28. Gavin

TWENTY-EIGHT

gavin

I ENDED UP meeting Trevor at Astor, and the limo dropped us off at the front, where he already stood waiting for me and looking a lot more relaxed than he had the last time I saw him.

“Damn,” he said, grinning as he looked me up and down. “You look great. I feel underdressed.”

“Not at all.” He’d gone with ripped jeans, a plain white tee, and a bomber jacket, but it suited him. “I like the jacket.”

“Yeah? Not too casual for the concert?”

I shook my head. “Nope. It’s perfect.”

“Awesome. You know I—” Trevor took a step back as Daire walked in between us without giving any fucks whatsoever. “Oh, hey, man. How’s it goin’?”

Daire barely glanced his way before looking back at me with a “you can do better” look in his eyes. He kept right on walking, and Trevor’s brows pulled together.

“Friendly guy, isn’t he?” he said.

“The friendliest.” If he knew Daire had been the one to get his precious ride towed, he wouldn’t have anything good to say to him, much less hello. “I’m glad you got your car back.”

Trevor blew out a breath. “Me too. You’d think I would’ve gotten an apology out of it, but no. I won’t be going back to that restaurant again.”

“I think that’s probably a good idea.”

The gates of Astor were open to the courtyard, news crews spread out on one side of the red carpet and photographers already shooting the arriving guests in front of the step-and-repeat.

Trevor hesitated, and I just barely missed ramming into him at full speed.

“Something wrong?” I asked.

“Uh.” His gaze traveled from the red carpet to me and back again. “I didn’t realize this was an official press thing.”

“Oh. Is that a problem?” I was so used to being photographed when I went out with my friends that it hadn’t occurred to me that Trevor would have an issue with it. Especially since he was way more of a name than I was.

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” he said. “But I can’t be in photos with you that’ll get printed everywhere. My manager would freak.”

Wow. That was a first. And even though I understood and it wasn’t a big deal, it still felt like a slap in the face.

Rejection after rejection this week. It didn’t feel great.

I forced a smile, even as Daire’s words to stand up for myself echoed in my mind.

Whatever. This wasn’t a situation worth getting annoyed over.

“No problem,” I said. “Go ahead. I’ll meet you inside.”

I stood off to the side and watched my date make his way down the red carpet solo, followed by a figure all in black.

Daire. Taking up residence only a few feet away from Trevor and posing with a glare for the cameras.

It wasn’t even a close contest which way my attention drifted. Now that my eyes had been opened to Daire, I couldn’t seem to turn off the attraction. Not even after the shit he’d pulled this week. Not even after he’d flat-out told me this thing between us wouldn’t be going anywhere.

He may be easily able to believe that lie, but the truth in his eyes gave him away. He cared about me whether he knew it or not, and maybe that was the reason I couldn’t fully shut him out, as much as I’d tried to. I needed to move on, though it was clear Trevor wasn’t going to be the guy for me.

But Daire didn’t have to know that.

After doing the requisite step-and-repeat photos alone, I walked inside to meet up with my date, who’d at least gone and grabbed us a couple of drinks. Nonalcoholic, unfortunately, but that was what my flask was for.

I took the cup he offered. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Sorry about the red carpet thing.”

“Don’t even worry about it,” I said, waving him off. “Do we need to be careful in the concert hall too?”

“Nah. Unless there’s official photographers around, I’m not worried about it.”

“You do know the show will be livestreamed, right?”

Trevor blanched, hesitating with his drink at his lips. “Are you serious?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Shit.” He lowered his cup and seemed to think it over for a minute before shrugging. “You know what? Fuck it. It’s not like I’m closeted or anything.”

That should’ve made me feel better, but Daire chose that moment to walk by, and the heady scent of cologne in his wake did crazy things to my body.

I swallowed and tried not to watch as he and East disappeared into the concert hall.

“We should go inside,” I said, leading the way before Trevor could agree.

As the doors opened, the music coming out of the hall blasted, so much louder than any event I’d been to there, and I had to forgo shouting over the noise at Trevor and point in the direction we were going.

He took my hand, and I almost startled at the touch. But as soon as the shock wore off, I followed him through the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd and headed toward the front of the stage, where East had commandeered an area. It was no surprise that even at a “school function” we had our very own VIP area.

“I didn’t think this was a ticketed event.” Trevor’s lips brushed my ear as we stopped by the lowerclassman manning what East would call the “No-Go Zone” for the regular folk.

“Oh, it’s not. But East always likes to make sure he has the best seat in the house.”

“East?”

I flashed a smile at the man standing between the roped-off dance space and myself, and he immediately moved it aside.

“Yeah.” I chuckled and gestured over to where East was lounged back on a couch like a king on his throne. “James Easton.”

Trevor looked at East, but I couldn’t help but notice the broody bad boy sitting on the arm of the couch.

Damn it.Why’d Daire have to look so good tonight? With one leg hanging off the edge of the couch and the other bent up on the arm, he leaned back against the pillar behind him, his shirt parting and giving a sexy glimpse of his chest.

