Chapter Fourteen
Summer
Two weeks have gone by since Bella came home and she’s looking better and better as the days have gone by. She’s still got a long ways to go, but she spends more time walking around outside and less time lying around in bed. Watching her, I sometimes wish I had her strength and determination. She’s such a strong kid and wants to get back into a good enough condition that she can go out with her dad again on his bike. I think she was more upset about that than she was about not running around outside with her brothers and sisters. She’s a daddy’s girl, that’s for damn sure.
She needs me less and less, and I’ve started to distance myself a little bit more with each passing day, giving some of the reigns over to Natalie, so she doesn’t feel so helpless. She’ll never admit it, but she’s a little jealous that I get to care for her daughter. Not to mention that family needs some time alone together without the Summer Heslin cloud hanging over their heads. They’re too nice and will never come out and say it, but my sadness has a put a damper on their moods.
Tonight will be the first night I won’t be spending over there at their house. Tonight is the night I go looking for my stranger again. I sent Ryan in my place so she could tell the stranger that I’ve been unable to meet him. I know she knows who he is now. I’ve almost asked her half a dozen times to reveal his identity to me, to ask her if its someone we both already know, but I don’t do it. Knowing might change the way I feel about going to meet him and knowing might not change that he doesn’t want to be with me the way I’ve started to want to be with him. The last two weeks of my life without seeing him have been the longest in my life.
I find it nice to have something else to concentrate on besides the other elements of my personal life. Like my birthday coming up and the anniversary of the day that everything changed for me, Halloween. Interesting, right? My birthday just so happens to be on Halloween. My mother hated that. She never was a big fan of the candy giving, scary holiday, but I was born on that day, so there was little she could do to change it other than not allowing me to go out with the other kids to collect candy. She used my birthday cake as an excuse to keep me inside. God, I miss my mother sometimes. I want to hate her for making me miss out on all the Halloween fun, but I don’t. She was a great mother regardless of how she made me spend my birthdays.
Tonight I’ve decided to wear a black, leather mini dress with a zipper down the front. I’ve matched it with my black heels and the jacket my mystery man left behind. I really wanted to wear one of my outfits that leaves nothing to the imagination, but this place is full of men, and if I wear something like that on my out of here, I might not make it to my car. This will just have to do. My hair is down, my blonde hair curled around my shoulders and my makeup done to match my outfit. Dark and heavy. I do a three sixty to check myself out before I grab my purse and open the door to my room.
I stop with one foot outside my door when I see Tigger has his door wide open and he’s wearing nothing but blue jeans hung low around his waist. His entire back is full of ink, his arms matching the rest of him, heavily tatted. It’s been a long time since I’ve admired a man the way I’m looking at him right now, but I can’t help myself. Something about him is making me stare. Maybe it’s the outfit I have on or the freeness I feel knowing I’m about to go and meet my stranger at the club shortly? All too soon he’s covering up my show by pulling on a dark blue shirt and a black jacket on over his shirt.
He’s adjusting his jacket when he turns and catches me staring at him.
“Hi Summer,” his smile is light and easy, but it doesn’t match his eyes that are now roaming freely down my body. I spread my legs a little wider, enjoying a man’s eyes on me. Imagine if he’s looking at me like that what my stranger will think when he sees me. “You look nice, heading out?”
I grip my jacket and pull it a little closer around me to try and hide the shiver that runs down my body when he makes his way to stand before me in his doorway. Almost close enough to touch, but just far enough out of my reach.
“I am, I need a night out, I’ve been spending too much time with the little ones,” I look away from him so he can’t see my eyes when I feel sadness enter them.
He doesn’t need to see how being around children affects me. I don’t think any amount of time will pass where I won’t miss the ability to have children of my own. I’d be lying to myself if I said it didn’t still make me feel like an incomplete woman. Maybe that’s why I haven’t pursued a relationship after Michael? Maybe this has more to do with my just not being ready to welcome another man into my life. It has more to do with the knowledge that any red-blooded male is going to want a child someday. That’s just the way life goes, at some point, I will find a man that wants to be with me. One that will tell me just having me will be enough, but how long before he wants more? Wants something I can never give him?
“Summer?” I look back up at Tigger to find him with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyebrows raised in question. There’s a hint of a smile on his face like he wants to laugh at me.
Crap, how long have I been standing here like this?
“Sorry, I got distracted for a second there,” I try to cover up my spaciness, but do a horrible job at it. Like that’s not obvious to him right now.
“I can see that,” he uncrosses his arms and straightens to his full height, taking a few steps in my direction to close the distance between us. “I have to take off, duty calls, but want to go out sometime? Catch a movie or dinner? That’s what I was asking you.”
I find it hard to breathe with him standing so close to me. All I would have to do it reach my hand forward and I could touch him. The urge to touch him is reaching unbearable heights.
Answer him before he thinks you are a fucking retard.
“Sure, sounds great,” I reply without thought.
Shit, that wasn’t what I was supposed to say!
Too late to take it back now. I don’t want to hurt his feelings.
“Great, we’ll talk about it tomorrow, be careful out there, you never know who might be waiting for you in the shadows,” he winks at me, leaning forward and kissing me on the cheek before turning and leaving me standing there watching his retreating form.
I try to formulate a response, but I’m left speechless watching him walk away. My mouth opens and closes several times, but other than a small squeak, nothing comes out. Luckily he doesn’t turn around to find me with my mouth opening and closing like a fish. I bet he’d take back that offer to go out on a date with me in a real hurry.
Plus, what the hell is up with me and accepting dates and shit from people I barely know? First I’m having sex with a man whose name I don’t know, and now I’m agreeing to go out with a biker I met less than a month ago. At least I know his name. Well, okay, his biker name, but still, that’s more than I know about the man I’m going to meet tonight.
