Player of Life (Perception Book 4)

by Shandi Boyes

  “Don’t go hiding” he instructs firmly while smiling.

  “I’ve been wondering if you blush anywhere other than your neck when you become flustered” he continues cockily. I can feel my cheeks pink hue turning bright red as the waitress comes and ask if we are ready to order.

  My companion chuckles at my flushed face, before he places an order with the waitress for burger, fries and a milkshake. His confused gaze stares at me when I only order a cup of coffee.

  “I only had breakfast an hour ago” I end up admitting. He smiles while he slightly shakes his head.

  “What is your name?” I question as the waitress starts filling my coffee cup.

  She coughs while raising her eyebrows at me. I guess even she can feel the sexual attraction between the mysterious stranger and I, making it even more awkward that I don’t know his name.

  Chapter 7

  Nick

  What is it about this girl that makes me want to make her blush? She is incredibly beautiful, but there is something about her that just makes me want to strip her naked and see how flushed I can really make her.

  I had arrived at the café twenty minutes before the designated time we had organised to meet. Just as I was starting to get worried that she wasn’t going to turn up, I spotted her little blue car pulling into the carpark. I quickly pushed off the wall and strolled over to assist her out of her car. When I roamed my eyes over her body, I noticed she was dressed a lot different today than she had been last night. She had on a white cotton floral skirt that sat at her knees, a long sleeve dusty pink shirt and a matching colored cashmere cardigan. At first I thought she looked like she was about to go to church, until I looked down and saw the killer high white stiletto shoes she was wearing. It made her appear taller than her small height and it added a little bit of sexiness to her ensemble.

  When we were seated at the café and she peered outside to the view of Bronte’s peak in all its glory, she smiled her incredibly stunning smile that instantly made my dick twitch.

  “It’s so beautiful” she whispers softly.

  “It sure is” I replied while staring directly at her beautiful face.

  I hadn’t noticed last night under the strobing lights of the club that her hair is more strawberry blonde in color. Her eyes are a lighter blue than mine and the pink flush she gets on her neck, also extends to her cheeks when she becomes flustered.

  The longer I stay staring at her, the more I want to make her blush all over. The sexual attraction between us is that obvious, I was tempted to pull her pouty lips over to mine by the back of her head, until the waitress interrupted us by handing us our menus. Jenni quickly roamed her eyes over the menu and it was only after a few moments did I realise that she was utilising the menu to block my view of her flushed and heated cheeks.

  “Don’t go hiding” I chuckled as I removed the menu from the front of her face. It took a lot of effort to get her cheeks to become that flushed and I want to get the full benefit of seeing her all hot and bothered.

  “I’ve been wondering if you blush anywhere other than your neck when you become flustered” I advise her cockily, triggering her cheeks to go even pinker.

  When the waitress arrives back at our table, I place an order for a burger, fries and a milkshake. I am starving since I haven’t eaten anything since dinner last night. The waitress then turns towards Jenni to take her order. I am surprised when she only orders one cup of coffee. The waitress takes our menus as I stare at Jenni wondering why she only ordered a drink, when mere minutes ago she had told me she was hungry.

  “I only had breakfast an hour ago” she informs nervously.

  I smile at her as I slightly shake my head, while at the same time being grateful she had said she was hungry or I may have died from malnutrition.

  “What is your name?” she questions curiously.

  The waitress gives out a little cough while she raises her eyebrows at Jenni. Clearly unimpressed that she is on a date with a guy she doesn’t even know.

  Once the waitress finishes filling her cup, Jenni quickly mumbles a thanks before her blue eyes flick back to look at me, smirking at their exchange.

  “I’m so glad you find it amusing, she now thinks I am tart” Jenni replies while smiling softly. I am sure she will be a truly delicious tart, once I get the chance to sample her.

  Jenni adds cream and sugar to her coffee before she lifts the mug to her mouth and blows on the scorching hot liquid. Watching her lips form into a little circle as she blows warm breath out of her mouth, makes my dick stiffen that quick it is almost painful. When her eyes peer up from her coffee to look at me, her face morphs into confusion.

  “Are you okay?” she questions concerned.

  I smile at her as I nod my head. I don’t think she would appreciate me telling her that she makes my dick rock hard when we are supposed to be on a friendly date.

  “My name is Nick” I advise. She looks at me curiously before she slightly shrugs her shoulders.

  “What?” I question, confused by her reaction at finding out my name.

  “I just took you more as a Jock, Pierre or a Christian” she informs while smirking. When I look at her confused with my eyebrows pulled together, her smirk turns into her knock out smile.

  “They are names more suitable for players; Nick just seems a little too nice” she informs without any hesitation. This makes me laugh loudly.

  “You just haven’t met a true player yet” I reply cockily “You won’t call them anything but Nick after I am done with you” I continue, causing her cheeks to go a pink hue even though she is laughing.

