by L. A. Casey
“Aideen said you’re a fine hunk of American man meat, and you have to leave me for her.”
Male laughter erupted.
“I always knew you wanted me, Ado!” Alec shouted.
I continued to grin as I walked over to the bedroom door.
“Only you, big lad!” I called out, sweetly.
I squealed when I saw Keela storm down the hallway in my direction. I slammed her bedroom door shut and turned the lock. Seconds later she banged on the door with her hands.
“Pussy!” she shouted.
“You say pussy, I say smart woman who doesn’t want to be hit before she goes out on a date and fucks her ex-boyfriend until she can’t see straight.”
Keela dry heaved. “Never mind pussy, you’re a slut!”
I burst into laughter and turned to Keela’s full-length mirror in her bedroom. I adjusted my royal blue dress and smiled. I loved how it looked. It was short, came to mid thigh, and stuck to me like a second skin, but my favourite part was the lace on the chest of the dress and on the sleeves. It was gorgeous.
I reached up and let my hair out of the spider grip that held it on top of my head. I swung my head back and forth a few times until my hair gained some volume and looked ruffled and sexy.
My make-up was done, but as I examined my face I found I needed a little bit more on my nose because I saw some redness. I leaned into the mirror and gasped when I realised what the redness on my nose was.
It was a pimple.
“Crap!”
I turned from the mirror, unlocked Keela’s bedroom door, and walked down the hallway of my friend’s apartment in search of her. I bypassed the kitchen when I peeked in and saw she wasn’t in there. I headed straight into the sitting room. I opened my mouth to speak when I spotted her sitting on Alec’s lap on the sofa. Kane and Nico were on either side of them watching an American football game, but when Nico caught sight of me he wolf whistled and twirled his finger around with a devilish smirk on his face.
I rolled my eyes but giggled as I turned around in a circle then placed my hands on my hips and posed like I would for a picture.
“Damn, Ado, you’re looking F-I-N-E,” Nico said, nodding his head in appreciation of me.
I have no idea why, but Kane reached behind Alec and smacked Nico across the back of the head. “You have a girlfriend.”
“Fucking hell!” Nico growled and rubbed his head. “I know that, I was just saying she looked hot. There’s no harm in looking.”
“You were just smacked for lookin’,” Keela mused, “clearly there is harm in it.”
“I’ll say,” Nico mumbled and lowered his hand.
Keela chortled and Alec grinned as he stroked Keela’s side while she sat on him.
“So, what’s the verdict? Yay or nay?” I asked the group as I gestured to my look for the night.
Keela gave me two thumbs. “Hell yay!”
I laughed.
“Yay from me, too. You look beautiful.” Alec smiled.
Aww.
I winked at him then looked at Nico when he mumbled ‘yay’ but kept an eye on Kane like he would smack him again, which I thought was funny.
“Kane, what do you think?” I asked.
Kane raised his eyebrow at me. “You care what I think?”
“No,” I replied honestly, “but you’re a lad and I’m askin’ for your opinion, so shoot.”
Kane blinked at me then trailed his eyes up and down my body. “Nice shape. Sexy even.”
My shape was sexy?
Nope, that was wrong.
“Honey, sexy is an attitude, not a shape.”
“Well, with all the attitude within your little body, you must be the sexiest woman alive,” Kane said, a grin plastered on his face.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Are you sayin’ I have an attitude problem?”
Kane dropped his smirk. “Uh, no... I’m saying you’re se—”
“Because if you are then you should know I only develop an attitude around you.”
Kane looked at his brothers who were shaking their heads and giving him a look that he seemed to understand. He then turned his gaze back to me and said, “You know what? I take it back, forget I even said anything.”
That was the smartest thing that had ever come out of his delectable mouth.
Keela snickered, but then narrowed her eyes at my face.
Oh, crap.
“Dude, your nose!” she gasped.
I covered it with both hands. “I know. I just saw it.”
“Saw what?” the lads asked in unison.
I removed my hands from my face and pointed at my nose with both of my index fingers. “This.”
The lads squinted their eyes.
“What are we supposed to be staring at here?” Alec mumbled to Keela.
“The mother of all pimples,” I whimpered.
Nico leaned his head forward and squinted his eyes so much he almost closed them. “I can’t see it.”
How could he miss it?
“Me either. You’re overreacting,” Kane said, and waved me off.
I was about to say something smart to him, but I caught Keela staring at my nose and it made me feel incredibly uncomfortable.
“Keela! Stop!”
Keela averted her gaze. “I’m sorry, but it’s bloody huge.”
I knew it!
“This isn’t supposed to happen! How can I go out on me date with Skull if I have to lug around this volcano on the end of me nose all night?”
Keela chewed on her lower lip as Alec suggested, “What about cover-up?”
I hesitated in snapping at him because that was a pretty good idea.
Kane groaned in annoyance. “You could try more make-up, or you could just sit down, have a beer, and relax. Skull won’t even notice, and if he does, he will be cool with it. A situation like this is what doggie style was invented for. He won’t give a fuck about any pimple if you’re face down and ass up in front of him.”
Did he really just say that?
“You’re disgustin’!” I snarled.
