Before she could even respond sleep took over.
Chapter 6
Amanda took Dallas’s hand as he helped her out of the limo, regretting already that she’d agreed to come to the launch of his new sportswear for women line. On either side of the red carpet stood gorgeous professional models in workout gear with perfect bodies and gleaming smiles. As she moved to stand next to Dallas she couldn’t help but feel frumpy in comparison.
Dallas had woken her this morning with some fantastic sex while restrained to his bed. He then fed her, bathed her, and basically pampered her within an inch of her life, which is probably why she’d allowed him to pick the dress she was currently wearing. It was sooooo not her usual conservative style and she had to resist the urge to tug at the short skirt of the exquisite Monique Lhuiller amethyst lace cocktail dress. It was a beautiful dress that complimented her pale skin and dark hair, but she wasn’t used to wearing anything so revealing. Usually at these events she was in the background, the ever efficient personal assistant making sure Dallas had everything he needed.
Now she was trying to smile as she stood next to Dallas, who tonight wore a trendy gray suit with a tie that went well with her dress. She’d talked him out of buying her extravagant diamonds to wear with the outfit, instead compromising on a pair of teardrop shaped pearl earrings with a matching necklace. Not that she was keeping them, as soon as this event was over she was returning them to the jewelry store, or shoving them in the back of one of Dallas’s drawers. Dozens of flashes went off around her and she tried to not squint from the glare.
While Dallas was used to people taking his picture, and enjoyed it, she was terrified.
He glanced down at her and grabbed her hand, the cameras flashing like crazy as he leaned down and whispered, “Breathe.”
She sucked in what she hoped wasn’t a visible gasp of air and whispered, “This is insane.”
Tilting his head, he examined her as he whispered back, “You don’t like having your picture taken?”
Shaking her head, one of the photographers asked to see the back of her dress so she turned around and said, “No. If you weren’t here with me I’d have dived back into the limo by now.”
He gave her an indecipherable look, then grinned. “Well, I am here with you, but you don’t have to stand here and have your picture taken. Let’s go inside.”
They started to walk the rest of the way down the red carpet to the entrance of the nightclub that was hosting the event with the photographers yelling at them from every direction. One right next to them, a good-looking man that Amanda recognized from some TV show, stopped them with a big smile. “Dallas, who’s this lovely lady on your arm tonight?”
“This is Amanda, my beautiful girlfriend.”
At that the press exploded and Dallas hustled her inside, but not before she heard someone asking if Tammy knew he had a girlfriend and what she was going to think when she saw Amanda. She tried to figure out what the heck they were talking about, but as soon as they moved through the doors they were swamped by people wanting to congratulate Dallas. She stood next to him, making small talk, whenever she was acknowledged as existing, for what seemed like hours. After her third glass of champagne her feet were hurting and she needed to use the restroom. Waiting for a lull in the steady stream of people that came to worship Dallas, or in the case of most of the women, throw themselves at him like Amanda wasn’t even there, she tugged his hand.
He leaned down and she whispered, “I’m going to go use the ladies’ room.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
She tried to glare at him, but his teasing smile took away some of her anxiety at being the center of so much attention. “No, I’m a big girl. I’ll manage.”
Slipping away from him proved harder than she thought as people suddenly decided she was someone important and tried to suck up to her. By the time she made it to the bathroom her nerves were shot. She was already in the stall finishing up when a group of women entered the bathroom, chatting together about Dallas.
Amanda froze, debating if she should move out of the stall and leave, or stay where she was and listen in. While she felt kind of sleazy for listening to what the women were talking about, she couldn’t help her curiosity and she was a bit tipsy. They evidently knew Dallas by the casual way they were talking about him, and when Amanda peeked through a crack in the door she saw that it was a group of four of the models, all dressed in their skimpy workout wear.
“Who’s that girl with Dallas?”
“No idea. Whoever she is she can’t be that important to him. He’s getting ready to do a photo shoot with Tammy right now. Her boyfriend is really pissed off about it. Not that I blame him. Tammy wants Dallas back, bad, and Kyle knows it.”
