‘I thought I licked everything off!Oh, well,’ he shrugged.‘It’s a badge of honour.If you haven’t already figured it out, I’m not ashamed to say that I’m addicted to eating your pussy, so sue me.’
‘Sounds like something you should wear on a T-shirt!’ I joked.
‘Proud Pussy Eater,’ he grinned.‘Has a nice ring to it!’
We both burst out laughing.
‘Come on.We better get packing.Looks like we’re moving in together!’
* * *
As Sammie waved goodbye and we closed the door to our brand-new luxury villa, I let out a squeal.
‘This place is incredible!’ I jumped up and down like an excited child.I thought the room I was staying in before was fancy, but this was on a whole different level.
The villa had a huge open-plan living room with a plush white sofa and massive TV screen.The neutral décor looked like it was straight out of a minimalist interiors magazine.
There were two bedrooms, but the master bedroom was insane.It had a four-poster bed, complete with translucent white curtains and gorgeous white and gold cushions.
There was a bathroom with a ginormous walk-in shower and we had a plush kitchen too.
But the outdoor area was even more mind-blowing.As well as having our own small pool, there was a hot tub outside the bedroom patio and a large daybed.
Wow.
‘I guess this is all pretty standard for you,’ I said, remembering that Jake was famous and probably stayed at places like this all the time.
‘Not really,’ Jake said as he sat down on the sofa.I sat next to him and OMG, it felt like I was sitting on a cloud.‘At the height of my fame I stayed in a lot of nice places and yeah, my house was pretty special too, but it’s been a while since I stayed anywhere like this.’
‘Why’s that?’
‘Because…’ He looked at me, then his gaze dropped to the floor.‘I’m broke, Halle.Not just broke like down to my last thousand bucks.I mean, barely have a cent to my name kind of broke.’
Shock rolled through me.I mean, I knew he wasn’t as famous as he used to be, and he’d mentioned his accountant screwed him over, but I kind of assumed he meant he ‘only’ had a few hundred thousand in the bank rather than millions.Y’know, like first-world, rich people problems.
‘I’m so sorry.’ I took his hands in mine.‘I had no idea.If you don’t mind me asking, what happened?You’ve had loads of hit songs, so I thought you’d be okay?’
‘My biggest hits were with the band and when we signed those contracts we were young and naïve so I never made much from that.As for the money I made from my solo stuff, my accountant screwed me over.I trusted him so didn’t keep a close enough eye on him and not only did he steal from me for years, he didn’t file my taxes properly so a few years ago I got stung with a huge tax bill that almost wiped me out and then… then some other stuff happened that I had to pay for which finished me off.’
‘Can’t you remortgage your house or something to free up some cash?’
‘Had to sell my home to pay my debts.’
‘Shit.So are you renting now?’
‘Nope.’ He blew out a defeated breath.‘Before I came here, I was crashing on my best friend’s couch.His wife wants me to move out though, so I’ve no idea where I’ll go after I leave this place.’
Wow.
I blinked repeatedly as I tried to take everything in.
‘Jake.’ I squeezed his hand.‘That’s awful.I’m really sorry.It seems so unfair.You’ve worked your arse off since you were a teenager and now…’ I paused, worried about making him feel worse about the situation.
‘And now I have nothing to show for it,’ he said.
‘I wasn’t going to say that.I… all I meant was, for everything you’ve done and achieved, it’s not right that you’re in this situation.But don’t you get royalties or something every time your song is played?’
‘Yeah, but no one really plays my songs any more.Or so my agent tells me.And anything I do earn goes straight to paying my debts.’ He exhaled again.‘Fuck.Why the hell am I telling you this?We were having a good time and now I’ve made everything heavy.Why don’t we test out that bed?Looks pretty nice, huh?’
