I looked at my suddenly empty glass and said, “Perhaps I’m just not sufficiently lubricated. From what I understand, it helps things progress a little more smoothly.”
He looked at me suddenly wide eyed. Yep. Direct hit. I did a little dance inside. I may have had to sink to his level to deliver a direct blow, but man it was worth it just to shut him up for a minute. Sadly, he recovered far too quickly. Of course he did. He had years of being a dick on me.
“Normally I have them wet and begging for more all by myself, but I’m not above using a little assistance when matters call for it,” he said raising his hand to signal the bartender. When he came over, James said, “She’ll take a double of whatever she’s having, and I’ll have another Scotch.”
I felt a small twinge when he ordered the Scotch, but brushed it aside. Some things would always be a reminder of Vance, but at least they didn’t hurt anymore.
We bantered back and forth over several drinks with him growing more and more attractive with each one. His jokes lessened and took on a much less abrasive quality when he did make them. I found myself actually enjoying his company after a time. We didn’t talk about personal or heavy things, mostly soft topics like the people in the bar and casino. We made up stories about them--why they were there, what they were doing, etc.
“See that guy over there in the corner?” He pointed to a tall, skinny guy in a rumpled suit with a haggard face sitting in a booth in the back of the bar. He was hunched over his glass looking miserable. “He’s lost his ass at the blackjack table and is now waiting for the high-priced call girl he ordered.”
“Yes,” I said. “Only he doesn’t know how he is going to tell her that he isn’t going to be able to pay her for the night.”
“Yep,” James said nodding in mock sympathy, “and Bruiser, her pimp, is not going to be happy because it’s the third time this month.”
“Wow. Don’t you think we should help him?’ I asked.
“What do you want me to do? Loan him five bills so he can get his rocks off?”
“No! Save him from an ass-beating, James!”
“Now how is he ever going to learn if we do that?” He looked at me pointedly before tossing back the last of the contents of his glass and raising his hand to signal for another.
I giggled softly and tried to straighten my face into something more appropriate for our pseudo-serious conversation. “Well, we should at least smuggle him out of here and give him a ride to safety. You said this was the third time this month. I’m sure Bruiser gave him the what-for the last two times and it didn’t make a difference. Bruiser doesn’t sound like a pushover.”
The bartender put the fresh drink in front of James and looked at me questioningly. I slid my glass over to him, nodding my head for another. I probably should have thought about quitting for the night, but honestly, I was just having too much fun.
“I have a better idea, Anastasia. Why don’t you go over and get cozy with him. That way, when Bubbles shows up, she’ll see that he’s already procured company for the night, and she’s lost her john.”
“Not a bad idea as far as plans go, but won’t that put me in a precarious position? Won’t Bubbles want to kick my ass?” I hiccupped.
“Nah. Happens all the time ‘round these parts. Now scoot.”
The bartender pushed my drink in front of me with a look that told me he thought this was a bad idea. I smiled happily at him, believing I was doing my good deed for the week while James paid for our drinks.
I got up from my seat and nodded at James. “All right partner, I’m going in. You’ve got my back if anything goes hinky, right?”
“I’m your wingman, gorgeous. You can count on me,” he said with a salute.
I wiped my suddenly damp palms on my skirt before picking up my drink and strolling over to the unhappy-looking man. He didn’t even look up as I approached.
I cleared my throat softly to get his attention. “Go away,” he said morosely.
I cleared it again before replying, “You look like you could use some company, Sir.”
He looked up at me wearily. “I don’t have any money so go peddle your charms to someone else, Blondie. You’re barking up the wrong tree.”
“I don’t know what you mean. You just look sad so I thought I’d come over and see if I could try to cheer you up. I don’t want anything from you.”
He snorted. “Other than five hundred dollars for the pleasure, you mean.”
I pinned him with a direct stare. “You are an asshole. Do I look like some kind of whore to you? Have you been drunk and broke in casinos so long that you forgot that not all women are prostitutes?”
I turned on my heel to leave, totally caught up in our pretend scenario. As I took a step away, I heard the man call out, “Wait. I’m sorry. Come back.”
I turned back to look at him. He still looked broken down, but he had an apologetic look on his face.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. Please come sit. I could use the company after all.”
I smiled brightly at him. “You’re doing the right thing,” I said.
He looked at me a little confused but patted the cushioned seat next to him. I slid into the booth alongside him and rested my drink on the table.
“So you’re having a hard time?” I said to him with the most sympathetic look I could manage.
He was staring at me kind of funny as he spun his glass around with his fingertips. “You could say that,” he said.
“You lost money?” I said, trying to prod him into talking.
“I did.” He nodded, still staring at me with a look that was beginning to look remarkably similar to a leer.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked.
“No,” he said, as he lifted his hand and took hold of a lock of my hair and began rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger.
“Uhhh, well then, what’s your name?”
“Why don’t you just call me Sir, and I’ll call you Kitten.”
“Um, what?” I asked, feeling my eyes grow larger.
