I have a quiet drive home, normally, I would have my stereo blasting, but I have too much running through my mind. As I am turning into the driveway I get a call back from my dad.
“Hey Sis, just seen where you had called. Did little man have a good birthday? Did the clothes I send fit him alright?”
“Yeah, thanks. He is going to look so cute in his jerseys and ball shorts. He had a great time playing with his friends too. But the main reason I called you is Brian is back in town daddy. I know you don’t need me to remind you that he cannot, under any circumstances find out about Jace. If he comes around asking about me, you need to avoid talking about me like the plague.”
“Now Sis, you know I have never been a good liar. But, I will do my best to keep your secret, even if I don’t agree with it. You sure are making it hard on your old man to have a social life. I sure would love to show off them pictures you sent me of you two to the guys on poker night.”
I can just see my daddy scratching his gruff beard like he is deep in thought and it brings a tear to my eye. I miss seeing him so much.
“One day, daddy, you can, just not right now.”
“Well baby girl, it sure was nice to hear your voice. Next time I call, you’ll have to put little man on. Be sure to tell him Pops is missing him and wishes I could have eaten a piece of cake with him.”
“I will daddy, I love you.”
We end our call, and I am thankful that he is trying so hard not to let the cat out of the bag. I head inside and peek in on Jace and Faye, they are both sound asleep. While heating up some leftovers from yesterday’s cookout, I send Tyler a text and tell him we need to talk. He instantly shoots back that he will meet up with me for lunch tomorrow. I text him back and let him know to meet me at the burger joint near work. My breaks are only a half hour, so I can’t go too far from the salon. Most days I pack a little something from home. I finish off my late-night meal and get snuggled into bed. Twenty minutes later I am awakened by a text from Tyler.
Tyler: You awake?
Me: Am now.
Tyler: Feel like having some company?
Me: Not tonight, it’s been a long day, and I have another full one tomorrow.
Tyler: No problem, see you for lunch ;)
Did he really just send me a winky face? Men and their mixed signals. Ugh! I grumble burying my face into my pillow. I snuggle down in my purple comforter and drift to sleep with a huge smile on my face.
**
I end up having to cancel lunch with Tyler. Jace’s daycare calls as I am heading to meet with him, he fell on the playground and scraped his knee on the sidewalk. They are afraid he is going to need stitches. I call Chrissy and let her know that I may not be back to finish my shift and explain to her what’s going on. Thank goodness she understands about my being a single mother. I text Caroline to let her know that I won’t be needing her to pick Jace up today after all.
After an hour in the ER, Jace ends up with three stitches in his knee. My boy is tough as dirt; he only let one small tear trickle down his cheek while the doctor stitched his knee. There isn’t any point in me trying to finish my shift at the tanning salon, so I treat my tough little man with ice cream for being so brave.
Tyler texts me wanting to make sure Jace is okay, and I decide to invite him to join us for ice cream, being that I had to cancel lunch. Plus, I really want to talk to him before work tonight. I want to make sure I don’t do anything that would get either of us in trouble for breaking the rules, by being friends.
I don’t know exactly know how involved the MC is with the strip club, but I know they are pretty harsh when it comes to abiding by the rules. I overheard Bender talking one night when he was spending the night with mom and let’s just say they aren’t men you want to piss off.
We meet in a nearby park so Jace can play with his bitty ball set while we talk. I feel a bit awkward having to negotiate our friendship like a secret business deal, but I don’t want to cause him any difficulty.
“As long as you don’t tease me too much with them hot legs of yours, work won’t be a problem. It’s not something you need to worry about. Besides, I am the boss.” He winks at me.
A wave of relief washes over me.
“So, what did you think of the club?”
“It’s a lot to take in.” I blush. “That place is intense. It just screams sex. How is it you work in a place like that and have managed to stay single? I mean, you are surrounded by beautiful women all the time.”
“Working at Indigo is exactly why I am single. Most women are too jealous of my working there, and if they can’t trust me, then they aren’t the girl for me. Besides, I’ll let you in on a secret.” He dips his head down, bringing his mouth so close to my ear, it’s almost unbearable. With each word, he is almost touching my skin with his lips. His breath seductively whispers against my skin. It’s calling to me. Daring me to turn my neck into him just enough so that his lips brush upon me. “A lot of the girls who work in the clubs are lesbians.”
I look at him with my mouth agape and he immediately starts chuckling.
“Just wait, they will be trying to hit on you. Why do you think there are so many rules? Women are pretty catty, and if the girls date each other the jealousy can cause some pretty nasty fights.”
I smack his chest. “You’re full of shit!”
“I’m pretty full, but not of shit. I am pure muscle, sugar!” He flexes his biceps at me, and I roll my eyes.
“So, you don’t have an old lady stashed somewhere like Bender has with my mom?” I get serious.
“Nah, not found the right one yet. If and when the time comes, I doubt my woman will have much of anything to do with the MC. I’m stingy as fuck. I don’t share, and I like keeping shit separate.”
His honesty makes me smile. He’s going make some woman very happy someday.
We sit shoulder to shoulder watching Jace play. He keeps grinning at us as he takes a swing.