Kane lifted up his arm and tipped his beer bottle in my direction. “So I’ve been told.”
I curled my lip in disgust and looked at Keela. “I can’t stand him.”
“I heard that,” Kane said and took a gulp from his beer bottle.
“You were supposed to, germinator,” I growled.
I smirked when he stiffened.
He really hated that nickname, which is exactly why I still called him by it.
“Ignore Kane,” Keela sighed and stood up from Alec’s lap. “You look gorgeous, pimple or no pimple.”
I grunted then jumped when my phone buzzed. I squealed and ran to my clutch purse that was on Keela’s kitchen table. I picked it up, dug inside it for my phone, and answered it the second I got it into my hands.
“Hello?” I said a little breathlessly as I pressed the phone to my ear.
“Hello, sexy,” Skull’s voice purred through the phone as I walked back into the sitting room.
“You can’t see me, how do you know if I look sexy?” I flirted.
Keela rolled her eyes at me, Nico and Alec snorted, and Kane just stared straight ahead at the television as he watched the football game on ESPN.
“You always look sexy, dressed up or down, so I don’t need to see you to know you look good,” Skull said, a smile in his voice. “I’m outside Keela’s apartment complex, are you ready?”
“Good answer, and yes, I’ll be down now.”
I pressed the hang-up option on the screen before he could reply and hugged Keela tightly when she walked over to me and put her arms around me.
“Where are you goin’?” she asked.
I deadpanned, “Where does Skull always take me when we go out?”
Keela paled a little and whispered, “Darkness.”
I frowned at her reaction. She looked... scared of something.
I knew she had a bad experience at Darkness, but no one would fil
l me in on what actually happened that night after Marco’s stupid henchmen knocked me out. I’ve asked all the girls and lads but they’re all mute on the subject. Alannah was the only one in the same boat as me because she said she wasn’t at Darkness the night some sort of trouble went down. She said she had a bad headache that night and passed out on her bed. She had no clue what problems happened for the girls there that night; she just knew that bad things happened there.
“Yep,” I sighed. “Good ol’ Darkness. He is workin’ from ten to closin’, but whatever—I get free drinks.”
Keela shook her head at me and smiled. “Just... be careful, okay?”
I winked. “I always am.”
I spun on my heel and walked over to the front door. I heard a growl come from inside the kitchen mid-walk then I caught sight of it as it emerged.
I glared at the hundred-pound beast. “Did you eat up the contents of the fridge, you fat shite?” I asked, grinning.
He continued to growl at me, but he didn’t move. He was still as he watched me. He was waiting for me to leave the apartment before he walked by.
“Leave him alone!” Keela snapped from behind me.
I laughed as I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. I reached back to grab the handle of the door so I could close it, but it suddenly slammed in my face. I gasped then glared at the door when everyone inside the apartment burst into laughter.
I knew exactly what happened. Storm shut the door with his head to make sure I couldn’t get back into the apartment. The fat fucker always did it.
“I’ll be back tomorrow, you hairy bastard! You’ll never be rid of me! Do you hear me? Never!” I shouted through the door then turned and walked down the hallway of Keela’s building.
I walked down the stairs carefully—I was in six-inch heels, I had to be careful—and exited the building and walked straight to Skull’s black Ford Mondeo that was sitting out front waiting.
“Damn, babe, you look smokin’ hot!” he shouted out the window of the car.
What a romantic.
I snorted and opened the passenger side door of his car and hopped into it. I closed the door, leaned in, and let him kiss my cheek even though he tried for my lips.
“Aideen,” he groaned. “You can’t come out lookin’ like that and not give me a little taste.”
Watch me.
“If you’re good, then you’ll get more than a little taste later.” I grinned as I buckled my seat belt. “Now, shut up and drive the car. I wanna dance already.”
Skull bit down on his lower lip and smirked. “Yes, ma’am.”
I glanced at Skull as he drove and my insides clenched when I took in his attire. He always wore a suit when he went to work—all the bouncers had to wear one since Brandon, Keela’s uncle, took over ownership of Darkness—but he had his jacket hanging in the back of the car and had his white shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows with a couple of buttons open exposing a bit of his chest. It was simple, yet so delicious to look at.
“You want dinner first, or straight to the club?”
“I already ate so straight to Darkness,” I answered without looking in Skull’s direction.
He groaned again, “You kill me when you behave like this.”
I snorted and continued to look out the window as he drove. “Behave like what?”
“Like you couldn’t care less that you’re next to me; it always gets me hard.”
I laughed and glanced at him. “You get turned on when I ignore you?”
“Only when you’re in me presence. It makes me want your undivided attention.”
I smirked and looked forward again. “We’ll see how tonight pans out. You might just get what you’re lookin’ for.”
“I better,” he growled making me smile to myself.
A few moments passed by in comfortable silence, but Skull broke it when he said, “How is Keela doin’?”
I crossed my left leg over my right and rested my hands on my lap. “She’s good, still workin’ hard on her book. She is a perfectionist, and it’s a strength of hers as well as a weakness. She goes over the manuscript with a fine-tooth comb daily but is worried about it not being ‘right.’ Nothin’ anyone tells her will relax her about it, it’s just somethin’ we have to let pan out by itself.”
