Damian

by Jessica Wood

  What the fuck am I doing? Why am I kicking two naked girls out of my place when my dick is still hard?

  “Let me ask you girls something.” I wasn’t sure why, but the thought popped into my head and I wanted to see what these girls would say.

  “Yes?” they asked as they waited anxiously to hear my question.

  “If you had all the money in the world and money wasn’t an issue, what would you do?”

  Both girls frowned and looked at each other, probably wondering if this was a trick question.

  “No, it’s not a trick question. I’m just curious what your passions are. What would you do with all your free time if you didn’t have any responsibilities?”

  There was a long pause.

  Finally the blonde giggled and I turned to her expectantly. “I’d live in a mansion and have a huge walk-in closet full of high-end designer clothes. Oh, and another walk-in closet full of designer shoes.” There was a dreamy gleam in the blonde’s eyes as she pictured herself in that imaginary mansion.

  “Shit, that would be amazing!” the brunette gasped. “Oh, I’d want something similar, and also I’d want my own maid and driver to take me anywhere I want.”

  “Oh, and I’d get some plastic surgery,” said the blonde excitedly.

  The brunette turned to her friend. “For what?” she asked, genuinely curious.

  “To get these freckles removed from my face—I hate them.”

  My eyes darted to the blonde’s freckles. To me, they were one of my favorite features on her face. She was a beautiful girl, but the freckles added a softness to her beauty and made her look cute and sweet.

  “Yeah, I’d probably get some work done too,” the brunette said encouragingly.

  I looked at the two girls and felt annoyed. I didn’t know why, but I wanted them to put their clothes back on and leave my apartment. Plus, my hangover seemed to have gotten worse since they’d started yapping.

  “Can you guys get back home okay or do you need me to call you a cab?”

  They looked disappointed.

  “Are you sure?” asked the brunette.

  “Yeah, I have a shitload of stuff to do for the bar today, so I can’t stick around,” I lied. “If you need a cab, I’m happy to pay for it.” I wanted them gone and my impatience was building.

  “Um, I actually drove, so I think we’re okay,” the blonde admitted.

  “Cool. Glad to hear.” My voice was curt and I hoped they got the point. “Thanks for a fun night, ladies,” I said as I led them out of my front door. “See you around.”

  Before they could say another word, I closed the door behind them. I groaned and walked over to the bathroom. I opened the medicine cabinet and popped two aspirins in my mouth. Then I sank back into my bed and tried to fall back to sleep.

  But I couldn’t sleep.

  As hard as I pushed the thoughts of her from my mind, all I could think about was Alexis.

  ***

  It was 9:10 p.m. on a Thursday night and two hours into my shift. I had just made three gin and tonics for a group of girls at the bar when I saw a ridiculously hot redhead walking towards me. Definitely a 9, I thought. Also, she looks familiar.

  She leaned across the bar and seductively whispered into my ear. “Hey Damian.” I saw her full breasts heave as I felt her hot breath against my face.

  “What’s up, beautiful?” I caught a scent of her floral perfume. She sat down on the bar stool in front of me. I looked at her and gave her the signature Damian smile.

  “Have we fucked before?” I asked. I saw the hurt look on her face, but she quickly played it off.

  Yes, we must have fucked before.

  “Uh—No. No, we haven’t,” she said, avoiding my eyes.

  Liar, I thought.

  “So what can I get you?” I asked as I grabbed a clean glass from under the bar.

  “A Screaming Orgasm,” she said seductively as she licked her lips.

  I smiled and knew very well she was not just referring to the cocktail.

  “I want it in a shot glass, and I want it Damian style.” She bit her lower lip and gave my body a once-over.

  I chuckled. Of course. A Damian style shot was something I had came up with when I opened Damian’s. It had became an instant hit. It involved taking the shot you ordered as a body shot off the bartender you ordered the shot from. I got a lot of business from the Damian style shot, and I loved having girls take shots off my body.

  “My name’s Courtney, by the way,” she offered. I wondered if she had been waiting for me to ask.

  “Gotcha. So where’d you like the shot from?” I asked as I made the shot.

