A Summer To Remember (Seasons of Love & Lust Book 1) (17 page)

He looked away, his face turning crimson.

“Not anymore because he’s dating me,” Autumn responded.
“We’re
a couple now, can you believe it?”

The awkward silence at our table was so loud we could have heard a pin drop.

Chapter Twenty-One

After Autumn’s drop in on our breakfast and her surprising news, we all left in a Hummer limousine to the spa where we would be meeting Talia and Seth. Most of the time it didn’t bother me to see ex-lovers, however, this was different and I found myself clasping Paul’s hand firmly.

“Babe, are you okay?” he whispered to me.

I looked at him and smiled. “I’m fine, really. It’s the weather. I was expecting hot and humid but just not…this.”

“We’ll be at the spa soon and you’ll be able to cool down then,” Jude said, As soon as we arrived at the spa, the women went our separate ways after kissing our significant others goodbye.

Talia met us at the indoor pool after we changed out of our elegant sundresses and expensive high heeled sandals.

It was a huge Olympic-sized monstrosity dotted with wealthy women of various ages, none over a size eight. The four of us took loungers near each other and with a bottle of Dom Perignon rosé, I realized we would more or less stay drunk all day.

Talia dispensed the bubbly. Then she and I began to talk in private. Autumn had already monopolized Savannah’s attention, talking about the new love of her life as if he were the best thing since sliced bread.

“Didn’t you fuck him?” Talia inquired after she’d arranged herself into the perfect position where she was laid back but her body was shown off to the best advantage.

Her bikini obviously wasn’t for swimming since it was a striped metallic silver and magenta fabric which cupped her breasts, paired along with a Brazilian bikini bottom. It wasn’t as vulgar as a thong but didn’t cover much more than what would have been covered with a thong.

I looked over at Autumn. She continued to talk animatedly to Savannah, only pausing to drink from her glass.

“Yeah, I did. In June. He came to the gallery because he had some free time, needed a painting for his brand new mansion in L.A., and decided to visit Jude since they went to college together. He was on his way to filming
Kill Shot
then.”

“Was he any good?” she whispered.

“Adequate. Certainly not in the same league as Paul if that is what you’re asking. He’s a larger average-sized and he has a nice girth. He has a pretty talented tongue but he isn’t big on going down on women…or maybe it was just me. Perhaps he is completely different with Autumn.” It wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time to talk about the several men I’d indulged in one night stands with, and it was pretty much just desserts one of them would come back and actually become the boyfriend of one of my best friends.

Talia refilled my glass with champagne as soon as I finished it. “Sorry, you probably don’t want to talk about Brandon. Do you want to hear about all the hate mail I am getting from fans of Winter’s Regret who are really pissed they added a female group member? They are so scared I’ll tone down the hard rocking sound by turning the group into another Smashing Pumpkins. That or I’ll take over, Within Temptation/Evanescence style and it will become a woman at the front of a hard rocking band.”

She stared off into space before her eyes met mine again. “Not that Seth would ever allow that happen. He gets off on the attention too much. But he also knows how to play rhythm guitar, and there are rumors Kris Nieminen is going to be fired although he’s not going anywhere. I swear to God they can be a major pain in the ass. Thank God they don’t know Seth and I are sleeping together or they’d accuse me of fucking my way into a job.”

“How do you handle it?”

“Well, I seriously trimmed my Facebook friends. I used to have almost five thousand…now I only have two hundred. And I dropped a grip of people I was following on Twitter. I have over two hundred and fifty thousand followers but I only follow about seventy people.”

“Good God, Talia. That is no way to live life. Are you sure Seth is worth all of this?”

Talia’s pale green eyes turned cold within a blink and I instantly regretted opening my big mouth. “I didn’t do this for Seth. I wanted to be able to express my musical talents without writing lyrics for no-singing pop stars who massacred my material. This way, I get to help co-write all of Winter’s Regret and Scarlet Fever’s material, and not only am I paid but I am doing what I have always wanted to do. If anyone would understand the sacrifices I am making, I thought it would be you, Jerrica.”

“You’re right. I misspoke and I’m sorry. None of us have ever done anything merely to make a man happy. It was a stupid question and I apologize.”

She bit her bottom lip. “I don’t know about that. Autumn seems to be into this movie star guy and we all know how Savannah feels about Jude. What about you? You can’t convince me you haven’t changed for Paul.”

That was a subject I had no intention of talking about. “Isn’t it about time for our massages? My muscles could use it.”

“Nice subject change but you are right.” Talia whistled and caught the attention of Savannah and Autumn. “Ladies, it’s time for our deep-tissue massages.”

***

The day at the spa was heaven but by the time it was over, I was more than ready to shower, change, and have dinner with the band. We were quite lucky because we got both Scarlet Fever and Winter’s Regret to ourselves without any interruptions. Their girlfriends and fiancées were not in attendance except for Talia, who was a band member.

Although I had met my share of famous people, meeting the members of two of the biggest rock bands in the world was still a rush. The members of Scarlet Fever were a lot more charming than Winter’s Regret. The only member I really liked was Kris Nieminen, and I could understand why he and Talia had grown so close over the weeks.

“Now there is a hunk of a man,” I told her at dinner as we all enjoyed a myriad of delicacies and enough booze to make a whole platoon of soldiers drunk.

“He’s taken. His fiancée blew a gasket when she couldn’t come but it would have been so fucking awkward. It’s not worth discussing,” she said, slicing into her rare steak.

I enjoyed a full plate of seafood and raw vegetables. “So nothing is going on between you two then?”

Talia glanced at me then focused on her plate. “Why would there be? I have Seth, remember?”

