It's In The Stars - I had a feeling we both knew

Chapter 1

Leo

I pushed my foot down harder and harder on the gas until the pedal hit the floor. The scenery changed to a blur all around the Corvette and a rush pumped through my veins like an orgasm of the daredevil variety. I was locked in a bubble and with the landscape, everything else fell away. The failure. The disappointment. The hard reality.

“Jesus, Leo, slow down. I just got this car.”

Right. Cam was with me. I wasn’t alone. For a moment, I had allowed myself to believe I was.

“You’re never going to know if she’s really worth what you paid if you don’t push her until she begs you to stop.” I performed a double clutch and the engine growled at me. God, this was so much sexier than any woman could be.

Cam grinned and despite his pale face he eased up a little. Yes, I made everything about sex. That was what made the world go around, right? Ass and arrogance. It pretty much summed me up on a good day. A day they saw me, anyway.

They didn’t need to know what happened behind the scenes, what was real and what wasn’t. This life was all about illusions and I was the star of the show.

“This ride is tight,” I said, skidding to a stop at a red that popped out of nowhere and acted as a buzzkill. I was breathing hard like I’d been the one to physically create the speed.

“I told you she was a girl you would never forget.”

Cam winked at me and I nodded. The steering wheel was smooth under my hands, the leather seat supple beneath my legs. A girl after my own heart.

“We have to get to the club or we’ll be late,” Cam said. I stifled a sigh. I didn’t really want to cut this ride short. The speed, the exhilaration, the feeling that I was heading somewhere – somewhere far from here, God-willing – had me begging for more. Still, I slowed onto the shoulder of the road and made a U-turn when the coast was clear. I put my foot down again. No reason not to take this lady for another round while I still could.

When we were back downtown I didn’t slow down. I should have, but I didn’t.

“If I get a speeding fine I’m going to charge it straight to you.”

So, worth it, I thought. I skidded around turns. Pedestrian froze and stared – I loved an audience – and I pulled up the handbrake, skidding into a parking bay in front of the club.

“I’m never letting you drive again,” Cam said.

“Don’t be a Nancy.” When I looked at him, though, he had paled out even more – proof that there was a color lighter than white – and this time there was no humor in his voice.

“You could have totaled her.” He opened the door with a shaky hand. I shrugged. Yes, I could have totaled her. I could have written the car – and us – off in the process. But I hadn’t.

I didn’t care either way. We were still alive and the only thing that was the matter with the Corvette was that our ride was over now. I got out and walked around the car. The left two wheels were just outside the parking bay. So, I didn’t nail it head on.

“That’ll do,” I said, patting the hood. I fished for my box of cigarettes and pulled one out, clenching it between my lips while I searched for my lighter.

Cam rolled his eyes and shouldered me. “You’re crazy,” he said when we walked toward the club door.

Boy, he had no idea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2

Anna

Le Café Coffee was famous for its latte art and the most public place I’d been able to think of when I was meeting a random stranger on a blind date.

Like tonight.

We sat in a booth in the back – a seat I didn’t usually choose if it was up to me. Of course, it wasn’t up to me. It was all about compromise, right? That was what relationships were about. Self-sacrifice and all that.

Not that this was heading anywhere near that direction.

Victor wasn’t exactly my definition of Prince Charming. For one, he’d been late. For a first date – a first impression, in fact – that wasn’t a very good start. Punctuality was a must on my list.

“What exactly is it that you do?” I asked.

Victor looked around the room as if he was interested in everyone that was walking around us, instead of the conversation. Maybe he’d given up on this whole evening even before I had.

“I’m a temp.”

Right, a substitute teacher. Now I remembered. It seemed non-committal.

“Do you ever want to go into teaching as a full-time job?”

Victor shook his head, swallowing a sip of the water he’d ordered. “Oh, I don’t mean temp as in I stand in for others. I mean temp as in it’s just temporary, until I can find a job.”

