by Angel Steel
“Skylar, what are you doing here?” Nate asked.
Breathing through the pain as much as she could, she heard Jack answer for her. “We were having dinner, together.”
Nate looked between Jack and her, and a frown came across his face. Interesting. So he didn’t like the fact that she was on a date with someone? Well, the feeling was mutual.
“Nate, you promised we were leaving. Not stopping to talk to some random,” his friend whined.
Nate ignored her, still looking at Skylar.
“Some random?” Skylar piped up.
Jack wrapped his arm around her waist, laying his hand over her belly, and pulled her closer into him.
The pain in her side was getting worse; she needed to leave, immediately. Moving around Nate and the two women, she walked as best she could to the front door. When outside and close to Jack’s truck, she heard footsteps coming up fast behind her.
“Skylar.”
She needed to get home and away from him.
“So, you are on a date, then?”
“Of course I am. I told you, we both need to move on.”
Opening her door, as Jack walked around to his, she gripped the doorframe and tried to lift herself up, but was stopped by the pain shooting down her left side.
“Oh, God!” she yelped.
Jack was out of the truck and at her side in a flash, but so was Nate. She turned around to go to Nate, but Jack was in front of her before she had time to move his way.
Nate growled at Jack but he ignored him completely. Looking down at her, he asked, “Everything alright?”
“I’ll be fine once I get home,” she whispered to him.
Nodding, Jack moved past them, and helped her into his truck.
“Are you in pain?” Nate asked.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” she replied.
“I’ll meet you at your house.” Nate suggested, and then he turned and started to walk towards his truck.
“Don’t bother. I’ll be fine after I have a shower.”
“I don’t care, Skylar. That is my child you are carrying and if you are in pain or anything, I will be there for you and our child.”
Ok! She was not in the mood to argue with him. Once he was near his truck, both women jumped out as he spoke to them. Neither of them look happy at whatever he is saying! Right after that thought flitted through her mind; both of them looked her way, giving her a death stare.
“Really, but you promised us a hot night of fun, Nate,” the brunette said, loud enough for her to hear.
“Sorry ladies, not going to happen,” he grumbled towards them.
“What is the deal with the fat chick? We can give you more then she can ever do,” Blondie said.
Fat chick! She was Goddamn pregnant, for crying out loud. She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut to hold back the tears. He was back to his normal ways.
Closing her door, she called out, “Go have your hot night, Nate. That was your plan all along anyways. I’ll be fine by morning. I don’t need you there. Jack will look after me.”
She nodded towards Jack, and he started the engine.
“Skylar—”
“Just go do what you had planned.”
Jack reversed out and drove out of the parking lot. She looked out of the side mirror, seeing that Nate stood there watching as they left, and the two women jumped back into his truck. She really felt sick, knowing that he was going to spend the night with both of them.
Why couldn’t she just trust him? Her body did, but her heart thought differently. Damn heart. She couldn’t jump into another relationship or sleep with someone as quickly as he could. And she wasn’t going to start now.
“What time will Craig be back?”
Looking at her phone, she answered, “He should be there now.”
“Ok. If he isn’t, I’ll stay till he gets home.”
“Thank you. Sorry for ruining our night.”
“You didn’t ruin it, Skylar. There is no way you could possible do that.”
She sat, leaning to one side, trying to take the pain away from the other. She didn’t know why she was having this pain, the baby wasn’t due for another couple of months. Maybe it was all the stress her body was taking on. If it was still there in the morning, she was going to make an appointment to see the doctor. She really hoped it was nothing; she could not deal with any bad news right now. My baby is safe, she kept telling herself. Once she got home, she would have a shower to relieve the pain and crawl into bed with a tub of her favourite ice cream. She would worry more if the pain hasn’t gone by morning.
Chapter 32
A lot of things had changed in the next couple of weeks after her drunken night.
Dom wasn’t there the next morning when she awoke, which upset her, but as the day progressed, he made it up to her. She received a huge bouquet of her favourite flowers, tigerlillies. He had remembered. Then when she arrived home, there was clothing laid out on her bed, with a note.
Chantal,
Tonight is our night. Wear what I have picked out for you. Be ready at 7p.m.
Dominic.
She could not hide her smile. We are finally going to have our first date!
She did everything she normally did: washed her hair, shaved, covered her body in her favourite scent of lotion, and slipped on the lingerie that she had bought the previous day. He had made no note about what she was meant to wear under the dress he selected for her, so that was a surprise for him. The dress was black and off the shoulder. The tight material clung to her curves and the hem hit just below her ass. Unsure about the length, since she had never worn something that short, she was a little worried about showing so much skin in public. But she went with it anyways.
On their date, Dom had taken her to a sweet little restaurant in town; she was shocked at how romantic it was set up, as they were the only couple in the restaurant.
He fed her all night, starting with the appetisers, then the main, but dessert was a different story. There was only one plate, with a triple chocolate mousse cake. One spoon. The staff had left for the night, leaving them there alone. Obviously, Dom knew the owners, or had paid a lot of money to have the restaurant rented out.
