Roll the Dice: Part Two. A Second Chance Romance Novella. (Between the Rescued Series Book 2)

by Lyndsay Marie

  “That was fast,” Kat said. No sooner than she’d said the words, the bartender returned in record time with our drinks. “We don’t get that kinda service back home.”

  “That’s because we don’t have these kinda places back home, either.” Not that I knew of, anyway. Quite frankly I was surprised they’d even let us in the door.

  We sipped and people-watched. If it weren’t for my most recent and unexpected distraction—AKA Daniel—I’d have been all over the opportunities that walked around us.

  Instead, my mind wandered back to him. It always did. I tried hard to fight that shit off too but no matter what I thought about, everything went back to him. I mean, here we were, another Friday night, and I couldn’t help but let curiosity get the best of me and wonder where he was or what or who he was doing. I had my doubts that he’d actually be sitting at home. Deep down, I’d hoped to somehow run into him tonight, but what were the odds? We were in downtown Chicago—he could literally be a million different places.

  “Have you heard anything from Rowan yet?”

  “No, but I haven’t checked, either.” I dug through my purse for my phone and pulled out a random napkin stuck at the bottom. “What the?”

  “What is it? Something wrong?”

  “No. Nothing. Couldn’t find my phone.” I held it up to show her. “Found it.” And a white napkin with Daniel’s name and what I assumed was his phone number written on it. When the hell did he slip that in there?

  “Shit. That is strong,” Kat said, in between sips of her drink. “Can I just say, I, for one, am glad to see you’ve decided to start drinking again. I’ve missed my drinking partner.”

  I shrugged. “Guess I needed to take a break. Really, it was no big deal. I think better when my head is clear. Plus, I don’t find myself sending late-night texts to exes who have no business still having their number in my phone.”

  She raised her glass in a toast. “True that. And speaking of exes, you aren’t talking to Tanner again, are you? Please tell me you’re not.”

  “Not at all. I haven’t heard from him in months, believe it or not.” Tanner and I had started dating more seriously after I got home from Vegas. Things between us weren’t terrible. He was genuinely a nice guy, but that was about as far as things between us went. Our first problem was the poor guy couldn’t give a woman an orgasm if you boxed it up and tied it up with a bow. Our second problem? He’d apparently been a virgin, and he’d let me defile him. After several unsuccessful romps in the sack, he’d finally admitted his little secret. Shit was all downhill from there. I’d stuck that one out for as long as I could, but I’d run out of excuses to not sleep with him anymore, and nice only goes so far.

  “Good. Maybe he finally moved on. What a clusterfuck that one was.”

  “Hey! You’re one to talk about cluster-fucks and moving on. What’s Justin up to these days?”

  “For your information,” she said with all the confidence she had within her as she sat up tall and poised, “I wouldn’t know.”

  “Oh really? How long has it been this time? One week? Two months?”

  Her posture deflated. “Twelve days.”

  “Ha! I knew it. What was it this time?”

  “I wanted to come on this trip and not be bombarded with phone calls and text messages and emails, all checking in, asking me what I was doing, who I was with, or when I was going not be out and about. In case you didn’t know, it’s a hell of a lot of work to keep up with all that. Not to mention mentally exhausting for me to listen to it all.”

  “Considering y’all have been doing this back-and-forth shit for well over, what, four years? I’m glad you chose now to take a break. Are you happy with your decision?”

  She smiled a soft, genuine smile. “I am. It feels good this time. Like, it was the right thing to do, ya know?”

  Boy, did I ever. “Yeah, I do. But for how long?”

  She stared down at her glass. “I don’t know. Hopefully ever.”

  We both knew better.

  I finished off my second strong cocktail and ordered a third. As I drank this one down a little faster than the one before it, a familiar flush of warmth coursed through my veins, and it was just enough to give me a jolt of courage I needed to finally tap out a text to Daniel.

  No sooner than I’d hit Send, two random guys popped up from seemingly out of nowhere, flanking Kat and me on either side, squishing us together.

