drama he
said, “Brooke, I’m sorry, honey, but you’re going home tonight. Tristan, have a
seat.” I suddenly realized that I’d been afraid to
breathe all night. I took a big, deep breath and went
to take my seat. I hoped that my face didn’t betray
how worried I had been.
Brooke was crying, but silently. I had to give her kudos for taking the microphone and singing her song. She did
have a pretty voice, and she was a pretty girl. I didn’t doubt that someday she’d find someone willing to bank on those two
things. She’d be okay.
When the show was over and everyone was scattering
for the night, I went to look for Elly. She was
standing in the back of one of the conference rooms talking to that other chick
that works the contestant room. I walked up to her
with the rehab papers in my hand. They were completely filled
out and signed . I could hear them talking about going out the following
night for someone’s birthday.
As I approached them, they
both stopped talking and looked up. Elly looked like she was going to have a
heart attack and the other girl, who sensed something was up, or maybe even
knew, said, “I’ll give you guys a minute.” After she walked away, Elly was
still looking around the room like a paranoid schizophrenic. I swear she almost looked like she was hearing voices.
“What the hell are you looking for?” I asked her.
“I was making sure that no one saw us. Damn it,
Tristan, I keep telling you that we can’t be seen
together. I can’t afford to lose my job, and I don’t want you to get
disqualified.”
“And I keep telling you that I don’t give a shit,” I told her. “Here!” I shoved the
papers against her chest. She took a step backwards; maybe it was from the
shove I gave her. Giving me a
dirty look, she brought them up and looked at them. She flipped through them
and saw that I ’d filled them out completely and signed
them. She looked surprised, and then happy. She hadn’t expected me to agree to it.
“This is great, Tristan…I’m so glad….” she started. I wasn’t in the mood for more talk.
“Yeah, yeah…blah, blah, blah. I did my part. I want my reward.”
“What?”
“You said if I cut off the other women and filled
out the papers we could have sex. I want my sex.”
“Not here, Tristan. Come on, you’re putting us both
at risk here. Besides, filling out the paperwork isn’t the same as committing
to it.” She backed away from me a bit.
“I’m committing. I will
leave them with you so you can go turn them in. Are you backing out of your
part now?”
She looked around. “No…just not here…we’re going to
get caught….”
I sighed. “For the millionth time, I don’t give a fuck about that,” I told her. There was an empty office next to us. I grabbed her arm and pulled her in after me, closing the
door behind us. She looked like she was having an anxiety attack. She really
needed to lighten up.
She looked terrified. “Tristan, someone is going to
come in here. This is too risky.”
I turned back around and locked the door. Before she could protest, I shoved everything that was on the desk off into a chair,
picked her up, and sat her on the desk. She was looking at me like I’d lost my mind.
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
ELLY
I thought Tristan had lost his mind as I watched him sweep everything off the
desk. “Tristan! Someone is going to hear us!”
He grinned at me , as if it
was a game. I started to speak again, but he leaned
forward and covered my mouth with his. As he did, he put his hands on my bare knees and started sliding them up my thighs, pushing
my skirt up out of his way as he went. His touch sent a jolt surging through my body. I had missed it more than
I wanted to admit. He kept moving his hands up until my skirt was flipped up over my hips. Then he moved them to my waist and started pushing up my blouse.
I ’d
lost any sense of resistance by then, and when his palms ran across the curve
of my breasts, I put my arms
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