Chapter 6
Adalyn
“I changed my mind, Stacy. I can’t wear this.” I felt like my vagina was waving at me in the mirror. I swear this dress wasn’t this short when I tried it on earlier. Did I buy the wrong size? Did I gain fifteen pounds in the last three hours? What the hell.
“Ughhhhhh. Are you trying to get me thrown in jail? Because I will seriously fuck you up if you don’t stop whining. If busting up your face is the only way to shut you up, then I’ll do it. Don’t test me.”
“I hate you.”
“No, you love me. Now get your shoes on and let’s go. My vagina is getting really antsy and is ready for some entertaining, and that can’t happen if I stay here listening to your annoying crap. Unless you grew a penis overnight and didn’t tell me.”
“I really think you should join a sex addicts anonymous group, Stacy. Actually, you know what, never mind. You’d end up just using it as a way to meet people to sleep with. The whole thing would probably turn into an orgy.”
“See, that’s why I love you so much, hooker. You know me so well. That’s actually not a half bad idea, either. Although, I think the issue here is that YOU are the one who needs to get laid.”
“Um, no. I’m so scarred from that last guy; I may stay celibate for the rest of my life.”
“Was he the ‘farter’ or the squeaker?”
“Oh, God...the ‘farter’.” Ugh, that night was traumatic. “I totally forgot about him. He had no shame. Who farts every time they thrust into you and doesn’t even try to act embarrassed or apologize for it? I almost threw up on him. Then the idiot had the balls to ask me out on a second date before he left. That really was a low point in my sex life.”
“That’s not nearly as bad as the guy who slapped me across the face right when he came. I had a fucking bruise on my face for a week! Apparently bitch slapping me during his climax was okay but me kneeing him in the balls was “crossing the line,”” she said that last part using her fingers to make air quotes.
I was rolling around on the ground, clutching my stomach and trying to catch my breath. I was laughing so hard it felt like I’d had the wind knocked out of me. Tears were streaming down my face. It’s sad how many of these stories we had. My dress was going to get all wrinkled and my ass was probably flashing her, but I was laughing too hard to care.
“And no, the squeaker was like three mistakes ago.” I sat up trying to catch my breath, feeling winded from laughing for so long. “Where did we find these guys? I seriously felt like I was being pounded by a rubber duck.” Of all the nights I wished I drank alcohol so I could just black out the memories, that was definitely one of them.
“Oh my god!” Stacy yelled, doubling over with laughter. “Is he the guy you made donkey sounds with?”
“Yep. Apparently he thought his sounding like a chew toy was hot, but when I would ‘hee-haw’ it made me “just fucking weird.” Men… such double standards.”
“Whatever, nothing is as bad as the titty slapper.” Stacy could always one up me when it came to embarrassing sex stories. Even with my competitiveness, I was more than happy to lose with this one. “My girls had never seen such abuse. I like a good spanking as much as the next girl, but smacking my tits over and over is not hot.”
“Alright, you win, Stace. If we keep going, we’ll be here all night reminiscing over our biggest mistakes.”
“True. Lord knows I’ve got plenty of them. Let’s get out of here before you change your mind, slut bag.”
Ten minutes and thirty dollars in cab fare later, we arrived at the club. Grind, aka, my personal hell for the night. On top of all of the other reasons I didn’t want to be here, now I had to apologize to Ian. That alone made me want to vomit. I felt like my legs weighed a thousand pounds each. Physically exiting the cab and walking up to the building took every ounce of energy I had. There used to be a time when I would be excited to be getting VIP treatment at an exclusive club. That time was not now. That time felt like a hundred years ago.
As soon as the bouncer opened the door for us, I was smacked in the face with a wall of loud music and heat. I had to admit, it was a really nice club. A live band was playing to the far right on a corner stage. There was a second level that wrapped around the entire perimeter of the club, overlooking the packed dance floor. Several high top tables were spread out sporadically around the large room.
Stacy immediately spotted Carrie and grabbed my hand, dragging me behind her. Instinctively I resisted, not wanting to talk to Carrie, and when my hand slipped from hers I stumbled at the loss of contact and started to face plant right into the ground. I pinballed off a couple of people on the dance floor, but just as I was about to go down, large hands wrapped around my waist, saving me from my demise.
I found my balance and turned around to thank whoever was kind enough to prevent me from going home with a concussion before the night even started, but I almost fell again from the shock of looking directly into the face of Ian. He was wearing that same shit eating grin as he was earlier. Rat bastard.
Roughly shoving his hands off my body, I said thank you and turned to walk away. He grabbed my hand though, preventing my escape. I hated him in that moment. Maybe that wasn’t fair, considering it was really my own body that was pissing me off. Were my nipples seriously getting hard from him grabbing my hand? Maybe Stacy was right, I really did need to get laid. My inability to control my body’s reaction to him made me more furious than ever. Why did he have to be so damn hot?
