by Grace Risata
I wrapped my arms around the stunning man’s neck and pulled him closer, eager for more. Instead of complying with my unspoken demand to take things further, Roman abruptly pulled away.
“We can’t do this, Andi,” he explained breathlessly, scooting away to the opposite end of the couch. The face that had just looked so peaceful sleeping on my lap mere minutes ago, was now consumed with despair for some unknown reason.
“What’s wrong?” I asked in confusion. “This isn’t the escape room. There’s no timer. We have no reason to hurry. Did I do something wrong?”
Judging by the noticeable swell of his jeans and a pair of rock hard nipples begging me to taste them, I can’t imagine he wasn’t just as euphoric as I was. Our bodies fit together like they were made for each other and I’ll be damned if I didn’t want more.
“It’s not you, Andi, it’s me,” he insisted, throwing out the age old line that was certain to make a woman cringe.
Raising an eyebrow and grabbing my shirt with all the anger I could muster, I prepared to unleash a verbal assault on the guy the likes of which he’d never seen.
“Do you have a condom?” he questioned earnestly. “Because I haven’t been with a woman in over a year and I don’t see the need to be carrying one if I’m not going to use it. So…it’s not your fault we can’t go any farther. It’s mine. I’m unprepared.”
Unconvinced that the lack of protection was the only thing stopping him, I decided to get to the bottom of this new mystery.
“You’re telling me that you don’t have one in your wallet? I thought all guys stashed something away for emergency purposes. What if you’re in a bar and take a girl home?”
“What if a random skank approaches me at a death metal concert and wants a quickie behind the porta-potties?” he responded, giving me a look as though I should know him better than that. “I’m twenty-eight years old, Andi. Not to make myself sound like a piece of shit or anything, but ‘been there and done that.’ I’m no saint. I’ve had my fair share of random hook-ups with nameless women. Believe it or not, that gets old after a while and you want something more, something meaningful with a woman you can connect with on a deeper level. A real man comes to a point in his life when he gets sick of fucking around with trash and he decides to seek out a quality partner. I made that decision, and in order to stick to it, I don’t carry a condom. It helps with the temptation so I don’t go down a dark road in a moment of weakness.”
“Like right now?” I had always been ‘rational Andi’ that takes the safe approach to life and doesn’t do anything reckless. To have Roman sit here and basically tell me that I was a brazen hussy luring him to the dark side…well it was pretty fucking awesome.
No.
I have not lost my ever-loving mind.
When you’re the ‘good girl’ your whole life, it feels amazing to do something naughty and forbidden every once in a while. Even if I hadn’t actually done anything, just the thought of it was good enough for me. Like I said…I’m a nice girl.
Not noticing my devilish smirk, or mistaking it for something else entirely, Roman began talking fast and backpedaling for damage control.
“No, Andi. Not like right now,” Roman whispered while gently sliding his thumb under my chin and staring directly into my eyes. “You’re the one I’ve been holding out for. I just didn’t plan on things evolving as quickly as they have. I’m not here to get into your pants and then call it a day. I want everything with you.”
He let go of my chin and pointed to my heart, my lips, and my forehead.
“All of you,” he repeated. “There’s no need to rush. We should get to know each other better before jumping into anything. You were right when you said you didn’t know much about me. The same goes with you. So start sharing. You owe me. I told you mine…you tell me yours.”
Cocking my head and trying to unravel the puzzle of Roman, I simply put my shirt back on and tried to do a quick analysis of the situation. For some reason, things weren’t sitting right with me.
What causes a man to suddenly put a grinding halt to physical contact with a woman when he’s clearly attracted to her? There are certainly other things that can be done besides full blown sex. Unless… something else is keeping him away?
One look into his eyes told me all I needed to know. His emotional wall was firmly back in place, and it became evident I wasn’t going to get any more answers today. I literally had no option but to back off and play by his rules.
“What do you want to know?”
