by Raven Scott
My giggle got lost under the music, even so close and I set my empty glass down to slide off my stool.
Once again, David took my hand, drained his beer, and led me to the edge of the dance floor. “Are you okay like this?” he murmured into my ear hotly as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pressed up against my back.
I nodded, closing my eyes as we swayed to the pulsing, energetic beat of the music. We were close to the corner of the room, where the bathroom and an emergency exit was, so I briefly wondered if the positioning was intentional.
To give me an escape route, if I got uncomfortable.
David was hot, his chest rippling with tension and power against my back, and I flopped my head against his shoulder. His hands flexed against my hips, his thumbs gingerly circling over the thin fabric of my white, strapless dress. For a moment, I just relished him against me, the pulse of the music, the fire rampaging through my veins.
“There’s no classy way to say you have a great ass, Vanessa.”
Groaning softly, I reached around to grab David’s ass and grind against his bulge.
His breath hitched loudly, cutting through the music. His cheek puffed when he smirked against my temple, his grip flattening against my abdomen to hold us flush together. “Are you okay like this?”
“No.” Before David could pull away, I grabbed his hands and put them right on my breasts. Goosebumps blanketed my bare skin and down my arms. His little, suggestive hum warmed my skin when he brushed his lips against my shoulder. Sluggish from a mix of caution and drunkenness, his fingers slipped under my dress, and I shivered a little.
“I’m gonna be up front with you—” David paused our swaying, his hand down my dress cupping my bare breast as he shouted faintly in my ear. Tilting my head with a brush of his free hand against my chin, his chest shuddered slightly when he exhaled hotly. “I really want to sleep with you, and I know I’m at least supposed to pretend to try to get to know you, but I don’t want to lie and say that and lead you on or anything.”
How often did I feel so happy and carefree? Twisting to raise my arms over his shoulders, I gasped when David squeezed my breast. “Fuck...”
“Yeah—” Tweaking my nipple, he stuffed his free hand down my dress to knead my breasts firmly.
Panting like a bitch, I ground my ass against his bulge and fisted the nice material of his jeans to hold us closer. “I don’t wanna date you anyway.”
“I don’t wanna date you either.”
Sniggering at his playful tone, desire flared in my abdomen when David pinched my nipples gingerly.
“I get it if you’re not comfortable with a one-night stand,” he said.
“... Just don’t hit me in any way,” I replied.
David paused, stiffening against my back.
I twisted to press my cheek against his chest. His arms slung over my shoulders, but he was quick to cup the back of my head. He smelled wonderful and I took deep, heaving breaths as we sort of swayed slowly. Left to right, we shuffled foot to food and maybe it was the alcohol making my mind swim...
But I felt... safe.
“Do you wanna get a cab outta here? Maybe, go to a different place with quieter music? And food?” His beer-stained breath warmed my crown.
I sunk into David’s chest. Working his knee between mine, he rubbed my pussy through my thong. The thick, rough fabric of his jeans ignited the embers in my abdomen. Fisting his plain, black wifebeater, I closed my eyes and shuddered as I humped his thigh in a disgraceful display. My breaths burned my throat as they morphed into ragged pants, and David’s groan skittered down my spine. Goosebumps swamped my skin under a thin sheen of sweat. His arm fell to adjust his bulge in his pants, his hot, sharp breaths rustling my hair.
The strobe lights flashed behind my shuttered eyelids, the music dying down under the roar in my ears. “Yes— yes—”
Powerful hands grabbed my ass and squeezed. David thrust as he pulled my hips to his.
Trembling wildly, I buried my face in his chest as the heat and the feel and the music— it all came crashing down on me. The tickle of his arm hairs against me, his hot breath streaming down my back as my thighs clamped down on his.
“Yeah, baby. That’s right.” Slapping my hand against his shoulder to have something to hold onto, I craned my neck as pleasure flooded every part of me. I clung to David, shivering, my core clenching around nothing and my clit throbbing to the beat of his heart against my forehead. My brain swam in a lake of alcohol and euphoria. I ground my teeth hard as I struggled to breathe.
