"Kimber!" Jerrica exclaimed, coming out of the bathroom. "Where on earth are you going at this hour?"

It was almost midnight, and Jerrica had just caught her little sister sneaking out of their hotel room, fully dressed. Overdressed, was more like it. Kimber was in a frilly pink party dress, her hair pulled into a ponytail on the right side of her head. She looked at Jerrica, half-apologetic, half-embarrassed.

"Jeff asked to see me," she confessed.

"Oh?" Jerrica said. "So you're going to see Jeff, huh?" She didn't look happy.

"Well... he asked, but I told him no, because I wanted to go out with Sean tonight instead."

Now Jerrica smiled. Sean was a nice guy, a good-looking guy, a safe guy. She trusted him--more than she trusted Jeff. "Oh, with Sean... Well, have a good time!" She blew her sister a kiss and returned to bed.


Sean was waiting for Kimber outside. He readily opened his car door for her, and closed it after she'd gotten inside. He walked around the back of the Ferrari, cursing under his breath before climbing into the driver's seat and peeling out. He'd heard Jeff ask Kimber out for the evening, heard her reject. He'd been hoping that once Kimber and Jeff had gotten to the club, he could be there waiting. Waiting for Jeff.

But then Kimber had told Jeff "no" and ruined Sean's great scheme. So, he'd done what he'd known Kimber had wanted and asked her out. But he hadn't wanted to. Kimber was a friend, but she tried to get closer, and that irritated him. Why couldn't she just understand the way things were? He couldn't tell her; it would be scandalous. Sean Harrison, British teen idol, gay? He'd lose half his female fans, at least, surely. He trusted Kimber, but he also knew that the girl loved to talk. She was kind of a ditz sometimes, and sometimes ditzes let things slip.

"Why are you being so quiet?" Kimber asked, turning to face him.

"Sorry, dove. Thinking, that's all."

"Don't think," she whispered as Sean pulled into the club's parking lot. She leaned a little closer.

Sean began to sweat.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the window of the driver side door. Sean opened the door quickly and stepped out of the Ferrari.

"Man! I knew I recognized that car!" A man Sean recognized from the camera crew was standing next to him. "Hey, how are you? I know you're busy onset and all, but if it's no problem, could you give me an autograph right now?"

Will I! Sean wanted to shout. Another second, and Kimber might have had him trapped for real.

"Who's this, Sean?"

"Bill, right?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Harrison. But make it out for Emmy, will you? My daughter's a huge fan!"

I rest my case, Sean thought as he scrawled his name across the back of a young girl's photo. I can't tell anybody. But, oh, how he wanted to show Jeff!

Sean held the door open for Kimber and the two of them stepped inside the club, immediately submerged in loud music and flashing lights.

"Let's dance!" Kimber said right away.

Sean was glad this was a club made for dancing, not one of those places where couples swayed to slow love songs. Here at Club Beat they could avoid the mush. The music was all techno and rave, and bodies were pressed so closely together, Sean couldn't help thinking that if he and Jeff were shirtless, bumping and grinding on the dance floor, nobody would have thought twice about it.

The song ended after a few minutes, and Kimber was thirsty, so Sean led her to the bar. "What'll it be, luv?"

"I'll have a club soda, please," Kimber told the bartender.

"And you, sir?"

"The same, thanks." Sean paid the man and then leaned back against the bar as he sipped his drink. He hated club soda. But he had decided that if he were going to be miserable tonight, he'd go all the way with it. Hell, he might even kiss Kimber before the night was through.

"Oh, no! I don't believe it!" Kimber cried suddenly, almost choking on her drink.

"Kimber, luv--what's wrong?"

"Jeff!"

"What!" Sean gasped, genuinely surprised.

Kimber pointed down the bar where Jeff Wright sat, just a few stools down.

Sean's lips broke out into a smile. "Let's go say 'hullo,' shall we?" He dropped his glass to the bar and grabbed Kimber's wrist.

"No! Wait--Sean! I told him I was--"

"Well, Kimber, look at who we have here! What a surprise!"

Jeff Wright looked up from his third martini, frowning at the couple standing next to him. He'd been drinking for a while now, and thinking about that very couple. It took him one agonizingly groggy instant to realize that what he was seeing was real. Then his confusion quickly turned to anger.

"Kimber? Kimber! You told me you were going to bed early. What gives?"

"Oh, Jeff! I'm... I'm sorry..."

Sean smirked. If Jeff had been attached to Kimber in more than a platonic fashion, hopefully he'd destroyed any real affection the beautiful man might have felt for the dangerous vixen. "What's this?" he asked, feigning ignorance. "Kimber, if I'd have known you were tired, I wouldn't have invited you out tonight."

"Um... Well, that is... I was tired, earlier, but... Oh, Jeff, I'm so sorry!"

But Jeff wasn't paying her any mind--he wasn't even looking at her. His eyes were turned to Sean, full of hurt. "You asked her...?"

Sean shrugged, staring at Jeff with a cold gaze. "Why not?" He slipped an arm around Kimber's shoulders. "You're not jealous... are you?"

Jeff didn't have to think about it. The feeling that had nagged him for so long told him the answer.

Jeff climbed down from his barstool and nearly tripped, but he grabbed the seat to steady himself, refusing Kimber's proffered assistance. "I'm fine," he insisted, and he walked out of the club alone.

Kimber turned to Sean angrily. "Why did you do that?" she asked. "Why did you hurt him?"

Sean took great pleasure in that question. He was glad he'd been the one to hurt Jeff by dating someone else--not Kimber.

Kimber took one look at Sean's face, not at all remorseful, and her anger boiled over. She tore herself from his hold and started walking away.

"Where are you going?" Sean called, running after her.

"Back to the hotel!"

"Already? But we just got here," Sean laughed.

Kimber spun around again. "You thought that was funny, didn't you? Well, I didn't. Jeff is a good friend; I don't want to hurt him."

"Oh, but you didn't!" Sean shot back triumphantly. "I'm the one who hurt him. Isn't that what you said?"

Kimber glared. "You did this on purpose," she accused. "I'll never speak to you again, Sean Harrison!"

"Kimber! What do you think you're doing, dove? I've still got the keys!"

"I'm calling a cab!"


"Christ," Sean muttered, unlocking his car door. He really hadn't meant to do that. Not all of it, anyway. He could have played it like the coincidence it was, apologized to Kimber. Now she'd run back and cry to Jerrica, and that was one lady whose respect he liked to have. Jerrica Benton was a powerful executive, and her kind of professional connection could have helped him in future endeavors.

Whatever the case, he'd made Kimber very angry, and hurt Jeff as well. He hadn't really wanted to hurt Jeff. Make him jealous, maybe, but it was true pain he'd seen in Jeff's beautiful eyes.

Sean had almost slammed his door closed when a faint moaning sound made him pause. Looking over the Ferrari door, he saw a dark shape slumped in the shadows of Club Beat's brick wall.

"Fucking drunk," Sean cursed, but he knew he should at least get the poor bastard a cab. "Okay, buddy--no more drinky for you tonight, eh?" He picked the man up by his collar, holding him against the wall to support him. "What the devil--!" His eyes widened when he saw who the drunk was. "Jeff!"

Maybe it had been the wrong thing to do, but Jeff was practically unconscious, and Sean had no idea where he was supposed to be staying. So instead of calling a cab, he piled Jeff's body into the passenger seat of the Ferrari and strapped him in.