FanGirl Squeal (RockStars of Romance Book 1) (15 page)

“I’m not doing this with you, Vic. Not here!”

“I just want to talk, Cash. That’s all,” she whined.

“We’re in the middle of a party. You wanna talk? Call me
next week.”

“Don’t be that way-”

“Excuse me!”

Four girls in bright and tight dresses danced their way in
front of Victoria. One of them grabbed Cash’s hand. She pulled him into the
crowd, away from Victoria and out of the camera range of anyone with a Smartphone.
Savannah and her friends began dancing wildly in front of him as they sang the
chorus to Katy Perry’s
Last Friday Night
with glasses of pink champagne
in their hands.

“What are you doing here?” Cash shouted while they danced.

“We went streaking in the dark, skinny dipping in the park,”
she sang the wrong lyrics with a huge grin on her face. Cash could see that Savannah
wasn’t on her first glass of champagne.

“What are you doing here?” he shouted again.

“Dancing!” all four girls shouted. The only white girl in
the group kept grinning and touching his shoulder.

“For real, what are you really doing here?”

Savannah turned around and bumped her plump bottom against
his crotch as she swayed to the beat. She leaned her head back and shouted in
his ear,

“Saving your ass!”

Cash laughed. “I appreciate that!”

“You’re welcome!”

For the rest of the night, Cash was protected from eager
fans and ex-girlfriends by a barrier of four hot girls. He let himself go and
have a good time with Savannah and her friends. They did shots and danced until
they were sweaty.

It was almost four in the morning when Cash saw Johnny
stumble out of the VIP with his arm around the waist of a girl who closely
resembled a stripper they’d seen a few weeks ago at Strokes. He didn’t see
Jimmie at all. Either way, it was time to go. Two of Savannah’s friends had
found new dance partners and the blonde girl was flirting heavily with a dude who
kept buying her drinks.

“Hey!” he shouted to Savannah. “How did you get here?”

She giggled and slurred, “We took a cab.”

There was no way he was letting Savannah and her girlfriends
cab it back to Manhattan at three in the morning as drunk as they were.

“Get your friends. I’ll take you home.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll be by the valet in my Range Rover.”

“Oooh!” she giggled and wobbled away to grab her friends.

Cash walked outside alone thinking how douchey he was going
to look when the paparazzi outside spotted him getting into his Range Rover
with four incredibly hot and totally wasted girls. While he waited for the
valet to retrieve his car, he sent Tracy a heads-up text so she wouldn’t be
blindsided in the morning.

Ran into Savannah and her friends at Finale. They’re
wasted. I’m taking them back to their hotel. Just a heads-up because this place
is crawlin’ with paps.

A few minutes later, Savannah and two – not three – of her
friends were piling into his car. He had no idea where the other one was or
where he was going. The only one sober enough to give clear directions was
Savannah and that was pushing it.

“Cassie and Joy stay over on 236
^th
Street. It’s
not far from here.”

“Where is Amy? You didn’t let her leave with that guy who
kept trying to liquor her up, did you?”

“That guy is her husband.” Savannah patted Cash’s shoulder. “I
think it’s okay if she left with him.”

236
^th
Street was only ten minutes away from the
club. Cash pulled up to the apartment building and helped Cassie and Joy up to
their unit. They were giggling the entire time.

“I can’t believe Cash Myers is walking us to our apartment.”

“He’s really cute for a white boy.”

“He could definitely get it. If I wasn’t drunk, I’d totally make
a move.”

“Then Savannah would kick your ass. That’s all her!”

Cash just chuckled and let them talk. He was hoping the
roommates would say something else about Savannah. They didn’t. They did,
however, leave him with a perfect warning.

“Be good to our girl,” Cassie said loudly while Joy looked
for the keys. “She likes you a lot and if you break her heart, we’ll kick your
ass. No one cares if you’re famous.”

“Yeah, we don’t give a shit about that. That’s our girl and
she’s more important than you,” Joy added. “Goodnight, Superstar. Thanks for
the ride.”

When Cash got back to the Range Rover, Savannah had her
window down, the seat reclined, and her bare feet were sticking out of the
window.

“Comfy?” he asked as the engine purred to life.

