by Lauren Wood
Sandra’s hair had been in a tight bun, but I had a feeling that when I saw her tonight she would be a completely different person. I liked to take the good ones and make them bad for me. I was sure that I would be able to do that to her. I had faith in the system and my radar, even if it was a little more work. I was sure that was what I truly wanted.
After I lifted my spirits with tight spandex and pretty, desperate housewives, I made my way to the courthouse to pick up Grey. He was just getting out as I pulled up.
“I don’t know how you do it Leo, but you have the best timing.”
“So how was court?” I would never tell him that it was easy to be on time because he worked liked clockwork. All I had to know was what judge was on the stand and I knew what time he went out for lunch. They all had their preference and it wasn’t hard to see through it.
“It is a bitch. My main witness lost it and his temper on the stand. The jury is looking at him like a time bomb and there isn’t much I can do now. I didn’t want this case in the first place, but it is going to be worse than I thought. I think we should call it now, but I don’t have a choice. Sometimes I wish I could just drop them if I wanted to. But I took the job, so I am going to have to try to get Griffin off, no matter how guilty he is.”
I kind of nodded, but never really got what it was like to be him. I heard the stories of course, but at the end of the day I was a driver with far too much time on my hands.
“Are you bringing Cameron with you tonight or are you going solo?”
“Solo I think. She still doesn’t want to leave the baby with a sitter. I want to take her out, but she is stubborn and is convinced that no one else can watch the baby but her. She won’t even get a nanny.”
It was something I liked about her. I had always liked a little fire in my women and Cameron may be sweet, but she was stubborn as well. I was sure that she was a great mom just by the way she acted.
“Are you bringing a date with you to the club Leo?”
“I met this hot little chick at the stroller place earlier and she is going to meet me there. We will see what happens.”
“Sometimes I envy you Leo.”
“Why?”
“Because you are free.”
I scoffed and told him that I would switch places with him in a heartbeat. He didn’t like to hear that, not at all, but I was still very serious. I would have given my right arm to go home to his wife every night. I didn’t need freedom if I had a reason and woman to settle down for. He didn’t know how lucky he really was.
“Leo, you know how I feel about that.”
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t get your panties in a bunch. So we are we having lunch at?”
He told me that he wanted to go to the bistro down on fifth and I started making the trip. My mind was in the gutter today and he told me that I wasn’t paying much attention to the road. I wasn’t of course, but I never did.
“What is on your mind Leo?”
‘Not much boss, just thinking.”
“About your date?”
I shrugged. I hadn’t thought much about Sandra. She was just another woman in the long string of them. I wanted something more concrete, but today was turning out to be as useless as the one before it.
“No, she will be a dalliance for the night, but nothing more. You know the type. She is uptight and she will tell me as she gets naked that she never does this sort of thing, but we will both know that she is lying. I haven’t really thought about her much and after I fuck her brains out, I doubt I will think about her again. The city is full of women, but most of them bore me to tears.”
Grey smiled at me and told me that I would find the one soon enough.
“Maybe I am not looking for the one, but someone that I will remember the next morning would be nice.”
We stopped in front of the diner and I parked, getting out to follow him inside. I would never say it out loud, but I sure hoped that he was right. I was getting sick of the monotony of it all. There were plenty of beautiful women here, but one that stood out from all of the rest was hard to come by. Maybe I needed to get out of here for a while to find one. I had a vacation coming up and I was starting to think that I needed to hit up small town, USA and come back with a sassy one like Cameron that I could come home to every night.
Damn, I had to stop thinking about her. Why did I always want the little hotties that I couldn’t have? It was a problem that I needed to solve and I was hoping Sandra would be enough of a temporary distraction to help keep my mind on track.
Chapter 3
Celia
Hot Tots was a club that I hadn’t even heard of before. It was in a hole in the wall and if you didn’t know what you were looking, you would miss it altogether. Betty invited me out after work and it took me almost twenty minutes to find the place. I finally had to ask a couple of locals that I found in the street to point me in the right direction. Three of them didn’t even know where it was, but I lucked out with the fourth one because Carlos was going there as well.
“Just come with me. What is your name?”
“Celia.”
“Come on Celia. I will show you the way. My friend is playing in the band tonight. They are called the Undesirables.”
“That sounds like an interesting name. My co-worker from work really seems to like it here.”
I stopped when we got to the door because it was kind of a strange place to be and the name of the band was a little off putting. I had agreed because I just started at the restaurant and I wanted to make friends there, but this was a bit more than I was used to. It looked to me like a biker bar or something of the sort and there was a rough crowd on the other side of the door. It was not at all what I had expected and for a moment I wanted to turn right back around and go home.
When we opened the door, the light from the street filtered in and half of the occupants turned around to look at us. I felt a little strange having everyone staring at me in such a way, but Carlos urged me forward with a hand on my arm. I wasn’t a delicate kind of girl, but he seemed to think I was and he whispered that their bark was worse than their bite. I don’t know if I believed that or not, but I was sure that I wanted to leave as soon as I got there.