Chapter Four
I catch on to my job at Indigo fairly easy. I am making friends with a few of the girls as well. Erin keeps teasing me, saying that she catches Tyler staring at me all the time. I tease her, if she weren’t so busy getting her eyes full of Tyler she might get more tips.
“Girl, that man is fine, and if you’re not going to hit that, there is a long line forming in wait,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows at me.
I know she is only teasing, but her comment digs deep under my skin. Now, I’m self-conscious that he really is staring at me. I also don’t like the idea of anyone being interested in him, even if I don’t have the right to care.
I am standing at my hostess podium waiting for the next patrons to be ID’d. Tonight, I am seating the guests. I have to train for each position; I am not a spotlight dancer, so I have to rotate between serving and seating. Depending on the position, my masks and outfit changes.
I adjust my red feathered mask so that I can see clearly. The club is getting packed and fast. I am running on adrenaline. It’s all I can do to keep up. My fifteen-minute break can’t come fast enough. I steal a glance at the line; a group of three is all that’s left for now. I check my screen to see what table is open.
I handout their required black masks. They already smell a bit intoxicated. Asking them to please follow me, I escort them to their booth and let them know that their server for the evening will be with them shortly. As I turn to leave so I can take my break, one of the guys grabs me firmly by my wrist and rubs himself against my ass. I try to jerk from his hold, but he doesn’t let go. He presses the bulge in his pants further into my backside. He barely gets the words out, “come on gorgeous, I just want to have a little fun,” before Tyler is on him threatening to snap his wrists if he so much as looks at me again.
“Hey man, it’s cool, I get it. You send this cock tease out here to get us horny, so we will spend more on a private dance.”
“What did you just call her? I don’t think I heard you right. You’re in my house boy. I eat li
ttle pussy dicks like you for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You’d look real funny trying to dig your head out of your own ass. Ya feel me?” I swear the vein popping out of Tyler's neck is bigger than my arm! I have never had someone feel the need to be protective of me like this before. Something about the primal way he defends me, like he has claimed me, turns me on.
My knees are shaking, and I am giggling in a panicky fit. I don’t want Tyler to punch this asshole. He is clearly just a drunken douche that can’t handle his liquor. Stepping between them, I grab Tyler’s tensed arm and soothingly ask him to walk away. I lead him back to the dancer’s lounge. It’s empty right now. When they aren’t on stage, walking the floor, or giving private dances, the girls hangout in here. It is a small but comfortable room. There is a huge sofa that takes up the center of the room while there is a big screen TV anchored to the wall that shows different camera angles from within the front of the club. I have fifteen minutes until I have to get back out front.
“Does my temper scare you Aria?” He looks down at my trembling knees.
“No, you excite me,” I answer honestly.
He appears surprised by my words.
“Do I turn you on?” He asks as he slides my mask back over my hair. The vein in his neck is pulsing. His smoldering dark eyes take hold of me. He cups my face gently in his large tattooed hands. Taking a deep breath at the base of my neck, he breathes my scent in. “You smell intoxicating, like the sunshine after a storm.”
He steps in even closer, placing his knee between mine. Sliding his hands down the front of my bustier, he pulls on the ribbon that laces up the front. He frees my breasts, cradling them in his hands.
“Do you want this?”
“Yes,” I let out in an exasperated voice.
Just as he is about to graze my nipple with his tongue, the sound of the door slamming shut snaps us both out of the moment. Quickly turning my back to whoever has walked in on us, I begin re-lacing my top.
“Don’t stop on my account. I enjoy a good show.” I am swimming with relief to hear Erin’s voice filling the air. Tyler excuses himself. I can’t even bear to face him as he leaves the room. Once I hear the door shut again, I turn to find Erin staring at me and her expression is asking questions I don’t know the answers to.
“Don’t worry, my lips are sealed. I’m just glad someone is getting to tap that fine piece of man candy. But I want details! I knew you were holding out on me.” She practically pouts as she slides my mask back down onto my face.
“I’ve got to get back to my station.” I walk hurriedly past her as more girls start to come through the door.
“This conversation is not finished Aria!” She winks at me.
I can’t believe I let myself get caught up in the moment like that. It’s clear that I am going to have to distance myself from Tyler in order for this to work. No matter what he says, I can’t afford to be careless. I promised myself I wouldn’t get involved with a guy from Bender’s MC.
Thankfully, I will be working at the tanning salon for the next two days before I have another shift at Indigo. Hopefully, I will be able to dodge Tyler, before I make a mistake I can’t take back. I’m good at that—making mistakes I can’t change.
I send a quick text to Caroline to make sure Jace hasn’t been picking at his stitches while I wait for more patrons to come through the door.
She assures me he’s fine, and I don’t see Tyler the rest of my shift. Once I get home, it doesn’t take sleep long for sleep to claim me.
The ringing of my phone wakes me from my sleep around one A.M. “Baby girl, you’re gonna have to talk to Brian. He showed up at the house a few hours ago. He was drunker than a redneck at a moonshine festival. He’s passed out on the couch now, but he was spouting off a bunch of nonsense. All I could make out was something about moons and stars and your name.”
