The bouncer hands me my ID that I slip back into my clutch, and then I follow Scarlett down the stairs to the bar. I’ve never been into a bar before—at least not one like this with bouncers—but I try to keep an open mind as I enter the bar that is, for some reason, below a building. There are no windows as I look around the barely lit room. The smell takes me a bit to get used to. A mix of sweat, puke, and urine makes my nose scrunch.
The noise though is what makes me want to turn around and run out. It’s loud. No, it’s louder than loud, eardrum-bursting loud. A band is playing on the far side of the bar although I don’t hear a word they are singing over the bass thumping loudly throughout the room. The place is crowded, much more crowded than what is probably legal for such a small space.
Drinks, Scarlett mouths to me.
Or it’s what I assume she mouths before she begins making her way through the crowd up to the bar.
I follow Scarlett as I watch people staring at us. It’s not unusual. In fact, it feels pretty normal to have people stare at us. I jump when someone slaps my ass. I glance back and see a man devouring me with his eyes as he whistles my way. I blush, shake my head, and keep walking behind Scarlett. I don’t know how else to react to a man slapping my ass. Scarlett probably would have punched the guy or made out with him.
We finally make it to the bar, but there is only enough room for Scarlett to stand at the counter.
“Excuse me,” she says to a man sitting on the stool next to her. “Do you mind moving, so my friend can sit here?”
She flutters her eyes in his direction, and I know the answer will be yes. The only person who doesn’t give Scarlett an immediate yes is me, and even then it’s usually maybe. I can never flat-out say no to her. No one can.
“If you let me buy you a drink,” the man says in return as soon as he sees Scarlett.
“Sure.” Her eyes light up at an offer from an attractive man. “I’m Scarlett. This is Kinsley.”
I smile shyly at the man. He barely glances my way before focusing back on Scarlett. I’m happy the attention isn’t on me.
“I’m Adam. So, what will it be?”
“I’ll have a couple of shots of tequila and then a margarita,” she says.
My eyes widen as she casually reaches out and touches the stranger’s arm. She slowly strokes his arm while their eyes stay locked on each other.
I sigh. At this rate, we will never get drinks, and I’ll never get out of here.
“And what will you have?” another deep voice says, causing me to glance away from Scarlett and Adam.
“What?” I ask, startled, as I look at the man standing behind Adam.
He has bright blue eyes, similar to mine, with blond hair a slightly darker shade than my own.
He grins as I stare too long at his hard body. I’ve seen enough models’ bodies before to know what they look like. He’s a model. His friend, who has maintained Scarlett’s attention, might work out, but he’s no model.
“I’m Brent.”
“Kinsley,” I say. I smile, but I honestly have no idea how to flirt with this man. I’m not bold enough to make the first move. And I don’t even know if I’m attracted to him. So, instead, I just stand awkwardly with a goofy smile plastered on my face.
“Can I buy you a drink?”
“Sure,” I say, trying to mimic Scarlett’s speech, but it comes out much too high-pitched.
He raises his eyebrows. “What can I get you?”
I try to rack my brain to come up with a drink he can order for me. Scarlett got shots. I glance over as she downs one with her new friend. She doesn’t even seem to remember that I’m here. I try to think of drinks, but all I can come up with is wine and champagne. I doubt this bar even serves the types of wine I’ve tried before. I could try a beer, but I have no idea what to order, and I will look even stupider if I order a beer without mentioning the brand.
“I’ll have whatever you’re having,” I say.
He smiles and moves up to the bar to order whatever he’s going to order us. I anticipate not liking whatever it is he brings back, but when he moves back from the bar with two reddish drinks in martini glasses in his hands, I relax. He hands one to me, and I take a sip of the smooth, sweet fruity drink.
Now, it’s my turn to raise my eyebrows as I watch him sip on his own drink. “This is what you were drinking?”
“No, I just wanted to get something that you would like.”
I smile, liking this man more. He’s at least considerate.
“Thanks.” I sip on the drink again.
“Adam, move over, man,” Brent says.
I watch as Adam gets up and stands behind Scarlett.
Brent takes my hand to help me maneuver onto the stool in my high heels. If he hasn’t yet figured out that I’m a model and I was practically born walking in high heels, I would be surprised. But I let him hold my hand anyway as I take a seat. His hand feels soft and a little too warm as I take a seat on the stool.
“Thanks,” I mutter as I glance at Scarlett to my right.
She winks at me as she mouths, Hottie.
Both men are standing right behind us and can see what she mouthed. I blush a bright shade of pink. I twirl my hair around my face to try to hide my embarrassment.
I take another sip of my drink and then another because the liquid tastes good and because I don’t know what else to say or do. Before I know it, I’ve finished my drink.
“Another?” Brent asks, smiling.
I nod, happy to have found one of the nicest men in the bar.
Brent’s arm goes around my shoulders as he leans over me at the bar to order another drink. I shiver at his unexpected touch even though it shouldn’t have been unexpected. He’s into me, or he wouldn’t have offered to buy me a drink. I just don’t know how to do this flirting thing.
