by Anthology
It was a little after ten o’clock when we finally made it to The Cask & Barrel. It was always packed, but it seemed that it was the place to be for New Year’s Eve. Our night had not turned out the way we’d planned. We’d had a flat tire halfway there, and it took nearly two hours to get it fixed.
By the time we got there, the place was packed, but we managed to find a table in the corner and immediately started hitting the hard stuff.
“So I decided this time I’m done,” Melanie said. She flailed her arms in the arm dramatically and huffed. “He’s a dick, always been a dick, always gonna be a dick. Not going back.”
It only took her about an hour before she was three sheets to the wind and on a roll. I let her at it. I was doing my share of sucking down shots, but I was nowhere near the inebriated state she was in. I was, however, feeling nice and loose, and with that came my bitterness.
“Once they go there, they’re always there girl. You gotta make a clean break,” I said, raising my drink in the air and nodding my head. “Walk away, and don’t look back.”
I’d had my fair share of jerks in my life—my ex-husband sitting in first place. He’d been my first love, and for a long time I thought he was the love of my life. That was, until he decided I wasn’t his and proceeded to prove it while fucking half the county behind my back.
Or so I’d heard.
What I hadn’t heard, but seen, was him, crouched behind his partner, butt-naked and balls deep in the back of his car. That was it for me, and I hadn’t seen him since the day I signed on the dotted line.
After licking my wounds for a while, moved out of state, got a new job and managed to branch out and date a little bit, but nothing stuck. Maybe I was jaded, maybe I wasn’t ready, but after three years, I should’ve been and watching my friend go head long into rebound status, I realized it was time I did the same.
“I need to get laid,” I blurted out.
Melanie’s eyes bugged out of her head and then she threw her head back and laughed. “Whatever you’re putting in these drinks, Adela, keep it up! Working miracles over here!”
We both giggled and something warm bubbled up in my belly. It’d been a long time since I’d laughed so much, and I realized how much I missed it. What I missed the most was Mel and her crazy, carefree antics.
Janice and Dani were a no-show, but it didn’t matter. We were having a great time, and I selfishly wanted her all to myself.
“I’m serious.” I leaned across the table and jabbed her in the arm. “You have no idea how long it’s been since I got some. No. Idea.”
She snorted. “Oh, I have some idea, Lyssie. What I know is that it’s been way too long. Maybe a nice stiff one would lodge that stick out of your ass.”
I jerked back, feeling like I’d been smacked in the face. “What the hell does that mean?” Her words were like a pitcher of ice water down my back, and my buzz evaporated.
That hurt.
“Don’t get pissed. You’ve had life on the backburner for a long while now, and men especially. And do not bring up Hank; that guy is a loser and you know it.”
I cringed. Hank was nice. Nice in the way a next-door neighbor was nice. Not nice in the way that he made me feel much of anything. I was wasting a lot of time with Hank.
“I haven’t talked to him in two weeks. I’m pretty sure it’s over, just not officially.”
She smirked. “How am I not surprised. Let me guess; you’re too chicken to tell him to take a hike.”
“Hey,” I protested. “That’s not fair.”
She shrugged. “Fair or not, it’s true.”
She lifted her glass, raised her eyebrows, and lugged back another swig of beer. I continued twisting my straw into oblivion, avoiding the inevitable agreement. She was right, and I hated it.
Suddenly, her eyes went wide and a huge toothy smile graced her lips. “Don’t look now, but we’ve been marked. Three hotties at two o’clock. By the pool table.”
I was too drunk to follow directions—I looked. As I spun around, my curiosity morphed into hostile terror and I twisted back in my seat, hunched over with my elbows on the table and shielded my face.
“No fucking way.”
Mel sat up to look over my shoulder and her eyes bugged wider. “Can’t believe he’s here. I thought he transferred out to Queens. Usually I can sense him burning holes into the back of your head. I must be well and truly fucked up. But gotta say—he looks fine as hell.”
