Chapter 10: Chapter 10

Margret’s POV

“You’re wearing the red dress or I’m stabbing you,” Amanda called from the kitchen zone, as I’d begun calling it. It certainly wasn’t big enough to be labeled a full-fledged kitchen. I’d gone from an echoing, rambling Studio in the Los Angeles suburbs to an adorable East Village apartment roughly the size of my former living room. It felt even smaller once I’d unpacked, put everything in its place, and I was staying with my two closest friends both of whom resided in San Fransisco. I may or may not have had a big fight with Williams that had made me pack my bags from the elegant hotel we were supposed to be staying at and moved over to this decent apartment of my friends who were roommates. The living room/dining room/kitchen area was framed by giant wooden windows, but the effect was more aesthetic than practical and more fishbowl. Amanda was only visiting for the weekend, for this night of celebration, but she’d already asked me at least ten times why I’d chosen such a tiny place. The truth was, I was confused with Williams. I was having the sickening feeling whenever I was around him and I thought the best way to get rid of it was to put some distance between us. In the bedroom that was assigned to me, I tugged on the hem of the miniature, sequined dress and stared at the extreme amount of blindingly pale leg I was offering up tonight. I hated that my first instinct was to wonder if Williams would think it was too revealing, while my second instinct was to realize I loved it. I’d have to delete all of those old Williams programs, immediately. Raymond was going to be there too and I needed to play my cards right.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t wear this.”

“Can’t think of one.” Loretta walked into the bedroom wearing a deep blue number that flowed around her like some kind of aura. She looked, as usual, unbelievable. “We’re drinking and dancing, so showing some skin is requisite.”

“I don’t know how much skin I want to show. I might be introduced to some big people in business” I said. “I’m dedicated to my freshly minted single-girl card.”

“Well, some of the women there will be showing bare ass, so you won’t stand out if that’s what you’re worried about. Besides,” she said, pointing to the street below, “it’s too late to change. The limo’s here.”

“You should be showing bare ass,” I said. Loretta gave a little secret smile and tugged my arm. “Let’s go, gorgeous. I’ve spent the past few weeks with my nose buried in folders. I’m ready for a night out with the girls.” We piled into the waiting car and Amanda popped the champagne. With just one tingling, bubbling gulp, the entire world around me seemed to evaporate until we were just three young friends in a limo barreling down the street to celebrate a new life. And this night we weren’t just celebrating my arrival: Loretta was getting hitched, Amanda just got promoted and yeah, it’s the beginning of my victory over Satan. The club was dark, deafening, and filled with writhing wet bodies: on the dance floor, in the halls, against the bar. Megan thee stallion was playing and I could see bare ass flying in the air while erected pricks strained to touch them when they land. Amanda and Loretta seemed entirely in their element. I felt like I’d spent most of my childhood and adult life so far at quiet, formal events; don’t get me wrong I was far from being an introvert but neither was I close to being a social butterfly. After I got hit hard by my relationship with Raymond and how my best friend betrayed me, it was safe to say I coiled into my shell but now I wanted to live. I didn’t want to be the girl that shied out of opportunities because I was cheated on by one dumpster. I shoved my way up to the bar—cheeks flushed, hair damp, and legs feeling like they hadn’t been properly used like this in years.

“Excuse me!” I shouted, trying to get the bartender’s attention. Though I had no idea what any of it actually meant, I’d already ordered slippery nipples, cement mixers, and purple hooters. At this point, with the club at maximum density and the music so loud it shook my bones, he wouldn’t even look up at me. Admittedly, he was slammed, and making such a small number of tedious shots was annoying. But I had an intoxicated, newly affianced friend burning a hole in the dance floor, and said girlfriend wanted more shots.

“Hey!” I called, slapping the bar.

“Sure is doing his best to ignore you, isn’t he?” I blinked up—and up—at the man pressed close to me at the crowded bar. He was roughly the size of an Australian stallion and nodded toward the bartender to indicate his meaning. “You never yell at a bartender, Maggie. Especially not with what you’re going to order: Almond hates making girly drinks.” It would be just my luck to meet a gorgeous man just days after swearing off men forever. The same I had been preparing to meet. Well, here it goes.

“How do you know what I was going to order?” My grin grew wider, hopefully matching his, but most likely looking a lot tipsier. I was grateful for the drinks I’d already had because sober Maggie would give him monosyllables and an awkward nod and be done with it. “Maybe I was going to get a ‘Lick me till me ice scream’. You never know.” I winked.

“Unlikely. I’ve seen you ordering ‘ankles in the air all my life.”

“My taste changed” I shifted on my feet and he followed my movements. He had angled features with a sharp jaw and a carved hollow beneath his cheekbones, eyes that seemed backlit and heavy, dark brows, and a deep dimple on his left cheek when the grin spread down to his lips. The bartender returned, then looked at the man beside me expectantly. My beautiful supposed stranger barely raised his voice, but it was so deep it carried without effort:

“Two shots of ‘bubbly sex; sex on the brain; ankles in the air, and lick a horny bitch’ Almond” He turned to me, wearing a smile that made something dormant warm deep in my belly. “What style would you add?” His words exploded in my brain and my veins filled with adrenaline.

