Nothing Left to Lose (45 page)

Ashton took my
hand and pulled me to his side as he spoke, “This is my girlfriend,
Anna.”

I winced at the
furious expression that crossed her face. She looked like she
wanted to kill me. I had the strong feeling that this girl was
going to spit in my food. I inwardly sighed, but decided if she was
going to do it anyway then I may as well have some fun too.

“Nice to meet
you, Kelly,” I greeted, trying desperately to hide my grin.

“It’s
Shelly
!” she snapped.

“Oh, right
yeah, sorry.” I grinned, looking anywhere but Nate, who was clearly
trying to hold in his laughter.

One of Shelly’s
eyebrows rose wickedly as she turned her attention back to Ashton.
“I didn’t know you had a girlfriend. Does she know we slept
together?”

I smiled as
Ashton seemed to squirm on the spot. I nodded in confirmation,
deciding to help him out. This girl was clearly trying to cause
trouble between the two of us. “Oh yeah don’t worry, I know my
boy’s slept with half of LA,” I dismissed. “Hey, were you the one
that taught him that thing that he does with his hand? Because
damn, if you did then, I owe you a big thanks,” I added, grinning.
Nate lost the battle and his laughter rang out as he shook his
head, clutching at his side.

Shelly’s nose
scrunched up distastefully as she snatched three menus from the
side, obviously dissatisfied with my reaction. “You want a
table?”

She didn’t wait
for an answer as she turned around and strutted off, practically
throwing the menus down onto an empty table. Ashton’s hand closed
over mine, squeezing tightly as we crossed the restaurant to get to
the table she had stopped at. As I slid into the booth, Ashton slid
in beside me, still looking extremely uncomfortable and
apologetic.

Shelly seemed
determined to ignore me as she took our drinks order. As soon as
she was gone, Nate shook his head, still chuckling to himself. “Oh
God, that was freaking hilarious,” Nate laughed.

Ashton groaned.
“I’m really sorry. I forgot she worked here.”

I smiled and
waved my hand dismissively. “Ashton, if I got annoyed or upset
every time I met a girl you’d slept with, I’d be upset all damn
day,” I joked, shrugging.

His anxious
eyes softened, and the tension that was in his shoulders seemed to
fade as he smiled gratefully. “I guess. That was a class way to
deal with an ex though. That was awesome,” he congratulated. His
head cocked to the side, and his eyes turned playful. “But what
thing are we talking about that I do with my hand?” he asked,
raising one eyebrow knowingly.

I grinned. “I
think you know,” I replied, feeling the blush creep onto my cheeks.
He chuckled and leant in, kissing my burning cheek before brushing
a loose strand of my hair back into place.

“Wow, she’s a
firecracker, Taylor. No wonder you’re in love with her,” Nate said,
looking at me in awe.

My heart
stopped as my eyes widened in surprise at the revelation.
Ashton
has told Nate that he’s in love with me?
But then I realised
that this was all part of the charade and undercover assignment. Of
course, he had to lie to his friends about me. He was just playing
the part of loved up boyfriend like he was supposed to.

When my eyes
flicked to Ashton, I noticed he was glaring at his best friend for
some reason. Thankfully though, the waitress chose that moment to
come back with our drinks.

Shelly was
still ignoring me as she started taking our food order. After
scribbling down what the boys wanted, she turned her evil eyes on
me. “And you?” she asked impatiently.

“I’ll have
chocolate chip pancakes, please. Oh and Shelly, I’ll leave you a
fifty dollar tip if you don’t spit in my food,” I smiled sweetly,
handing her my menu. Nate was laughing again now.

She laughed and
for the first time, smiled at me. “Right okay, I’ll go get your
order.”

Nate was
practically crying with laughter as she walked off. “You know, I
think you should leave Taylor and be with me, Anna,” he said,
winking at me.

“Hmm, I don’t
think you could handle me,” I countered. That was the honest truth;
he would probably crumble under the pressure of one of my
meltdowns.

“Oh really? I
would definitely like to try,” he purred suggestively.

Ashton’s body
seemed to tense up at my side. I smiled, placing my hand over his
because for some reason that I couldn’t fathom, Ashton seemed to be
jealous and worried that I was going to fall for his best friend.
“I’ll tell you what, Nate, if he screws up,” I nodded my head at
Ashton, “then I’ll give you a go.”

