Authors: Monica Alexander
Jase looked over at me. “That’s what you’re thinking about right now?”
I looked behind us to see the street empty, as Jase pealed onto Sunset Boulevard, and we were soon blending in with the Saturday night traffic. We were safe.
“Well, yeah. What else should I be thinking about?”
Jase huffed. “The fact that someone called the paparazzi and not only tipped them off that
Luiz
was having a party, but they also let them onto his property, and they got pictures of us.”
I shrugged. “It’s part of the territory, right?”
Jase shook his head. “I did not want to drag you into this, Logan. That’s my life, not yours.”
“Hey,” I said, putting my hand on his forearm. “You’re a part of my life, so
that means a little of what you deal with, I deal with too, okay?”
“You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“Seriously?”
I asked in disbelief. I wasn’t that dumb. “Jase, I know how bad it can get, okay?”
He sighed. “I just don’t think we should go public, okay?”
“I never said that!” I
exclaimed, shaking my head
. “But
if I’m out with you, and you happened to get photographed, so be it. I’ll just make sure I always look beautiful so no one mocks the girl you’re hanging out with
– that you’re ‘friends’ with
.”
Jase looked over at me and smirked. “That won’t happen. You always look beautiful.”
I smiled. “Flattery will get you everywhere, Mr. Brady.”
“That’s my plan,” he said, and I was glad to see he was loosening up.
Twenty minutes later we were back at his place, and once again I was so glad to close the door behind us and shut out the world.
“So you’re dating Jason Brady,” my mom said when she called the next morning. I knew I shouldn’t have picked up the phone.
“Who is it?” Jase mumbled from beside me, half asleep. His arm snaked around my bare waist and pulled me back against his equally naked body and his lips hit my throat.
I jerked away from him like a livewire and scooted to the other side of the bed, glaring pointedly at him.
“Hang on a second,
Mom,
” I said, looking at Jase as his eyes widened.
I shook my head, telling him silently not to say another word as I sat up and pulled the sheet over my bare chest. It was extremely bright in the room to be wearing as little as I was, and while falling asleep without my clothes on the night before had seemed like a fantastic idea at the time – of course Jase had been peppering my skin with kisses and telling me how beautiful I was, so it was a little h
ard to feel self-conscious
. N
ow I
wished I was at least wearing a shirt and some panties. I didn’t do naked around anyone.
But, I guess when you’re sleeping with
someone,
they get to see you naked, so there you have it.
And in the morning after
, Jase couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off of me. He was hugging his pillow and was resting chin on top of it as he looked up at me endearingly. His hair was all bed-heady and sexy, and he had sleep lines on his cheek.
He was completely adorable.
“Hey Mom.
How’s it going?”
I finally said, dragging my gaze away from the sexy guy lying just a few feet away.
“Logan, don’t be smart with
me,” she chastised. “
Are you dating Jason Brady or not? Skylar said you were making out with him on the terrace last night. Is that true?”
“No,” I said, trying to sound sincere. “Were just . . . friends. That’s all.”
Jase smirked
and shook his head.
My mother laughed.
She actually laughed.
“Sweetie
,
I have heard that
line
many times and
have
eve
n said it a few times
myself
.
I call bullshit.
”
“Mom, my personal life is my own, and I’m choosing not to share it with you, so you’ll just have to be okay with that.”
Jase nodded his head once in agreement, proud of my assertiveness, as he mouthed “Yeah.”
I pictured my mother’s eyes narrowing. “Logan, you are dating one of the hottest young men in Hollywood. Your personal life is no longer your own.”
Yes, I realize that, but he’
s who I want to be with, so I’m just going to have to deal with it.
I sat up straighter.
“Yeah, speaking of that.
Do you know who let the paparazzi onto
Luiz’s
property last night?”
“No, darling,
I don’t,” she
said, and something told me she was lying.
Call it daughter’s instinct, but I could always tell when my mother wasn’t
being
honest, and she wasn’t being honest in that moment. She knew something. My stomach churned at the thought that she could have had something to do with the photographers being staked out on the driveway last night. Maybe she’d wanted to orchestrate a photo-op for her reunion with
Luiz
. Maybe that was why she was being so cold so early in the morning. I’d stolen her spotlight. And she hated when anyone stole her spotlight.
“Okay, Mom, well I have to go. I’m heading to the library to meet some friends.”
“That sounds lovely, dear. Have fun, study hard. And please make plans to be here for dinner next Saturday night with Jason. I’d like to officially
meet the boy you’re dating
.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Mom, I told you we’re just friends
, and you met him last night
.”
“
Well, I’d like to meet him again – in an official capacity. So,
bring y
our ‘friend’ to dinner at eight, and wear a dress
,” she
demanded
.
“Mom, we can’t do next Saturday. Jase is going out of town.”
Jase raised his eyebrows at me in
question,
since we both knew he wasn’t going out of town. I shook my head at him, and he smiled, realizing what I was doing.
“Then the Saturday after that.