“Good God yes,” she moaned. “I need to get me one of these.”

This was the third time that Savannah had been in one of
Cash’s cars. Unlike last time, she was far from quiet. She kept up a steady
stream of chatter, mainly about how awful dinner with her parents, sister, and
brother-in-law had been.

“And neither one of them will fess up to talking about me to
my ex. And Ashley swore up and down that she had the perfect plan to get back
at Jacoby. Turns out, her stupid plan is just another blind date. I’m not going
to my parents’ party with a guy I don’t know just to make my ex jealous!”

Cash didn’t think that was a good idea either. The idea of
Savannah going out with another man, partying with another man, didn’t sit well
with him. Sure, the surge of jealousy that coursed through his veins was
irrational, but he felt it nonetheless.

Cash was starving so he pulled into a 24-hour fast food
joint. After ordering his food, he turned to Savannah who was eyeing the menu
board like she hadn’t eaten in a month of Sundays.

“What do you want?”

“Chili cheese fries, a strawberry shake, and two bacon
double cheeseburgers,” she answered without any hesitation at all.

Her order was music to his ears. At BareBurger, she’d
ordered a grilled chicken sandwich and a small salad. She barely touched
either. He didn’t comment on it because he was used to California girls who
didn’t eat. He longed for a girl who actually fed her appetite.

The non-conformity of Savannah’s personality mirrored his.
He wasn’t a firm believer in fate or destiny, but something had brought this
girl into his life. The girl who loved to help people. The girl who could down
a pitcher of beer by herself and didn’t hesitate to eat real food…this girl had
entered his life so unexpectantly for a reason. He simply refused to believe it
was just because she liked his music.

“You’re a pretty special girl, Savannah Ford,” Cash said
after handing her the bag of food.

She twisted in her seat so that she was facing him while he
drove.

“I’ve been thinking.”

“About?”

“You,” Savannah answered. “I tell everybody that I don’t
think Cash Myers is the type of guy that gets caught up in being rich and
famous. Like there’s something so humble and real about you. I’m so glad I was
right about that. And you’re the best kisser.”

Savannah sighed and smiled. Cash caught her grin out of the
corner of his eye.

“So I’m sitting at dinner listening to my parents complain
that I live too far away, complaining about my hair, just nag, nag, nag. Then
Ashley’s telling everyone how Kevin is being honored for something, probably for
being the best black man in the history of black men or some shit like that.
But I wasn’t listening because all I could think about was the way your arms
felt wrapped around me and how perfect your kiss was. For those moments, you
weren’t Cash Myers, the musician I’ve traveled the world to see in concert. You
were just this really amazing guy that I met and would sell my soul to see
again. Then I see you at a party that I was supposed to be covering for work.
And honestly, Cash, I’m freaked completely out.”

Cash approached a yellow light. Instead of hitting the gas
and speeding through it, he slowed then came to a complete stop. He put the car
in park and placed his hands on either side of Savannah’s face.

“Don’t,” he said softly, “Don’t think for one minute that I’m
not feeling the exact same way.”

“Cash,” Savannah breathed his name.

He brushed her curls from her face. “I know.”

He refrained from kissing her again. She had every reason to
be afraid. The fact that he was falling for a girl that he’d met less than
twenty-four hours ago scared the hell out of him.

“Sa-Van-Nah! Open this door!”

Without opening my eyes, I willed the annoyance at my hotel
room door to go away. It didn’t work because Ashley kept banging on the door.
Apparently, I’ve been unfriended by the Hangover Gods. Maybe if I let her cause
a ruckus long enough, someone will call the cops and she’ll get arrested.

I didn’t want to move and I didn’t want to talk to my
sister. All I wanted to do was think about Cash.

This thing between us is starting to feel so real. He’s
starting to feel so real. Running into him last night wasn’t a coincidence. I
don’t believe in coincidences. I believe in fate, but I’ve spent the last
twenty-four hours trying to convince myself that the pounding in his chest that
I felt as he held me wasn’t anything. That the tingle on my lips whenever his
name crosses my mind isn’t because of him; it’s just my Carmex. That the
chemistry, the connection, the electricity between us isn’t anything more than
lust. I haven’t got laid in wayyyy too long and I don’t know if Cash is the
type of man who heals his broken heart between the legs of another woman.

