Intensity Page 7

  “Oh, of course! The least we could do for getting you both arrested last night.”

  Celine laughed. “Uh, yeah. That wasn’t your fault. We were stupid enough to try to sneak in. Besides, you already made it up to us by getting us out and treating us to pancakes.”

  “Nope, that was me!” Cash’s voice interrupted their conversation. He walked into the room decked out in an expensive looking leather jacket and dark jeans. Celine noticed the sole of his shoes were painted red and couldn’t help but wonder how many thousands of dollars they cost him. Cash ran his hands through his dirty blond hair and flashed his million dollar smile. “Least I can do for getting you both arrested.”

  “We already covered that point,” Brian muttered in annoyance.

  Ignoring him, Cash walked up to Ruthie. Doing a mock bow, he grabbed her hand and once again kissed the top of it. “Lovely seeing you again.”

  Ruthie giggled. “Of course! How could we miss this opportunity?”

  Celine frowned. She hadn’t seen Ruthie act like such a giggling mess since their Spring Break trip to Daytona over eight years ago. She hated to admit it, but even the bitch at the gym seemed more endearing than the schoolgirl catastrophe in front of her.

  She cleared her throat awkwardly and asked, “Are the other guys coming as well?” She could feel Brian’s eyes burning into her back and was growing more uncomfortable by the minute. She didn’t want to think she was putting herself through this torture without a reason.

  “They’ll be here soon,” Brian answered from behind her. Celine looked over her shoulder and threw him a polite smile, then quickly averted her eyes.

  “So, what happens before a show?” Ruthie chirped, trying to alleviate the growing awkwardness. She backed into the couch and gracefully sat down, making sure her tight skirt wouldn’t ride up.

  “Well, we usually relax for a bit. Some of us eat. Some of us nap. Mostly we eat.” Cash sat down beside her and outstretched his arm so that it rested on the back of the couch, just inches from her neck. His arm brushed against Ruthie’s hair, causing her to tremble.

  “Did someone say eat?” Like a stampede, four men walked into room. Even in their casual clothes they made up one of the most attractive groups of men Ruthie had ever seen.

  “Just candy,” Celine offered meekly, gripping her two chocolate bars nervously.

  Zach was the first to extend his hand. “Hi, we didn’t get to meet due to your little dramatic performance last night.” Despite the little jest in his comment, he said it so sweetly that Celine found it hard to feel offended. She grabbed his hand and shook it. She immediately felt her pulse race. She was sure her cheeks had flushed to a warm pink and prayed that he wouldn’t notice—or at the very least wouldn’t mention it.

  Brian, on the other hand, didn’t look as amused. “You guys are late,” he said sternly, tapping on the face of his watch.

  Zach looked up apologetically. He was the second oldest in the group and seemed to be one of the more responsible members. “You can blame Braedon. He got tied up with a redhead at the radio station.” The two men turned their heads and eyed the tall blond man who was munching away on a chocolate bar. He winked and shrugged his shoulders in reply.

  Brian rolled his eyes. “You guys aren’t kids anymore. You can’t be doing the same stupid things you used to do. This is a business. Act professional!”

  Ignoring Brian’s tirade, the rest of the guys began to introduce themselves. With each handshake Celine felt her initial apprehension fading. She was here for Intensity—a childhood dream! Brian just happened to be in the same place and there was no harm or fault in that.

  “I must admit, I was quite nervous meeting you women today,” Conner joked as he rubbed his hand over his buzzed head. He was a bit shorter than the media portrayed him, but his sparkling ice blue eyes made up for any difference in height.

  “Why’s that?” Celine asked, feeling alarmed. Great. Thanks to Ruthie, they were now thought of as class one celebrity stalkers. Ruthie would not only be making it up to her in this life, but in the afterlife as well.

  Conner took a bite of a candy bar and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. The act was so “normal” that it reminded her that these men were in fact humans and not some alien hybrids. Conner grinned and threw a sly wink at Brian. “Well, Brian wouldn’t stop going on and on about you. Guess you really made an impression on him.”

