Wanting Reed (Break Me) BOOK 2 (14 page)

“Look! No lines. No waiting,” Mindy cries.

“VIP treatment! I could totally get used to this!” Evelyn yelps as she exchanges a look with the bouncer who shamelessly looks her up and down.

“Love!” Mindy chirps as she grabs Evelyn’s hand and pulls her past the velvet ropes into the bar. I thankfully fall behind a step and meet Piper who’s standing next to the bouncer. He has to be a foot taller than her because she barely reaches his bulging chest. “Thanks, Brains.” Piper smiles as she gets on her tiptoes to rub his bald head.

“No problem, Bird.”

“Bird?” I ask, raising my eyebrows.

“It’s short for Songbird.”

“Oh, cute.”

“Yeah, Brains got his nickname because he has a dual major in… what, again?” She frowns as she continues to rub his head.

“Computer science and digital art.”

“See. There’s a lot of smarts up in that rock of his. Don’t let the muscles and tats fool ya.”

He laughs and folds his massive arms across his chest as his light-brown eyes sparkle just like the diamond studs in his ears. “Yeah, she has the voice of an angel, but she’s the devil in disguise,” he says as he lets a couple of leather clad females by.

“Whatever. Never been arrested and clean as a whistle.” She quips.

“You just never got caught.” He chuckles. “And by the way, watch your man’s temper and drinking. I don’t want to have to drag him out again tonight.”

“Whatever,” she says as she playfully pushes past him and pulls me behind her.

“What’s that about?” I ask as I gently tug at her arm.

“Oh, nothing. Link didn’t like the way some guy was looking at me at the bar.”

“Possessive much?”

“A little.” She blushes. “I kind of like it. I’ve never had that with any of my other boyfriends,” she replies as she looks toward the stage for Link. “When he’s drinking, he can get kind of disruptive, but he means well and he’s never violent.” She looks back at me and smiles gently, pushing aside a braid. “Come on. Let’s get a drink.”

Evelyn and Mindy have already made themselves at home at the bar. Four shots are lined up and waiting for us as Evelyn anxiously taps her foot and folds her arms across her chest.

“Ladies,” she shakes her head as she continues, “we need to make quick work of these shots.”

“Shots of what?” I raise my eyebrow and lean over to smell the mysterious liquid inside the shot glass. I don’t trust Mindy or Evelyn when it comes to their choice of alcoholic beverages, and I don’t trust myself to drink more than two shots in one night on an empty stomach.

“No. No cheating. It’s a surprise. Mindy picked it. She says it’s delish and goes down like butter,” Evelyn squeals as she stands between the bar and me.

“It’s a blow job!” Mindy exclaims as she snatches hers from the bar.

The guy standing behind me coughs loudly, backs into me and turns when he hears Mindy’s exclamation. His eyes fall on my face, and the corners of his mouth lift into a sweet smile.

“Hazel,” he breathes. His blue eyes sparkle like the first night I met him at Gypsy Bar. “God, I can’t forget those eyes.”

“Hazel, that’s sweet.” I blush as his eyes search my face. “But, my name is Elle.”

“Sorry, I’m Chad. We didn’t get to introduce ourselves that night. You were abruptly pulled away from me,” he says, lowering his eyes. He moves his eyes upward while scratching his head sheepishly. “Blow jobs?” He chuckles.

I laugh nervously and look back at my three conspirators.

“I’ve never had one. Have you?” I answer. Realizing what it sounds like, I grab my shot glass and turn back to him. “
This
kind of blow job.” I wince, saying the words as Chad continues to smile at me.

“I know.” He laughs. “They’re good. I mean… yeah... okay.” He pauses and nervously runs his fingers through his wavy blonde hair.

“Who’s this fine specimen here?” Piper walks up holding her shot in front of her.

“Chad,” I answer.

“Hi.” He smiles, raising his beer to his lips and taking a pull.

“Nice to meetcha,” Piper jokes. “You want a blow job?”

Chad almost chokes on his beer, and I have to slap him on his back. I instantly feel his hard muscles under my fingers and flinch at my body’s fiery reaction. “Piper.” I cringe, clearing my throat. “You definitely have no filter.”

“Sorry.” She shrugs her shoulders and smiles. “I don’t have a problem giving him CPR.” She winks. “What is it with guys and blow jobs? God, it’s just a shot,” she winks as she passes me another shot and raises her glass to mine. “Right, ladies?” she yelps as she turns to Evelyn and Mindy who raise their glasses toward the ceiling. Not wanting to be a Debbie Downer, I smile and follow them.

“Four blow jobs down the hatch,” Evelyn says as we all take the shot in unison while Chad’s eyes never leave my face.

I break away from the crowd for a minute to run to the bathroom and to grab a glass of water before returning to the front of the stage to hang out with the girls. So far, the night has been great. The change of scenery is nice and seeing Chad earlier was an unexpected surprise.

“Still here?” Chad asks as he comes up behind me. His body gently brushes against me when someone shoves past him. He frowns as he braces himself on the bar with his hands and twists to face me.

“Yes, I’ve been in the front row watching my friend’s boyfriend’s band play,” I reply as I take a sip of water. After the second shot, I stopped drinking altogether because I started seeing double of everything.

“Nice. Which friend?” he asks. “Wait. Don’t tell me. That one?” He glances toward the stage where Piper is standing in the front row and kissing Link at the end of the song.

