Taste of Love (3 page)

Madison pulled up her Google search and entered the name. She hit enter and was amazed at how many results turned up. "Oh my!" She clicked on some of the links. "Looks like Mr. Rome is a famous singer." She looked over to Leo, who stood up and looked over her shoulder as she clicked a few more of the search results.

"Oh, hey, I know this song. I just never knew who sang it," he said.

"I know it too..." She started to hum the melody of the song.

"If I'd known he was that famous, I would have just let you handle it. Maybe you wouldn't have screwed it up as bad as I did," Leo said with regret.

Madison smiled at him for the first time since the incident began. "No Leo, you did just fine. I'm sure your words and actions were impeccable. We'll get through this, don't worry." Madison reassured him, though she secretly hoped that Cameron Rome didn't make good on his threats, just when business was finally booming.

"
T
ate, can you get me a Cosmo, please?" Madison asked the bartender as she took a seat on one of the stools. The dinner crowd had thinned out and there were only a few tables left, so she took leave of the kitchen. She was rubbing her temples with her head down when she sensed someone sit next to her.

"Tough night, huh?" Austin asked.

"One of the worst. I am so ready for it to be over," she groaned. Her Cosmo was set in front of her, and she took a long drink of it. The liquor burned all the way down. She looked at the glass with a raised eyebrow. "The man may have an attitude, but he sure makes a mean drink," she sighed.

"Hey bitches!" A tall, dark-haired, flamboyant man walked into the bar area as if he owned it.

"Chase! What are you doing here?" Chase was one of her best friends. She greeted him by lifting her arms for a hug. He stepped right up to her, accepted his hug and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Hey Mary. I was hoping to convince you to come out with me this fine evening." He gave her his puppy dog eyes.

"I will never understand why you call her Mary," Austin said.

"Because he's a Mary himself," Madison joked.

"Ah, are you jealous that I have a nickname for her and not you? I'd be happy to come up with a pet name for you too." Chase wagged his eyebrows seductively, looking the young man up and down with exaggerated attention.

"Uh, no! Thanks anyway," Austin said, cringing.

"Hmm, your loss," he teased. "So Mary, what's the verdict? Are you coming out with me tonight?"

"Honey, you came out a long time ago," Madison laughed.

"Yeah, yeah. You are so funny." Chase pulled up a stool.

"Chase, you know it's Thursday, and on Thursdays I always go to the all night Laundromat after work to do my laundry," she said, reminding him of her routine.

"Oh, you're so boring. My routine this, my schedule that." He looked over at Austin. "I'm willing to bet she even plans out her sex life."

Austin blushed. Madison rolled her eyes. "What sex life?"

Chase snorted at that. "Watch out, Mary. We're going to corrupt the young man." He wiggled his eyebrows again, and Austin gave him a smirk.

"But back to the subject at hand," Chase said with a grand sweep of his hand. "Come on. Are you completely out of black shirts or black pants?"

"Well, no," she answered honestly.

"What about black socks? Bras? Those cute little thong underwear?"

"No, no, and no," she replied, knowing that her excuse of needing to do laundry was failing. "But if I don't do it tonight, it's going to throw off my whole schedule."

"Good lord woman, forget the damn schedule for once and let loose," Chase begged.

"You know, I think we could all use a night out after the incident we had tonight," Austin tried. "I'll go if you go."

"Hear that? The young man will go. We might be able to corrupt him yet."

Austin grinned.

Madison looked at her two friends and their hopeful faces. "Fine, I'll just have to do my laundry when I get home, so I am not staying out too late."

"Sure..." Chase pacified, and winked at Austin.

Austin winked right back.

Cameron scrolled through the phone book built into his cell phone. He highlighted the number for his buddy Matt and hit send. After a few quick rings, the man answered.

"Dude, I am in serious need of a drink and a quick lay, not necessarily in that order. You up for a night out?" Cameron asked.

"You know it, man. Count me in," Matt told him. Cameron knew Matt was the one he could always count on to be up for a good time. They made arrangements to meet at a popular bar half an hour later.

Cameron hurried to change his clothes, picking out a long sleeved dark grey polo and a vintage Rolling Stones t-shirt to put over it. He grabbed his favorite faded jeans, then his black Doc Martens. In just a few minutes, he was ready to roll.

Matt found Cameron sitting at the bar, nursing his second beer. "Started without me, I see."

"Dude, I told you I was seriously in need. My mother set me up on the worst blind date of my life," he said with a shake of his head.

"Man, you let your mother set you up on a blind date?" Matt laughed. "You were asking for whatever it was you happened to get!"

"Dude, I had no choice! You know how my mother is. It was one of her friend's nieces that just moved to town, so I was elected to take her out," Cameron said. "This woman was a real piece of work. I should have known from the moment I saw her that it was not a good idea. She completely humiliated me in a restaurant full of people. I just want to forget the whole night ever happened."

