Running Back to You (The Running Series, #1) (40 page)

He notices my empty hands immediately.  “Hey, beautiful.  Didn’t you
bring anything?” he asks.  I guess he thought I’d be carrying an overnight bag.

“I brought myself.  Isn’t that enough?”  I pluck the playbook from his
grip and plant myself on his lap.  Wrapping my arms around his waist, I squeeze
him hard.  Snuggling up closely, I inhale his unique scent, both clean and
manly.  He presses his cheek against mine and hums in my ear, “More than
enough.”

Evan tilts me back just enough so his eyes can travel down my body,
closely inspecting and appreciating.  His eyes alone can make my temperature
rise.  His lips curl devilishly and I melt in his arms. “I’m not going to be
able to keep my hands off you tonight,” he declares.

“Right back at you, chief.”  Pulling back just enough to look into his
face, I confess, “I didn’t bring anything because I really want to sleep in my
own bed tonight.  Are you mad?”

He’s quiet for a moment, clearly considering his options, and then asks,
“How big is your bed?” 

W
e drop off my car at home and arrive at Moonstruck in Asbury a few
minutes before seven.  Evan had me reserve the private VIP Room tonight for our
group.  It’s nice to be able to make plans and reservations for Adam, rather
than have him make them for us.  This is the very least I can do to show my
appreciation for everything he’s done over the past few days.

Situated right on Lake Avenue, the restaurant is located in a large three-story
Victorian home completely updated with a quiet ambiance and tasteful décor. 
There is a lovely view of the eclectic homes of Ocean Grove just across Wesley
Lake.

Evan and I are escorted to a private room on the third floor.  The
waitress takes our drink orders while we wait for our friends to arrive.

Bounding up the steps first is Auggie, looking as handsome as ever. 
Tonight, he’s sporting a black button down shirt and a pair of old faded jeans
that look positively wonderful on him. 

“Did you get a haircut, Auggie?  You look so handsome tonight.  Where’s
Brandon?” I ask him.  I was really hoping to see him again and thank him for
helping me get ready last night.

“Brandon can’t make it tonight, family stuff.  But I’m here with my new
haircut – thank you for noticing, my Pet.”

As our drinks arrive, so do Marcus and Camilla.  Introductions are made,
and I can see that Camilla is star struck.  She is speechless, just gazing at
Evan in a petrified stare.  I try to remember that just last night I was in the
same position when I first met Ben, Christine, Jason and Olivia.

“Evan, did I ever tell you that Camilla’s brother Mateo plays football
for UMD just like you did?”  This gives Camilla a chance to talk with Evan
about some common interests.  Quickly, I can see her become more relaxed and at
ease. 

Derek and Emmy show up exactly on time, and Emmy looks amazing.  She’s
got her long blonde hair lying perfectly straight on her bare shoulders, thanks
to the strapless black corset-style top she’s wearing.  She still has that one
tasteful strip of pink hair that peeks out from beneath.  She’s going to get a
lot of male attention tonight. 

The last to arrive is our guest of honor, Adam Cooke.  Adam hasn’t met
most of my friends, so I quickly make the necessary introductions. 

Emmy wastes no time at all in giving me the third degree about my night
out in Manhattan.  Camilla and Auggie gather around, anxious to hear every
detail of my night in the limelight.

Evan, Adam, Derek and Marcus have no interest in gossip, so they quickly
join ranks at the opposite end of our dining table to carry on their own
discussion.

“Jette, you were on ET last night, and E! News.  Ryan Seacrest said
your
name
on TV,” Emmy blurts out with delight. 

“Marcus and I saw you guys at the Knicks game on TV.  Were you really
hanging out with Ben Stiller?” Camilla begs to know more.

I take out my cell phone and show them pictures I took during the game. 
Evan took a picture of Olivia and me chatting privately and forwarded it to me,
so I showed them that one, too.

“Jette, you looked more beautiful last night than both those girls put
together,” Auggie compliments me.

“That’s only because you dressed me last night.  Thank you, by the way.”

