Chapter Sixteen

Kaleigh

The minute the sun peeks through the curtains it lands on my face. I try blinking my eyes and swallowing, but I must have swallowed a pack of cotton balls, because I can’t produce spit. I turn around and land on the floor. “Fuck.” I’m not even in my bed. I’m on the couch. I look over at Lauren, who is sleeping in a curled ball. “Jesus,” I say as I take in the room. There are about six empty wine bottles, some pizza in a take-out box, and an empty bottle of vodka with three shot glasses. “Shit.” When I try to stand my head just turns over and over, so I sit on my ass, turning on my knees and crawling to the bathroom. “I really hope I can get up and not have to pee myself,” I say to the walls, but I hear a groan coming from behind me.

“Oh, God,” I say to the toilet when I try to get up on it. I close my eyes, breathing out of my mouth, trying not to barf and to stop the room from spinning. After I finish, I walk hunched back over to the couch. “I think a cat died in my mouth.”

Lauren sits up and then falls back down.

“I’m never drinking again.”

“I second that,” Lauren says from her side of the couch, raising her hand in the air. “Shit, where is Barbara?” she asks and I take in the destruction of what used to be her tidy living room. “I’m in the kitchen making you girls the hangover special.”

My stomach growls loud. “Is there a vegan option?” I ask as the smell of bacon fills the room.

She walks out of the kitchen, fresh and revived, which is the complete opposite of how we look. “I made two separate breakfasts. For the non-vegan, which is Lauren and myself, we have scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and some hash browns.”

Lauren still hasn’t moved. She just groans I think in appreciation.

“For the vegan, I fried some of the fake bacon, which I’m pretty sure is rubber, and some vegan eggs, which look like I can’t even tell you. Is it even healthy?” she asks.

I just nod. “I need toast.”

Barbara goes back in the kitchen while I lie on the couch, watching the wall, “Did I strip last night?” I ask.

“Yes, but Barbara threw a sheet over you for your dignity.”

Lauren has her eyes closed.

I feel the couch vibrate, so I move my hand around it, coming up empty, till it buzzes again and I feel it next to my feet. I grab it in between my feet, bringing it up to my face. I press the home button, showing me Facebook notifications as well as Instagram and then texts from Noah. I close my eyes, trying to remember. Opening them, I enter my password before going to my messages. I see four from him.

You’re cuddly when you’re drunk.

I am not an asshat and there is no herd.

Please be my friend.

You’re sexy AF when you use weapons, just not around my dick.

I scroll up to see our conversation and gasp when I see that I sent him about a million texts. Okay, maybe not a million, but at least ten. “You are a horrible wing woman!” I shout at Lauren, who raises the hand she has over her eyes up to look at me.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” she asks, puzzled by my sudden outburst.

“Rule one of drinking, phones are placed in a locked drawer. Where is your phone?” I ask her.

“I have no idea. I think the last time I saw it you took a knife out.” She places her hand on her face again. “I can’t believe you pulled the knife out and the pizza guy came. I thought he was going to shit himself when you threw the door open and said, ‘I will cut a bitch if you don’t get the fuck away from this door.’”

My hands fly to my face. “Oh my God. I pulled it out when Austin showed up,” I say while Barbara comes out of the kitchen with two plates, placing them right on the coffee table.

“I’m not defending him, but the knife was a tad too much,” Barbara says, going into the kitchen and coming back with her own plate. “You texting him our picture was like kicking him in the nuts. I think he answered back traitor.”

“I’m sorry. It’s the wine, or was it the vodka?”

She waves her hand in the air. “Please, I’ve been called worse. Serves him right. He really fucked up this time.”

“Can we change the subject?” Lauren says, rolling off the couch and sitting on the floor while she grabs her plate, eating it on her lap.

“Yes,” Barbara and I both say at the same time while I eat the eggs. “They are so fluffy. How did you get them this way?” I ask her, grabbing some hash browns.

“Water,” she says simply. “Usually I add milk, but I didn’t know what was what, so I just added water.”

We spend the rest of the meal just eating. The two of us are almost like zombies. We try to help Barbara clean up, but all we do is bring our plates into the kitchen.

“Barbara, don’t worry about the mess. I’ll get to it after I nap,” Lauren says while I side hug her.

“I’m going to go and collapse in my bed. Barbara, you can party like a rock star and look like a lady the next day. You’re my hero.”

I turn and walk out of the room while they continue talking, walking/crawling upstairs. I pass Rachel’s room as I go to mine. It’s a good thing they spent the night at my parents or I would have to donate to their therapy fund. How many nieces and nephews can say that their aunt almost sliced open a pizza delivery man?

