The Dirty Dozen: Alpha Edition

by Kay Maree

  “Get extremely frustrated so that you give in to my amazing charms,” he said, cutting off my sentence.

  “You are so annoying, but I can see why people love you. Why your friends love having you around,” I grinned right before I slipped past him.

  So much for not drinking anymore, because I wanted another drink and to get out of his room. This place was slowly bringing down my walls, and making me want a thing or two that I knew were dangerous.

  I needed people around me, people to stop me from wanting to do the things I knew I shouldn’t.

  CHAPTER NINE

  RUBI

  Wow, this city really was amazing - Tower of London, The Crown Jewels, The Yeoman Warders guided tour, with their interesting and intriguing stories about life back in the 1500’s would most likely haunt me forever, but I’d loved it. All the history about how women were treated like absolute shit and men sliced each other’s heads off; Kings taking hundreds of concubines and wars that were fought over stupid religious ideas, and a woman or two. It seemed that sex and politics still ruled the roost.

  “Rubi?”

  “Hmmm,” I mumbled.

  “Rubi, we’re all going to the pub for some beers, did you wanna join us?” Fiona asked.

  “Raincheck? I’m kinda tired and think I’ll head home,” I replied with a smile.

  “Okay, so we’ll see you tomorrow for the Museum tour, right?”

  I nodded my reply and waved to the group before heading out towards the main road. I decided to hail a black cab to take me the few blocks back to the apartment. I thought for a moment how it was strange that cabs were black here, yellow in New York, and white or orange in Australia.

  I was so tired and needed a good sleep. Who would have thought that discovering the secrets of London could drain the life out of you? Sibi was working late at the law firm tonight, which meant I was fending for myself yet again, but that’s something I would have to get used if I wanted to move out of the home I currently shared with my parents.

  ***

  “You love this, don’t you?”

  “What?” I asked, turning to look at Rory, the Aussie backpacker who was on the London tour along with people from America, Switzerland, and Ireland; you name it.

  How to describe Rory? He was a talker, a very big talker. He chatted about family, friends, and his personal life; which I didn’t need to know about.

  He was in his early twenties, very cute, but a total adventure junky. He seemed to live for adventure, he had pretty much bungy jumped, climbed, and abseiled the majority of what Australia and New Zealand had to offer, and now he was in Europe ready to do some more crazy shit. When I thought about it, I decided he was radical and knew how to live, but he did it dangerously; a little too dangerous for my liking. I loved adventure and trying new things, but I was also cautious and certainly more so now since Ollie.

  It wasn’t the time to dwell on Ollie now…or ever. I was here looking at a beautiful museum, just one of the many I’d see on the guided tours I’d signed up for.

  “Pleasure doing business with you, Mark, I am sure the exhibit will be one for the ages.” I heard voices mumble in the background of the museum, but one stood out. I was fairly sure I knew who the voice belonged to and a shy smile crept across my lips as I turned to check out if the voice belonged to Mr Northman.

  “Aidan,” I yelped, unaware that I had just yelled out his name in a quiet museum.

  “Rubi,” he replied, walking over to me and snapping me up in an embrace. Fuck he smelled good, looked even better and darn…it had been way too long since I’d slept with a man and my hormones were driving me crazy. I wasn’t going to break from my rules just to sleep with my so-called friend.

  Is it strange to say that I’d missed this guy? I hadn’t seen or heard from Aidan in over a week. We seemed to both be busy doing our own thing--I was on tours, day in and day out, and Aidan had his work. Besides, I was so exhausted from the tours I’d been on that I had been sleeping lots. Sibi was busy, not going out on dates with Nate but constantly sleeping with him; and boy, did her neighbours and I hear their love making at two am most mornings.

  “Wow, feels like forever since I last saw you,” he whispered.

  “You saw me a week ago at your house if I recall, where you tricked me into using your personal bathroom instead of main one,” I chuckled.

