“Do I look like I’m f**king joking?”
I point a finger at her. “Hey, I’ve warned you about that.”
She slaps my finger down and points one up at me in return. “Have you gone through my things? Because I’m pretty sure you can’t hack into my medical records to see if I’m on the pill.”
I scratch my head as I ponder this. “Which is worse? Rummaging through your things or hacking?”
“You better be joking, Asher, because I’m not.”
“It’s a good guess. All women are on the pill these days.”
“I don’t believe you. And I think you went too far.”
“Jesus, Grace. Can we have one hour without fighting? For f**k’s sake, I hate the constant battle we have going on. Let’s go hit the lazy river.”
“You know enough, Asher—”
“And stop f**king calling me that!”
“So back off my space.”
“Fine,” I say as I open the door and almost walk into an orange cone blocking the entrance. When I look behind me there’s a sign on the door that says, Out of Service. I look at Grace and laugh. “Wanna go back for seconds?”
She does not find that funny at all, because she pushes past me and walks off.
I let her go work off steam. She’s so combative. I really need to come up with another way to bring her into compliance.
“You done in there, brother?”
Conner is walking towards me, so I shake Grace out of my thoughts and meet him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Dad’s right, you know. You’re gonna get caught. Someone is gonna get you back for all your douchebaggy ways and when that happens, I’m going to sit back and watch the way you do me.”
“Conner, what I do is private and none of your business. What you do is all of our business because you can’t settle down.”
“So I’m a free spirit, so what? I’m cool with it. And you’re such an ass**le for bringing up that money. I’m off the ground now, bro. I’m gonna be paying you back soon.”
“Yeah, I was,” I admit. But I laugh anyway. “Dad’s so easy though, can you blame me?”
“You know what, V? You know what your biggest problem is?”
I shrug my shoulders. “I have too much money? I have too many girls?”
“You have it too easy. And one of these days, Vaughn, the shit’s gonna get hard and you’re not gonna know what to do. You live this charmed life and you think everything is forever. Money, girls, cars, jobs… but it’s not, brother. It’s finite. Everything and everyone has an expiration date.”
“Whatever.”
“So when your day comes, I do not want to hear your bitching.”
And then he pushes open the door to the men’s room and disappears inside.
I huff out a breath of air and shake my head. Fuck him. He’s just mad because he never made it as an actor and I’ve got blockbusters lined up in post-production for the next year and a half.
And I’ve got Grace. He might be a little jealous of that too, because while Conner can get a girl, he can’t seem to keep one.
I never have that problem.
My problem is how to get rid of them.
Chapter Nineteen
IHaveLostMyMind
WHAT the hell am I doing?
This thought runs through my brain the whole way back to my bungalow.
Because I mean, what the hell, Grace? I do not even recognize myself right now. Since when do I let a man treat me like this? And yeah, I get that he’s a movie star, a man I’ve been obsessed with for years—but this?
I admit, I’m not usually one for confrontation and I have a hard time saying no to people. But this is not me. This person cannot be me.
And what the hell was that back there? He planned for me to meet his parents so he could humiliate me.
I don’t care how many ways you look at it, that’s what that was. Pure and simple. He was mad because I can’t be like the sluts he likes to f**k, so he made me pay for it.
Note to self, saying no to Vaughn Asher has consequences.
Right. But so does saying yes. Because saying yes gives him permission to do this shit. Is this what I am? A plaything for a wealthy man? Willing to sell myself to gain—what? What am I getting out of this tryst, as he likes to call it?
Fame? No, certainly not. He wants me to be a secret. Which is fine with me, I’m with his sister Sam on that shit. I have no desire to be in the spotlight with him or as a victim of his fetishes.
Gifts? I huff out a long breath of air. Yes, I have to admit as I look down at my clothes, I accepted a gift from him and I enjoyed it.
And now this whole outfit feels dirty.
I push my key card into the bungalow door and immediately begin taking off my clothes. I fold it all very carefully, sans underwear, since Vaughn still has those in his pocket, and place it all back inside the box. I run my fingertips across the fabric for a moment, enjoying the quality. It’s something I’d never in a million years be able to just buy without guilt over spending so much.
This makes me pause, because I’m like most girls who grew up with lots of limits in place. I want more. I do, I admit it. I want more than just a working a job that takes up most of my life just so I can afford to live in a neighborhood that doesn’t scare the shit out of me. I want to be taken to dinner and given presents to make me feel special. I want all those things.
But the reality of that want is that the men who are capable of fulfilling it are always asking for more than I’m willing to give in return. This present was given to me for the wrong reasons. It was a payoff. It was a consolation. It was a bribe.