I groaned. I was in no mood. I may have been buzzed, but there wasn’t enough alcohol on the planet to deal with that dude.
“Shit,” she hissed. “Act normal. He’s coming over.”
“Great,” I mumbled.
I felt a warm hand on my shoulder and I shrugged it off, turned and looked up at him and smiled a bitter smirk.
“Well, well, well,” he drawled. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you around. Slummin’?”
I rolled my eyes. “Hi and bye.”
His fingers dug into my shoulder again and I narrowed my eyes. “You ever hear of no means no? Leave me alone, Zack.”
I watched a muscle tick in his jaw, and then a shitty smile pulled up on his lips. “How about a drink? You said next time you were around we’d get together. You haven’t called.”
“Take a hint,” Mel mumbled over the rim of her glass.
He leaned down and whispered in my ear. “Can we talk? In private.”
I barked out a laugh and twisted completely so his hand had to drop away. “Sorry. I’m involved with someone—I told you before. I’ve got nothing to say to you, and I certainly never said I’d call.”
A deep chuckle came from his throat and I closed my eyes, begging my body not to react. Why he had to look so good, I had no idea. It was evil, just plain unfair. But I wasn’t going there. No way. No matter how good he looked, I knew inside he was a dirty son of a bitch.
He stood behind me for a few beats, all of us silent in the stunted tension. He needed to go. He wasn’t on my radar tonight. I was with my girl, we were on our way to being nice and drunk, and I had almost convinced myself that I wanted to get myself laid for the first time in six months. No, I had no interest in a battle of wits with Zack Brewer.
He tapped his hand against the back of my chair, and then leaned down again to whisper in my ear.
“Later, darlin’.”
Fuck that. I wrinkled my nose, but only so Mel could see and waited until I heard his heavy footsteps walk away.
“You could just hit that and kick him to the curb in the morning. I mean, damn. He’s definitely easy on the eyes.”
“He’s easy, period,” I snapped. “Come on—let’s call the car and head over to the Hawk’s Nest. We can finish up over there.”
She smiled and then shook her head. “I think he just did us a favor. Triple threat is on its way over here. Guess they saw the competition decided to get on it.”
I thumped back against the chair and leaned my head back to chair at the filthy ass ceiling. “Great.”
It looked like we were stuck there.
Our three new friends pulled up to the table, ordered a couple rounds of drinks, and if I’d been in a better state of mind, I would’ve noticed they were attractive. Since I wasn’t, I zoned out and against my better judgement, watched Zack out of the corner of my eye.
Not surprisingly, he kept his eye on me, too. That didn’t stop him from draping his arm over some tiny brunette while they stood by the stage watching the band.
But his eyes remained on me. So did his friend’s.
I hadn’t noticed him at first, but every time I turned my head, there he was. Staring. He was huge, with cut firm muscles and the height of a linebacker. There was something ominous about the way he looked at me. My body reacted automatically.
It was a shame he was with Zack. He’d probably heard a nice earful about me. It pissed me off because he was exactly what I was looking for to get my mojo back up and running again.
I surmised he
was probably just as much of a jerk as Zack was; full of nothing but cum for brains. The Cask was full of guys like that, which was a good reason to pick up and get the hell out of there. It equaled trouble, always trouble. Hurt feelings, broken hearts, and shit I was too old and tired to deal with.
I’d finally had enough. The threesome was on my last nerve, so I went up to the bar to refresh my drink and talk to the new bartender a bit. She seemed nice, and brought a new, better element to the bar.
I could feel eyes on me as I walked to the bar, but didn’t dare turn around to see who it was. I had a feeling who, and that sent a brisk chill up the back of my neck. Not in a bad way, more in the way that I felt a tension that told me something big was going to happen. I wasn’t sure what, but it was something.
I climbed up at the corner of the bar and waved at Adela. She turned, smiled and rolled her eyes before walking over.
“Oh man, it’s so crazy tonight,” she said, sighing and fell forward on her elbows. “What can I get you?”
