Fast & Hard (The Fast 1)

“Love, no offense, but I don’t want my nuts anywhere near you and a fire.”

Mallory clutches her chest and feigns shock, “You don’t trust me?”

“No,” I laugh, “do you trust me?”

“Absolutely not!” She shakes her head and giggles.

“Well, there you go, then. I had a Nessie costume one year.”

“You did not!”

“Aye, I did.”

“I need pictures of this.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“Can we do a piece on your life back home sometime?” Mallory asks, handing me a tee-shirt to sign.

“No.”

“Oh, come on, the fans would love it!”

“No.”

“Ugh, you’re such a grump.” She takes the shirt back from me and hands me a hat to sign next. “Wait,” she says. “Put this shirt and the hat on!”

Mallory and I go through every piece of fan mail and she takes photos of me wearing the hats, holding the trinkets, reading the letters people have sent in. She scarfs her burger when it arrives and I steal her french fries. When the movie ends, she’s curled up fast asleep on the loveseat.

If everyone crying “Paddock Playboy” saw me now.

Thirteen

“I’d love to be the one to disappoint you when I don’t fall down.” - Limp Bizkit - Re-Arranged

Mallory

I’m angry.

I thought I would be nervous meeting David, breaking things off with him, but I’m livid as I finish my makeup and prepare to head out the door of Aria’s apartment - my old apartment.

I’ve been back in New York for over a week and he hasn’t returned a single call or text until today. I even went to his condo and beat on the door like a crazy person, but no answer. It wasn’t until I texted him threatening to show up at Dad’s office that he agreed to meet me at the Bean n’ Brew. A public place was my idea so there is no chance of drama, but now I’m doubly glad, so I don’t murder him.

“He is a pussy!” I complain to Aria, who’s sitting on the edge of the bathtub as I coat my lashes in gravity-defying mascara. I’m going to look my best while I dump his sorry ass. “Two years together and I can’t even get a response to meet him while I’m in town!”

“He probably knows what’s coming so he’s hiding.” Aria nods.

Chasing David down aside, Aria and I have had the ultimate girl’s week. We camped out with PJ’s and sheet masks in the living room while binging on the new 90210 remake. I treated her to a Thai massage and she insisted we book a waxing session after I filled her in on the change of dynamics between Lennox and me.

She was not surprised.

Lennox is right that the lust between us is inevitable, the stupid sexy asshole. There is no way I can continue kidding myself for the next seven months. I just need to be smart about it. He isn’t relationship material and I know that going into it. My heart is safe, I just need to keep my job safe so we’ll need to negotiate the logistics.

‘Negotiate better,’ he said.

The thought of sneaking around in hotel rooms late at night is also kind of hot if I’m being honest.

I think he’s on board with this plan, too. He woke me up in Bahrain after I fell asleep on the loveseat and walked me across the hall to my room to go to bed so no one would see me leaving his room in the morning. He doesn’t want anyone to know about me, and I can’t have Celeritas learn that I’m sleeping with the client I’m supposed to be fixing the media’s perception of. I was happy to avoid the walk of shame that otherwise would have occurred the next morning.