Chapter 3
Everyone was on the dance floor with drinks in their hands while I helped the kitchen clean up. Glasses had to be gathered and sanitations had to be started. The more we could clean up without destroying the flow of the party, the more time I could spend in my own bed. If I stayed at the hotel too long, I’d have to rent a room just to be able to get a decent amount of sleep, and I didn’t want to do that.
“Lexi!”
“Yes, Chef?”
“Courtney’s looking for you. Want me to send her back?”
Before I could answer, I saw Courtney walking toward me. She started handing me glasses while I threw them into the plastic holder and then slid them into the sanitation machine. She handed me a rag and I wiped my brow, then noticed the hickeys all over her neck, which told me exactly what she’d been up to. I grinned at her, shaking my head as I tossed the rag back at her, and the two of us began to giggle.
“So, how were they?” I asked.
“Can’t remember their names, but they were dark, hung, and chiseled. Oh, girl, I gotta thank you for the invite.”
“You know our holiday tradition consists of you coming to these parties, me stealing a bottle of wine, and the two of us staying up late chatting,” I said.
“Speaking of, what bottle did you swipe for us this time?” she asked.
“A 1986 Gruaud-Larose. It’s the white wine that was on the menu tonight.”
“That shit was fantastic. Is it already in your car?” she asked.
“I’ve got it underneath the sink in the back. Can you take it to the trunk of my car?” I asked.
“Sure. Be right back.”
I couldn’t get Jeremy’s look out of my mind. I kept glancing over my shoulder to see if he was there, and every time I looked out among the guests, I saw him casing the room. He’d never been this attentive to any of the parties I’d hosted before, so I knew this had something to do with the kisses he saw in the corner earlier. I shivered at how their lips had tasted before a shock of dread ricochet through my stomach. I had a feeling Jeremy would use this to try to fire me, but Courtney’s voice ripped me from my thoughts.
And confirmed the worst of them.
“So, I saw the way Jeremy’s been looking at you tonight. He does not look happy.”
“I know. He’s pretty pissed,” I said. “I can’t honestly say I feel good about it either.”
“Well, I’m glad you said something. The look in his eyes is giving me the heebie-jeebies, and I’m not the one he’s pissed at.”
“Did you see what started it?” I asked.
“Oh, sweetheart, I saw all of it, and you looked happy as a clam. They’re all sexy, too. Fucking freaks, passing you around like a piece of meat. I bet you enjoyed it, too.”
“Hell yeah I did. I haven’t felt that alive from just a simple kiss in years,” I said, grinning.
“Lexi, can I be honest for a second?”
“Stop fucking asking and just do it,” I said.
“The looks that are crossing Jeremy’s face worry me.”
It was the first time in my entire friendship with Courtney that she had ever voiced a fear. In my mind, I had figured she simply didn’t have the capability of doing so. She didn’t get angry; she only got even. She didn’t get upset; she only made her point known. She let things roll off her back and never once could you intimidate her.
But right now she seemed genuinely afraid.
“You’re freaking me out, Court. Cut it out,” I said.
“I’m serious, Lexi. There’s possessive and weird, and then there’s what he’s doing. His eyes are looking a bit psychotic.”
“I read you loud and clear. He’s looked like that for months. Good thing I dumped him tonight,” I said. “Now can we please get off the subject?”
“I just don’t want him manipulating you because he’s scaring you,” she said.
“He was controlling in our relationship; I know how he works. Trust me, I’ll be fine. I’m gonna have a sit-down with the HR rep tomorrow and just explain to her what happened and why I left. Maybe she can put me on a different schedule than him or something so we don’t see each other as often.”
I drew in a deep breath and tried to calm my racing heart. I’d just broken up with the guy and then he watched me be passed around by a bunch of men who were superior to him in every single way. This was just an isolated incident that would blow over soon enough. It would go away and everything would be fine.
Right?
“I am worried, Court.”
“And you should be. Listen, the party’s dying down. Why don’t you tell the chef you’re heading out and let the rest default to the crew? You’ve trained them well. They can handle this shit.”
“No, no. I gotta stay and wrap up,” I said.
“No, you don’t. You always say you do, but you know it falls to the catering crews to clean up their own space. Now grab a tray of treats, slip them into a container, and meet me at your car.”
I nodded as my eyes drifted out to the dance floor. People were beginning to trickle out, some stumbling over themselves while their siblings clung tightly to them. Most parties like this went well into the small hours of the morning, but this party hadn’t even hit midnight before people began to trickle out. My eyes drifted along the floor, looking for any sign of the men I’d seen earlier. Disappointed, I was about to give up my search.
Until I shifted my position and my eyes landed back in that same corner I’d met them in earlier.