  “Ladies,” one of them said. “Good evening. Or good night. Depending.”

  The other dude leaned on the bar, taking up Kat’s personal space. “Sup.”

  “Hi,” she said back with a look of disgust on her face. He was close enough she had probably smelled his breath.

  “Hey” was all I could muster under my breath.

  Okay, so out of every possible swinging dick this place had to offer, we get approached by these two douchebags, with their slicked-back hair and tufts of chest hair poking through the collar of their shirts? I’d definitely lost my touch if this were how things were going to be going for me, that or Chicago had a hell of a lot less to offer than I’d thought.

  The guy beside me nodded at my half-empty martini glass. He had to be at least twice my age. “What’re you drinking there, sweetheart? Can I get you another one?”

  I looked down at my drink, shielding the top with my hand. “Cosmo,” I replied in the flattest tone possibly. Even in my most desperate hour, I’d have never gone for this dude or his drinks. He reeked of used-car salesman and cheap cologne. I was willing to bet the bouncer doubled his entry fee.

  “You two ladies here alone? ‘Cause, uh, I don’t see no one else around.” Kat shifted uncomfortably in her seat, scooting closer to me as the guy talked, probably spraying spittle into her drink.

  “For now,” Kat said. “We’re meeting someone.”

  The guy beside me reached up, grabbing a lock of my hair, and twirling it between his fingers. “You sure? You two been sitting here a while by yourselves. If your friend doesn’t show up, you two are welcome to leave with us.”

  My glass trembled under my hand. Kat and I were closed in and had nowhere to go. Worst case, I’d scream for the bartender, but I didn’t have to. A third deep—but familiar voice—sounded behind me.

  “Ladies. Sorry I’m late.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  DANIEL

  To say this was the longest it had ever taken me to get laid by one single female would be the understatement of my life, possibly this century. Then again, I never usually pursued a woman for this long, or made this many attempts. But damn, I wanted Chloe, and ever since our little encounter at rehearsal lunch, I would stop at damn near nothing to have her.

  “So, what made you change your mind about coming out tonight? I half expected you to bail on me again.”

  Warren and I sat in our usual spot in the middle of what had once, not so very long ago, been my favorite go-to place for everything I needed. Unfortunately, or maybe it was a blessing in disguise, but this shit was all very quickly turning into a thing of the past. “I wouldn’t say I changed my mind.”

  “Ah, so you weren’t going to ghost on me again tonight? I really thought you were.”

  “Oh, no, I still plan on it. I’m just here for a drink or two, then I’m bouncing out.”

  “Where do you plan on going from here? Home?” He leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees. “Because I distinctly remember a time not very long ago when you were the one who had to convince me to get out of my apartment; now here I am trying to get you to stay up past ten? What gives?”

  I knew damned well what my problem was, and she’d spent the past week just out of arm’s reach, which drove me abso-fucking-lutely insane. “Just things,” I said in a casual tone, trying to avoid eye contact with him, along with any more questioning.

  “Christ. Even I couldn’t have come up with a more lame excuse than that.” He sat back and casually kicked his feet up on the wooden coffee table between us. “Well,
what or whoever it is that’s got you in this fog, I can’t say I’m fully against it.”

  “What? Why?”

  “This,” he said, waving his hand dismissively around the room, “is honestly getting old, or hell, maybe I’m the one getting old.”

  “Wait a minute”—I put my hand up—"aren’t you the one who not thirty seconds ago was giving me shit for bailing on you last week? Now you’re telling me you want to call it an early night?”

  “I said it was getting old, not that I wanted it to end, necessarily. But coming here on a regular basis has made it difficult for me to get any real work done. Plus I really just enjoy giving you shit.”

  His admission to essentially not being able to keep up with me made me laugh. He’d barely started coming out with me on a regular basis a few months ago. Now he was ready to throw in the towel? “Fucker. I told you. And Wes told you. Hell, I’m pretty sure Rowan warned you. It ain’t easy being me, that’s for damned sure. But I’m impressed you’ve held out this long. Most wingmen would have quit by now.”

