Documentary (24 page)

             
“Yes! My Google Alerts for Kai picked up that one. I told you our insane treadmill and yoga sessions would pay off. Your legs looked awesome!” They both burst into laughter. “Kai’s butt looked great too. I wish you knew what it looked like under those jeans. I think I’m encouraging you with him because I’m jealous I already got myself stuck with one penis, no pun intended, for the rest of my life. Someone should totally be enjoying Kai White. I nominate you, but I’m sorry if I’m being a bitch.”

“It’s okay, babe.” Like she could ever stay mad at Low. Steve always told them they reminded him of “dudes.” They always argued for a few minutes and one of them would say something funny or ask if the other wanted to go get fro-yo and everything would go back to normal.

“How is he? How’s Steve?”

“He’s okay. I cried like a baby a few days ago when I talked to him on Skype. I miss him so much sometimes I feel like I’m choking. I just worry.” Low took a staggered breath. “Dee, if anything happens to him…” For someone as brash as Low could be, she’d cry if a newborn puppy tipped over after taking a few steps. And when it came to Steve, her tears were always at the ready. He was a great guy, so Dylan understood completely why Winslow loved him so much.

“I know, Low. I don’t even like for you to finish that sentence. We just have to be hopeful. When you talk to him again, please tell him I said hi. Hey, I gotta go. I love you so much. Take care.”

“Love you too,” Winslow said. Dylan
ended the call and walked back toward the club’s side door. She shrieked when a shadow suddenly disconnected from the wall. Ashley was standing there with a smirk on her face. Dylan ignored her, though her heart rate skyrocketed. She continued around to the entrance because the side door didn’t open from the outside, but Ashley stepped into her path.

With her hands on her hips, she mocked Dylan’s voice. “‘This morning with Kai on the tour bus.’ Giggle giggle giggle. Feel free to enlighten me.”

“You were listening to my phone call? What the hell?” Dylan said, raising her voice. A bite of fear coupled with defensiveness tore through her.
Shit
. “You had no right. That was a private conversation.”

“Not when you’re fucking the guys, it’s not,” Ashley snapped in a
harsh tone. The people outside the club turned to look at both of them, making Dylan more upset. Ashley could’ve approached her about this in a more appropriate setting.

“You’re way out of line right now, Ashley,” Dylan said, getting closer to her with her hands fisted at her sides. She could’ve slapped her right then for her rudeness, and a few of the guys cackled an
d goaded them about getting in a fight.

“If you won’t tell me, I’ll get Nina on the phone tomorrow, and she can have a chat with you then,” Ashley said smugly, crossing her arms over her chest. “I knew this morning I had walked in on something.”

“I haven’t had sex with anyone here.” And that was technically true. “Kai and I filmed this morning on the tour bus.”
And I don’t laugh like that, you bitch.
“I have the camcorder right here if you want to see.” Dylan raised the camera and tapped it with her other hand. The video from the morning was actually on the laptop, but she had to one-up her. “So call Nina, I’ll show her the video, and then you can have a chat with her.”

Ashley’s physical stance didn’t waver but she didn’t call Dylan’s bluff either. When Dylan made a move to step back inside the club, Ashley didn’t pursue her. She exhaled and tried to get her pulse rate back down to normal. She was glad things with Kai were actually over. She had been able to be adamant because she was telling the truth just then, no matter how slight it was, but full on lying, she would not have been able to handle. Ashley definitely planned to be on her ass, especially now that she had suspicions.

Kai was back on stage and had the whole crowd singing “Earthquake”
with him as he held the microphone up at them. His hair was matted down with sweat, and he looked so happy. After the show, girls congregated around him, ogling him and putting their hands way too close to areas she herself wanted to touch. She cornered a few fans that were excited to be a part of the web series, and they talked about how long they had been fans of his. Kai joined them on camera and accepted an invitation to one woman’s wedding. She said “Beautiful”
was actually her first dance song.

