Player of Life (Perception Book 4)

by Shandi Boyes

  Just as I locate my clothing in a dry cleaning bag by the door, I notice in the silence of Jenni’s small apartment the sound of sniffling. When I moved over towards her bedroom door, it soon became apparent that Jenni was crying. It had taken me days to get the image of her crying at my dad’s house out of my head and I couldn’t walk away knowing she was upset.

  Her body stiffened when I first slipped into her bed, but she remained quiet. I gently pulled her towards me and her sad and confused face starred directly at me. The tears sliding down her cheeks glistened in the moonlight. I used my thumbs to rub away her tears, while it felt like daggers were being stabbed into my chest. I pulled her in close to me, wanting to offer her comfort and support. I whispered into her hair telling her that everything was going to be okay and that I would look after her. It took a while, but eventually Jenni’s sniffles started to reside and once her breathing evened out, I knew she had finally fallen asleep.

  Having her in my arms for that short period of time made me want her even more. I wanted to protect and keep her safe. Which also meant I knew that the one person she needed protecting from more than ever was me. She seemed so carefree and happy in the photos I had seen of her on Facebook a few weeks ago and the instant I arrive back in the picture she is crying herself to sleep. She deserves better than I could ever offer her, so I am willing to let her go in the hope that she will find happiness.

  She whimpered and murmured something in her sleep as I quietly slipped out of her bed. Her strawberry blonde locks now fanned across her pillow instead of my chest. I lent down and placed a small and delicate kiss on her lips before reluctantly walking out of her room.

  Once I was dressed back into my drenched clothes, I made my way to the airport where I planned on going home to try and forget about the one girl that makes me break everyone of my rules.

  ****

  For the past two months, I had tried hard to return to my normal schedule. The band continued to work in the studio Monday to Friday, we performed at Mavs every Friday night and I went on the prowl at dance clubs every weekend. Life seemed to be returning back to normal, except for one small factor. I couldn’t get a little blonde firecracker out of my fucking head.

  I was spending my Saturday night at a dance club in Hopeton called ‘A+’. It has become one of my regular haunts since I no longer have the ability of going to the ‘Dungeon’ without thinking about Jenni or being hounded by Megan. This place has more of an underground dance vibe since it is located in the basement of an old warehouse. The only lighting that is supplied is from the partygoers wearing fluorescent bands around their bodies and from the strobe lighting that is choreographed in sync with the music. When a song ends, the whole dance floor is plunged into darkness until the next song commences.

  I had just finished my beer in the bar that is located in the foyer of the club and was just about to walk back towards the dancefloor when the hairs on my arms stood to attention. My eyes darted around the surroundings as my date dragged me closer to the entrance of the dancefloor. Just as I was about to enter the large black double doors, I spot her, even though the bar is jammed packed full of patrons. Jenni is wearing a tight blue, one shoulder strap, fitted dress and black stiletto shoes. Her hair has been cut since the last time I had seen her and is hanging loosely, sitting just above her shoulders. The shorter length of her hair makes it appear curlier than normal. She looks to her right and when she smiles her knock out smile, I can feel my dick twitching.

  “Come on” whines my date as she unsuccessfully attempts to drag me towards the blackened, closed off dance floor.

  I shrug out of my dates grasp and continue to watch Jenni. She must feel my intense gaze as her eyes start slowly roaming around the bar area. She looks towards me and smiles brightly, causing my heart to start leaping. She then motions for me to join her. I eagerly turn towards my date to dismiss her, when I notice Christian to my left trying to manoeuvre through the packed crowd. When my gaze flicks between Christian and Jenni, I realise that her smile wasn’t directed at me. She was smiling at Christian and motioning for him to join her. Now I am certain my heart is being ripped out of my chest. Once he gets through the thick and heavy crowd he wraps his arms around her waist and spins her around the room, triggering her to giggle loudly enough I can easily hear it through the packed bar.

  You would think witnessing firsthand the connection between Jenni and Christian would have given me enough incentive to just let her go, but I fucking can’t. My body yearns for hers. I crave her like a drug addict craves crack, like a surfer craves his next wave and like an adrenaline junkie craves his next thrill. She is my thrill; she is my addiction. She is the one thing I can’t control, my rule breaker and my main source of confusion.

  I end up dismissing my dance partner so I can continue to silently stalk Jenni. The whole gang appears to be at the club tonight. I had noticed Emily and Noah moving towards the dancefloor earlier. So much for Noah’s stance on not dancing. Slater and Marcus are sitting at the bar with Nicole and Jenni, and Christian had returned back to his friends at the end of the bar not long after he spun Jenni around the room, making me realise that they weren’t here as a couple, allowing me a small moment of relief.

  “Another one” I request to the bartender, tapping on the rim of my empty scotch glass. He nods his head, before walking over towards me with a bottle of scotch.