Another woman said in a pouty voice, “Don’t we all.”
Amanda swallowed hard, trying to fight off her irrational jealousy. He’d just been with her and she’d left him talking with some investors and had made no mention of doing a photo shoot with his ex-fucking girlfriend. Amanda debated leaving right now, or sticking around to hear what else the bitch had to say.
One of the other women giggled. “I hope he blows her off so we can have some fun. Think he’ll want to do a threesome tonight? You know how wound up he gets after these things.”
Looking through the crack again, Amanda watched a stacked brunette adjust the silver strap of the sports bra holding up her perfect breasts. “I hope so. I love it when he ties me up and spanks me. We went out on his boat once and he fucked me until I couldn’t walk. That man has stamina.”
Giggling, the women left and Amanda sagged against the door of the closed stall. Part of her wanted to cry at the mental image of Dallas having sex with that beautiful woman, while the other part of her wanted to claw the bitch’s eyes out. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and went back out into the club, needing to see Dallas and remind herself that he wanted her here, that he’d called her his girlfriend. But especially she wanted to see if what they said was true, that Tammy was getting her picture taken with him.
She found him waiting for her near the doors of the ladies’ room, surrounded by the bimbos who had been talking about him. The brunette in the silver outfit was practically smashing her tits against his arm, and he seemed to be soaking up the attention. When he leaned down to whisper in one of the women’s ears, she debated leaving right now.
Before she could move, a man wrapped his strong arms around her and whispered into her ear, “How about you ditch that loser and come dance with me, pretty girl.”
The man’s breath reeked of alcohol and she tried to move out of his arms, but he wouldn’t let her go. “Get off me.”
With a chuckle he released her, then spun her around so she was pinned between the wall and his arms. To her disgust she saw that it was Kyle, one of Dallas’s old rivals in the UFC and an all-around piece of shit. He was also the man who Tammy had left Dallas for and she wondered what the fuck was going on. From his watery red eyes to his rank breath he was clearly wasted.
“Awww, come on, baby. Don’t be like that.” He tried to bend down for a kiss and she ducked, easily avoiding his lips.
“Get the fuck off of me! What the hell is wrong with you?”
A second later Kyle was jerked away from her by a furious Dallas with a smirking Tammy at his back. Tonight the beautiful woman wore one of the new gold track suits for the women’s line and she looked amazing in it. The smirk disappeared from her face the moment Dallas looked at her.
Tammy blinked her eyes and actually wiped away a tear. “See, I told you she was kissing Kyle.”
Gaping at Tammy, Amanda shoved herself off the wall. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
Dallas turned to Amanda and she took an unsteady step back at the rage directed at her. “What the fuck, Amanda? How could you kiss that asshole?”
Kyle roared with laughter. “Hot little piece of ass you got there, Dallas. Bitch had her tongue down my throat and her hand in my pants. Guess you’re still failing to satisfy your women. Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of her.”
With a roar of rage Dallas punched Kyle and the fight was on. She stood there, stunned while the men traded blows and a crowd grew around them. Tammy stood off to the side, egging the men on while they beat on each other. Amanda screamed at Dallas to stop, that she didn’t do anything, but he completely ignored her.
Someone grabbed her and jerked her against the wall. She almost decked him before she recognized Austin dressed in a dark suit looking so much like his brother that she had to bite her lower lip to hold back her tears. His dark eyes studied her and she tried to look anywhere but him, not wanting him to see her crying.
“Amanda, what’s going on?”
She glanced at the fight, wincing as Kyle got Dallas good in the ribs. “That fucking asshole Kyle grabbed me when I was coming out of the ladies room and tried to kiss me. Your fucking asshole brother was too busy letting models feel him up to notice, and when he did he accused me of coming onto Kyle with that bitch Tammy at his side.”
Austin said something in a string of Spanish, then nodded. “I’m sorry you got caught up in that crazy bitch’s drama. Let me take you home.”