  Our waitress approached us with our fresh drinks before Warren had a chance to come back with some smart-ass response.

  I relaxed back into the leather sofa, mirroring Warren, refill in hand, and absorbed my surroundings of a place that had become like a second home for me. Odd as it was, it did bring a certain comfort to me.

  Then, as if the gates of heaven had opened themselves up and sent me my own personal angel, I spotted Chloe from across the room—well, I saw Katie, first, towering over Chloe by almost a foot. But there was no mistaking Chloe. As soon as I’d laid my eyes on her, she was all I could see anymore.

  What in the hell were they doing here?

  I watched them as they looked around the room before deciding to settle in at the bar. It didn’t seem like they were looking for anyone in particular because I knew damned well that them being here was sheer coincidence. And a very happy one, at that.

  As I kept an eagle eye on Chloe, another familiar face broke into my line of sight, blocking my view, heading straight toward me.

  You’ve got to be shitting me.

  She was the last person I wanted to see, and the longer shit went on with her, the more I’d come to realize just how bad my decision to hook up with her to begin with had been. The hard-to-get game was fun in the beginning. I mean, what man wouldn’t want some curvaceous, Puerto Rican princess chasing after his dick? My problem was now, she would not take no for an answer, and her pursuit had become relentless. Now this shit was just getting on my nerves. And after my chat with Rowan, I knew this had to end tonight.

  Warren laughed, failing miserably at trying to hide behind his glass of scotch, as Camilla approached us.

  “Gentlemen. It’s good to see you two out.”

  “Considering we’re here almost every week,” I said, “that shouldn’t surprise you.” Camilla had known exactly where, when, and how to find me. Hell, she’d practically made a habit of making her presence known at this point.

  She had a cocky grin on her face as she turned to look directly at me. “And where is your girlfriend, Daniel?”

  “I wouldn’t know. I don’t have one.”

  “Interesting. She must not be putting out for you, yet.”

  Her emphasis on the word yet really irritated at me; hell, she irritated me. “I’m curious, Camilla, at what point are you going to stand down from this and move on? Because I—.”

  She cut me off. “You mean to bigger and better?” Then she rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink.

  Warren sat quietly with his own drink in hand, seemingly minding his own business, but his raised eyebrow let me know damned good and well he’d been listening to every word of this conversation.

  “Good luck with that.”

  “Don’t flatter yourself. And who said I was even here for you?”

  “Touché.” It was time to shut this shit down. “Hey, you know, Camilla, I read somewhere that orgasms were good for your health.”

  She cocked her head to the side. “Is that so?”

  “Yeah, so if I ever tell you to go fuck yourself, it’s only because I care about your well-being.”

  Warren sat up, practically spitting out his drink. He started to stand and looked like he was going to make a beeline for the door. No way, buddy. You’re not going anywhere. I stood up before he did and took a dramatic bow.

  Warren stopped mid-stance, stunned. “Where are you going?”

  I smiled at him. “If you need me, I’ll be at the bar.” I walked away, leaving him to his own defense with Camilla.

  I didn’t give a fuck at this point if anyone knew where I was going or who I was going after. I knew what I wanted, and I was going to get it.

  I pushed past Camilla, and as I approached the bar, the two guys I’d noticed earlier had made their way to Chloe and Katie.

  “No fucking way. Not tonight.” I walked up behind Chloe and placed both my hands on her shoulders. She jumped in her seat. “It’s just me,” I whispered in her ear. “Ladies, sorry I’m late.”

  The two guys looked me up and down, grumbled some shit under their breath, grabbed their drinks, and walked off without another word. Thank fuck because I knew damned well there was no way I could take them both on by myself.

  I leaned against the bar beside Chloe. She looked terrified and relieved at the same time. “What are you two doing here? Did Wesley put you up to this?”

  They looked at each other, then back at me. “Wesley? No. Why?”

  “Just a hunch.”

  Chloe looked around me. “Are you here alone?”

