Intensity Read online

  “I may know how self-sufficient you are, but I wouldn’t feel right letting you drive home with someone you didn’t know.” He shrugged his shoulders.

  Shit. More time with Brian was precisely what she wanted to avoid.

  Ruthie squeezed her arm. “You sure you don’t want to stay with me?”

  Celine hesitated. The whole reason she wanted to leave was to avoid having to spend more time with Brian. Spending two hours alone with him in a car (give or take traffic) was severely counterproductive. On the other hand, going out to a club with him seemed that much worse. If she stayed, she’d also have endure Ruthie’s incessant flirting, which was quickly becoming old. Putting her foot down and not wanting to give in, Celine decided to stick with her original plan.

  “I’m leaving,” she said firmly. “I really need to.”

  Ruthie’s eyes darkened. She couldn’t believe Celine was going to leave her alone. She wasn’t so much angry at the fact, she was disappointed.

  Celine reached out and gave her a hug. She squeezed Ruthie so tight that her necklace dug into her chest. “Be careful tonight, okay? Don’t do anything you’ll regret.”

  Ruthie squeezed her back, knowing she couldn’t change her friend’s mind. Never taking her eyes off Brian, she whispered back, “I can say the same thing to you.”

  Chapter 13

  Ruthie stayed outside and waved as the SUV began to drive away. Celine peered out the window and waved back before settling into the leather seat. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Brian glance over at her. He sighed and adjusted his hands on the shiny steering wheel.

  “What’s wrong?” Celine asked in confusion. “You didn’t have to drive me. I’m really okay with getting a ride home from someone else.”

  “Why are you acting weird with me?” Brian shot back. He turned his head slightly to check his blind spot. Lifting his long fingers, he tapped at the turn signal and headed out of the parking lot.

  Taken aback, Celine replied, “What do you mean? I’m not acting weird!”

  “Yes, you are!” he sighed. “Celine, I’ve known you since we were both zit-faced.”

  “Hey, I object! I never had zits.” It was true, too. Face care was heavily important to her mother, who forced both her daughters to partake in a strict beauty regimen. She hated it then, but now as an almost thirty-year old with no hint of any wrinkles on her face she wanted to drop to her knees and thank her mom for all the face creams and washes that used to litter their old bathroom.

  “Fine,” Brian responded, a small hint of a smile on his face. “I had zits. Either way, you were always a good friend of mine. I thought you’d be happy to see me. Heck, I was closer to you than to Ruthie and she seemed more thrilled to be in my presence.”

  “Okay, King Brian, I’m sorry I faltered in your presence,” she shot back. Though she tried to keep her face straight, she couldn’t. She ended up smiling. She hated to admit it, but the banter reminded her of the fun they used to have in high school.

  Brian’s stern face also gave way to a grin. His shoulders visibly relaxed as he shot her a quick glance. “That’s right! You’re an author. Of course you’d be great with analogies. What do you write? A bunch of romance novels and smut?”

  “Hey! Nothing wrong with that.” Celine laughed. “I do have some romance in my novels, but it’s not what you’re thinking, you perv. Anyway, I write a lot of YA and Women’s Fiction.”

  He began scratching the back of his head. “Yeah, I don’t know what any of that means.” Brian lost his grin and frowned. “But back to what I was saying, why are you being so awkward around me?”

  “I’m not!” Celine insisted. She shrugged, attempting to play it cool. “Guess, it’s just strange to see you hanging out with some of my favorite celebrities, that’s all.”

  “I don’t hang out with them,” he corrected. “I work with them, and unfortunately, for them.”

  “You really don’t like them much, do you?” Celine asked, cocking her head to the side. She narrowed her eyes and took in how his jaw visibly clenched at any mention of the band.

  The car rolled gently to a stop at a light. Brian began drumming his fingers on the steering wheel and began fiddling with the radio in an obvious attempt to ignore her.

  “Come on, tell me the truth. I won’t ever tell them. It’s not like I’ll ever see them again, anyway!” she reminded him.