Is he in town then?” she asked, and I could hear the mocking tone in her voice. She knew I was evading her.
“Yes, but I’m not. Ethan and I are going to San Francisco to see Kelly,” I explained.
Jase raised his eyebrows again, and that time it was because I hadn’t told him I was going out of town, but to my credit, I hadn’t been sure what was going on with us, so I hadn’t been
sure if I should even share this
information with him until now.
“Okay, then,” my mom said.
“The Saturday after that then.”
“Hang on,” I said, putting my phone down. I turned to Jase and lowered my voice. “Can you have dinner at my mom’s house in three weeks?”
“I have a movie premiere that night,” he explained.
“Oh, okay. That’s fine.”
I put the phone back to my ear. “Mom, we’ll have to figure out a date some other time, okay?”
“Logan,” she chastised, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “It is nine o’clock in the morning. Are you with Jason?”
“Bye Mom,” I said, giving her the hint not to go there.
She sighed. “For the love of God, be careful,” she said, dialing up the drama in a major way.
“Yup, Mom.
Definitel
y.
No problem. Talk to you soon,
”
I said in a clipped tone as I hit ‘end’ on my phone. She was un-freaking-believable.
I growled as I threw my phone down on the bed and shook my head a few times. That woman infuriated me. I looked up to see Jase grinning at me.
“What?” I asked, my irritation ebbing away just by being in his presence.
“You’re adorable when you’re mad.”
I pouted and crossed my arms over my chest. “My mom sucks.”
“Most of them do,” he said logically.
“You’re mom doesn’t,” I justified.
He’d told me countless stories about his mom, and she sounded just as wonderful as Ethan’s mother. Why did I have to get the maternal shaft?
“My mom is pretty great,
but she’s also not an actress.”
The way he said it was so bitter it made me wonder if he’d sworn off actresses after Chloe.
He had every right to. She’d burned him badly enough.
“
My mom
reminds you of someone you don’t like, doesn’t she?”
I asked, not sure if it was okay to go there.
“Yeah,” he said in a clipped tone. “She does.”
“What exactly happened between you and Chloe,” I asked, suddenly wanting to know more about hi
m. He’d told me a lot of things but very little
about their relationship.
“She cheated on me,” he said flatly.
Yeah, I knew that.
“My mom cheated on my dad – a few times.”
Jase nodded.
“Same here.
The first time it was just a kiss that she swore caught her
off-guard
,
and I loved her enough that I believed her
. The
n the
second time she slept with her co-star, but she cried and begged for forgiveness, and I stupidly gave it to her. Then the final time was with the producer of a movie she’d just filmed. She’d been in Georgia shooting for a few months, so we hadn’t seen each other, and when she came back, I thought everything was great. But then she started disappearing without explanation
, and every time I asked her about it she acted like I was being ridiculous for questioning where she was. She accused me of not trusting her and not having faith in our relationship
.”
“You guys were living together, weren’t you?”
He nodded. “Yeah, we were. We moved in together after dating for a year. It was one of the biggest mistakes of my life, but I’d been living at home before then, and it was awkward to have to explain to my mom that I was staying over at my girlfriend’s house, so Chloe just told me to move in with her, and I did. Anyway, she was out one day, supposedly shopping, and
she came back looking like she’d been messing around, and I just knew. So I confronted her, and she broke down. She begged me for forgiveness, told me she didn’t mean for it to happen and other like statements, but I was just done
at that point
.
I was so furious with her and so hurt, and I just couldn’t look at her any longer.
”
I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged them with my arms.
Jase’s
face looked so twisted and torn as he talked about his ex. A part of me wanted to reach out and hug him, but another part of me knew I should give him space.
“What did you do?”
“I packed a bag and moved out. I rented a house that afternoon, hired movers to get my stuff and never looked back. The next week the pictures of Chloe and
Samuel Klein
were on the cover of
Celebrity Weekly,
and I felt like a huge jackass. They were taken the day before she’d confessed. Apparently
,
just
kissing
him
hadn’t been enough, and she’d gone back for more.”
I remembered the cover well, and all I could think about was the picture of Jase that they’d included in the inset. He’d looked so pensive, as if contemplating the fate of his relationship. I knew it was a stock photo, but it just fit so well
with the story the magazine was telling
. My heart had gone out to him, and I hadn’t even known him back then.
“I told myself right then and there that I was done with actresses,” he said, shaking his head.
“Chloe wasn’t the first one I’d dated, and I didn’t have great experiences with the others, so I just checked out.”
“Well, Chloe obviously didn’t know how good she had it,” I said, slinking down under the covers and going to lie beside him.
I smoothed his hair back from his face and kissed his forehead.
“And I didn’t know how great having a real girlfriend could be,” he said
,
as he
leaned forward and kissed me, and
his arms went around me and pulled me against him.
“I’m your girlfriend?” I asked.
He smiled. “You told Bryan Heller that you had a boyfriend last night, and I can only assume you were talking about me
. At least I hope you were.”
I
propped my head up on my hand and gazed at him
. “I was.”