Determined not to let him get to me, I went to yank my hand from his grasp and almost fell backwards. Why do I keep almost falling!? He let go easier than I expected and a flash of relief, and then disappointment, ran through me.
Disappointment? What the hell, Addy. Get your crap together. He is the enemy. Your nipples are not hard; you are not aching with need. You are just mad. You are not thinking about hot, angry sex with this man. Not at all. Well, maybe just a little….
Before I could recover from almost falling again and the argument I was currently having with myself over whether or not one hot, steamy night with Ian would be acceptable, he wrapped his hand around my waist again and gripped my neck, pulling my face to his. I felt his breath warm on my ear. Damn it all to hell, I just shivered. Considering I was already a little sweaty from the heat coming off all of the writhing bodies on the dance floor, he most definitely knew that I did not shiver from being cold. Nope. Now he knew I was attracted to him. Shit on a pretzel stick.
“You put on a good show, but I know you feel it, sunshine. Your body craves mine as much as mine craves yours. You might mask your desire as hostility, but I see right through your bullshit. I will break through those barriers of yours, I can promise you that. I won’t give up until you are writhing underneath my body, spread out on my bed, screaming my name in pleasure.”
Cocky prick. Sexy as hell cocky prick. Fighting to maintain control of myself and resisting the urge to slip out my tongue and lick his neck, I shoved him as hard as I could and he actually stumbled for a second, clearly caught off guard by my reaction. What did he think? That he could just whisper some bullshit nonsense in my ear and I would just fall to his feet? Yeah, my panties were soaking wet and my knees were weak, but like hell was I going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that.
Turning and managing to escape this time, I made my way toward the bar, scanning the crowd unsuccessfully for Stacy. Spotting an empty stool at the bar, I sat down and motioned for the bartender. My nerves were frazzled and an impulsive need to calm down took over, easily pushing aside all of the rational parts of my brain telling me that alcohol wasn’t the answer. This man got under my skin like no one I had ever met before. Most guys would have called me a bitch or an assortment of colorful names by now and given up. Why was he trying so hard to mess with me? He clearly could have any woman he wanted, yet he felt the need to piss me off with his over the top flirting.
When the bartender made his way over to me I realized I had no idea what to order. He was tall and muscular, with shaggy blonde hair. His white t-shirt clung to him like it was a second skin and you could actually see his abs through it. He was hot and he was grinning at me, his head tilted to the left, patiently waiting for my order despite the numerous hands waving for him to come refill their drinks. Under normal circumstances, this type of attention from such an attractive man would have made me uncomfortable, but already being shaken up from feeling Ian’s breath on my neck while his body pressed into mine, had me verging on the edge of numbness.
Right when I started to open my mouth, Ian stepped up next to me, putting his hand on my lower back. The club was so packed that he had to wedge his way in between myself and another woman, who was so beautiful it physically hurt me to be sitting next to her. She tried to smile at him, but he didn’t even notice. Instead he pressed himself up against my side, not even trying to pretend that he wasn’t intentionally pushing his hard cock against my leg, and I cursed myself for liking it.
My legs immediately clenched, trying to slow the pulsing between my thighs. Ugh, I’m so weak. Stiffening my spine, I closed my eyes and counted to 10. If I didn’t calm down I was either going to kiss him or smack him. Both sounded highly enjoyable. Maybe I could kiss him then smack him. No. No kissing Adalyn.
Ian ordered something from the bartender. I had no idea what it was. I couldn’t hear over all the blood pounding in my ears while I glared at his smug face. Control yourself, Addy. Don’t let him know he’s getting to you. No reaction, feign indifference.
“Drinks are on me, Sunshine. What would you like?”
“I don’t drink. The only thing I would like right now is for you to get your hands off of me and take a hint. Oh, and stop calling me Sunshine.”
“You afraid to let your guard down around me? Don’t worry, I wouldn’t take advantage of you if you were drunk. I want to make sure that when I finally get you in my bed you remember every little detail.”
“No, I just don’t usually drink. But you should know that if you’re trying to get me to go home with you then I would most definitely need to be completely shit-faced before I would ever willingly get in your car. So if getting me naked is your end goal then you might have to rethink that whole ‘not taking advantage of me when I’m drunk’ thing.”
He looked at me incredulously. Was it because I said I didn’t drink or that I wouldn’t go home with him? Probably the drinking thing, it was a pretty common reaction. Why was it so bizarre that I didn’t drink? Everyone looked at me like I was insane every time I said that, and they always wanted to know why. It was a conversation I would never have, so asking was a waste of time. Normally I would try to deflect or change the subject, but if that didn’t work I’d just say I was a recovering alcoholic. I didn’t care what people thought, I just didn’t want to talk about it.
