Haze (28 page)

"You and that whole big heartbreak thing," she said. "At least you got some albums out of it."

Jack shared a glance with me, one that seemed to confirm what he had told me in that moment of utter vulnerability. Stacy
didn't
appear to know the full story, only that he wrote about some girl that was no longer his. His eyes conveyed so much in that fleeting moment, enough honesty and trust to drown me in warmth.

Had their relationship been that superficial?
I wasn't sure if superficial was the right word for it or not. Maybe they never really talked about serious things at all.

He insisted that Hollywood couples were different from the rest of us. Yeah, they were regular people, but they also dealing with a whole slew of powerful influences that most of the population would never know or understand. An evening out in an unflattering outfit could spell disaster for the highly sensitive type. Gaining a few extra pounds could put you on the front of a tabloid with some exaggerated headline that could make you contemplate suicide.

What kind of life was that really?
Well, it involved a lot of money, at least.

Jack got us another round of drinks—by that time, it was actually the
second round
he had gotten for everyone—and shortly after he returned, Stacy got up to use the bathroom. As soon as she was out of sight, Jack suddenly kissed me, the intensity peaking as soon as his lips met mine. I kissed him back and ran my hands through his hair ferociously, both because I wanted to and because I was a little drunk.

He withdrew his tongue and nibbled on my lower lip. "Jesus, Effie. I want to fuck your brains out
so badly." His whisper felt like a scream as his fingers made an inconspicuous trip along my inner thigh, approaching a spot that would obviously lead to some serious awkwardness if he reached it right now. He stopped right before arriving, deftly completing his tease.
What a jerk!

"I really wish you would," I said weakly, my breath a thing I had to battle for.

"Soon," he said, pressing his lips against mine one last time. Just like that, his composure returned, ready for Stacy's return. A subtle wetness had already spilled from me, but thankfully, it wasn't obvious.
God, he could get me going so easily...

Every time it happened, I was just as surprised as the time before it.

"Thanks for doing this," I said, trying to divert my attention away from the screaming urges of my body.

"You don't think it's weird? Some people might."

"She'd be my hero if I were actually into acting."

"You could do it, I think. Remember how well you did that that party with all of the uptight, rich assholes?"

"Uptight, rich assholes?" I asked. "Like
you
? Besides, I want to write, not act."

He raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to pick up this tab, Ms. Amateur Writer?"

"I'm not so sure I could. Plus,
your
credit card is already with the bartender."

"Okay, you win." He gave his cell phone a casual glance, probably checking the time. I hoped that's what it was, because I couldn't handle any more surprises tonight.

"She's really pretty in person, too. I'm not used to seeing her without make-up." It was tough not to feel inadequate hanging out with basically one of the most beautiful people in the world, as declared by more than one celebrity gossip magazine.

His look was distant at first.
"I always liked her better that way." After a few seconds, he honed right in on my eyes. "She doesn't compare to you, though. You're fucking beautiful, Effie. Believe me."

As he spoke those words, my cheeks flushed red and butterflies flooded my stomach. On one hand, I felt that he was full of shit because, after all, this was Stacy
Levons we were talking about. But on the other hand, he had no reason to lie to me in such an extreme fashion. "Whatever," I said, trying to deflect what I felt was a very incongruous compliment. "Thanks."

He didn't waver. "You know I mean it. And when we get back to the room, I'm
gonna fucking prove it." Only one word describe his expression—
hungry
. I really don't think he could fake that expression, no matter how hard he tried.

I cleared my throat and tried to calm my
frazzled nerves. "Okay," I whispered.

Jack quickly glanced around, his eyes most likely searching for Stacy. "
Do you want to get going soon?"

I realized that I was kind of sleepy—and craving
other things
pretty seriously now as well. Midnight was fast approaching, which meant it was nearly three in the morning in New York. I felt weird letting sexual urges get in the way when I was sitting here with a genuinely talented celebrity I admired, one who already felt like a real friend of mine.

"That seems okay. Will Stacy care?" I couldn't give up without a tiny fight, even if I
actually wanted to lose it.

"Probably not."

She returned seconds later, just missing the conclusion of our very-interesting discussion. "Stace, I think we're going to head out soon. Is that all right with you?"

"Yeah. It's hard to stay out late anymore. I'm getting old, I guess."
She gave us both a wry smile.

"Just wait until you're my age," Jack said.

"What, next year?" she asked. "Will it really be that much different than now?"

"I guess not." He smiled. "It
was really nice to see you."

"Same," she said. "Nice meeting you, Effie."

My whole
feeling star struck
thing returned, the ugly monster that it was. "Yeah, you're great… to meet." I mumbled, feeling silly.

She seemed to ignore my slip up. "Shoot me an email sometime, if you want. It's just
stacy dot levins at gmail dot com."

"It's that simple?" I asked. "Do you ever get unsolicited emails from fans?"

"No one ever guesses it
because
it's that simple." She put her sunglasses back into place, completing the minimal disguise. "They probably think my email address is at hollywood dot com or something."

I laughed harder than was probably expected of me, but I couldn't help it. "Or
bigstar dot com," I added. Stacy laughed and it reminded me of that fact that I was
joking around with a person who I had spent hours upon hours watching on my TV and computer screens
. I felt so small yet so thankful.

"We can walk you out of here," Jack said.

