CHAPTER 4: THE MOUNTAIN

Afterwards, Kelsey hopped out of bed, scooping up her clothes as though she was in a hurry.

“So when can I see you again?” asked Antares. He climbed out of bed, too, and reached for her, but she pulled away.

“You can’t,” she said, frowning. “This was a one-time thing.” She disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Antares standing there, stunned. A one-time thing? Normally, he was fine with that. One-time things were his thing. But with Kelsey, he’d wanted something more. Something lasting.

“Can I at least call you sometime?” he asked when she emerged from the bathroom.

“No. It’s better that you don’t,” she said coldly. Then she was gone.

He wasn’t ready to give up so easily. After a few phone calls to the studio where her show was filmed, he was able to get her phone number. She answered after a few rings.

“Hi, it’s me, Antares,” he said.

“What are you stalking me now?” Kelsey didn’t sound impressed.

“No! Of course not. I just…wanted to make sure you have my number. If you change your mind and decide you’re ready for something more serious, text me, okay?”

She sighed heavily. “Okay, look. I’m never going to call you. I’m with someone else, understand?”

“What…since when?” Antares clutched his phone hard enough to break it.

“Davis and I have been together for years,” she said. “We’re getting married next spring. You were…a mistake. I’m sorry,” she added, her voice softening. Click! The phone went dead. For a long moment, Antares stared at it in his hand. Then he crumpled.

Unbelievable! Kasey Holliday was already in a relationship! And not just any relationship. One with Davis Duff, aka “The Mountain,” star of five action blockbuster movies, including Razorblade Ridge and Shoot ‘em All. Antares could never compete with that kind of fame and glory. After all, he was only a panty model.

Over the next few days, he was able to piece together more facts about Kasey and Davis, whom fans had apparently shipped as The HolliDuff. They’d been together for eight years, in a passionate whirlwind of a relationship that had been captured by so many tabloids, you had to live under a rock, or simply be Antares, to not have heard of it.

Every now and then, the couple had a huge fight and took a break, but they always got back together in the end. Antares, unfortunately, had encountered Kasey in the middle of one of these breaks.

And now it was over.

For the next few days, Antares drowned his sorrows in tequila and gin. And the more he drank, the more his blood boiled. Why should he let that Mountain guy steal Kasey away from him? If he cared about her at all, he never would have let her go in the first place.

“I know what I’m going to do,” he told a random woman sitting next to him at the bar. “I’m gonna call him out. I’m gonna face that bonehead and win her back.” He downed another drink.

“Yeah? Good luck with that,” said the woman.

“Oh, you don’t believe I’ll do it? Watch.” Antares took out his phone and began to dial another number he’d acquired from his network. The number of Davis Duff.