  “I think I might know more about players than you’re fully perceiving” she states confidently as she sips on her mug of coffee.

  For the next thirty minutes, Jenni and I both sit across from each other in complete silence. The waitress promptly served my food and Jenni watched me devour a whole burger while occasionally stealing a few french fries from my plate. It didn’t feel awkward, as when you carefully watch Jenni, you have the ability of getting to know her more from her unspoken words than needing to ask her questions. Like how she always double dips her fries into the ketchup before she places them towards her lips. She chews slowly and always blinks before she swallows and her pupils dilate every time she notices me staring at her.

  Once I have finished paying the bill, we walk outside to stand on the concrete footpath.

  “Thanks for the coffee” she whispers softly before she slowly walks towards her car.

  I quickly follow behind her trying to think of some excuse for her to stay a little while longer. The hour we just spent together in the café isn’t nearly enough time with her. I haven’t even had the ability to use all of my charm to woo her out of her panties yet.

  “Did you want to go for a walk along the beach?” I question, triggering my own eyes to roll at my corniness.

  I don’t do romance and flowers and I just used one of the worst pickup lines in the world to try and get her to stay a little longer. There is only one thing I have ever done down at that beach and it certainly isn’t walking along it.

  When she turns around to look at my mortified face, I try to make myself appear more like a gentleman that I am supposed to be, but I can tell that she sees straight through my act.

  “Thanks, but I really should get going” she replies while slightly cocking one of her eyebrows. “I’m not really in the mood for sand in my pants” she continues while giggling.

  Even though I know she is only teasing me, it doesn’t stop my dick from hardening.

  “Maybe next time” I respond confidently.

  “Maybe…bye” she whispers shyly before she hops into her car. I watch as she reverses out of the carpark and drives away.

  After seeing how much she blushes and the fact that she seems to have the ability to see straight through most of my tricks, makes me one hundred percent certain that I need to get inside of her panties. I just need to up my game, as I think this player
may have just meet his match.

  ****

  “That was quick” chuckles Tina as I walk past the bar. I smile at her while shaking my head.

  “If you ever give me the chance, I will be more than happy to show you exactly how long I last” I reply while I quickly stroll into Isaac’s office.

  Tina’s laughter only dies down once I close Isaac’s office door. When he notices that I have entered, his dark grey eyes look up from some paperwork he is perusing. When they roam over my attire, his eyebrows pull together tightly before his gaze turns back towards my face.

  “You actually went on a date?” he questions unbelievably.

  “Yep and I even ate real food” I reply while chuckling. I’m not the dating type of guy, unless certain body parts are on the menu. I move over towards Isaac’s desk before slumping down on the black leather chair he has opposite his large wooden desk.

  “Whatcha looking at?” I query when I notice the sullen expression on his face.

  “Just some personal stuff” he replies quietly, before he starts stacking the paperwork into a pile. Once he has the papers all gathered, he leans back into his large leather chair.

  “How much do you know about that girl Noah was talking about yesterday?” he questions, his tone a lot more serious than it was moments ago.

  “I don’t know her at all” I reply while slightly shrugging my shoulders and readjusting myself in his uncomfortable chair.

  Noah and I had assisted Jacob in pulling his famous panty dropping prank a few months ago and that is the only time Noah had ever mentioned her name to me. Except for yesterday, when he wouldn’t shut the fuck up about her. I had organised for Noah to help us in a hope of getting our band’s name mentioned to Isaac’s music executive friend. But instead of talking about the band, Noah spent most of the time talking about some chick he has only met a handful of times.

  “Can you see what you can find out about her for me?” Isaac questions as his dark grey eyes stare directly into mine.

  “What’s your interest in her?” I query curiously. Isaac didn’t seem that interested in listening to Noah yesterday when he was talking about her. So it has my curiosity peaked why he suddenly wants to know more information about Noah’s love life.

  “Just see what you can find out about her for me and I will give your band a mention to Cormack” Isaac replies quickly.

  “Seriously?” I respond excitedly. I’ve been doing shit chores for my brother for months wanting him to mention our band to his friend. If I have to do a little snooping on Noah’s love life to finally get our bands name mentioned, then I am willing to do that.

  “I’ll see what I can find out” I respond, triggering Isaac to smile while nodding his head.

  He opens his draw and gathers a few items before leaning over to hand me a couple of photos. The first photo shows a pretty brunette in a fluro yellow dress standing on the edge of the dancefloor. Her face looks concerned as she stares at something in the distance. The photo appears to have been printed directly from the security camera’s located around the dance club.

  “Is this her?” I question. Isaac smiles before he nods his head. I can understand Noah’s fascination with her, she is stunningly beautiful, if you’re into brunettes. When I flick to the next photo, my pulse starts to increase and a line of sweat forms along my forehead. The same girl is pictured standing in the middle of Jenni and Nicole. She has her arms wrapped around their waists as they walk down the entrance hall of the Dungeon nightclub.

