Rumor Has It (Limelight) (33 page)

I’d let it blow over for a day or two and act like nothing had happened. He’d get over it.

When I saw Little Mac enter the bullpen where Ellie and I were chillin’ backstage, I knew my day was going from bad to worse. I’d had enough dealings with him to know he’d make his way over to us to try to get under my skin.

Sure enough, when he saw me a shit-eating grin crossed his face and he headed in our direction. He stood in front of us and Ellie smiled up at him, having no idea who he was.

“Well, well, Mason. Looks like you’re dipping in a pool of higher class girls than you usually go for,” he said.

I didn’t bother addressing his ridiculous comment. “What do you want?”

He ignored me and grabbed Ellie’s hand, bringing it up to his lips for a kiss. She giggled and my balls clenched up—not in a good way. Time to shut this down. I took Ellie’s hand from him and placed it on my thigh.

“Ellie, this is Little Mac. You may remember me mentioning him before.”

“Oh, I remember,” Ellie said, looking abashed.

Mac laughed. “Panties still in a bunch I see, Mason. Don’t believe everything he tells you, Ellie. I’m sure it’s been exaggerated for dramatic effect.”

“I do my best not to talk about you.”

“I’m sure it pains you to see my name on the charts. I get it.”

“Why don’t you be on your way? Aren’t you on soon? I’ve still got a few hours to kill.” It was an asshole thing to say. It was well known that the later in the day you performed, the higher up the list you were considered, and today I was on after him.

“Enjoy it while it lasts. When my new album drops you’re gonna be the one eatin’ crow. Ellie, when you get sick of this second-rate performer come find me.” He smiled at Ellie, turned and stalked away before I could say anything. Suited me fine.

“You weren’t kidding when you said you two didn’t like each other, were you?” Ellie asked.

“Not even a little. Sometimes I think that guy would stop at nothing to try and bring me down.”

*****

Mason’s performance had been magnificent. No surprise there. The crowd had roared and was totally into it the whole time. After he’d showered we joined a bunch of other people in the bullpen backstage for a party of sorts.

Music was piped in from the band on stage and we all sipped our drinks and mingled. Lights were strung from one side of the makeshift room to the other since the sun had already set. It was a fun laid-back vibe and I realized I was much more comfortable in the off stage environment than the first time I had joined Mason in Atlanta.

Reporters from entertainment shows and magazines were part of the mix. Mason was finishing up an on-camera interview off to the side, while I ordered another rum and Coke from the bartender. I looked off to my left as I waited for my drink and saw Troy talking to Little Mac between two trailers. It struck me as odd—what would they have to talk about? I shrugged it off. Troy was so protective of Mason maybe he was telling Mac where to stuff it.

I went back to the couch where I’d been sitting before and saw Mason was already there. I sat beside him. “How’d the interview go?”

He shrugged. “Once you’ve done a couple I swear they could probably just pull tape from the first one and get the same answers. The questions never change.”

“Must get monotonous.”

“You know it.” Mason put his arm around my shoulder and I leaned into his side. He played with the spaghetti strap on my tank top absentmindedly as we sat there.

I was thinking of asking Mason if he wanted to head back to his trailer for some adult wrestling when Troy approached. “Mason, you’ve got one more interview to do and that’s it for the night.”

“All right, man. Who is it?”

“Becca.”

Mason’s body went rigid beside me. He removed his arm from around my shoulders and leaned forward. “I hope you’re joking.”

“No such luck. She landed a new gig as a co-host on
Star Weekly
.”

“I wonder who she had to sleep with to land that.”

Before I could ask what that was about a striking woman with blond hair and a short fitted white dress approached. A large V dipped at the front of her dress revealing just the right amount of cleavage to look sexy but not trampy. I caught a number of guys rubberneck as she passed. As she got closer it dawned on me who she was. Mason’s ex, Rebecca Stark.

“Mason,” she said in a husky voice when she reached us. “Who’s the flavor of the week?” She nodded in my direction but didn’t remove her predatory eyes from him for a second.

“Congratulations on the new job. How’d you weasel your way into that one?”

She flicked her long hair behind her shoulder then rested her hand on her hip. “Oh, you know me. Never one to let an opportunity pass me by.”

“I do remember you being quite the opportunist,” Mason said and there was venom in his voice. “Where do you wanna do this?”

“Used to be you wouldn’t even ask. You’d take me wherever you wanted me, didn’t matter who was around. It’s nice to be the one giving
you
direction for a change. Let’s head back this way for some privacy.”

“Cut the bullshit. Let’s get this over with.” Mason leaned over and gave me a chaste kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be back in a bit, babe. You okay to stay here?”

I nodded and tried to check the impulse to claw Rebecca’s eyes out. I knew these two had history and as much as everything they said indicated they didn’t like one another, I couldn’t help thinking their feelings were too intense to say that they’d both moved past it.

Troy watched them walk away and when they were out of earshot turned to me. “Better watch out for that one, Ellie. She’s a viper.
If
Mason comes back anytime soon can you tell him to find me? We have a couple things to discuss.”

“Yeah, sure.” What’d he mean
if
?

I polished off my drink, got another one and returned to my seat only to see that Little Mac was on the sofa. I glanced around but there were no other free seats. I reluctantly headed over to sit beside him and did so without acknowledging his presence.

“Saw Mason and Becca leave together. Those two hot and heavy again?”

I whipped my head around in his direction and flashed him a bitchy look. “You know they’re not.”

He chuckled. “I see he didn’t fill you in before he ran off alone with her.”

I was beginning to see why Mason had no love for this guy. He was an irritating little shit. “Do you have a point?”

“He and Becca used to be inseparable. She went everywhere he did. It was sickening to watch them all over each other. Shit, they must have been together for at least a year or two. He was messed up after they split. Not that we’re tight or anything but everyone knew she broke his heart.”

