She made her way through the kitchen, past the rest of the chefs and out of the double doors into the restaurant. Carlo, the owner was sat up at the bar, drinking a bottle of beer and lamenting the poor turn out of customers.
“If we carry on like this, I honestly don’t know what we’ll do,” he said miserably.
“It’s nearing the end of the month,” Chantel said hopefully. “People are probably just waiting to get paid.” She didn’t even know if she believed herself, but she could only try and keep morale high.
“I hope you’re right,” Carlo said as he turned to look at her. She smiled sympathetically and made her way behind the bar where she started stacking glasses into the dishwasher before wiping down the countertops. She didn’t even know why she was trying to reassure Carlo. She knew fine well that should trade not pick up she would be the first one to go. Last one in… First one out. That was how it went, and to date she was still the newest member of the team.
“You hooking up with Sarah later?” Carlo asked from over the rim of his beer bottle.
Even though Carlo was married, he and Sarah had been involved at some point or another. Chantel had never got the full details of their affair but she knew it hadn’t exactly ended well. Carlo had wanted to keep her on the side, but Sarah had had enough.
“Umm…” Chantel stalled, unsure of what to tell him. “Probably when I get back to our dorm.”
“It’s Friday,” he snorted. “Surely you girls have something planned?”
Chantel shrugged and bit her bottom lip. She didn’t want to drop Sarah in it in case they were still seeing each other and she was out on a date. Or worse, if Carlo had suddenly decided to become possessive and track her movements. The last thing Sarah would want is to lose her job at the restaurant.
“Well tell her I said hello anyway,” he yawned with disappointment. “You may as well get yourself home. No point in waiting around here in this ghost town.”
Chantel checked the clock on the wall. It was only nine-thirty.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Yup,” Carlo took another swig of his beer. “See you tomorrow.”
He slid off his stool and made his way toward the kitchen door.
Chantel didn’t need to be told twice. Without wasting a moment she pulled off her apron, clocked out on her timesheet and grabbed her jacket and purse. As she ran through the kitchen she waved goodbye to Ben and he winked at her as she passed.
They were definitely going to end up together. Even though she knew it was risky with them being colleagues, she decided right then and there that she was going to make him hers.
2.
“Ben the chef?” Sarah asked as she opened a bottle of wine and poured them both a glass. “Ew,” she said as she shuddered her shoulders.
“What do you mean ‘ew’?” Chantel laughed.
“I don’t know. He just doesn’t do it for me.” Sarah shrugged.
“Oh what and older, boring, balding Carlo does?” Chantel rolled her eyes.
“Shhh,” Sarah hushed. “We never mention him again.” she reached over and pulled a red lipstick out of her vanity case before she held it up to her lips.
“He was asking about you,” Chantel said quietly as she took a sip of her own wine. “Wanted to know if we were out anywhere tonight.”
“Oh I bet he did,” Sarah cringed. “He’s not exactly taking the hint.”
“Well I didn’t tell him anything.”
“Good,” Sarah smiled. “Especially seeing as we have a wild party to go to I suppose.”
“Yep,” Chantel unrolled her last curler and flicked her hair.
She hadn’t known about the party until she had left the restaurant and made her way back to the dorm. Sarah had been off work all week and had heard from one of the girls down the hall that there was a big house party off campus and that all of the girls in their year had been invited.
“So who’s party is it?” she asked Sarah as she picked up her curling tongues and added to the gentle bounce of her blonde hair.
“No idea,” she shrugged. “But I’ve heard that apparently whoever this guy is, he’s had them before and they’re pretty wild.”
“Oh great,” Chantel laughed.
Her life had been so quiet of late, she could do with some excitement.
“It’s just what we need,” Sarah said as if she had read Chantel’s mind. “You’ve been saying lately how boring things are around here. Maybe tonight something exciting will happen.”
Chantel smiled and wished with all of her might that Sarah was right. She had felt low of late and knew that letting her hair down and enjoying herself could lift her mood.
She looked in her closet and ran her hands along the selection of dresses she had in the left hand corner.
“Red or black?” she asked Sarah.
“Red,” Sarah grinned. “For sure. With those blonde curls and this red lipstick you’ll be like a 50’s starlet.”
Chantel nodded and took the lipstick from her roommate. If there was one thing she knew she could depend on Sarah for, it was a keen eye for what looked good and an honest opinion.
As she slipped into her tight, red dress and strapped on her heels she felt sexier than she had felt in a long time. She was ready to go out, meet new people and have some fun, and she was determined to make the most of it.
Life at college hadn’t been as exciting as she had hoped, but it was all about new experiences, so she was glad to be getting off campus and exploring a new part of town, with hopefully a new set of people.
“Okay,” Sarah said as she picked up her purse and downed the last of her wine. “Let’s go, don’t want to get there too late and find out all the hot guys are taken.”
Chantel laughed and followed her to the door. She pulled on her coat and then the two girls made their way out into the hall and down the stairs to the main door of their building. As they walked across the quad Chantel felt a buzz that she hadn’t felt in a long time. She was excited and felt it was the kind of night where anything was possible and anything could happen.