  “I had to do something to get into my bedroom. Though I didn’t really succeed since I didn’t get you into my bed,” he replied, a smirk on his lips.

  “Oh my, you’re London’s most eligible bachelor and you’re trying to get girls into your bedroom by using such tactics,” I responded with a laugh, shoving him lightly, this was one of the craziest ways to pick up a chick. He was Aidan Northman, London’s most eligible bachelor, and he could have anyone.

  “Don’t laugh at me, you sassy minx.”

  “I’m sorry, but this is funny. You’re hilarious, with your witty pick-up lines and sleazy words. I hope they work for you with other girls, because they won’t work on me,” I threw back at him. He continued to smile as he leaned in. The man towered over me, but I kind of liked the feeling of being…

  “They might not work, but I know what will,” he whispered, his breath breezing across my face, sending an electric current racing through my body.

  “Rubi,” Rory said, tapping me on the shoulder and making me jump before I turned around to see his big brown eyes staring at me. I had completely forgotten that I was here on a walking tour through the museum. Shit.

  I found it a little strange that I felt uneasy with Rory and that I’d unintentionally leaned my body into Aidan for protection…it was seriously odd.

  “Aidan Northman, pleasure,” Aidan interjected, stretching out his hand to Rory. How rude of me not to introduce them, but something about this situation seemed weird. I wasn’t used to this, besides my body was still coming down from the weird electric charge from having Aidan so close.

  “Wow, the Aidan Northman, of Northman Enterprises, holy cow. You’re like a God in the artefact world,” Rory stated with a smile splitting his face from ear to ear, like he had just met someone famous and was star struck.

  “Tone it down Rory, Mr Northman here doesn’t want you drooling on his sleeve,” I smiled, turning back to Aidan.

  “The tour is moving on, you coming?” Rory questioned, looking back at our tour group.

  “Can I have a private word? I won’t keep you long,” Aidan asked, but I didn’t have much time to answer as he gripped my hand and dragged me over to a quiet and someone secluded little place where not many could hear or see us.

  “Please, tell me your free tonight?” he probed.

  “I might be busy.” I didn’t have plans and it was date night for Sibi and Nate, so I was planning on staying at home once again and enjoying the peace and quiet, until the two am sexathon Sibi and Nate would most likely insist on having.

  “I highly doubt you have plans, it’s not like you’re going out with Rory over there,” he waved, smiling.

  “Aidan, there is no need to be an arse. I’m free, what do you want?” I said.

  “You know what I want,” he remarked cheekily.

  “Aidan,” I said through gritted teeth.

  He sighed, “I wanna hang out, eat unhealthy takeaway, maybe a pizza, and watch a movie. Nothing more, I promise,” he implored.

  “Alright, I will be finished up here in about an hour or so--meet you back at apartment?” I replied.

  “I’ll see you then,” he smiled, slipping past me and disappearing through some closed doors.

  I didn’t know if I could completely trust Aidan’s intentions, but if he meant to make an effort at this friend’s thing, then I would try to make it work. I needed more friends. Rory might think we were friends but I hardly knew him, besides there was something a little creepy about him and I couldn’t throw that feeling off.

  In two weeks, the tours would be over an
d I would have plenty of time to explore other parts of London and the UK countryside. To be honest I was looking forward to trips to Paris and Denmark. Shopping was my Achilles heel. My father hated that I loved shopping more than other activities, but what was a girl to do when they were the apple of their father’s eye with a multi-million-dollar trust fund?

  “How do you know Mr Northman?” Rory inquired as I re-joined the group.

  “He lives, like, ten floors above me I think,” I smiled, dismissing any further questions. Rory and I didn’t know each other well enough to discuss things like this. He didn’t need, or have a right, to know about my private life. Not that anything I was doing with Aidan was private, we were just friends.

  “He likes you,” Rory declared.

  I sighed and turned back to look at him. “Well, for what it’s worth we’re just friends.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  RUBI

  “Where the hell have you been?” Sibi yelled as I stepped into her apartment.