  As he finishes filling my glass, I notice Jenni and Slater moving towards the door that will take her into the dance club. Just as she is about to enter the large double doors, she hastily stops, causing Slater to run into the back of her. Her gaze lifts and her head darts side to side like she is seeking someone. I turn back to face the bar, wanting to ensure she doesn’t notice me. Once she goes inside, I down the entire nip of scotch in one hit and follow after her.

  Because of the color of Jenni’s dress, she illuminates in the strobing lights, making it easy for me to watch her as I wait for the perfect opportunity to pounce. It takes around twenty minutes for Slater to become distracted by a brunette, giving me the opportunity I’ve been patiently waiting for.

  I quickly make my way to Jenni and when I reach her, I spin her around and pull the back of her body flush against mine, causing her to giggle softly. I place my open hand against her stomach and pull her in close to me, swinging our joined hips together in sync to the music. Her movements are more stiff and robotic like than how she would normally dance, but it doesn’t take long for me to notice the small gathering of goose bumps forming on her neckline.

  When I lower down my lips and gentle lick her sweat drenched neck, her body stiffens as her head shoots up to look at me. Her eyes straining in the darkened space as she tries to recognize my features. Her breathing starts to fasten and her pulse quickens as she becomes panicked. I slowly glide my hand from her stomach, past her generous breasts, over her delicate neck, before I gently rub her earlobe, triggering her to release a soft moan as she whispers my name.

  She spins around in my arms to face me, while I ensure her body stays plastered to mine. She stares directly at me, her eyes flicking between mine, looking confused and upset. Before she has a chance to protest, I lower my mouth over hers and give her a slow and tortuous kiss. She tastes like heaven and hell all rolled into one.

  When I pull away from our embrace, the sadness on her face has vanished, but her confusion seems to have intensified. The vibe between us feels so serious that I decide to dip her, causing her to squeal and giggle. When I flip her back up, her knock out smile is on her face, making my heart race. This time when I start to move our hips in rhythm to the beat, she follows along. Her sensual and sexual movements of her body causes my dick to instantly stiffen.

  When she spins back around and starts grinding her curvy backside against my crutch, I gather her hair all to one side of her neck, so I can kiss, suck and nibble along her exposed neckline. All the hurt, confusion and anger of the past six months vanishes with every moment I spend with her. We conti
nue dancing intimately for over an hour before Slater’s deep rumbling voice interrupts us.

  “Jen” he calls out, trying to seek her on the darkened dance floor.

  “Over here” she shouts, projecting her small voice over the loud music.

  “Are you ready to leave?” Slater questions.

  Her light blue eyes flick up to look at me, questioning on whether she should stay or not. When I remain quiet, I notice that her smile starts to falter with each strobe of the lights. I want her to stay with me, but every time she is near me I can’t think straight. My palms sweat, my heart races and I want to break every rule just for her. I am too confused by what that means to be able to form any words.

  When she notices my hesitation in replying, she steps away from me to head towards Slater. I gently grab her wrist to stop her hasty retreat. Her confused eyes turn to face me and I lean in to whisper into her ear.

  “Unblock my number” I request softly, before placing a kiss just under her earlobe.

  When I roam my eyes over her beautiful face, she smiles softly while whispering “I already have”.

  Chapter 23

  Jenni

  When Nick first started dancing with me, I had thought it was Christian since he had asked me earlier to save him a dance. It was only when my body started to react differently than it did when I danced with Christian in New York did I realise that it wasn’t him. My body was reacting sexually and it has only every responded that way to one person.

  Then when my dance partner licked my neck, it confirmed what my body was already trying to tell me. My eyes quickly darted up to look at Nick, but I could only catch the occasionally glimmer of his face when the strobe lights flashed on and off.

  When he seductively ran his hand from my stomach to my earlobe, goose bumps followed his path. When he rubbed my earlobe, I couldn’t supress my moan. My body craved his and even the simplest touch caused me to melt.

  When his lips covered mine, my heart soared and my pussy throbbed. I don’t know why I am so attracted to Nick; I just can’t stay away from him. Even when I know he has the ability of destroying me, I still want and crave him.

  When he unexpectedly dipped me, I squealed and giggled, while flashes of ‘Dirty Dancing’ start running through my brain. When he flicked me back up, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. Having Nick so close to me made me feel like that past six months never happened. I felt happy, cherished and wanted. When he started to re-swing his hips, I allowed my body to have what it craved so deeply.

  I had thoroughly enjoyed dancing with Nick for the past hour that when Slater asked if I was ready to leave, my eager eyes looked up at Nick, pleading for him to ask for me to stay. When he stayed silent, his rejection hit me full force.

  As I stepped away from him, he gently grabbed my wrist and pulled me back towards him. He requested for me to unblock his number, before placing a kiss under my earlobe causing me to involuntarily moan. Putty, I am nothing but putty all over again.

  His eyes slowly roamed over my face and I could see something more than just lust settled behind them.

  “I already have” I responded smiling.

