by Isabelle Rae
When Summer Ends
By Isabelle Rae
Copyright © 2012 Isabelle Rae
All rights reserved.
The right of Isabelle Rae to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted , in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
All characters in this publication are fictional and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks must go to Mollie Wilson who made the adorable cover for this book.
This book is dedicated to my mum, and my older sister. I love you both dearly.
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Epilogue
Chapter One
My vision was a little blurry as I continued to dance. My head was just that little bit fuzzy from the alcohol. My legs had that rubbery feeling, like I wasn’t quite in full control of myself. “Shall we drink some more?” my best friend, Amy, shouted to me over the music.
I shook my head. “I can’t drink anymore, I’ll be sick,” I answered, turning my nose up.
“You’ve only had four drinks,” she teased, laughing hysterically at me. She always did think I was a little bit pathetic because I couldn’t hold my drink at all.
“You can have one. I’ll come to the bar with you,” I shouted back, grabbing her hand so we didn’t get separated in the packed club. My other two friends didn’t want a drink, so we left them dancing.
Amy led me to the bar so I stood behind her as she waited for the barman to notice her. After about five minutes she still hadn’t been served. She turned back to me with an apologetic smile. “I desperately need to pee, can you keep my place? The guy hasn’t even looked down this end yet,” she said, nodding to the barman who was serving up the other end of the busy bar with his back to us. The place was packed, and he was on his own, he must have been a little stressed.
“Yeah, okay,” I agreed, moving into her space quickly. I leant over the bar a little so I could see if the barman was coming up this end. I watched his back; he was wearing nicely fitted jeans and a black T-shirt with the club’s logo on the back. He looked pretty toned from what I could tell, and his ass was edible. I was happily watching his ass when he turned around so I accidentally looked at his crotch. I blushed and looked away quickly, grateful that he hadn’t caught me.
Suddenly, he was walking towards me; horrified, I quickly shot my eyes up to his face. He was so handsome that my mouth started to water. His brown hair was messy and swept to one side, his mouth twisted into a smirk as he walked right up and stopped in front of me. He was tall, probably about six foot one. I felt my breath catch in my throat as I looked into his eyes. I couldn’t quite make out the colour because the club was dark, but they were fairly light, so clearly not brown. He was looking at me so intently that it made my heart start to race.
“Hi. Do you want a drink, or are you happy looking at the scenery?” he asked, smirking at me.
Damn, he’s got a sexy voice. I laughed. “Well the scenery’s pretty good in this club,” I replied, nodding, raising an eyebrow trying to look sexy. I had no idea why I was flirting with him. If he worked here then that meant he was over twenty-one, and he’d probably assumed I was too, considering I’d used a fake ID to get in the club.
He grinned. “Yeah, my views pretty good too,” he flirted, looking me over slowly. I grinned and leant back slightly so he could get a view of the bottom of my dress. It was pretty short, not my usual type of dress at all, but I thought I would go for something different tonight.
“Hey can we get some service down here? We’ve been waiting ten minutes,” some guy shouted, waving his hard around angrily.
The barman looked at me apologetically. “I’ll be right back.” He walked off to serve the angry looking guy. I couldn’t stop myself from glancing at his ass again. It certainly was a pleasant view, I wasn’t joking.
After serving Mr Angry, he came back to me. “So, have you decided what you want?” he asked, running a hand through his tousled hair.
“Um, yeah. Can I get a rum and coke?” I asked, trying to think about what Amy would want. He poured the drink and put it down on the counter in front of me before smiling and walking off to serve some other people. I watched him, confused. How much was the drink? He’d walked off before I paid for it. “Hey, you didn’t charge me,” I called to his back.
“It’s on me,” he replied, not looking at me. Around me, people continued to shout their orders at him while he struggled to keep up.
The guy next to me slammed his hand down on the bar and growled in frustration. “Seriously, how fucking long does it take to get a drink in this place?” he shouted angrily.
Wow, there’s going to be a riot soon. Why isn’t there someone else to help him run the bar? “Why are you on your own?” I shouted, waving to get the barman’s attention.
“We’re short tonight, so I’m on my own until Kane comes back from his break.” He shrugged, continuing to serve. Well that isn’t fair, people are being so rude to him as he serves them and it isn’t even his fault! I turned around and boosted myself up onto the bar, swinging my legs over the other side, and dropping down. “Hey! What the hell are you doing? Get back the other side, no customers are allowed back here!” he instructed, frowning at me angrily.
I waved my hand dismissively and turned to the nearest man that was shouting abuse. “What can I get you, handsome?” I asked, smiling sweetly.
