The little brat was deliberately defying him, doing everything he’d prohibited her to do.
He was too busy to follow her around so he hired a pro. The guy reported Serena’s activities to him every day. Anything Serena would do that was in his list of What She’s Not Supposed To Be Doing, the guy had strict instructions to rain on her fucking parade on his behalf without blowing cover.
She actually thought she could do her shit at her whim, risking herself and the entire future of Levin Pictures with her juvenile antics?
Your entire future, you mean, his conscience mocked him.
Yes, his entire future. He didn’t work his ass off at her father’s company for years, enduring all the corporate bullshit the board had rained on his ass from day one just to be denied the ultimate prize.
The highest seat at Levin Pictures Corporation.
No, not the CEO position.
The COB.
She relished the shocked look on his face when she saw him that evening.
He appeared to have just arrived from the office. She was about to leave and paint the town purple with Zoie. It was weekend and she and her friends agreed to meet up at the inaugural opening of Q, a new dance club downtown.
His face was stormy as he surveyed her appearance with undisguised distaste.
But she could see that look in his eyes again. That unbrotherly look. Hah!
She was wearing a hot pink bandage dress with plunging neckline, bare back and very short hemline, showing all her best assets. Her stilettos added five inches to her height. She’d painted her face, too, deep eye-shadow and bloody red lipstick.
He was staring at her chest.
Remember that, you bastard? How can you not remember that rack you’ve licked and sucked and played with like you cannot get enough? Oh you still can’t remember? But you’re noticing them now, huh? Well, that’s just too bad coz you’re not gonna get any of that anymore. You had it once. Never again.
She looked like a slut, she knew that, but a slut with a huge trust fund. Smart people will see the difference. Why had she focused all her attention on this prick all these years? There were so many men in LA, eligible, hot-looking, loaded and they would gladly date her. For one, she had Harry Goldwyn lapping at her fingertips like a besotted puppy.
Ray Bradford was replaceable.
“What the hell are you wearing?” he bit out.
She flipped her long, copper tresses over her shoulders. “A dress?”
She turned around, showing her back to him. She heard his sharp intake of breath. She faced him again, plastering a smirk on her face. “Like it?”
“And where the hell do you think you’re going dressed like that?”
“Why, clubbing of course. You know, where people have fun?” she told him like he was ten kinds of stupid.
His nostrils flared. She watched him inhale deeply, trying to curb his temper.
“You know you can’t leave looking like that.”
She raised her chin. “And who’s going to stop me?” she challenged him.
His eyes smoldered. “Don’t push it, Serena.”
“For your information, stepbro, my father already said yes. I only answer to MY father.”
He clenched his jaw and said nothing.
She waved at him mockingly. “Bye.”
She walked away, swaying her hips, making sure he got a good look at her ass molded by the elastic fabric of her dress like second skin.
Only in your dreams now, A-hole.
Ray couldn’t look away from her ass until she’d disappeared from his sight.
Christ! The way she looked was enough to stop traffic. She was fuck hot his cock immediately twitched the moment he got a good look at her front. By the time he saw her back he was hard as fuck his cock could smash rocks into gravel.
She was going clubbing? She didn’t know shit about those places.
He whipped up his phone from his pocket and dialed a number.
“She’s leaving the compound. Tail her discreetly. Report her destination immediately.”
“Yes, boss.”
Cussing, he bounded up the stairs towards his wing and took a shower.
“Hey, what was that?” Harry was looking at her with a pleasant surprise on his face.
She smiled at him. “For being such a sweet friend.”
“Friend? That wasn’t a friendly smooch. I felt your tongue.”
“You want more?”
Before he could answer, she kissed him again, really using her tongue this time.
He kissed her back and it lasted for probably a minute.
When they broke apart for air, HE was gone.
“Wow. Serena…”
Harry was saying something really nice to her, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care for that kiss.
But she’d shown HIM she could kiss. She’d shown him how well she could kiss a man until he lost his head. Ray, her stepbrother, her one-time lover.
They had quite a secret history that will never be told. His kisses that she will probably never forget, and her kisses that he’d so conveniently forgotten.
And it was slowly killing her.
Everyday, it was an ordeal to get out of bed, to go on with the life she used to live before that night. She’d told herself so many times that it was just sex. It was just one time. It was nothing. It was just like a prom night with her date where she’d decided to lose her V-card so she could have a banging college sex life. Many of her friends did that and they were all having fun sexually experimenting afterward.
But she just couldn’t. It was not a prom night. It was not with the prom king.
It was with Ray.
The one she’d been in love with since she was thirteen.
The one she was so madly in love with now.
The one she will love until she didn’t know.
The one she wished she no longer loved.
The one she wished would just disappear from her sight forever.
But he was there. Every single day. Reminding her of that night. That night he cannot remember.
She downed her nth Cosmo and signaled for the waiter again.
Zoei was at the dance floor dancing like there was no tomorrow. Harry was trying to engage her in more kissing but she no longer had any reason to kiss him.