“Jette, was Averee DeVeau really there last night?  We saw pictures of
her flirting with Evan last night.  You looked like you wanted to rip her
throat out,” Auggie shares.

“Oh my God, Aug, you should have been there.  You would have bitch
slapped her!  She was a total shrew.  Everyone in this room is banned from listening
to any of her music ever again!”  My friends readily agree.

Emmy has question after question about Jason Sudeikis and Olivia Wilde.  Camilla
almost fell off her chair when I tell her how I met Joey Griffin.  Through all
the chatter and gossip, we find time to order dinner and a second round of
drinks.

Auggie fills me in on all the online gossip sites, like Perez Hilton and
TMZ, and how they covered all things Evan “Big Mac” McGuire. 

I look over to see the four boys engaged in a very engrossing
discussion.  Evan and Marcus are hotly debating something and Evan is
definitely not winning.  I watch him intently, lost in his dazzling blue eyes.
Sensing my attention, he turns to me, winks and flashes me his sexy smile.

“Jette, stop staring at him like that.  You already know what he looks
like naked.  Isn’t the mystery gone?” Emmy demands.

“Oh, Emmy, the real thing is so much better.  You have no idea,” I
proudly proclaim.

The waitress arrives with a bottle of champagne and begins to pour
everyone a glass.  Evan stands to make a toast. “I just want to say thank you
to Adam for being the best damn turd polisher on the east coast.”  He holds out
his glass and ends with a dramatic, “To turd polishing.”

We all clink glasses and join in with an enthusiastic “Turd Polishing!” 
Evan refills the ladies’ glasses, finishing off the bottle of champagne. 

Before dinner arrives, we rearrange our seats so that Evan and I can be
seated together as well as Marcus and Camilla.  At the conclusion of our
strange version of musical chairs, Emmy and Adam wind up sitting next to one
another.  Adam appears to be hanging onto every word as Emmy talks about work
and roller derby.

I’ve never heard Evan talk about Adam’s personal life.  Honestly, until
now, I never even considered the fact that he might have a life outside of
Evan.  Given the fact that he’s strikingly handsome, nearly rivaling Evan in
that department, he must surely be interested in dating. 

Of course, it’s always possible that Adam doesn’t date women.  I’ve been
surprised more than once to meet some of the men that Auggie dated.  However,
the first time we saw Evan and Adam, he knew immediately that they were both
straight.  Auggie’s gaydar is very reliable. 

Emmy invites us all to one of her derby bouts.  They play here in Asbury
at Convention Hall.  I’ve never been to a roller derby bout before.  In fact,
no one in our group has ever been.  It sounds like fun.

“So Derek, I saw you leave last night with some girl.  What happened?”
Marcus opens up a new line of conversation.  I hope Derek is moving on.  It
would make me happy to know he’s found someone.

“Nice girl, but she waves her freak flag a little too proudly, even for
me.  I won’t be raiding that refrigerator anymore.”  Everyone laughs at his
choice of words, especially the boys.  Emmy is the one to push the issue,
though.

“Oh, my God, Derek.  You have to tell us.”  Emmy is clapping her hands
together frantically in a prayerful plea.  She really does love to gossip and
dish the dirt.

Derek scans our faces to gauge our interest in hearing the sordid
details.  Everyone, including Camilla, is eager to hear every delicious morsel.

“Well, we get to her place and she leads me into her kitchen.  She tells
me she’s into role-playing and wants me to be the repairman who shows up to fix
her sink.  She actually had me get down on the floor and climb under her sink. 
Then she goes upstairs and leaves me in her kitchen with my face in her
cabinet, literally.  She comes down stairs wearing nothing but a ratty old
t-shirt carrying a very special tool box and asks me to
snake her drain
.” 
          

The boys are laughing so hard, there are tears streaming down their
cheeks.  Camilla is too polite to laugh, but she wants to, I can tell. 
Instead, she asks with a perfectly straight face, “So what did you do?”  I
can’t believe she, of all people, wants him to continue.

“I looked through her
toolbox
and I ... I used ... I ahh ... I found a ...
let’s call it a plunger.”   That’s it.  The table erupts again.