Oh well, at least I might have fun with Tigger. It’s been years since I went on an actual date with someone that this might be fun. My luck seems to be turning around. Or at least I can pretend it is, right?
I physically shake myself when I hear Tigger’s bike starting in the distance and lock my door behind me, adjusting my dress once when I hear giggling at the end of the hallway and head out that way. I get enough stares from the girls that hang around here, I don’t need more looks because my ass is hanging out and the members want to pay more attention to that than them. None of them have yet to say anything to me, but I know it’s only a matter of time before one of them does.
I ignore the catcalls from the men and the protests coming from the many women in the room and head out into the night. I look up at the sky, admiring the stars above me before I get into my car and head off towards Black Lightening.
Tonight the place is packed. I keep forgetting that the weekends at this place are insane. Fortunately for me, the bouncers are used to seeing me around here, so I don’t have to stand in the line outside the club. Tonight, it is longer than usual.
I’m caught off guard when a short girl in a white mini dress yanks me back by my arm almost sending me falling to the damp ground.
“How come this slut doesn’t have to stand in line like the rest of us do? Me and my friends have been standing out here for an hour and a half,” she glares at the bouncer before turning her attention in my direction. “Go to the back of the line, slut,” she eyes my dress in disdain, and I readjust my jacket that she’s nearly ripped from my body.
I open my mouth to say something, but the big bouncer comes to stand between us. “I’ve got this,” he holds up a hand for me to not speak and I wisely shut my mouth. What I was about to say wouldn’t have been pretty. “She’s VIP, if you have an issue with that, you can take that up with the owner and the Dragon Skulls.”
Her eyes widen, and she takes a step back and turns to her friends, seemingly pretending her outburst didn’t happen.
Dragon Skulls? What do they have to do with any of this?
“Even if you were to ask, Summer, you aren’t going to get the answer,” he must be good at reading minds because I was just about to ask him what the Dragon Skulls have to do with anything.
I simply nod and thank him when he holds the door open for me. I step inside, taking in a deep breath and allowing my eyes to adjust to the neon green strobe lights that are illuminating the club tonight. I take in all the people dancing, the place packed from front to back with gyrating bodies. How am I supposed to find my man in this place tonight?
I take my time stepping to my right and checking my purse and jacket, just taking out enough so I can buy a shot and head over to the bar. I don’t look around, ignoring the many invites I receive to dance and instead order my shot of tequila and down it in one gulp, closing my eyes and enjoying the burn that hits the back of my throat. My eyes water when I open them, and I take a few seconds to compose myself before I look out towards the dance floor.
I don’t see anyone interesting out there, so I turn and look around the bar, but don’t see my mystery man anywhere. On shaky legs, I get up and make my way to the center of the dance floor and stand there. I feel dizzy, I probably shouldn’t have taken that shot on an empty stomach. I’m running on empty, much like the way I feel on the inside right now. I close my eyes, raise my arms above my head and just let everything go. I feel free, allowing the music to flow through my overheated body. I don’t want to feel the pain anymore. I’ve allowed too much of it into my life in the past two weeks. This right here will be the moment I let it go and leave everything out here on the dance floor.
“There you are,” I don’t turn around when I hear his voice whisper in my ear. I’d know that voice and scent anywhere, he’s found me.
I don’t speak, allowing him to grip my hips and his erection to push into me from behind. I moan, pushing my ass further into him, enjoying the feel of him pressed up against me. We dance for a few minutes, his hands firmly pressed into my inner thighs, growing closer and closer to my panties with each passing moment. Until finally he releases me and pulls me behind him across the dance floor and into a secluded booth in the corner of the club.
This is interesting, I’ve never been in this corner of the club before. The light here is nearly non-existent which I know is the reason he’s chosen it. He sits inside the booth, and I follow behind him content to sit next to him, but he instead pulls me up, so I’m straddling his lap.
He wastes no time, his lips crashing down on mine, his hands reaching up under my dress and pulling my panties down enough so he can grab my ass with his hands. My mouth breaks away from his, and his lips trail down my neck and to the top of my dress. He looks up at me, those eyes of his meeting mine. Tonight they are so full of desire and need. I know that whatever this man asks me to do, I’ll do it. He makes me feel alive once more like he’s slowing putting me back together piece by piece. I know this is just sex, but the sex is starting to healing me on some level.
He reaches up and slowly lowers the zipper at the top of my dress, his eyes never leaving mine.
“Fuck,” he curses. “Give me a second,” he sets me down next to him and turns away from me so he can pull his phone from his pocket. Whatever he finds there seems to change his mood.
Without a word, he stands from the booth and adjusts himself. He fixes his black cap and turns to offer me his hand. He helps me to redo my dress and kisses me softly on the lips, and with a sigh, he pulls away from me and leads me towards the coat check.
“Get your phone,” he nods towards the coat check, leaving his face turned away from me. I watch him adjust his hat lower and clear his throat. Without a word to him, I request my purse and jacket. If he’s leaving, there’s no point in my staying here.
“Here,” I tell him, handing him my phone when he pulls me further into the dark corner beside the coat check.
He takes the phone and pushes and a bunch of keys before he hands me back the phone. “I need to go, I have an emergency. You have my number now in case you need to get a hold of me, so that way you don’t have to send your friend down here to find me. Come tomorrow night, same time.”
He kisses me on the cheek and leaves me standing there holding my phone tightly in my hand. When I’m sure he’s gone, I go to the call history on my phone, and sure enough, there is a new contact in my phone.
Simply TR.
What kind of name is TR? Must be initials. At least now I’m one step closer to finding out who my mystery man is. His name starts with a T. That’s a start, right?
I leave the club that night alone and more horny than ever before to an empty room and an empty bed that always leaves me feeling hurt and broken.