Page 33

King of Fragile Egos

Mia

Everything moved at hyper speed once the sun broke through the clouds the next morning.

My phone was ringing from down the hall at the same time Aleks’s began to buzz on the table. We broke away reluctantly from where we were snuggled in his giant bed, but Aleks kept a hand on my thigh while he checked his phone.

“Storm missed us,” he said, his morning voice gravelly. “The eye hit the panhandle, but it looks like it weakened to a tropical storm. They’re assessing damage, but hopefully other than some power outages, flooding from the surge, and downed trees, everything should be okay.”

I didn’t realize I’d been holding my breath until he said that last part. “Really?”

He squeezed where he held me. “Storm surge was only a few feet. Really shouldn’t be too bad.”

“I want to help,” I said immediately. “I’m going to tell my assistant to be at the ready to send money to the panhandle or wherever they need assistance. There has to be some way we can help — bottled water or rehoming people who need it.”

I threw the covers off me as my phone rang again from down the hall, but Aleks held firm to my leg until I looked back at him. He had a sleepy smile on his face, his eyes warm.

“Not enough to be the biggest pop star on the planet, you have to save the world, too?”

I stuck my tongue out at him, surprising both of us when I planted a kiss on his lips before popping up out of the bed.

My cheeks flushed.

Was I allowed to kiss him without cameras around now that it was daylight?

“You should help, too, money bags,” I said, trying not to overthink anything until we talked. “I know what your signing bonus was last season.”

“I already donate to FEMA and two local Tampa organizations for kids, you brat.” He leaned up and smacked my butt with that last part, which made me giggle as I skipped away from him.

Okay… so we were doing butt smacks and thigh grabs. That had to mean something…

Right?

“Well, you should send more.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a wink, and visions of him saying those words last night and all the things that followed made my head spin.

Who even were we?

My chest tightened with the need to talk to him about last night, about the things we said, the things we didn’t say. But my phone was insistent, so I pushed pause on my anxious train of thoughts and jogged down the hall.

I had multiple missed calls from everyone on my team — my agent, my tour manager, my mom, and of course, Isabella. I called her first, eyes crossing as I held the phone away from my ear when she screamed into the phone upon answering.

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? WHY HAVEN’T YOU BEEN ANSWERING ME?!”

“Good morning,” I said calmly. “Why, yes, I did survive the storm and am well, thank you for asking. We lost power, but are otherwise okay.”

“Oh, don’t give me that shit. I already knew you were okay or I would have sent an ambulance. Now, get your ass dressed and pack your suitcase. A car will be picking you up in twenty minutes.”

“Twenty minutes?!” I glanced at myself in the mirror in Aleks’s guest room, panicking at the sex-mussed monster looking back at me. “What would you have done if I didn’t answer?”

“Sent it anyway and told Hunter to beat down the door.”

“Bella!”

“Get dressed, bitch! You’ve got a sold-out show in Madison Square Garden tomorrow!” She sang that last part, and even without seeing her on the other end, I knew she was shimmying and smiling and would likely have pinched my side if I was with her.

I giggled. “Oh, my God… I have a sold-out show in Madison Square Garden.”

At that, I squealed and jumped up and down while Isabella hyped me up on the other end. Maybe the storm had wiped the fact from my brain, or maybe I was so sure I’d have to cancel that I couldn’t let myself celebrate.

Or perhaps I was just dazed from being dicked down by my best friend.

Regardless, it felt like that moment was the first it really hit me.

In just over twenty-four hours, I’d be on one of the most well-known stages in the world, singing my songs with a crowd full of fans.

I whipped around the room like a tornado as soon as we ended the call, getting dressed as fast as I could. I wrangled my hair into a slicked-back ponytail, put on some tinted moisturizer and mascara to disguise my exhaustion, and shoved everything in my suitcase without care for organizing it.

The only time I paused was when I peeled Aleks’s t-shirt off me, holding the fabric to my nose and inhaling deeply.

I threw it in my suitcase, too.

He wouldn’t miss it.

When I rolled my suitcase into the living area, I had less than three minutes before my security team would escort me to the car.

Aleks was waiting for me, his hip leaned against his kitchen island, arms folded over his bare chest. He wore only the joggers I’d watched him peel off last night, and my mouth watered at the sight of his muscular abdomen, the tattoos on his chest and arms, the chain around his neck.

“It’s really unfair that you look like this all the time,” I said, waving my hand over him.

He smirked, but it was a reserved smile, and I didn’t miss the way his eyes were clouded with questions. I propped my suitcase up and crossed over to him, sighing a bit when he rested his hands on my hips and I looped my arms around his neck.

“I’m sorry I have to go so quickly. I…” I paused.

What the hell was I supposed to say?

I didn’t know what last night meant or what happened next. All I knew was that in that moment when he found me at the piano, when he ran his hands through my hair and over my shoulders, I wanted him.

I wanted him and I didn’t care what the consequences were.

I didn’t care if I’d been confused, angry, hurt.

I just wanted to feel good for a while. I wanted him to turn all my thoughts off.

And he had.

The way he was watching me now, I knew he was worried. He was probably looking for signs that I was okay, that I hadn’t read too much into this, that I wasn’t suddenly planning a real wedding and kids and a whole life together.

I knew my best friend. I knew how long he stayed with the women he shared a bed with.

He needed to know we were cool, that this wasn’t going to ruin our friendship.

But he’d asked to ruin me, hadn’t he?

Wasn’t it what I’d asked for, too?

My phone vibrated in the process of me trying to untangle my thoughts, James letting me know he was waiting for me near the elevator down the hall.

I sighed, tucking my phone away before I looked back up at Aleks. He forced a smile and knuckled my chin. “Go. I’ll see you at the show tomorrow.”