  She gave me a meaningful smile and bit her lower lip. “From your mouth.”

  “Sure thing.” I turned away from her and leaned my head back until my head and shoulders were flat against the bar table. I then placed the bottom of the shot glass into my mouth and waited for her to take it.

  She looked down at me with lust in her eyes, and I knew I must have fucked her hard. And now she was coming back for more. She purposefully placed her hands on my chest as she bent down to take the shot with her mouth. She knocked the shot back quickly and removed the shot glass from her mouth. She then grabbed my face as she bent back down and kissed me hard with her lips. This usually happened after a Damian special shot off my mouth, so I was not at all surprised by her aggressiveness. I opened my mouth and her tongue eagerly explored me as moans escaped her lips.

  When Courtney finally went up for air and released me from her grip, I stood back up and turned back to her to give her a wicked smile. I love my job.

  And then my entire body tensed and my heart stopped when my eyes locked onto the last person I had expected to see.

  Alexis.

  There she was, just a few feet away, with a surprised expression on her face.

  Shit! Had she been standing there the entire time, watching me as this redhead’s tongue went deep down my mouth? Watching me as I kissed her back?

  I cleared my throat and smiled at Alexis.

  “Hey, you.” I knew her name, but for some reason, I’d resisted saying it. It seemed too intimate, and a part of me didn’t want her to know I still remembered her. That just wasn’t like me.

  “Hi,” she responded softly. I saw her eyes dart to the redhead next to me. To my surprise, her face remained emotionless, and I found myself annoyed by her response.

  Does she not care that I was just making out with someone else?

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Alexis

  “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU LIVE RIGHT here!” exclaimed Kelly as she, Jen, and I got out of the cab in front of Damian’s. “This is one of the hottest new bars in the city!”

  I giggled, my mind slightly dazed from the copious amounts of wine Kelly had convinced us to drink at dinner. “Yeah,” I said with a smile. “But I actually had no idea, so that wasn’t the reason I picked this place.”

  “Well you fucking lucked out, girl,” she said with a laugh. Jen nodded in agreement. Kelly and Jen were two of the other legal assistants at Jackson & Wittman, LLP. Kelly had trained me during my first week and we’d hit it off immediately. She was in her mid-20s, and a little under five feet. But for someone that tiny, she had a loud and boisterous personality that was difficult to ignore or forget. I knew the minute we’d started talking my first day at the firm that we’d be good friends. I loved her no-bullshit personality and welcomed her bluntness. I didn’t know Jen very well, but Kelly and Jen were best work friends, and I knew I wanted to get to know her as well. We’d had a work event earlier this evening at Wine & Wall, an upscale wine bar in the Financial District, and afterward, Kelly wanted to go to a “real bar,” as she’d put it. She suggested Damian’s because she had been dying to go for the longest time.

  I laughed at Kelly’s comment, though on the inside, even through the happy buzz from dinner, I wasn’t so sure I would say I had lucked out. It had been over two weeks since I’d seen him. And truth be told,
I had been avoiding him ever since I’d turned down his invitation to be one of his casual female friends. So when Kelly suggested heading over to Damian’s during dinner, I had already tried to think of an excuse to get out of going. But after several bottles of wine among the three of us, by nine p.m., going to Damian’s hadn’t seemed like a bad idea after all.

  The DJ was blasting the latest Katy Perry song when we walked through the double doors of Damian’s. And even in the packed crowd of people around us, I saw him the second we walked into the bar. It was almost as if there were a magnetic pull between us, and my eyes zoned in on him whenever he was near.

  He was talking to a drop-dead gorgeous redhead, and I could tell from her body language that she was flirting with him.

  “Okay, girls. First round’s on me,” Kelly said excitedly as we looked around. As we crossed the room toward the bar, my eyes never left Damian. To both my relief and disappointment, he hadn’t seen me as we approached the bar.

  “How about a round of Mind Eraser shots?” suggested Kelly.

  “Sure,” I agreed absentmindedly.

  “God, these bartenders are all hot!” exclaimed Jen.