After getting food at a late night hotspot, the group went back to the hotel. His next shows were in D.C., which was only about
two and a half hours away so they stayed in Philadelphia that night. A couple hours after the show, Xavier sent her a text about an impromptu party at the hotel’s heated indoor pool. She had just completed part of an article for the website and was contemplating going to bed instead.

“
It’s nice being Kai White,
”
she replied, noting that it was well past the pool’s hours.

“
It’s nice being in Kai White’s band. Now get your ass up here!”
She thought back to what Winslow had said about allowing herself to have fun. She had missed so many social activities during the summer and the school year already. A little dip in the pool was fine. Once in her swimsuit, she pulled on a shirt and shorts before heading to the floor with the pool. It turned out to be quite an oasis that could’ve been an outdoor pool in the Mediterranean. Through the water, she could see the gold-painted shapes at the bottom that complemented the gold accents of the large decorative vases around the pool. There were about thirty people present and, as expected, there were more women than men plus four security guards standing around. She recognized some of the girls from the show’s audience. Light music could be heard over the splashing and laughter. Dylan stripped down to her coral-colored bikini, and it earned indulgent stares from the guys, but deep down, it was really meant for Kai to see. The thought made her skin feel like it was on fire.

“Ow! Ow! Take it off, girl!” one of the women said in a drunken yelp as she bounced up and down in the middle of the pool.

“Cameras are off-limits tonight, Dylan,” Heath warned with a wink. “We made everybody give their cell phones to security. You count too.”

“I’m off the clock…
don’t worry.” And she was glad for the “no camera” rule. The last thing they needed was for a video of a drunken pool party from a Kai White tour to end up on the Internet when he was supposed to be focusing on music. She soon spotted him in a pair of swim trunks sitting on a white chaise lounge directly across from where she was, and he was chatting with a woman who was sprawled on an adjacent one. Dylan wanted to vomit all over her as her jealousy instantly grew. Kai looked startled when he saw Dylan, and his gaze nailed her to the spot. He smiled in the way that always melted her heart, and the corners of her mouth turned up, too. The woman next to him turned her head and waved, recognizing her.

“Camera girl! Hey! Wow, didn’t know you were working with all of that,” she shouted, making the shape of an hourglass figure with her hands. Dylan shot a halfhearted wave at her, wanting to roll her to the concrete instead. Suddenly Xavier appeared out of nowhere and backed her precariously to the edge of the pool. His short
, artificially red hair was drenched.

“If I’m going in, you are, too,” she said, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him into a hug. She didn’t actually have any interest in him, but Kai was getting a dose of what he was going to be doling out to her this entire tour.
Dylan turned her head just enough to catch a glance of Kai. His gaze was burning into the both of them, and he had already stopped talking to the woman and was moving toward the pool.

“So we’re really going in?” Xavier asked, and she nodded. Dylan managed to suck in a quick breath before they splashed forcefully through the water’s surface. When she pushed up, Kai was sitting on the edge of the pool, and the woman was calling his name and waving her arms to get his attention. He licked his lips gently when Dylan brushed the water off her face and smoothed her hair back. 
She spied the soft glisten of water on his chest and arms. Jesus. This hookup embargo was going to get maddening.

“I’ve never gotten a girl wet tha
t fast in my life,” Xavier said with a wink before enduring her rough splashing. They wrestled in the water for a few seconds before he locked Dylan in a bear hug from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder. Kai’s face immediately twisted up into a snarl. She couldn’t help thinking that he was adorable when he was jealous, and it was good to know she wasn’t the only one that this was torturous for.

The girl from the
chaise lounge dipped down into the pool next to Kai’s dangling feet, then she waded backward and curled her finger, beckoning him to join her. A moment of panic made Dylan think that Kai would take the bait, but he didn’t budge, he just looked more annoyed. Dylan looked down so he wouldn’t see her smiling.

“So are we going to play or what?” Xavier asked the group.

“Play what?” she asked.