As soon as the first spoonful hit her lips, she was soaked. He had worked her up all night. Light touches here and there, rubbing his hand along the hem of her dress, lightly stroking up her thigh, but not once did he touch her where she needed him the most.
They had ended up as far as inside his truck before he was inside of her. He ripped her thong from her body, before slamming into her hard. The echoes of her screams filled the truck and car park, but she didn’t care. It was over within minutes, which didn’t bother her, it had been the most powerful orgasm she had ever had in her life. She almost blacked out from the force of it.
Several days later, sitting at her desk as customers looked around her shop, she couldn’t remove the grin covering her face even if she wanted to. Dom had spent every moment he could with her, alone.
That was the only problem. Joey was never around. She had tried calling and texting, but always got back that he was busy with his bar. Maybe she should stop by on the way home and see how he was doing.
At the end of the day, as she packed up what she had to, she reached for the new package that had arrived with the new shipment of lingerie. She had picked this one out especially for him. Loving how it looked on the site she bought it from, she knew this would be his favourite.
Parking her car at the back of the bar, she walked in and sat in a booth, waiting to see Joey. Looking around the room for him, she couldn’t find him at all. She was getting ready to go into the back office, as a majority of the time he was there, when she noticed him walking back into the bar carrying a carton of booze. Rising from her chair, she walked up and stood there, waiting for him to notice her. After what felt like forever, he turned and frowned.
“What are you doing here?”
Well someone wasn’t in the b
est mood!
“I came to see you. Haven’t seen or heard from you in almost two weeks.”
“I’ve been really busy,” he grumbled.
“Joey, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, Chantal. You should go.”
“Why can’t I sit here and talk to you?”
“Because I don’t want you around here,” he snarled.
Gasping, a tear slid down her cheek. Pulling her bag over shoulder, she moved back away from the bar. How could he say that to me!
“Chantal, I’m sorry. I’ve had a crap week.”
“No, I know when I am not welcome,” she cried.
Running from the bar to her car, she tried to unlock it with shaky hands, but dropped the keys in the process.
“Chantal!” Joey yelled.
Shaking her head, she needed to go home. Joey wrapped his arms around her, holding her in place.
“Why were you here, Chantal?”
“I came to see you. You haven’t stopped by or rung in so long.”
“There is a reason why I haven’t done that, baby. I love you, Chantal. I have for a long time now, but seeing you with Dom is hard for me. I know you love him the way I do with you, but you will never love me the way I want you to.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks. “That still doesn’t give you the right to speak to me like what you just did in there, Joey.”
“I know, and I am truly sorry for that.”
“I do love you, Joey, just not the way you want me to. But I don’t want to stop seeing you. I love being around you,” she whispered.
“I know how you feel, babe. But I need more, and you can’t give that to me. It’s unfair to me; being around and seeing you act all lovey-dovey with Dom. That is what I want from you, and I will never get that.”
“I can’t stop what I feel for him, Joey. I have tried.”
“I know you have, Chan. Maybe it is best that we don’t see each other for a little bit,” he whispered.
Spinning around, she gasped. “Joey,”
“Chantal, please do this for me, ok. I need to get my life back on track. You are all I think about now, and I can’t keep doing that.”
She nodded. “Can we do something as friends soon?”
“We will babe, just give me a little while, and then we can do whatever you want.”
“Ok.” Joey let her go, and stood back. Sliding into her car, she reversed out and watched in her mirror as Joey’s silhouette got smaller and smaller, and then eventually disappeared from her eyesight.
Why did this have to happen today? She really did love him, but not the way he wanted. Why did she have to be the one to have two gorgeous guys in her life, wanting her love?
Chapter 33
It had been a week since Chantal last saw Joey. She really missed him being around, but she stayed away just like he had asked her. It was hard to do. She missed him badly.
She had tried ringing Skylar to see what she had been up to but got no answer. They hadn’t spoken much lately and she was on the verge of driving over there, but she stopped herself. Maybe Sky just needed time to herself with everything that was going on.
Once her house was clean, she had a shower and got ready to go in and take over the shift from Angela. She was grateful that she had offered to do the morning shift because she loved her sleep-ins, but it worked for both of them. Angela was a single mother studying to be a massage therapist. Maybe she should hit her up for one, her body had been stiff for the last day or two.
As she was driving towards her store, she wondered why her stalker hadn’t sent her anything more. It had been almost a month since she received the box. Although she didn’t want whatever was sent, she wanted to know who was making her life hell. She went through everyone she had possibly pissed off, but came back with nothing.
Several cars were parked out front of her store; sales were going great for her, especially after her mother told all her friends that her daughter had opened a lingerie shop, her store had people in it every day, even requesting that she order certain things in for them, too.