  I didn’t respond. Not because I didn’t agree, but because I didn’t even hear her. I was in utter shock, at both what I saw a few feet away where Damian stood and how my insides were reacting to what was happening. The hot redhead had just taken a shot from Damian’s mouth, and I watched with a mixture of jealousy and despair as the she then shoved her tongue deep down Damian’s throat. The worst part was, he began to kiss her back. I felt my stomach twist uncomfortably as I watched their passionate kiss. When they broke away from each other, Damian was smiling at the girl and I knew he had enjoyed it.

  Then, without warning, he looked over at me from behind the bar, as if he knew someone had been watching him. The smile and lust in his eyes disappeared the moment he saw me, and for a second, we both seemed to freeze as we stared at each other like deer caught in the headlights.

  “Shit, he’s hot,” Jen whispered from behind me, breaking my moment of paralysis.

  Damian blinked and his surprised expression completely disappeared. He cleared his throat and smiled at me. It was his signature I-know-I’m-fucking-hot smile, and I couldn’t help but fall for it like every other girl around me near the bar.

  “Hey, you,” he said to me. I flinched at his words. Does he not remember my name?

  “Hi,” I said flatly. I refused to let him know that his words had upset me.

  He looked at me for a second without saying another word, and the awkward silence seemed to grow and become dense between us. I saw the confusion in his eyes and wondered what he was thinking.

  I didn’t have to wonder about that for long, because he finally looked away as the redhead pulled his face into hers for another kiss. I felt a stab of pain in my chest as I saw him grab the nape of her neck to kiss her back.

  As much as I wanted to look away, I couldn’t seem to pull my eyes off of them. It was almost like driving past a horrible car wreck—you know you won’t be happy with what you will see, but you can’t help yourself from slowing down and looking to see what happened.

  Then, to my utter surprise, I saw the redhead move her hand down his chest, under his shirt, and then into his pants. I felt my body radiate with irritation and shock at her boldness. What made it worse was that Damian made no efforts to stop her. Instead, he smiled seductively at her and slowly closed his eyes in pleasure.

  “Damn, I love this bar,” came a voice from behind me. I turned around and saw Kelly as she handed me and Jen our shots.

  I feigned a laugh.

  “Cheers, girls,” Jen said as we raised our shot glasses.

  I downed my Mind Eraser and hoped it would do just that—erase my thoughts of him.

  “Wow, I wish I was that redhead right now,” Kelly exclaimed. I didn’t have to follow her gaze to know who she was talking about. But much like that car accident, I couldn’t help but to turn around and look over at the redhead, who was still talking to Damian.

  He then shot a glance at me and smiled again. I felt my heart respond by skipping a beat, and a part of me hated my body for betraying me and giving in to him like that.

  “Hey, let’s go dance,” I suggested. I needed to get away from the bar area.

  “But I think that guy was looking at you,” said Kelly.

  “Oh I doubt it,” I said dismissively.

  “No, he totally was,” Jen agreed. “That was the second time he’s looked over at you, Alexis.”

  “Yup, he was totally eye-fucking you, girl!” Kelly exclaimed.

  I laughed. “What? What does that even mean?”

  “It means that he was staring at you so hard that he may as well have been inside you,” Jen explained.

  “He probably wants to be inside every girl,” I said with a snort. But I couldn’t help but blush at her words and was thankful that I could blame my flushed cheeks on the alcohol.

  “I know that look.” Kelly looked at me suspiciously. “What haven’t you told us? Did you have something with him?”

  “No!” I said immediately.

  “Then what? I’m with Kelly. There’s something going on between you two!” Jen squealed.

  “I …” I looked over at Damian again and the two girls followed my gaze.

  Then I turned back to the girls, who both looked at me expectantly.

  “It’s really nothing. We just had a brief encounter when I first moved in, but I haven’t seen him in weeks. He doesn’t even remember my name.”

  “Oh shut up. Don’t think like that,” Kelly barked. “Hey, that redhead just got up. Looks like she’s about to leave. Let’s go over.”

  I looked over again at Damian’s direction.