“No, it’s getting late,” Kai snapped. “We should go.”

“Okay, mom. Or should I say, Ashley?” Heath teased, nipping at a giggling girl’s shoulder. They had been caressing each other and kissing intermittently since Dylan arrived. “Why are you in such a shitty mood all of a sudden? Oh wait, I know why.” Heath cocked his head at Dylan before turning back to Kai. “We’re playing.”

“I’m not fucking playing,” Kai announced. His annoyed stare daggered Xavier
, and Dylan tried harder to keep a straight face. Heath swam over to the side, and Dylan noticed the basketball hoop on the edge of the pool. She laughed a little too loudly at something a girl next to her said, but she was really laughing at Kai. She watched his eyes narrow in aggravation when his gaze dropped to where Xavier’s hands were (on her hips). Xavier pushed away when Heath tossed the soft orange ball at him, and he started divvying up teams.

“Hey, Dy
lan, you wanna go film right now? Want to hear some late night confessions?” Kai offered her, his face softening briefly.

“Ask me after one game.” She could tell it wasn’t an answer he liked, and he slid into the pool to pursue the girl from before. Of course the plan to have the upper hand with him had backfired. She sighed and went to join her team in a huddle. Water basketball turned out to be much harder than it looked.
Between the exertion of moving through the water, making sure her bikini top didn’t slide off and watching Kai as he chatted with the girl at the other end of the pool, Dylan was exhausted.

“Pass! Pass!” Heath yelled as the opposing team dove toward her, and Dylan managed to release the ball before she was clobbered and pulled under.
From the sidelines, the spectators oohed. She broke through the surface of the water, coughing and nearly blind, but the others were already chasing the ball in the direction she had thrown it. It was the third time she had gotten dunked and she was completely over it.

Someone swam up behind her and locked their hands on her waist. “What is it about these things…” Kai said as his hands drifted down her hips to where the bikini strings were. “…That always makes me want to untie them?”

“Women wear them?” she said, laughing. Kai swam around to the front of her.

“Here…” he said, shaking excess water off his hands before he held her at the nape of her neck as he palmed pool water off her cheeks and eyelids. “Better?” He brushed one of her cheeks one final time, smiling down at her. The hand on the back of her neck slipped down to the small of her back.

“Yeah… thank you.” She patted him on the chest on impulse. When her hand lingered, Kai gripped it, raised her palm to his mouth and kissed it before Dylan could yank her hand away.

“You were terrible out there,” Kai said on his way to the steps, and she climbed out after him.

“Not my finest moments.” She retrieved her clothes but didn’t put them on. He threw a towel over her shoulders when they reached the doors that led back into the hotel, before they walked out to the elevator bank. Dylan caught sight of her bikini top in a mirror near the elevator. She was still completely covered up but gameplay had slackened the tie around her neck. As she moved her hands up to re-tie her bikini top, the towel slipped down to the floor, but Kai caught it before it landed. In the mirror, she watched as his gaze snaked slowly up her body until their eyes locked. Dylan thought her legs would go weak from the warmth growing between them.

“I can do that,” he
said as he flung her towel over his shoulder.

“Repeat after me, ‘I’m
tying
it,’” she teased. She flattened her palms against her upper chest to keep the top from falling forward when the loose ends of the strings unfurled down her back.

“Brain got the message. Fingers might not,” he said, laughing, but he got quiet after picking the string
s up. As she wondered what he was thinking, Dylan couldn’t take her eyes off him in the mirror, and heat enveloped her entire body. He had to know what he was doing, how crazy he was making her. Kai met her eyes after he laced the two strings together, tugging each end in opposite directions. Dylan pulled her hands away from her chest and his breathing picked up. His Adam’s apple bounced a few times as he gulped down, standing frozen with the strings between his fingers. Dylan bit her lip. The yearning for him was getting unbearable, miserable even. There was a flash in her head of being put against that very mirror, smudging it with her back, but she was trying her best to ignore it.