“Aw, is princess afraid of losing control? Are you so uptight that you can’t let yourself have even a small amount of fun? Must be hard walking around with that giant stick up your ass all the time. Probably for the best. Wouldn’t want you to let your guard down and end up doing something crazy, like being nice for once.”
Ass.
The bartender returned with Ian’s drink and I leaned forward, fisting a handful of the bartender’s shirt and leaned in to speak into his ear.
“Bring me 4 shots of whatever is the strongest you’ve got.”
When I let go, he winked at me and I giggled before he walked away. Intentionally giggled, of course. No self respecting woman actually giggles. Glancing at Ian out of the corner of my eye, I could see the shock in his face. And for the first time, anger. Aha! Finally. So that’s how to make this asshole angry. Bruise his ego. Heaven forbid there be one woman on earth who doesn’t throw themselves at him.
“I have no problem with having fun or being crazy, I just choose not to do either of those things with you.”
He winced and actually looked genuinely hurt by my comment and I immediately felt guilty. I was supposed to be apologizing to him and trying harder for Stacy. But something about him just got me so worked up and it was like I literally couldn’t help myself.
“I’m sorry. I was a bitch to you earlier and I’m still doing it now, and I promised Stacy I would try harder to get along with you. So... I’m sorry.”
“What was that?” He asked with a huge grin, leaning his ear closer to my mouth. “I knew eventually my charm and dashing good looks would get to you.”
“Ha! Keep telling yourself that. I’m just being nice for Stacy’s sake.”
“You know I don’t really believe that, right? You think I don’t see, and feel, the way your body reacts to mine? If it’s the chase you want, if you want me to work for it, then I will. But there’s no denying that there’s something between us, Adalyn.”
That kind of cocky attitude is exactly what pissed me off about him. I guess I should thank him for reminding me of that. Hating him was a lot easier than pretending to get along.
The bartender returned with my shots and lined them up in front of me. I shyly smiled at him before yanking on his shirt and pulling his mouth to mine. We shared a brief, albeit wonderfully sexy, kiss. When I pulled away he winked again and turned to take another order. I don’t know where the urge to do that even came from. Okay, that’s a lie. I wanted to show Ian I could be impulsive, and if it made him jealous, then that was just a perk.
Wait. Jealous? Why did I care if he was jealous?
No time to explore that thought. Without looking at Ian, I immediately downed all 4 shots, one right after the other. Dammit, they burned. And were disgusting. I fought the urge to gag or let it show on my face just how much I had not enjoyed those shots.
Once I got my now churning stomach under control, I turned to face Ian. Now I was the one with the smug face. I’m not sure why, though. That was probably one of the dumbest things I had ever done. What was I thinking? I wasn’t. I wasn’t thinking. I was pissed and he challenged me and my obsessive need to always win an argument made me want to prove a point. And based on his knowing smile, that’s exactly what he had wanted. I fell right into his trap. SHIT.
I needed to find Stacy. Fast. I needed someone to know what I’d just done before the alcohol took over. I wasn’t experienced with this, but considering I never drank and I’d asked for something strong, I assumed I was about to be falling down drunk in a very short amount of time. If the warmth spreading through my extremities was anything to go by, I was already halfway there.
After spinning in circles a few times, I finally spotted her. Whoa, spinning was a bad idea. She reached me just as I started to wobble. I could see the confusion in her face, though she was starting to look a bit blurry.
“What is wrong with you, Addy? Are you okay?”
I tried to explain, but apparently my reactions were already delayed from the alcohol and I took too long to speak up.
“She just tossed back 4 shots.”
I tried to turn to glare at Ian who was close behind me, but my eyelids felt heavy and I wasn’t sure if I was glaring or looked like I had fallen asleep midair. Stupid Ian. This was all his fault. With his stupid gorgeous body, wrapped tight in those dark denim jeans and a plain black t-shirt that looked like it had been painted on. With his stupid beautiful eyes that made me want to reveal all my secret desires and beg him to take me to bed. With his stupid face that I wanted to lick as if he were a delicious ice cream cone. Why do I keep thinking about licking him? Fighting the urge to act out my irrational thoughts was proving to be a lot more difficult in my inebriated state.
Keep tongue in mouth. Keep tongue in mouth. Tongue. In his mouth. My tongue in his mouth. DAMMIT.
“Dammit, Ian. Why did you let her do this? She never drinks. She’s going to be completely wasted. She is going to be so pissed tomorrow. And you better believe I will not take the fall for this shit. When she’s hung-over and looking for someone to blame I will gladly be throwing you under the bus.” Stacy wrapped her arm around me and led me to a couch. “Can you sit with her for a minute while I get a bottle of water? And can you manage to not let her do any more stupid shit until I get back?” Then Stacy was gone, leaving me in the hands of someone I felt the growing need to be far, far away from. I could feel him smiling at me.
