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Chapter Five


"Are you sure it's not too short?" I asked, pulling on the end of the white boho-peasant style dress Addison had showed up with. She'd pulled a wide brown leather belt around my middle and stuck me in some sandals. I had a flower in my hair. The only thing keeping me from looking like a classic sixtys flower child was the thick rims of my glasses that slid down my nose. I pushed them back up. "I feel like my ass is showing. Is my ass showing?"

"It's perfect," Addison replied. "Your ass isn't showing." She took a picture with her cellphone. "You look like a goddess. Or an angel. Something. He's gonna proposition your brains out." She grinned.

I blushed. "I told you, it's not like that."

"Honey when a man goes out of his way to get you to call, sends a car, and brings you out to eat because he has a proposition for you, it's never not like that."

I shrugged. I took Addison's cell phone and stared at the picture she'd taken. "He said he loves Cora," I told her.

"Men say they love a lot of things," Addison replied, "What they really love is sex." She took her phone back. "Do you need like technique tips?" she asked.

It'd been awhile for me, but I was way too embarassed to agree to that so I said a strongly emphasized no and pushed my glasses back up my nose. "Well if you change your mind, you can text me anytime," she said. "I have a karma sutra phone app."

"Do they seriously make one of those?"

"Of course they do," Addison said, like I was crazy to even wonder that.

The door bell rang.

"Oh God! Addie!" I squeaked.

"Relax. You look stunning. He's gonna forget Cora's name the second he sees you."

I looked at her with wide, pleading eyes.

"What?" she asked.

"What do I say? How do I act?"

The door bell rang again.

"Just be you!" Addison said, "Forget who he is, he's just a guy, you know? I know he's a hugely beautiful guy, but at the end of the day he still pulls down his pants to shit, you know? He's just a guy! So treat him like a guy!"

I nodded. "Okay," I said. I hesitated. "You know I'm bad with guys!"

"SAM!" Addison cried, "Just talk to him like you'd talk to me! Like you'd talk to anyone."

"Okay."

The bell again.

"Hurry, the driver's gonna think he's got the wrong address," she said, shooshing me toward the door and shoving my purse into my hands. "Take pictures! Discreetly, of course! And I wanna know how big he is. You know what I mean, of course."

I wasn't sure I did.

I opened the door and there stood a chauffer like something out of an Audrey Hepburn movie and my heart almost stopped. "Good evening, Miss. Roades," he greeted me.

"Hey.... Stanley," I said, looking at his name badge on his chest.

He smiled and waved to the sleek black car that sat on the curb out front. "Mr. Carter's asked me to bring you down to the piers. He wished for me to ask if you like seafood?"

"I told him I like everything," I said. I took one last glance back at Addison, who was holding up her hands as a mock camera, and closed the door behind me. I followed Stanley across the yard to the curb and he opened the backseat door. I slid in and he closed it behind me before going to the front driver's door. I leaned into the leather seat cushion and looked around. Honestly, I'd expected Nick to be in the car, too, but he wasn't.

The dark tinted window that separated myself from Stanley rolled down. "Is everythin comfortable to your liking, miss? The air? Music?"

"I'm good," I replied. The window started to roll back up. "Wait," I said before it closed. He lowered it again, "Can you keep the window down? It's lonely back here."

"Yes m'am." I saw Stanley smile in the reflection of the rearview mirror and he started the car. We moved through Los Angeles traffic smoothly, and Stanley kept his eyes on the road.

I looked around for quite awhile, but as the sun went down the windows were tinted so dark it was harder and harder to see out them. We'd gone quite a way from the city by the time I turned to focus my attention to the interior of the car. The leather interior of the car was nice, but obviously not brand spanking new. There was a pen mark on one of the seats and I licked my thumb and started working on rubbing the ink off. "So how long have you worked for Nick?" I asked Stanley as my skin squeaked against the leather.

"About two years," Stanley answered. "Since he was signed to Hugh Walters Records. I actually work for Mr. Walters. I'm one of thirty drivers on call for Mr. Walters and his recording artists."

"Swag," I said.

"Yes, I am swag," Stanley replied, smirking. He reminded me of someone - some actor. One of those guys that are in like everything but whose names you never really know. I decided I liked him.

"What's this pen mark from back here?" I asked.

"Only God knows," Stanley answered. "I've learned not to ask questions about what goes on back there when the window's closed." He smiled.

"I can imagine," I muttered, and I stopped trying to rub the ink off the cushion, and instead started wondering what had gone on back here. I wasn't sure it was a good thing to think about it too much as I was sitting there. I decided to change the subject. "In your experience, is Nick a good guy?" I asked.

"Yes," Stanley said. "A little misguided perhaps, but a good guy none the less." I wondered if he knew about Nick and Cora. I didn't dare to ask because of the seven hundred dollars and all. "Here we are," Stanley said.

I reached for the button to unroll my back window and it slid down as Stanley pulled up to a restaurant which had a flat face from the back but the smell of the ocean surrounded it so that I thought for sure the otherside must certainly be the endless view of ocean. Stanley parked and I rolled up the window again as he came around. When he opened the door, he offered out his hand to help me climb from the interior of the car like I was in a movie or something. I stared up at the restaurant. The sound of people laughing wafted through the ocean air. The breeze caught my hair a little bit and Stanley reached up and tucked a stray strand behind my ear. He smiled. "Enjoy your evening, Miss. Roades."

"Thank you," I answered.

I turned to the restaurant and started walking toward the door, where two waiters were positioned, prepared to open the doors. I was unsure what to expect once I stepped through them and I glanced back, but Stanley was already getting into the sleek black car. I took out my phone and shot a quick text to Addison with a picture of the restaurant, and climbed the steps to the door.

"Good evening," said one of the waiters, and they pulled the doors opened in unison for me.

"Thanks," I mumbled.

The inside was dark, lit by glowing fireplaces and twinkle lights that shone like stars across the ceiling. I looked around and located a waiter, and said, "I'm here to meet Nick Carter," as quietly as I could.

The waiter smiled, "Right this way," he said, and he led me through a maze of tables, past distinguished looking people in boating clothes all talking and laughing. He led me up a short flight of stairs to the roof top balcony and as we came out the door, the city of Los Angeles came into view across the bay, its bright lights creating a colorful, almost impressionistic reflection on the water. The entire deck was surrounded by rose bushes.

"This is beautiful," I muttered.

The waiter led me through the tables to a booth in a corner of the deck and as we approached, Nick turned around in his seat, and he smiled, his lips spreading, pushing the muscles of his cheeks up and his eyes glowed. He stood up politely as the waiter brought me over and mumbled something about his party having arrived and Nick extended his hand with a tip for the waiter, who wandered off quickly, then he turned to me. "Thank you for coming," he said, and he waved me into the seat opposite of him, "I've been thinking about you since last night when we talked back at the hotel..."