“Tell me something about you. It could be anything really…a family story, someplace you’d like to go on vacation, or even details about your job. I’ve never been to the Penn Museum, but it must be fascinating to work there.”
I highly doubted the guy really wanted to know about my day-to-day routine of cataloging Egyptian artifacts. It wasn’t exactly front page news. However, things had gotten a bit awkward between us since the clothes went back on, so maybe I should relate a funny story to break the ice and lighten the mood.
“I could tell you about a humorous incident involving my sister, but she’d literally kill me if she knew I was sharing such classified information.”
“Now you have to tell me after a build up like that,” he responded, relaxing on the other end of the couch with his hands behind his head, eagerly waiting for more.
“Hailey had been dating a Russian guy that she met while working out at the gym. Evidently she won a free two month trial membership there and insisted on getting her money’s worth.”
“I thought it was free?”
“Yeah, it was. She’s cheap, though.”
“Go on, please.”
“They had been seeing each other for six months and things were progressing nicely. He was a total gentleman, treated her like a queen, and pretty much did whatever she wanted. I met him on several occasions and I really liked the guy. They made a nice team.”
“You’re speaking in past tense, Andi. Why am I getting the feeling that this story doesn’t have a happy ending?”
“Well…not everything in real life has a happily ever after. One night Hailey pressured him into trying a new Mexican restaurant even though the poor thing insisted he had a touchy stomach and always tried to stick to bland foods.”
“Uh oh.”
“Yeah. Whatever you think happened, it’s worse,” I assured him. “After dinner, they went back to his house and decided to get frisky in the hot tub. I guess he had a huge Jacuzzi tub and often used it to unwind after a stressful day of work.”
“Okay…you do realize that I’m on the edge of my seat here,” Roman acknowledged, giving me all of his attention.
“Thank you. Anyway, right in the middle of their lovefest, the guy suddenly turned ghostly pale and broke into a sweat. My sister asked him if he was alright, but before he could reply, a strange gurgling noise began to emanate from his midsection. Not more than a second later, he erupted and the clear Jacuzzi water turned into a smelly, brown cesspool of human waste.”
Yeah, I could have told him that Hailey’s boyfriend shit himself, but that lacked the dramatic flair I was aiming for.
“No way!” Roman exclaimed in disgust. “Didn’t he know it was coming?”
“Evidently not! My sister started screaming, jumped out of the tub, threw on her clothes, and drove home at the speed of light. I got a frantic two in the morning phone call detailing the harrowing events of her night. I don’t think it helped matters that I laughed so hard I nearly choked to death.”
“What happened?”
“I caught my breath and everything was fine.”
“No, not with that! I mean what happened with the guy?”
“That’s actually the sad part. She tried to call him the next day and apologize for running off like that, but got no answer. Not one to give up easily, my sister blew up his phone until he blocked her number. I understand it must have been an embarrassing situation, but that’s no reason to avoid someone foreve
r.”
“Are you kidding me? So they never spoke again?”
“The stubborn fool finally got his head out of his ass and contacted her three weeks later. By that time she had all but given up on him, and was hurt and angry after being ignored for so long. Hailey ended the relationship for good...but I don’t think she’s really moved on yet. He was a great guy.”
“Wow. That’s harsh. Have any of your previous boyfriends flamed out in such epic fashion?”
“Nope. You’re not turning this conversation into a play-by-play of all the past losers to have come and gone in the dull life of Andi Cartwright,” I replied, sticking my finger in his face. “I don’t kiss and tell.”
He shrugged in defeat.
“Can’t blame a guy for trying.”
The exhausted man let out a huge yawn and I took that to mean our date was officially coming to an end. With one last kiss and a promise that I would greatly appreciate the plans he had in store for us on Tuesday, Roman made his exit.
I was left with a mixed bag of emotions. While we did seem to get along famously, no matter how much time I spent with the guy it seemed like there were more questions than answers…and my detective skills were sorely lacking.