“Four bottles of bud and four shots of vodka,” he answered, leaning in, smiling now.
“Sure.” I gave him a flirtatious smile before turning back to the barman who was staring at me, a shocked expression on his face. “Well don’t just stand there looking at me, get to serving!” I teased. “And how much does that order come to?” I asked, grabbing four beer bottles from the fridge behind me.
“Er, we have a special on bud with a shot for the next hour. It’s four bucks each, so sixteen bucks in total. Most people will be ordering that,” he stated, still looking at me shocked.
I nodded and grabbed four shot glasses from the side, looking around
for the vodka. He pointed to the wall where the bottles where hanging. “Thanks.”
“Thanks for this. I’m Will, by the way,” he said, walking off to the next customer.
“Chloe.”
I finished serving the guy and took his money. I had no idea how to work the cash register though. I was standing there looking at it confused; it was one of those electronic ones with a touch screen. I had no idea what I was supposed to do to make it open. I winced and raised a tentative hand, deciding some button mashing was in order.
Just as I was about to start a long sequence of button pressing in the hope that something would happen, two arms shot around me from behind, making me jump. Will took hold of my hand, guiding it towards the screen. “Touch here,” he instructed, tapping my hand on the screen at the top right. A menu appeared with little boxes with the names of the drinks. I felt a blush creep up on my face at how close he was. His hard, toned body was pressed against my back; his breath blew across my cheek making me hot and bothered. “Just tap the drink you made. You made four happy hours,” he continued, tapping my hand on the ‘special offer’ icon four times. “Then click total. Then cash,” he stated, moving my hand to the right places. The cash drawer shot out at me quickly. His other arm went across my waist, pulling me back into his body so the drawer didn’t hit me in the stomach. “You might want to be careful, a pretty little thing like you could get hurt by the big bad register,” he whispered in my ear, making me shiver. Then he was gone, leaving me there, my whole body tingling, my mouth slightly open, and my breathing coming out in uneven gasps. My mind was whirling with thoughts of how hot he was.
After regaining my composure I served a couple of other people, when I suddenly spotted Amy looking around for me. “Amy!” I shouted. She didn’t respond and carried on looking around for me worriedly. “Amy!” I grabbed an ice cube and threw it at her. Her head shot up in surprise as it hit her on the shoulder.
She gasped and looked at me, confused, before shaking her head and walking over to me, grinning. “What on earth are you doing?” she asked, laughing.
I gave her a little twirl. “New job. Do I make a convincing bartender?” I asked, winking at her.
She laughed harder. “Seriously, Chloe, what are you doing behind the bar?”
I went to serve the guy standing next to her so that I could talk to her. “Will was on his own, people were getting annoyed so I thought I’d help him out.” I shrugged.
“And who’s Will?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at me. I nodded over my shoulder at his back. Amy looked over at him. “Wow, nice ass,” she complimented, giggling.
“I’m going to help him until the other guy comes back from his break, then I’ll come and find you,” I called over my shoulder as I went to serve someone else.
“Sure, have fun,” she replied, winking at me.
I was actually having a lot of fun; the guys were flirting with me like crazy. I refused to serve people unless they were singing and dancing, so people were having a lot of fun waiting to be served, which made Will laugh. I’d been told to keep the change loads of times and had about forty bucks tucked in a glass under the bar. Not that I could keep it though, it should be Will’s really. I didn’t get a chance to speak to Will much because it was too busy, but I brushed past him a few times, sending him flirtatious smiles. I was trying not to though; he was too old for me and probably thought I was twenty-one instead of seventeen, so I certainly shouldn’t be lusting after him like I was.
After about half an hour the rush started to slow down because the happy hour finished. Will came over and stood next to me. “Thanks for this, I really appreciate your help,” he said, handing me a glass which contained a white creamy looking drink.
“What’s that?” I frowned at it. It didn’t look too appealing.
He grinned. “It’s called a Screaming Orgasm. I thought I’d give you one as a thanks,” he stated, smirking at me.
I blushed like crazy and giggled. “It’s not called that.”
“It is. You’ve never had one?” he asked, raising his eyebrows innocently, even though his smirk clearly showed there was nothing innocent about it at all.
Okay, well I guess I can flirt with him, that’s harmless after all. “A screaming one?” I asked, narrowing my eyes, pretending to think. “No actually I don’t think I have, you’ll be giving me my first,” I stated, trying not to blush when I said it.
“Well then I’m honoured.” He flicked me on the nose as he walked off to serve someone else. I took a hefty swig of the drink and almost gagged; it was disgusting and had so much alcohol in it that it burnt my throat. “You don’t like it?” he asked, faking hurt.
