Nick
The moment Laur walked out on stage, her hands pressed into her well toned sides, just above those slender hips that I loved to gnaw on like a dog with a steak bone, I was a man possessed. My most favorite parts of Lauren Kitt were covered only by the tiniest scraps of royal blue material. She kinda looked like Kate Middleton with that color blue on...
And I, taking the role of Prince Wills, wanted to bag the princess.
I pulled away from the old guys and sauntered closer to the front. Just as Lauren turned to leave the stage, I finger whistled.
Yeah, that's right. My intentions of staying hidden kinda left with the emergence of the bikini. I cleared my throat.
"Laur, baby!"
Lauren turned, but that's the last thing I saw. Suddenly I had a guy that looked a lot like those fat guards from Aladdin in my face. And I didn't have a monkey like Abu to tweak his nose. My monkey was still thinking of Lauren.
"That's my girlfriend!" he growled.
And that was a second before he punched me in the face.
When I awoke, I had Lauren's boobs floating over my head.
"I've died," I whispered. I yelled as an ice pack hit my nose.
"Why are you here?" she whispered. "To..." I trailed off. To sweep you off your feet? To get you in a hotel room and make love to you for three days straight? To actually be man enough to let my best friend have what I don't want him to have cause I don't like to lose?
No.
"To say hello," I said stupidly. I hear an audible sigh. The ice pack was lifted and Lauren's pretty eyes glistened down at me.
"Hi," she whispered. Her lips lowered to mine. My body jerked in the hard cot I found myself on. I almost shimmered as she pulled away. She handed me the ice pack. "and goodbye. Because I love you."
Even as I stood there in front of Heather, heart racing, those words kept coming back. Goodbye. Because I love you.
"What happened?" Heath cried. She ran over and I swear she shiver her finger up my nose on purpose. I yelped.
I hadn't known it at the time, but bumping into AJ had alerted me that TMZ had been roaming around. I needed to be better safe than sorry.
"This old dude at the roulette table pulled me away to go check something out. It turns out it was a woman's body pageant thingy. Babe, I swear I didn't know, but Lauren was there."
Heather's eyes narrowed and Brian (what the hell was he doing there?) looked murderous. "As soon as I saw her I turned to leave. The old dude got mad and punched me out. Turns out it was her dad," I rambled. I took a good look at Heath. "Why are you almost naked?"
Bri's face turned tomato red. Heather scowled. "My dress fitting?"
"Why's he here then?"
Something in Heather's pretty head snapped. "He can be here if he wants! Unlike you, who it seems runs into Lauren f-f-friggin Kitt everywhere!"
I scowled. Bri was now gawking at her ass through the slip. "You should put on--"
"Clothes?" Heather finished. I'm pretty sure even the blood stopped dripping out of my nose when she yanked off the slip. "He's seen me naked before. And who cares? I bet Lauren wasn't even wearing this much when you saw her."
My fiancé had lost it. By the way Bri's hands were quickly covering the front of his jeans, something told me he hadn't seen her naked since she was like five. I glared at him and grabbed her hands just as they snaked around to get her bra clasp.
"Don't touch her!" Brian yelled.
I froze.
Heather
Brian had always been a breast man.
This is a fact about Brian that I forgot as my fingers went to the clasps of my bra and started unhooking, my angry eyes shooting bullet trajectories through Nick’s colon.
Nick’s hands caught my wrists.
“DON’T TOUCH HER!”
We both looked at Brian.
He was scarlet red. He cleared his throat. “She doesn’t need your cheating hands on her. You’re a sick ba—“
“Brian!” Nick yelped, “I swear to God I didn’t know whats-her-face was there.” Nick fixed his friend with a heavy, syrupy stare. “I swear it.”
“She just happened to be competing in a bathing suit whatever thing the same weekend you’re here. That’s such a coincidence,” I snapped.
Nick looked at me, fixing that same stare on me. “Heather, it is a coincidence. It’s not like I made the schedule!” Nick’s hands lowered slowly onto my arms. “Now, please, baby, let’s put your clothes back on you so you aren’t freaking out poor Brian here.”
