I tried one of their smiles as the shadow man continued to look at me. It was all in the game, Monica had slurred earlier. Everything about the dating scene, according to her, and at our age, also according to her, was about how well people played the game. From flirting, to initial contact, to dating.
It was like watching some strange movie as I drank with them. It wasn’t like the college parties or the nights out that I was used to and that had a lot to do with the friends I’d socialized with at college. This was a whole new territory. I was trying to loosen up and have fun their way, it just didn’t quite fit with me for some reason.
When he crooked his finger at me, I was suddenly glad I wore the dress that was two sizes too small, and let them convince me to put on more makeup.
He was, in a very inadequate way of defining him, beautiful. Like the boy next door meets the bad boy. Something about him intrigued me. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was that pulled me toward him, but he had a natural charismatic sexual attraction that shamed every man I’d ever met. He exuded self confidence in the stare he gave me, as if my compliance was already a foregone conclusion.
“Of course, sure,” I responded, trying to sound more like Monica than myself. It seemed to work for her though, and I really was trying to do this whole flirting like crazy thing.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“What’s yours?” I retorted.
“Mick. Your name?”
“Samantha,” I lied, not comfortable with giving him my real one if the girls and I were going to move on eventually. I glanced at Monica and saw her tongue halfway down the man’s throat beside us.
Mick looked amused for a moment when I turned my focus back to him. “Samantha. So, what’s your name tomorrow?”
“What?” I asked, confused.
“Is it a different name every day or just every night you go out drinking?”
I shot him a dirty look and grimaced. The man had good instincts. “That obvious? It could be Breanna the next time I’m drinking. You never know.”
He chuckled. A deep throaty sound that I liked hearing.
“Yeah, it’s obvious. So, we’ll try this again, what’s your name?”
“Alisa,” I replied.
His eyes swept over my face without a reaction then he motioned toward the bar. “Let’s go get a drink, Alisa. Mine’s out.”
When he stood up, the difference in our height became obvious. He towered over me and his body looked even bigger. He was wearing a shirt that fit over the contours of his muscles. In comparison to his companions it was evident that he wasn’t a weight lifter, but was still as intimidating with a body that took diligence to shape.
He turned me around by my hip and pointed me in the direction of the bar. Weaving through the crowd, his hand on the small of my back directed me where to go. He brushed against me several times and I felt cocooned in his overwhelming presence. People moved, or he moved people. Women stared openly, men noted him and frowned.
A man stepped in front of me and smirked as he examined my dress, before he was forcibly shoved to the side by Mick’s large hand.
“Fucker,” he growled over my shoulder.
The bartender put a shot in front of us as soon as we arrived. Mick cornered me in by placing two hands on the bar on either side of me. He drank the shot immediately then ordered a whiskey on the rocks.
“What are you having, Alisa?” he asked as his mouth brushed over the side of my neck. “Shots? Beer? You look like a mixed drink kind of girl.”
I hesitated for a moment. I'd already done more shots than I felt comfortable with, giving me more than a buzz, but I wasn't quite drunk yet.
“I think a water,” I murmured.
“That’s no fun,” he replied against my ear. I could smell the liquor on his breath and feel the warmth of his body against me. “Hanging with those girls I thought you’d like something else. Unless you’re done for the night.”
It annoyed me that he sounded challenging about it. As if I was someone less for not wanting more.
I squared my shoulders trying to look more confident than I felt. “I...okay, a shot. One. What did you have?”
Mick tapped the bar and the man behind the counter put a shot in front of us. He glanced at me when I took it then slid his gaze to Mick.
Turning my face toward him with his rough hand, I raised the glass to my lips. He gave me a curious look, then tugged on my chin until my mouth opened.
“Hmm,” he said as he looked at my open mouth. “Gotta take it all. That’s a serious shot of fire you’re about to have. A drink your friends might want, but I’m thinking you can’t take it.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You don’t know anything about me, Mick.”
“Okay,” he replied. “Do it then.”
I swallowed the shot while glaring at him. It burned a rebellious and fiery path down my throat, making every inch of my chest want to scream.
Sputtering at him, he smiled and dipped his head to brush his lips against mine, before his tongue swept across my bottom lip.
“Another?” he asked, when he leaned back. Amused, no doubt, by my grimace as the alcohol still burned in my throat.
I shook my head. “Water.”
He smirked after he licked his bottom lip. “Good girl.”
He ordered a water and started maneuvering me back toward the table again. But before reaching it, he guided me to a dark booth in the corner. My cousin and her friends were still within sight, but the darkness of the corner embraced us, making our presence less evident. He sat down, put his drink on the table and lounged back.
I remained standing, torn between joining him and wading through the crowd to join my companions again. They were still enjoying whatever games they were playing with his two friends. Laughing, touching, flirting. In some ways, I envied their ability to play without consequence.
“Alisa, come sit.”
I glanced at Mick. He patted his lap as a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
I wasn’t sure about this suddenly. A stranger, in a dark corner with friends who hadn’t noted my absence. Scanning the crowd, I knew if I screamed, someone would hear me.