The eight of them were standing there, talking and laughing underneath that mistletoe. Logan Castle, one of the firefighting brothers, caught my stare and waved. His motion prompted the other men to slowly look over, and I watched as smiles bloomed upon their faces. Courtney elbowed me, smirking as I turned my face toward hers, and I handed her the glass I was shining before I busted through the doors.
I wanted one last chance to revel in their glory before I left for the night.
“Glad you decided to stick around,” Logan said, grinning. “I wasn’t sure how long you’d be here before you retired for the evening.”
“I usually wind down the parties and then help clean up, but my roommate is convincing me to get out of here a little early,” I said.
“Well, I don’t know about these fellas, but I won’t take much of your time. I just wanted to know if you’d do me the honor of presenting me with the digits that would allow me to call you on your cell phone sometime,” Logan said.
“Do you always have to be so fucking convoluted all the time?” Liam asked. “He just wants your number so he can text you pictures of his abs.”
“You can text me pictures of your body whenever you’d like,” I said as I held out my hand.
“Well, what if a certain someone wanted to send you pictures of, say, a beautiful sunset?” Tony asked.
“Are there many sunsets over the sign of Wolf Energy?” I asked.
“Oh, sunsets can occur anywhere. Sunsets have less to do with the actual setting of the sun and more to do with the atmospheric pressures that create clouds that obscure the view,” Terry said.
“I would probably just send you pictures of me practicing on the field,” Cole said.
“I don’t know much about football, Mr. Oakley, but I’m sure those would be just fine,” I said as I typed my number into Logan’s phone.
“Would you send pictures back?” Cameron asked. “I’m sure a beautiful woman like yourself has much to share with a man like myself.”
“And myself,” Kevin said.
“And me as well,” Kyle repeated.
“Ah, I see the doctors want onboard, too. I was beginning to think the two of you didn’t like me,” I said, winking.
“That’s absolutely impossible,” Kevin said. “You are the epitome of beauty.”
I was being showered with attention and I reveled in it. Their smiles were bright and their eyes were kind. Their bodies were strong and their minds were in sync. One by one, they handed me their phones, and one by one I entered my number into every single one of them. I took pictures of my face and set them as my contact photos in their phones. I was blowing each of them a kiss in the pictures.
“A beautiful face with a beautiful pair of lips,” Tony said.
“You guys can call or text me anytime you wish,” I said. “But my roommate’s waiting with a very expensive bottle of wine that we’re going to open after we get into our pajamas.”
“I feel a rousing round of pictures coming on,” Tony said, smirking.
“Only if you’re feeling lucky, Mr. Wolf.”
I turned my back and sashayed away as my eyes scanned the room for Jeremy. I didn’t see him anymore, much to my relief, but I did see Courtney gawking from the kitchen. She was leaning against the edge of the counter, her eyes as big as the sun as I pushed through the doors that led into the bustling room. She ran over to me and linked her arm with mine, giggling as she walked me straight back and out the door.
“I already got the snacks in the car. Some fruit and those puff pastry things. You have so much to tell, I grabbed another bottle of wine, just in case,” she said.
“You’re bad.”
“Oh, but you’re so much worse. And those men loved it,” she said.
The moment I got in the car and drove away, I felt like I had nothing to worry about. I looked for Jeremy, for any indication that he was following us, and as we got out onto the highway with no sign of him, relief flooded my body. I was out from under his prying eyes, out from under his title of boss overlord, and out from under his judgmental gaze.
Now I could think about each of the eight men I’d kissed, all who now had my cell number.
“So, which one do you like best?” Courtney asked.
“Is it bad that I don’t know yet?” I asked.
“Sweetheart, if you actually chose, I’d be sorely disappointed. You’ve got four sets of fucking twins drooling over you. Ride the wave of the single woman until you drown in your own fluids!”
“Could you be any grosser?” I asked.
“Want me to try?”
“No, thanks. I’d actually like to enjoy my drinks and snacks tonight,” I said.
We pulled up into the parking lot of the apartment we were renting together. I sighed, leaning my head back against the seat of the car as we sat there for a while. My eyes kept darting toward the mirrors, clocking who was coming and going and who was simply passing us by. I hated feeling this way—like I was being watched or followed. It pissed me off that I had allowed some idiotic man-child to make me feel this way.
Courtney’s hand landing on my knee pulled me from my trance, however, before I had enough sense to cut the car off.
“He’s not here,” she said. “It’s just us.”
“You ready for some of that wine? Because I am.”
“Then let’s get upstairs and get them open,” she said.
“And screw glasses. I’m just sticking a straw right into the fucking top of it.”
“That’s the spirit! Like a massive Capri Sun or some shit!” Courtney exclaimed.
“I want to hear all about this encounter with those twins you suddenly disappeared with. I wanna know how you got each and every one of those hickeys,” I said as I got out of the car.
“Oh, Lexi, you don’t have a choice tonight.”