“Yep, Piper,” I affirm and turn back to him right before Nick’s voice bellows over the microphone to announce the next song. Chad glances at the bartender and nods his head. Instantly, the sexy female bartender slides him a beer. Sliding a five-dollar bill onto the counter, he grabs his beer and leans his back against the bar. He’s wearing a V-neck T-shirt that gives me a peek of his rock hard pectorals. He smiles crookedly when my eyes linger longer than necessary on his body. I blush and immediately take another sip of water to distract my focus.

“Well, you must be a regular here for the bartender to know what you want without asking.” I notice she’s watching me with squinted eyes as I talk to Chad.

“No, Sam knows everyone.” He shakes his head adamantly when he notices the look Sam throws me. “I come here for the music and nothing else.” He grins. “So, what do you think about dancing? I’m not great, but this song is kind of cool.”

I catch the words “love broken”. This must be the song I saw Piper writing when I met her.

“I don’t know,” I answer, scanning the crowd. “No one else is.”

“Who cares what everyone else is doing?” He smiles as he takes a pull of his beer and sets it on the bar. He grabs my hand. “I’m not going to let this opportunity slip through my fingers.”

I don’t resist his offer as he gently squeezes my hand and maneuvers us through the crowd onto the dance floor.

“Hey.” He spins me around. “I’m not going to hurt you or step on your toes.” He looks into my eyes before he hesitantly pulls me toward him. When I don’t resist, he pulls me closer. My stomach flutters. Hearing those words remind me of Reed, our first kiss, and our first dance on his birthday. It’s like I just got slapped in the face as I try hard to hold my emotions in check. I feel unsettled, like someone is watching me, like the entire world is watching me. I rattle away the idea. It’s just me trying to get used to my new life. All this freedom is foreign to me.

“Are you okay?” he asks as he touches my cheek. “It looks like you’re going to cry.”

“Yes.” I smile as his fingers slip from my face. I turn and let the music and Nick’s voice take over as he sings Piper’s song about broken love. Closing my eyes, I let the music flow through my body and free my mind of everything. I don’t care when I feel Chad’s hands slide down my body and stop at my hips. He gently pulls me tighter as I lean my head against his shoulder. I feel his body under mine while we move in time with the music.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispers into my ear. “Dangerously beautiful.”

I turn and wrap my arms around his neck and smile.
I need this freedom. It’s not wrong. This is not wrong. I’m living my life.

“I haven’t seen you at the Gypsy lately. I was hoping to see you there,” he says as he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.

“I’ve been really busy with classes and moving into my own place.”

“Well, that could do it.” He smiles. “I thought for a minute I scared you away.”

“I actually enjoyed talking to you that night.” I lift my eyes to his.

“I’m glad.” He grimaces.

“What’s wrong?” I ask as I loosen my arms around his neck.

“God, it’s your eyes. There’s something about your eyes.” He smiles sheepishly and scratches his head. “I’d love to get you in front of the lens.”

“What?” I pull back slightly to get a clear view of his face.

“Photograph you. I’m a photographer,” he clarifies. “I’m attending the New England School of Photography in Boston. When I saw you for the first time, I was picturing all the ways I would pose you. You would be a great project.”

“Project?” I laugh.

“I would love for you to be my muse for an assignment I’m working on in class.” He looks away and then back to me. “Pretty please?” He pouts and my eyes are instantly drawn to his lips.

“I don’t know.” I look down, but that’s a bad idea because all I can focus on are the ripples of his abs through his T-shirt. Seriously, I’m pretty much being shackled by his looks.
Damn. What a bad place to be,
I laugh to myself.

“What’s so funny?” he asks, catching the soft smile on my face.

“Nothing.” I look up at him.

“First, the eyes. Now, the smile? You’re killing me,” he moans. “I definitely won’t and can’t take no for an answer.”

“Fine,” I concede. “But, I have one condition.”

“What’s that?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Clothes on.”

“Deal,” he whispers. “I was resolved to the fact that I would never see you again. Plus, I would never ask you to do something like that.
Well
…” He trails off.

“Hey,” I reply as I jokingly push him away, but his hold on me makes that almost impossible.

“It’s your eyes. They tell your story. That’s the first thing that got me. Then it was…” he blushes as he continues talking, “the rest of you.”

Now it is my turn to blush.

“I’m sure you hear that from all the guys,” he finishes as we move to the music.

I don’t know what to say as I let the sound of the guitar and Nick’s voice relax me.

“Aren’t we getting a little cozy over here?” Piper sneaks up with two beers in hand. I look up and turn toward her voice. Chad’s hand rests on my waist as she passes me an ice cold beer.

“Just a dance to the fabulous song you wrote,” I say as I gently tug on her braid. “The lyrics are amazing.” I’m silently relieved that she interrupted when she did.

“How did you know?” She looks over in surprise as we walk off the dance floor.

“It’s the song you were writing when we met.”

“Ahh…you’re very observant.”

“Nothin’ gets past me.” I laugh as we find an empty booth.

“I’ll remember that,” Chad says as he winks at me and then turns to Piper. “Piper, you are talented.”

“Gee, thanks,” she says as she mockingly lowers her head. “I try not to toot my own horn. I let the music and words speak for themselves.”

“It definitely does,” Chad says.

“Hey, Elle, where’d you find this guy? I like him,” she chirps as she nudges Chad with her elbow.

I glance over and smile, noticing the way he seems to be soaking me in like he doesn’t want to see me go. I get the feeling he wants to know more about me. I can do that, but still keep some boundaries between us.
Right?
My life is different now, and I have to learn to navigate it by heeding the caution signs and stopping at the red lights. I can feel it in my heart that it is too soon to start something new. No matter how much I change the places and people around me, I’m still not over Reed.