  “Call me,” I heard the redhead say to Damian with a wink as she slipped him a piece of paper. She finished her cocktail and slowly pulled out a knotted cherry stem from her mouth, giving it a flirtatious flick with her tongue. “I told you I can double-knot it.” She pursed her lips seductively as she dropped the stem into the empty cocktail glass.

  “Slut,” Kelly hissed under her breath.

  Damian looked down at the cherry stem and raised an eyebrow. He looked up, gave the redhead a smoldering look, and smiled. “I had no doubt,” he said seductively.

  I looked around and noticed that we weren’t the only girls who were seeing this. I noticed that all the girls near the bar were gazing lustfully at Damian. I felt a rush of anger flood through me, and I wasn’t sure why I was so upset.

  To my surprise, when the redhead turned to leave, Damian looked directly at me and smiled. And immediately, my anger disappeared. I hated myself again for allowing him to affect me so easily.

  “Hey, beautiful. What can I get for you and your friends?” I felt Kelly nudge me hard from behind, motioning me to move closer towards him.

  “Hi,” I said and avoided his gaze. There was so much I wanted to say to him, but I knew I shouldn’t. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He was single and free to do whatever and whomever he wanted. And it was I who chose not to be a part of that.

  “Sex on the Beach?”

  I immediately looked up at him. “You remembered?” I was surprised that he’d remembered my favorite drink.

  There was a split-second pause before he said, “Lucky guess.” He flashed me a smile.

  “Oh.” I felt a little disappointed, but I didn’t let it show. “Yes, that would be great.” Then I turned to Kelly and Jen, who were both staring at Damian in silent awe. “What do you guys want? I’ll take care of this round.”

  “Captain Morgan and Coke,” Kelly said.

  “Vodka tonic,” Jen said.

  “Coming right up, ladies,” Damian said. He then leaned across the bar toward me. I thought he was about to kiss my cheek, but he didn’t. Instead, he whispered in my ear, “Have you missed me?”

  I was stunned by his words and the rasp of his voice. The heat of his breath against my ear sent shi
vers down my body.

  I turned to look at him and he gave me a wink. “Because I’ve missed you, beautiful.” With that, he leaned back and walked off to make our drinks.

  “What did he say?” Kelly and Jen asked as soon as he was out of earshot.

  “Uh…he asked if I missed him,” I admitted, still unable to process his words. Something stopped me from telling them what he had said next.

  “Ohmygod, he’s totally interested!” Jen shrieked with delight.

  “He’s just a cocky player, guys,” I tried to say convincingly. But even I was not convinced. As much as I had tried to resist it, I felt a flood of joy course through me at the idea that he was interested in me.

  “Oh come on. He didn’t say a thing to us! He is definitely interested!” Kelly reassured.

  “I think he just wants to sleep around.”

  “And what’s so wrong with that?” Kelly asked as she looked over at Damian. “I would do anything he wanted with me if I were you.”

  Maybe she’s right, a part of me thought. But then I realized that I wouldn’t be happy with just that. I wasn’t sure I could let Damian have his way with me and nothing else.

  “I just don’t know that it would be a good idea,” I said honestly.

  “Girl, just take it day by day. See what happens. What do you have to lose?” Jen asked.

  My heart.

  Before I could respond, Damian returned with our drinks.

  “Hey, Alexis. Jill and I are going to go dance for a bit,” Kelly said. Then she leaned toward my ear and whispered, “Stay and talk to him.”

  Before I could protest, they had grabbed their drinks and left me alone with Damian, who was looking at me with amusement.

  “So I saw you watching me earlier,” he said with a sinful smile.

  I knew what he was talking about, but I didn’t want him to know that. I frowned and cocked my head to the side. “What are you talking about?”

  “Oh, don’t be coy with me,” he teased.

  I rolled my eyes and handed him my credit card for the drinks.

  He laughed and walked over to the cash register to ring me up. I sipped my drink as I watched his every movement. As the wine and the Mind Eraser shot worked their way through my system, everything seemed to slow down and the voices around us disappeared into the background as my entire being—my eyes, my thoughts, and every inch of my body—was transfixed by him.