Chapter Fifteen
Terrance
Saturday
“So, how do you like the place?” I stepped into Braxton’s home and glanced everywhere. Admittedly, it was looking a bit more lived in now, which I found comforting because it meant he wasn’t going anywhere. “Still glad you came?”
“Oh my God, so much. I love it.” He had a glint in his eyes, a shine that hadn’t ever been there. This really had brought out the best in him. “Thank you again. It’s a million times better than where I was before. I can actually breathe. And, I brought a set of weights of my own because I finally have room for them. You can come and use them whenever you want. I’m just so grateful, thank you again.”
“No, thank you.” I grabbed an apple off the counter and took a huge bite out of it, feeling as at home here as I did upstairs. “You don’t know much I appreciate having you here. It’s great knowing that you’re underneath me and I can call you whenever I need to.” I’d been sleeping better, feeling well, and wasn’t panicking all the time anymore.
“Luckily, nothing has happened yet.” He gave me a look, as if he wanted to see if I was hiding anything new from him. Nothing had happened in the past week, but I still flickered my eyes away from him, hating the lie coursing through my veins. “So, any plans for tonight? What did you have in mind? A wild Saturday night out on the town?”
“Well, I thought we could go to Lights Out, if you’re interested?” Of course, that was what I wanted to do – it was the same plan I’d had for the last couple of months.
“Ah, of course, for the young nurse,” Braxton replied knowingly.
“Or anyone,” I jumped in, far too rapidly, totally giving myself away. “We’ll just see how it goes, yeah? Maybe get some girls for you, too. I keep promising, don’t I?”
“I think I’ll have more luck with this home to bring them back to, as well.” He smirked, blowing past my awkwardness when it came to Morgan. Damn it, I was weird about her. What the hell was wrong with me? “They’ll love this place, won’t they?”
“Well, they love mine!” I shrugged and laughed. “So, what are you planning on wearing? I might not bother with a suit tonight.”
“Oh sure, I’ve never seen you out of a suit, boss.” He rolled his eyes and shook his head before moving over to the large window to look down on the people below. I could sense that feeling of power he was getting. I got it, too. It was hard not to feel like a big shot living in such a nice place. “I dunno, I’ll figure it out.”
As Braxton took me through his planned outfit, I couldn’t help getting excited about the idea of the night that lay ahead. Despite the fact that Morgan had let me down the last few weeks, I couldn’t let go of the possibility that tonight would be the night.
“I think we should go out and get something new, don’t you?”
“Oh, I don’t know about that...” Braxton didn’t look convinced.
“Come on, trust me. I need you to have all the confidence in the world. Maybe we can go to where Summer works.” There was an innocence to my tone, but I knew exactly what I was doing. Maybe I just wanted go get out the house and couldn’t do it alone, but it would do Braxton good to have some new threads.
“Oh right, sure.” I knew that would work; Summer was the key. Maybe even some practice flirting would occur... “Come on then, boss, let’s go.”
***
“Boss? Boss?”
“Huh?” I spun my head rapidly back towards Braxton, suddenly realizing that I’d been lost in my own thoughts for far too long. “Sorry, I fell into a dream world there.” What I wouldn’t admit aloud was that I was staring at the storeroom door, recalling that night. I wanted to work out what was so special, so different, why I was so hooked. “What did you say?”
Braxton smirked at me. “I was just wondering what women you wanted brought up tonight. You have already drunk two cocktails.”
“Oh right, of course.” I forced my eyes over the barrier to see down towards the dance floor. If it wasn’t Morgan, I wasn’t in the mood for anyone – but I had promised Braxton I would help him find a lady friend, so it was the last I could do.
Of course, as always, Morgan was nowhere to be found.
“Ooh, what about that punky girl?” I asked Braxton, wiggling my eyebrows. “Do you like her?”
“Sure, she’s cute. But I also like the sexy redhead standing next to her.”
If he was trying to stake his claim, it really wasn’t necessary. I wasn’t interested in either of them. “Get them both up here, get to know them a bit before you decide.”
“Yeah... Okay...” He wiped his forehead, sweat giving his anxiety away.
“Just do it like you normally would, for me.” I grabbed his shoulder in a gesture I hoped was comforting. “And, just remember that girls love to come to the VIP section, so it isn’t like you’ll be rejected. I’ll do the hard graft, this will be fine.” I owed him this much, and it wasn’t like we both had to go home disappointed. I was a Good Samaritan if nothing else. “Okay?”
“Right.” His breaths were coming out a little too short and ragged. “Okay. I’m going now.” He sounded determined, but his feet didn’t move. “In one second.” Then he grabbed the nearest drink and impressively knocked it back in one fell swoop. “Okay, I’m going right now.”