Chapter Fourteen
Andi – Tuesday Night
I sat in Roman’s truck fidgeting with my seatbelt and wishing I could go home to change my outfit. For some reason, I foolishly decided to ‘dress up’ and wore clothes that were not at all comfortable.
My high heels, tight black leggings, and flowing royal blue off-the-shoulder blouse cinched with a black belt just made it look like I was trying too hard to impress someone. While it’s true that I wanted Roman to think I was hot, the shoes were killing me and not worth the pain.
“What’s wrong?” he asked with concern. “You seem nervous. Do you think I’m luring you to some back alley in order to steal your purse?”
“No, I’m not carrying a handbag,” I replied absent-mindedly while wondering if there was a subtle way to let out the belt one more hole because it was strangling my midsection.
“Earth to Andi. I was only teasing. If something is bothering you, please clue me in on it.”
“I feel like a dork in these clothes. I usually wear more casual of an ensemble but I wanted to impress you. Since I was given no details of our destination, I didn’t want to be an embarrassment by dressing down in jeans and sneakers.”
As soon as we stopped at the next red light, Roman turned to me and slowly shook his head.
“I think you’re beautiful no matter what you wear. I am always honored to have you on my arm, Andi. You’re the exact opposite of a dork. In fact, I think it’s sexy as hell. Blue is definitely your color.”
He leaned over to gently stroke my cheek and all misgivings were temporarily forgotten.
“If it will ease some of your nerves, I’ll let you know that we’re about five minutes away from the pit.”
“The what now?” Was I supposed to know what that meant? The pit? What pit? An armpit? The fiery pits of hell? Either way, it didn’t sound all that appealing.
“The Bottomless Pit. It’s the name of a dive bar on Foley Avenue. They’re having a special event tonight, which is the reason I’m bringing you there.”
“What kind of a special event?” I asked. For some reason, I envisioned a real pit in the middle of the bar. Like they actually dug out the floor and had some sort of barbaric fighting ring where men battled to the death and spectators watched from above while cheering for their favorite competitor.
“You’ll see…”
Casting a sideways glance at the man, I assessed his outfit. Trendy blue jeans that looked brand new, black boots with not a scuff on them, and a deep burgundy v-neck t-shirt with the logo of a popular athletic company. In other words, he wasn’t exactly dressed to ‘fight to the death in the bottomless pit.’ One didn’t wear their best clothes if they were about to be ripped apart.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked. “You’re in rare form tonight.”
I didn’t want to be a whiner and complain to him that I had a shitty day at work after being forced to sit through a three hour staff meeting for a briefing on the stupid crown jewels, which were not even remotely related to my department, so I decided to just smile and keep quiet.
About four minutes later, we pulled onto a dimly lit street in a decidedly seedy part of town. Under normal circumstances, I would have rolled up the windows and locked the doors. There’s no way I would have found a parking spot, jumped out of the truck, and casually marched up to the door once we reached our destination. Especially judging by the looks of it.
I honestly didn’t have much time to check out the front of the building, due to the fact that we drove down a side alley and parked in back. A gravel covered lot was currently filled with motorcycles, pick-up trucks, and a few sports cars that had seen better days. One single illuminated entry door had no signage to indicate that this was indeed ‘The Bottomless Pit.’
“Are you sure we’re at the right place?” I asked apprehensively.
“Absolutely. Don’t worry, it’s more impressive on the inside,” he replied, taking my hand and leading the way.
Once Roman gallantly held open the door, I found myself standing on a small platform with a stairway leading down and a burly bouncer giving me the once-over.
“Are you lost, honey?” he questioned with a raise of his eyebrow. “The jazz nightclub is four blocks in the other direction.”
“Relax, she’s with me,” Roman responded. “How come you’re not down there getting ready to compete? I wanted to put all my money on you.”