We go around the table sharing our bad dates and bad sex stories.  Marcus
once dated a barker.  She actually barked during sex.  Adam once hooked up with
twins.  Emmy got so drunk one night, she had sex in public on a train coming
home from the city.  Even Auggie and Camilla have horrible date stories to
share. 

When it’s my turn, I tell them how I got hit on at the bar last week by a
girl who wanted to take me home and teach me a few things.  I thought Evan was
going to choke on his beer. 

“Hey, Mac, how about you?  You must have some pretty wild stories,” Derek
probes.

“My stories have all been told, over and over.  I’m sure you’ve heard
them all.”  It’s a subject I know Evan doesn’t want to talk about.  The only
person who knows that better than me is Adam.

“Oh, come on, Mac – tell them about the night after the Rose Bowl,” Adam
suggests.

“I can’t believe you brought that up.  I’m NOT telling that story,” Evan
says adamantly.

“Well then, I guess I’ll have to tell it.”  Evan just shakes his head,
closes his eyes, and runs his hands through his hair.  He’s using both hands,
so I guess it’s pretty bad. 

“It was the night after the Rose Bowl.  We were in Pasadena and decided
to go bar hopping.  Evan was completely wasted, everyone was buying him shots
all night.  There was this pair of girls, really tall, long legs, hot as hell. 
Had it bad for my man here.”  He gives Evan a congratulatory pat on the chest. 
“They were laying it on pretty hard.  Evan was about to go in for the kill. 
That is until I noticed the blonde had an Adam’s apple.”

“Yeah, well ... I’ve already thanked you for that one.  I still have
nightmares about it sometimes.”  That’s too much for me – I’m laughing so hard,
it hurts.  Just the thought of it is painfully funny.

Evan excuses himself to use the bathroom and gives me a kiss on his way
past.  Poor guy.  This is the exact type of night I need.  Silly stories, laughing,
everyone getting along, even Derek.

When Evan returns, he makes an announcement, “Is everybody ready?  Let’s
head over to the Pony.”

Marcus interrupts, “We haven’t paid the check yet.  I’ll go get the
waitress.”  The men all start reaching for their wallets.

“I took care of it.  Come on, let’s go.”  All the guys try handing Evan
money, but he won’t take any of it.  Eventually, they all give up trying and we
get into our respective cars to make the short drive to the Stone Pony.

Maybe it’s because tonight’s a weeknight, but there’s no line outside. 
For some events, all ages are admitted.  This is one of those nights.  We show
our ID and get our wrist bracelets so we can drink.  The name of tonight’s band
is “Tramps Like Us” and they sound great.  They’re playing “Born to be Wild”,
and the bar is rocking.

I haven’t been here in nearly a year, but in this place, time stands
still.  It’s hard not to be affected by the rock history that took place for so
many here.  The black walls are covered with signed guitars from performers
that have played here.  The pitch-black rafter ceilings and cement floors give
it a true rock and roll vibe.

The floor in front of the stage is crowded, but not overly packed.  The
band just started its first set a few minutes ago, and the night is still
young.  While the band is playing, a few of the tables are empty.  We navigate
our way through the sea of people, pull two tables together, drag over a couple
of extra chairs, and settle down to enjoy some great music.

Marcus insists on buying the first round and Evan goes to the bar with
him to help.  There are eight of us, and that’s definitely too many beers for
one person to carry alone.

I watch as my man makes his way to the bar.  Young and old alike are
assembled here tonight, and none seem any the wiser that Evan is someone to
notice.  His good looks are certainly turning a few heads, but so far, no one
has recognized him.  I’m glad.  He needs a night to be just another hot guy in
a room full of hot guys.

Up on stage are five performers that range in age from early thirties to
early fifties.  There’s a drummer, a sax man, a keyboard player, and two guys
on guitar, one of which is the lead singer.  They really capture the true sound
and presence of Bruce.  I’ve been to lots of live concerts, but my favorite,
without hesitation, is Bruce Springsteen.  He puts on an incredible show and
never disappoints.