and escorts them off the stage.
Once he clears the stage, a hand from behind grasps my shoulder. Hard. I freeze instantly. I glance over at Mia whose eyes are widened in shock and my eyes fall to the perfectly manicured fingernails clenching my shoulder.
“Enjoy being his shiny new toy while you can. But Zack always comes back to me.”
What the hell? Mia stares at me. My eyes widen and my eyebrows arch as if to silently ask her if she heard that. She nods in response. As the woman loosens her grip, I slowly turn around to see the owner of the evil voice. I close my mouth quickly.
Sitting directly behind me is Rachel McAllister. She’s gorgeous, but her eyes and wicked smile tell me a different story completely. She hates me – and it’s completely obvious in her body language and expression. I feel color begin to drain from my face as I stare at her, remembering the picture of Zack and I leaving the bar in Boston and the caption about her on again off again romance with Zack.
I turn around and clench the arm rests of my chair to calm myself down. I am still sitting like this, my knuckles white, when Zack finally returns to his seat.
“You okay?” His eyes are filled with concern. Normally I want to take that look away and replace it, but right now, I’m too upset.
I shake my head once. There is no point in even trying to hide the anger and humiliation that is rolling off me.
He leans in to my ear. “What happened?”
My hands still shaking, I grab a pen from my clutch and scribble on the program in my lap. Rachel happened.
He curses to himself and scribbles back. What did she say?
I shake my head.
As the music begins, signaling another commercial interruption, Zack leans into me and kisses my cheek., “I love you. Only you.”
His arm slides around the back of my chair squeezing me tightly. I turn slightly in my chair, lean towards him, and kiss him. Given the audience and location it probably borders on inappropriate displays of affection, but my hand goes to the back of his neck to pull him closer and he does nothing to stop it. I pull away quickly, but the effect is perfect. His eyes hold lust and desire for only me. Our breathing has accelerated, and I know that one act, silently speaks volumes to him. I love him, too.
I have a feeling if looks could kill, I would be dead by now with the silent arrows I can feel being shot at the back of my head.
I don’t care anymore. Rachel can take her evil claws and use them on someone else.
When he wins the award for Best Album of the Year, the one he was sure he’d lose, I don’t remove my smile from him for a second. And when he looks directly at me and thanks me from the stage, I don’t care that he mentions my name, and I definitely don’t care about the woman fuming behind me.
***
“What did she say to you?” Zack asks me once we’re sipping champagne in the limo on the way to the after party.
“I believe her words were something similar to ‘enjoy being his shiny new toy while you can, but Zack always comes back to me.’” I don’t take my eyes off of him. I want him to know how little her words can hurt me.
He cups my chin in his hands, lightly brushing my cheeks with his thumbs. I love it when he does this.
A flash of love flickers through his eyes before they change to something else; something dark. He is pissed. Jaw clenched, eyebrows furrowed, and his breaths are deep and slow. “Rachel and I saw each other off and on for almost two years. It was nothing more than a physical connection for me. And she’s right – I went back to her, but only because the only other girls I was with were the ones I told you about. Rising actresses or singers who I could take to a show and be seen in public with. I never led her on, and we never actually dated.”
He has a sheepish look on his face when he is done almost as if he didn’t want me to know he’s had sex just for fun. “I haven’t been with her since before the tour started and you know this.”
I let him say what he needs to