Crush (A Night Fire Novel Book 1) (3 page)

“Curtis.”

My bag slipped off my shoulder, he took it to the door where the chair wielder was waiting. The bag was thumped to his chest.

“Clean up the mess.”

“You made it!”

“Yes and the rules of cooking state that those who cook don't have to clean, so get up there and get on with it.”

“Dude, you are in a relationship for five seconds and already you're a dick.”

I frowned at the two of them with a look of pure confusion. Why do they keep saying that we are together? Was I unknowingly drunk last night?

Curtis walked to the car, flicking the fob to unlock it. He opened the door for me and waited.

“I am not getting in a car with you. I do not know you.”

“I'm not weird Frankie, you aren't going to get hurt. Just to the other side of town, there's a ripper new juice place.”

“So when you say juice do you mean like fruit or are you talking in some bizarre-o language again and really mean alcohol and are you still drunk from last night because I am definitely not getting in the car if you are drunk. It's bad enough that you were drinking up there. Christ's sake it's seven in the morning, who drinks at that hour?”

He grinned at me and moved away from the door.

“What are you doing?”

He said nothing, stalking me as I backed into his car. I thudded against the metal as he continued to move closer, still with that sardonic smirk.

“No. No you do not have permission for that.”

A soft chuckle escaped him as he drew closer. It was too late. I was wrapped up in his arms and unable to move.

Chapter Three

The hecklers were at the window, oohing and making kissing noises at us. I ignored them. The kiss was too damned good to worry about a bunch of assholes in my apartment. His lips pressed hard against mine, our tongues gently traced past each other as he put his weight against me. The gentle kiss became more frantic as the seconds passed us. I was the first to break free, desperate for air and a reality check. It was not my thing to play tonsil hokey with random strangers. My lips felt swollen, gently I rubbed the edge feeling the tingle.

“Can you not do that again thanks?”

“Why? Didn't you like it?” his fingers pulled my hair behind my ears, cupping around my jaw. “Seems to me that you enjoyed it just fine.”

“Why have you invaded my life like this?

His hands washed down my neck as I gestured to the window, the four fools were up there making smoochy faces and pretending to be love sick.

“Why did you bring them?”

“Because we got out together, came straight here. That is after a pit stop at the grocery store.”

“Who bailed you? That must have cost a fortune.”

Curtis shrugged, pulling away from me.

“You wanna go get an ice cream? Chicks like ice cream, right?”

“Children like ice cream.” I said dryly. “And yes chicks like ice cream, probably not at seven in the morning though.”

He grumbled something about it being closer to eight but I ignored him, favoring the hecklers that were calling out to him. Curtis looked up the path to a group of teen girls and frowned.

“Okay time to leave.”

“Why?” I frowned and turned to the view that had him on edge.

“You getting all skeevy with little girls, because I'm going to call the cops if you are.”

His eyes bored into me as he frowned, a vein bulged near his temple.

“I do not get skeevy with anyone underage, take that back.”

“Jeez settle down, no need to pop a vein.”

Curtis opened the door and looked at me.

“Frankie.”

“Nu-uh, what's the deal?”

“Fuck.” he hissed.

The whispers could be heard a mile away, whatever was going on it was now too late to avoid it. We or rather, Curtis had the attention of five teen girls.

“Curtis!” one said.

“Oh my god.” another squealed.

I think another might have been ready to start crying.

“Is Evan here? Oh my god... Evan!”

“I saw Austin and Fraser too!” the squealer said.

Suddenly the hecklers were missing. Huh. Maybe total shock wasn't the key to getting rid of them. Maybe it was acting like a teenage girl with a crush on...

I looked at Curtis who was now signing bits of paper for the girls, their phones were out and taking photos with him and selfies. God I hate selfies.

“Is this where you're living now Curtis?” one asked.

“Nah.” he said quietly. “Just visiting my girlfriend.”

Five eyes swung to me with a look of death. It was entirely possible that they might just try and scratch my eyes out at any second. Their eyes narrowed and their lips pressed so hard it almost looked like five sets of cat's bums. Charming.