“Don’t think about it. Just sit,” he said while patting his lap again.
Whether it was the alcohol or my own desire to walk on a little wilder side, I couldn’t guess as I slid into the dark booth with him and onto his lap.
He adjusted my hips, then leaned back again watching the dance floor like it didn’t matter that I was there at all.
Eventually, I loosened up and relaxed in my position. He snaked a hand around my waist and drew me closer to him. I could feel the warmth of his breath against my neck as we sat there for a moment or two.
“What are you doing here?” he asked eventually.
“What?” I shifted nervously on his lap. “You told me to sit here.”
“I did. That’s not what I’m asking. Why are you here in this bar?”
I gestured toward my cousin. “They wanted to come. It was supposed to be a welcome home thing and I didn’t want to celebrate it at home.”
“You don’t belong here, Alisa,” he replied.
I stiffened, and he pulled me back in. “I belong anywhere I want. I have just as much right to be here as they do. You’re kind of a jerk.”
He rubbed his hand absently down my thigh then back up to the hem of my skirt that had ridden up with my position in his lap.
“I’m not saying you can’t be here. Just that you shouldn’t be here. And especially not with them.”
I glanced at the girls again. “They’re fine. They just like to drink way too much.”
He chuckled. “Pretty girl, you’re the type of woman that’s going to end up on a missing person's flyer.”
I jerked this time and he still held me in place. The darkness around us seemed dangerous suddenly with his words. I could see that he not only meant what he said, but he had the capability to make it happen. Of all
the men in the bar, it felt like he alone was the most dangerous man among them. It was in his eyes, from the calculating look he gave people, to the expression on his face. Feeling uncomfortable, I began to rise from his lap.
“Settle down, Alisa. I’m not the one that’s going to put you on it. Look at those girls with my brother. What do you see?”
Following his line of sight, I stared at the other girls. I assumed he meant the big guy that bore a resemblance to him when he mentioned his brother. My cousin was in his lap kissing his neck while her friend ran her hands over the man’s chest. It was indecent and yet not anything that the other people around them weren’t doing. Grinding, laughing, kissing.
“They’re kissing him.”
His lips brushed against my neck and my breathing increased. “He’s fingering one of them and he'll eventually take one or both of them home. They’re different than you. He'll fuck them until he breaks them, and they’ll do what he wants. Afterward, they’ll leave when he kicks them out. And maybe not tomorrow, but eventually, they’ll think back with regret and embarrassment about tonight. They won’t be able to look at each other, won’t talk about what they did to each other while he watched. They’ll get married, have families and sit in church on Sunday convincing themselves that they’ve repented. But tonight, they won’t care.”
I clenched my teeth, angry at his words and yet believing every screwed-up thing he said.
“You don’t know that. They play games. That’s all it is. You seem pretty judgmental of people without actually knowing anything. You were sure I wouldn’t do that shot and look what happened.”
He laughed against the skin of my neck, sending tingles up my spine as he held me tight.
“What I know is that you’re sitting in a dark booth with a man that you shouldn’t even be talking to, much less breathing the same air with. You’re making me hard every time you move, and I’m having fantasies of you sucking me off under the table. My cum dripping down the back of your throat like that shot you just took. You think one of them would blink if I told them to do it? You don’t know me, and you shouldn’t be here. But you are.”
I shivered again listening to him. Desperate to get away and yet drawn to what he was telling me. His words felt abrasive, but snaked their way into the darkest parts of my desire. He was warning me, telling me with every word that I was making a mistake, and yet I made no move to escape as his hand kept brushing against the hem of my skirt.
I swallowed hard and he chuckled. “Maybe I should leave.”
“You should. But you’re not going back over there. Do you see why I said you don’t belong here?”
My gaze slid from the activity in his brother’s booth. He was right about a few things, they probably wouldn’t have denied him if he asked. Mick was gorgeous with a blatant sex appeal that he exuded just by breathing. But despite my curiosity and envy of their wildness, I’d never do anything like that.
I wondered what would have happened if the girls had gravitated toward him rather than his brother. Would he have taken them up on the offer? Was he thinking about asking one of them if I left? The thought was strangely deflating in a way and made me want to punch him for being so inhumanly attractive.
I made a move to slide off his lap and he grabbed me by my hips.
“Where are you going?” he growled. “I won’t let you go back over there so you might as well get comfortable.”
Feeling a little embarrassed about this entire thing, I glanced at him then looked away.
“No, I need to go home, Mick. I feel buzzed and I think I’m just done. You go have fun.”
“I have no interest in being anywhere else at the moment.”
“Right,” I said with some sarcasm. “Hanging out with the last person that you want to, when there’s plenty of other women. I’m not buying it.”
“For fuck’s sake, Alisa. Just sit for a while. I won’t bite.”
I gave him a small smirk. “You already have.”
His eyebrow lifted. “And you like it.”