“What did you just say?” Ignorance. He tried it on, smoothing it over his features. Somehow he made it work, but I could see from the way his eyes narrowed and from past experience that there wasn’t an innocent cell in his body. “Did you really just offer me different sex styles?” I asked.

He laughed, spreading out the biggest hand I’d ever seen on the bar just between us. His fingers were the kind that could curl around a basketball and dwarf it.

“What if?” I looked more closely at him. Friendly eyes, standing not too close, but close enough that I knew he had come to this part of the bar specifically to talk to me. “You give good innuendo.”

The bartender rapped the bar with his knuckles and asked for my order. I cleared my throat, steeling myself. “All night long?” I ignored his irritated huff and turned back to Raymond.

“I know what you want Raymond,” he said, grin fading slightly but never leaving his constantly smiling eyes.

“And so do I.” I glanced back to where I expected to see Amanda and Loretta dancing, but I couldn’t find them in the tangle of bodies on the floor. I was so rusty in this ritual I was practically revirginized.

“I bet you also wear pants.”

I narrowed my eyes. “That means something else in reverse psychology, doesn’t it? Are you giving me innuendo again?” His laugh spread warm across my skin.

“Maybe… uhm” he was looking around and scratching the back of his neck. When he said this, the “hmm” sounded like a noise he might make during sex, and something inside me melted. While I gaped at him, my stranger tilted his head, looking me over. “You’re rather sweet. You don’t look like you come to these kinds of establishments very often.”

“Isn’t the girl that was supposed to be my best friend?”

“Don’t bring her up. You’re the freshest thing in this place.” He cleared his throat and looked to where Almond was returning with my shots. “Why are you carrying all these sticky drinks out to the dance floor?”

“One of my friends just got engaged; the other just got promoted. While I’m here for business, I’m also here to do the girls’ night out thing. We are celebrating”

“Does your boss not mind?”

“No he doesn’t give a fuck” I said suggestively causing Raymond to chuckle. He definitely caught up to my joke.

“So then you’re likely to leave here with me.”

I blinked and then blinked again, hard. With this frank suggestion, I was officially out of my depth. Do I really need to keep up with this façade?

“Pity, I’m with my boss”

“Your boss who doesn’t give a fuck. Surely we can compromise” he shifted closer to me. “I mean, I already have a strong urge to devour you.” His words were delivered slowly, almost a whisper, but they rang through my head like a cymbal crash. It was obvious he wasn’t new to this kind of interaction—the proposition of no-strings attached sex—and although I was, when he looked at me like that I knew I was bound to follow him anywhere. I could still be on this game of mine and have a little fun yeah? This whole thing with Raymond created sparks of my memories with him like the fourth of July. I knew with every pore on my skin, the purpose of befriending him but why could I not help it? Every shot I’d had seemed to hit me all at once and I weaved a little in front of him. He steadied me with his hand on my elbow, grinning down at me.

“Easy, Maggie.” I blinked back into awareness, feeling my head clear slightly. “Okay, when you smile at me like that, I want to climb you. And God knows it’s been forever since I last fucked you.” I looked him up and down, all pretense of polite society apparently gone.

“You know you only need to say the words, baby girl.” He purred. I took a steadying breath and was met with his amused grin. “I told you before Ray” I started off, curling my finger in his hair. “I don’t like to share and I’m here with friends, celebrating the awesome marriage they’re going to have, and so”—I gathered up my shots—“we’re going to do these.”

He nodded once, slowly, his smile turning a little brighter as if he’d just accepted a challenge. “Okay.”

“So I’ll see you later.”

“One can hope.”

“Red. Bubbly. Bath” I said as I retracted back into the dance floor. I found Loretta and Amanda at the table, collapsed and sweaty, and slid the shots down in front of them. Amanda put one in front of Loretta and held her own aloft.

“May all of your blow jobs go down so easily?” She wrapped her mouth around the rim, held both hands up in the air, and tipped her head back, swallowing the entire shot without blinking.

“Holy balls,” I mumbled, staring at her in awe, as Loretta broke into laughter beside me. “Is that how you do it over here...? I thought San Francisco was a holy land” I lowered my voice, looking around. “Like an actual blow job?”

“It’s a miracle I still have any gag reflex.” Amanda rather indelicately wiped her forearm across her mouth and chin, explaining, “I did a lot of beer bongs in college. Let’s go.” She nudged Loretta. “Bottoms up.”

Loretta bent to the table and took the shot hands-free, as Amanda had, and then it was my turn. Both of my friends turned to look at me.

“I met a hot guy,” I said without thinking. “Really hot. And, like, seventeen feet tall.”

Amanda gaped at me. “Then why are you standing here doing fake blow jobs with us?”

I laughed, shaking my head. I had no idea how to answer that. I could have left with him, and it really could have gone to BJ territory in someone else’s far more daring life. “It’s a girls’ night out. You’re only here for two days. I’m good.”

“Fuck that noise. Go get some.” I was sure she was screaming go get some real D because she didn’t know whose D I was talking about. She most likely thought I was referring to Williams since we have an inside joke of not calling him by his real name.