“That was less than a weekend thing.” Her tone was as cool as her blue eyes had gotten. “It was a crazy stupid mistake. One that I don’t plan on making ever again. I thought that he wanted to get back together… And as soon as she called, he went running back.”
I didn’t need to ask who ‘she’ was. I knew Dallas meant Gabriella Moreitti. Every female in my family hated her and I honestly couldn’t say that I was the exception to the rule. I had more reason than most to dislike the woman. Finding her in Drake’s bed in the middle of the night had not endeared her to me in the least. Axton picking her over Dallas only made him an idiot in my book. Who would want that little Italian when they could have the blonde goddess sitting in front of me?
“I never should have gotten involved with him in the first place. It was supposed to just be sex in the beginning.” She pushed a few stray strands of hair out of her face. “Instead I had to go and fall for a man who had someone else’s name tattooed on his skin. I’m as stupid as my mother says I am.”
I tossed my fork into the salad dish and grabbed my friend’s hand with both of mine. “Don’t ever say that again!” I hated Dallas’s mother just as much as Dallas did. And as hard as Dallas had tried over the years to not let her mother get to her, to not let her berating and degrading comments get to her, they still had on some deep dark level. The woman had used Dallas’s looks to get recognition for herself. The mother of Miss Texas. The mother of the most sought after face for clothing lines and cosmetics. That was all Dallas was good for—or so her mother had said repeatedly all of Dallas’s life. She wasn’t smart enough to do this or attempt that, just stand there and be pretty.
“You are the smartest, hardest-working person I know. You got into the country’s top rated nursing school and passed at the top of your class. You work at one of the biggest hospitals where they only take the best of the best in your field. Dallas, don’t let one stupid jerk do this to you. He isn’t worth it.”
She didn’t say anything for a long moment, but she let me hold her hand for a while. Then she pulled free and started picking at her food again. “So, Harper and Shane finally left for Mexico last week.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes but I let her change the subject. “I haven’t heard a word from her.”
Emmie had urged Shane and Harper to finally go on their honeymoon. With the threat of losing custody of Lucy to Vince Grady no longer an issue and the twins doing so well they could finally go and enjoy themselves. They had left last Saturday and were expected to be home in a few days and no one had heard from them except Emmie who had gotten a few texts from Shane. I hadn’t expected to hear from them. Those two were probably destroying beds left and right the way they went at it. And the way Harper had gotten into the whole public sex thing… Yeah, I was surprised that they hadn’t shown up in any tabloids. Yet.
“Don’t expect any pictures of beautiful Mexico,” I said and laughed. “Actually don’t expect any pictures unless you want to see them going at it like rabbits.”
Dallas snorted and her smile was more genuine this time. “I’m pretty sure they have a few sex tapes floating around the house in Santa Monica. I tried looking for them when I was out there but they keep their room locked up. Makes me wonder if they have a whole Fifty Shades thing going on in there.”
Of course I had to be taking a sip of my water when she said that. It nearly came out of my nose. Struggling between coughing and laughing I reached for my napkin just as my phone started buzzing with an incoming text. Seeing it was from my dad I hesitated for just a second before picking it up to respond.
Cole Steel and I had gotten considerably closer since he had found out he was my father. No one outside of my circle of friends and family knew who he was to me, and I still wasn’t sure if I ever wanted that to change. Maybe it was selfish of me but I didn’t want to be known as Cole Steel’s daughter. I really didn’t want my half-brother to know about me either. The guy was a serious douchebag, something I knew first hand since I had met him twice. Once at a movie premiere last year and then at a charity event I had represented Emmie at a few months ago here in New York.
“Is it Drake?” Dallas asked as she stuck her fork into an olive on my plate.
“Nope. My dad.” She whistled and I shrugged. “He just wants to know if I will sit with his new girlfriend tomorrow night at the show.” Cole had told me he was seeing someone, but I hadn’t a clue who she was. Probably some model or actress that liked old men, although Cole really wasn’t that bad-looking for his age. It just seemed really gross to me when he dated women who were only a few years older than I was. “It must be getting serious if he’s bringing her to the show.”
“I still can’t get my head around the fact that he’s your dad. When I think of fathers all I can picture is someone like my daddy. You know, middle-aged and with a little potbelly. Not long hair, lean, and sexy…” I gagged and she laughed. “Come on, Lana. He’s still got it. Old man or not, Cole Steel is fuckin’ hot.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
Twenty minutes later when we parted ways, I got back into the town car and told the driver to take me to the studio. More than likely I wasn’t going to see Drake until late tonight and that just wasn’t acceptable to me. I was addicted to my husband and needed a kiss to get me through the rest of the day without him.
The guard at the front of the building waved the driver through as soon as he saw me sitting in the back seat. He gave me a smile and I waved at the older man as we passed him. Everyone who worked here knew who I was and not to keep me away from Drake for any reason. Not only would they have to face a pissed off Drake but a pissed off me, and really the latter was a much scarier sight.
When I entered the building where America’s Rocker was filmed I carefully made my way to the set where I figured Drake would be with Axton and Cole. I could hear one of the contestants rehearsing the song he was going to be preforming tomorrow night and realized it was the one Drake had had his eye on to win. Kurtis Quinn had a voice that made people stop and take notice, but he was still a little rough around the edges. Drake had given him some pointers during the competition that the man had adopted.
Opening the side door to the set I found Drake and the other two judges sitting at their table watching the rocker going through his set. Having seen all of this more than a few times I wasn’t in awe by the behind-the-scenes stuff, not that I had really been to begin with. I wasn’t easily impressed with the rock-n-roll lifestyle. I was in love with Drake the man, not the rock star.