I felt good, and I cracked open my eyes as the waves died down to weak ripples in my abdomen. David hiked me up, my knees hugging his hips, to skirt the dance floor on his way to the exit.
Swept away by the intense moment and the thick fog that settled on my mind, I closed my eyes again.
If this was how I was going to feel every day from now on, I should’ve killed that monster years ago. This was amazing. This was beautiful. This... this was me.
David stumbled onto the sidewalk, the air outside was cold compared to inside the club. Squeezing his hips between my knees, I slung my arms around his neck to rub against him. Hot hands kneaded my ass greedily, and he leaned heavily against the side of the building to sigh sharply.
“You wanna go get some waffles?”
His eyes lit up at my offer.
I pulled out my phone to order us a Lyft with trembling thumbs.
10
David
“So, how’d you become CEO of Brass Herring?” I couldn’t believe the turn this night had taken, and I propped my elbow on the table to hold my cheek in my palm.
Vanessa paused while shoveling a forkful of waffle, dripping with syrup, to glance at me, her baby blues flashing brightly.
I explained, “I did look it up beforehand— the firm’s been around longer than you’ve been a legal adult, right?”
“Um, yeah. I’m the CEO, but the founder and majority shareholder is my boss— Carlyle Santino. I took over a few years ago and I did great, so he was just all like... whatever.” Chomping down on her fork, Vanessa shrugged lightly, as if that wasn’t all that great an achievement.
While she chewed, I just admired her perfectly wild curls and happy glow. Is it from the waffles or the naughtiness before the cab ride, though?
“What about you, David? What made you apply for a senior management position when you have no experience?”
“Everyone has to learn somehow. My last job was in telecommunications, but it was basically dead-end.” I leaned back, sipping my coffee with a pleased hiss.
Vanessa arched a brow quizzically.
“I quit rather abruptly and had nothing else lined up. 30 was supposed to be the year I finally moved out of my mom’s, but I’m not quite there, yet.”
“Your mom is nice?”
Something in her tone struck me right in the middle of my chest and I nodded as I set my mug down.
“She doesn’t want you to move out?”
“I think it’s more... she knows I’m working, trying, and not just being a bum, and she wants to help me succeed. If that means never converting my bedroom into a sewing room or something, she’s okay with that. My mom’s the kind of person that’s very much ‘as long as you’re doing something.”
Vanessa puffed out her syrup-glossed lips thoughtfully.
I picked up my fork to cut off a piece of my own waffle. “I think, ever since my parents got divorced, she’s been lonely, too. My sister’s off going to marry some jerk, and she and I haven’t spoken in... God, it must be 16 or 17 years at this point?”
“Why so long?” she asked.
Frowning darkly, I inhaled deeply. I staved off answering as I took a bite. Thinking of Sarah still left a bad taste in my mouth, you might say.
Vanessa’s expression morphed thoughtfully as the seconds ticked by.
There wasn’t anyone else in this little waffle place; if she didn’t know the address by heart, I’d never have k
nown it was here.
“She’s 3 years older than me and she treated me really bad in high school. She was popular her boyfriend peaked in junior year and was into sports. My sister isn’t anything special, got average grades, didn’t go to college, didn’t try very hard... and I hate that shit so much. I was taking college pre-reqs and she ended up having to go to summer school to graduate on time because she failed a class. She bullied the absolute shit out of me, and her boyfriend was even worse.” The last thing I told my sister was that her behavior would come back to bite her in the ass, but it never happened. My mom still spoke to my sister almost daily, but I’d been stressing so hard recently that job-hunting took every waking moment. Some days, I didn’t even eat because I was over-worrying about an interview.
“I get that.” Her fork gave a teeth-rattling tink when she set it down to pick up her OJ glass. Vanessa caught my eyes and held them.
My throat tightened at the incredible hatred that flashed in her orbs, but her voice was hard and steady when she opened her mouth, “I had an older brother. He’s a boy, so he was able to go to school. He always used to lord over me that he could read and I couldn’t.”