She looked around. She couldn’t find Ray in the club anymore.
Maybe he’d left.
Who cares? I don’t. I really don’t.
Yeah, keep telling yourself that.
Red. Bloody murder red. That was how he felt when he saw Serena kissing Harry.
The force of his fury nearly got the better of him. He wanted to run towards them, tear them apart and beat the shit out of Harry, break his limbs with his bare hands, spill his blood. Kill him right in front of Serena.
But they were inside a dance club jam-packed with LA’s party animals, having a normal weekend fun while he was spying on them like a fucking criminal.
That kiss.
That was HIS.
To give to her.
That sacred fucking first kiss.
But it looked like it wasn’t the first time they’d kissed. They’d been doing it a lot and fuck only knew what else.
He didn’t want to think about that. The possibility that Serena was no longer a virgin. He would go mad.
God, he didn’t understand why she was doing this. She was fine last month. They were fine. Now this.
He didn’t know what to do with her anymore. It hurt, too, the way she’d talked to him with blatant disrespect, telling him he didn’t matter to her, that he was nothing to her…that hurt like a motherfucker.
He couldn’t remember shedding a tear over something that really hurt him to the core.
His eyes watered.
Shit!
No stopping the little fuckers. They slipped from his eyes no matter how hard he tried to stop them.
What the fuck…! Fuck fuck fuck!
This was so lame. Hurting like a stupid fool. Crying over a first kiss that he lost. What the fuck was this, a fucking lame ballad by a lame-ass band?
Hilarious. Pathetic. Totally mental.
He should get laid. Get balls deep into a dozen pussies. Pound these stupid feelings away. Exorcise the image of Serena kissing Harry.
He stared at his phone lying on the passenger seat. So many numbers to call.
Too many available pussies.
Just one miserable cock.
Just before midnight, his man who’d been keeping a visual on her the past hours called him.
After talking to the guy, he got out of the car.
He marched towards the entrance of the club. He flashed a plastic, the one that allowed him entrée into the most exclusive clubs in LA, including this one. It was a member’s only privilege. He rarely used this in clubs like this. He had other more exclusive places he could go to where he can mix business with pleasure than this stupid club frequented by trust fund kids and celebrities out to show off their flashy toys on a Sunday night at that.
The two built-like-Muck-truck bouncers stepped aside from the door and opened it for him.
She really wanted to go home and crash in her own bed. It was a mistake to come here. She thought she could drown her woes in the company of her friends. Boy was she wrong. The happy faces around her only aggravated her depression.
She’d probably downed too many glasses of Cosmo. Her world was turning upside down and she couldn’t find Zoei. Harry went to the restroom and he’d been gone for a while now.
She’d just lie down here for a bit until the dizziness passed.
She turned to her left and stared dazedly at the dance floor.
The lights were so beautiful, as vibrant as the energy pulsing within the expansive interior of the bar blaring with EDM. Everyone looked happy. Having the time of their lives. Like tomorrow will never come.
Her eyes zeroed in on a couple locked in each other’s arms, dancing slowly amid people gyrating to Avicii’s music. They were staring in each other’s eyes solemnly, communicating silently, affirming their love for each other.
How nice it must be to have someone like that in her life, too. Someone to love, who can love her back. Someone to kiss…to touch…to embrace…
She hiccupped.
Fuck. She hadn’t noticed she was crying again.
In the middle of this place she was crying like an abandoned child.
Sobbing. Letting it all out.
The music will drown her pathetic whimpers and nobody will care. They were all busy having a great time to mind her little drama in this corner.
And she didn’t care if they saw her.
She didn’t care.
She didn’t care…
Ray…Ray…I miss you so much! I miss your pancakes in the morning. They’re still the best. I miss our weekends at the track burning asphalt, or roaming the valley in your bike. I miss our late night movies at the home theater.
I miss us reading books together, going to old libraries and bookstores. I miss us surfing in Malibu and spending overnight with Daddy and Karina aboard the yacht.
I miss going to football games with you, watching boxing matches and UFC fight nights.
I miss us playing scrabble and poker and chess, where you always let me win convincingly. You think I don’t know? Hah! You’re too smart to lose a chess game with a scatterbrain like me. My Xbox misses you, too.
I miss stargazing with you while drinking your chocolate frappe, naming all the constellations…
I just miss you so much, asshole….Damn you why, why, why did you forget?! Why?!
She felt a warm hand touch her forehead.
“Buttercup?”
She opened her eyes.
She couldn’t see him through her tears. But she knew it was him.
No one else called her by that stupid nickname.
And no one else smelled like him. That comforting woodsy, citrus smell that blended well with his own natural scent. So good.
He was here.
Just when she needed him the most.
He was always the first one to rescue her.
“Ray!”
She hugged him and held on to him like he was her only lifeline.
“Serena…” His arms went around her.
“Don’t leave me. Please!” She cried harder in the crook of his shoulder.
“Shhh, buttercup. Let’s go home.”
