Offside (26 page)

They weren’t the only ones dancing
like this, not by a long shot. It was like sex on the dance floor,
one girl bending over so her hands touched the floor, grinding her
ass into her partner’s crotch. Yeah, Honey may have done that a
time or two and yeah, there were photos to prove it.

“Yeah,” Matt muttered into her ear,
pressing in deeper. She leaned a little to the side, knees bent,
and he matched her knee bend, keeping his pelvis with hers as she
started to move it around and around. He followed her movement,
keeping his groin pressed to her ass. She leaned more to the side
and he went the other way, and they looked at each other, eyes
connecting in another heated exchange. Hands on her thighs, she
deepened the knee bend, rolling her hips back and forth. His
erection pressed into her ass.

“So. Fucking. Sexy,” he
muttered.

She smiled and lifted one arm to hook
it around his neck, shifting back in front of him. His fingers dug
into her hips. Heat surrounded her. “Christ,” he said into her ear.
“You’re killing me, Honey.”

Well. Good. She gave him another grind
and a roll of her hips to the beat of the music.

They finished that song then Matt
said, “Need a drink. Now.” He grabbed her hand and started dragging
her off the dance floor.

“Hey,” she said. “I was having
fun.”

He glanced at her and his lips tipped
up as he caught her teasing smile. “Yeah,” he growled. “You were
having fun torturing me.” He spun her around, into his arms,
pressed front to front now, chest to thigh. “You want me to do you
right there on the dance floor?”

She linked her arms around his neck.
Her blood pulsed hotly through her veins, her body warm and aroused
from the dancing. “That would be worse than anything I ever did in
my wild days. I think you’re corrupting me, hockey boy.”

He choked on a laugh. “Oh babe.” He
dipped his head and gave her a hard fast kiss on the
mouth.

And a camera flashed at
them.

Honey paused and bent her head
briefly. Her first reaction was “shit!” but wasn’t this exactly
what she’d expected? Might as well give ‘em something good. So she
lifted her head and kissed Matt again, this time deeper, with
tongue.

“Honey,” he muttered. “Come
on.”

They were moving toward their table,
when Honey was attacked by someone hurling herself at Honey with a
screech. “Honeeeeeeey!”

The other woman grabbed Honey in a
tight squeeze and rocked back and forth.

Shock had Honey’s eyes going wide.
“Cressa!” She pulled back a little. “Hi!”

Her one-time BFF. She felt Matt
stiffen beside her as he recognized Cressa.

Oh holy hell and shit fire.

“I can’t believe it!” Cressa yelled.
“You’re here! You’re back! Why didn’t you call me?”

Matt’s fingers on her hip dug in a
little deeper. She glanced at him, which then made Cressa glance at
him. Her eyes bugged out. “Matt! Omigod!” Then her gaze flickered
back and forth between them. “You two are together?” A wrinkle
appeared between her eyebrows.

“Um…” Honey stumbled.

“Yeah,” Matt growled, sliding an arm
around Honey’s waist. “Hey, Cressa.”

“Wow,” Cressa said, eyes wide. Wide
but unfocused. She was drunk. Or high. Or something. “Honey! I need
to hear all about this!”

Honey rapidly tried to gather her
scattered thoughts. Holy bajesus. “Who are you here with?” she
asked. “Anyone I know?”

“Yes! Naarah and Jenni. You should
totally come say hi! We need to do lunch, or go out some time. Next
week is Jenni’s birthday and we’re having a big party at Octave.
You have to come! Come on, let’s go find them!” She started to lead
Honey somewhere, but Matt’s hand gripped her wrist.

“Hey babe,” he said. “You’re staying
with me.”

Honey smiled at him. “It’s okay, Matt.
I can go talk to them.” She’d moved on past this scene but she
didn’t have to be rude.

Cressa gave him a blurry smile. “Matt.
You’re still so hot.” She edged closer to him and slid an arm
through his, grabbing his biceps. “Wow. You’re even bigger than you
used to be, I think.” She giggled. “God. Remember? That night at
the Four Seasons?”