Holy shit! It really was a pit with men fighting like gladiators. Damn. I’m good.
The bouncer patted his protruding stomach while shaking his head.
“The old lady has me on a diet. Says I’m going to keel over dead one of these days. You’ll have to bet on someone else tonight, Roman.”
“I’ll figure it out. We’re not too late, are we?”
“Nope, you got about twenty minutes til showtime,” he replied, looking at his watch. “Hey, I haven’t seen Tyler yet. Do you know if he plans on stopping out? That fucker owes me fifty bucks he borrowed last week.”
Roman held up his hands as if to indicate he wasn’t responsible for his cousin.
“I think he has other plans. I’m pretty sure he won’t be here tonight.”
“Typical Tyler,” the guy mumbled while rolling his eyes. “Next time you see him, tell him that I want my fucking money.”
“Will do,” Roman promised, putting his hand on the small of my back and leading me down the stairs.
That was certainly an odd exchange. I guess these guys are regulars here if they know the bouncer so well.
“What contest are you talking about?” I questioned in curiosity.
“Ah, thank you for asking. That’s the whole reason I brought you here, Andi. Do you remember the first night we met?”
“Yes. Please tell me this isn’t a death metal battle of the bands!”
“Nope. Not even close. We’re about to witness a brutal, filthy, winner take all…chicken wing eating contest!”
“What?” I shouted, breaking into a huge grin. He remembered our discussion of food eating competitions! “No way!”
“Get ready to feast your eyes on no less than ten massive beasts sucking down wings, throwing bones, and possibly eating until they puke. Are you in?”
“Hell yeah! Bring on the debauchery!”
“That’s my girl,” he remarked fondly, pushing open a large door and leading me inside ‘The Bottomless Pit.’ I have to admit that it was quite impressive. No one would have assumed such a cavernous space could have filled a lower level of the building. With high ceilings, a large mahogany bar hosting a long row of stools, and a giant dance floor, this place definitely had it all. I also noticed no less than three pool tables in one corner, five dartboards hanging along a concrete wall, and a smattering
of raised round tables already full of people chatting and chugging their drinks. This joint was hopping.
Roman took my hand and marched us straight to the bar.
“What would you like, Andi?”
“Whatever beer is on tap will be fine, please.”
Flagging down the bartender, Roman placed our order and then leaned back to scope out the crowd. It wasn’t more than thirty seconds before we were approached by a group of guys.
“Hey, asshole, what are you doing here?” the tallest one snarled directly at my date.
“None of your business,” Roman replied with a large smile before giving the man some sort of weird handshake. Obviously they knew each other and no blood was about to be shed. That’s a definite relief because this dude was fucking huge. He must have been a solid six feet, six inches complete with shaved head, Fu Manchu mustache, and black leather biker vest.
“Are you in the chicken eating contest?” I asked boldly. “Can I bet on you?”
He turned in my direction, gave me an in-depth appraisal from head to toe, and nodded his head. I wasn’t sure if the head nod was an answer to my question, or if it meant he approved of me physically. Either way, at least it was positive.
“Solo, I’d like you to meet Andi,” Roman stated, giving us a proper introduction. “The guys standing behind him are Red and Ranger.”
Smiling politely, I shook all their hands while repeating the names in an effort to commit them to memory.
“Nice to meet you, Red.” No mystery there. The short man had a bright red Mohawk, which made it a breeze to put the name with the face.
“Ranger…and Solo,” I said hesitantly. “Is that like Han Solo from Star Wars?”
The brute actually laughed and shook his head.
“You’re funny. I like you already.”
Noticing the helpless look on my face, Roman took pity on me and explained the nicknames.
“Ranger is a New York Rangers fan, and Solo is a fucking beast that never has a girlfriend because he scares them away…hence the name. He always goes solo.”
“I guess that means I shouldn’t waste my time looking for Chewbacca then, hmm?” I replied, definitely intimidated by the motley group of men.