  “No. Warren is here.” I nodded toward the middle of the room. “He’s just on the other side of that half wall. I’m sure he’d enjoy some company.”

  “Oh! Okay, well, let me tab out. We’ll go over there.”

  Chloe went to pull out her wallet. I grabbed her wrist to stop her. “I didn’t mean all of us.” I looked up at her friend then back at her. “I was talking about Katie.”

  Katie jerked her head up. “What? Me?”

  “Oooh,” Chloe said. “Yeah, Kat, go see what Warren is doing. We’ll be right here.”

  “I got your tab. I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you,” I told Katie, reassuring her, giving her a little nudge to go see him for a while so I could have Chloe alone.

  After a few seconds of internal debate and a wordless exchange with Chloe, Katie grabbed her things without any objection and made her way to Warren. Hopefully by the time she got to him, Camilla would be gone. Then again, maybe that’s what his ass needed, to be put into an awkward situation. Let him sort it out on his own. The thought was amusing.

  Chloe watched as her friend disappeared to the other side of the partitioning wall that Warren was sitting behind. “Well, that explains why I didn’t see y’all when we walked in…not that I was looking for you or anything.”

  I grabbed the empty leather chair behind me, scooted it as close to Chloe as I could, and sat down. “Doesn’t matter, I saw you.”

  “And you’ve just been watching me this whole time?”

  “Maybe. So how did you find this place? It’s a little out of the way from where you guys are staying.”

  “Google. We needed to get out and do something not wedding related. Kat found it.”

  “Interesting. Well, I’m sorry about those two dicks. Those kind of people don’t usually get let in.”

  “It’s fine. We handled it.”

  “I have no doubt in my mind you could have. Want me to leave?” I acted like I was going to get up and go.

  She grabbed my arm in a death grip. “No. Stay. Please. I’m really glad you’re here.”

  I sat back down. “Me too. I wasn’t really going to leave you. It’s taken me a long time to get you to myself. I’ll take every moment I can get at this point, I’m noy gonna chance it.”

  She smiled timidly, and I loved that she seemed to still feel shy around me. “Thank you for that, not leaving me, I mean.”<
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  We sat for a while in comfortable silence, except for the low humming of chatter around the room and instrumental background music.

  “So, I guess you’re officially ditching your friend for me, or do you plan on getting back to your regularly scheduled program?”

  It pained me that Chloe would even think I would abandon her for whatever the hell it was she thought I’d rather be doing. “He’ll be just fine on his own.” I brushed a stray curl out of her face. “I’d much rather be sitting here than anything else I could be doing.”

  She looked genuinely surprised by my admission. “How come? Not up for it?”

  You have no idea. “No, not at all. And I planned on bailing early again tonight, then you showed up.”

  “Why would you leave early? You didn’t even know I was going to be here.”

  “Honestly? I needed some form of confirmation for myself that whatever this is that’s been happening lately is real.” I took her hand in mine. “That this certain someone who has kept me distracted and questioning my life’s goals isn’t just all in my head.” For the most part, I knew it wasn’t, but I wanted lay it all out there and hopefully hear her take on it.

  She sat quietly for a minute, letting my words sink in. “But—wait, what? Are you talking about me?”

  Well, here goes nothing. “Chloe, ever since I left you in Vegas, it’s been life as usual for me for the most part. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my moments here and there where I thought things were going to go back to normal. But I’ve spent more time wondering if I’d ever see you again, even though I doubted I would. But you’re here with me now by some crazy act of the universe. That has to mean something. Don’t you think?”

  “Well—I—yeah, I do. I mean, you’re not the only one who’s thought about us or this or whatever it is. But how would anything ever work between us? We practically live two worlds apart.”

  I laughed quietly to myself as I stared down at her hand still in mine. She wasn’t entirely wrong. “I didn’t say I wanted to marry you again, Chloe. I just know how we are when we’re together and how much more amazing we could be if we ever get the chance. But when you leave here next week, we can keep in touch even if it’s only by text and see how it goes…or not at all if that’s what you want.”