  Brian flushed and cleared his throat. “Like I said, they were great friends of mine.” He quickly glanced over at Cash, who had somehow worked his way closer to Ruthie. Frowning, Brian called out, “Not to be the party killer here—”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time,” Cash muttered only loud enough for Ruthie to hear. The corner of her mouth slid up, happy to share a conspiratorial joke with him.

  Brian rolled his eyes and scratched his forehead. “You all really need to start getting ready. The fans are going to be ushered in at any second. I suggest you all go to wardrobe and makeup now.”

  “Makeup?” Cash laughed. “I go au natural.”

  Ruthie couldn’t help herself and began imagining Cash literally au natural. She felt her body warming and quickly crossed her legs to push the feeling away. As if sensing Ruthie’s growing lust, Cash slightly turned his head and winked in her direction. Any chance of her hormones calming down was quickly thrown out the window.

  Ruthie had to refrain from fanning herself. With a tight smile she breathed, “Will we get to watch the concert with the other fans?”

  Brian began to answer, but before he could even form a sentence, Cash interrupted. “You’ll be in the wings, of course. I had to make sure the most important guests were taken care of.” He slyly lifted a lock of Ruthie’s hair and rubbed it between his fingertips.

  Despite Ruthie’s euphoric expression, Celine couldn’t shake the unease she felt watching the two. She couldn’t explain it, but despite how charming he was, she couldn’t help but feel he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. She had no reason to believe he was anything but the nice guy who bailed them out; however she still felt wary of him.

  She glanced up at Brian and noticed that he was also frowning. Celine almost wanted to ask him what he thought of Cash, but now wasn’t a good time. She’d have to ask him later…alone…

  Brian began clapping his hands together. “Come on, let’s go!”

  The men began groaning and laughing, filing out of the room. Cash stood from the couch and held out his hand for Ruthie. She grabbed it, gracefully uncrossing her legs and standing. Cash looked at her almost hungrily and licked his lips. “Stay on stage right, okay?” He instructed, staring intently into her eyes.

  “How come?” she asked, still in awe at how blue his eyes were.

  “It’s the side I’ll mostly be on,” he answered. Once again kissing the top of her hand, he began moving backwards before spinning on his heel and walking away.

  Brian rolled his eyes and shook his head, only furthering Celine’s feelings of unease. Sensing her trepidation, he quickly smiled. “You two can follow me. Just try not to touch anything and get arrested, okay?”

  Celine groaned. “Stop it with the jail jokes, okay? Last night’s experience is going to haunt me until I die and possibly after!”

  “At least it allowed us to run into each other.” Brian grinned. He gestured toward the door. “Come on! If I remember you two correctly, I’d say you’re both itching to rub your prime seats in the faces of all those fans up there.”

  Celine began laughing. “Some things never change.”

  Brian winked. “But some things change for the better.” He walked out the door and motioned for them to follow him.

  As the group worked their way to the narrow corridors, Ruthie leaned over so that Brian couldn’t hear her. She whispered into Celine’s ear, “I think he’s flirting with you.”

  “You said it yourself. He’s a friend,” Celine snapped back. “Our friend. He’s just being nice.” But even she was unsure of it. She shr
ugged off the unease and hissed, “Even you said there was no harm hanging out with him. So here I am, listening to you once again.”

  Ruthie wasn’t oblivious to Celine’s backhanded comment. Choosing to ignore it, she replied, “That was before he began undressing you with his eyes.”

  Celine’s mouth dropped open, but before she could respond, Ruthie shook her head quickly. “I’m just warning you, Celine. Be careful, okay?” She knew Celine didn’t have a bad bone in her body and would never cheat on Noah, but for some reason, she still felt a need to say something.

  “Speaking of warning,” Celine whispered back, “Let’s talk about Cash.”

  Ruthie’s eyes instantly brightened. “I know, right? Is it just me or is he flirting with me, too?”

  “It’s not just you,” Celine answered. Ruthie’s answering smile could have lit up the room. Celine hated to burst her bubble, but she knew she had to. “I can’t explain it, but I don’t really have such a good feeling about him.”