I turned slightly to look over my shoulder, and sure enough, Zack’s friend was looking over at us. If anyone knew who he was it would be Adela. I’d seen her talking to Aiden Genovesi several times since I’d arrived, and he was standing with the him as we spoke.
“Hey, do you know who that guy is with Aiden? He’s over there by the pool table with Zack and his friends.”
She smiled. “Hot, right? Yeah, that’s Wyatt. He’s working with Aiden tonight. Security. He was here the other night giving you the looks.”
I gave her a confused look. “Seriously? I didn’t even see him.”
She laughed. “Lay off the lemon drop Martini’s, girl. He couldn’t keep his eyes off you. Still can’t, by the looks of it.”
I didn’t dare look back. I was stunned.
“Another lemon drop,” I said, laughing.
When I got back to the table, I looked over at the pool table, but the guy, Wyatt, was gone. Since Adela said he was working, it figured he wouldn’t be standing around. I was disappointed, suddenly. Now I was curious about him.
It seemed that Mel and one of the guys had gotten quite close while I was at the bar, and she announced he was going home with us, and they were ready to go.
It was almost midnight, and since it didn’t look like I was getting a New Year’s kiss, I gave up and decided to go ahead and head out with them.
The car pulled up in front of my building and all I could think about was passing out on my bed. So far, it was the only thing I had set up, and I was glad I had the good mind to at least get that done. My head was pounding, all six of those shots and the three Martini’s I’d had sloshed around in my head, making me sick to my stomach.
I’d just gotten to the porch when a strong hand landed on my shoulder. I froze. I hadn’t even heard anyone and cursed myself for being so out of it. It’d be just my luck to get murdered on my own lawn.
“Don’t hurt me,” I squeaked out.
A warm, gentle chuckle came from behind me and then strong arms wrapped around me. “Never,” the stranger said.
I didn’t believe that for shit. I’d been married to a cop, was the daughter of a cop, and I knew that at almost one in the morning, getting manhandled by a stranger was bad, bad news.
I tried to pull away, but he pushed me forward, up the steps and then against my door. My head thumped, my heart sputtered and I said a little prayer.
“Why’d you leave so early?”
My shoulders rolled and I leaned forward to gain a little space. The sound of his voice sent a tingle all over, hitting me in all the right places. One place in particular.
I turned, slowly, tipping my chin and looking up at him. Up close, he was gorgeous, rugged but clean cut. Deep dark eyes, a strong brow and a sharp jaw caught my attention, but it was his lips, and the subtle way they turned up as he smiled down at me that took me in.
“You followed me,” I whispered.
“Hands above your head.”
I blinked. Was he serious? What in the hell?
“What?”
“Hands up on the door. Above your head.”
I slowly reached up and pressed my hands against the door, shaking. I was still a little drunk, and I lost my footing a little while I tried to balance myself.
“Good girl,” he said softly. “Why’d you leave before midnight?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. I couldn’t even remember why we left early, or why the hell he cared.
“I wanted to talk to you. That’s twice.”
I tried to turn around to face him, wondering what the hell he was talking about.
“I’m sorry?”
“You left.”
I was still lost. “What are you talking about? I don’t remember.”
“Hands on the door and spread your legs.”
“Excuse me?” There was no way I heard him correctly. Was he insane?
His chest pressed against my back and I gasped, causing him to chuckle.
“Hands on the door, sweetheart.”
I put my hands on the door, and stared through my stained-glass window at the empty room ahead.
“You’re quite the little tease. Did you think having your friend pass me a wrong number would deter me?”
That pissed me off. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, and you’re scaring me.”
His chest pressed against my back again, pushing me into the cold wood of my door, and thus pushing his obvious erection into my ass.
Why did that make me so hot?
He whispered in my ear. “Six years ago. The Cask. You left before I could talk to you. Your friend, the chick you were with tonight, gave me a bad number.”