They hailed a cab, jumped inside and headed off campus and across town. When they pulled up at the house and paid the cab driver her anticipation was growing with each passing second and she couldn’t wait to get in there.
The sound of music thumped out from the house and along the ground, in ran under their feet and made their whole bodies vibrate. They could see from the outside that the house was jam packed with people, and for a townhouse it lit up the whole street with the amount of lights bouncing around in each of the windows and shining different shades of pinks and blues.
“God knows what’s going on it there,” Chantel laughed.
“Well we’re about to find out,” Sarah grinned.
She took hold of Chantel’s hand and led her across the street. As they began to climb the steps to the front door Chantel had an overwhelming feeling that they should turn and run for home. Even though she had wanted excitement, now that she had it right in front of her, she was nervous and didn’t know whether she had the confidence to walk into a house full of people she had never met.
Sarah rang the doorbell and within a few moments the door opened wide and a handsome man with a tanned, muscular torso and an open shirt stood there with a glinting smile on his face.
“Welcome girls,” he said smoothly. “Please, do come on in.”
3.
He was so incredibly good looking that Chantel was sure she saw Sarah’s jaw hit the floor out of the corner of her eye. The host led them inside and through a maze of hot bodies, into the packed kitchen and got them a drink of ice cold vodka and lime.
“Here you are,” he smiled, his eyes locking in on each of theirs in turn. “Have a good evening.”
He turned and made his way through the crowd and Sarah turned to Chantel immediately and yelped, “I want him, he has to be mine!” She gripped her hands together under her chin as she watched the host mingle his way through the
throngs of people, and stop to chat smoothly with as many as he could.
“I wonder who he is,” Chantel mused. “He’s certainly very confident. And this house isn’t bad either.”
She looked up and around at the modern kitchen, decked out in black granite counter tops and what appeared to be expensive marble flooring. Growing up in a wealthy family meant that Chantel knew something expensive when she saw it, and this guy had splashed some serious cash in setting up his rather decadent and classy bachelor pad.
“He’s some sort of market trader apparently,” a random girl leaned over Chantel’s shoulder and whispered.
“Really?” Another girl heard her and butted in. “Someone told me he was some kind of scientific genius. Made his money by selling an idea for a very advanced machine. Something to do with space travel.”
Chantel felt her mouth curl into amusement but she tried to hide it. Why would a scientific, millionaire genius throw a house party for college girls? She looked across the room at their dashing and very sexy host. His shaggy, brown hair fell perfectly around his chiseled jaw and his deep brown eyes glistened under the light. His skin was smooth and perfect and Chantel couldn’t help but think that he was young to have had so much success. He couldn’t have been any more than thirty-five, but he looked like he had a lot of experience in being the perfect host with the way he entertained. He moved fluidly throughout the rooms of the house, stopping to speak to both men and women who seemed enchanted by him. Chantel was one of them, and she found her eyes fixed on him with every move he took.
“Hey Sister,” Sarah jabbed her in the ribs. “I called first, find your own man.” She laughed afterwards to make it sound as if she was making a joke, but Chantel knew she was serious.
“He seems so… different…” Chantel said dreamily, but she was snapped back to reality by Sarah jabbing her in the arm.
“Hey!” Sarah crunched her lips up to her nose. “I said he’s mine.”
Chantel held her hands up in surrender and rolled her eyes.
“Okay Boss,” she said with jest before she looked back around the room and realized their sexy host had disappeared.
“Well whoever he is, he certainly knows how to throw a party,” Chantel said. “And work the room.”
“He does, doesn’t he?” Sarah beamed.
The girls mingled within the crowd and sipped their vodka and limes. The house was so crowded, rammed and full of people they recognized from both college and around town. She even saw one of the old waitresses from Carlo’s and stopped to chat to her for a few moments on her way to the bathroom.
Sarah was on a mad mission, she was determined that she would find the host on one of the levels of the house and tempt him away from whatever conversation he was having and into a bedroom with her.
“You’re crazy,” Chantel told her. “You don’t even know the guy, and you’ve only said hello to him, he may have a shitty personality.”
“He won’t,” Sarah said, as defiant as a child. “I can tell just by looking at him and we would be good together.”
Chantel found it hard to argue with her, as she certainly knew that feeling. She had lusted after Ben for weeks now and even though she tried to turn off her feelings and ignore them, she still found herself being drawn to him as if there was a magnet between them.
“I need another drink,” Sarah said as she drained the rest of her glass. “Shall I get one for you too?”
Chantel looked ahead at the queue in front of her to use the restroom and knew that there was no way she could risk losing her place in line.
“Please,” she said. “I’d come with you but… this queue…” she held her hand out.
“It’s cool, I’ll get us some! I’ll be right back,” Sarah kissed her on the cheek and made her way off down the stairs.
Chantel leant against the wall and sighed. There was still at least four people in front of her waiting to use the restroom. She looked down at her watch. It was eleven thirty and she had been waiting for around fifteen minutes. The party was going strong and the hallways seemed much busier than they had been when she arrived and more and more people filtering through the rooms were familiar to her. She could have sworn that most of the town were there and certainly a lot of girls from campus.