  Ruthie’s face fell. “What do you mean?”

  Celine shrugged. “I don’t know…I can’t explain it…”

  “But you’ve always loved him as much as I do…” Ruthie’s eyes lit up with understanding. “Do you feel bad because he’s paying more attention to me than you?”

  Celine’s eyes widened in shock. Feeling hurt at her friend’s accusation, she snapped, “Of course not! Like I said, I don’t have a good feeling about the man himself, not his actions.” She crossed her arms with irritation, which frightened her a bit. In all their years of friendship, she’d never consistently felt any ill will toward her best friend, yet it seemed to be all she was feeling that weekend.

  “So why do you feel that way?” Ruthie snapped back. Her eyebrows furrowed together and her teeth clenched together. She hated to admit it, but Celine was really starting to bug her. Why couldn’t she just relax and enjoy the experience for what it was? After ten years they had finally met Intensity! Why put such a sour dent into it?

  “Just a gut feeling, I guess,” Celine shrugged. She quickly pursed her lips and quickened her steps. She couldn’t formulate her feelings into words and didn’t feel like trying at the moment. From behind her, Ruthie gaped, and given her longer legs, quickly caught up with Celine. Sensing Ruthie nearing, Celine quickly asked Brian, “Do we get special passes for staying back here?”

  Brian laughed. “I take it you want more items to put in your little fan memorabilia scrapbook you used to have?”

  Celine blinked. “You remember that?”

  “Of course! Those things were so ridiculous! How could I forget?” Brian chuckled. He glanced from side to side and grabbed a piece of paper from one of the big boxes that littered the hallway. “Here, for your book.”

  Curiously, Celine grabbed at it and was pleasantly surprised to find an Intensity Set List. Before she knew what she was doing, she playfully nudged Brian in the ribs with a smile. It was an act she was so used to doing back in high school that she just found herself doing it automatically. It didn’t exactly faze her until she saw Brian’s answering smile. She quickly looked away and caught Ruthie’s eyes. Her best friend peered down at her, narrowing her big brown eyes. With a click of her tongue, Ruthie mouthed, “Careful.”

  Chapter 12

  “That was even more amazing than last night’s concert!” Ruthie exclaimed.

  “Even without jail time?” Cash offered, lightly pinching her on the arm.

  “Oh, stop it!” Ruthie let out a high pitched giggle.

  Celine refrained herself from snorting out loud. Ruthie’s flirting style was getting worse and worse as the hours passed.

  The group walked through the narrow corridor back to the green room. It was all too exciting to be walking through the opposite end of the hallway as opposed to sneaking in through the back. Hunter walked ahead of the group and straight to the couch, pulling up the coffee table. From his pocket he pulled out a small tin and what looked to be a roll of brown colored paper. Celine watched in both intrigue and disgust as Hunter began to roll what she believed to be a joint.

  Brian must have noticed Celine’s squirming because he quickly ran to her side to distract her. “When are you both leaving? Care to go to the after party tonight? The guys get paid any time they make an appearance at a club.” He paused and whispered, “Not that they need any more money.”

  “Well, we were actually planning on leaving tonight,” Celine answered. She felt Ruthie’s eyes burning a hole through her shoulders, but decided to ignore her.

  Brian attempted to keep his face straight, but the corner of his mouth dipped in disappointment. “Any reason you can’t stay longer?”

  “No!” Ruthie butted in before Celine could answer. She shot her best friend a defiant look. “Absolutely no reason at all. We’d actually love to stay an extra night.”

  “Actually I need to head back.” Celine frowned. There was no way she was going to spend another night with Brian. Especially not after Ruthie’s warnings. When did her best friend become such a hypocrite? Oh yeah, it was when Cash Walker stepped into their lives.

  “Oh, come on, Celine!” Ruthie tried to keep her voice light, but couldn’t mask the irritation in her tone. “You write books from home all day. I’m sure you can spare one day.”

  “I have a deadline,” Celine lied.

  “You write books?” Brian asked with interest.

  “Yeah,” Celine answered offhandedly. “I have 3,000 words I need to send to my agent like yesterday.”

