by Shania Tyler
“I promise that I am coming, and I am not going to fall asleep on you again,” I promised her, knowing that she would demand to hear the words from my own lips before she would believe them. She was like that. She never believed anybody unless the told her exactly what it was that they meant.
“You had better not be lying to me,” Tessa demanded, and I could almost imagine her staring me down with her glossy green eyes, already done up for going out. It was one of the reasons I didn’t really like going out with her. She was so good looking that I always felt as though I was blending into the background whenever I was around her. With glossy red hair, bright green eyes, and a curvaceous figure, she was every guy’s dream girl. “I’ll meet you at the Black Orchid in forty-five minutes. Do not be late or you are buying the drinks all night!”
“All right, Mother, I’ll be there,” I promised again before I put the phone down and turned my attention to getting ready. I was in no way prepared for going out, and I had no idea what I was going to throw on. I wasn’t even sure what mood I was in when it came to how attractive I wanted to be tonight. Sure, I wore tight dresses and heels to work every day, but in a dog-eat-dog world, it was important to always look good. For me, going out was my downtime, and I often thought of just simply dressing down in a t-shirt and jeans.
I laughed aloud to myself at the thought of that. Tessa would kill me if I turned up for one of her nights out dressed like one of the men she wanted to pick up. I could imagine her horrified expression as I approached the line waiting to go into the bar, and it was almost priceless enough just to do for the fun of it. Yet I knew that if I did, we would spend all night arguing over my wardrobe choices. In the end, I settled for a black lace body con dress with long sleeves and way too much cleavage.
“Look out, Black Orchid,” I said as I looked myself up and down in the mirror, slipping my feet into my black stiletto heels. “Here I come.”
I quickly called a cab before adding the final touches to my face with a little red lipstick and some mascara and gave my still damp hair another going over with the towel to add a little volume to my curls. Those curls were the one thing my friend had always been jealous over, and I wasn’t about to spend time getting rid of them.
The second I grabbed my handbag and headed out my front door, I cursed myself for putting heels on yet again. The out of order sign on the elevator almost seemed to laugh at me as I passed the closed doors and headed for the stairwell instead.
“Somebody really needs to fix that damn thing,” I huffed to myself as I began to storm down the stairs, the heels of my shoes clicking on every step as I went.
“You got that right.” The cute guy from 4B, whose name I had never bothered to learn, smiled at me as he came up the stairs, and I realized that he had heard me. He was freshly groomed, wearing jeans and a leather jacket instead of his usual working suit.
“Coming home so early?” I asked him as I put two and two together on the fact that he was coming home rather than going out. After all, you couldn’t exactly leave the building via the roof, at least not unless you were a billionaire with a private jet, and I was pretty sure that none of those lived in the building.
“Am I going home early or are you going out late?” the guy asked as he glanced at his watch, stopping to talk to me. I paused in my own descent to give him a polite moment of my time. Glancing at my own watch, I knew that it was debatable. It was almost nine o’clock on a Monday night and most people would be getting ready for bed due to having work in the morning. I rolled my eyes at the things my best friend made me do when all I really wanted to do was be like those people.
“I promised a friend I’d go out with her.” I shrugged, “Between me and you, I’d rather be snuggled up in bed counting sheep but don’t tell her that or she’ll flay me alive.”
My joke seemed to make him laugh but the truth was it was only half a joke. Tessa really would flay me alive if I flaked on her again. It was the only reason I’d plucked up the courage to leave my apartment and head out.
“Hey, did you get the package that I left on your doormat earlier?” he asked, and I groaned inwardly suddenly reminded yet again of Scotty and his stupidity. “Some guy dropped it off not long after you’d left this morning.”
“Yes, I got it, thanks.” I nodded and began to make my way toward the next step. “I should probably be going, or I will be late meeting my friend.”
The last thing I wanted to get into a conversation about was what Scotty had left for me. I wanted nothing to do with him.
“Okay, well then, have a good night, I guess,” he gave me a wave and the expression on his face was almost as though he was sad to see me go. I almost felt sorry for him going home alone. He seemed as though he was in need of some company but there was someone else on my schedule tonight and the truth was that 4B guy just really wasn’t my type. He was tall and athletically built but his hair was far too far and he had a boyish face that just didn’t do it for me.
“You have a nice night, too,” I called over my shoulder as I continued to head down the stairs.
By the time I made it downstairs, the cab driver was waiting impatiently for me with his fingers tapping on the steering wheel. “You took your time, miss.”
“I’m sorry. The elevator was out of order,” I apologized as I slipped into the backseat.
“I don’t need your life story,” the pig snapped at me. “Where are you going?”
A part of me wanted to push the door back open and clamber back out. There was no way I wanted to give this idiot my money but when I glanced at my watch, I knew I would be late to meet Tessa if I mess around anymore.
“The Black Orchid Bar,” I told him as calmly as possible even though he had really pushed my buttons. I barely had the time to push my seatbelt into the buckle before he sped away from the curb. I clutched hold of the handlebar on the door for dear life.