She nodded graciously. "Oh, shit. I almost forgot. Do you guys want to come to a party tomorrow? It's all industry people and it sounds really boring if I'm going to be there alone. My agent wants me to make an appearance. Semi-formal kind of thing. It's at this guy's super-nice house. Mostly Hollywood people."

"What do you say, Effie?" Jack's expression seemed to imply that he already knew my answer.

I wasn't about to not jump on the possibility of spending more time with Stacy—and it only took me about a second to realize that. "Let's do it."

"Okay, cool," she said, her expression brightening. It appeared that our interest had legitimately improved her mood. "I'll text you the address tomorrow, Jack.
It's in Beverly Hills."

"No problem." Jack straightened out his collar before continuing. "I've got to meet a couple of people in the morning and then we're free." Stacy nodded to acknowledge him.

We walked out of that busy bar together, the night just beginning for most of the crowd. The summer air was so warm and smooth, not muggy and humid like I was used to back home. Stacy snuck away toward a car that was parked in the back of lot while Jack attempted to hail us a cab. "I don't like to do the limo thing if we're going to be out late. I give 'em a break sometimes."

"You don't need to justify it," I said. "You don't have to cart me around in a limo all the time. Cars are okay too."

"I feel like I should, though." He gave me a wicked smile. "Plus, we can get away with a lot more in the back of a limo than in a cab."

"Or we c
an just wait until we get home," I said, hinting that maybe I was a bit too tired for both limo sex
and
sex in the room.

"Yeah, or that," he said.

***

I almost dozed off in his arms on the way back; the sleepiness ended as soon as we pulled into the hotel. The nightclub was wild. It was hard to tell if the sounds of the nightclub would creep into our room or not.

"Do you want to go in there?" Jack asked pointing tentatively at Teddy's. Even though he knew I was tired, I appreciated that he was giving me the opportunity.

"Not tonight. Unless you're prepared to face indecent exposure charges." I kissed his cheek, lightly running my tongue along his freshly formed stubble. I didn't really want to mess around anymore. I needed him inside me—now. We had a tacit understanding of what needed to happen next.

This whole trip thus far had culminated in these feelings that were really overpowering me. We strolled into the hotel together, desperately prodding at the elevator button to try to get it to close once we were inside. As soon as it did, Jack's hands were hiking up my skirt and rubbing circles against the most sensitive part of me as he shoved me against the elevator wall.

"God," I moaned, my moans filling the elevator as it starting rising. I had never done anything like
this before, and it was thrilling in its own way. He kissed me and stripped away my ability to speak another real word.

I guess this was just his way of proving that he meant what he said...

Was he about to fuck me here?
There was nothing I could do to stop him if that was his intent.

I was so dangerously wet already, my panties soaking up the moisture like a sponge. He was nuzzling the tops of my breasts, his chin pulling down my blouse.

Right when I thought it would go one step further, the elevator dinged and the door opened. We both turned around abruptly. Fortunately, the hall was empty.

"C'mon."

He pulled me into the hall and we giddily sprinted to the room, his hand fumbling in his pocket for the room key. After unlocking, the door swung open, revealing our paradise, the place reserved for just us. Our making out continued as we stumbled into the room.

His erection felt fuller and thicker than it ever had, maybe just because I wanted it more than ever. He kept pressing it against me, but I pulled away, creating some space between our bodies, and began fumbling with his belt.

Any hints of sleepiness had thoroughly departed, barely even memories at this point. Reality was now, right here in this room, his body and mine.

His belt loosened, I unbuttoned his pants and slid my hand through the elastic of his boxers, gripping his cock firmly. I could feel pre-cum that had beaded on the tip, pre-cum that I smoothed all over his engorged head with my thumb and then began to lightly stroke.

Honestly, I wanted him inside of me, but this felt like some sort of ritual of its own, something like inverted foreplay. He could have thrown me down on the bed—well, I hoped that was still on the way—and just started fucking me like an animal, with no regard to anything other than that raw activity.

H
is hands cupped my breasts through my blouse, his attention to them almost angry. I pumped slowly down below, listening to his breath as if he was telling me a secret. "Dammit, Effie," he moaned. "I just can't fucking resist you."

He pulled up my blouse as I kept stroking him, his pants falling to the floor from my efforts. I leaned into him, breathing in his musk, giving his deft fingers access to the clasps of my bra. It fell to the bed seconds after he started, my blouse discarded on top of the clothing pile.

Jack started sucking on my nipples one by one, nibbling and biting, disrupting my ability to please him. I was a mess internally, an amalgamation of pure lust and throbbing curiosity that was going every possible direction. My mind was stuffed to brim with graphic images, images of him coming on my breasts, coming in my mouth,
coming inside of me
.

Every time those images flashed in my mind, I could only look into his imagined eyes, couldn't break that contact and watch his seed as it spilled against me.

Fuck.

My core was wild with desire, the tingles of pleasure forcing me against him, straining to get as close to him as possible. He hungrily kept at my nipples, my hands fleeing from him momentarily and instead unzipping my skirt and dropping my panties. When I was fully exposed, I pushed him back, my hands immediately tugging at, and unbuttoning his shirt.

He took the cue and finished the job while I dropped to my knees. No, a blowjob to completion wasn't my ultimate goal—but tasting him
right now
was. I was practically shivering with want as I wrapped my lips around that pulsing tip and sucked it clean, that flavor of pure manliness overwhelming my senses. I could smell how riled up he was, that musky
Jack
-ness something I had grown so familiar with.