“Come a little bit closer, Kitten.” He reached out and grabbed hold of my hips and slid my body closer to his so we were thigh to thigh. I leaned my upper body as far away from him as I could as I tried to scramble away, but he kept a vice-like grip on me as he leaned forward.
“So tell me Kitten, do you like spankings?”
“Uhhhh, Sir,” I stammered. This situation had gone from zero to get me out of here in no time flat. So much for my speech about not being a prostitute. All this guy took away from it was that while I wasn’t a whore, I must just be a slut.
“Ahhh yes, you learn quickly…”
“Look Mister…I think you have the wrong idea,” I said starting to panic.
Just then, James walked up. “Anastasia, I’ve been looking for you everywhere, darling. Who is your friend? He looks cute.” He said affecting a rather flamboyant pose.
The man quickly looked at James and said “Cute? Kitten, who is this?”
I took advantage of his momentary distraction and slid away from him. I struggled not to laugh and said “Oh, this is my boyfriend, um… Christian. Christian, this is my new friend. I’m sorry, I didn’t get his name.”
“That’s okay darling, we decided on a no-names policy earlier, remember? So, new friend, are you going to come up to our hotel room and play horsey with us? I’m sorry to be so blunt, but moonlight is burning and all that.” James waived a hand in the air while snapping his fingers.
“Uhh, horsey?” the man mumbled.
“Didn’t she tell you? You know, you ride her, I ride you?”
I looked at James with my eyes bulging out of their sockets. I coughed loudly to cover up the hysterical laughter that was trying to escape my lips.
“Um no. I’m not into that shit. I don’t do gay,” the guy spit out bitterly looking at me red faced and angry.
“Oh then it’s a good thing I didn’t waste any time,” James said flippantly. “Come on love, let’
s get moving.” He held out his hand as I slid across the booth as if the devil himself were chasing me.
As I stood, James winked at the man and said, “Pity it didn’t work out. You really are a cutie. Have a good evening,” then he hurried me out of the bar and into the casino.
Neither one of us were walking very steadily at that point, whether from the vast number of alcoholic beverages we’d consumed or the hysterical laughter that threatened to double us over, it was hard to tell--probably a combination of both. We continued stumbling our way through the casino until we burst through the doors leading outside and into the fresh air.
We both took a moment to catch our breath and just looked at each other. “That was fun,” James said.
“Play horsey?” I inquired, the giggles threatening to resurface and overtake me.
“Well I had to say something. It just came to me in the moment.”
“What if he had gone for it though? He did seem to be a bit kinky, James,” I offered.
“Then we would be in a very uncomfortable position right about now,” he said.
I shuddered and walked over to the side of the building and leaned against the wall. I closed my eyes and took in another deep breath. I felt James stand alongside me and do the same.
“Now what should we do, Ana?” he asked.
I felt a little guilty at that point about giving him a fake name. I had come to like this crazy guy. It was too late now to come clean, and chances were I would never see him again so there was really no point to telling him the truth. I decided to just let it ride.
A wave of fatigue hit me at that point. I was suddenly so tired. “What I want to do right now is sleep.”
“Are you staying in the hotel?” he asked.
“No, unfortunately. We drove over here from Havasu. Our hotel is over there. Are you?” I was desperate enough to risk staying in his room for a couple hours. Besides, I’d decided he was harmless enough a couple hours ago.
“No, my friends and I also drove over from the lake.”
“Then let’s go to my car. At least I drove here. We can lay the seats back and get some rest there until everyone else is ready to leave,” I suggested.
“As long as it’s not a Mini-Cooper, I think I can handle that.”
I laughed. “No, Shaq. It’s a Lexus SUV. There’s plenty of room for your massive body.”
We walked to the parking structure and made our way to my car. Once we were safely inside, we eased the seats back and just as I was drifting off, he said “Shouldn’t we let everyone know where we are?”
“Yeah, that would probably be wise.” I fumbled through my purse for my phone as he pulled out his own. I sent Grace a text message letting her know where I was and that everyone should meet me at the car when they were ready to go. James called one of his friends and made arrangements to meet back up in the casino lobby in a few hours. Once those tasks were done and the phones were put away, we both closed our eyes and settled in.
Just as I was floating off to dreamland again, I heard James’ voice drift over to me.
“You sure you’re okay with this, Ana? I could be an axe murderer or something,” he said.
I turned my head toward him and pried open one eye. “Unless you have a very little axe hidden down the leg of your jeans, which I seriously doubt, I think I’m pretty safe from being chopped up tonight.”
“You know what I mean. You don’t really know me.”
“Most attackers don’t warn their victims ahead of time, James. If you’re asking me if I feel safe enough, then the answer is yes, obviously. I’m not really the sort to go off and sleep or do otherwise with men I just met. I’m also not the type to sleep alone in cars in strange parking structures. I figure since you rescued me from the clutches of Dr. Jellyfingers back there, I’m not in any danger. Besides, I do have an axe hidden down the leg of my pants. If you try anything, you’ll lose a hand or two.” Of course, I didn’t really have an axe, but I did have this heavy metal gizmo that had two spikes that fit between my fingers hanging from my key ring, compliments of Justin. All I had to do was hold it in my palm, and it was a very nasty weapon. One punch between the eyes, and he’d be blind. Another punch somewhere else, and he wouldn’t be having children. A few other places, and he’d bleed out quickly. He hadn’t noticed, but it had been curled in my fist since I’d unlocked the doors.