“Could you slow down?” I called to him, but he barely seemed to hear me. In fact, I was almost sure that he had sped up. Clearly, he wanted to get this fare over with quickly so that he could get on to another one. Maybe he was in the running for most fares in one night or something but whatever it was, I didn’t like it.
By the time we pulled up to the Black Orchid, I felt as though I was going to throw my guts up. I handed the driver a twenty and waited for my change. There was no way I was going to be giving him a tip for driving like a maniac. He looked displeased at the realization as I held my hand out.
“Next time don’t drive like such a fuck and you might get a tip,” I told him with a scowl as I pulled myself out of the cab. I was still feeling nauseous as I stood on the pavement and took a moment to compose myself, pulling down the back of my skirt to make sure that my butt wasn’t exposed. Taking in deep breaths of cool evening air, I closed my eyes for a moment in an attempt to stop the spinning in my head.
“Ruby? Are you all right?” Tessa’s voice came from behind me and when I turned around to face her, I almost rocked right off my heels. She reached out to grab hold of me even as I reached for her arm to steady myself. “Whoa! You look positively green.”
“I am,” I told her through pursed lips, still trying not to throw up everywhere. “That guy drove like he wanted me to throw up in the back of his cab just so I had to pay the fine.”
Even as I spoke, the cab raced away from the curb, ready for its next fare and proving my point. Tessa watched it go and shook her head before she turned to me with a bright smile. “I’m glad you came. I got here a little early so that I could scope out some of the hotties, and I’ve definitely seen a few go in there.”
“Please don’t tell me we are here scouting for men again.” I rolled my eyes at her. I hated being her wing woman. She always picked the guys who had ugly best friends, and I was always stuck entertaining them while she had her tongue down somebody’s throat.
“Well, it is singles’ night.” Tessa shrugged as though it wasn’t a big deal, and I groaned loudly at her as I shook m
y head. If I had known that, I would never have agreed to come in a million years. She knew that as well as I did and that was why she hadn’t mentioned anything until now.
“You are a serious sneak, Tessa,” I told her. “I am going home.”
“No! Wait! You just got here!” She grabbed hold of my arm so that I couldn’t turn and begin to head down the street toward the nearest taxi bank. “Come on. Just have one drink with me and see if anybody takes your fancy.”
“They won’t,” I shook my head. The truth was I hadn’t been interested in any guy I’d met since Scotty and I broke up, and I was pretty sure that one singles night at the Black Orchid wasn’t going to change that.
“How do you know if you don’t try?” Tessa demanded, and she placed her hands on her hips, looking at me as though I was a child and she was my mother scolding me for giving up on something before I’d even really tried. “You never know. Your prince charming might be mere inches away from you right now.”
I glanced around at the men on offer in the line waiting to go into the bar. That gave me the shivers and not in a good way. They all looked slimy or arrogant or nerdy. Not a single one of them was my type.
“I really don’t think that he is,” I insisted. “But seeing as I am here. I will take the drink if you are paying. I need something to settle my nerves after that ride.”
“Great!” Tessa wasted no time in linking her arm with mine and racing to the front of the line.
“Hey!” several of the other members in the line began to shout as we stepped up to stand in front of the bouncer.
“Hey, Flash.” Tessa fluttered her eyelashes at the bald, tattooed security guard and his eyes flashed as they always did whenever he saw her.
“Well, if it isn’t my favorite girls.” Flash grinned at us, and I couldn’t help but smile. Although he was more acquainted with Tessa than I cared to mention, he had always been nice to me. He wasn’t like most of the bouncers in town, who tried to take advantage of their position and use it against the women so that they could get into the club. Although I was sure that Tessa wouldn’t have a problem with that even if he was. She seemed to like doing the racy things some of the guys asked of her, like flashing her boobs to get us in for free or giving one of them a kiss. It didn’t happen often but when it did, she thrived off the attention.
“What’s the damage to get in tonight?” Tessa asked him as she sidled up to him and wrapped her arm around his broad shoulders, looking as though she was pushing herself farther onto her tiptoes just to reach.
“For you beautiful ladies, entry is free,” Flash told us, and Tessa grinned at me with a wink.
“Hey! No fair!” one of the women in the line yelled from behind us.
“Yeah! You can’t let them cut in!” one of the guys who was with her added.
“Maybe if you hadn’t worn that hideous jacket, I might have let you in by now,” Flash shot back at him.
I glanced over my shoulder to see that the guy was, in fact, wearing a hideous red leather jacket that looked like something from Back to the Future.
The guy pulled his jacket on a little tighter around his shoulders and scowled at us.
“Go right on ahead, ladies,” Flash told us as he picked up the red rope blocking the door and gestured us inside.
“Thanks, Flash,” Tessa told me as she pecked him on the cheek and he instantly began to blush a little. For a masculine, broad-shouldered man, he wasn’t difficult to make blush, especially when it came to Tessa and her charm. All she had to do was say jump and he would ask her how high.
“Anytime, princess,” he called after us as we headed into the music that blasted at us from the inside of the club. As soon as we entered, Tessa began to dance as she walked. She was up for a good night and I found myself wishing that I could share in her enthusiasm. The truth was that all I really wanted to do was go home and climb into bed. I was still struggling to fight off the yawning episodes since I’d woken from my dirty dream on the sofa and the truth was that those thoughts were still prowling around my mind.
