Crash Into Me (The Wicked Wingmen Series Book 1)
Page 12
I see her glance where I tell her and nod her head at me slowly. “Is the blonde Ford?” she asked excitedly.
“Yes.”
“Oh my God! He’s a total hunk! Let’s go say hi!” she grabbed my hand and attempted to pull me towards where they were standing, but I stood firm and pulled back against her knocking her off balance. I was small, but I was strong.
“Are you crazy? I can’t see Ford like this! The first time after all this time and I look all raggedy like, like, like I’m about to run a race.” I threw my hands up in the air. “I want him to think I look hot the first time he sees me after all these years, not like this!” Gesturing with my hand from head to toe.
“Who’s the hottie with him? Is that the infamous Jax that you told me about?” I could see her eyes light up.
“Yes, that would be Jaxson.”
“Well, in that case, I’d rather make a better impression tonight when I’m introduced the first time, rather than meet him looking like this,” she mimicked my gesture and winked at me.
“Don’t get your hopes up too high, Jax is a self-proclaimed bachelor. He, and I quote, is a ‘play the field’ kind of guy. Women used to always fawn over him, and I swear, if he gave one small bit of attention back and they would literally throw their panties at him.”
“Well, then I will make sure to stick to my no panty-throwing policy tonight, no matter how much attention he slings my way.”
“What are the odds that I haven’t seen him in seven years, and now I’ve basically crossed his path twice in one week? I mean, I know I didn’t actually see him last Monday night, but I could have. And I was planning on making my way out to “accidentally bump into him” tonight.” I threw my hands up in air quotes to emphasize my words.
“Maybe the Big Guy upstairs is trying to tell you something.” Sadie tilted her head and shrugged at me.
Before I could reply, the blare of the air horn signifying the beginning of the race cut into our conversation. The front of the pack took off immediately, but it took a few minutes to get back to where we were standing. Finally, we were off. We both kept up a fairly moderate pace throughout the race and only stopped a handful of times for water. We finished in an hour and 15 minutes, not too shabby.
We grabbed more waters on our way out, but passed on the fruit they were offering since we were heading out to breakfast.
“Jewel’s Bakery for breakfast?” I asked climbing into the Pilot.
“Do you even have to ask? It’s where we go every year!”
“Just wanted to make sure you didn’t change your mind on me. Although they really do have the best fresh squeezed OJ for their mimosas in town, plus their waffles are the bomb!”
“For reals!” Sadie nodded in agreement. “What are you going to wear tonight?”
“Well, since I don’t know where we’re going, I’m not sure. I’m thinking I might wear that hot pink dress I bought a few months ago, with the black zipper up the front, and my sky-high black stilettos. What about you?”
“I have that really fitted purple dress that I just bought and have been dying to wear. Until tonight I haven’t had any place to wear it. So, I think I’m leaning towards it.”
“You’ll look hot. That purple looks amazing on you. What shoes are you going to wear with it?”
“Maybe my 4-inch black strappy ones. I’ll have to try them on together when I get home. I’ll send you a pic to get your opinion.”
We continued chatting on the drive to Jewel’s and all through breakfast. I could feel my nerves growing as the morning progressed. I knew I was going to be a wreck by tonight.
21
Ford
After crossing the finish line, we grabbed some bottled waters and fruit and headed towards the bleachers to relax. We literally raced the whole race. I won by two minutes and thirteen seconds, which Jax attributed to my slightly longer legs. To which I pointed out that there were other men that were shorter than me who had better times than I did.
“So, where do you wanna go tonight?” I asked, peeling my banana.
“Let’s hit up The Ultra Lounge. We haven’t been there in a while. They always have good music and a prime selection of ladies to choose from,” he smiled, wiggling his eyebrows at me.
“The Ultra Lounge it is. It has been a while…”
“Yeah, the last time we were there was that night we went home with Katie. Maybe…”
Jax was still talking, but two female figures leaving the stadium had caught my attention. One was small and athletically built and the other was slightly taller and lean, the sun was glinting off of them, probably because of the sweat from the race. The smaller one had shapely calves, a round butt and small waist and a ribcage that matched her hips to form an hourglass effect. I could make out dark hair piled on top of her head. I felt drawn to her and started to stand on impulse.
Jax reached out and grabbed my arm. “Ford? Dude, you ok?”
I turned to look at him, “Do you see her?”
“See who? Who are you looking at? Where am I supposed to be looking?” Confusion marred his face.
I turned back around and pointed where I swear she had just been, but she wasn’t there. I blinked hard and shook my head, praying that my vision would come back, but no such luck. “I swear I just saw Ella.”
After that, I was pretty much checked out. Memories of the two of us danced through my brain all afternoon and I knew that going out to the club would be my saving grace yet again. I needed to find myself another distraction.
I couldn’t help but wonder if it was her. I knew her body, at least I used to. I had every inch of her skin memorized, down to that sexy little mole on her left breast.
But, I reminded myself, that was the Ella I knew before. She could be married with a bunch of kids by now, God knew she had always wanted them. She could look completely different from my memories. My heart fell at the thought. Was it even possible to still be in love with someone who I haven’t seen in over seven years?