  “Don’t be so sure about that,” Brian muttered. His eyes flitted to the side. “You’ll be seeing Cash at least.”

  Celine reminded herself to ask him more about Cash later. For now she prodded, “What is it about them that you hate?”

  “I don’t hate them,” he explained slowly. He took his time to enunciate each syllable. “For the most part, Braedon and Conner are pretty great guys.”

  “What about the other ones?” Celine asked curiously.

  “Well, you saw! Hunter is pretty much a junkie, Zach is…just Zach! Then you have Cash, who is a narcissistic bastard. Their heads are too far up their asses to even notice it for themselves.”

  “Wow, don’t hold anything back now!”

  “Well, you asked.”

  “True,” Celine replied slowly, taken aback. “Is that all?”

  “They’re all pretentious assholes!” Brian laughed. “They feel like they’re entitled to everything. The only reason I took this gig was because it paid well, was a great resume builder, and it’s stupid, but I also thought maybe I’d get to see you again.” Brian quickly shut his mouth and turned up the radio, eyes on the road.

  The confession made Celine’s mouth drop open in both horror and delight. “What did you say?” she asked, clearing her throat.

  Brian sighed. “Is that why you don’t feel comfortable around me? Because you’re engaged and you feel weird being around someone you used to have feelings for?”

  “Hold up, hold up!” Celine gasped. “Who said I used to have feelings for you?”

  Brian snorted. “Come on, Cici, don’t think I’m that obtuse not to have known.”

  “Cici,” she whispered under her breath. It had been far too long since she’d heard that nickname. He was the only one who ever called her that.

  “I knew you liked me even before Lora told me.”

  “I knew it!” Celine exclaimed. “I knew she told you! That’s why you started avoiding me during junior year.”

  “You admit it, then!” He laughed. “You did have feelings for me!”

  Celine shut her eyes and groaned. “Fine,” she replied through gritted teeth. “I did like you.”

  It was as if a two ton weight was lifted off her shoulder…and was replaced by a three ton one.

  “That doesn’t mean you have to keep acting weird around me now.” He took a quick left and hopped onto the freeway. Celine discreetly glanced at the GPS that was hung on his front window and internally groaned when she noticed they’d have two and a half hours together in the car.

  “I’m not acting weird around you,” she insisted. She raised her fingers to her mouth and began biting her nails. It was a habit she hadn’t done in years and it was quite fitting that she’d chosen to take it up again that moment. As her front teeth dug into the hard surface of her nail, she quickly realized what she was doing and dropped her hands to her lap.

  Brian shrugged his shoulders. “I’d say you are.”

  “Let’s agree to disagree.” Celine looked up towards the window and couldn’t help but replay his admission over in her head. He had taken the job hoping he’d run into her again. She hated to admit it, but it was one of the sweetest things she’d ever heard in her life. With a small smile on her face she asked, “Why didn’t you just look me up on Facebook or something?”

  Brian frowned. “I’m sorry?”

  “You said you took this job to see me again, right? You could have just looked me up online.”

  “I didn’t just take it to see you, remember?” He laughed at Celine’s reddening cheeks. “Like I said, it was a perk of
working with them. Besides, I’m not on Facebook.”

  Celine knew this. She had spent a fair amount of time (pre-Noah) searching for Brian online. She nodded her head slightly and replied, “Fair enough. Though I don’t know how seeing me would be a perk of working with Intensity.”

  Brian snorted and sighed.

  “What?” Celine asked hesitantly.

  “Are you really that dense?”

  “Uh, excuse me?” she asked, frowning.

  Brian bit his lip and hesitantly asked, “You couldn’t tell that I had the biggest crush on you in high school?”

  To say Celine was taken aback was the understatement of the year. “You’re lying.” Yup. Probably not the best comeback, but it was the best she could do at the moment.

  “If I said I was lying then I would be lying,” he said softly.

  “But…wait…I…what?”

  Brian laughed. “Why do you think I ignored you junior year?”

  “Because you didn’t like me back?” She shook her head. Men were the most confusing species on the planet!