I pursed my lips. “Maybe.”
He seemed to be thinking about something as he took a drink and settled me back where he wanted me on his lap.
Slanting his head over my face, I smelled once again the alcohol on his breath, but something more beneath it. His scent or his cologne, I wasn’t sure which. It was enough to make me wish that I had more to offer than a conversation tonight.
He leaned in and kissed the top of my nose, then the side of my face. Lingering over my mouth for a moment he waited, breathing me in. My eyelids drifted shut when he closed the distance and his tongue demanded entrance.
He tasted like his drink as he explored my mouth. My body answered with desire for him pooling between my legs. His hand slid up my thigh, his fingers sliding just under the edge of my tight dress.
I felt a rumble in his chest as he groaned. His hips bucked as he shifted me closer and I could feel his hard desire. The music and people around us faded as he explored the contours of my mouth. The firm grip he had on my hip moved to my wrist as he tugged it behind me. It alarmed me until his grasp eased.
We lingered for a moment, then he leaned back, but not before he nipped at my bottom lip. The room came back into focus, his eyes on mine as I stared up at him. He appeared to be searching for something, but for what, I had no idea. The music invaded my ears as he let go of my wrist and tugged my dress down a bit.
His jaw clenched as he looked away and I sat up straighter. Whatever that was, it wasn’t just a kiss. He’d shown me what it might be like with him and I found it more than intimidating. I knew nothing about him, but the way he held me, spoke volumes whether he knew it or not. He liked control and I was surprised at the fact that I’d really liked it as well.
“Are you coming here again?” he asked, as he took another drink.
“Probably not,” I answered truthfully.
If I ever saw him again, especially in this place with some other woman on his lap, I felt like it might hurt for some reason. He made me yearn for something that I shouldn’t want. Him.
He swallowed the rest of his drink and set the tumbler back on the table. He frowned for a moment as if thinking about something.
“Come see me again next Saturday night.”
I gave him a surprised look. “Here? Where you say I don’t belong?”
He nodded slowly. “Yeah, I’ll be here. You can dance, drink, and have fun. But you sit right here where you are when you finish.”
“Sounds like a contradiction given what you just told me.”
He smirked for a second before replying. “If I’m here, at least you know you’ll be safe. You can enjoy yourself without having to worry about other men trying to hit on you like earlier. You can feel free to be as uninhibited as you want.”
My eyes swept the club for a second trying to see the man he was talking about before turning back to him. “Uninhibited? You mean, meet strange men and sit on their laps? Think I’ve got that covered now. I don’t normally do any of this.”
“I think if you were desperate enough to come out with those girls, to get out of the house, then you might want to go out again. If that’s the case, come here. But your seat is in my lap. Every single time.”
I chewed on my lip for a moment thinking about his offer.
“That is unless you enjoyed whatever that guy was trying to tell you earlier.”
I shook my head. “He was at a different bar we were at before this one. He said he followed us, so he could buy me a drink and take me home. It was weird.”
Mick’s face tightened as I explained, and a palpable menace radiated from him. I felt it for a moment, but it disappeared when he leaned forward and gave me a quick kiss beside my ear.
Moving me off his lap, he said, “Your choice, Alisa. I’ll be here.”
With that, he turned me toward the entrance and helped me get through the crowd of people near the front door.
“Are you driving?” he asked.
I shook my head. “We drove together.”
He pulled out his phone and called for a taxi. Scanning the crowd, I saw the man that had grabbed my wrist earlier. He was weaving his way in our direction, passing us as he stepped outside.
When Mick’s hand slid around my hip I realized I’d unconsciously moved closer to him while trying to avoid the stranger’s notice. Mick tucked me against his chest as he smirked down at me.
“Phone,” he said.
“What? Mine or yours? Was that the cab?”
“Yeah, they’ll be here in a couple of minutes. Need your phone, beautiful.”
“Oh, I don’t have it. Would you like my number?”
He growled and shook his head. “You came out drinking without your phone? Do you know how dangerous…nevermind. Give me your phone number so I can get you home.”
I saw the yellow taxi waiting at the curb for me and rattled off my phone number to him.
He punched it in his phone and dialed. “Calling you so you’ll have mine. Get in the car.”
I crawled in the backseat as he spoke to the driver for a minute. It looked like he was almost threatening the man before he handed him several bills.
When he stepped away from the car he kept staring at me through the window. The driver asked for my address, causing me to turn toward him for a minute as I recited it.
I glanced back to where Mick had been standing on the sidewalk, but he was already gone.
Chapter Three
Mick
Waking up, I stretched and looked around my room. I’d been avoiding unpacking for a while, knowing I was going to eventually get my own place. Living with Mason was convenient, but annoying some days.
He had his routine on the weekends and sometimes the week nights, when he indulged in his pastimes. Last night had been nearly unbearable. When he stumbled in with whomever he’d brought home he’d been loud, even though his bedroom was across the house.
Mick: Kingston Corruption, Book One Page 3