Chapter Four
Emmi
“Where are you?” Jessica said over the phone.
“I’m by baggage claim; where are you?”
“Out front. Grab your things, and I’ll swing around again. I can’t stay parked here.”
“Okay, but I have a lot of bags,” I said as she hung up.
I needed a baggage cart to get all my bags out to Jessica’s car. Instead of paying for a bunch of movers, I had opted to sell off my furniture and larger items and only brought my personal belongings. There were a few items that I had shipped through the parcel service, but mostly my entire life was stuffed into four large suitcases, and it was rather pathetic.
“We are going out to The Woods tonight,” Jessica said, full of excitement as she wrapped her arms around me to greet me.
“I don’t know who you think I am, but I definitely don’t want to go out into the wilderness on my first night in Los Angeles.”
Jessica laughed and rolled her eyes at me as we loaded the bags into the car and took off before one of the airport security guards yelled at us. It was nice to be with Jessica, and even nicer to be in the warmth of California as I pulled off my jacket and settled into her car for the traffic-infested drive to her house.
“You do know it’s a club, right? The Woods is a dance club.”
“Oh, okay, that sounds better than hiking.” We laughed. “I don’t know what kind of clothes I have for going to the club, though. I’m pretty much a boring businesswoman right now.”
“No problem, I can get you some of mine. I’ve got tons of dresses.”
I laughed but didn’t say a word. Jessica had colorful, skin-tight dresses that showed off her dark complexion and voluptuous curves. I seriously doubted I would fit into any of her dresses.
“So tell me about this job and how you’re really liking it? It seems a little below your degree. Do you get to use your business knowledge at all?”
“I thought the same thing when I first took the job. Why on earth do they want to hire an MBA-educated woman for this position? But the truth is, I use my business skills every day. I’m meeting with venues, advertising executives, and celebrities. During the day I’m straight-laced and buttoned-up in boring businesswear, just like you.”
“Hmm, it sounds interesting. Will you be working tonight?”
We pulled onto the interstate that was jam-packed with traffic. It wasn’t even rush hour and the cars were hardly moving. I felt the anxiety building up inside of me. I wasn’t at all interested in driving every single day in this traffic.
“I’ll be talking with the celebrity appearance couple and a few other people, but nothing too major.”
“How much longer do we have to be on this interstate?” I asked as I put my window down. “I think I have claustrophobia already.”
“We are outside and moving; you can’t get claustrophobia here.”
“Well, whatever is going on, I’m not feeling good.”
My stomach was hurting, and I felt like the neck of my shirt was strangling me. My pulse quickened, and I even got a little dizzy as my breathing started to get faster also. I tried laying my seat back and then quickly put it forward again. I tried opening the window all the way and sticking my head out since we were barely moving, but then brought it back in. Nothing seemed to help the nausea, and soon I could hardly keep my eyes open as I tried to pull in breaths and just couldn’t seem to get enough air.
“Are you alright?” Jessica asked. “You don’t look so good.”
“Something is definitely wrong. I feel like I can’t breathe.”
“You look like you’re having a panic attack,” she said calmly. “I used to get those when I first moved out here. It’s because of the traffic and not having control of the situation. You’ll get used to it.”
“Are you sure? I feel like my heart is beating out of my chest.”
“Or you could be having a heart attack, but let’s go with panic attack for now.”
“What if it’s a heart attack? Do you know where a hospital is? How would we get there in this traffic? It really could be a heart attack; I feel my heart pounding really hard.”
“Emmi, you’re a control freak, we both know it. Remember how you’d get before tests? This is just a more extreme version. Close your eyes and take some deep breaths.”
I wanted to believe what Jessica was saying was true. Obviously, at 26, I wasn’t the typical heart attack victim. But I had never experienced a full-on panic attack before. If that was what was happening, I could see why people got so scared by them.
Slowly, I took in some deep breaths and tried to concentrate on the music that was playing. Jessica had turned it to soft jazz, and although it wasn’t my type of music normally, it was good in this situation. Finally, I felt my breathing slow down and my body return to my control. I kept my eyes closed and tried to take advantage of the adrenaline drain on my body by getting a little sleep. The last thing Jessica needed was me causing such a scene while she was trying to drive through the crazy Los Angeles traffic.