  He smiled brightly before he lowered down his head to give me another knee wobbling, pussy clenching kiss. By the time he pulled away, I had lost the ability to walk or talk. Nick’s eyes stared into mine before they suddenly flicked to my right. He looked down at me and smiled, before he disappeared into the swarm of bodies on the overcrowded and dark dancefloor.

  “You ready?” Slater questioned, startling me. His confused eyes look over my face as one of his eyebrows cocks. When he looped my arm around his, he chuckled, while guiding me off the dancefloor.

  When we all piled into Marcus’s car, Emily’s gaze turned to look at me and her eyes slowly roamed over my face, before she lifted her eyebrows into her hairline.

  “What?” I questioned nervously, while fidgeting. I wish everyone would stop looking at me so curiously.

  “It was hot in there, but it wasn’t that hot” she replied as her eyebrows raised even higher and her eyes narrowed in on my flushed cheeks.

  I quickly diverted my eyes to look at anything bar Emily, causing her to giggle. When I look back towards the club we had just left, I notice Nick walking towards his truck looking down at his phone in his hand. My heart leaps when I realize he is leaving the club alone. He stops in the middle of the carpark and his dark blue eyes lift to stare directly at me. I give him a shy and hesitant wave goodbye and am rewarded with his panty combusting grin.

  I hadn’t seen Nick since he vanished from my bed in the middle of the night two months ago. When I first woke up to an empty bed, I had started to wonder if I had dreamt that Nick was there. It was only when I rolled over and smelt his seductive scent on my pillow did I realise that I was not dreaming.

  I don’t know what compelled me to do it, but that next morning I unblocked Nick’s number from calling me. The first few days, I was constantly checking my phone with a hope that he may call or send me a message, but as the days went on and he remained silent, I realised that he was never going to call. I ended up stalking his Facebook profile, using our mutual friends as a way to view his wall and photos. Unfortunately for me, his Facebook account didn’t give me any indication on what he was doing or who he was doing. Nick is a pretty private person and very rarely posts a status update or a photo.

  I am back in town for the Christmas New Year holiday period. I have two weeks off and had every intention of spending as much time with Emily and Nicole as possible. When Slater first suggested that we should go out clubbing, I was hesitant. I knew how much Nick use to frequent these type of places. When Noah suggested the ‘Dungeon’ I cringed and silently begged for them to pick another location. I nearly screamed out “Yes” at the top of my lungs when Marcus suggested going to an underground dance club in Hopeton. I had thought my chances of running into Nick would have been greatly reduced considering it is over an hour drive from his home town. I guess my assumption was wrong.

  When I had first walked into the bar a slight chill ran along my spine, but I brushed it off since we had just entered the winter months and I was only wearing a small dress. Then as I approached the bar, I had a feeling that someone was watching me. My eyes slowly started to roam around the bar and I spotted Christian standing at the end. It wasn’t hard to spot him, considering he was waving his arms in the air like a lunatic. When I motioned for him to join me so I could introduce him to my friends, he quickly downed his drink and started pushing his way through the overcrowded bar.

  “I can’t even leave town without you following me” he cheekily stated while spinning me around the room, triggering me to giggle loudly.

  Christian and I have become friends the past few months. The morning after Nick had left was pretty awkward, but over time Christian said he was grateful that Nick had forced him to maintain his player etiquette by not sleeping with the same girl twice. Ever since Christian’s movie had propelled him to super stardom, his player lifestyle has been ramped up to a new level. I don’t know how many times I have witnessed seeing him in a compromising positions in our building elevators the past three months. He also uses my apartment to hide out in until his dates eventually get the hint to leave.

  Around half way home my phone dinged indicating I had received a text. When I peered down, I noticed it was a message from Nick. When I noticed Emily’s eager eyes peering over my shoulder, I quickly dropped my phone back into my purse, deciding to read his message later when I was alone.

  It was only once I had finished showering and was laying in my bed did I remember that I hadn’t read the text message that Nick had sent me earlier. I dove out of my bed to retrieve my phone from my purse.

  I never wanted anyone.

  I never needed anyone.

  Until I met you.

  Why have you always been my rule breaker?

  This time I didn’t bother to cover my excited screams into a pillow. Once my squeals start t
o lessen and I had ushered a frazzled Maria out of my room, I messaged Nick back.

  Because rules are meant to be broken.

  Chapter 24

  Nick

  One Month Later…….

  I spot Jenni the instant she enters Mavericks. She looks smoking hot in a strapless bright red lace mini dress and super high heels. I reckon if I stand next to her she would match my five-foot-eight height. It is the first time Jenni has ever been allowed inside Mavericks as she is not over twenty-one. Tonight the band has decided to throw a surprise party for Emily’s nineteenth birthday instead of performing here for the very last time. All the songs for our album have finally been collaborated and next week we start laying down tracks in the recording studio. It has been a long and tedious six months, but I think the high calibre of songs the band has created will soon rocket us into the super stardom we have actively been seeking.