Dick.
Mmm, I wonder if he has a big dick. STOP IT. He is a dick. Don’t think about his actual dick. And quit thinking the word dick!
I could feel Ian chuckling as he sat entirely too close to me on the couch. Why is he laughing? Did I just say all that out loud? Ugh, I couldn’t even tell if I was thinking things or actually saying them. I was so screwed. His enjoyment from this was making me so angry I could have punched kittens. Someone find me a kitten to punch!
“What, you couldn’t get any closer? Why don’t you just sit on my fucking lap?” Did I really just ask him that? I sounded hateful, but I wasn’t sure my body was backing up my words. I couldn’t even bring myself to look at him, but I saw a finger trailing down his chest. Who the hell is touching him right now? Oh my God, that’s MY finger. Why couldn’t I stop my hand from moving? Help! Someone! Mayday! Mayday!
Obviously, I no longer had control over any part of my body. All I could do at that point was pray that I would black out and not be able to remember any details when I woke up tomorrow. I’d take having my head in a toilet in the morning over having to relive these humiliating memories any day.
Ian grabbed my finger and pulled it to his mouth, kissing the tip. There I go shivering again. Maybe I was just getting the flu. Sure, Addy, keep lying to yourself. Dammit! Now my own brain was making me mad! Hey brain, shut up! No one asked you!
His face was so close to mine. If I moved just an inch towards him our lips would be touching. He was looking at me like…I had no idea what that look was on his face. Somewhere deep inside I knew that whatever that expression was, it would normally piss me off. Right then, thanks to the alcohol, it was making me feel warm and tingly all over. I wanted him to kiss my finger again. I wanted him to kiss all my fingers. Then my lips. Then maybe he would kiss my jaw, down my neck, trailing down between my breasts.
Get it together, Adalyn. Snap out of it.
Stacy returned just in time to save me from doing something I would undoubtedly regret tomorrow. I chugged the bottle of water, feeling some of it drip down my chin and land on my chest. I looked over to see Ian staring at that drop of water like we were in the middle of the Sahara and he was dying of thirst. I could see his chest rising and falling heavily and his pulse pick up tempo on his neck. Mmmmmm…his neck.
I couldn’t tell if it was the water dribbling out of my mouth or if I was actually drooling over him again, but I was interrupted by a group of guys who came barreling towards us before I had the chance to figure it out.
One of them immediately snatched Stacy up by her waist and pulled her off the floor and into a big bear hug. She giggled as he placed her back down, then made his way over to Ian. Ian stood and did one of those secret bro shakes that all typical man children do. The other two guys were talking to Stacy, but then bro shake guy turned to me.
“Hey, you’re Adalyn.”
“No shit. Gold star to bro shake for stating the obvious,” I said rolling my eyes.
He chuckled at me and shook his head. He looked relaxed with an easy smile. I immediately liked him. He was attractive, but not really my type. A little on the thin side with tattoos up his arms and a piercing in his lower lip. The fact that I wasn’t sexually attracted to him made it a lot easier for me to tame my inner bitch a little.
“I’m Brett, Stacy’s friend. Stacy says you’re an amazing singer, and here in about 20 minutes we’re going to start doing some live karaoke. Was hoping I could talk you into joining us up on stage. It being the first night, not sure if a whole lot of people are going to be up to participating. Trying to recruit some people ahead of time.”
Normally I would have given a snarky, self-deprecating response, but Ian beat me to it.
“Sorry, Brett. Think you’re fighting a losing battle with this one. No way will you be able to get Sunshine to lower her inhibitions enough to get up there. Her idea of fun is making everyone around her miserable.”
I could tell by the wink Ian gave me that he was just trying to tease me, but I knew better than anyone that even jokes have some meaning behind them. He might have been making light of the situation, but he obviously thought I was just a stone cold bitch who had no idea how to have fun.
“I’ll get up there and sing a song with you on one condition, Brett.”
“You name it, babe.”
Pulling Brett close to me, I told him my condition. I was regretting the words as they were coming out, but I didn’t back down from a challenge, so whether or not I would regret it later, I was going through with it. I wasn’t oblivious to the fact that the alcohol that still remained in my system was probably a big factor in my willingness to get up in front of a couple thousand people and potentially make an ass out of myself.
When I pulled away, Brett returned my wide grin with one of his own, reaching out his hand to shake on our little agreement. Ian’s eyebrows were raised, showing his surprise, but he wasn’t surprised enough. What would it take for me to really throw this guy off his game?
Well, game on Ian, I thought as I tossed back another shot and grabbed Brett’s hand, making my way towards the stage. Game. On.