“Are you sure?” He didn’t look like the rest, tattooed, with piercing in his ears and leather jackets on.
“Yes, I am sure. I come here all of the time.”
“I don’t think I belong here Carlos. Maybe I should call her and make sure that this is where she was talking about. Betty may have given me the wrong name.”
Carlos grinned and asked if it was Betty DeMarco I was talking about.
“Yeah.” I had a sinking feeling then that I was in the right place and the man next to me waved at Betty. I was exactly where I was supposed to be and I groaned out loud with the knowledge.
“Okay, well I guess you are in the right place, which is good because I didn’t want to see you go. Can I buy you a drink to slow your nerves down?”
Carlos was nice and cute and I told him that he could. Betty and Mel were there from work and as soon as Carlos made his way towards the bar, they wanted to know if we were here together. I told them that we weren’t, but I got a look from the two of them that maybe we should be or rather maybe they didn’t believe me.
“He is cute Celia. I have seen him around many times. He is always in here, but I don’t think that I have ever seen him come in with someone before.” Mel looked from me to Betty.
I shrugged at Mel. Carlos knew who she was too and I had to wonder how well they all knew each other. Betty gave him a look at the bar that told me that maybe she had seen him outside of this place before.
“No, I couldn’t find this place because it is tucked into the other buildings so well so he helped me find it. Nice guy.”
“Cute guy.” Mel piped up and I could see her looking at him the same way. He was tall, dark and handsome, what all women were supposed to be looking for, but if I was honest with myself, he really wasn’t my type. I
wasn’t that into the mysterious bad boy thing. I liked the all-American style man and there weren’t too many of them like that around here. I thought that the sexiest thing that a man could wear was a suit, not leather and jeans.
“He is alright, but not really what I am looking for.” I wasn’t looking for anything really at all, but I did know what I didn’t want. I didn’t want a guy like that. I wanted a guy that I would have more in common with. All men were womanizers as far as I was concerned, but I at least wanted to pretend that they weren’t and it was hard to do when they looked like Carlos.
The smile on his face when he got back with my drink told me all that I needed to know. He had checked me out, looking my body up and down a few times as he walked up and at some point I wanted to tell him where my eyes were. They certainly weren’t below my neck where he kept looking.
The music started to play and I looked towards the band that was taking the stage. They were more the same, but a couple of the four guys looked a little cleaner cut and one in particular really caught my eye. The drummer was blonde and blue eyed. He wasn’t wearing a suit, but I was sure that he did on occasion. He was also clean cut and his hair was neat. He was the kind of guy that I was looking for, if I was looking. But I am not looking, I reminded myself.
The drummer was also paying attention to a young woman that was closer to the stage and I figured that she was his girlfriend. It was my luck of course. I always picked the ones that I couldn’t have. It was a talent of mine, one that I didn’t always like.
Carlos must have been feeling ignored or he noticed where I was looking because he asked me if I wanted to dance. The music was not really the type of music to dance to, but I was happy to get my mind off of the drummer. He was hot and I had all kinds of bad thoughts going through my head. Carlos pulling me up against his body wasn’t helping either.
I looked over at Betty and I could tell that she was not so happy about my dance partner. I tried to make some space in between us because I was trying to make new friends at work, not make enemies.
“What’s the matter Celia?”
“You and Betty, did you two have a thing going?”
“No, not really.”
I sighed and made sure that there was a little more space in between us then before. That was man code for the fact that they had sex and he didn’t call her back. I could see the yearning in the woman’s eyes and I should have known better.
“So you two did have a thing going?”
“Well yes, how did you know?”
I made sure he could hear my aggravation. “Because I can tell and men are all the same. Why don’t you go dance with her Carlos? It looks like she wants to dance with you more than I do.”
I broke contact and he looked at me like he wasn’t very happy. I wasn’t very happy to be duped and I hoped that he would do as I suggested because if not, Betty was going to continue staring daggers at me and I can’t say that I liked the feeling all that much. I wasn’t trying to upset her and the guy wasn’t even my type. Why did I always seem to go right, when I was supposed to go left?
Going to the table that Betty and Mel were at, I could feel the frostiness in the air and I wanted to warm it up a little bit.
“Carlos wants to dance with you Betty. I guess I am not the right kind of dance partner for him. I told him I would see if you were interested.”
She didn’t say anything, but the smile on her face as she got up was all that I needed to see. It perked her right up and I hoped that Carlos wasn’t a jerk to her. When would men get that a woman like her was going to get attached?
I watched the band for a while and I couldn’t help checking out the drummer. He was definitely hot and since he wasn’t paying all of his attention to the woman in the front anymore, I decided that maybe I should push for something more. I realized then that I was a bit too horny to ignore the tension as our eyes met a few times through the first set. But when it was over, he went to the other girl and I was left nursing a drink at the table with Mel.