I watched him descend down the stairs and towards the dance floor, a tentative nature to his step that wasn’t usually there. I smirked to myself, glad to help my friend get over his little hump with the ladies. Once he learned to speak to them, he’d be fine. He would start bringing home a different woman every night, just like I do.
Or just like I did...
He spoke to the women, and after only a moment of hesitation, they agreed to come with him, leaving it up to me to set the scene. I indicated for the nearest bartender to come over to the table.
“Can I get you anything, Terrance?” I didn’t really recognise him, but he was familiar with me.
“Get me a selection of cocktails,” I grinned brightly. “We’re being joined by some friends.”
“Of course, right away.”
I had no idea if any of the staff were familiar with my dalliance with Morgan, there could’ve been CCTV cameras in store room as far as I was aware, but none of them gave me any indication that they did. They remained as professional around me as ever.
***
“So, where are you guys headed after this?” the redhead purred, with her arms circled around Braxton. He’d chosen well – the one woman he really liked appeared to feel the same way about him, too. It was adorable to see them getting along so well.
What was less adorable was punky and her tongue buried into my ear.
“I’m not sure yet,” I replied, squirming my head away. “We’ll see where the night takes us.”
“Maybe even home.” Braxton looked confident, and he sounded bold, too, which had his date giggling girlishly. I was so glad that he was about to get what he wanted, but I could not take this girl with me. Somehow, I was going to have to make my escape. “In fact, maybe we should go in a minute.”
“Sure thing.”
That didn’t leave me very long to craft out my plan. I turned my eyes away from everyone and fixed them on the floor below. Despite the fact that it was after midnight, it seemed to be getting busier by the moment, as if the night was only just started...
“Oh my God!” I gasped loudly, pointing my finger wildly. “There she is, Braxton, look.”
“There who is?” He was barely paying attention to me, lost in the woman beside him – and who could blame him.
“Morgan.” My heart beat faster as I stared directly at her. After waiting for so long to see her, actually having her there was a little disconcerting. Her hair looked a little shorter than I remembered, her curves a little more prominent. But hot damn, she was still a beauty, that part was still very accurate. Maybe it was just me, but her aura shone above everyone else’s, and the rest of the crowd simple paled into insignificance. “I’m going to go see her.”
“What about me?” Punky called out, but I totally ignored her. I hadn’t given her any indication that anything was ever going to happen between us, so I didn’t have any reason to feel bad.
Plus, Morgan was here. It was very difficult to see anything else.
I raced down the stairs as quickly as I could manage, pushing my way through the crowds to find her. I hated being down here – there was always too many people and I couldn’t see where I wanted to go. I had to hope that Morgan hadn’t moved in the time it had taken me to get down here or I’d never be able to find her. Having a bird’s eye view really did give me a huge advantage...
Oh my God, there she was.
She hadn’t seen me yet, but her eyes were scanning the crowd. I couldn’t help but hope it was me she wanted to find. She clutched her bag tightly to her chest, as if she was afraid of what might happen next.
“Morgan!” I called out to her, dragging her eyes around to mine. As soon as she saw me her eyes widened in a mixture of shock and fear, which made me stomach flip flop. I didn’t want this meeting to be a negative one. I’d been waiting far too long for it. “Are you okay? Would you like a drink?” If I kept on talking, she’d eventually see that I came in peace.
“Erm, no thank you.” My heart sunk as she shut me down. But then she spoke again giving me a small glimmer of hope. “Not tonight, but I’d like to see you for dinner one night, if that suits?”
“Hell yeah, that suits!” I couldn’t keep the enthusiasm from my voice, however hard I tried. “But you’ll have to give me your number so I can call you.”
She nodded slowly and grabbed a pen from her bag before grabbing onto my hand to scrawl her number across it. There was a definite buzzing between us, a powerful electricity I enjoyed massively. I could tell that she was feeling it, too, from the way her lip kept inadvertently curling upwards.
Once she’d finished, I took the pen from her and did the same on her arm, effectively marking her. Then I stepped back to move away from her without saying even another word. I didn’t want to leave Morgan, especially not after waiting for so long to see her again, but I felt like the time was right to play it cool if I wanted to keep her hanging.
Plus it was okay, we had plans and a way to contact one another. Even so, I couldn’t resist sending her one more cheeky wink before I ascended up the stairs once more, and the gentle smile she gave me had my heart tearing frantically in my chest.
I couldn’t deny it anymore. There was something about this one, something that kept me intrigued for much longer than I should be. Maybe this was about to be the start of something wonderful.