“Savannah! If you don’t open this door I’m going to the
front desk and getting a key!”

“Fine!” I yelled and snatched the covers off me. I shuffled
to the door and cracked it open. My twin sister pushed it open and rushed past
me.

“How could you?!” she yelled.

“It is seven in the morning. I’ve been in bed for less than
three hours. If you’re going to yell at me at seven in the morning, you should
at least run to Starbucks and bring me coffee.”

Ashley wasn’t having anything to do with my sarcasm. She was
raging mad. She was so pissed that she came out of the house without any
makeup. For the Black American Princess to leave her castle on the upper West
Side, I must have really done something bad. A fluttering of paper caught my
attention. Ashley was holding the NY Front Page in her hand.

“We have a hundred people here for Mom and Dad’s party-”

I sat on the bed. “You,” I corrected her. “You have a
hundred people in town for Mom and Dad’s party. I invited zero people.”

“And look whose drunk ass made the front page!”

As I was reeling from Ashley’s use of “drunk ass” since she
rarely swears, she held up the paper. A picture of me, Cassie, and Joy
literally falling into Cash’s Range Rover graced the front page.

“Celebrity gossip blogger, Savanna Ford, and two
unidentified women were seen leaving reality star Dionne Carter’s party at
Finale with heartthrob and recently single musician, Cash Myers,” Ashley read
out loud. “Is Cash on the rebound and slumming it with Ms. Ford?”

I snatched the paper out of her hand to confirm that Aubrey
James had definitely used “slumming it” and Ashley hadn’t made that part up.

“Slumming it? That was a low blow! I’m going to cuss that
bitch out!”

“That’s the part that has you upset?” Ashley asked. Her judgmental
glare was the least of my concerns.

“I’d like to think that I have enough going for me that if a
man chose to take me home from a club, it wouldn’t be considered slumming it,” I
spat.

“You’d like to think that,” Ashley uttered and I almost
slapped her.

“And you’re better than me? Please take your law degree and
shove it right up your ass, sister. You know what; get out of here before I say
something that you’re going to regret. It’s too early for this.”

“Do you not understand how embarrassing this is? You might
be able to get away with this in California, but New York is our home. Our
family has a pristine reputation. We don’t do things like this, Savanna.”

“Listen, Grandma,” I said to my twenty-seven year old
sister. “I didn’t do anything. I went to a party. Had some drinks and danced my
ass off with my friends and a hot guy. This is what people my age do. You
should be thankful that Cash had enough sense to drive me home. Something far
worse could have happened, ya know.”

“And you also knew that gossip bloggers like yourself would
run with it. Isn’t that what you do? Isn’t that your job?”

I clenched my teeth and gripped the comforter on the bed.
Sometimes, I really hate her.

“I am not a gossip blogger,” I said slowly. “I am an
entertainment journalist.”

“Tomato, to-maw-toe,” she replied flippantly. “Call yourself
whatever you want. But don’t get photographed leaving a nightclub in a dress
that barely covers your ass with your ghetto friends and a white guy that’s a
hundred degrees out of your league.”

Any other person in their right mind would have tossed
Ashley’s stuck-up ass right out of their hotel room. Maybe I’m a glutton for
punishment, or I’m just used to it. Nothing she says affects me anymore.

“So, instead of coming here to show how happy you are that I
finally met Cash Myers, you came to yell at me over a picture in a supermarket tabloid?
You are doing a bang-up job at that sister thing, Ash. Keep up the excellent
work.”

“You met him at a nightclub. Big deal.”

“Actually, I met him at his manager’s office yesterday
afternoon and spent the entire day with him. And this gossip blogger has an
exclusive interview with him and that was Cash dropping me off at Sylvia’s. And
that white boy who’s a hundred degrees out of my league told me that I’m the
most fascinating person he’s met in a long time. You can leave now.”

Acting as if she hadn’t heard me tell her to leave, Ashley
sat in the desk chair and crossed her legs. I stretched out on the bed and
frantically patted the sheets looking for my phone. We stared at one another.