His tongue ran over the shell of my ear and then he bit my earlobe—hard.
“Ow!”
He tsked. “Uh, uh, uh. Not a peep out of your pretty little lips. I’m the one with a badge, and you’ll do what I say.”
“I wasn’t doing anything wrong! Let me go.”
“Never.”
His boot pushed between my feet, and with a hard shove, he kicked my legs apart. I barely caught myself from falling, the position awkward, and my knees ready to buckle.
“Fuck, the sight of you,” he grumbled. He grinded himself against my ass and a deep groan escaped his lips. “Waited a long time for this.”
“I think what you’re doing is highly illegal,” I mentioned. “This is totally sexual harassment—or assault!”
He chuckled and ran his whiskered cheek against my neck. “I think if I touched your pussy right now it’d tell me you want to be right where you are, legs spread and open for me. Am I right?”
“No,” I whispered. It wasn’t convincing and the way his hips bucked into my ass told me he wasn’t buying it one bit.
His hand swept down my belly and then between my legs, cupping my pussy through my jeans.
“You shouldn’t tease a man with a badge—and handcuffs, sweetheart.”
“Oh God,” I moaned, arching into his touch.
No, nothing convincing about anything coming out of my mouth.
“You thought you could sway your cute little ass and I’d just let that slide.” He clucked his tongue and rubbed against me again. “Where I come from, naughty little girls get punished.”
His free hand came down on my ass and I felt the sting in every inch of my body. The sound that left my lips was borderline embarrassing, but damn… it felt amazing. It had never been my thing, but at that moment, I was really into spankings.
Especially from him.
I felt his fingers bear down with more pressure, pushing the seam of my jeans against my clit and creating an intense friction I liked—a lot.
“You can tell me to stop any time. I don’t think you want me to, but I will.”
My body warred with my mind. He was right—the spark between us was undeniable. The fact, however, was that he was a stranger—a very hot, very sexy stranger. Badge or not, I was still cautious.
; In my experience, cops didn’t accost women in the middle of the night on their doorsteps.
Red flags were waving all over, but it didn’t stop the response my body had to him. Not in the least.
“I don’t do this,” I stated. I didn’t. I was by the book all the way. I’d never had as much as a jaywalking ticket in my life.
He rubbed me a little harder and licked the back of my neck, sending goosebumps up and down my spine.
“You’re doing it now.”
He wasn’t getting my point and with every swipe of his tongue, so warm and soft against my skin, I wondered why I even cared.
“Jesus,” I cried. He rubbed my clit hard and quick, sending me straight forward into a knee buckling orgasm and the stars behind my eyes flashed brighter than the lights on top of a cop car.
I hadn’t been manipulated through my pants since tenth grade when Jake O’Brien dry humped me in the back of his daddy’s Blazer. It was nothing like this, not even a little bit.
I couldn’t even come up with an adequate description for what he’d done to me. I felt it everywhere, head to fucking toe.
Without a word and before I had even recovered, he popped the button of my jeans, threw the zipper down and rammed his hand down my pants, cupping me over my panties. I had a momentary panic, knowing I was absolutely drenched, but the groan that came from behind me told me he didn’t mind a bit. In fact, I was sure he was pretty pleased with himself.
“Fuck,” he hissed. “You’re bare.”
“We can’t,” I managed to say, but was stopped when he spun me around and tugged me against him with his hand around my waist.
“Fucking beautiful,” he whispered.
“What am I doing?”
I had completely lost my mind. Never in my life had I done anything so blatantly stupid. There was something about him, though. Something that told me I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t continue. I wanted him, had since the moment I saw him with Zack across the bar.
“Keys,” he growled. “Open the door.”
His hand slipped out of my jeans and I let out a small groan of protest. I was almost there, and my body felt the loss instantly.
I turned and looked up at him, and he took my breath away. From afar, he was good-looking, but up close he was absolutely magnificent. The glow of the porch light from my building outlined every feature on his face, and again I was mesmerized by his lips.
