The Happy Ever After Playlist - Abby Jimenez Page 0,74
tour as soon as I got home. I’d plead with her. Fuck, I’d kidnap her if I had to. Everything was different now. Everything. The tour I had been dreading like a stint in a foreign prison suddenly looked like a fourteen-month dream vacation. “I’m asking Sloan to go with me.”
He let out a long breath and nodded. “Okay. Kinda thought you might. Well, I like her. She’s a good one, you were right.”
Pia spoke over her cell phone without looking up. “A girlfriend on tour? Not easy.” She shook her head over her text. “Have you seen your media packet?” She looked up at me over her glasses. “They’re keeping you busy, young man. Your attention is going to be extremely divided.”
Ernie waved her off. “There’s no talking to him. Isn’t that right?” He slapped my back.
I grinned.
Lola saw me looking at her and she shoved a paper she’d been signing into some poor fan’s chest and sauntered over to me. Her bodyguard, personal assistant, stylist, and long-suffering publicist followed close behind.
“Jaxon,” she said, giving Pia and Ernie a cursory glance and then sliding her cat eyes back to me.
“Lola.” I gave her a shit-eating grin. I couldn’t help it.
“Jason, we need to start heading over,” Pia said, checking her watch and nodding to the photo backdrop.
Lola fell in beside me as we made our way down the carpet toward the photographers, hooking her arm in mine. I didn’t know how to shake her off without it drawing attention and fuck it, I didn’t even care. This was the last time I’d ever have to deal with her. I couldn’t stop smiling.
I wondered if she knew yet—probably not by how she was acting. I couldn’t imagine she’d be taking the news with grace. It was better she didn’t know. She’d probably just cause a fucking scene over it.
We came up on a crowd of supporting actors from the movie waiting for their turn in front of the cameras. A makeup artist I recognized from a GQ photo shoot earlier in the week swooped in and started dabbing at my face, and I took the opportunity to liberate my arm. Lola hovered over the woman’s shoulder to watch me, looking bored.
“Hey, Jaxon. Long time no see,” the makeup artist teased, talking to my forehead as she powdered it with a quick swipe of a brush. “So where’s your girlfriend? Didn’t bring her?”
Something almost predatory flashed on Lola’s face.
“Couldn’t make it,” I mumbled, staring at Lola, trying to decipher the flicker I’d seen in her eyes.
“Aww, too bad,” she said, finishing up. “All done, handsome. Have fun.”
She moved, and Lola closed the gap in front of me. “A girlfriend, huh?” She bit her lip and ran a hand down my lapel. Her eyes raked down my body and then came back up and narrowed. “Have fun while it lasts.” She yanked me to her by my tie, crushed her lips to mine, and slid her other hand over my dick.
I jerked back and smacked her hand off me. “Jesus Christ, Lola!” I shot a look over my shoulder. We stood in the huddle of our teams. Thankfully nobody seemed to have been paying attention. The photographers were focused on the backdrop, and even Pia and Ernie had their heads down over their phones.
I looked back at her and glared, wiping my mouth with my sleeve.
Her face had gone flat. “You’re welcome.”
* * *
I’d missed Sloan like crazy last night. In the theater, when my voice soared over a sunrise as the movie opened into the first scene, all I’d wished was that she’d been there with me.
I wouldn’t have been able to handle it if things had ended at the start of my tour. There was no fucking way. My relief over the news I got from Ernie was a thousand-pound weight off my chest.
Pia and Ernie had stuck close to me all night. I’d grabbed a swag bag for Sloan at the after-party and taken pictures of the buffet because she’d asked for them. I rubbed shoulders like I was supposed to, stood for selfies, shook hands, signed autographs, thanked people, and stayed just as long as necessary to meet my contractual obligation.
Lola stayed away from me after the red carpet. In fact, I didn’t see her for most of the night, much to my relief.