  “Come on, Celine,” Ruthie whined. Glancing at Brian, she slyly added, “I’m sure Noah isn’t going to mind you staying an extra day. Noah trusts you.” She smiled, proud to have bought Celine some wiggle room. She knew their old friend well enough to bet anything that he wouldn’t think of doing anything to sabotage Celine’s impending nuptials. Brian was never that type of guy.

  “This has nothing to do with Noah!” Celine snapped, obviously not catching on. “I really do have writing to do tomorrow. Besides, if you fail to recall, we’ve already checked out of our hotel.”

  The members of Intensity watched the exchange as if spectators at a tennis match. Their heads bounced back and forth, their faces a mix of awkwardness and interest. Except, of course, for Cash. He seemed to enjoy the whole banter.

  “You can stay at the hotel we’re staying at,” Cash offered. “Pretty sure if they find out Intensity wants to book another room, they’d kick someone out for us.”

  Ruthie smiled in triumph. “We’re staying.”

  “You can’t keep me here.” Celine huffed.

  “Oh yeah? How do you plan on getting home? You forget I drove.”

  Celine’s mouth glued tight. She was stuck. If Ruthie wanted to stay an extra night she had no choice but to abide. Unless, of course…

  “I’ll just take a train up. Or a bus. I’ll find my way back home somehow,” she shot back.

  Ruthie’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t be serious?”

  “You can take one of our cars,” Brian offered.

  Celine blinked in surprise. “Really? You sure?”

  “Yeah, I’m pretty sure we can spare one.” Brian laughed, pushing his hand through his messy hair.

  “Are you really that confident in her driving abilities to trust her with one of your cars?” Ruthie joked. She began laughing, but quickly regretted it when she spotted Celine’s irritated glare.

  Brian shook his head. “Oh, I meant to say we’d have someone drive you. Not that I don’t trust your driving capabilities, but technically Intensity the brand owns these cars. Any accidents can prove a liability. I’ll have someone drive you home tonight.”

  Celine shot Ruthie a smug look. “Perfect.”

  Brian left to work out the details with the car service, leaving both women alone with Intensity. Truth be told, Celine was a bit regretful that she wouldn’t be spending more time with them. However, she knew it would be safer for her conscience to leave as soon as possible. Deciding she might as
well enjoy the last few minutes of hanging with the band, she walked over to where Braedon was watching TV. About halfway to him she felt a hand grab at her wrist.

  “Ow!” she yelped.

  “What’s the big idea?” Ruthie hissed. “Why are you leaving?”

  “Why do you think? Are you forgetting your remarks from earlier? Do you really think I can comfortably stay here after all that?”

  Ruthie rubbed her temples and sighed. “Okay, maybe I was over exaggerating a bit earlier. You’re right! He’s a friend. Besides, we’ll be here together. What’s the harm in that?”

  Celine turned her head and watched as Hunter smoked his blunt in the corner of the room. Scrunching up her face, she shuddered. “I can think of one…”

  Ruthie followed her gaze and frowned. “Come on! The cops aren’t going to bust in here or anything.”

  “That’s what you said last night!”

  “And look where we are now! Come on! Stay with me!” Ruthie pleaded while yanking on Celine’s thin arm. “I mean, Cash said we can crash over at their hotel!” She almost squealed in delight and quickly threw a look over her shoulder to make sure he hadn’t heard her. Luckily, he was busy fiddling with his phone. “You’re really not going to leave me there with him, are you?” She paused. She’d be alone with Cash. All the pent up sexual fantasies she had of Cash were once again brought to the forefront. She felt herself begin to warm and flush.

  Celine gave her a knowing look. “Well, looks to me like you’re not too torn up about it.”

  Ruthie instantly blushed.

  “Hey, Celine!” Brian called out from outside the room. “Are you ready?”

  Celine shot Ruthie one last look. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

  Ruthie exhaled and followed her best friend out the door. Brian was waiting outside, leaning on a huge black SUV. Celine glanced around and felt her spirits deflate when she didn’t spot a driver. “Are you driving me back home?”