Holy crapping crap. She had to bring
that up. Honey’s insides burned and heat spread over her skin from
forehead to toes. Well, there it was.

“That was so hot, that night,” Cressa
babbled on. “That was my first threesome.” She gave Matt a coy,
albeit drunken, look. “Not yours though. I remember. I remember you
told us you once had three girls! Not just two!”

Honey kept her smile in place even as
a sharp pain knifed through her.

Chapter Nineteen

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Matt couldn’t stop the flashes of that
night that exploded in his head. He and Honey and her best friend
Cressa, all drunk and high and horny. He couldn’t even remember
whose idea the threesome had been. They’d gone to the Four Seasons
and Honey’d paid for a room with the unlimited credit her parents
provided her with. They’d shared another joint, drank some vodka.
Two girls had been all eager at the time, and yeah, it was true,
that wasn’t the first time he’d done that. Honey was wild and hot,
and at the time he’d been adventurous and horny and it had all
seemed fun and studly. Yeah. Him and two girls. Didn’t every guy
dream of that? He’d been twenty years old, his judgment maybe not
the best, but both girls were beautiful and sexy, Honey all blonde
and long-limbed, Cressa curvy with dark waves flowing over her
shoulders. Hormones had overtaken good judgment.

Another vision of Honey and Cressa
naked in bed together flashed in his head. He closed his eyes
briefly. Honey and Cressa both going down on him. Honey and Cressa
touching each other, because they thought it turned him on. Him
touching Honey. Him touching Cressa.

Mother of all fuckers.

His insides churned now. He didn’t
know what to do.

“I’ve missed you so much, Honey,”
Cressa said with a pout. “I’m glad you’re back.” Her gaze swiveled
to Matt. “And you too, Matt.” Her smile went sultry. “We had fun
that night.”

“Let’s go,” Honey blurted, and without
even a glance at him over her shoulder, she linked arms with Cressa
and disappeared into the crowd.

He’d hated himself for that night. But
it had been so long ago. He thought he’d put it out of his head,
thought Honey’d forgiven him for it, but hell, faced with a living
breathing reminder in the form of Cressa, it all came roaring
back.

Now he really needed a
drink.

Dobie moved up next to him. “Dude,” he
said. “Honey Holbrook? Seriously?”

“I need a beer,” he muttered. Dobie
handed him his and he guzzled it down. “Shit.”

“What up?” Dobie frowned.

“Nothing. Honey just ran into an old
friend.”

“Man, can’t believe you’re doing Steve
Holbrook’s daughter. Is she still as wild as she used to
be?”

Matt shook his head, frowning. “Shut
the fuck up. It’s…” Whatever he said was going to sound lame, so he
took his own advice and shut the fuck up. “I need another
drink.”

He looked around and caught the eye of
the sexy blonde waitress who was looking after them. She strolled
over. “What can I get you?” she asked with a flirty
smile.

“Another beer.”

“Right away.”

He moved to the railing overlooking
the club and looked for Honey.

It was impossible in the huge
nightclub, in the dark with all the people there, the pulsing
lights and fog. Finally he spotted her in a corner with a group of
people, including Cressa. He watched her, music pounding all around
him, inside him. She beamed a big smile as she talked and laughed,
bending closer to listen to something one of the girls said,
letting a guy put his arm around her waist and pull her against him
in a hug. She set a hand on the guy’s chest and smiled up at him,
then laughed again.

She fit right in there at the club, no
surprise, despite her reluctance to come. Gorgeous, golden, sexy.
Her shiny blonde hair, lightly tanned skin and gold lace dress made
her glow from head to toe. There were a lot of other hot girls in
the club, but Matt’s gaze was glued to her, had been the entire
night. Now, his gut churned nastily, his muscles bunched, his jaw
aching.

She’d wanted to go talk to her old
friends.