“Okay, then. I just wanted to reassure you in case you felt uncomfortable at all.” I’m just going to rest. I’ll keep an eye out around us. I’m used to operating on little sleep.”
“Thanks, James. I only need an hour or so. Just enough time so I stop seeing double.”
I awoke almost exactly an hour later to James outside the car. It appeared he had his arms over his head and was stretching his back. As he lowered his arms, he reached a hand down his torso and raised his shirt a little to scratch his abdomen as he yawned. I caught a flash of hard, toned muscles dusted by a light sprinkling of blond hair. I closed my eyes and puffed out my cheeks as I exhaled. The effects of the alcohol had lessened but clearly not enough to keep me from thinking lascivious thoughts at just a flash of male flesh. Either that, or it had just been way too long. Vance had been gone for almost three years, and it was a long time before that that we had been able to be intimate. That drought, combined with the alcohol and now this attractive man baring mouthwatering skin in front of me, well I was dry kindling in very close proximity to a lit match. Time to run as fast as my size nines would carry me.
I jumped out of the car and said as brightly as I could, “Wow, that was amazing!” then shook my head as he dropped his shirt and looked at me funny. “The nap?” I said innocently.
“Oh, good. Well your friends haven’t shown up yet so you can still get a few more winks if you want.”
“No, no. Why don’t we go back inside and see if we can find them.” I looked at my watch and saw that it was two o’clock. “We have to meet friends in the morning so I should drag their butts out of here. That way we can get a little more sleep before we meet up with the others.”
“If you’re sure, then let’s go.” He nodded to me.
As we walked back toward the hotel, I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Jessica to find out where they were. She told me to meet them at the buffet in the hotel as Grace was insisting they have breakfast before returning back to the lake.
“I guess I have to go have breakfast before getting on the road,” I said as I looked at James wearily.
He chuckled and slung an arm around my shoulders. “Oh, come on. The fortification will do you good. Have some scrambled eggs, a few cups of coffee, and you’ll be ready to go.”
“The coffee does sound good,” I mumbled.
We walked into the lobby of the hotel and stopped, looking at each other for a moment. I smiled at him thinking of what a good time I’d had in his company despite my initial impression of him. We started speaking at the same time.
“You know Ana, you’re not—.”
“James, you’re—.”
We both started laughing, and I put out my hand. James shook his head and pulled me in for a quick hug. He said, “You’re an alright girl once you warm up, Ana. I had a lot of fun.”
I laughed again and said, “Me? You’re not bad once you stop being an obnoxious prick!”
He chucked me under the chin and said, “Go on. Your friends are waiting. Maybe I’ll see you on the lake.”
I turned and looked at him one last time over my shoulder. “Maybe you will,” I said with a small smile and walked off toward the buffet.
The following morning (although considering it was ten-thirty, it was barely that) met all of us with a bright blast of sunlight through the cheap curtains of the motel. It sure wasn’t a fancy place, just the “no frills” variety that was a clean place to rest for a night. I wasn’t a snob by any stretch, but I was looking forward to spending the night on the boat for the rest of our stay.
There was much groaning from the rest of
the girls, particularly from Grace about her head pounding and her mouth tasting like something had curled up and died in it. This wasn’t shocking since we nearly had to carry her out of the Golden Nugget the night before. I had thought I’d been drunk, but she was far worse off than I’d been. Good thing Jessica and Liz had stayed sober.
Everyone hurried to get ready since we were supposed to meet Jessica’s friends hours before. She called her friend, Zach, the guy who had been in charge of arranging this little get together to see if they had left without us. She had a brief conversation, a look of relief taking over her face as they spoke. She hung up quickly.
“Thank God,” she began. “I woke Zach up with my call. They’re all still asleep. Apparently they had the same idea we did last night, and they were over at the Golden Nugget as well. He said he’d wake everyone up, and we should just come on over whenever we’re ready. We’ll motor out when everyone gets there.”
“Woohoo!” Grace exclaimed. “Now I can grab a shower and not have to go over there smelling like a distillery. She dashed toward the bathroom and within seconds we heard the shower turn on.
I flopped back down on the bed and debated whether or not I should take a shower too. I had taken one the night before, but I also had imbibed my fair share of alcohol. Liz had already grabbed a shower as we were rushing to get ready. I looked at Jessica and asked if she was going to shower again.
“Nah. I plan on jumping in the water as soon as I can, so throwing my hair up into a ponytail is sufficient for me. I’m clean enough from last night’s shower, and I am not on a mission like Grace. I don’t plan on getting close enough to anyone for them to tell the difference.” She raised an arm over her head and sniffed her armpit. “Nope. No deodorant failure. I’m good.”
Fighting Perfection (The Perfection Series Book 2) Page 2