Cheyenne looped her arm around Kate’s. “And I’ve got every chick flick under the sun.”
It wasn’t too much later that we had a full-fledged slumber party going. I hadn’t had a sleepover since the eighth grade, but childhood memories instantly assaulted me as the girls spread out their treasures. There were enough movies to last a week solid, enough candy to feed a small country, and enough beauty products to keep my sister stocked for a month. It gave me a serious case of the giggles to give myself a facial in my living room with four other girls. And it was so much fun I didn’t care how ridiculous we all looked.
Halfway through the second movie, my doorbell rang. Even though I was in my pajamas with a green facemask on, I hurried to answer it. Dressed in a tank top and Kellan’s black boxers, I pulled the door wide open. Hopefully it was our pizza. And hopefully the delivery girl noticed that I was wearing Kellan’s underwear . . . since she’d seen them when Kellan had ordered food during our strip poker night.
My amused laughter died on my lips as I stared at the person standing in my doorway. It wasn’t the pizza girl. Joey stood in my doorway. She ran her eyes over me and let out a derisive snort. I felt my cheeks heat, even under the layer of the cooling green tea mask slathered over my skin.
“What are you doing here? Kellan told you to never come back,” I snapped, my good mood gone.
Joey ignored my attitude and tilted her head to look past me into the house. “Kellan here?”
I sidestepped to block her vision. “No, he’s in L.A.”
She grabbed a long lock of her black hair and twirled it around her finger as she absorbed my answer. Her fingernails were long, sharp, and painted bright red. Remembering the long scratch along Kellan’s jaw, I ground my teeth together and considered slamming the door in her face.
She looked unaffected by my unhappiness. “Is he seriously recording an album? Or is that just some line he uses to pick up girls?” She smirked as her dark eyes drifted to the ring on my finger.
Even though I knew it shouldn’t bother me, it really got under my skin that this woman was belittling our relationship. Kellan and I had gone through so much together. For her to demean it and dismiss it as some casual hookup boiled my blood. “Yes, he’s recording an album.” I started to close the door. “I’ll tell him you stopped by.”
She stuck her toes in the door’s path. “Interesting. So . . . he’s gonna be hot shit soon? Well, hotter than he already is, at any rate.”
As she stood in my doorway chewing on her lip, an expression seeped into her features that reminded me of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. I could clearly see the woman’s mental image of herself counting large stacks of money, money she’d earned at someone else’s expense.
I could feel my friends cautiously approaching the door as I sighed, “You have other copies of the tape, don’t you?”
Joey removed her foot as she shrugged. “I was just returning his copy. I have plenty of others.” As Jenny stepped to my side, her face equally covered in green goo, Joey sprightly asked, “You guys want to watch it? It’s pretty freaking hot. Kellan did this thing where he—”
I put up my hand to stop her explanation. God, no, I didn’t ever want to watch him having sex with someone else. And I definitely didn’t want a play-by-play. “I don’t want anything to do with you or your tape. Kellan paid you, and we’re done as far as I’m concerned.”
I heard some of the girls behind me gasp as they realized just what was going on. Jenny was the only one of them I’d told about the sex tape; she apparently hadn’t passed on the information. Jenny was awesome that way.
Joey shrugged as she adjusted her short skirt. “Whatever, I was just offering you an advance screening to the movie of the year.”
She spun on her heel to leave. Outraged, embarrassed, and mortified for Kellan, I stepped forward and blurted, “Are you really going to sell that? I mean, you’re on it too. Do you really want a bunch of skeezy guys entertaining themselves with your private life?”
Joey stopped on the sidewalk and turned her dark head to glare at me. “If it means I’m set for life, then yes.” Raising one edge of her lip, she added, “Besides, I’ll be forever linked to a rich and famous rock star. I’ll be famous, and what could be better than that?”
I shook my head, not understanding the desire to be famous, regardless of the price. Here I was, trying to find a way to stay out of Kellan’s spotlight, while Joey was perfectly fine with selling her skin to find a way into it. How sadly desperate she must be to crave attention so much she’d do just about anything to get it. Oddly enough, my anger faded as I stared at her in stunned silence. While Joey waited for some response from me, all I felt for her was pity.
Retreating to the warmth of my home with Kellan, I told her, “I hope you find what you’re looking for, Joey.” Not expecting me to react that way, her brow was deeply pointed in confusion as I shut the door on her.