be happening all night.

The man grabbed my shoulders to cease his stumble, eyes locking onto mine without a single spec of emotion displayed. That was, until he cracked a half smile and steadied himself against me, against the roaring, jumping, dancing crowd. We stood against each other like two predators about to battle for their prey and in this case, our egos were at stake. As much as I wanted to explain my loathing of him, I knew far better. I wasn’t about to start some battle of immaturity with this man. He would just nail me for trying to start one of those “I don’t think you’re hot enough even though you actually are” games where we’re most likely going to end up banging each other senseless in the end.

NOT how I want to go about this at all.

Instead of reacting to his prying eyes, I simply brushed him off and moved passed him toward the others. Blake had disappeared, likely to go be with his little secret, while Avery and the boy known as Hunny were glued to each other at the hips. Milan, on the other hand, was turning down women left and right who attempted to grind on him or stroke his thigh muscles. He looked apparently annoyed as well, which provoked an apologetic smile from my lips and some action.

I waltzed up behind the next girl to pop up at his side, unzipped my leather jacket about another inch down to blatantly display the fact that my undershirt consisted of nearly transparent black lace, and waved at him until I caught his attention. I then pointed to the girl and made the “kick her to the curb” motion with my thumb followed by a thumbs up as if to ask him if this was alright. Grinning, he nodded as if in greeting and said something to the girl, moving passed her to approach me. She followed him with her jealous, annoyed eyes as he wrapped his arms around me for a hug.

“Thanks,” he yelled above the noise, still moving to the beat of the latest song.

“Tell her I’m your girl or something?” I asked in reply, swaying back and forth.

Nodding, he took my hands in his and abruptly twirled me around, pulling me back against him. “I don’t dance!” I exclaimed partly out of surprise and partly because he wouldn’t hear me otherwise. It took me a good thirty full seconds to realize it, but he replied by putting his hands high on my hips and moving me side to side with the beat until I caught the hint. After a minute or so passed, he pulled me back, pressed square against his body, sending my face into a frenzy of red.

Fantastic. We’re not even doing the dance-floor dirty and I’m breaking a hormonal sweat.

-

To be honest, “dancing” with Milan was not as bad or otherwise seducing as I thought it would end up being. Yeah, I was being held flush against a wall of muscle, but when he didn’t make me bend down for him, he earned major points with me. And then, of course, there was always the rest of the evening that made me think even higher of him.

“What was that about?” I asked softly as Milan returned to my side after being yanked away by my new best friend, Patrice.

The boy shrugged. “I’ll just out and say that he’s not fond of you.”

My eyes slightly widened. “Did he say why?”

“No, just thinks you’re full of yourself.” He then grinned. “I agreed. No worries.”

This elicited a punch in the arm. “I’m getting tired so I’m hittin’ the sack. I’ll see you tomorrow, right?” I asked Milan with a hopeful gaze. He nodded in reply, standing at the same time I did, and gave me an unexpected but warm, lingering hug. Eh, I’ll thank him for being my dancing guide when I stop thinking about his muscles.

-

“Enjoy yourself with Looch?”

“God, does my room have some kind of early morning happy-hour I should know about? And-wait-what the fuck? Do you live here?” I muttered, shutting and discarding my book. The man at my doorway slowly shut the door as if to blatantly display the perfect sculptures that were his arms. “Um… Yeah, what are you doing? Don’t think you’re going to stay here long.”

As if I had said absolutely nothing, the man waltzed over to the opposing side of the bed and sat down, running a hand through his still tousled hair. He heaved a deep, almost perplexed and pondering sigh and glanced at me over his shoulder just long enough to catch my fuming eye contact. It shocked me to hear the civility in his gentle voice. “Don’t hurt him, okay? Just because you don’t like me, don’t get him involved.”

“You actually think I’d stoop to that level? I’ve been trying to get on Milan’s good side ever since I embarrassed him. You have nothing to do wi-“

“He told me he’s afraid you’re using him or you’re going to.”

“To get to you?”

“Something like that.”

“Why?”

“Because it wouldn’t be the first time.”

“I’m sorry—what?”

With a stern expression, he turned and sat Indian style in the space beside me. His dark eyes focused on the wall ahead of him as if staring on one spot long enough would create a black hole that would swallow me. At least, that was my interpretation. “I shouldn’t tell you a thing-“

“Look, people have confided some really crazy stuff in me. Whatever happened, I can handle it. It’ll go nowhere,” I found myself reassuring, almost as though for a minute or two I didn’t loathe him. Of course, this got my intellectual clock ticking. What if he’s about to spill something I can use on him (privately, of course) later? He’ll be making this too easy…

“You know how there’s just Avery and Lex and, well, now there’s you too, but anyway, it’s just the two of them now? Well, we used to call ourselves the Awesome Eight and then all at once everything crashed and burned. Avery and Lex have only recently patched things up and Avery refuses to talk to Lex’s other close friend… And it’s just a mess.

“Awhile ago, when they all were really tight, one of them, this girl Kelsey, fell hard for Milan, right? So basically, out of nowhere after some number of perfect months of sticking with Looch, Kelsey decides to throw herself at me with the preconceived notion that I wanted her, all the while dumping Looch like a bag of rotten fruit. Then, of course, there came the grand fist fight I’m sure you’ve already heard about like fifty times. I’m happy to be alive, I’ll just say that. I mean, this girl waltzes in, tears out and destroys his heart like it’s nothing, just because she has a thing for me all along. Trust me when I say that it’s taken Looch a ton just a talk to me after it all happened. Not to mention how hung up on her he is. This was three months ago and he still has a hard time talking to me about much of anything.”

“Except me, right?”

“Exactly. I already fucked up by default and the last thing I need is for something else like that to happen to him. He deserves a woman in it for the long haul, not just some slut who’s going to use him and lose him.”

Lying back so my head could be engulfed in pillows, I examined the ceiling. I felt my voice lower to a whisper due to all of my thoughts. “I’m surprised this is the first time he’s faced this situation and he bought her a ring only after a few months?”

Patrice’s brow narrowed. “Actually, stuff like this used to happen all the time it felt like. Except it was the other way around. Like girls would use Blake or Kess when he was still here to get to Looch. Obviously that didn’t hurt him as bad as this. And yeah, she was the infamous ring girl you called him out on. They were together for a frigging long time. Man, I can’t remember. It was long enough to where Milan fucking playboy Lucic was completely convinced he was in love, if that says anything.”

“And you think that after like, one day, he like me?”

“That’s what I’m afraid of, yeah.”

“Am I anything like Kelsey?”

“Not at all. This, once again, scares me.”

“How am I different?”

“You’re brunette, she’s blonde. You’re tall, she’s not. Your eyes are green and bright, hers were like this weird gray-blue. You actually have an I.Q., she’s was obviously dumber than a box of rocks… The list goes on.”

“You know what color my eyes are off the top of your head?” I whispered in what was partly awe and partly skepticism.

The man raised a brow, that half smile tugging at his lips. As he made his way to exit my room, he turned back with a devilish grin and whispered, “You smell like springtime too.”

There was no hesitation in my reply of, “Yeah, you smell like cinnamon.”

There was dead silence as he stared at me blankly, frozen in his tracks. “I wasn’t being serious.”

With a yawn, I rolled over and flicked my light off. “Goodnight, Bergeron.”