She was second in line and just about to reach the head of the queue when Sarah returned and slipped a drink into her hand.
“It’s crazy down there,” Sarah laughed. “The rumors about these parties are true. I can’t believe we’ve never been to one until now.”
“Well at least we know now for next time,” Chantel winked.
The door to the restroom opened up ahead of her and a small raven haired girl walked out with a bottle of wine swinging from her hand.
“Finally,” Chantel sighed to Sarah and made her way inside and closed the door.
After she had peed, washed her hands and reapplied her make-up, she looked in the mirror and flicked her hair. The curls she had so carefully crafted were still soft and bouncy around her face and Sarah had been right, she did look like a 50’s starlet. She rubbed a tiny streak of red lipstick off her front tooth, smiled at her reflection once more and then turned and opened the door. As she stepped out of the bathroom and took up her place next to Sarah on the landing she was happy and ready to enjoy the rest of her night. But Sarah’s hand rushed out quickly and circled her wrist.
“Let’s go downstairs,” she said.
“Huh?” Chantel asked her confused. “What’s the rush?”
But before Sarah had chance to pull her away, or explain what the matter was, Chantel saw it…
On the opposite side of the hall were a couple locked up in each other’s arms. They were entwined together and exploring each other like they were ravenous. The guy dipped the girl back and kissed her so powerfully and passionately it was like something out of the movies. The heat they were radiating was impossible to ignore and they were so into each other and so obviously linked by more than a quick hook-up that it made it all the more hard to look away.
Chantel felt her stomach drop and the tears well up behind her eyes.
The guy in the loving embrace with another girl was Ben.
4.
She wriggled free from Sarah’s grip and headed straight for the stairs. As she pushed her way through the crowd and down onto the first floor of the house her heart was pounding loudly in her ears and her hands were shaking.
She had never been involved with Ben, but her feelings had grown so much over the past few weeks that it felt like she had been kicked in the stomach. Seeing him entwined with another girl had been just as bad, if not worse, than seeing her high school boyfriend and first love cheating on her at prom.
Sarah was somewhere behind her in the house, trying to follow her and calling her name, but Chantel ignored her and weaved in and out of people, trying to disappear into the crowd. She didn’t want to speak to anyone, she just needed to get out of there.
As she found her way back into the kitchen and became trapped in a line of people dancing and mingling she managed to catch sight of a door which looked as if it led outside. She pushed her way past a few more people and in her panic quickly turned the key and opened the door into the backyard.
The cold night air hit her and she sighed with relief as she wrapped her arms around herself and took solace in the silence.
Fucking Ben, she thought. How could he be so involved with someone? He can’t have just met her. This must have been going on for a long time.
She looked around. The yard was fully paved and lit by Victorian looking streetlamps. It was as if she had stepped into another world and she made her way over to a small wrought iron bench and sat down with her back facing the house so that hopefully no one would notice her.
She felt bad for running out on Sarah, but she needed the space. She needed the time to herself. Seeing Ben loved up like that had been a massive wake-up call for her. He didn’t want Chantel. If he did, he would have made a play
for her by now. She was just someone he liked to flirt with to pass the time.
The truth hurt. She hadn’t been in a relationship for some time and although she didn’t feel like she needed one to feel happy in her life, she knew that it would have been nice to have her feelings reciprocated.
She sighed and a line of foggy breath twirled out in front of her. It was much colder than she realized, but she didn’t understand how. It hadn’t been anything like freezing temperatures earlier in the day.
She looked up to the sky again and noticed a lot more stars were twinkling above her. They lit up the night like a trillion fairy lights and the feeling was so calming, in an instant she felt as if she didn’t care anymore. Although her hands were cold and stiff, she felt warm and relaxed, the heat was rolling through her and unfurling her entire body. She leant back against the bench and smiled as she looked up at the stars. The sky had a greenish tint to it which looked otherworldly and then with a jolt of recognition she remembered about the meteors.
As if she had conjured or manifested them, suddenly the night sky broke out in a dashing race of shooting stars. Bright white and green meteors streaked across the blackness of the night as Chantel sat with her mouth and eyes wide, watching them in awe.
“So beautiful,” she whispered as her breath was taken away. “I can’t believe it…”
She had never seen anything like it before, and just when she didn’t think the scene above her could get any more incredible, all of a sudden the shooting stars began to turn in circles and Chantel found herself blinking and rubbing her eyes, as if her vision was blurred and she was seeing things.
But what she was seeing was real. The stars above her head began to spin in a circle, hundreds of them, forming a tight conical spiral which seemed to be reaching down towards her. Chantel gripped onto the bench, her heart pounding… what was happening?
In a flash of light and the sensation that she had just been pulled up from the bottom of the ocean, weightless and free, the stars flew past her and she was suddenly in orbit. She could see the house disappearing below her and as her heart thudded louder in her chest it became the only thing she could hear apart from the deafening ring of silence.
BREAKER (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 14) Page 44