  Oh shit, the girl Noah is interested in is Jenni’s friend. Now, she not only has the ability of ruining my chances of getting into Jenni’s panties, she also has the ability of ruining our bands chance of making it big the instant she sparked an interest out of both Isaac and Noah. Fuck!

  Chapter 8

  Nick

  “Do you need a lift or do you stand on the corner often?” I question cheekily.

  I had just drove into Erkinsvale with the hope of seeing Jenni and to my surprise the first person I notice when I drive into their small town is Jenni standing on the corner waiting to cross the busy intersection.

  Ever since our date two weeks ago I haven’t been able to get her out of my fucking head. I have called her a few times the past week to try and organise another date and all of my calls kept getting forwarded to her message bank. She has not yet returned any of my calls or messages, so my ego has decided to spend its Monday afternoon driving to her Hicksville town just in a hope that I would stumble upon her and force her to talk to me.

  I knew it wouldn’t have taken long for her friend Emily to pass on a stern warning to stay away from me, but I don’t give up that easily. When I want something, I won’t stop until I get it. And I want Jenni, I want her underneath me, I want in my bed and I want her screaming my name when she comes.

  When her light blue eyes turn to face me, her eyes narrow, before she quickly turns and starts walking down the sidewalk. I pull my black truck down the side street, whilst the motorists angrily honk their horns since I just ran a red light. With how quickly Jenni is trying to get away from me, I needed to make sure I didn’t lose her out of my sight. Once I illegally park in a disabled carpark, I undo my seatbelt before bolting across the bustling main street of Erkinsvale.

  “Just give me five minutes” I request as I dart and stand in front of her, using my body to block her quick strides down the street.

  She tries to side step me, but I continue to block her path until she eventually lifts her angry eyes to look directly into mine, such a little firecracker.

  “I don’t date players” she informs sternly.

  “I know that, but I thought we had fun the other weekend?” I question while slowly roaming my eyes over her body.

  This girl is like a chameleon. She adapts her outfits to her surroundings. Today she is wearing a pair of ripped jeans, white van shoes and a one shoulder loose flowing crochet shirt with a tight white singlet underneath. She is full on casual and still looks fucking hot.

  “Your band has a whole song dedicated to how much of a player you are” she informs with one of her eyebrows lifted into her hairline.

  I try not to smile at the fact she knows about the song. I love that fucking song. I know Noah was trying to stir shit when he wrote it, but it is one of those songs that once you hear it, you can’t fucking forget. I was ecstatic when they eventually added it to our playlist. Ours fans love it too and before Noah hooked up with Emily, he benefited just as much as I did from that song every time we performed it.

  When Jenni notices my smirk, she rolls her eyes before her own face morphs into a small smile. It isn’t her knock out smile, but I will take any smile she is willing to give me.

  “You’re unbelievable” she murmurs before she quickly walks past me and recommences walking down the street.

  “I will be more than happy to show you how truly unbelievable I am” I yell, causing several people walking along the footpath to stop what they were doing to stare at me.

  Jenni turns back to face me as she continues walking backwards. The smile on her face is now her knockout smile and she is slightly shaking her head.

  “Better luck next time” she responds giggling before she quickly runs across the street and jumps into her little blue BMW.

  She can act like she doesn’t want me, but I know that it is all part of the game. Anytime you tell someone they can’t have something, it makes them want it even more. Once her car is no longer is my vision, I make my way back to my truck where I find a parking attendant giving me a ticket.

  “I was gone for like two minutes” I angrily inform as I grab the ticket off my windscreen. The parking attendant shrugs his shoulders and mumbles something incoherent under his breath.

  I throw the ticket down onto the floor of my truck, before reversing out of the carpark and taking off down the street. I’m sure getting inside Jenni’s panties will be worth the one hundred and eighty dollar fine I just got.

  On my way back t
o Ravenshoe, my cell phone starts ringing. I’m surprised as fuck when I peer down and see that Slater is calling me.

  “Hey, I’m heading to rehearsals now” I inform while my eyes dart to the clock displayed on my car radio. I still have an hour before I have to be at rehearsals so I have no clue why Slater would be calling me.

  “Rehearsals have been cancelled fuckface” Slater angrily informs. This surprises me; the only time the band has ever cancelled a rehearsal the past three years was when Noah’s brother Chris committed suicide.

  “Is everything alright?” I question sincerely.

  “Not that you’d fucking care but Jacob is in some deep shit. He went and beat some guy nearly to death with his bare hands. Noah’s trying to get him a lawyer but it doesn’t look good for old Jakey boy” Slater informs roughly before he disconnects the call.