“Sweet!” Nate
chirped.

Ashton shook
his head adamantly and slung his arm over my shoulder. “I’m not
gonna screw up, Baby Girl,” he said, leaning in and planting a soft
kiss on the base of my neck. I whimpered and tipped my head to the
side as his lips left a burning trail against my overheated skin.
In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to drag him to the
bathroom and have him consume me completely.

“Seriously, you
two need to cut that out!” Nate ordered, flicking a couple of drops
of water at us from his glass.

I laughed and
Ashton pulled away, groaning. He seemed to be enjoying that as much
as I was. Knowing I needed to change the subject because my body
was already aching for Ashton’s touch, I turned back to Nate. “So,
why don’t you want to come to the museum then?”

“Boring! How
about we go do something fun instead?” he suggested, raising his
eyebrows excitedly.

“Like what?
What do you two boys like to do for fun?” I asked curiously.

He grinned at
me over the rim of his glass before he jerked in his seat and his
eyes lit up excitedly. “Ooh, how about we go Go Karting?”

Go Karting? I’d
never done that before. “Sounds fun. Want to?” I asked, turning
back to Ashton.

He shrugged
easily. “Sure, if that’s what you’d rather do.”

I nodded
eagerly, snuggling into his side. Nate pulled out his cell phone,
already tapping away on the screen. “Great. I’ll call some of the
guys and we can meet them there.”

Ashton’s mouth
closed over mine, kissing me almost desperately as his arm
tightened around my waist, crushing me against his side. I moaned
into his mouth. This was going to be a long day, I could feel it.
However, before it could get too heated, our kiss was interrupted
by Nate flicking more water at us. “Right then, Seth, Wayne and
Ryan are going to meet us there in an hour,” he said happily.

I smiled. I was
actually excited to meet the rest of Ashton’s friends and see how
he spent his time when he wasn’t worried to death about me. As we
sat there talking about racing and who was the best driver, the
food arrived. Shelly set a plate of pancakes down in front of me,
and I looked at her hopefully. “Do I owe you a fifty or not?” I
asked, watching her face, trying to read if she’d really spat in my
food.

She laughed. “I
didn’t spit in your food,” she promised, looking like she was
actually telling the truth. “I spat in his,” she added sweetly,
plopping Ashton’s food down.

“Oh, he won’t
mind. You’ve shared saliva before, it’s no different,” I joked,
nudging him playfully.

She laughed and
sat down next to Nate. “So, how long have you two been
together?”

Ashton grinned.
“Two months.”

She looked at
him disbelievingly. “Seriously? I didn’t think you’d ever settle
down. You told me that you didn’t do relationships,” she pouted,
seeming a little hurt.

“I didn’t. Not
until I met Anna,” he replied casually.

I smiled and
shrugged. “Yeah, I think I may have curbed his player ways for a
little while. I’ll enjoy it while it lasts, he’s picked up a lot of
tricks from screwing all of those girls,” I joked. Everyone laughed
at that.

“I’ll bet he
has. There have been a lot of them,” she smirked at him, obviously
still trying to get him in trouble with me. “Enjoy it while it
lasts, he’ll kick you to the curb soon enough,” she added, pushing
herself to her feet.

I nodded in
agreement. “No doubt about it. I’d say I have at least another six
months though. I can keep you interested that long, can’t I?” I
asked, grinning slyly at Ashton – he had that long left before he
would be reassigned.

He chuckled and
nodded. “Definitely,” he replied, rubbing his hand up my back
softly.

Obviously
disgruntled, she huffed and strutted off towards the kitchen again.
I smiled at her back. “Well, I don’t think her plan to make me
jealous worked the way she wanted it to,” I stated.

Nate’s eyes
were wide as he regarded me with a bewildered expression on his
face. “What the hell kind of girlfriend are you if you don’t get
jealous?”

“The best
kind,” I answered, cutting off a large chunk of pancake and
stuffing it into my mouth. Ashton hadn’t started eating; he was
just frowning down at his plate distastefully. “You not gonna eat,
Pretty Boy?”

He winced. “Do
you think she really spat in my food?” he asked, turning his nose
up. Nate and I burst out laughing and I didn’t stop until my sides
were hurting.

