Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
He was embedded in me.
Branded into my blood.
Seared into my skin.
But that was just the beginning of our complicated relationship of firsts. The ending was two years after we claimed each other’s virginity. After our show was canceled, our lives once again changed, and our careers went on different paths that never led back to one another.
We were young.
He was the bad boy.
I was a good girl.
We were doomed from the start.
I grabbed my skirt off the counter and tossed it in my bag, trying to ignore the overwhelming feelings he evoked and the memories he triggered.
His scent.
His warmth.
His touch.
It was as intoxicating as it was back then.
He grabbed my chin, making me look at him. “How have you been, Bay?”
“I’m great.” I smiled. “Life couldn’t be any better. I’m living the dream. I’m so blessed—”
“It’s me, Bay.” He moved his hand to caress my cheek with the back of his fingers. “I’m not looking for the rehearsed PR response.”
“It’s not.”
He lightly booped the tip of my nose. “You have become quite the little liar, haven’t you?”
I walked backward to the door, teasing, “I’ll never tell…”
“There you are,” Alexis announced, finding me walking out of the bathroom with Aires in tow.
“Huh.” She smirked, fully aware of who Aires was to me. “Nice hoodie. Let me guess, a quickie in the bathroom for old times’ sake?”
I rolled my eyes. “Funny.”
“Look what the cat dragged in,” she mocked, patting Aires on the chest. “To what do we owe the honor of the king’s presence?”
“Nice to see you too, Alexis.”
“This is like a Kids Club reunion!” she celebrated in a high-pitched voice.
Alexis was only on our show for a season when we were fifteen. It was actually how we met while Aires and I were there from the beginning of our eight-year run.
“This is perfect!” she squealed, bouncing up and down. “We can all reconnect! It’s so meant to be!”
“Alexis…”
“Oh, come on, Bailey. You promised you were going to.”
I grumbled, “I said maybe.”
“Maybe just became yes.”
Aires glanced back and forth between us with a curious smile. “What is she talking about?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing,” she countered, trying to open my purse.
“Alexis…”
“Stop being a party pooper, Bailey. Aires isn’t going to tell on you, and he’ll probably want to partake, so stop freaking out. He’ll be fine with it.”
“Be fine with what?” he questioned, his eyebrows pinching together as he kept his eyes on me.
Before I could answer, Alexis snatched the small plastic bag from my purse. “Found them!”
It was only then that Aires realized what she was talking about.
“Well, look at that.” He snickered, leaning against the doorframe in the hallway. “Little Miss McGraw is a lawbreaker.”
“Please,” Alexis teased, opening the bag. “We probably bought these from your dealer. Now open your mouth, Bailey.”
“Alexis—”
Aires interrupted me. “Are you rolling?”
I shook my head. “Not right now.”
He grinned. “Have you ever?”
It was my turn to ignore his question. “Don’t you want to meet Molly, Aires?”
“Am I dreaming?” He glanced around the open space. “Is this really happening right now? America’s Sweetheart is asking me if I want to do drugs with her?”
“Well, when you say it like that—”
He stepped toward Alexis and cunningly opened his mouth, rendering me speechless.
“You asshole!” I called him out as he swallowed the tablet with Alexis’s champagne. “You’re making me feel bad, and you’re down—”
“Bay…” He walked toward me and then caged me in with his arms on the sides of my head, leaning on the wall behind me. With his lips now inches from my mouth, he murmured, “You know I could never say no to you.”
My lips parted.
“It’s your turn to go down the rabbit hole, pretty girl.”
My gaze shifted to Alexis, who stood there like a kid in a candy store, enjoying the exchange between Aires and me.
Smiling wide, she mouthed, “Do it.”
Let’s just say I learned at an early age to always go with my gut, but at that moment with him, I threw caution to the wind…
And opened my mouth.
chapter three
Aires
At almost eleven, the house music DJ stepped onto the makeshift stage by the pool. Over a hundred people were there, but the backyard and house were huge, so it didn’t seem crowded.
The second the beat dropped, the Molly hit my bloodstream.
I looked over at Bailey and saw that it had hit her too. In the back of my mind, I knew this was probably not the best way of getting reacquainted with her after all these years, but I was never one to back down from a good time.
Furthermore, getting into trouble without the world knowing used to be one of our favorite things to do together. You see, Bailey hid behind the fame while I simply embraced it. She could talk me into just about anything, and for the life of me, I never understood why.