Once I get to my room, I fall face first into the bed like a starfish and drift off to a fitful sleep. By the time night rolls around I feel almost normal, almost. The kids have come back and are now in bed while I lie in mine. I took a shower finally, so I’m lying in my bed naked. A dim light fills the room, the television playing in the background, but my mind isn’t processing anything that is happening. Instead, my mind keeps turning to Noah. Him showing up with Austin was a huge surprise. What wasn’t a surprise was the way my body got pulled to him. How he put his arm around me and all I wanted was to throw down the knife and wrap all my limbs around him. His blue eyes, his beautiful lips. A knock at my door has my mind coming back.

“Come in,” I say, putting the television on mute.

Lauren opens the door, peeking her head in.

“Hey, just checking in. How you feeling?” She opens the door, standing there in shorts and a tank top.

“I’m okay, back as new tomorrow, I think,” I say, stretching. “You feeling better?” I ask her, knowing she has been beating herself up about the whole thing.

“I just need to move on. Find a boss I don’t want to kill or at least a boss who won’t push me over the edge into insanity.”

“For what it’s worth, he looked really sorry when he stopped—” Her hand flies up to stop me from saying anything. “Fine, subject dropped.”

“I’m going to bed,” she says, closing the door behind her. And I do just that, turning off the light and getting lost in my dreams.

The next morning I wake to a knock at the door, followed by a soft little voice.

“Auntie Kay, I’m going bye bye soon and we didn’t smoochacles.”

I giggle, stretching. “You may enter for some smoochacles,” I shout while she opens the door, coming in.

Her blond pigtails bob up and down as she hops over to me. She climbs on the bed while I turn on my side, opening my arms for her to lie down next to me. She lays her head on my outstretched arm while my other arm snuggles her closer to me. “I gotta go see Daddy and Ms. Camilla,” she says, her small arm wrapping around my neck.

“It’s going to be fun and when you come back we can make some cookies,” I say. “Now give me smooches before mom calls you down. I think I heard a car door slam.”

She leans in, rubbing her nose with mine and then kissing me on the lips. I blow zerberts across her cheeks and then her neck, her giggles coming out while her little hands try to push me away.

“Now be a good girl and smile big when you see mom, okay?” I kiss her nose one more time before she turns over and slips off the bed.

“And when I come back we can do doggy style again, okay, Auntie Kay?”

“Downward Dog, honey,” I tell her while she slams the door. I grab my robe, getting up, glancing at my phone. I have a couple of texts from Noah.

I’m not an Asshat.

Let me take you out and show you.

I don’t answer him. Instead, I close my phone and go to the bathroom and finally make my way downstairs to see Lauren at the counter reading the paper. “Morning,” I say as I go to the coffee machine, taking a sip of the black coffee. “You know what we need to do? Go out.” I watch her eyes move up from the paper. “Get our freak on.”

She eyes me, still not sold.

“Dance, Lauren, shake our pom-poms.” I shake my body, pretending I’m dancing.

“I don’t know, Kay,” she says while I put my cup down.

“When is the last time we went out just to go out and dance?” I don’t wait for her to answer. “I’m going to go and do some yoga, rid myself of the toxins that are probably still lingering in my body, then we will have a nap and get ready to paint the town.” I put my empty cup in the sink. “Better take a nap, grandma, it’s going to be a long night.” I smile at the dib while she tells me to fuck off. Going upstairs, I put on my yoga pants and sports bra, picking up my mat on the way out. My phone is dropped into the bottom of the bag. My fingers are tempted to answer him back. “I need to get laid and get him out of my system,” I say to myself as I walk to the park near the house and I finally rid myself of the toxins.

By the time I’m showered and shaved, I take in my outfit. “Yup, this makes a statement all right.” It consists of a pair of white lace looser-fitting short shorts with a small, shiny black belt. I’ve paired it with a black tube top. I have omitted the bra because I don’t actually need one. The whole outfit comes together with a seriously sexy pair of black open-toe, lace-up stiletto boots. “Yup, let’s do this,” I tell my reflection as I grab my small clutch, putting my phone in it. I walk out of my room, coming face to face with Lauren, who looks a little scared.

“Let’s go get us some dick!” She raises her hands in the air, and I can’t help but laugh. Before she can answer me, we hear a honk outside. “CAB’S HERE!” she yells in her best Jersey shore accent.

We get into the cab and I give him the address to the club we are going to. “Steph’s roommate’s boyfriend’s cousin is the bouncer at this club and she put our name on the list.” I take my phone out of my purse. “We need a selfie,” I tell her, raising my hand in the air and making a duck face. I post it on Instagram with the caption ‘what trouble will we bring tonight?’

“Don’t post everything on social media, Kay. That is how people get killed.”

“Okay there, mom.” I put the phone back in my purse.

As soon as we pull up to the curb, we make it inside in record time thanks to my main guy Nico at the door. Not only does he lead us inside he has someone escort us to a table, or better yet a booth. The booths sit in a section that is a bit higher than the dance floor. You can get to this area by using the set of six stairs leading up here around the dance floor.