Yeah, right. Were these the friends
who’d used her for her money and let her go home with strangers
when she’d outstayed her welcome and could no longer buy their
drugs and booze? The people who’d let her take the fall for
possession? Some friends. He recognized one of the guys as someone
he’d met way back when. He’d hated the jerk then, hated his lazy,
spoiled ass. He’d never got why Honey hung around with those
people, couldn’t understand why she didn’t see them for who they
were.

Now, he understood better why she had.
Looking for all the love and affection that was missing from her
home life.

He wasn’t usually one to be critical
of other people. Nobody was perfect, least of all him—he’d just had
a very unpleasant reminder of that. He liked most people, and
generally people liked him too. He wasn’t one to judge. But he’d
never liked these people Honey had called her friends, only when
he’d tried to talk to her about it, it had just caused an argument,
with her defending them even though he could see they were all
losers.

She had to see that now.

He wanted to look after her. Protect
her. Make sure these jerks didn’t hurt her like they had before.
But he had to trust that she’d grown up. He had to trust that she
knew what she was doing, that she could deal with this. He knew
she’d changed, he’d seen it in so many ways. She wanted to do
things on her own—get her degree, make a success of her job. So,
insides twisted into a hard knot, he accepted the beer from the
waitress and went back to his friends and tried to pretend
everything was good.

*****

Honey left Matt, trying to ignore the
disappointed frown on his face, letting Cressa drag her across the
crowded club to where her friends were. The friends who’d lost
interest in her when she’d no longer had money. Of course, she’d
been trying to mooch off them, sleeping on their couches, eating
their food, letting them buy the drinks for a change. She had to
squeeze her eyes shut as a shudder of revulsion worked its way down
her spine at the person she’d been.

But she could do this—say hi to these
people, make some small talk and then get back to real people. Get
back to Matt.

She was greeted with the same
astonished squeals as Cressa had given her. Back in the day, Honey,
Cressa and Jenni had been a tight trio of BFFs, having gone to the
same high school together, grown up in the same affluent
neighborhood with the same lifestyle and the same complete lack of
ambition or goals for their lives. At one point Cressa had thought
about being an actress, but seemingly had expected Hollywood to
come knocking at her door instead of doing anything about it. Since
Honey had left L.A., Jenni had done some modeling for Playboy and
apparently had lived with Heff in the mansion for a while. Also
there was Naarah, who Honey had also hung around with, who had done
some acting, but her trips in and out of rehab had interfered with
that. Honey was introduced to Lurlaine Arber, who she’d heard of
but never met. She was the daughter of a famous show biz couple
who’d appeared in an eighties sitcom and ended up married, and now
their family had a reality show. Then there were the guys—Chandler
Dunley, son of another Hollywood couple, Dene Williams, who Honey
had dated for a while at one time, but she didn’t catch what he was
doing now, and two guys who turned out to be NBA
players.

She answered questions about what
she’d been doing for the last three years, what she was doing now,
where she was living. She watched their puzzled expressions and
changed the subject from her back to them, and she listened to them
talk about so-and-so’s latest party and the big birthday bash they
were planning for Jenni and how another friend of theirs was out of
rehab. Again.

Somehow Honey ended up on the dance
floor again this time with Cressa and Jenni, just like old times.
Honey almost had to laugh at how Cressa and Jenni were trying to
outdo each other with their sexy dance moves, seeing how much
attention they could attract. And they did attract attention, both
of them beautiful and dressed in skimpy dresses and sky-high
platform shoes. Cameras flashed again, and then Honey groaned as
the two girls started grinding against each other, much as she and
Matt had been earlier. She closed her eyes briefly, more memories
coming back. A couple of hot girls practically making out on the
dance floor had been a sure fire way to get attention.

And it worked for Cressa when Chandler
shouldered his way through the crowd onto the dance floor, grabbed
Cressa’s arm and dragged her off. But Cressa just giggled and shot
Jenni and Honey tipsy smiles as they left the dance
floor.

Honey was done. But Jenni flung an arm
around her shoulders. “I need a drink!” she said over the music.
“Let’s go.”