“Shit! Daddy, what if he gets all nosy and finds a picture of Jace or my address, you have got to get him out of there,” I demand, raising my voice.
“Now look here, you ain’t gonna take that tone with me. You may be grown, but I am still your daddy. You ain’t too big for me to take a switch to them leg’s for using that language on your old man. This here mess is your doing. It’s damn near time you fessed up to that boy.”
“Daddy, you know why I can’t do that, he would hate me,” I tell him, exasperated.
“And Jace, whatcha think he’s gonna think of you once he’s old enough to understand what you have done with your lies?”
Tears stream down my cheeks. “That’s not fair daddy,” I sob into the phone.
“Life’s not fair, but that don’t mean you can keep getting on this way forever. Time to grow up Aria.” Click.
My daddy just hung up on me and it pisses me off to no end that he’s right.
I pull a notepad from my nightstand and start writing a letter that I have tried to write a thousand times but have never been able to find the words:
Brian,
There is no easy way for me to do this. I have been a coward for five years. Afraid of what you will think of me once you know the truth. But here it goes. I have a son, WE have a son. His name is Jace. He recently turned four years old. I know that I can never get back for you the time I have stolen from the two of you. I just hope that in time, you may someday forgive me for my betrayal. I only wanted for you to have a good life, to live out your dreams in the diamond. And you and I both know that had I said yes the day you asked me to marry you, you would have never made it to your field of dreams.
I rip the paper out and crumble it into a tiny ball. I can’t tell him like that. It’s not something I can do through an e-mail or over the phone, either. I lay my head back on my pillow and try to sleep, but I am so restless. Walking out onto my front steps for some fresh air, I see Caroline’s lamp is on. I walk over and give a light tap to her door. One look at me and she hands me her bottle of wine.
Her house is small and a mirror image of ours as far as layout, but the décor is completely different. Everything has an oriental style to it from her lantern lights to her large rugs.
“Want to talk about it?” She curls back up on her chaise.
“No. I have only managed to make a mess of things once again is the entirety of it.”
A few minutes later my phone chimes with a message from Tyler.
Tyler: You awake sugar tits? I need to see you.
At this point I am tipsy and no longer care. I mean what else can I manage to screw-up tonight.
Me: Come on over the wine is fine.
I kiss Caroline on the cheek and tell her Tyler’s coming. She winks at me and pushes the wine into my hands once again.
Tyler makes it over pretty fast.
He pulls up on his motorcycle moments after I sit on the porch to wait for him.
Joining me on the steps, he takes the wine from me. “You’re cut off. This is mine now.”
All I can do is hiccup. He looks so dreamy in his leather vest and dark jeans. He looks like a total badass. The bad boy your daddy warned you about. God, do I want to be bad with him, just once.
“So, you like the taste of ass do you?” I bump his shoulder with mine, nudging him.
He chuckles lightly, taking a long hard drink straight from the bottle.
“Ride to the beach with me, I have all this energy, and I need to clear my head.” He rises from the steps holding his hand out to take mine.
My house is only a few blocks away from the beach. I send Caroline a quick text letting her know I am stepping out for a bit. She walks over to keep an eye on Jace and Faye for me. Sliding my feet into my sandals, I follow Tyler to his bike.
Climbing on behind him, feels so freeing. He secures my arms around his middle and I hold on tight.
Our ride doesn’t last long enough. He parks and we walk along the edge of the water.
The night air is nice. It’s the perfect night for a walk on the beach, the glow of the moon against the water and sand is very romantic. Not
the ideal setting for a walk with a friend.
Tyler suddenly pulls me down into the sand with him. He laces his fingers through my hair. I am lying on top of him. I start to roll off him when he slides his hands down to my hips holding me in place. He looks me directly in my eyes. The grip he has on me is firm. In one swift motion, he rolls us over so that he is now hovering over top of me.
“Aria,” he says my name in a strained whisper. His eyes haven’t left mine yet. I know he is about to kiss me, and I should stop him, but it has been so long since I have been kissed. And damn if I don't yearn to be kissed, to feel his lips on mine. My body takes over and pushes what my brain wants into the dark of the night.
It is as if an alien has taken over my body, when my hands clasp around his neck as I bring my lips to his. My lips part on their own allowing his tongue to invade my mouth. His warm, moist tongue tastes of wine and desire. As I allow my tongue to dance with his, I let out a low moan of pure pleasure. Everything about him feels good—too good.
My hands travel down his back making their way under the cotton fabric that is separating my skin from his. Raking my nails across the top of his back, I completely let go of all control, my hands make their way into his pants. Gripping his tight ass, he feels too good to stop now.
I can’t go back.
I need him.
I want him desperately to have his way with me before I combust.
A growl escapes his lips when they part from mine. He pulls back from me and props himself up on one elbow. He lets out a puff of air and sighs.
“Aria, if we don’t stop this now, I will have my way with you before this night is through, I need to know if you want this. I want you so damn bad I can hardly breathe, I can’t sleep at night. I lie awake and think about you, imaging exactly this.” his voice sounds pained and it excites me to know it’s because of me.
Dirty Truth (Fighting Dirty Series Book 2) Page 4