I let it drop and turned to Paul, who was enjoying yet another steak with steamed vegetables and a side order of jumbo prawns. “You want to watch your cholesterol intake, sweetie.”

“I never eat like this so let me enjoy myself here in Miami, babe.” He grinned. “How was your day with the girls?”

“It was great, but full of unnecessary tension and drama. I still can’t believe Autumn is going out with Brandon Wilkinson. She talked non-stop about him the whole day. By the end of the day, I just wanted my ears to start bleeding I was so sick of her mentioning him.”

“Your attitude has nothing to do with the ill-timed one night stand you had with him when he first arrived in Manhattan to see Jude?”

My face felt heated and I turned the color of crimson. No one had to tell me what I looked like because I knew what my face resembled when I was embarrassed.

“That was way back in June, Paul, and he’s the one who didn’t tell me he had a girlfriend. He felt guilty afterwards but that’s not my fault. What? Am I supposed to stay chained to TMZ and
US Magazine
? You know damn well I have a business to run and that is how we met. The cheapskate was supposed to buy a few pieces of artwork but he doesn’t know shit about fine art. I sold him an expensive, atrocious painting by an up and coming artist who makes Jackson Pollock’s work look positively intellectual.”

Paul laughed under his breath. “And you don’t think that was kind of cruel?”

I raised one of my perfectly shaped eyebrows. “It’s not my fault if the man has no taste. It was a fucking ugly piece of artwork anyway and I wanted to get rid of it the moment it entered my gallery. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a good investment. The painter is a suicidal Russian with an extreme alcohol problem so it will probably be worth quite a bit of money within a couple of years.”

We both got a great laugh out of that. Dinner ended, and we were free to roam around and mingle with the band members. I walked outside to the large balcony and the humid Miami weather hit me with a wall of thick, viscous air I felt I had to drink to breathe. Since the whole Ashley situation, I smoked occasionally, a habit Paul detested. After all the alcohol I had consumed that day, I desperately needed a nicotine kick.

Kris, the guitarist from Winter’s Regret, was speaking with an attractive brunette who looked concerned. “I don’t like you spending so much time with her,” she was saying.

“She is a band member and that’s it. Don’t make it more than what it is. I can’t take you doing what you did to me again. I have to think about people other than myself and if we are going to get married then you have to take your responsibilities seriously.”

I tuned their conversation out because it was none of my business and moved to the opposite corner of the large balcony. Talia scared me when she touched my shoulder and I whipped around to face her.

“Hey, sweetie, what are you doing out here?” she questioned before she spotted the cigarette in my right hand. “Ah, you’ve returned to our dreaded university habit again? What was the final catalyst that tipped you over the edge? The whole incident that happened between Paul and Ashley in Stamford?”

“You can say that.” I dragged from my cigarette and inhaled, blowing the smoke into the humid Miami air. “So, your ears must be burning up…someone’s been talking about you.”

Talia snorted. “Let me guess…that bitch who is Kris’ fiancée? She can’t stand me and she’s jealous as hell. She’s frightened of me, can you believe it?”

“Yes, I can believe it. You are one dangerous bitch and if Seth isn’t careful, he could easily lose you. You’re no one to be taken advantage of so promise me you won’t let him get away with shit.”

“When Hell freezes over maybe.” Her face dropped and she looked concerned. “Listen, I may not know what I am talking about but…I got a tip from a gossip columnist here in Miami. She wouldn’t tell me much, only to say that there is going to be something in the paper tomorrow that might interest you.”

I stubbed my half-smoked cigarette out in a nearby ashtray. “Oh dear God. This doesn’t have anything to do with Ashley, does it?”

“I asked about that and the gossip columnist said that the name wasn’t mentioned in her story but that is all she would tell me. Perhaps you’d better ask Paul about the skeletons in his closet. You have wondered about what he did before the two of you got together? He was quite the player, and he obviously has a few secrets he hasn’t told you.”

All of a sudden I wasn’t in the partying mood.

“Thanks, sweetie. I’m tired and I think we should leave. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

Talia nodded. “Get some rest. You’re gonna need it for tomorrow.”

I walked back inside and went directly to the ladies restroom where I washed my hands and sprayed my favorite scent on my neck to cover up the smell of cigarette smoke.

Paul sat next to the lead singer of Scarlet Fever, Kasper “Kaz” Gillian, and discussing the rocker’s current stock portfolio. I didn’t even know he was a client but Kaz listened to him with a look of fierce determination.

Something about him was familiar to me and I instantly recognized him as one of us—a rich society kid turned bad boy. He wasn’t just some poor white trash guy made good. He’d grown up in the same social circles as Paul and me. My parents knew the Gillian family and I could recognize the resemblance anywhere even if he had covered his body with tattoos and wore his hair on the longish side.

I waited until they were finished until I touched Paul’s shoulder. “Babe, I’m tired. Can we go back to the hotel?”

“Sure.” He stood and placed an arm around my waist.

We walked through the opulent Setai Hotel and waited patiently for a valet outside. Some part of me wanted to broach the subject with him about what Talia had told me but no matter how much I wanted to bring it up, the words wouldn’t leave my mouth.

The drive back to the hotel was excruciating and I waited until we were both undressed and wrapped in one another’s arms before I finally approached the subject.

“Paul, Talia told me that both of us should watch the
Miami Times
tomorrow, specifically the entertainment section. Do you know why she would have given me that kind of warning?”

“No idea. I suppose we will just have to wait to see what turns up tomorrow. Come here. You worry too much.”

I allowed him to pull me into his warm embrace. Whatever showed up in the papers the following day couldn’t be any worse than what we’d been through with Ashley. If I could survive that then I should be just fine reading the papers the following morning.

At least that is what I convinced myself so sleep would finally claim me.