She was even thinking of adding a collection of toys to her store. Several people had asked where they could get some, and she referred them to Stacy’s shop, but she was closing down due to family issues. She had run into her one day, and Stacy told her this and asked if she would like to make her an offer on the inventory that she still had.
She loved Stacy’s shop and even wanted to buy some items for herself, but never got around to it. Maybe she could as a surprise for Dom. She giggled to herself. Could I actually do that in front of him? Probably not, but the thought made her blush.
“Why are you blushing?” Angela asked her as she walked through the front door.
“No reason.”
Shaking her head, Angela grinned. “You were thinking about someone, weren’t you?”
“Nope,” she replied as she walked past her into the back room.
“Yes, you were. Who was it, and what were you thinking about? You can’t leave me hanging, Chantal.”
Placing her bag on her desk, she lied, “I wasn’t thinking about anyone.”
“Well, what were you thinking about then?”
She never gives up. “Fine. I was thinking about something to do with Dominic.”
“Damn, that guy gets me hot and flustered.” She giggled.
He did that to all women. No matter the age, every woman in range swooned over him. She could not blame them, not one bit. She had done the exact thing from afar, and now that they were seeing each other, he still had that effect on her.
They had no plans for tonight, other than being together. Maybe she could surprise him with something. She knew there was an order coming in of new designer lingerie. She crossed her fingers, hoping that something in there jumped out at her for tonight.
Right as she was getting ready to head into the back to look for something, her phone rang. She smiled to herself, thinking it was Dom ringing her, but it wasn’t.
“Chantal.”
“Um, hi, Joel. How have you been?”
“I’ve been good. I’m in town for a week, wondered if you wanted to meet up for a drink?”
“Sounds good, where do you want to meet?”
“Joey’s would be good, have a drink then several games of pool. I’ll be meeting some of my buddies there.”
“Ok, how about tonight at seven.”
“Great, see you then, Chantal.”
Dom had an appointment that would run late into tonight, so she could still go out and meet Joel, and then be home before he arrived. She wasn’t hiding anything from him. Joel was a friend, and though they had slept together several times, they were only friends now. So there was no reason to inform Dom of her new plans for tonight. She never asked what he was doing, so he had no reason to do the same to her.
She didn’t sell just lingerie. Some of the clothing she had could be worn out, so as she flicked through the racks in the storeroom, she tried to find something to wear tonight, that she could also wear for Dom when she got home.
Her hand landed on a black corset-like top. It wasn’t a true corset, and was easier to get into. She could team it up with her denim skirt, and then add her knee-high boot and she was good to go. Easy.
Removing it from the rack, she placed it in a bag beside hers, and walked out and paid for it. She only paid the amount that the manufacturer had charged her, but she still made sure to pay for anything she took from the store.
As the day went on, Angela decided to stay on extra hours. Her mother was picking up her son, and she needed the money. When the final customer left, Chantal found a letter near the back door. Frowning down at it and hoping it wasn’t from her stalker, she opened it with shaky hands.
Pulling out the card that was inside, she read it.
Miss Winters,
You have been invited by one of our members to attend a private party at Inquisition on the 9th of April. You will need to bring this invitation to be allowed
in. Hope to see you here.
The Manager, Ryan Watson.
Ok, well it seemed Dom had some plans for them this week. She was curious about the club, in more ways than one. She had always wanted to go inside of one and see what all the fuss was about. And now that she had, she wanted to know and learn more about it. It had scared her at first, but after watching Dom wield that whip on that young girl right in front of her, she wanted to feel what she had felt. She was afraid to ask for it from Dom, but obviously, he could see in her eyes what she wanted.
The party was tomorrow night. She needed something special for the night. Hurrying out of the shop, she jumped into her car and drove home. She did not have time to buy anything new, so she had to go through her closet to see what she had. She was slightly scared and excited at the same time about being back at that club.
Just the thought that Dom invited her to the party and that he would be there in his element, made her wet. Her insides were flipping with excitement over what would happen tomorrow night.
Pulling up in her driveway, she raced inside and had a quick shower. Standing in her room in only a towel, she looked at the time and saw still had 30 minutes before she had to meet Joel at the bar. She had tonight’s outfit all picked out and lying on the end of the bed. Grabbing a handful of clothes that were hanging up, she tossed away what would not fit with the club.
She had ten outfits left that would work for the party. Maybe she should actually ask Dom what to wear. She shook her head and reached for her phone, sending a text off to Skylar.
Chantal: Can u meet me at my place in the morning. Need your advice on an outfit for tomorrow night!
Skylar: What is happening tomorrow night?
Chantal: Party at a club that Dom invited me to.
Skylar: I’ll be there early in the morning, how does 8 sound?
Chantal: Perfect , see u then. Luv ya, bitch.
Skylar: Luv ya too, bitch
Now that she had that all sorted, she dressed quickly, applied some make up, and opted to leave her hair down. She walked out and grabbed her bag. Swapping everything over from her large red bag to her small black one, she went into the kitchen and called a cab.