Inside the club was jam-packed and Tessa grabbed hold of my wrist to guide me through the crowd to the bar so that we wouldn’t lose each other.
“Two martinis, please!” she yelled to the bartender over the music as soon as we hit the counter, and I felt my stomach churn at the thought of it. Tessa was ready for the hard stuff—me, not so much.
* * *
11
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CHAPTER ELEVEN
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Major
“You have got to be kidding me,” I shook my head at Tommy as we turned the corner of the street and the bar came into view. It looked as though it was an old warehouse that had been turned into a dance club with neon lights lighting up the entire front. People were milling around and at least twenty of them were in line waiting to get inside. The music that blasted from the building wasn’t at all the kind of thing I liked to listen to, and I couldn’t think of anywhere I’d want to be less.
“What’s wrong with it?” Tommy scowled at me and when he clapped me on the shoulder, I barely managed to stop myself from sucker punching him. “It’s been too long since you last went on a date. It’s time to get back in the game, man.”
“Picking up random women at my bar and taking them home for a one-night stand is not a date,” Tommy assured me, and I groaned inwardly. He knew me so well and I sometimes hated him for it. “It’s time you got out into the world again and met yourself a nice girl. Hopefully, bring your chances of catching something nasty down.”
“I’m always safe,” I reminded Tommy, but the truth was that the last few times I’d taken a woman home, I had been too plastered to remember her name let alone if I had been safe or not. The only telltale signs I had were the foil wrappers and used rubbers I found strewn on my floor.
Maybe he’s right. Time to find myself a nice girl and stop all this messing around.
But the truth was that I liked all the messing around I’d been doing. It helped me forget about my problems. Even if that was mostly the alcohol.
“Come on, bro.” Tommy slapped me on the shoulder again. “Just give this one go for me?”
“What are you doing going to a singles night anyway?” I scowled at him with a raised eyebrow as I saw the singles sign that was hanging on the wall of the club. “What on earth would Jean say?”
“She would understand that I am trying to get my best friend back on the straight and narrow and find him someone as wonderful as she is,” Tommy told me, and it was then that I remembered him telling me how he had met Jean. She had been on her hen do for a marriage she really didn’t want, and he’d been out for my birthday. The two of them had hit it off instantly and been inseparable ever since. I guess in a way I did want that. I was beginning to feel lonely. After all, the women I always took home weren’t much to talk to when they always seemed to have nothing but air between their ears.
“Fine,” I sighed, and Tommy wasted no time in pushing me toward the line. “But something tells me we aren’t even going to get in. I mean, look at that line!”
“That’s what you think,” Tommy laughed, and I was shocked when he pushed right through the line to the very front of the line. Several of the men were disgruntled but I saw the way they glanced at my tattooed muscular arms and thought better of crossing us. I could feel a few of the women checking me out but even at a glance, I could tell that not a single one of them was for me. They just didn’t have the spark that set my heart racing.
One woman who did do that to me was one woman I could never have. I gritted my teeth at the thought of her and tried to get myself under control. Ruby was way off limits, and I had to remind myself that every chance I got.
“Tommy!” The bouncer greeted my best friend as though they had known each other for years. They embraced in a quick man-hug before Tommy clapped me on the shoulder again and be
gan to introduce me.
“Flash, this is my best friend, Major Lawson, and I am determined to get him laid tonight,” Tommy explained as he squeezed my shoulder in a show of brotherly affection. “He’s in desperate need, if you know what I mean.”
“I’d love to help, boys, but we are almost full, and these guys have all been waiting for an hour.” Flash pointed to the line behind me, and Tommy rolled his eyes at him.
“What’s it going to take, brother?” Tommy asked as he dug into his pocket for his wallet and I couldn’t help but shake my head at my best friend. He always knew how to talk with his money, and I found myself glancing over my shoulder to see how many people in the queue had noticed what was going on. Of course, every single one of them had noticed. After all, they had been waiting patiently to get in for so long it was only right that they would notice two grown ass men skipping the queue. “How about a ten?”
“Make it a hundred and you’re in,” Flash said with a straight face. Tommy glanced at me and sucked air between his teeth as though he was shocked by the price of admission. Then he began to dig into his wallet and pulled out a bill. He was about to hand it to Flash when he suddenly slapped his hand away and shook his head, shaking with laughter.
“As if you actually think I’d charge you of all people for entry!” Flash laughed. “Besides, I think some of the women inside might pay me for letting your friend here in.”
He looked me up and down as though he was getting the full measure of me, and I couldn’t help but smile at him. There was nothing about this guy that told me he was into men, but he clearly knew what the women he catered to liked and I wasn’t going to complain about that.
“I always knew having a good-looking friend would come in handy,” Tommy laughed, and sucker punched me in the arm.
“I am glad I could be of assistance to you,” I laughed, and Flash let us slip past as he pulled the red rope out of the way. “Cheers, man.”
