Chapter 49 Screw everything that moves
I try to call Pine again and this time he picks up his voice is rough apparently he was sleeping, I don't know much about his daily activities but I assure you I know more about his night activities
Talking about night activities I feel guilt creeping over me after what I've just done with Natte the whole night
“All good I hope?” he utters and a shiver runs through my spine his voice is extremely like Natte Johnson's
“That’s all my thoughts of you ever are. I miss you,” he breathes down the line.
I’m wicked and evil, and I’m going to Hell.
“I miss you too … um, Pine … I just wanted to give you a heads up … because well, there’s a story in the tabloids about Natte … and me. And it suggests that we are … um … sleeping together. Which obviously we’re not.”
Why did I say that?
Because you’re a coward.
No, I just can’t tell him this over the phone.
Pine hasn’t said anything, and the silence is stretching.
“Are you still there?” I ask.
“Yes.” His tone is as stale as last week’s bread. “Why do the tabloids think you’re sleeping with him, exactly?”
“You know journos.” I cringe as I say the words. “Natte sang this song at his show for me and they stupidly interpret it as he’s serenading me. And they’ve said that Natte said some stuff which he most definitely did not. Then I danced with him in the club, as I did some of the other guys in the band.” A total lie. “And then my feet were cut and hurting from my new shoes, so Natte carried me into the hotel … and that’s all,” I add lamely at the end.
Silence again. I can hear him breathing down the line.
I hold my breath, nervously fingering the hem of my T-shirt.
Natte’s T-shirt.
I’m the worst kind of person. An evil one
“And there’s definitely nothing for me to be worried about?” he finally asks, his voice tentative, wary.
“No, of course there isn’t, baby.”
I’m evil, pure evil.
I hear him exhale. “Then it doesn’t matter. Don’t worry yourself with it, darling.”
“Well, I’m just worried about you … that it will cause you some problems. You know, stick from your friends or maybe at your company.”
“It’s not your fault, Shia.” His voice is soft. “You haven’t done anything wrong, so who cares what the papers say, or the dickheads who work for me. They’ll soon get bored and move onto something else when they realize there’s nothing in it.”
The bedroom opens and I glance up to see Natte standing here in all his glory, before me. He's completely naked and holding his phone in his hand
Crap.
“my boyfriend,” I mouth to him, pointing my finger to the phone, which is now pressed firmly up against my ear.
His happy face drops, and he turns and goes back into the bedroom, closing the door behind him.
And I feel sicker from that one look on his face, than I have from anything I have heard and said since I woke.
“So we’re okay?” I murmur to Pine.
“We’re more than okay. I’m sorry, darling, but I have to go, I’ve got a meeting and they’re calling me in now.”
“Of course. Go. I’ll call you later.”
“Love you,” he says.
“Love you too.”
I hang up the phone and drop my head into my hands.
Then taking a deep breath, I get up and go to see Natte, with absolutely no clue what I’m going to say to him. With no clue he's the same man I was talking to.
He’s sitting cross-legged on the bed, wearing his boxer shorts, and the TV is on. One quick glance tells me it’s the Entertainment Channel.
“So we made the news,” he says, gesturing to the TV with the remote. His eyebrow is raised, but I can see the wary in his glance. “Was that what the phone call was about?”
He says this like it’s a normal thing. But then I guess to him it is.
“Yes,” I answer, sitting down on the edge of the bed beside him. “Vicky called to tell me about the story, and I thought I should call Will you know.”
He still doesn't know Will is my friend's boyfriend
“So … um … did you tell him about us?” His voice is soft from beside me.
“No! Of course not!” I turn, looking at him horrified.
His face hardens, and I instantly see how bad that sounded.
“I didn’t realize the thought of me and you together was so bad,” he bites back.
Shit, he’s hurt.
“No, that’s not what I meant, I just … it’s complicated,” I sigh.
He brushes my hair back over my shoulder, his fingertips skimming over the skin on my neck. “Are you ever going to tell him what happened between us?”
I lift my eyes to his. “Yes…no…I don’t know,” I shake my head, disconsolately. Staring down at my toes, I curl them into the carpet.
We sit in silence for a long moment.
I turn to face Natte, but he’s not looking at me, his eyes are staring blankly at the TV.
“I just … I don’t even know what’s going on between you and me, Natte. I don’t know what this is.” I point my finger between the both of us.
He drags his eyes from the TV to mine, and he does not look happy in the least. “You don’t know what this is? Sorry, was I alone in that bed last night?” His eyes flick to the very spot where we had sex only hours ago.
“No, of course not. But this is your MO, Natte. This is just what you do.” I signal to the very same spot.
He climbs up off the bed, leaving me feeling a little bereft.
“Yeah, I always sleep with my best friends just for the hell of it. I fuck Dennis and Tim all the time.”
Okay so that’s pissed me off.
“Well how the hell am I supposed to know what you do and don’t do, Natte? What your guidelines to sex are? You generally screw anything in a skirt and maybe pants too!” My voice is raised, and I’m on my feet now facing him, the bed between us.
He gives me a long, hard stare. “Nice, Shia. Real nice.”
“Well it’s the truth!”
“Yeah, well that may be, but you’re not just any girl. You’re my girl.”
“What do you mean, I’m your girl?”
“You know exactly what I mean.” His gaze fixes onto mine.
I lose my breath and my stomach tightens.
“And at least I was always straight with those girls. They knew the score, I fucked them, showed them the time of their lives they went home and I never saw them again end of.”
“God, you’re such an arrogant prick!” I yell. “And wait, hang on, what? You’re saying I wasn’t straight with you?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
I drag my fingers through my hair. “I never said I was going to leave Pine, and you never asked me to.”
“Un-fucking-believable!” He picks his jeans up off the floor and starts pulling them on.
My heart is pumping hard in my chest.
“Jesus Christ, Natte, just what exactly do you want from me?! You want me to leave Pine so I can become your fuck buddy? your girl,” I air quote. “While taking care of your daily necessities, and you get to carry on living your rock star lifestyle, screwing anything that moves!”