“How much longer?” I dared to ask when I started to feel better.
“An hour.”
“What? Really?”
“Yeah, sorry, but once we get there, we can take a quick cab over to the night club.”
“Wow, I can’t believe you live in this.”
“You adjust. I live downtown to avoid driving most of the time. Instead, I just have the clients meet me at our offices or one of the clubs downtown. It’s basically like New York then,” she laughed, but I wasn’t in the greatest mood and could hardly muster a smile.
By the time we got unloaded and into her apartment building, it was time to head out to the club. Although I was exhausted, Jessica wanted to go so badly, I decided to suck it up and go for a little bit.
“This dress will be perfect,” Jessica said as we stood in her closet and she put the fuchsia dress up to my body.
“Sure.”
“That doesn’t seem like an excited voice.”
“Sure,” I said again with a huge fake smile. “I really don’t care. Just throw something on me, and we can go. It’s not like I’m planning on meeting the love of my life in a dance club.”
“You might be surprised by the caliber of men that are at these, but you’re right. Tonight is about us and not about them. Just throw this on and let’s go. I know you don’t want to be out too late.”
The spandex fabric actually didn’t look too bad on me as I admired myself in the mirror and waited for Jessica to finish her makeup. My short stature made the dress a normal length on me, and the top wasn’t cut low, and instead the back had a geometric cutout to grab attention. There was no need for me to fluff up my hair or makeup though, and when Jessica emerged, we went down to hail a cab.
“This will go much smoother,” she said as a cab pulled up without us even waiting a minute. “They like picking up the hot girls.”
“Hot girl,” I corrected her. “You look hot; I look like your homely best friend.”
“Wow, look at me,” Jessica said when we climbed into the cab. She grabbed my face and forced me to look at her. “You are one of the most beautiful women in the world. Don’t let the fake standards of Los Angeles get to you. Always keep your confidence and self-worth based on the person you know you are.”
“This is why I love you,” I smiled and hugged her. “You always know how to lift a girl's mood. I’m so happy I came out here.”
I felt my phone buzzing in my purse and knew I had to answer it. My father was protective, and if I didn’t answer him to let him know I had arrived safely, he would keep calling me all night long.
“Hi, Daddy.”
“Are you going to come over?”
“Daddy, I just got downtown with Jessica, and I’m exhausted. Can I stop by tomorrow?”
“I could come into the city and pick you up if you’d like?”
My eyes widened, and I looked at Jessica as if she could hear what my father said. She just shrugged her shoulders and laughed.
“No, don’t come all the way down here. The traffic is crazy. I’m tired anyway,” I lied. Man, I hated lying to my father.
“So did you decide to take the assistant job at the McMillan Westbrook Group?”
I searched my memory for the conversation we had had while I was in New York. There was some guy he worked with who needed an assistant, and my father was trying to get me to work there. It hadn’t sounded all that appealing; I had an MBA and being someone’s assistant was a little below my pay grade.
“Dad, I’m looking for high-end business work, not secretarial—”
“It’s temporary, and he needs your help. It pays $80,000.”
“What? For an assistant?”
“Yes, you’ll need to travel with him sometimes and are basically on call all the time. He has a lot of business connections, and he’s located right downtown. You should probably stay with your friend instead of me though, since she’s living down there and you can avoid the traffic situation.”
My eyes widened with excitement. I had been trying to figure out a way of staying with Jessica without hurting my father’s feelings. My initial excuse to stay there for a few days so we could hang out wasn’t going to stretch out much past that weekend. This was the opportunity I needed. I could make my father happy by working with this guy he knew. I would get paid a decent amount so I could save up for my own place, and the icing on top was that I could keep living with Jessica.
“Yeah, Dad, I think I’ll take that job. Does he want me to come over for an interview or something?”
“No way. He’s my business partner. You don’t have to interview. I’ll just call him and let him know you’ll be there at 8 o’clock on Monday morning.”
“Sounds good. Thanks, Dad, and I promise we will catch up this week. How about dinner Monday night after my first day of work?”
“Perfect. Now go have a fun night with your friend,” he said, and I could just picture the grin on his face. “I love you; make wise decisions.”