  “Quite the opposite,” he replied nonchalantly. There was a certain edge to his voice that she couldn’t read.

  “I must admit, I don’t understand your way of thinking,” Celine said through pursed lips.

  “It scared me. You were one of my best friends and it was kinda fun liking you in secret. When I found out you liked me, I needed to put some space between us. I wasn’t ready for a relationship and I feared that if we spent more time together it might turn into that, given our mutual feelings and all,” he explained.

  “Not ready for a relationship?” Celine huffed. “What about Crystal?”

  “Crystal…?”

  Celine rolled her eyes. “You know! Your old girlfriend. The one you dated senior year? What happened to her, anyway?”

  “Oh yeah! That only lasted until the end of the school year. Guess she didn’t want a slacker after high school.”

  “No, that’s not my point. I mean, why say you weren’t ready for a relationship when you obviously were?” She shook her head in frustration. Seventeen years old or twenty-eight, she still felt as clueless as ever.

  “Celine, you were—and seemingly still are—perfect. You just encompassed goodness…”

  “And nerdiness and naiveness?” Celine offered.

  “No!” Brian sighed. “Do you know how much pressure it would have been to be the first boyfriend of someone so good? What if I messed up and totally damaged your views of men for the rest of your life?”

  Celine laughed sarcastically. “You can blame my ex-boyfriend for that.”

  Brian shot her a look. “I was hoping that you’d somehow end up with Chad and when that didn’t work out, I’d come swooping in to save you from him.”

  “It obviously didn’t work out. Ruthie told me you knew all about Homecoming. Where were you when that happened? I didn’t see you swoop in then.” Celine didn’t know why she even wanted to know. She was playing with fire and she knew it.

  Brian sighed. “I guess having been with Crystal that long, I ended up falling in love for the first time. I couldn’t just leave her, though I must admit I felt horrible for still crushing on you the entire time I was with her. Guess I was just a horny, no good teenager back then.”

  “So she did put out,” Celine replied thoughtfully. She said it to make Brian laugh, but instead he frowned.

  “You must think I’m some kind of big jerk. The reason I stayed with Crystal was because I didn’t want to…deflower you,” he finally finished.

  “Please never use the term ‘deflower’ again. You remind me of a grandfather,” she laughed, though Brian remained serious. She sighed. “Listen, I don’t think of you as a jerk, okay? Far from it. Besides, I’m kinda happy we never ended up together.”

  “What do you mean?” he asked curiously, feeling a bit hurt.

  “All things happen for a reason, I’m a firm believer of that. If we ended up together, who knows? I might have grown to hate your guts or vice versa. Then where would Ruthie be right now? Obviously not with Cash.”

  Both began to laugh.

  Brian shook his head. “She better watch it. I’ve seen how Cash deals with women.” He paused and added, “Forgive me for my language, but I have no other way to explain this.”

  “Fine, go ahead,” Celine replied curiously.

  “Well, he uses them and throws them away when he’s bored. Wham, bam, thank you ma’am. Fuck ’em and chuck ’em. He got into this business too young and it warped his mind a bit. To him everything is dispensable—including women. He’s not like us normal folk. He takes things for granted.”

  “What about—”

  “All that stuff about feeling like a piece of meat?” he grunted.

  Celine nodded.

  “Though I don’t doubt that fame screwed with him, I think he enjoyed being that piece of meat. In fact, I’d even say he thought of himself as filet mignon.”

  “Should I warn Ruthie?” Celine asked, glancing at her phone.

  Brian shook his head. “I think she’ll be fine. She seemed to always have a good head on her shoulders.” Celine bit her lip, not entirely convinced. Noticing the look on her face, Brian reached out and patted her arm with assurance. “I know you’re worried about her, but try not to worry so much. Cash is a pussy. As long as she keeps her wits up, she’ll be able to take him.”

  “Sounds to me that it’s pussy he wants,” Celine quipped.

  Brian leaned back in his seat. He remained quiet for a moment, merely tapping his fingers on the wheel. Finally he said, “I have to admit I was a bit disappointed when I first saw you both.”