As I got ready for the night I selected a pair of dark jeans, a black collared button-up shirt with pinstripes, and black shoes. I styled my hair but skipped my razor. I was going to have to shave for work in two days, but it felt good to not have to worry about it for the last five. I gave myself the once over in the mirror. I looked good, even with the stubble on my face. I remember how much Ella used to love to reach out and trail her fingertips over it. The memory was so fresh in my mind that my eyes closed and I leaned into her touch. My eyes snapped open. There was no touch, she was not here.
Distraction, here I come.
Jax met me at my place and we took an Über to The Ultra Lounge. We don’t promote drinking and driving, plus being pilots we can never be too careful about getting DUI’s, so paying for a ride is the way to go.
We arrived shortly after 10 o’clock when the club was still fairly empty. There was no line to get in and we were even lucky enough to reserve a VIP table at the door. Of course, we had to pay for the bottle service at $300 plus tax, but it was going to be worth it to have a place to sit when we were socializing or not dancing.
We got to our table and ordered our first bottle. We went with a spiced, super-smooth, dark sipping rum and I handed over my credit card and told her to go ahead and start up a tab. The waitress brought us two tumblers of ice, as well as an ice bucket and two extra glasses. She was definitely a forward thinker. I smiled at her ingenuity; she’d be getting a large tip at the end of the night, as I’m sure she always did.
The music was already pumping, but there weren’t a whole lot of people on the dance floor yet. We settled back with our drinks and relaxed.
“Good call on the club, even if it is going to make a massive dent in my wallet,” I raised my glass to him.
“Eh, you can afford it! Besides you knew when you lost last week that I wouldn’t be a cheap date this weekend,” he smiled taking a sip of his rum.
“No shit, bro. Make no mistake, I came prepared.”
&nbs
p; 22
Ella
Jax text me later that afternoon. “The Ultra Lounge. We’ll be there close to 10 p.m.”
I text back, “See you tonight.”
I couldn’t believe that I was finally going to come face to face with Ford after all this time.
This week had taken me on a rollercoaster ride of emotions and now that the hour was getting even closer there was nothing I could do to shake off the nerves.
I took a long, hot shower, taking extra care to make sure I shaved everywhere. I didn’t really have to shave, I’d had laser hair removal done, but there was something about going through the motions once in a while that seemed really therapeutic to me. I toweled off, went through my skincare routine, slathered on my vanilla body lotion, put my curl softening cream in my hair and wrapped it in a towel.
Even doing these things that normally calmed me did nothing for me tonight. Time to call in my reinforcements.
I text Sadie, “Wanna come over and get ready together? Pretty please!” I added a smiley face emoji as an extra incentive.
“On my way,” she replied a few minutes later.
I turned on some random music and opened a bottle of wine while I waited. Wine always helped to calm my nerves. I poured myself a large glass and drank it as I picked out my lingerie for the night.
My hot pink mini-dress was satin and strapless. It had a black zipper that ran up the middle of the front of the dress from the bottom to the top, so I needed a strapless bra to go under it. I chose my black satin pushup bra and a lacy black thong. I had no idea if anyone aside from myself would even see them tonight, but wearing them gave me an extra needed boost of confidence. I spritzed them both with body mist before I put them on and then spritzed my body with it as well.
I returned to the bathroom, took the towel off from around my hair and started to blow-dry it. Curly hair was a pain in the butt but I had come to accept the fact that it would end up doing whatever it wanted to in the end, and every once in a while, I actually liked the outcome. I had always wanted straight hair as a child. I remembered straightening it once while Ford and I were together, he hated it. He told me I didn’t “look like” myself and that he liked it best looking wild and crazy. I could pull off the “just fucked looked” was the exact terminology he used. It had taken me two whole hours to straighten it just to have him not like it, so I decided it wasn’t worth wasting my time or energy to do it again.
Just as I finished blow-drying it, I heard the front door open. “Sade, is that you?” I called out, “I’m in here.” I reached for my glass and took another large sip.
Sadie followed the sound of my voice arriving in the bathroom doorway in a pair of shorts and a tank, jewelry on, hair done, but her dress was draped over her arm. She had her makeup bag in one hand and her shoes dangling off the fingers of the other.
“Hi!” she smiled brightly at me as she began to unload her arms.
“There’s wine in the kitchen,” I gestured with my wine glass, lifting it up to her before I took another sip.
“Thanks,” she replied as she wandered down the hallway to the kitchen. She was back in no time flat, full glass in one hand and the remainder of the bottle in the other. “You look like you could use a refill.”
I glanced down and realized my glass was just about empty. “Looks like you’re right! How ‘bout some dance music to get us in the going out kind of mood?” I reached for my phone, selected Christina Aguilera’s “Dirrty,” aka our ‘going out’ song, that always got us pumped and turned it up.
My nerves finally started to calm down as I applied my makeup. I decided to go with a hot pink shadow and a black liner to make my amber eyes really pop, a few coats of mascara later and I was happy with the effect. I added a light pink blush to my cheeks to accent my cheekbones and used a light mauve liner with a gloss on my lips.
