Mr. Bad Influence

Chapter 6 - Part 2

"I'm starving," Kerri said as Nick opened up the box of pizza they had ordered for dinner.

Using her fingers, Kerri broke a strand of mozzarella cheese and dumped it over her slice of pizza. She couldn't believe how fast time was passing by. "Do you have your new album on your phone? I want to hear it."

"It's top secret."

She narrowed her eyes, then leaned forward and tried to grab his phone.

"Okay, wait," he said, pressing his hand down over both her hand and the phone. "I need to warn you."

"About?"

"I was going to tell you before the release anyway." He took the phone from her and entered the playlist. "A few of the songs were written by me."

"Okay. There's nothing special about that. You wrote some of the songs in your previous albums as well."

He nodded slowly. "But none of them was about us."

"Oh."

"Look, some of them were written quite a while ago. Some of them referred to—"

"That bad, huh?" She smiled. "I promise I won't kick you out of the house."

"So you may just storm away and lock yourself in your room."

"Yes."

He laughed and handed the phone to her. "There are three songs about you—us."

She listened to the first song and smiled.

"This is the worst. I promise."

"It is kind of true. I do say things I don't mean."

"You always try to say the right thing."

"And you always think I should just say what I really have on my mind."

"You should."

"Okay." She squared her shoulders. "Kerri! Look here! Smile!" She paused and shot him a coy glare. "No. Stop yelling at me as if I'm a dog. Kerri, are you and Taylor seeing each other? It's none of your business."

"Are you and Taylor seeing each other?"

She arched a brow. "It's none of your business."

"I just don't want anyone knocking on the door in a rage."

"I never told anyone else about this place," she said. "And no, I'm not seeing Taylor. Taylor simply knows how to play the game. He knew where the paparazzi were, and he knew the right angle that would result in suggestive shots."

"More rumors about the two of you, more interest in the movie."

This was why Kerri didn't trust people around her.

"You can always be straight with me," he said, his tone somber.

Kerri knew he wasn't talking about Taylor anymore.

She licked her lips and set his phone down. She wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell him what happened after the car crash and how she got entangled in the world of drugs that he had since left behind. "Wrong." She took a deep breath. "You loved me so much that every word of mine meant so much more to you. Even that day at the interview, the moment you saw me cry, you got up and stopped the whole thing."

"What's wrong with that?"

So if he knew he was the reason behind her current entanglement, he wouldn't be able to bear it. "Nothing, except you'll be absolutely heartbroken to hear that I hate that song." She grinned and stood.

"Kerri Adams."

She turned back to look at him.

"You're a fantastic actress, but you know we love each other because we can see through the facade we show the rest of the world." He leaned forward and placed his crossed arms on the table. "So, what did you actually want to say?"

She took a deep breath and looked at the floor.

"And that's what you do when you want to hide your feelings."

"It's late. I'm tired."

"I hate it when you keep things to yourself. Whatever it is, I can help."

No, he couldn't. He had gotten clean and was on the right path. The last thing he should be doing was to get involved in this ugly affair, and the media would have a field day if they thought Nick was doing drugs again.

She looked at the table when his phone rang. Just a few minutes ago, she was still hoping the night wouldn't end. Now she realized how incredibly stupid she had been, especially with the name Hannah flashing across his phone's screen. "Your girlfriend's calling."

She and Nick were over, and he had a new girlfriend. Actually, he already had a string of girlfriends after her. "Goodnight, Nick."

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