He places another drink in front of me, and I immediately begin drinking it.
“What modeling jobs have you done?”
His eyebrows rise before his lips form into a grin. “How did you know I was a model?”
“Just a guess. If not, you should be. You have the look.”
His smile gets brighter. “I’ve done some work for Calvin Klein mostly.”
I nod. I can see that. I’ll have to look up his ads later. It means I was right about the tight abs below his shirt. I glance down lower to see a bulge pressing against his jeans. I gulp. Yep, he probably makes an excellent Calvin Klein underwear model.
I look back up to his eyes that are looking at my boobs with lust. I nervously tuck my hair behind my ear, bringing his eyes back up to my face.
“What about you? You’re a model, too, right?”
I smile politely and nod. “Mostly, I’ve done work for Seventeen magazine.”
His eyes travel over my body, landing on my smooth stomach showing beneath my crop top. My stomach is smooth purely from good genetics. I don’t eat healthy enough or work out enough to get it any other way.
“Come on, we’re dancing,” Scarlett says.
She grabs my hand to pull me with her and Adam. I don’t ask Brent to follow, but he does, like it is a given that he’ll be the one dancing with me. I stumble once, but Scarlett’s hand keeps me on my feet.
“You okay?” she asks with a knowing look.
“Yes,” I say.
The alcohol must be affecting me quicker than I thought it would. It’s not like me to trip.
When we first get to the crowded dance floor, Scarlett dances with me for all of five seconds before pushing me into Brent as she turns to Adam.
“Have fun!” she shouts.
I turn to Brent and easily dance with him to the music, although our moves are tame compared with Scarlett and Adam next to us.
The next song plays, and Brent moves closer to me. His hands find my hips and then quickly move to my ass. I awkwardly smile up at him. I’m not used to having a strange man’s hands all over me—not unless it’s for a modeling job, and even then, the shoots I have done with male models have been tame.
“You’re a good dancer,” Brent whispers into my ear when the song stops.
“Thanks,” I say. I cringe. I’m real original. Why can’t I come up with something to say to this man?
“Shots?” a waitress says, bringing around a tray of test tubes filled with some sort of blue liquid.
Brent hands her some money and pulls two off before handing one to me.
“To tonight,” he says.
He clinks his test tube with mine before downing it. I do the same, not wanting to be rude. The liquid burns as it slinks down my throat.
What the hell was that?
Brent takes my empty glass and hands it to the waitress. “Two more.”
My eyes grow wide, and I shake my head. “I don’t think I can do another.”
“Ah, come on, Kinsley. It’s fun.”
I disagree, but I take the test tube in my hand. I clink it with his before downing it. It burns just as bad the second time as it did the first. My eyes close, and I shake my head at the sensation. I hand the test tube back to the waitress before I go back to dancing with Brent.
This time, when we dance, his hands have no boundaries as they travel over my body. Our dancing gets sloppier as the alcohol spreads through our bodies.
A slow song starts. I watch as others leave the dance floor to take seats at the few empty tables around the dance floor. I think it’s a good idea to take a break, too. I turn to move away from Brent, but he pulls me back.
“I want to kiss you,” he says a second before he plants his lips on mine.
His kiss isn’t soft or slow, like I would expect a first kiss to be. This kiss is urgent, warm, and wet. His tongue slips easily into my mouth as he tries to press me for more. I kiss him back, just with a little less passion than he is displaying.
The kiss is nice, but I don’t even know this man. I’ve never kissed a man I didn’t know before. I’ve hardly even kissed men before. And the few kisses I have had were nothing like this.
“Want to get out of here?” he asks when he releases my lips from his.
“Yes,” I reply automatically. I want to get out of this disgusting, noisy place. I want to go home. I want—
“Whoa,” Brent says as I take a step and trip over nothing. He catches me before I fall face-first onto the floor.
I grab my head that’s pounding from the loud music.
“I’ve got you,” he says, smiling. His blue eyes seem to twinkle at me as the disco lights bounce off them.
I smile. He looks good. I glance down his body again. His shirt fits tightly, giving me a peek at the hard body that lies underneath.
I want to see him naked, I think.
“I want to see you naked, too,” he says, winking at me.
Shit, did I just say that out loud? I have no idea, but I keep smiling brightly as Brent leads me out of the club and into the warm night air.
I’m forgetting something. The thought keeps playing over and over in my head. But I shake it away. There is nothing I need to remember. Right now, all I care about is getting out of here.
“My apartment is two blocks from here. Are you okay with walking?” he asks, staring down at my shoes.
I smile. I’ve walked plenty of runways in shoes twice as high. I can handle two blocks.
I wanted to go home though, not go to his place. I open my mouth to protest when his lips find mine again, silencing any thoughts of wanting to go home. His hungry mouth begs me to come home with him. His tongue teases my mouth with promises of pleasure that await the rest of my body once I get to his apartment.
I haven’t been with a guy in years—three years, to be exact. I haven’t had the pleasure of a guy bringing me to come while thrusting inside me since my high school boyfriend dumped me during my freshman year of college. It’s not that I haven’t had opportunities, but they have been few and far between. I’m not supposed to date. I’m not supposed to fall in love.