I blinked at him. “You don’t have a job?”

He grinned. “It’s one of those things where I just haven’t found yet where I belong. I work at a school where my mom’s the secretary. She pulled some strings for me.”

I fought the urge to narrow my eyes at him and ask him if he was being serious. I wasn’t going to be rude. Not everyone had the same ambition I had.

“You’re a PA, right?” he said. “Natalie told me.”

I nodded. Natalie had set us up. I was starting to wonder what she’d been thinking.

“I’m a personal assistant to a CEO of a big firm while I study Communications part time. The idea is to become the CEO myself, one day.”

He grinned and leaned back in his chair, shoving his hands into his pants pockets.

“One day when you’re all grown up.”

Did he just undermine my hopes and dreams as something I would never reach?

“I am all grown up,” I said flatly. He shrugged and looked around the place again. I wanted to tell him to keep his eyes on me but that would make it look like I was interested. At this point, I really wasn’t.

I picked up my phone and glanced at the screen. Any time now Natalie or Rachel would phone and I could use it as an escape. We did that for each other. It was a necessary evil.

“So, what do you look for in a guy?” Victor asked, his eyes locking on mine for the first time the whole evening. I swallowed

Punctual. Communicative. Selfless. Hygienic. Goal orientated. Interested in the smaller things in life as well. How was I going to break it to Victor that so far, he’d scored a zero on my board?

“I uh…”’

My phone rang and I snatched it up.

“I have to take this,” I mumbled, frowning at the screen like Rachel’s name hadn’t been expected. I turned to the side and pressed send to answer the call.

“Are you alright?”

“Are you dying?” she asked.

“Oh my god, are you hurt?”

She chuckled. “Right. Well, if you make an escape now I’ll meet you at Marquee.”

I wanted to roll my eyes at the location but I swallowed hard and feigned concern.

“Don’t move. I’ll be right there.”

I hung up and looked at Victor.

“I’m so sorry, I have to go.”

He raised his eyebrows at me. “It’s like that, huh?”

I didn’t know what to answer to that. What was I going to say – yeah, sorry, you’re the type of guy I need my friends to save me from? I swallowed again, this time not pretending to be in distress. The only thing worse than being stuck with someone as a pity date was them knowing that you were fleeing.

“My friend really needs me.”

It was a lie. At this point, I was the one that needed her. “I’m really sorry.” That part I meant.

Victor nodded slowly. “I’ll call for the check. You wanna split it?”

Every bit of guilt I felt about ditching the guy disappeared. It was the first date – the only one, for sure – and he wanted me to split the check with him? Was chivalry completely dead or was I delusional thinking that love-at-first-sight melt-into-your-shoes romance existed at all?

“Sure,” I said coldly and pulled out some money, dropping it on the table. I didn’t know how much it would come to and I didn’t care. I was leaving and the escape would be worth whatever I’d paid extra.

I got up and walked away from the table without looking back.

Marquee was not my favorite hangout. I didn’t like clubbing as a rule but this place was a cesspool of men looking for some ass. It was a classy joint and you had to dress up to really fit in but the bottom line was that everything wanted the same thing. What they got up to once they were behind closed doors was just as raw and unrefined as anywhere else in the world. Class, money, image… it was all just an illusion.

When I got out of the cab in front of the club the nightlife atmosphere wrapped around me. People stood in small groups on the curb all around me, excitement hung in the air, the potential of the night a taste at the back of my throat. The muffled thud of the music inside the building created a backdrop for the whole picture and smoke hung in the air like a cloying afterthought.

“Anna!”

I turned to the sound of my name and spotted Rachel and Natalie a couple of feet away. They stood together, huddled against the chilly air in their outfits that was made for the heat of dancing. I walked over to them.

“And?” Natalie asked when I hugged her.

“The fact that I’m here after Rachel called to bail me out should be enough of an answer to that question,” I said to her while leaning into...