I nodded, but didn’t move.

“Go,” he said on a laugh. “Break a leg, Strings.”

That actually did make me smile, and then I peeled away from him, slowly, reluctantly, like I wasn’t sure what the move was here. Did I hug him? Kiss him goodbye?

Were we back to just pretending for the cameras?

Aleks shoved his hands in his pockets, swallowing as he watched me back away. He didn’t make a move to kiss me, so I took his cue.

And then I sealed my title as the most awkward woman on Earth when I gave him two thumbs up before grabbing my suitcase and jetting out of his condo with my cheeks burning from embarrassment.

What the actual hell, Mia?!

I slid into the elevator, groaning a bit as I covered my hot cheek with one hand. I squeezed my eyes shut, shaking my head. I wanted to crawl right out of my skin.

Suddenly, the elevator doors stopped from where they were closing.

I gasped a little, James moving in front of me to protect me from whoever belonged to the hand we could see. But when the doors slid open, James relaxed, stepping aside.

It was Aleks.

He stood there for a beat, eyes searching mine, chest heaving like he’d sprinted down the hall.

Then, he swept inside the elevator, framed my face with his hands, and kissed me.

His lips were firm against mine, insistent, like he needed me to know something but couldn’t say what it was. I melted into the touch for just a moment before he pulled away, sliding out of the elevator before the doors could shut again.

“Tomorrow,” he said.

And then the doors shut and the elevator began to descend.

It was useless trying to untie the knots in my stomach as I rode down with James, letting him cover me as we hustled to the waiting car outside Aleks’s building. Fortunately, there was no paparazzi waiting — likely because Florida was in a state of emergency. I slid behind the tinted windows and pressed a hand to my chest, closing my eyes and trying to find my calm.

That attempt was obliterated when my phone buzzed in my hand, and I looked down to find my ex-boyfriend’s name staring back at me.

Okay, so it wasn’t his name. It read KING OF FRAGILE EGOS , actually, but even the nickname I’d given him one sad, drunken night didn’t make me feel better.

Because either way, my ex was calling me.

I debated not answering, but curiosity outweighed anxiety, and I tapped the green phone button to answer his call before I could overthink it.

“Hello?”

“She lives!” Austin answered with a chuckle, and even after all this time, I could see his smile. It made my stomach hurt. “I take it you rode out the storm okay?”

“Uh… yeah,” I answered, unable to hide my confusion. James arched a brow where he sat across from me, and I mouthed Austin while pointing to the phone, which made his other brow tic up. “The storm swung more north than they expected.”

“Well, that’s good. I mean, not for the panhandle, I suppose, but I’m glad you’re safe.”

My lips flattened.

This motherfucker.

“Austin, why are you calling me?”

“I just wanted to check in on you, make sure you’re okay. I bet you’re excited about the big show tomorrow night. I’m happy to hear you didn’t have to cancel. There were rumors floating around after news about the hurricane broke.”

Yeah, right. I knew this bastard. He was probably praying for me to cancel.

“Uh-huh,” I said flatly. “Well, I’m fine, so… see ya.”

“Wait, wait,” he said on a laugh. “I… I miss you, love. It’s good to hear your voice. Tell me how you are.”

I knew I really had moved on because where him saying I miss you to me even nine months ago would have made me weak, it now just made me cringe.

“Cut the shit. What do you want?”

“So hostile.”

“If that’s what you want to call it, then let’s be clear that you made it that way.”

“By giving you space after our breakup like you asked me to?”

“Don’t play innocent. We both know what your buddy Garrett the Ferret has been doing, and your convenient no comment approach isn’t doing me any favors. But you already know that.”

“I’m just keeping our private life private.”

I barked out a laugh. “Okay. Bye, Austin.”

“How’s your fiancé?”

I paused where I was about to hang up on him, but didn’t say a word.

“Aleks Suter,” he said, clicking his tongue. “Can’t say I saw that one coming. Although maybe I should have, if the little video timelines your fans have made about how you two were already together when we still were are to be believed.”

My fight-or-flight instinct kicked in, and I knew better than to say a word.

He was goading me.

“That part of the rumor mill had me curious, I admit,” he said. “So, I started doing a little digging. I asked around about Aleks, about you two.” He paused, waiting for me to bite, but I refused. “What’s interesting is that, unknown to the public… there seems to be a different rumor going around. One that insinuates that you two lovebirds aren’t actually engaged. Some even say you’re not dating at all .”

My insides felt like goop, sliding out of me and onto the floorboards of the car racing us across town.

“Come on, Mia,” Austin said, voice lowering. “What’s with this charade? I know Aleks Suter. He doesn’t propose. He sleeps with supermodels at pool parties in Vegas.”

My nose stung with that assessment, my anxious mind once again thinking of last night.

The way he’d commanded me…

The way he’d tied me up…

His mouth on me…

Was I just another conquest, a way to get what he needed after the dry spell I’d conned him into, the one he’d reminded me about so often?

He’d had so much to say last night…

“Do you realize how bad I’ve needed this? Needed you?”

“Tell me you want this.”

“Tell me you want me to destroy you.”

“Tell me I can do anything I want.”

He’d given me all the control, given me the chance to stop it. And I’d told him to turn off my brain.

I hadn’t asked him for more.

Could I really be mad, then, if he only gave me last night?

But that kiss…

“Is this how you and Bella thought you’d spin Garrett’s reviews?” Austin asked, pausing when I didn’t answer, a low chuckle rumbling through the receiver. “I never thought you’d stoop so low. Even the best artists can take a little criticism, love.”

I ground my teeth together, face burning. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He laughed. “Sure. Alright, well, have a great show tomorrow. Tell your fiancé I said hello.”

Austin hung up.

And I, promptly, freaked the fuck out.