“Anytime, boo.” I wink at her. I get my phone out and text Chance that I’m going home with Ness and that we should catch up later or tomorrow. “Hey,” I say when I catch up with the girls. “Ness and I are going to bounce. Can you tell Oscar, Happy Birthday from us?”
“Of course,” Isla says. “Is Ness okay?”
“She will be. You guys have fun. Do all the things I would do but forget about rock stars, you girls deserve more than whatever those assholes are giving you.” I give them both hugs and leave the party.
Things after that went to shit between Vanessa and Christian, so much so that she’s moving out for a bit and coming to stay with me to give them some space to navigate this blip in their relationship. Chance is away on tour and comes back once a week to LA for work commitments, and we catch up then, but as much as I love having free range to Chance’s dick, I can’t not help Vanessa when she needs me. Sienna is ready to burst, so that wasn’t an option. Also, I think what’s happening between Ness and Chris can be fixed. I love these two individually, and I honestly think the two of them are endgame. How could they not be? But Ness has a lot of emotional scars from her asshole ex. Christian is her safe space, and for her, him declaring his love shattered the walls around her heart and now she doesn’t know what to do. I think Ness rejecting him hurt Chris morethan he’s letting on, he’s hiding behind that womanizing rock star façade because he’s embarrassed that he got rejected by the woman he loves, which must be such a foreign concept for him. It’s probably never happened before.
“Things can’t possibly be that bad?” I ask her as she drives me to her home to help her pack some things.
“Just you wait, I mean it, D. I don’t think I can live with him anymore,” she warns me as we pull into the drive, and as soon as we step out of the car, you can hear the music blasting from inside, sounds like someone is having a party.
“This should be interesting,” Vanessa says sadly as she pushes open the front door. We walk through the foyer, and nothing is amiss, yet. You can hear squeals and voices coming from the pool area, and we head out there. Vanessa freezes a moment before I do.No. Christian. No!
There’s Christian sitting on a pool lounge, getting a BJ. The pool area is filled with naked, real-life blow-up dolls, lazing around the pool. I can’t believe what I am seeing. This normally would be a fantasy watching Christian with his cock out, but I’m repulsed.
“You’re a disgusting pig,” Vanessa snarls at him. The girl slips off Christian’s cock to see what the commotion is about. Her fuzzy brows pull together, confused as she looks between Ness and Christian, wondering if she’s about to be embroiled in a cat fight. Bitch. You’re lucky I’m a man and I don’t lay hands on women because otherwise … girl … I don’t know this version of Christian the asshole rock star. This isn’t him.
“Ignore her, I do most of the time,” he tells the blonde, who shrugs and goes back to sucking his cock.
Anger bubbles through my veins. “What the fuck, Christian? I have no fucking idea who this guy is in front of me. The Christian I know would never treat his best friend like this.”
Christian just glares at me, but I can see my words sting. “You two going to stand there all night watching, or do you want to join in?”
My mouth falls open in surprise at his cruelty. I shake my head, I’ve seen enough. There is no way in hell Vanessa is staying here anymore. “Fuck you, enjoy loneliness, you fucking prick, because that’s where you’re heading if you keep up this attitude.” Then I turn my back on him and usher her away from the scene. “Come on, V, you don’t need to be subjected to this.” I wave my hand at Christian and his groupies. “Come live with me. I’ll not allow you to subject yourself to some man-child tantrums. He needs to fucking grow up,” I tell her as I lead her away.
“But I did this to him,” Ness whispers for my ears only.
I still and grab her. “Look at me, V. You were honest with your feelings for him. He’s just upset that you turned him down. I don’t think anyone has ever rejected that boy, which must be a new feeling for him. He’s screwing around with groupies to feed his ego, to show you that he is desired, and that you made a mistake. He’s trying to hurt you because he can’t have you, and he doesn’t know what else to do,” I say through clenched teeth. The guilt that is consuming my friend breaks my heart. We head to her room, and I start to help her pack.
“But I love him, D,” she says softly.
“I understand you love him because he’s your best friend.” Ness doesn’t look at me. “Ness,” I say her name sternly. When she looks up at me, that’s when I see it. Oh shit. She loves him, loves him, and then she breaks down. I hold her tightly against me as I see this strong woman break right before me.
“I love him, D … but I’m scared, and naively, I thought we could go back to the way we were, just like we had for the last few years. This time, I think he’s done with me.”
I hug her tightly again. Vanessa has never seemed fragile in her life until right in this moment. “I think what might be bestfor the two of you is time apart. I don’t think you’re ever going to rebuild your relationship if you have to live here and watch him fuck these cheap imitations of you. So, let’s pack a bag for tonight, and then we can organize for you to move the rest of your stuff over on the weekend.”
We pack Ness’ bags, and I drive her back to my house.
“I can’t thank you enough for helping me today,” she says, curled up on my sofa with a glass of champagne. Tonight, we need pizza and bubbles. Fuck men.
“You don’t have to thank me for anything, my love, I would move heaven and Earth for you. What I witnessed was disgusting. I can’t believe he is acting like that. I’m so sorry.”
“I broke him. Us.” She sniffles.
“This isn’t on you. That man needs to grow up and understand that just because he is ready doesn’t mean you are. Does he seriously think this is going to get you to fall in love with him, watching women suck his cock. Like how demented is he?” I shake my head, unable to get the pictures from my mind, and they aren’t even good enough to stay in my spank bank. I had the perfect opportunity to finally see Christian’s cock, but I was so angry that I wiped it from my mind, his rancid cock doesn’t deserve a place there.
“I hope I’m not interrupting your plans.”
“Never. Cock can wait. My girls come first,” I tell her.
“If only all men thought that way.” She chuckles. Making jokes, that’s progress. See, she’s already healing being away from that den of depravity. “How are things going with Chance?”
“Good. When it’s just the two of us it’s perfect.”
“But he’s not ready to go public,” she adds. I nod. “I’m sorry, D, you don’t deserve to be someone’s secret.”
“I know. Believe me, I know from the outside everyone must think I’m stupid but …”