"Oh man, someone humiliated you? Did she know who you are?" Matt tried to hold back a laugh.

"Yeah, she knew, but she didn't do it on purpose. She's just that way, the poor thing. I just want to forget about it. I don't want to talk about it, I don't want to think about it," Cameron told him. He signaled to the bartender and two more beers were brought over. "Come on; let's get to the VIP area before someone recognizes me."

Chase went with Madison to her apartment so she could shower and change. While she was cleaning up, Chase went to her closet to pick out her outfit. There were only a few things in there that weren't black.

Honey needs to stop working so much and get a life
, Chase thought as he rifled through the hangers. "Finally!" he said aloud when he saw the black leather pants. "They're black, but they're hot."

Next to the pants, he found a red halter that would look great on her. "Perfect!"

Madison heard him talking to himself and smiled at the mirror - things like Chase talking to himself meant that everything was normal. She dried her hair before coming out of the bathroom, choosing to leave it in its naturally wavy state, cascading down her back. She put on just enough makeup to bring out the green in her eyes, along with a touch of lipstick. Then she took a deep breath and readied herself to enter the bedroom and find out what Chase had picked for her to wear. No doubt she would be uncomfortable in whatever he chose.

"Girl, you better hurry your skinny ass up! Austin will be here any minute!" Chase called.

"I'm hurrying. I just need to get dressed," she said, walking to the bed where the clothes lay. She stared at the options and bit her lip.

"Ah, Chase, isn't there anything else I could wear?"

"When you got it, flaunt it."

"Fine, but just so you know, it is completely against my better judgment," she yelled back, going to her dresser to fetch some underwear.

A few minutes later, she was all dressed and ready to go. Austin arrived and they all headed to the bar, with Madison complaining the whole time.

"I met this really cute guy this morning and he promised to get us into the VIP lounge. He said he'd leave my name at the door," Chase informed them.

"Oh, so dragging us out tonight was all about some guy you met? I should have known," Madison smirked.

"Hey, just because you're not getting any, doesn't mean that the rest of us shouldn't," Chase told her.

"A boyfriend just doesn't fit into my schedule right now." Madison shook her head vehemently to make her point.

"Who's talking about a boyfriend? You just need to get laid. One night stand. No attachment, just pure, raw, sexual satisfaction." Chase spelled out his opinion as Madison rolled her eyes.

Austin laughed. "Yeah, right. You know how long I have been trying to get her to do that? She seems to think that sex is only for relationships. I mean, shit, I've been trying to hit that since freshman year in college."

Madison smacked his arm. "Oh shush. You have not! You'd never do anything to ruin our friendship."

"Whatever you say, gorgeous." Austin winked at her.

Chase stood by and watched, wondering if Austin truly did have feelings for Madison. It was very clear that she only thought of him as a friend, so he felt for Austin if his feelings went deeper. Madison would be one tough cookie to crack in the relationship department.

The group of three walked up to the bouncer and Chase gave the large man his name. Sure enough, he was on the list, and they were quickly escorted to the VIP section.

"So, who is this guy, and how did he get you on the VIP list?" Madison asked as they sidled up to the bar to order drinks.

"All I know is that his name is Paul, and he is so fine!" Chase told her. "You know I'm not one for details."

"Drink to that!"

Madison took the shot in front of her and touched it to the shot glasses in her friends' hands before downing it. The smooth liquid slid down her throat, warming her inch by inch as it went. Swirling her finger in the air, she motioned for the bartender to give them another round.

After the next shot, Madison was finally starting to relax. On a typical night, she'd have maybe one or two drinks, but that was it. It was very rare for her to have more than that, so once she passed that threshold, the alcohol started to affect her much more quickly.

The group did one more shot before leaving the bar, with beer (for Austin) and cosmos (for Madison and Chase) in hand. Madison felt great as she started to move to the beat of the music.

"I think you guys were right, I did need this tonight," she shouted to her friends over the din.

"Well, drink up. I plan on getting you thoroughly wasted tonight," Chase laughed as he looked around the room, trying to spot Paul.

"Not too bad. I still have to do laundry tonight," Madison reminded him, unaware of the effect that the shots would soon have on her.

"Sure, sweetie," Chase pacified her as he ordered another round of drinks from the cocktail waitress.

Austin excused himself from the group to approach a group of models partying on the other side of the room. He had been eye-flirting with one of the girls, and felt it was the right time to make his move.

After their next round of drinks, Madison was starting to feel the effects of the alcohol. By the drink after that, she was pretty loaded. She wandered out onto the dance floor, feeling as though the beat was calling her name. She was immediately immersed in the crowd of dancers, shaking her ass until Chase couldn't see her anymore.

When he turned around, he came face-to-face with the man he had been searching for all night.