Skull clicked his tongue. “I hope it all works out for her. She’s a good girl.”
I nodded in agreement. “That she is.”
“Is she still with that Slater lad?” he asked.
I snorted. “You know his name is Alec, and yes, they’re still together. They’re engaged.”
“I refer to them all as a Slater lad.” Skull chuckled then said, “And people who are engaged can still break up, you know.”
I smiled. “Not Keela and Alec, they’re solid. Nothin’ can break them.”
I was certain nothing could anyway.
“Well, that’s great; a solid relationship must be nice.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Is that a jab at me?”
“At us, not just you,” Skull clarified. “We’re both great together in the bedroom, it’s every other aspect of being in a relationship that we struggle with.”
Ain’t that the truth.
I sighed. “We aren’t goin’ to get back together, and we both know it. This ‘date’ tonight is for a good time and wild sex. You know it, and I know it.”
“I know,” Skull grumbled.
I looked at him and frowned. “Why do you seem sad about it?”
Please don’t say you want us to get back together again.
“I’m not sad about us. I’ve made peace with how we are... I’m just gettin’ too fuckin’ old for one-night stands. I’m thirty-three. Wakin’ up next to nameless women, and sometimes faceless women dependin’ on how hungover I am, is gettin’ old.”
I blinked in surprise. “Really? You don’t like the club bunnies?”
That was a bit of a shock.
Skull glanced at me and smirked. “I love the club bunnies; I’m just gettin’ bored of them. I don’t know, maybe I need to find a good woman and settle down. Me ma is naggin’ me about givin’ her some grandbabies.”
I smiled. “Then that is exactly what you should do, honey. Do what makes you happy.”
Skull sighed, nodded his head, but said nothing.
I grunted to myself and said, “I’m not havin’ sex with you ever again now, not now that I know where your head is at.”
Skull burst into laughter. “Should I repeat that to you when you’re feelin’ me up later in your drunken haze?”
I giggled. “Yeah, say it loud and clear. Pinch me if you have to.”
Skull continued to laugh. “I love you, babe.”
“I love you, too,” I replied, happily.
I loved Skull, and he loved me, we just weren’t in love with each other. That ship had sailed long ago.
“Any lads you have your eye on?” Skull asked as we neared Darkness.
I was shocked when the image of Kane Slater filled my mind. I quickly blinked the unwelcome image from my head and focused on Skull.
“Nope, no one. I’ll probably do what you’re doin’ and look for my other half, or I’ll just keep me own company and end up an old spinster.”
A belly laugh erupted out of Skull. “You’re twenty-eight, that’s not old.”
“Tell that to me students,” I muttered and thought of all the kids in my class who thought I was super old.
The little brats.
Skull continued to laugh to himself as he flipped his indicator on and headed into the private car park for the staff of Darkness. Brandon Daley had splashed out on upgrading Darkness over the last few months. He completely redecorated the club—inside and outside.
He added a private staff car park and a brand new level to the club. Hard-core partying happened on the new bottom floor, and the fighting and more hard-core partying happened on the first floor. The first floor still looked the same except it didn’t. The platform was in t
he same spot and had been completely upgraded. It was matte black now, but when blood or any fluids from the fighters touched the surface, it appeared as neon red blood splatters on the platform surface. It was brutal, but awesome looking. There was also an automatic black cage that folded down from the ceilings on Friday nights, which drew in crowds because there were no rules inside the cage. Anything went.
The booths were bigger and fancier. They were also matte black, but each table in a booth glowed different colours. A section of the club that had paint drums where people banged on them and paint splashed onto everyone within close range, and thanks to special lighting in the club, it glowed neon like the tables and platform. It looked awesome when everyone was drunk, but when you left the club, you were covered in different coloured paint splashes. It was clothing friendly though, so no one cared.
“How many people do you plan on refusin’ entry to the club tonight?” I asked as we parked and exited the car.
Skull got his suit jacket from the back of the car and folded it neatly over his arm as he locked the Mondeo up.
“A lot.” He grinned. “It’s Friday, which means fight night. Only regular faces get in to see that, or new faces that the regulars vouch for. You know the drill.”
I actually didn’t. I never had to worry about gaining entry to Darkness. Back when Skull and I first started going out I’d never heard of the club, which wasn’t a surprise. It was exclusive and for good reason. I only got in because I was Skull’s girlfriend.
I knew Brandon had some sort of licence for the fighting that went on, according to Skull, so a lot more people knew about its existence now. But it was still hard for people to get in unless you had a hook-up like I did.
“You win some, you lose some,” I smirked. “Let’s get our drink on.”
Skull slid his hand into mine and gave it a tug. “Come on, pussy cat, let’s get you hydrated. I want you nice and wet.”
I laughed as I followed Skull through the doors of the nightclub and down the stairs where darkness consumed us.
“Aideen? I can barely hear you, are you okay?” Keela’s voice blared through the receiver of my phone.
“I’m fine,” I shouted and leaned my head against the wall of the toilet stall I was in.
“The reception is bad; can you hear me?” Keela asked and continued to shout.