“What? Like, you were homeschooled because you’re a girl?” Alarm rang in my voice, and I gripped my fork tighter. “That’s fucked up, Vanessa.”
Vanessa shrugged carelessly. “I wasn’t homeschooled. I wasn’t anything. My parents were super-religious, didn’t let me read anything but the Bible, I couldn’t talk to anyone if I was out. I wasn’t allowed to have long hair. All that freaky cult stuff. When I was 16, I ran away, but... like... what is money? What’s a train? If I go east, what’s over that way? I couldn’t even tell you at the time what state I lived in, let alone any others.” Vanessa smiled slightly. “I learned quick, though.”
I could see the disgust on my own face reflected in her eyes. This was fucking sickening, and I covered my mouth to hide my grimace.
She settled back on her side of the booth, her tight, white party dress glimmering under the yellow lights of the waffle hut.
Of course, she had a great many years to rationalize and fix the damage, but... what the fuck, man! “That’s terrible. It’s amazing that you were able to overcome that kind of hurdle, Vanessa. How did that shape your view of religion, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“My parents were wrong about me. It stands to reason they’re wrong about their views or, at least, their specific set of views are not good for me in particular. I’ve actually...” Licking her lips as she trailed off, Vanessa reached to rub her cheek with the backs of her fingers.
Anticipation raced through me incredibly powerfully, and I held my breath.
“I’ve thought about going back to church. Maybe, I could get some help. I’ve been... I’ve been having a bit of a moral dilemma, recently.”
“So... that man in your office during the interview— does he know what happened to you? Have you talked to anyone about wanting help?” I wasn’t dumb. I knew Vanessa was talking about being happy about the fact that the person who hurt her was dead.
She shook her head.
I hummed softly as my mind churned. “When my parents got divorced I was in college. I went to church a few times. Just to talk, get some stuff off my chest without feeling guilty for dragging someone into my drama. It was really helpful.”
“Reece is just... we both work for Carlyle Santino basically and sometimes, Brass Herring and Reece’s expertise overlap, or Reece needs an office to commandeer, and we’ve known each other a long, long time. We were hired by Carlyle around the same time and we’re the same age. He remembered my birthday, so... but I don’t think I would count us friends. I definitely wouldn’t talk to him about the church. He’s a very cold, analytical person, and if I did bring it up, he’d probably say something about how ‘it’s nice to believe in something but don’t think it’ll solve all your problems. Miracles are a scam!’”
Chuckling a little when she deepened her tone and rose her fist a little, I couldn’t shake the weight on my shoulders even as I sighed heavily.
“Did you grow up going to church, or...?” she asked.
“My mom dragged us kids every Christmas and Easter, but I was never really into it, no. My parents didn’t divorce until I was almost 20, and that’s when my mom got more involved…not crazy, but...” I’d always thought it was hypocritical to go to church only on holidays; it was like my asshole uncle on my dad’s side only showing up to a BBQ for beer and then leaving with full bottles in his pockets. “I try not to get into it, myself.”
“... When I was raped, I called my mom from a payphone, and she told me it was my fault for abandoning God. That I deserved it because I ran away. But... I don’t think I abandoned God. I abandoned my family. To abandon something, you have to have faith in it in the first place and my parents’ version of God isn’t what I’ve come to see Him as. Everyone has a different picture. None of them are wrong unless you try to push them on someone else.”
“That’s a great way to put it.” I didn’t know what else to say because like fuck was I going to argue about religion. Inhaling deeply, I grabbed my coffee mug and set my fork down to take a scalding gulp of brew. “I know it’s not the same, but high school was so brutal because of my sister and her boyfriend. I did a lot of therapy during college. If I found out my sister had died, I think it would be a struggle between feeling bad for being okay about it, and being okay about it. The moral dilemma obviously, is being relieved she can’t come crashing back into my life and fuck me up all over again, but also, she’s my sister and I know my mom would be devastated.”
