That one was kind of funny. Tiffany was a clever girl, despite her personality flaws.
Destiny: I’m having two of my girlfriends over this weekend, Adonis. Do you want to come and party with the three of us? Clothing optional.
There were another twenty or thirty just like these. Yeah, some of them were stripper names, some of whom were actual strippers, but not all. Chicks like that seemed to find me wherever I went.
I thought about the fact that any guy I knew would kill to have their own phone filled up with blatant propositions like mine. The only problem? Those dudes still wouldn’t have been me.
Imagine if I found some Maynard on campus, you know the kind with the thick glasses and 4.0 GPA, and gave him my phone? Imagine the look on Mercedes’s face when Maynard knocked on her door at the Hotel Del later tonight.
He’d tell her, “Christos sent me.”
She’d freak.
I chuckled to myself.
Shit, knowing Mercedes, she’d probably quote Maynard a price. Maynard would be the one with the look of utter confusion on his face. But if he had two-hundred bucks cash on him, Mercedes would give him a dance routine that would spin his head around. She was a Vegas Showgirl and knew how to move. I was sorely tempted to track down the closest guy at SDU who fit the Maynard bill, pay the two-hundred myself, and give him a show from Mercedes he’d never forget.
I was nothing if not generous.
Anyway, now that Samantha was in my life, I could chuckle at the fact that I used to be “that guy,” the one who, three months after becoming exclusive with Samantha, was still getting dozens of requests from hotties who wanted more of my patented cock-doctoring. Hey, it wasn’t my fault those girls were all sick for me.
I had every right to be a cocky bastard.
Without giving it a second thought, I punched buttons on my phone and deleted all of the messages.
That Maynard guy was on his own.
I called Samantha.
“Christos!” she answered.
The biggest, most genuine grin I’d ever grinned widened across my lips. “I missed you, agápi mou.” I sounded only slightly slurry from drinking.
Who needed cocky when you had Samantha? Thank fucking Christ, because I was sick of all that posing that led to having a phone filled with meaningless messages from meaningless women.
“Christos!” she sobbed. “I need you to come over right now! Please!”
The sound of her panic got me freaking out in a heartbeat. “Are you okay? Samantha! Are you hurt? What’s wrong?”
“My parents…”
“What? Are they okay? Did they get in an accident? Samantha, what’s wrong? Talk to me?”
“They’re evil…” she sobbed.
Shit. That wasn’t what I was expecting. “I’ll be right over,” I said quietly.
I ran outside and hopped in my Camaro. I stuck to the speed limit and came to a full stop at all STOP signs. I knew I was on the edge of legal to be driving and didn’t need a fucking DUI.
Fifteen minutes later, I was running up the stairs at Sam’s apartment. I knocked on the door and she opened it quietly.
She was crying, her mascara running. I’d never seen her looking this miserable. She held out her arms for me like a little girl.
I enfolded her with mine and pulled her into my chest. “Shh, agápi mou. I’m here. Everything’s going to be all right. I’m here.”
She broke into fresh sobs in my arms. I stroked her hair while she cried it out. After a time, she calmed. “Do you want some water?”
She nodded silently.
I filled a glass in her kitchen and led her to the couch. “Sit down, agápi mou.”
She swallowed some water. I noticed the remains of a burrito on her coffee table. It reminded me I was hungry. I might have to eat it later.
“My mom is evil, Christos,” she cried, hitching tears. “She, she said you’re going to, to, to leave me and forget my name.”
“That’s craziness, Samantha,” I chuckled.
“Don’t laugh,” she pleaded.
“Sorry. It’s just, hearing you say that doesn’t make any sense to me because I’m not going anywhere, no matter what your mom says.”
She looked at me with naked fear in her eyes. “I hope so, because I feel like my parents are abandoning me. Without you, I’d feel like I have no one. I couldn’t bear to lose you, Christos. Not even for a second.”
Hearing her words tightened my heart. I hoped to fuck I didn’t turn out to be a liar the day after my trial was over. No matter how badly I wanted to keep my promise to her, I might not be able to.
I spent the night with Samantha in her bed. She curled against me like a frightened child. Did she somehow sense that no matter how strong my arms were, they might not be able to protect her from my past?
Luckily, she went quickly to sleep. She must’ve been exhausted.
I tried to block out my own chaotic thoughts, and get some sleep too. But the reality of my shitstorm life kept battering me awake.
In the morning, I was drained.
Chapter 24
CHRISTOS
Samantha slept hard.
I didn’t.
I was jittery all night, kept waking up, and tossed until 8:00 a.m. when I checked my phone. I had a message. A very important one. I couldn’t take the call here.
Russell Merriweather.
He only called when things got worse. It wasn’t like he was going to tell me the District Attorney had decided to give up. Those guys were pit bulls and had their jaws clamped around me good.
I was antsy to hear his message. I treated bad news like Band-Aids. Better to get it over with quick.
But I wasn’t going to make Samantha wake to an empty bed. So I paced the apartment. Sat on the couch for awhile. Pulled the remainder of her burrito out of the fridge where I’d stashed it last night. Downed it in two bites. Drank some water. Twiddled my thumbs.
Fucking-A, this was driving me nuts.
What did Russell need to tell me?
When Sam finally awoke, I was sitting on the edge of her bed, fully dressed. “Sam, I need to go.” I felt like an asshole saying it. She needed me. It was obvious. But I needed to check my message.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“It’s…” I didn’t want to tell her. “I’ve just got some stuff to do. At the studio,” I lied.
Her eyes searched mine. “What is it, Christos? You can tell me.”
No, I couldn’t. Then everything would shatter around both of us. “It’s nothing, agápi mou. I promise.” Man, I was a fucking liar.
“Do you want breakfast?” she offered.
“No, I’m cool. I really need to jet.”
“Please stay.”
The look in her eyes tore me apart. I wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to tell her nothing, hoping my problems would go away. She didn’t need to be worrying about this.
“Please, Christos,” she begged.
“I have to go, agápi mou.”
“Okay,” she nodded reluctantly.
I felt like shit when I walked out her front door.
I climbed in my Camaro and drove east toward the Five. I stopped at a gas station before getting on the freeway and checked my message from Russell.
“Christos, the Deputy District Attorney has made a plea offer. We should discuss this face to face. This is a big decision, whichever way you go. Come by my offices tomorrow, any time.”
I cruised onto the freeway and lurched through traffic. I had plenty of time to sweat bullets in my car while I thought about whatever plea bargain was on the table.
My guts were churning by the time I reached downtown. Too bad traffic was so heavy. If the road had been empty, I would’ve floored it all the way there.