“Sorry, I guess you have too much confidence in your ability,” I replied, handing it back to him, still wincing as I rubbed my mouth with the back of my hand.
He laughed and knocked the drink back as he leant against the bar, watching me. Taio Cruz; Dynamite, started, and I squealed excitedly. “I love this song!” I chirped, dancing and singing along with the lyrics.
He just watched me with an amused smile on his face. “Wow, you’re a terrible singer.” He laughed.
I rolled my eyes and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards me. “Dance with me, payback seeing as the orgasm you gave me was a let-down,” I teased.
He laughed and put his hands on my hips, pulling me closer to him as we started to dance. I put one hand on his hard chest as we were grinding against each other, making my whole body burn and tingle with need. Damn, he is so hot. My breathing was coming out in pants. I desperately wanted him to kiss me even though I was clearly too young for him.
“I get off in another hour when the other two staff get here, how about I buy you a drink or some food as a real thanks,” he suggested, brushing my hair away from my face with his fingertips.
I didn’t want to drink anymore, but I was actually quite hungry and could really go for a pizza or something right about now. “I am quite hungry,” I admitted, biting my lip, thinking. I really shouldn’t go with him, I don’t even know the guy, I shouldn’t go off with him, I should just stay with my friends...
“Great.” He smiled a dazzling smile, his eyes twinkling. I desperately wished they would turn up the lights so I could see the colour of them, they must be blue or green, they were too light for brown, definitely.
Just then a man wearing a black T-shirt the same as Will’s, lifted one side of the bar and walked in, looking at me shocked. “What the hell are you doing letting a customer back here?” he asked, shaking his head, but smirking at Will. He obviously thought we were getting it on or something.
“Chloe was helping with the happy hour rush,” Will explained, shrugging easily, his eyes not leaving mine. “So, can I get your number so I can give you a call when I’m done?” he asked, looking at me hopefully as he pulled out his cell phone, holding it out to me. I nodded and punched in my number excitedly. “I’ll be about an hour then,” he said, leading me over to the gap in the bar. Just as I was about to walk off he caught my hand, making me stop. “Wait, I forgot to give you something.” He stepped closer to me, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
I looked at him curiously. What have I forgotten?
He bent his head quickly and kissed me lightly, just for a second. His soft lips seemed to match mine perfectly. I was actually too shocked to kiss him back. When he pulled away he was smirking at me, so obviously I looked a little shocked. My whole body was screaming for more and I wanted to grab him and rip his clothes off and have him take me in the middle of the bar.
“Er… right… well… I’ll… um… yeah,” I stuttered, feeling a blush creep up onto my face again.
He flicked my nose again. “You honestly are too cute.” He laughed and turned back to the bar, closing it behind him and walking off without a second glance at me. I sighed happily and made my way over to my friends who were still dancing. I spotted Amy’s back, she was making out with some random guy. I rolled my eyes and went to my
other two friends, Emily and Catherine.
“Where were you? Amy said you were helping behind the bar?” Emily asked, looking confused, as if she thought maybe Amy was drunk or something.
“Yeah I was, they were short staffed,” I confirmed, nodding. “And now I have a plans with an extremely hot bartender in an hour,” I added, waggling my eyebrows.
Emily and Catherine laughed. “You’re such a slut,” Emily teased.
“I know,” I joked. That wasn’t true though, we both knew it. I’d only dated two guys before, and both of those had been serious boyfriends. Well, at the time they were serious anyway, but they didn’t work out. I’d split up with my boyfriend of six months, Nick, at the beginning of the summer and hadn’t even had a date since then because I just wasn’t interested in anyone.
As we danced and I told them every single detail about Will, the kiss, and the flirting. After a little while my phone rang in my little clutch purse. I answered it nervously, knowing it must be him because it was an unknown number.
“Hey, Chloe, I’m now finished. Do you still want to go and get something to eat?” he asked.
“Yeah okay,” I agreed, swallowing my nervous excitement.
“I’ll meet you by the front door then.”
“Okay.” I turned to my friends. Amy was practically jumping up and down with excitement, she was probably thinking of all the gossip she would get tomorrow. “Right guys, if I get killed then tell my parents that I love them, and you guys can fight over my iPod,” I teased.
Amy pulled me into a hug. “Make sure you tell him that we know you’re with him, then he won’t try anything. Tell him that we know he was the last one you were with, and we’ll be able to tell the cops if he murders you. Promise me you’ll tell him,” she said, looking at me seriously.
Wow, maybe this isn’t such a brilliant idea at all. “Um, Amy, please don’t say things like that, you’re scaring me.” Maybe I should call him and tell him I’ve changed my mind or something.
