"I was thinking about you and your house." I answered him honestly. "You never bring people over?"
"Only Calum, some people from school, my family, and you," he answered. "Why?"
I wanted to ask him, but should I? "Just wondering," I mumbled against him as I pressed my forehead to the hard muscle of his chest. "Do you mind if I ask you some personal stuff?" I paused. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
He freaking laughed. "I've seen you dig in your ass, I've washed the PMS off your clothes, and seen you—," he hesitated, "in the bathroom. I really don't think you can ask me anything that's so personal I wouldn't answer, goldie."
I registered the fact that he avoided saying that he'd seen me naked, I'd mull over that later on. "You've really never brought a girlfriend over here?"
"Kat," he sighed. "My last two girlfriends didn't even know my real name. They thought my name was Robby."
I had a feeling that I was starting to go into territory that I didn't want to get into, but I knew for the sake of our friendship that I should know some things. I could tell anyone everything and anything about Nicole, Zoey, and Josh. So, wouldn't the same be expected for Tristan at some point? Maybe I didn't want to know the answers but I should. "They were in theerr, adult film industry too?"
His heavy hand started doing laps on my back again. "Yeah," he answered. "One of them was the reason I got into it. It was her idea, actually. She came up to me at a bar and asked me if I was interested... Lexy was... I mean, she was hot as shit, so how was I going to tell her no? She didn't even ask me for my name that night, and by the time she did, Calum had already come up with Robby. We only stayed together a few months before she got all psycho on me for getting offers to be with other girls. Then, there was Ashley a few months after Lexy, and that lasted maybe a month or two. I met her on a scene, too."
I couldn't help the jealousy that spiked through my spine and nervous system. Two porn star girlfriends? I’m not sure how I didn’t projectile vomit at the thought. I wanted to push him away from me and climb off the couch but I didn't. It was like he could sense my unease because he started stroking my hair from the crown down, his fingers brushing through the strangely untangled locks.
"I guess I knew there wasn't anything serious going on with either one of them since I never told them my real name, huh? It's hard to lie about what you do and what your life is like when you're away from L.A—," he continued. "Ashley was almost two years ago now, I guess. I started in the industry a year before that, right before I started law school."
"Hmm," I managed to mumble out, half in a daze with his hands and half in thought at his words. How could he have gone through having a relationship with someone who didn't really even know him? Did that even count as a relationship when so much was fabricated, I wondered. "Zoey has been doing it for four years."
"I can't believe you know Zoey," he said, and I felt hot breath against the top of my head. "Is she the reason you went to the convention?"
I snorted at his question, wishing I could blame sweet Zoey for my visit to the porn convention. "No. Nikki and I are just curious pervs." The tingling in my hand started to get worse when it felt like needles bit into my skin. In an effort to pull my hand out from under his ribs, my shoulder fell back, and I expected it to land against the couch cushion but of course, no such luck.
I was flat on my back, sucking in a breath at the impact of falling off the fucking couch. I could hear Tristan laughing from his spot above me; the asshole didn't even bother to make sure I was okay before he was laughing his ass off. Two ragged breaths later, a semi-composed Tristan hung off the side of the couch while looking at me through wide, amused eyes. "Are you okay?"
"I will be," I mumbled, trying to push myself up to sitting position. Even though the couch seemed pretty wide originally, between the back cushions, Tristan's lean frame, and my body: we took up the entire width of it.
He sat up with his legs thrown over the side, and two hands extended out in my direction to help me up. "C'mon, I'll let you make me some pancakes to make up for having to hear you snore all night."
As I was getting up, I noticed my ponytail holder on top of the coffee table.
Chapter 25
Zoey and Nicole were in tears and gasping for air in response to my humiliation.
Bitches. That's exactly what they were. Two bitches.
"I don't even know why I'm friends with either one of you," I grumbled in their direction.
We were over at Nicole's loft on Saturday night, getting ready to head out and see an outdoor concert that Eva, Zoey's friend, was dancing at. I'd decided to tell them about my period incident at Tristan's house two days before and in response, they were making noises that could have signaled that they were either crying or dying. I couldn't have cared less which one by that point. I mean a girl can only handle so much laughter at her own expense. I did have to give them credit though, they managed to hold themselves together until I got to the part about falling off the couch at least. I had left his house hours later, after making pancakes and sitting on his porch for a good hour until his neighbor, Mrs. Goldberg, came out and scared Tristan away.
Three minutes later, Nicole was pawing at her face and gasping for air. "Only you, Kat," she managed to sigh out.
"Shut up," was the only response I could think of. Yes, it was embarrassing to freaking bleed all over myself in front of Tristan, but oh well. It was done, right?
Zoey leaned over the couch to pinch my cheek. "You are too much."
I rolled my eyes and got up, noticing that it was five minutes past when we needed to leave. "Let's go or we won't make it in time."
My blonde and black haired friends hustled out of the door after me, loading into Zoey's little Volkswagen to head over to the venue. I was in the front seat while Nikki took the back; Zoey was a notoriously absent-minded and reckless driver. A couple years back, after a particularly horrifying cut-off, Nikki swore to never ride in the front seat with Zoey again. Despite all the exercises that I learned in yoga to control my breathing, I'd find myself panting and pressing the toes on my right foot down like I could brake the car myself each time Zoey was behind the wheel.
"How's it going with Calum, Nikki?" I asked to distract myself from the trip.
We'd kept out conversations to an absolute minimum over the week, so I really had no clue how things were going. "A-fucking-mazing. He's so delicious and he's really sweet too. I'm so used to dating pricks that it's weird for me to accept that he isn't a dick like every other dick before him. He told me that I'm special," she snorted out the last word like she wasn't sure whether to accept it or not.
I wanted to tell her what Tristan said, but I promised him I wouldn't. "Maybe you are, Nik."