“That’s in the past.”

“You sure about that? I saw her earlier and she was asking me about him. Seemed real interested. Becca doesn’t quit easy when she wants something.”

Was she hitting on him right now? No. I stopped myself right there before my thoughts turned in that direction. Mason had made it clear that he wouldn’t do that to me.

“Aww, don’t worry, sweetheart. I’m sure he’s not interested in wettin’ his whistle in that again. You’re pretty hot, too. Though, I gotta say…she was looking pretty smokin’ in that dress tonight.”

My chest tightened making breathing difficult. I stood quickly. “I need to use the bathroom.”

I didn’t wait for him to answer, making my way to the bathroom as fast as possible. I sat on the closed lid of the toilet trying to gain my composure and gather my thoughts. I hated that I let that jerk get a rise out of me. It’s not that I thought Mason was going off to have a quickie with her or anything…but what if being around her again brought old feelings to the surface for him again? Made him remember the good times they’d shared. I didn’t know the details of what had happened, but I knew it had ended badly. Regardless, if they’d been together that long there were a lot of good times, too. Remembering them might make him realize of how much he used to love her, or maybe still did in some way. I couldn’t compete with her. She was off the charts beautiful in a way I’d never be.

I leaned forward so my head was between my legs and took some deep breaths. I needed to get myself together. I couldn’t let this jerk fill my head with bullshit.

It dawned on me that Little Mac would be good for one thing. He liked to talk…maybe I could get a better idea of what went wrong between Mason and Becca. Mason would tell me if I asked, but I didn’t want him thinking I was being a jealous lover—whether or not that was the truth.

I made my way back to where I’d been seated to see Little Mac still there. I sat down beside him and leveled my gaze at him.

“So when does your new album come out? You mentioned it earlier.” I figured if I fed his ego a bit it’d be easier for me to pump him for information. It seemed my instincts were right. A big smile crossed his face and he grabbed my drink from the table, passed it to me and leaned back, stretching his arm along the back of the couch behind me. It wasn’t so brazen that I could tell him to knock it off—he wasn’t touching me—but I leaned forward anyway in the hopes my body language would indicate I was not interested in him in that way at all.

“It drops next month. That shit is gonna be epic.”

“How long have you been doing hip-hop?” I asked and took a sip of my drink. I was gonna need more of these if I had to listen to this egomaniac’s drivel.

I needn’t have bothered—I didn’t remember anything after that anyway.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Yelling. Someone was yelling and the sound beat the inside of my head like a drum. I moaned and covered my head with my hands to drown out the sound. Was that a pillow under my head? I grabbed it and brought it down over top of me.

The mattress beside me moved, bouncing up and down like someone couldn’t decide whether they were getting on or off. Still with the shouting.

I might have drifted off for a second again but a hand shoved my shoulder. I tried to ignore it and the queasy feeling the jostling gave me. A hand pressed into the back of my shoulder again but harder this time.

I groaned and rolled slowly over onto my side. I tried opening my eyes but they wouldn’t cooperate. Lead weights must’ve been tied to my eyelids they were so heavy. On my second attempt I was able to open them little more than slits. It took a minute for my vision to focus on what was in front of me.

Mason stood glaring down at me, fury evident on all his features. He grabbed my arm and hauled me out of bed. I stood in front of him and realized for the first time that my pants were missing. What the hell?

“Your playmate’s still out cold,” Mason said, his voice seething with rage.

I looked around and realized I didn’t recognize my surroundings at all. We were in a trailer, but this didn’t look like the one Mason had been using. I was pretty sure his had dark wood, not bleached oak like this one. I turned and looked behind me to see Little Mac passed out in the bed, his bare chest visible before the sheet cut off the view at his belly button.

My knees buckled and I slumped onto the ground. What the hell had happened to me? Mason crouched down in front of me to look me in the eyes.

“Was it all a game from the beginning? Did he put you up to it from day one, or you get what you needed and move on to the next sucker?”

“Mason, I—”

“Save it. I don’t even want to hear it. I can’t believe I ever trusted you. Did you plan to meet me all along once you found out who was renting the beach house? Your mom give you some lessons on how to land a rich guy?”

My heart cracked into a million pieces as I sat there listening to Mason and the venom behind his words. Hot angry tears ran down my cheeks. I couldn’t stay in this room any more. I wanted to physically distance myself from whatever had happened here.

I stood and Mason followed suit. My head spun for a moment and I had to take some deep breaths to clear my vision. I looked around frantically for my pants. I needed out of here. I couldn’t stand being in that room for one more second.

“Nothing to say for yourself?” Mason spat at me.

“I don’t know what happened. I don’t remember coming here. The last thing I remember I was sitting on the couch talking to Little Mac.”

“Oh, I heard all about you two on the couch. How do you think I found you?”

“Mason…” I croaked out.

“Fuck! FUCK!” he yelled and turned to punch the wall, leaving a gaping hole.

“Someone must have put something in my drink. That’s the only explanation!”

“Jesus Christ, Ellie. What are you a fucking teenager? Save your excuses. I’m not buying what you’re selling anymore.”

“I’m telling you the truth!” I yelled, cringing at the pain it caused.

“Why are you trying so hard to make me believe it? You have a little more planned for me? Feel like pulling the wool over my eyes a little longer? I really didn’t take you for an opportunistic bitch but I guess we’re all wrong sometimes.”

“Stop saying horrible things to me.”

“You’re right. You’re not worth the breath.” He started to turn away but stopped and glared at me again. “I hope you weren’t counting on this guy being you’re next conquest because I gotta tell ya…you couldn’t have picked a worse one. This guy’s fucked and chucked every girl he’s ever been with.”