“Love you too, Dad,” I said, still in shock that he knew I was going out.
The surprised look on my face caught Jessica’s attention too. As the cab stopped and we climbed out, she stood there wide-eyed and waiting for me to tell her what was going on.
“So, how is your dad? What’s up?”
“He got me an awesome-paying job downtown and I’m going to stay living with you. Things are turning out just perfect for me,” I said, with a newfound level of energy for our night.
***
Waiting for Jessica to finish working was so boring. I stood at the bar sipping my martini and watching the handsome bartender move about with ease.
“Don’t you ladies look beautiful tonight?” I heard a man say as he strolled up and made his move on two women who were next to me.
“Hi,” the one in the black dress giggled.
She looked like she was barely 21, and might not have even been that old. Her schoolgirl laugh caught my attention though, and I couldn’t help eyeing her and her friend as the man hit on them.
He was rich, but trying to hide it. His tattered jeans and hip leather jacket were clearly being worn in an effort to look like a normal guy. But the jacket was Dusen Klein, a well-known international designer that sold jackets that cost more than $10,000. I also happened to see his Rolex glimmering off the club lights, so no matter how hard he tried to play down his wealth, I wasn’t fooled at all.
“Can I buy you ladies a drink?” he asked and motioned for the bartender all at the same time. “Another round please,” he said without waiting for them to reply.
The girls were smitten with him, and I found myself wondering if he was planning on picking just one of them or taking the pair home with him. He seemed like the sort of guy who would try for a threesome.
“I’m Kimber,” the girl in the black dress said.
“I’m Lindsay,” the red dress girl added.
The two women looked nearly identical with their big boobs and blonde hair; I wasn’t sure how he was going to tell them apart once he took their color-coded dresses off of them. I snickered at the group, and it caught his attention.
His hypnotic blue eyes met with mine and I couldn’t look away. He was handsome; there was no denying it. The short scruffy beard and casual-looking clothes seemed part of his charm now that I had a good glance at him. With a quick nod of my head and raise of my drink, I motioned for him to continue on with his flirting as I turned in the other direction. I could have seen a smile flash just before I turned, or it could have been my imagination, but either way, I was off to find Jessica, tired of waiting for her.
“You were right; the men out here are gorgeous.”
“I'm telling you, it’s like having a man candy factory. But most of them are jerks; I wouldn’t hold your breath for the perfect guy to marry or anything like that. But for having fun, there are lots of options.”
“Let’s dance,” I said as I grabbed her arm and pulled her out to the dance floor.
The music throbbed through my body as we twisted and moved with the beat. It was just what I needed: a lot of hot, sweaty dancing and a little alcohol to help me relax and get over everything that had happened in New York. I was ready for a fresh start and certainly ready to have a little fun while I was at it.
For a solid hour, Jessica and I danced nonstop to the music. By far the best workout session I’d had in a very long time, and by the time we stopped to get some water, we both had our shoes in our hands.
“Two ice waters, please,” I said as we set our shoes on the bar and slid onto a couple of stools. “You should have seen this guy earlier, he was so cheesy as he was hitting on these women. I couldn’t help but laugh at him.”
“What did he look like?” Jessica asked as she leaned in close.
“Tall, dark hair, beautiful blue eyes and a leather jacket.”
Jessica’s eyes seemed to be looking over my shoulder and not paying attention at all to what I was saying. I couldn’t help but turn around to see who or what she was looking at. Sure enough, the blue-eyed flirt was right beside me with a huge grin on his face.
“You threw me off my game,” he said playfully. “I’m Declan, and it’s nice to meet you.”
“I wouldn’t call what you were doing a serious pickup game. More like amateur hour at the nightclub, but it’s nice to meet you, too.”
“You took off before I got to the good stuff,” he continued on playfully.
I couldn’t stop looking at his eyes. The more I told myself to look away, the more fixated my stare got. At this point, I probably looked like some sort of maniac, and in self-defense I turned toward Jessica to finally pull my focus away from Declan.
He smelled amazing though, like a combination of cinnamon and Old Spice. It probably wasn’t Old Spice, considering his high-end taste in clothing. I didn’t think he’d pick a bargain scent. I pulled in a deep breath to fill my lungs with the smell and then turned back toward him, still not confident at all in my ability to talk to this man.