I pulled my dress and shoes from the closet. I unzipped, stepped into, then re-zipped my dress, and slipped my feet into my stilettos. I wandered to my jewelry box and pulled out a pair of dangly graphite colored earrings, then walked to my full-length mirror to get the full effect. The full effect with my tan was exactly the look I was going for. I looked hot and I knew it.
Sadie stepped back out of the bathroom, her makeup was done and she was dressed as well. She gave me a cat call whistle, followed with, “You look smokin’, girl!” She lifted a finger to her mouth, licked it, and touched her purple clad butt making a sizzling noise.
I flashed her my biggest smile of appreciation, “Thanks! You do too! Are you ready?” I looked at the clock. It was a little before 10:15 and the cab ride would take about 20 minutes.
“Yes, ma’am. We out!”
The cab took an extra 10 minutes to show up so it was a little before eleven when we arrived. The line wasn’t very long and there was no cover for females, so we got right in.
Now that we were officially here, I felt my nerves start to kick back into action. I wasn’t sure what to do next. Should I text Jax? Should I go search the club? I mean, if this was all supposed to be so “unexpected”’ I should do what I would normally do when we go out, head straight for the bar. I grabbed Sadie’s hand and steered us to the bar.
“Wanna do a shot of tequila?” I looked pleadingly at Sadie, who supportively nodded back in consent. “I really need something to take a little more of the edge off.”
I leaned forward and ordered us two shots of tequila with salt and lemon. I know, people are always surprised about the lemon instead of the lime, but where I grew up it was always a lemon, so that’s what I stick with. We went through the whole lick, drink and suck process, and I felt the liquid courage as it rushed through my veins. I decided to wait on another drink for now. Two large glasses of wine and a shot of tequila seemed to have finally calmed me some.
“Let’s dance,” I pointed to the half full dance floor. The DJ was spinning some bumpin’ music, a little Flo-rida’s “My House” and I could feel the beat take hold of my body as I unthinkingly moved to the rhythm.
23
Ford
We sat there enjoying our bottle and relaxing and watched as both the club and the dance floor began to fill. The waitress stopped back to check on us and brought fresh tumblers to replace the ones the ice had already melted in.
“Hi, boys!” Katie materialized out of nowhere, plopping down at our table with a friend in tow. Make yourself at home, Katie, I thought to myself somewhat irritated. She did look good though, I had to give her that. She was wearing a short blue dress that barely covered her ass, the straps on top were so skinny it looked like her tits were trying to make a getaway, and she had on matching blue heels.
“This is my friend, Giselle. Giselle, this is Ford and Jax.” Giselle, why did that name ring a bell? Was she the one who had bailed on Katie the last time? If not for Giselle, our triad would’ve never happened.
Giselle leaned forward exposing her cleavage and shook both of our hands. “Nice to meet you both.”
She was beautiful, with straight dark hair that fell almost to her waist, big brown eyes, high cheekbones, and overfilled lips. Tall and thin, with large fake tits, she was definitely a product of her environment. She had on a tight black dress and tall heels. She smiled and then shared a knowing look with Katie. One that I could only assume meant she knew about our hook-up.
“Nice to meet you too,” we echoed.
I turned to Katie, “Fancy seeing you here. What brings you out tonight?” As if I couldn’t tell what she was hoping for by joining us at our table.
Katie was a good distraction the last time, but part of me felt like it was a one and done that kind of situation that was better left alone. Her friend was beautiful, but still not quite what I was looking for to scratch my itch, a little too fake for my taste.
“Hopefully, the same thing that brought you boys out.” She seductively tilted her head to the side, ran one hand from her neck down to her cleavage and nodded towards the dance floor. “Wanna dance?”
Was I that far gone? Was I imagining her again? Afraid to blink and have her disappear again, I stood quickly. Katie took this as an affirmation to her question and she stood with me, grabbing my arm. I didn’t dare turn my head to look back at Katie, there was no way I was letting her out of my sight this time, but I politely shook my head no at her, shrugged off her hand and started to make my way to my vision in pink.
24
Ella
The first song blended into the next and the next. Suddenly, all my senses were on high alert. I felt his presence from across the dance floor and knew Ford was there and headed straight for me. The pull was magnetic. I had never had this type of reaction to anyone other than him in all of my 32 years of existence. I fought the urge to turn around. I watched Sadie’s big hazel eyes grow even larger in her face and knew she saw him coming for me.
“I have never seen a man look so determined in my life,” she shouted into my ear over the music, leaning back with a huge smile on her face. “Good luck.” And with that, she spun away from me.
I felt his touch even before he reached out and physically connected with my shoulder. It was like electricity had bridged the gap between us. I felt like everything was moving in slow motion and when I turned to stare into his handsome face I could’ve sworn someone had sucked all of the air out of the room. He was even more beautiful up close than I remembered. He had the whole tall, hot and sexy thing working for him. He was massive and the scruff on his face made my fingers burn to reach up and touch it.