But this isn’t a date. And it sure as hell isn’t love.
It’s lust.
His hand brushes my long hair back as his lips move from my lips to my neck. He skims warm kisses over my soft flesh, sending warm chills over my body. I feel my desire for him growing in my belly. I want him—now. Maybe going home with him isn’t such a bad idea after all.
I reach for my phone in my purse, but I come up empty. It’s gone. I can’t ask what I should do. I’m on my own to decide.
I moan against his lips.
“Let’s go,” he says, making the decision for me.
He grabs my hand, and we begin walking the two blocks that should take less than five minutes to walk.
Between me stumbling in my heels and Brent stopping to kiss me against the wall of a building, it takes more like twenty minutes to reach his building. I stand, staring up at the ten-story building that seems to be swaying slightly even though a gentle breeze isn’t blowing. Not that wind would be able to move a building. Would it?
I close my eyes hard before opening them again. The building seems to have stopped swaying in the few seconds my eyes were closed.
I grin widely at Brent as he takes my hand back in his, and he guides me up the three stairs into his apartment building. The building is old, at least fifty years old.
I glance up and see a sign for the elevator that reads, Out of Service. My mouth hangs open.
Oh, please let him live on the first floor.
“Just up one flight of stairs,” Brent says, grinning.
I nod, and we slowly make our way up the stairs. Brent’s hand never leaves mine. It’s nice to have a man’s hand holding mine, keeping me safe.
We barely make it into his apartment before his lips crush against mine again. His shirt along with his shoes are off in seconds. I try my best to keep up as I flick off my own shoes, but I can’t balance on one foot. I fall, but I am surprised when something soft breaks my fall—a couch. I’ve fallen over the side of the couch. I quickly remove my shoes before I feel Brent move on top of me, pressing me further into the couch.
As he kisses me, I keep my eyes, trying to take in my surroundings, but it’s dark, too dark to see anything. When his lips find the spot sensitive spot on my neck, I let all thoughts go as I moan with pleasure.
“You”—he kisses my chest—“are”—his kisses trail lower to my breasts—“the”—his mouth grabs at the fabric, pulling it down and exposing my bare breasts, and he sucks in a breath at the sight—“most beautiful woman.”
I innocently bite my lip as I stare up at him, waiting to see what he will do. I don’t know how to respond to his nice words, so I don’t. I let my hard nipples do the talking for me. I want him.
His eyes never leave mine as his mouth descends slowly until it is just an inch from my throbbing nipple. He’s asking permission, I finally realize, as he hovers over me but doesn’t touch. I arch my back just slightly, so my nipple presses against his lips. I close my eyes as his lips softly kiss my nipple before his tongue tastes and flicks over the hard peak.
I moan softly. I feel the desire for more forming in my belly. Right now, I will let this man do anything to my body. I want more. I need more. I want to feel good and forget about everything else.
His lips move to my other breast as his body shifts on top of me. His erection presses harder into my stomach. When I feel it, instead of the pleasure I expected, I feel pain. I feel liquid forming in my stomach, needing to come out. I feel it rising quickly in my chest.
“Sick,” I say as I push at Brent’s chest to get him off of me.
He quickly moves with a shocked expression on his face. I run from the room as the liquid threatens at my throat.
I run down the dark hallway, but Brent hasn’t offered directions of where a bathroom might be. I open the first door. I fumble at the wall, trying to find a light switch. When I find it, lights brighten the room, but it’s not a bathroom. It’s a guy’s messy bedroom.
God, please let Brent have a messy roommate. I’m not sure I could have sex with someone who lives so messily.
I quickly close the door and try the next one. I hit the light switch on the first try this time and am pleased to see that it’s a bathroom—the most disgusting bathroom I think I’ve ever seen. Dirty towels and clothes line the floor. There is an array of toiletries covering the counter. The toilet seat is already up, exposing a pee-stained toilet, but I don’t have time to find a different bathroom. I run to the toilet just as the contents of my stomach make their way back up.
I vomit again and again until I’m sure every drop of alcohol has come back up.
“I’m never drinking again,” I mumble to myself as I collapse back against the wall while my stomach tries to settle itself.
I sit on the floor for several seconds, unable to move. I hear a door creak, and I expect to see Brent running in to check on me, but he never comes. Throwing up in a guy’s apartment isn’t like the movies. No one held my hair back and cleaned me up when I was done. I’m on my own.
I walk slowly back to the living room to see if Brent will call me a cab. When I walk in, I see him passed out on the couch. I look back down the hallway, hoping to see his roommate who caused the door to creak. But I don’t see anyone, and I’m not going to go searching for him. I find my clutch lying on the floor, next to the couch. I open it, but my phone isn’t in there. Scarlett kept it.
I could wake up Brent, but I choose not to. Instead, I curl up on the love seat and go to sleep. It’s the only thing my body can manage after a night like this. I don’t think about Brent. I don’t think about how Scarlett got me into this mess. I don’t think about how I’m supposed to call my father. I just sleep.