“Did you ask them what they did for a living? Or if they come here often?” I continued to tease him.
“Hey, I happen to be very good at the pickup game.”
He could have picked me up. Declan could have wrapped his arms around me easily and swept me off my feet. He was nearly a foot taller than me, with a muscular build that showed through the tailored shirt he had on. Even the bulk of the leather coat couldn’t fight back the muscular body that was likely under it.
I was seriously distracted by this guy, and that wasn’t what I wanted for my first day in Los Angeles. I had to get away from him. I had to make a run for it, so I resorted to a little nastiness.
“Is that supposed to impress me? It doesn’t. I like guys who don’t have to come to clubs to pick up their women.”
“But you’re at a club?” He looked at me with a snide expression like he had just nailed me in our game of words.
“And I don’t want to be picked up by a slimeball who was just trying to get in the pants of some underage college girls. Have a good night,” I said curtly and grabbed Jessica as I stormed off.
“It was nice meeting you. I’m Jessica,” she hollered back toward him.
“Jessica!” I yelled at her as I pulled her behind me.
“What? He was so handsome.”
“Handsome and a jerk. You could do better.”
We were both exhausted and ready to go home after that excitement. I slipped my shoes on and tried to ignore the sticky residue on the bottom of my feet as we waited in the line for a cab. It was a long line, even though the traffic in the city didn’t seem bad at all. But I figured there were a lot of people leaving the bars and clubs around the same time, so we just had to wait.
“He was cute,” Jessica finally said as our ears stopped ringing.
“Cute doesn’t make up for being a jerk.”
“Oh, come on, he wasn’t a jerk. He seemed like a normal guy just trying to meet a woman. Maybe you’re just mad he wasn’t hitting on you?”
“He was hitting on me! That’s what that whole conversation was about. He wanted me to think he gave up trying to get those other two girls in order to flirt with me. When the reality of the situation was likely that they didn’t see the humor in his threesome offer.”
“He wanted to have a threesome?” Jessica said, confused at what I was talking about. “I must have missed that part of the conversation.”
“Why else would a man buy two girls a drink and flirt with them both? That’s what he was doing when I saw him earlier.”
I knew men, and I couldn’t think of a single reason why a good-looking guy would buy two girls a drink, except the obvious. He was trying to get with both of them, I was sure of it. Declan looked like the kind of suave guy who was into kinky things like that, at least, in my imagination he was.
“Maybe he was just being nice because they were standing there together. Man, you really need to lighten up and be nicer to these guys if you’re ever going to nab one.”
“Oh, my God, men are the last thing on my mind right now. I just want to find a decent job and get settled in out here. It would be fantastic if this guy my father has me working with didn’t turn out to be a chauvinistic pig.”
The ride back to Jessica’s apartment was quick since it was nearly 2 o’clock in the morning. We both winced in pain as we walked in our heels through the lobby and then slipped our shoes off once we hit the elevator. It was ridiculous how much high heels hurt my feet, yet I continued to wear them on a daily basis.
“You’ll change your mind when a hunky guy catches your eye.”
“Doubtful.”
The sweet smell of Jessica’s apartment was comforting as we walked in. Her furniture was arranged so the couch back faced the door, and I fell over it in exhaustion. The cold leather touched all my exposed skin and should have shocked me awake, but I was just too exhausted.
My bright fuchsia dress was just fine to sleep in, and I grabbed a blanket from nearby and cuddled up with it. I’d been awake for over 24 hours and could barely keep my eyes open, I was so tired.
“You’re sleeping there,” she laughed. “In case I didn’t tell you before.”
“Perfect. I’m going to sleep right now. Thanks for having me; I really appreciate it.”
“See you in the morning, and we can go work out,” Jessica said as she walked to her bedroom.
“Work out? Like go to the gym and get sweaty on a Saturday morning?” I asked, actually concerned I hadn’t heard her correctly.
“Yep, it’s boot camp Saturday. You’re going to love it. Look at how tight my ass has gotten from going to this class.”
“We’ll see,” I said as I closed my eyes and drifted off toward sleep, although I had no intention of going to any workout class in the morning. I wasn’t really the workout sort of girl.