  “Pardon?” I replied. Why she was so up in arms about me coming home late was beyond me. It was only one in the morning. It’s not like I’d stayed out all night, besides she hadn’t been around lately and it was a Saturday night, well early Sunday morning.

  “Answer the question,” she snapped.

  “Sibi, you’re not my mother or my keeper, and last I remember I didn’t have to tell you where I go. You never tell me where you’re off too,” I barked as I slumped down onto the couch. The truth was I had been hanging with Aidan again, which made this the fourth time in the last week.

  “You’re sleeping with Aidan, aren’t you?” she yelled, shocked by her own words.

  “Sibi, I haven’t slept with him. We talk, watch movies, and share popcorn, you know we’re friends; we’ve been doing the friends thing. Aidan and I are just friends,” I barked back. Darn…fuck…shit, she was getting on my bad side and that was a rarity for me.

  “Don’t bullshit me, you like him and he clearly likes you. You can’t tell me you two haven’t even kissed since the time you nearly went at it with him on my kitchen bench.”

  “I won’t lie. I have thought about it, but we both decided that being friend’s is something we would like to try. Although he tries to see how far he can push that friendship,” I chuckled. I had decided to keep things strictly friendly. Aidan, on the other hand, wanted more and at every turn he seemed to be pushing or slipping in little comments that hinted at more.

  “So wait, you’re telling me that you’re actually friends?”

  I scoffed, “Is it so hard to believe that he has friends, or is it just harder to believe he is friends with a girl?” I asked.

  “Yes Rubi, it is hard to believe it all. Aidan doesn’t do friends, like girly friends. He usually has them around for beneficial reasons, and I’m meaning sex, not cooking and cleaning,” Sibi replied.

  “Well, you’d better get used to it. We’re friends with no benefits, and I mean no benefits. I’m not sleeping with him,” I groaned. I’d had enough of her always butting in when it came to the men in my life. My cousin meant well, but seriously, she needed to think about her own relationship, which she refused to acknowledge. Wayne saw it, Aidan saw it, even Nate saw it. He saw it enough to ask her out and I knew the reason why she was now focusing on my non-existent relationship. She didn’t want to think about Nate mentioning that he liked her and wanted to take their relationship further, he wanted to try the whole dating scene with Sibi, but she just refused to see it.

  Unfortunately, her commitment phobia didn’t stop her from fucking his brains out all over the house, and Sibi was a vocal lover.

  “Sibi, I love you, but seriously nothing is happening with Aidan and me. Stop trying to butt into my non-existent love life and concentrate on Nate. Don’t you think you owe it to him to try and see if you two can make it together,” I stated.

  “Rubi, don’t you get it? Aidan doesn’t like women for anything other than sex. He doesn’t talk to them about anything personal; he doesn’t even ask his sexual partners how their days have been. He’s a player and he is obsessed with sex,” she remarked, fiddling with her hair.

  “Sibs.”

  “Rubs, you can’t lie to me - I know you like him.” She was going to be persistent until I opened up about this, but if I was opening up she had to do the same in turn.

  “Fuck Sib, I like him a lot but that still doesn’t allow me, or make me want, to sleep with him. I can’t Sibi and you know why,” I closed my eyes as I spoke. This was going to get deep and very personal, and I didn’t know how I would fare after this conversation, but I knew it had to happen. She had to fully understand what Ollie had done to me, in order to realise why jumping into bed with another man wasn’t happening.

  “Not every man is like that wanker and you need to realise that. You need to get over him and move on. Maybe get under Aidan, to get over Ollie,” she laughed.

  She’d never understand.

  ***

  AIDAN

  It was becoming worse, the need to resist the urge of temptation. I had promised Rubs I would try the whole friend’s thing, but it was becoming increasingly tougher. She was unlike any of the women I usually went for, and I guessed that was what attracted me to her. That, and the fact that she was stunningly beautiful with her brunette hair, intense emerald green eyes, and a body that called to me.

