reach. I inwardly smile. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him be so rude to anyone except Ethan. She either isn’t getting it, or notices and doesn’t care. My bet is on the latter option.
Mia’s light touch on my elbow signals to me that she saw it too. I turn to her and recognize the fury in her face. Mia is ready to battle, on my behalf. I laugh unnecessarily.
This is just absurd.
I stop for a minute and look around the room to try to find something else we can do so we can just ignore Rachel until she walks away. But when I look back to Zack, he locks his eyes on me and I know there’s nowhere else I want to be, regardless of Rachel.
Chapter Nineteen
“Hello, Rachel,” I say as sweetly as possible when I reach the table. Zack releases his arms and smoothly slides one around my waist, pressing a tender kiss to my forehead. Her pleasantly fake smile doesn’t reach her eyes.
“Zack and I were just reliving old times. I’m sure you don’t mind.” Her words drip with sarcasm and evil. I almost expect her to bare fangs as her cold eyes stare me down, trying to intimidate me. It won’t work. I’m filled with liquid courage at the moment and between the shots, champagne and Mia’s speech earlier, she doesn’t scare me.
“Not at all,” I respond and wave my hand dismissively in her direction. “I hope they’re great memories for you since that’s all you’ll ever have of him.” I hope I sound care-free. Inside, though, I feel like an angry nest of wasps is flying around causing a fire to burn in my gut. I’m not sure if it’s annoyance or tequila. Both, possibly.
Chase and Mia’s mouths drop from across the table and I feel Zack’s grip tighten on my waist. I don’t know if it’s his warning to let it go and shut up, but I also don’t care.
While the color drains from her face slightly, and her jaw ticks in anger, her plastered smile never leaves her face. Her gaze moves to Zack. “We’ll see.”
“No. You won’t,” Zack says curtly.
I take a deep breath and lean forward on the table slightly, lower my voice and speak as seductively as possible to her. “You know Rachel, I don’t mind that you think of me as Zack’s toy. I am awfully fun to play with.” I wiggle my eye brows once and see Chase choke on his champagne out of the corner of my eye. “Perhaps if you had been a little bit more fun he would have kept you around more often.” I lean away from the table and back into Zack’s arms.
Rachel is speechless. Her face flames red as she grabs the girls who have been silently standing next to her. I watch them stalk off towards the bar.
Mia and Chase begin laughing immediately. I turn to look up at Zack and feel instant regret when I see the look on his face that is too blank to read. I am pretty sure he is either totally mortified or angry at my outburst. Neither is a good thing.
“I’m sorry Zack…I didn’t mean….” I try to apologize, but stop abruptly when his famous and knee-weakening sexy grin slowly appears.
I breathe a sigh of relief. “You’re not mad?”
He laughs softly and shakes his head. “No, I’m not mad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that feisty. It was sexy as hell.”
A loud round of fake coughing pulls us apart. I look at Mia and the guys who are smiling at us, obviously proud of their ability to pull us apart.
Mia raises her glass, “That’s my girl, Nic.” With a wink, we toast and sip our champagne. Our encounter with Rachel is quickly forgotten. We spend the rest of the night drinking and dancing, with at least one of Zack’s hands on me at all times. I am introduced to several stars and stand proudly next to him as dozens congratulate him on wining the Best Album award. We return to the house in the early morning hours where I show him, privately, exactly how proud I am of him.
***
I wake up to the sound of elephants stampeding outside the bedroom, and loud ear-piercing squealing that sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard. And a sexy male groan next to me.
“Mmmm…if we ignore her maybe she’ll just go away.” Zack tightens his arm around my waist pulling me closer to him. His warm breath