Chapter 34

~John~

 

“Urgh,” Chloe mutters into her martini as she and I sit up at the makeshift bar in the yard of the sorority house on campus.

We’re here tonight to play at one of their mid-term celebration parties. We’re using this as a test run before our big performance at Eclipse in a couple of weeks. And we’ve been killing it tonight. Right now, we’re on a break. I sip at my beer, scanning the crowded yard for Nicki. She headed off to the bathroom a few minutes ago.

“Bitch,” Chloe continues.

I follow her line of sight over to the other side of the yard where Mitch is putting his moves on some brunette.

“You turned him down, Chloe.”

She scoffs. “Please. This isn’t about him, John. It’s about that bitch, Tina.”

“What about her?” I don’t give two shits about the drama Chloe’s currently wrapped up in, but it’s just the two of us, so I figure I need to at least fake an interest in this chick shit until Nicki comes back and rescues my ass.

“Look at her in her tiny black dress that’s basically painted on. She’s all over him. This is her competing with me. She knows he and I hooked up. She always goes after what’s mine.”

I raise my eyebrows. “What’s yours, huh?”

She slaps my arm. “Shut up. That’s not what I mean. I just…she pisses me off.”

“Isn’t she one of your sorority sisters?”

“Yeah. So? She’s always trying to one-up me. Crazy, competitive bitch.”

Wow. The claws are already out. Damn.

“John,” someone calls from behind me.

I turn on my stool to see a blonde standing in front of me. She grins at me and flips back her hair while also making sure to push out her tits that are spilling out of her top. She looks familiar, but I can’t make a positive ID, which probably means I’ve fucked her before.

“Daphne,” Chloe says, in a warning tone.

Daphne. Yeah, I’ve fucked her all right. I can’t remember how it went down, but the name rings a bell. It’s not exactly run-of-the-mill. She ignores Chloe’s warning and wedges herself between the two of us, leaning across the bar and ordering a drink. The bartender takes one look at her tits and quickly gets her the drink she ordered—a screwdriver.

She locks eyes with me as she starts sucking on the straw, her tongue darting out and swirling around. Yeah, woman, I see what you’re doing.

“It’s been a while,” she says, winking at me.

“Has it?”

Chloe leans forward on the bar so I can see her and she rolls her eyes at me.

“It has. Remember how hot we were together that night?”

Before I can shut her down, another blonde joins the party, draping her arm over Daphne.

Daphne grins at her and then tells me, “How hot the three of us were.”

Oh yeah! I remember now. The threesome all-nighter.

“Got a girlfriend now. Nothing’s gonna happen here,” I tell them.

“Take one night off,” Daphne urges me, sliding her hand up my thigh.

“Get your hands off my boyfriend!”

The girls spin around to see Nicki standing there, her hands on her hips and looking pissed as hell.

“I’d beat it if I were you. She’s a boxer,” Chloe tells them. “You don’t want her to mess up your pretty little faces, do you?”

The girls take the hint and hurry off.

Nicki glares at me. Her eyes move to my jeans, to the spot where one of the girls touched me. “What’s going on?” she demands. “I’m gone for one second and you’re hitting on other women?”

I hold up my hands. “Uh uh. I was just sitting here drinking my beer. That’s all.”

“They had their hands on you. I didn’t see you pushing them away.”

I look to Chloe for her support.

“He’s right. They just wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Nicki’s eyes stay glued to mine. She’s shooting me daggers now. “And I bet you loved every second of it, Mister-Big-Shot-Rock-Star. This is what it’s gonna be like if we get signed after Eclipse, isn’t it? Groupies everywhere. Me fighting them off you and you sitting there letting them put their hands and God knows what else all over you?”

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

I shoot to my feet. “What’s got into you? Why are you so uptight tonight?”

“And, I’m out,” Chloe says, sliding off her stool quickly and hightailing it the hell away from us and what I’m beginning to see is gonna be one hell of a fight.

I don’t get it. Nicki isn’t usually this insecure about anything. Where’s this coming from?

“Forget it,” Nicki says, making a move to walk away from me.

Yeah, I don’t think so. I grab her arm, stopping her. “Talk to me. What’s this all about?”

She blows out a breath. “Everywhere we go they’re looking at you. And some of them are even brazen enough to come right up to you when I’m with you and start flirting like crazy. It’s gotten worse ever since word spread about us being booked as headliners at Eclipse.”

She’s not wrong. It has been pretty crazy lately. “They’re just leeches, Nicki. It’s the possibility of fame. That’s all.”

“It’s the whole rock star cliché, John.”

“I’m not that guy anymore. I’m with you and that’s it.”

“None of them seem to be getting that message.”

“What do you want me to do? Shout it from the fucking rooftops?” I snap, getting pissed. She has no reason to be like this. Since we got together, I’ve done a complete one-eighty. I don’t give a crap about other women, because as far as I’m concerned there are no other women. Not now that I have her. I’ve changed for her and here she is throwing it in my face? I don’t fucking think so.

“I don’t know. You could start by telling them right away that you’re dating me. But you never do. You let it drag on. Why? Because you like the attention.”

“The only attention I like is yours, Nicki! Get that through your fucking head!” I yell, losing my cool.

“Then start showing me that!” she screams, raising her voice even higher.

People are looking our way. Great. I hate public drama like this. Argh!

“You’re making a fool of yourself; yelling in public like this. You look like an insecure little girl.” Oh, real smooth, asshole. Shit. She’s not gonna take that well at all.

“I don’t want girls touching you!”

“It was nothing, Nicki! You’re overreacting big time! Get a fucking grip!”

Her eyes narrow to slits. “Fuck you, John,” she spits out.

The next thing I know, she’s turning from me and hurrying away into the crowd. It takes mere seconds before the crowd swallows her up and I lose sight of her.

Dammit!