  She had curves in all the right places and even though I hadn’t seen anything more than the sight of her in a pair of satin shorts and a tank top, I could tell that the rest of her body was going to be just as beautiful. I could see myself completely at the mercy of this woman. She had me wishing, begging, and trying all the tactical moves guys make to get a woman into bed. None of them were working, and I was starting to realise I was going to have to work a lot harder to get what I wanted.

  “You like her?” Wayne smiled.

  “I presume you mean Rubi?” I responded.

  “No I was meaning Sibs? Of course I mean Rubi,” he remarked sarcastically .

  “I like her, but I have the feeling she’s an impenetrable fortress,” I answered with a smile as I thought about what I had to say for her to agree to having movie nights with me. So far she had picked every movie and I couldn’t complain, the girl liked action flicks, but she also loved her comedies and that was a sight to see. Rubi’s laugh could only be described as adorable. She totally had the little girl giggle going on, and every time she smiled a tiny dimple would appear on her left cheek.

  I know women thought men were hot when they had dimples, but fuck, a woman with those beauties was totally fuckable and I needed to not think about them, otherwise I would be spending another fucking morning in a cold shower.

  “Just know that if you mess with her she’ll kick your arse. In fact, I’ll kick your arse too,” Wayne smiled.

  “Do you like her?” I asked. Shit, was I stepping on Wayne’s toes. He was a loyal business partner and friend; I couldn’t pursue Rubs if Wayne liked her.

  “Yes, I like her, but it’s not what you think. I’m just happy if she’s happy, and I know you Aid…you love to play games and mess with girls’ heads. You love to bed them, then toss them aside. It’s not fair on the women and it’s certainly not going to help you in the long run when you’re alone,” he stated.

  “I get the point--Don’t fuck with her,” I said. I understood what he meant, Rubi was too sweet to destroy and I liked hanging with her.

  I just needed to pull through, focus on work, and not think about how good it would be to be snuggled up in bed with her tucked into me. I needed serious help with this Rubi issue; this girl was going to break me.

  ***

  RUBI

  You free tonight, I have something different in mind if your game?

  Who is this? I asked.

  It’s Aidan.

  How on earth did you get this number?

  I have my ways, sweet pea. Answer the question - you free ton
ight and are you game?

  Of course, I’m game - what did you have in mind?

  Sneaky shit. I don’t know how he managed to get my number, but I had a feeling Sibi might be to blame for it. She pushed and pushed the Aidan subject with me the other night, and I knew she would be pushing it even further. She believed the best way for me to get over Ollie was to get under Aidan. The problem was Ollie had ruined me ruined me for others. I didn’t know if I would be able to trust a guy again, let alone sleep with someone. Yet, deep down, I had this mind-blowing urge to do exactly what Sibi had said regardless of the consequences. Even if I landed in hot water, at least I could say I’d lived a little.

  Bring Pj’s and prepare to stay the night

  Aidan, what are you planning? I texted back.

  Secrets baby. Bring your Pj’s and remember you’re going to stay the night.

  Damn it, I didn’t know if this was where I wanted this to lead. As much as I was thinking about having fun with him I needed to know I could trust him. Sibi said he was a player, someone who used women then usually tossed them aside and moved on to his next prize. I was not planning on being another one of his prizes; he either stuck with me for the duration of my visit or he could seriously piss off and find himself another girl.

  “What has you smiling?” Rory asked.

  “Just a text from a friend,” I mumbled through a smile as I replied to Aidan.

  “It’s him isn’t it, Aidan Northman? Somehow he always knows how to get you to smile.” I bit down on my bottom lip. I hadn’t realised how close an eye Rory was keeping on me. We had about five days left of tours before our group went their separate ways and we were free to explore on our own. Rory was leaving for Switzerland and I was planning day trips and weekends away to France, Italy and maybe a day trip back to Sweden. I wanted to spend time at home in my own bed. I missed Moo, our beautiful shaggy pooch, that was probably being fussed over by our house staff.