I really needed to stop looking at him. But as the spotlights flashed around the hall, they caught on the necklace he always wore, making it shine like a beacon. But instead of warning me away from danger, it seemed to lure me closer.

What I wouldn’t give to be able to hook a finger around that silver chain and draw him to me. To feel it fall down against my own naked chest as he hovered over the top of⁠—

“Gavin?”

“Huh? What?” I quickly tore my eyes from Daire and turned back to Trevor, my date.

“I just asked if I should know who James Easton is?”

I chuckled and took a sip of my drink. “He would say yes, but the real answer is not unless you run in New York’s social circles.”

“Oh, okay. So he’s not real royalty or anything, just one of those Park Avenue Princes, like you?”

It was funny how the first time Trevor had mentioned our group, it sounded as though he was really interested. But this time it sounded almost condescending—or maybe I was mistaking his tone.

Lord knew East could be a pretentious ass, but with everything he’d done for me lately, it felt wrong to just stand there and let someone poke fun at him.

“He comes from a very influential family. They practically own half of the real estate in New York. Easton Tower ring a bell?”

“That’s his family?”

“Yep. So he’s royalty in his own way, I guess. Want me to introduce you?” The second the words were out of my mouth, I could’ve kicked myself. If he said yes I’d have to get within feet of Daire, and I wasn’t sure I was ready for that just yet.

Luckily for me, Professor King chose that exact moment to walk out onto the stage. The music faded as the spotlight found him. His dominating presence immediately caused the entire student body to fall silent as he moved behind the microphone and scanned the crowd below.

You could’ve heard a pin drop as he slipped a hand into the pocket of his fitted charcoal pants, his tailored jacket brushing aside to reveal the tight fit of the caramel-colored sweater beneath. He was so effortlessly cool, the picture of suave masculinity, and his confidence was the thing of legends around Astor.

He was intimidating as hell.

“Evening, everyone.” King’s deep voice resonated through the crowd, creating a hum of excitement as we anxiously waited for him to introduce tonight’s act. “I want to welcome Belladonna to our great school this evening and thank them for choosing Astor to debut their new album. They’re one of the hottest upcoming bands, and we’ve told them we know how to have a good time here. Tonight, I want you to prove it to them. But also”—a rare and crooked smirk tugged at his lips—“behave yourselves.”

A rowdy cheer thundered from the crowd as he stepped back from the mic and gestured to the curtain behind him. As it began to lift, King headed down the steps of the stage closest to us and then made his way to a man waiting for him in the shadows.

It was weird seeing your professors out of the lecture hall like this, seeing them interact with what definitely looked like a date, judging by the way the man took his hand and leaned down to whisper something in his ear.

It almost made him seem…human.

“Holy shit! This is insane,” Trevor shouted by my ear as the band’s frontwoman came into view and the entire hall lost their ever-loving minds. Then the instantly recognizable intro of their viral hit started up, and all talking got lost beneath the pulse-pounding beat.

Trevor wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me in tight to his body, and as the heavy throb of Belladonna’s breakout number flowed through my veins, I couldn’t help but move to the infectious rhythm.

It was an upbeat number, one that made you want to grab hold of someone and move. I turned into Trevor’s arms, looping mine around his neck, then shut my eyes and let myself go.

It felt good to be held. Good to be wanted. And as the sexed-up beat pulsed through me, my body started to react to the attention. My hips swayed a little closer to the ones grinding against me, and I gripped the collar of Trevor’s shirt. Heat and flames licked over my skin as the sensation of being watched caused a distinct ache to start between my thighs.

Trevor turned us, and my eyes latched on to a pair of dark ones staring at me. My breath caught somewhere in the back of my throat.

Daire remained in the exact spot I’d seen him minutes ago, sprawled out on the arm of the chair. But instead of watching the band up on the stage, his attention was locked on me. His midnight-colored hair had fallen down over his eyes and one of his hands rested between his legs, and when our gazes collided, that hand moved down between his thighs.

The lights flashed all around me, creating shadows that were messing with my head. There was no way Daire was watching me and rubbing his dick in public. There was no way he was licking his lips.

But when the lights flashed over in that corner, confirming what I was looking at, I stumbled and accidentally stepped on Trevor’s foot, losing my balance.

“Shit, sorry.”

“No problem.” Trevor caught and righted me. “Let’s just hope they didn’t catch it on camera. That’d be super embarrassing.”

Really? It’s not like I fell on my ass.

I should’ve known that an up-and-coming actor would be all about his image. But for some reason I’d looked past it, hoping Trevor turned out to be different. Clearly, that had been a mistake.

My mind made up that this would definitely be our last date, I tried my best to laugh off his comment. “Yeah, I guess it would be.”

Then I plastered on my best smile and pretended I was having a fantastic time, because I’d be damned if Daire saw me have anything else tonight—and I didn’t even want to think about what he’d do if he caught Trevor in total superdouche mode.