“Don't look at me like that, you're underage and if he touches you it can land him in jail, so back off.”

Now there was one in tears.

“I don't want him to go to jail.” she sobbed.

Oh dear lord, give me strength. After the past few hours, I think I'm going to need it.

Once Curtis had signed everything they could push at him and had a lot of photos taken with the little divas, we set off. My eyes didn't get clawed out, lucky aren't I? No, they weren't happy that Curtis left. Not just because he was leaving but because he was leaving with me. Oh, and the hecklers wouldn't come down.

It was a curious situation to say the least. I had come across my fair share of famous people, sin city was a fun place for the rich after all. But those five boys did not come across as being famous. Worse yet, I had no clue who they were. The quiet one, that was Austin who was also a cousin of Curtis. Blondie, his name was Jaxon, black hair was Evan and the chair wielder was Fraser. We had arrived our destination, a god damned kids park. It was only because Curtis had seen an ice cream vendor and decided that this was where we were going to stop. He almost caused an accident, swerving into the side road after crossing the path of another car. Yes I had screamed. Yes I had smacked him. What good did it do? One incredibly gorgeous puppy eyed pout. I was putty in his hands.

Now we had our ice creams and were walking along the path that circled the park. There was no returning to the precious car with filthy ice creams. Apparently that was a completely unrealistic thought.

“So now would be the time where you lay everything out. Who you are, what your deal is and why you have invaded my life the way that you have.”

His eyes grazed over me with a brooding maybe even a little doleful look. Curtis painfully sighed and looked at me.

“Ok so have you heard of Night Fire?”

“The band? Yeah, I've heard of them. Vegas boys.”

As the words drifted out of my mouth I stared at him. I wasn't a fan but I knew of them because they were from this fair city, they lived here. I'd seen a few write ups about them, more notably when they did something that was true to the bad boy rocker lifestyle. Just like last night.

They were Vegas' favorites sons, one of Americas greatest exports. Living gods, forgiven for their exploits and treasured for their talent. No wonder he expected to get out of jail so quickly, they probably had a team of lawyers waiting by the phone for their call.

He nodded responding to my answer.

“That's us. I'm the drummer. Was last night the first time that you had seen me?”

I looked at him curiously, it was an odd question to ask.

“I'm not really a fan of rock music or any music to be honest. I don't really have the time.”

“No, I mean at the restaurant.”

He looked vaguely familiar but so many faces pass through that place I would have a hard time remembering anyone unless they were an every night regular.

“No sorry.” I shrugged.

Curtis nodded looking a little forlorn. Wow, I guess rock stars can be human. Who would have thought?

“I'm not a weirdo, okay. Just getting it in there before I start. I know how you like to prejudge me because of how I look.”

“I did not! You lot were fine until you started throwing punches. In fact I thought that you and your friends were the best customers of the night.”

“Really?”

His eyes widened slightly as a soft grin crossed his face.

“Well this best customer of yours has been your customer for a while now.”

I stopped walking and stared at him.

“How long?”

“A month or so.” he shrugged noncommittally.

How long was the
or so
? It looked like he wasn't prepared to answer it and I probably didn't want to know. Maybe it was one of those things that better left as it was.

“So I might have been having dinner there on a regular basis, I might have been the one that was a little heavy handed with tipping.”

“That was you?” I gasped.

He nodded quietly. Yep, thanks for feeding me and paying the rent for the past month... shit, two months. How did I not notice him for two months?

The biggest tips came in on a Friday night, did that mean that he only ever came to the restaurant then?

Tipping was unpredictable. I couldn't pick who would be generous and who would give the standard. It was often surprising, many times I had got a decent tip from the grumpiest of customers who would complain and nit pick about everything. Then there was the customers who were so nice and pleasant, complimented every single thing and left a basic tip.

Then there was people like Curtis who was a good customer and for the most part, well behaved. He tipped pretty damned well and if I didn't have to pool all the tips with the other wait staff then I would have been well funded.

“Uh, well thanks.”