Chapter 4
Leo
Sandra had come in all decked out, but after talking to her a few minutes before the music started, I realized that she wasn’t my type at all. She was pretty and her body was banging, but she was a meek little mouse and I had a feeling that no amount of booze was going to change that. It bothered me and I hoped that I hadn’t ruined my night thinking that she was going to be the one to keep me company. I thought that I wanted a good girl, but I wanted a little fire in her blood at the very least.
There was a blonde chick in the crowd that I saw dancing with a couple of guys while I played. She was hot, tall and had a huge set of knockers on her. I tried not to stare, but when I realized that she was looking at me just as much, I felt like maybe I could stare. She smiled at me a couple of times. It wasn’t the same as Sandra. She wasn’t doing it with a coy look on her face. She was looking at me like she was down to fuck and since I was as well, when the first set was over, I stopped to see Sandra for a minute, but then made an excuse pretty quick to get a few moments on the other side of the bar. The blonde watched me approach and she didn’t look away like she wasn’t paying attention. Why did I like the straight up look in her eyes so much when I always told myself that I wanted a good girl? Maybe I didn’t need to turn one. Maybe I just needed to find a woman that knew what she wanted from the get-go.
“Are you enjoying the show?”
“Yeah, I guess so. Are you done playing for the night?”
I shook my head. “No we take about an hour before we are going to start the last set of the night. I will warn you now though, half of the band is going to be drunk and it is never as good the second time around.”
She giggled and suggested that we not get so much to drink.
“You weren’t that good to begin with. I don’t know if you should take the chance to get any worse.”
She was giving me shit and I don’t know why I liked the idea of it so much. It was just the way she said it and the way it made me feel. Why did I like a girl with a smart ass mouth so much? It was hard to ignore the tightening in my pants. She was beautiful and sassy. There really wasn’t a better combination out there. The sarcasm got to me too and the quick wit.
“I will keep that in mind. I want to make sure our fans are happy.”
“Is that so?”
I agreed that it was. “Are you a fan?”
“I am warming up to the idea of it. This is my first time in here, so I will have to wait and see.”
“I know.”
“How do you know Leo?”
“Because I know I would have remembered a pretty little thing like you.”
She blushed and I felt a little bit of pleasure from that. I got the feeling that Celia wasn’t the type that was bashful and she didn’t blush very often.
“So now you are talking shit huh?”
“If that is what makes you smile, I will spit this all night.”
“What about your girl over there? She is here for you, isn’t she?”
I had forgotten about Sandra since I had seen Celia. I knew that I had invited her here and I knew that it was meant to be because we were going to get together later, but now I wasn’t so sure if I wanted to. I didn’t want to be with Sandra.
“Yeah, she was invited, but that was before you.”
“Well aren’t you a fair weather kind of guy.”
“Hey, Leo.”
I turned to see boss man behind me. I had forgotten about him too. He was supposed to come with me, but something had come up and now he was here. It was bad timing because I didn’t want to talk to Grey or to Sandra. I wanted to see where this connection with Celia was going. How did it all go so wrong, so quickly? One minute I was happy to have a night out with the guys, but then there was this other side that was ready to get out of here, screw the band and go see if I could talk Celia into coming back to my place. I felt something between us and I didn’t want to just walk away like I didn’t feel anything at
all.
“Hey Grey, I didn’t think you were coming.”
“I told you I would be here Leo.”
Yeah, but I wished he hadn’t showed up right now. I could see Celia was already looking around and I didn’t want her to go find her little friend Carlos that she had come in here with. It was a strange situation because he was my boss and I was the one that had invited him here. I couldn’t just ignore him and before I could figure out how to get a few minutes alone, I saw Sandra coming towards us. Fuck!
“So when are you playing?”
“I have a little bit of a break first and then our second set starts soon.”
“Well good. I am sorry I am late. The baby wasn’t feeling good so I helped Cameron get him to sleep before I left. I have the magic touch apparently because that baby was out pretty quick. She likes when I sing to her.”
It was all fascinating, but it was keeping me from what it was I wanted to do. I was sure that it was going to be okay. I just wanted to get her attention before she took off. I had never seen her in here before and I would be lying if I were to say I wasn’t afraid that she might not come back.
“Well come on Leo, let me buy you a drink. It is good to see you out of the car and in your real life.”
I shook my head and told him I would be at the bar in a minute. He was out of his element, but Grey didn’t seem to realize that. He was surrounded by thugs and criminals, but I suppose that his job made him used to that sort of element.
“I will be right there. I have to talk to someone real quick.”
“Did you bring that hot little piece from the store with you? I want to meet her.”
“She is here and she is coming this way, but she isn’t what I am looking for. Why don’t you go buy her a drink and get her off of my back?”