  “What do you mean?” Celine asked in surprise.

  “I was hoping you knew better by now not to be such big Intensifiers.” He laughed.

  Celine joined in his laughter and habitually brushed her hair back. Brian’s smile faltered when he noticed the diamond on her finger.

  “So you’re really getting married,” he said quietly. “Lucky guy.”

  He quietly turned up the radio, quickly switching stations as soon as an Intensity song began playing.

  Chapter 14

  “What’s up with your friend?” Cash asked as Ruthie and the band all loaded into a 15-seater mini-van. She entered the car and looked around in awe. After all those years trying to track the band down, here she was actually riding with them!

  “Did you hear me?” Cash’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

  Ruthie blinked. “Sorry, can you repeat that?”

  Cash laughed, repeating, “What’s up with your friend? Is she always that uptight?”

  Ruthie glued her lips together. She hated talking about Celine behind her back. In fact, she never had a need to, but this time she felt like she needed a release. “Sometimes,” she admitted. “However, she seemed really on top of her game this time around.”

  Cash shook his head. “Hate to say it, but she’s temporarily on my crap-list right now.”

  “Your what?” Ruthie asked, feeling her stomach drop.

  “Well, it’s a rung above my shit list, I’ll give you that. Being on the crap list means you have some redeemable qualities. In fact, you can somehow work your way off the crap list.” He ran his tongue over the bottom of his front teeth and shook his head. “Shit list? Not so much.”

  “I’m still on the crap list,” Braedon joked, obviously noticing Ruthie’s discomfort.

  Ruthie cleared her throat. “Yeah, I’m not sure what’s up with her. But I promise she’s really a great person.”

  Cash snickered. “That’s what they all say.”

  ***

  “Wow!” Ruthie breathed as they pulled up to what reminded her of a modern day Hogwarts. The hotel was obviously five-star and one she would never have been able to stay in otherwise.

  “Welcome to your humble abode for the night,” Cash yelled over the commotion.

  The group was surrounded by security guards, who were desperately trying
to push back the growing number of fans who were gathered around the entrance. A line of paparazzi also surrounded them, hounding, pushing, and calling out their names.

  “Cash! Cash! Is that your new girlfriend?”

  “Hey, Legs!” someone called out to Ruthie. “Turn around and give me a smile.”

  Having only ever seen such chaos on television, Ruthie was a bit taken off guard. Feeling uncomfortable, she forced a smile. Cash reached around her waist and pulled her closer. “Stick with me, I know it can get overwhelming sometimes.”

  They finally made it inside the lobby, which was closed off to the rest of the public. “Did you rent this whole place out?” Ruthie asked in wonder as she eyed the deserted room. Their footsteps echoed with each step they took, only accentuating the emptiness.

  Cash smiled. “No, but they do give us a small window of time where they allow us free rein so we can make it up to our rooms before the crowds burst in.”

  The word ‘rooms’ jogged Ruthie’s memory. “Oh! Do I have to check in or something?”

  “Brian already took care of that for you. You have the room right next to mine.” He smiled slyly.

  “Sounds great,” she said in barely a whisper. Oh. how she prayed they’d have adjoining rooms!

  ***

  Celine and Brian were singing along to an Intensity song (yes, Celine managed to wrangle radio duties away from him) when her phone rang. A rather unflattering picture of Ruthie appeared on her screen.

  Brian looked over her shoulder and began laughing. “Wow! Does she know you use that as her caller ID picture?”

  Celine smiled. “Yeah, she knows and she absolutely hates it.” She snickered as she swiped her phone to answer the call. “Hello?”

  “Celine! Thank God you answered!” Ruthie’s surprised voice answered from the other line.

  Feeling perplexed, Celine replied, “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “Never mind. Anyway, you will not believe this place! It’s like a hotel from a movie! Get this, I’m right next door to Cash’s room!”

  “Guess you really aren’t afraid of throwing yourself at a guy,” Celine mumbled. Brian threw a curious glance at Celine. She shook her head in response.