“Anyway the guys wanted to go drinking last night and I said I was busy. They bitched at me that every Friday and Saturday nights I was busy and I was becoming a let down for them. What I didn't realize was when they shrugged me off they followed me. You understand what they're like, you've witnessed them first hand. Well that's nothing compared to what I got last night. They decided to join me for dinner to continue the questioning. When they saw you they started really hammering into me.”

He cleared his throat and looked away.

“I may have inadvertently said that you and I were, you know... something.”

So that's why they kept calling me his girlfriend. They really did believe that we were together. I started to slowly walk again, Curtis followed and continued his mind blowing revelation. A rock star had crushed on me. A rock star had stalked me. Talk about weird.

“I saw that bitch knock the glass over, she did it on purpose. I couldn't stand it, seeing you on your knees like that with her laughing at you. Sorry I got you fired but I'd do it again and again.” He shrugged. “That's it.”

“Why didn't you say anything in the jail?”

“The boys were listening, as it was they questioned what you said. I shrugged them off telling them it was just a fight. When I said breakfast this morning I didn't think I would walk into an almost empty apartment with my fake girlfriend about to skip town. And yes they did nit pick over that one. They said I was a total scab, not giving you any money. Then your landlord says that your rent is due and they're there watching me. I don't want you to think I'm trying to buy you or anything but I couldn't just pay a week or a month, they would really give me shit over that.”

I stopped walking again.

“How much did you pay?”

“A year.”

I felt sick in the stomach. Shit. A year of rent, completely paid. No wonder Mister Barton was in a good mood with me this morning.

“I'll pay you back. Damn it Curtis. Could you have not said that I was planning on moving in with you or something and then fake a fight?”

“Well obviously I was a little hung over, wasn't thinking straight and had four assholes watching me. I don't want your money Frankie, it's not as if I can't afford it. Consider it a sorry for getting you fired present. Now you can relax while you look for another job.”

How benevolent.

“And I don't want a fake fight. Okay so the moving in is a good idea, you can totally do that. There's a whole side of my bed that's free, you can take that.”

I laughed a little. “Smooth move.”

He grinned and I could feel my insides melt. His embarrassed smile was so sweet and perfect. A hint of picture perfect white teeth, soft kissable lips that curled up in the corner and a feint pink blush crossing his cheeks. I sighed, feeling a lot like those girls. No wonder they hated me when he said I was his girlfriend. Him being off the market was a crime.

“I'm still paying you back.”

“No you're not.”

The smile dropped as he frowned slightly, casting his gaze out to the path ahead of us.

“Yeah, I am. I'm not a charity case.”

“Don't be crazy Frankie, just accept it.”

He looked at me and it was like a wave of clarity came over him.

“I'll do you a deal.”

Oh here we go. This is where I prostitute myself for him as I pay back the money.

“Be my girlfriend for a couple of weeks and then you can end it and the debt will be paid.”

“You think you're worth that much?” I grinned hard.

Curtis laughed a little, shrugging his shoulders. I think I might have even seen that blush cross his cheeks again.

“Just long enough to keep the jerk-offs entertained and then... you know.”

I nodded quietly, wondering if this was a good idea. I was right, he was dangerous for my health.

He stopped and pulled out his phone, letting out one rather pained sigh.

“Gimme a minute, okay?”

The phone lit up brightly as it rang, a picture of a grumpy Evan flipping the bird.

“Sure.”

I sat on the garden bench and finished my ice cream as Curtis paced back and forth. There were a lot of expletives being hissed and snapped, whatever was being said wasn't pleasing to him. He ended the call and readied to throw his phone.

“Hey.” I stood up, reaching for his hand. “Hey, come on. Don't be doing that.”

Darkness shrouded his eyes as he stared at me, I eased the phone out of his tight grip.

“What's going on?”

“Paparazzi are hanging around your apartment. Those little skanks sold us out.”

“Well I guess shit happens, right?”

Curtis chuckled and wrapped his arms around me, lifting me up and swinging me around. I yelped and then laughed, smacking him.