“Yeah. Up until today, I never realized how much him being alive was messing with me. I never realized how unhappy I was, because I didn’t have anything to compare it to.”
My heart ached for her and I reached across the table to touch the back of Vanessa’s hand. She smiled warmly, and my own words were coming back to bite me in the ass. Maybe I do wanna date her. We’ll see.
11
Vanessa
“Okay— okay. You’re next.” I held up my fingers in a goalpost.
David leaned back, poising the thick football made of napkins. His brows furrowed in concentration before he flicked the ‘ball.’
I held my breath as it sailed across the table.
The trajectory was off though and David swore under his breath when the wad of napkins flew over my shoulder.
“Oh! Missed again! You’re terrible at this, David.”
“I should’ve reversed the rules. Okay. Ask me a question.”
Grinning broadly, I set my fingers down to tap the tabletop.
David’s eyes danced when they met mine. “I’m an open book.”
“Okay... Um-m...If you could go back to college, what would you study and why?”
David’s brows rose in surprise.
I nodded eagerly.
He then sat back to sip his coffee.
Expectation swam in my veins and the fun I was having had burned off those two fruity drinks I’d had at the club. Or, it could be the fact that we’ve been here for a few hours. The clock on the wall above the hostess station read almost 2am. I wasn’t tired. I wanted to keep talking, listening, having fun.
“I don’t think I’d go back, to be honest.”
Snapping me out of my thoughts, David’s voice deepened with graveness, and I propped my elbows on the table to hold my chin on my palms.
“I like working manager and supervisor positions, but it’s just a good job. I think, if I had the opportunity to pursue something I’m passionate about, college would probably ruin it for me.”
“What are you passionate about?” I asked.
David shook his head and leaned back to curl his arm against the back of his head. “That’s two questions. It’s your turn.”
I huffed air and groaned, ducking my head in defeat, as I grabbed a wad of napkins from the holder.
David chuckled lightly. “You know, Vanessa, at the interview
... I never would’ve guessed you’d be the kind of person to go to drunkenly shoot paper footballs in a deserted waffle place.”
“I come here a lot. The waffles are amazing, and it’s packed during the day, but deserted at night.” Fiddling with the napkins as I spoke, I glanced up to find David smiling at me, a tenderness blazing in his eyes. Heat swept up my neck and I licked my lips when my mouth suddenly filled with cotton. “To be honest, at work, I’m the boss. I like being the boss. I like making my employees happy and comfortable, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to buddy up to anyone. When people find out I was raped, their attitude always changes…permanently, too. There’s no getting around it. Imagine if all the educated people that work for me knew I was illiterate and got my degree online. And if you wanna get real brutal with it…I only got this position because Carlyle is my friend... sorta. That’d rub everyone the wrong way.”
“Yeah. I’ve never heard anyone say that. This morning, I really was caught off guard. I know that statistically, almost half the women I meet or see were assaulted at some point, but I’ve never had someone just say it to my face.”
My heart ached for David. I paused my folding the napkin.
He covered his mouth to hide his frown. “I don’t know what I expected, or if I expected anything at all.”
“My therapist was really great, really expensive, and said that admitting it out loud was the first step. She didn’t really let me say ‘it’ or anything to try to skirt the phrase. She was really aggressive about making me relive it until it stopped making me afraid and started making me mad. Mad at myself, because I couldn’t report it. Mad at him and his asshole friends. Mad at my mom for what she said. And I used to stand in front of the mirror and tell myself... one day, I’ll get real revenge, but until then, living and being my best is going to have to be enough.”
“Living your life happy may be the best revenge, but it’s definitely not the most satisfying.”
Surprise twitched my brows at David’s grumble, my eyes widening a little when he shot me a cocky, slightly malicious smirk. “The night I graduated high school, I swapped out my sister’s conditioner with Nair hair removal cream. That felt way better than when I walked down the aisle and she didn’t. I even took photos of her meltdown. It was glorious. I’d show you, but I haven’t gotten my new phone delivered yet.”