“On the house.” He winks at us as we take in the bottle of Grey Goose chilling.

“Did you sleep with him?” Lauren asks me.

I watch his tight ass walk away. “Nope, not yet, but the night is very young,” I say, picking up the bottle and pouring myself some with cranberry juice. I take my phone out and take another selfie, captioning this one with,

Who runs the world? Girls!

I drop my phone into my purse. “Lauren, you need to get laid. Get those cobwebs out of the way.”

She glares at me, then turns around to see if anyone is around. “Can you shut up? People can hear you. On the down low, Kay.”

“Okay,” I whisper. “I won’t tell anyone that your vagina is dusty. It’ll be our little secret.”

She takes a shot of vodka, glaring at me. “I hope the guy you go home with tonight has short penis syndrome.”

I gasp out in shock. “Why would you say that? I haven’t had sex since Noah. I need to get laid, super laid, so laid I forget about him.”

She takes another shot of vodka.

“I would slow down there before you pass out on this couch.” I point to the booth we are sitting in.

Two hours later, we are finally sitting down after dancing our asses off and I’m finally drinking my vodka and cranberry when the Drake song “One Dance” comes on. Lauren stands up, throwing her hair back, putting her hands in the air as she yells how much she loves this song. She grabs me by the hand, and we run back out onto the packed dance floor.

I watch as Lauren sways her hips to the beat of the song, singing out loud with Drake. My eyes are focusing on the blue eyes that are watching me from the bar. The guy is coming to hold Lauren’s hips and then Austin, the man on a mission to get to Lauren, shows up. It happens so fast I don’t even see him tell the guy to fuck off while he pulls my sister by the hand, walking away, the crowd on the dance floor swallowing them up. I’m about to walk back to my booth when my back is pushed into a rock hard wall or actually chest. I don’t even have to look to know it’s Noah. His smell is all around me. One arm wraps around my waist and the other holds my hip as we sway to the beat. His head dips down to my ear. His breath comes out softly, his voice even softer.

“You can’t run now, can you?” The words make the hair on my arms rise up, the goose bumps coming out. “I dare you.” There is something about his tone that tells me this is going to end one way and one way only, me underneath him. Naked.

I push my ass into his cock. I turn my head, tilting it backward, my mouth opening to say something, but stopping the minute his head comes down to meet mine. His tongue invades mine. The taste of bourbon lingers on his tongue, my body awaking for him, my arm rising behind me to drag my hand into his hair, my body then turning into his arms while his hands grip my ass, squeezing and pushing me into him. My hands now around his neck, the kiss goes deeper, our bodies still now. We get knocked to the side, but it doesn’t break us apart. It just makes us hold each other tighter. I’m so lost in the kiss, lost in him, lost in his touch, lost in his taste, lost in the need for him that I don’t notice the songs changing.

“One question,” he finally says when we come up for air. He starts kissing my cheek, chin, and neck. “Did you drive here?”

I move my neck to the side, giving him full access to me. “We took an Uber,” I reply right away, my body almost shaking with need.

He grabs my hand, leading me to the table that Lauren and I were drinking at. He grabs my purse, nodding at the bouncer who is watching the booths. Our fingers entwine with each other’s as if we always hold hands. We are outside the club with him holding his hand up to catch a cab, before I can register what is going on.

“I have to go back and tell Lauren,” I say as the cab stops and he opens the door.

“She’s taken care of. Now, Kaleigh, get in the car.”

I let go of his hand and walk to the door, my hand grazing his hip and then cupping his cock. “I can’t be your friend,” I tell him before I bend to get into the cab.

“Good,” he says, following me inside and shutting the door, giving the cab driver his address. The light from outside streams into the car, showing his blue eyes are dark and cloudy. “I was through being friends with you anyway.” His voice comes out husky.

I turn my back to the door. “Is that so?” I ask him, not sure what this means, my heart hammering in my chest, my breath holding itself in. “And why is that?”

He looks at the cab driver then turns his head to smirk at me. “We are way past being friends. Because I’m about to do very dirty things to you, things that friends don’t do with each other.” He yanks me to his side, leaning down and nipping my lower lip. “Dirty, dirty things.”

I’m almost ready to beg him in the middle of a cab, but the driver stops right in front of his house. I open the door, getting out while Noah pays the driver. He walks past me as I follow him up the stairs while he unlocks the door. He holds the door open for me. I step in but don’t make it far because he walks in with me, slamming the door behind him. His hands go up to my neck, grabbing my hair and tugging me back, a moan escaping my lips. My back lands on his chest again. His hand leaves my hair, and he’s suddenly all over me. One hand pulls down my top, my breast springing free, my nipples achy with need while his other hand slides into my shorts, his middle finger sliding between my folds, finding me wet with need. My head falls to his shoulder.

“Yeah, definitely not going to be your friend anymore.”