Brian’s eyes diverted. “Forget it, I’m leaving anyways.”
“Brian you were gonna ask me a ques—“
“Forget it.”
When the door had slammed behind Brian, I looked at Nick. “You can take the bra off now if you wanna…” he drawled, grinning.
I glared at him and stormed away, slamming the door between the bunks and the back sitting area. I threw myself down onto the chair in front of my computer and stared at the glowing screen wearing nothing but my bra and underwear.
Holly wanted nothing more in that moment than to jump Eric, I typed, But with Bryce right there, she could do nothing but dream.
Brian
Heather. Had. Breasts.
Okay so I know female anatomy. I know, I get it. And sure I knew Heather had grown up since we were yea high. Plus, let’s face it, I’ve seen breasts. I know from the front of her shirt and her dresses and that nice cleavage shot I got before that she hadbreasts. In theory.
There’s something completely different about breasts when they’re only a thin, mostly sheer layer of fabric away from you. Grinning at you. Ready to be attacked by you.
And what the hell was up with Carter? When had he ever turned down a free strip show? That was so unlike him.
All in all, even as I stumbled off the bus, I knew there were questions that still needed to be answered. So, I decided, why not go to the source?
When the hotel room door opened twenty minutes later – after some very savvy sleuthing on my part – Lauren looked surprised to see me standing in front of her. “Brian?” she asked, eyes puckering in surprise, “What are you doing h—“
“Did you sleep with Nick? “ I asked, cutting to the chase.
Lauren looked surprised, “When?”
“Today.”
Lauren shook her head. “I hardly see where this is your business, Brian.”
“I need to know, Lauren,” I said.
She stared at me, clearly trying to decide if she wanted to stare me down or not. I held my gaze steady. There was a long pause, and finally she sighed and looked away. “No,” she said, “I didn’t. Not tonight.”
“When?” I demanded.
Lauren laughed, “Brian, I-“
“I need to know, Lauren.”
She sighed. “Before. Before the fight. Before we talked.” She stared at me. “Brian, I know about Heather. I’m not gonna break them up again today. What happened today with Reef…”
“Reef?”
“My boyfriend?” she asked. I must’ve looked mystified because she followed up with, “The guy that punched Nick.”
“Nick said it was your dad.”
Lauren snorted. “Please. My father has never been that passionate about anything to actually fight for it. Least of all me.” She shook her head and turned into the hotel room. I took a quick glance side-to-side before stepping in and closing the door behind me. She was back-to me a few feet away. After a long pause, she turned around ,her back against the table behind her. “That’s how Nick and I met, you know.”
I stared at her.
Lauren laughed quietly. “I’m sorry. You don’t wanna know that.”
I looked at my shoes. I kind of did. I looked up at her. “Tell me.”
Lauren paused, looking me over as though she was sizing me up, trying to see if I could take what she was about to tell me. I apparently passed the visual test because she said, “I was crying. You know Nick, always the hero. I was backstage between shoots, and Nick was eating a popsicle and he came over and it was dripping all over him and he asked what was the matter and I told him my dad was a fucker and Nick told me his dad was too, then offered me part of his already-mostly-licked popsicle and then…” her voice trailed off.
“Then all the sex,” I supplied.
“Yeah. Then all the sex,” Lauren laughed.
“Nick’s a good guy when he focuses his energy on that,” Lauren said slowly, “He just doesn’t, usually.” She sighed. “I know I don’t deserve him, Brian,” she said, “But I’ve never wanted someone like I want him. And it’s not just because of the sex. It’s because –“
“Because?”
“Because he makes me feel better. He takes these things I think about myself, that I’ve always been told about myself, and he turns them around, he makes me feel better. He believes in me. I know I don’t deserve him because I stole him, and I shouldn’t win in the end. Heather should win, Heather should get the amazing man Nick is,” Lauren frowned sadly, with resignation, “Heather didn’t deserve the jackass stuff Nick’s done to her. Heather deserves the Nick he’s been to me. The Nick I fell in love with.”