The rest of the
time we talked and laughed. When we were done, we took a leisurely
stroll back to their apartment so we could pick up the car. I
smiled happily. Nate was actually a really nice guy, other than the
fact that every word out of his mouth was suggestive. He got on
exceedingly well with Ashton, and it was nice to see him joking
around with his friend. It made me extremely glad I’d arranged
this. Ashton grinned at me as we approached the car, pressing the
button on the key, making the lights flash.

Nate stopped
dead in his tracks as his mouth popped open in shock. “Holy shit.
You have got to be kidding me!” he cried.

“I know right?
Anna rented it for me for the weekend as a birthday present,”
Ashton boasted, grabbing me and pulling me in for a hug.

Nate
practically choked on fresh air as he shook his head. “Anna, I
really think we need to hook up, my birthday is in like a
month.”

Ashton punched
him playfully in the arm again. “I told you, she’s mine,” he
stated, laughing because Nate still hadn’t taken his eyes off the
car. “I’m assuming you’re riding with us in this instead of taking
your car?” Ashton pulled open the passenger door for me, ushering
me in as he smirked at his friend’s astonished expression. Nate
nodded, running around to the driver’s side and wrenching the door
open. “Back seat! I’m driving!” Ashton protested as Nate went to
slide into the driver’s side. I grinned to myself. Boys were too
easily impressed by a flashy car.

As we made the
short drive to the Go Kart track, Nate was sitting in the back,
gushing about the car and how beautiful it was. Ashton held my hand
the whole time, shooting me sly glances with a big grin on his
face. When we pulled in, the car was immediately swarmed with guys.
Well, that was a slight exaggeration, there were three of them. I
recognised them from the photo I’d seen back in the apartment.

We all climbed
out, and Nate was raving to the three newcomers about the car.
Ashton stepped to my side and grinned as they all exchanged the
typical man hug thing. He turned back to me and smiled proudly as
he wrapped his arm around my waist. “This is my girl, Anna.” He
gave me a little tug forward, smiling reassuringly as I tried not
to show my unease at being surrounded by three unknown men that
were all looking me over like vultures look at a wounded animal.
“Anna, this is Seth, Wayne and Ryan.” He waved his hand to them in
turn.

“Nice,” the guy
called Seth purred under his breath. He was gorgeous too, and I
silently wondered what they put in the water here in LA. He had
light brown hair and brown eyes and when he smiled, he got dimples,
making him look cute. I had a feeling it would be the innocent
little boy dimples that the girls were attracted to.

“Hi,” I smiled;
trying not to show them how nervous I was. It had been different
meeting Nate because that was one-on-one. This situation frightened
me a little.

“How you doing,
Anna? I’m Seth, and it is definitely my pleasure,” the dimpled guy
flirted, holding out his hand to me. I forced a smile and shook his
hand, attempting to let go quickly, but when he didn’t release my
hand my heart took off in a sprint. I dug my fingers into Ashton’s
side, silently telling him that I was uncomfortable.

“Seth, remember
I said this is
my
girl?” Ashton growled warningly. Seth
looked at him and grinned sheepishly, releasing my hand
quickly.

Instantly Nate
punched Seth in the arm. “His,” he pointed at Ashton, “and then
mine when he screws up,” he joked, grinning.

And just like
that, the tension was broken and I laughed as Ashton’s arm
tightened on my waist. “Right, that’s enough flirting. Let’s go
race,” Ashton suggested, nodding at the large metal building.

The boys were
obviously regulars here because they greeted the instructor like an
old friend and were led through to the back where the helmets were.
As we stepped through the door, the noise of the engines and the
smell of exhaust fumes that lingered in the air actually made the
hair on the nape of my neck stand up on end. I turned to Ashton,
seeing his big bright smile and my nerves instantly started to
fade. I knew he wouldn’t let anything hurt me, so this had to be
safe. My heart rate slowly started to return to normal as a helmet
was pushed onto my head and I was led over to a large blue Go Kart
and shown how to drive it.

Once I was
going, however, I actually loved it. Although, much to my
embarrassment, I was a total disaster at it. After crashing into
the tyres for the sixth time in three laps, I decided to give up
and just watch. As I pulled into the makeshift pit lane and climbed
out, Ashton pulled up behind me. I frowned as I pulled the helmet
off and breathed a sigh of relief because they were heavy and
constricting.