Page 28 of The Price of Fame

She looked down at her ring, and then darted another glance around her. “I’m sorry, James. I love you like a brother, but I love him with all of my being. Maybe I haven’t known him long. Maybe he will break my heart, but I’m willing to give it all a chance. I would love your support. You’re my best friend.”

“Kylie, you are locked in a bathroom in a foreign country because of him.”

“It’s the country I’ll be living in from now on, and he didn’t lock me in here. Someone else did.”

He let out a groan. “Fine. I’m always here for you. I’ll come and get you at any time you need me.”

She muttered her thanks and hung up as the door opened and a very angry Markus stared at her with his fists clenched at his sides, his face pulled tight, and his body rigid.

He spoke in rapid Greek to the big man next to him, and without saying a word, he walked to her, looked her over, and almost dragged her out. She followed, confused, unsure of what was going on as two large men followed behind her. They went in a direction she hadn’t been before.

Kylie didn’t know what to say. She watched as everyone went the opposite direction. Markus’ hold on her tightened every now and then as he nodded to people. They reached two already opened fire exit doors, guarded by the big man who’d been with Markus when he entered the bathroom. They walked out, and she saw a limo parked. Another guy in a black suit opened the door for them to slip inside.

Once they sat in the car, the doors closed, and the car began moving.

Markus turned to her, his face still a mask of anger as he gritted out his words in heavily accented Greek. “How long were you locked in the bathroom? You couldn’t wait the thirty or so minutes until everything finished?”

He bashed his hand on the car door arm rest. She began to get angry at him for making assumptions. It sounded as though he believed she’d locked herself in the bathroom, not that she was the victim who’d gotten locked in. Kylie knew he was angry about the situation, and she wanted to keep the peace, so a little white lie wouldn’t hurt, she hoped. “I needed to go to the bathroom for a while, but held it off wanting to be there for you. So almost as soon as you left to get ready back stage, I left, thinking I would have plenty of time before your performance.”

She jumped and slid back from him as he yelled in a combination of English and Greek.

“You, ópoy kollêsei in that restroom gia mia almost an hour?”

Blinking, she glanced down at her watch, forgetting she taken it off because it hadn’t matched the dress. So now she didn’t know how long she’d been stuck in the restroom.

She felt terrible for missing his performance and wondered if that’s why he was angry. Moving closer to him, she brought his clenched fist to her mouth and kissed his knuckles. “I’m sorry I missed your first live performance of our song. I didn’t know they would come and lock the restroom.”

Pulling her onto his lap, he brushed his lips against hers. “Omorphoula, I’m not angry you missed my performance. I’m furious because you were locked in a bathroom for almost an hour.” Markus glided his hands down her neck to her shoulders and slid the thin straps of her dress down her arms. “I have wanted to take this little number off you since I saw you in it.”

She shivered as the cool air hit her exposed breasts. His hands moved around and down her back until he gripped her bottom, giving it a squeeze as he pulled her closer. Closing her eyes, she basked in his touch and took a deep breath of his masculine scent. “Markus, you have to stop. What if someone sees?” She arched into him as his lips trailed down her neck.

“No one will see. The windows are tinted dark. The driver won’t put the divider down unless I ask, and the doors are locked.”

Opening her eyes, she looked into his lust-filled blue ones. “Don’t you have parties to go to? You won everything you were nominated for. Are we driving to a party?”

“No, we’re not going to the parties. We’re going home to have our own little party.”

Circling his neck, she leaned forward, pressing her lips against his, debating how she should answer him. Kylie didn’t want to keep him from celebrating his success. She didn’t want people to think she was the reason he didn’t go out to celebrate. She had understood some of the things that had been yelled about her.

Trailing her hands up from his neck to cup his face, tracing the stubble over his chin and cheeks, Kylie looked into passionate eyes. “I think we should go. We can always have our party later.”

Markus searched her face. She made sure she showed no anxiety. Finally, he nodded and called up to the driver, giving him a new address.

Moving off his lap, she fixed herself up the best she could and tried not to show her panic at having to go to another event.

They arrived at the gates of a large, lavish mansion. IDs and names were checked and ticked off at two checkpoints. Media swarmed the first, and she was thankful for the dark tint of the windows. Markus held her hand, and she tried not to squeeze his too tightly.

They pulled up to the front of the house, and she saw the doors were opened, and laughter and music drifted to her ears. Taking a deep breath, she followed Markus out of the limo, only to lose him as people surrounded him.

Taking a deep breath, she followed Markus inside. Moving through a mass of people, she searched for Markus to find him still surrounded by fawning fans. Getting close enough to catch his eye, she waved and forced a smile, pointing to a corner. Wandering over to the corner, she found a seat and sat and watched the commotion around her.

Looking around her, she tried to see someone she might recognize from the movies or TV. Nope, nobody. One thing Kylie noticed though was that every person she saw had smooth, clear, brown-olive skin, shiny white teeth, and a perfect body. Oh, there was the odd one here or there, but the majority of people were gorgeous.

Markus’ world was so different from hers. Kylie didn’t know how long she could last in it. Women threw themselves at him, and after a couple of hours, she started to get pissed off. Markus was acting different. The man she was watching wasn’t the man she had been with the last couple of months.

The man she watched was now loud, lavishing all his admirers with attention and laughing. She watched as another woman threw herself at Markus, kissing both cheeks before she kissed his mouth. Gritting her teeth, Kylie waited for Markus to push the girl away. Getting angrier by the minute, she twirled her engagement ring, wondering if this woman would shove a paper with her number in his pocket too. What felt like hours later, he drew the girl away from him, and she slipped a piece of paper in his pocket with his collection.

This was ridiculous. She pushed herself through the mob that hung on him, furious that he hadn’t come to find her in the last hour. She hadn’t expected him to stay with her, but to check on her would have been nice. She had been pushed almost past the boiling point. She would explode if another woman came over and kissed him or tucked her number into his pocket. If he did nothing about it, Kylie was going to kick him in the balls and leave, throwing the engagement ring she wore at his face as a reminder.

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