“I do what I can.” Tommy shrugged, wishing he’d said something cooler, not that he could think of anything cooler.
“How much did you see?” She set her bottle on the table, ran her index finger around the rim.
“Nothing.” He picked at the label on his beer, though he had a good guess. “I’d just rolled up when I ran into you.”
She lifted her chin, peered at him down the length of her elegant nose. “Doesn’t seem like your kind of club.”
“It’s not. But I needed to make an appearance.” Madison nodded, and Tommy was sure he’d never seen anything more heartbreakingly beautiful. With her mascara-smudged eyes, she seemed fragile, haunted, in need of protecting. He swallowed hard, fought to keep himself steady, even.
Madison blinked and gazed down at her hands, splaying her pale, delicate fingers against the scarred wood table. “I wonder if Aster will get credit for getting both me and Ryan to the club?”
It was Tommy’s turn to blink. He didn’t know Madison had heard the rumors swirling around about Aster and Ryan. Though he should’ve guessed. Madison seemed like the kind of girl who didn’t allow much to slip past.
“What do you know about her?” She lifted her gaze and studied him closely. She’d know if he lied.
He tipped his head back and stared at the acoustically sound ceiling for a long, thoughtful moment. “Not much.” He shrugged. It was the truth.
Madison nodded, took another sip of her beer, and sighed the sigh of someone grown weary beyond their years. What she needed most was a place to lay her head, and the promise of a new day. The refuge Tommy offered was temporary at best.
Still, despite the tears, she didn’t come off as someone who’d just caught her guy with another girl. Tommy should know. He’d once had a girl dump an entire Big Gulp Slurpee on his hea
d for flirting with her best friend. Though he didn’t know her well, there was nothing about Madison that struck Tommy as docile, and yet she’d handled the news too easily, too matter-of-factly.
Then again, maybe Madison was just that good of an actress, able to keep her emotions in check.
If it didn’t concern her, then it shouldn’t concern him. He was better off shutting down his thoughts and focusing on finishing his beer.
“By tomorrow morning, the whole world will know—if they don’t already.” Her voice was distant, gaze far away. “But do me a favor, please don’t ask for any of the details. Not that you have, and I appreciate that. It’s just so nice to be with someone who’s not necessarily a fan. Who probably doesn’t know the first thing about me, and doesn’t much care.”
Tommy started to speak, about to protest the part about not being a fan, but then he thought better. He couldn’t think of a single movie of hers that he’d watched. Then again, he wasn’t much of a movie guy. Music pretty much ruled his life.
“Another beer?” He tipped his bottle toward hers.
She nodded, slid the empty toward him, and when he leaned in to take it, she clutched the front of his gray plaid shirt and kissed him with a need that surprised him. When she finally pulled away, Tommy had the distinctive feeling that a switch had been flipped—he’d been officially initiated into something he couldn’t quite grasp, and yet there was no denying that from that point forward, there was no going back.
THIRTY-FOUR
LIKE A VIRGIN
After the awful scene between her, Ryan, and Madison, Aster was sure Ira would call a halt to the party. But Ira, always game to capitalize on a scandal, wasted no time escorting Aster and Ryan back to the Riad, ignoring Ryan when he told him they should probably call it a night.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” His tone was nonnegotiable. “Until things cool down, you’re better off here than out there. When you’re ready to leave, you can use the side door. I’ll tell James to look after you. Trust me, no one will bother you with James around.”
Aster remained silent, more than happy to let them work out the logistics. She needed to sort through her feelings. In light of what had happened, she figured she should be steeped in deep shame, or at the very least feel bad about all the upset she’d caused. She’d done the unthinkable, traumatized an A-list celebrity by stealing her boyfriend. Or at least that was how the press would play it, despite the fact that it was nowhere close to the truth.
Was she the only one who noticed how the whole scene seemed staged? When Madison had just appeared out of nowhere and started screaming, Aster had the distinct impression she’d spent the last week rehearsing the moment in front of her mirror. It was as though she’d purposely laid out a trap, and Aster, naive fool that she was, had blindly stepped in.
Only, she hadn’t been all that naive. Or at least not entirely.
“One thing’s sure . . .”
The sound of Ryan’s voice pulled her away from her thoughts and back to the present. At some point Ira had left, leaving them with two flutes of champagne.
“You just took your first step toward making a name for yourself.” Ryan looked her over appreciatively, while Aster picked at the hem of her dress. “Don’t act so scandalized,” he said. “It’s the quickest route to fame I can think of, other than a sex tape.”
She pulled away, ignoring the flute he pressed on her. “You act like I should be happy about it. Like you’re happy about it.”
He raised his glass and studied the bubbles. “Happy to get my life back? Sure. Happy to be yelled at in a crowded nightclub while she cried adorably for her audience? Not in the least.” He shrugged, took a sip, then quickly chased it with another. “But it’s out there, Aster. For better or worse. Which means I have no choice but to find a way to play it to my advantage. And my advice to you, if you want to make it in this business, is to find your own angle to make sure it elevates you.”