The Final Note (DJ Series Book 1)

by Helen J. Barnes

  “You’re amazing, Alannah. I can’t get you out of my mind lately.”

  I’m taken aback by his confession and before I have the chance to tell him that the feeling is mutual he starts to explore my mouth again, silencing me and robbing me of all my senses. I lean into him as his hands roam down my body before gripping my ass in a tight squeeze. I push my breasts to his chest, wanting to feel his hands all over me, starting there. When he breaks off the kiss again I am panting and wanton, desperately wrapped up in the desire he has ignited in me.

  “We need to stop, Alannah. My bed is just feet away and the temptation is too much for a simple man like me not to give in to.” He lifts me from his lap onto unsteady legs and I feel a twist of disappointment in my chest.

  “But what if I want to give in to temptation, too?” I murmur and his head snaps up, his eyes meet mine.

  “Don’t. Don’t feed the fire, Alannah. Maybe I was stupid to bring you here? I overestimated my restraint, you rip that to shreds with just the wanton look in your eyes.”

  I can’t stop a slow smile spreading across my mouth at his confession and it seems infectious because he offers a sexy, boy-next-door grin.

  He comes to stand in front of me, stooping to place a chaste kiss on my mouth before he takes my hand and guides me out of the studio and out of his bedroom, away from the temptation of his king size bed. In my heart I know we shouldn’t move that fast, but Dayton seems to bring out a spontaneity in me that makes me want to live in the moment.

  Chapter 5

  The next day the weather is perfect for running and Dayton and I have run 6k out of 8k, chatting for the first lap then falling into a comfortable silence. I’ve filled him in about my dad having found me a bargain Ford Focus in the auto trader magazine that is less than five years old and got a full service history at a great price. I’ve arranged to go view with the prospect of buying it on Sunday. Almost on our final lap of the park Dayton playfully slaps me on the bottom, making me yelp in surprise. “Almost time for the last lap, Alannah. Are we promising to play fair today?” The tease in his eye is obvious.

  “I seem to recall I was fair last time, it was you who cheated.”

  “I think you have it mixed up, sugar.”

  “So, this forfeit, what have you got in mind?” I’ve been dying to know but don’t expect the answer I get.

  “Nothing nasty. Just something I want.” I give him a look that asks him to elaborate. “It’s my sister’s birthday on Sunday. I need to go into the Trafford Centre tomorrow and I want you to come with me.”

  I smile to myself. All he wants is to spend time with me? I’d be happy to do that anyway. That was the forfeit I had in mind for him, only mine wasn’t a shopping trip, it was a visit to the cinema. I don’t know which I would prefer actually, shopping or the cinema, but either way I’m happy.

  “Okay, if you win I’ll go with you. If I win then you’ll come to the cinema with me and I pick the movie.”

  “You’re not into those sloppy rom-coms are you?” He looks hesitant and I nod with a grin. “I better win this race then.”

  We start our final lap and we both up the speed substantially. My heart is racing, my lungs heaving but I match him stride for stride until the last few hundred meters. He ups his speed again until we are both in a flat sprint. He edges the lead and I really dig deep, running for all I’m worth but I cannot make up the few strides of ground he has on me. We shoot past the benches, both of us smiling because this time it was a fair race and he piped me at the post.

  “Fair enough for you?” he pants, taking his ribble out and sipping from it.

  I double over, my hands on my knees, my chest heaving as I suck in lungfuls of much needed air. Dayton sits, catching his breath and drinking.

  “Okay, I’ll give you that one,” I pant, a satisfied smirk plastered over his face. “What time do we hit the Trafford Centre?”

  The next day we pull into the car park of the Trafford Centre at bang on 10am. Dayton has been filling me in on his sister, Chloe, and what kinds of gifts he thinks she will like. I find she is the same age as me, a bookworm, used to love riding and is a full blown girly-girl who loves fashion, designers and anything blingtastic. Not a huge fan of shopping for others and definitely not a girly-girl, I admit I don’t think I’ll be much of a help to him.

  We grab a quick coffee from Starbucks before we start the gift hunt and while we are sat in the busy coffee shop Dayton is approached by a pair of young girls.

  “Hey, Dayton. How are you?” Little-Miss-Sunshine asks, batting her eyelashes.

  He offers her a small smile, not seeming overly impressed that she has just interrupted our conversation about cats vs dogs as pets.

  “I’m fine, thanks.” He is polite but is obviously disinterested.

  “Are you playing at Lexis tonight?” Little-Miss-Adorable asks and I look from the girls to Dayton again who closes his eyes for a second before pasting a smile on his face.

  “Yeah, course. I’ll see you there if you’re out tonight.” He turns his attention back to me but before he can speak blonde number one starts to clap and bounce on the spot like a demented seal crossed with a bunny on acid.

  “Great, it’s always a fab night when you’re on the decks. We’ll see you there!” She almost hyperventilates as she grabs her friend’s arm and exits the shop. “Did you hear that? He said he’ll see us there, that’s like an agreement to meet us. Wait until Jenna hears about this.”

  I can’t help but smile and Dayton rolls his eyes. “What were we talking about?”

  “Erm, cat litter versus poop bags?” I laugh and he frowns for a second before realising we were talking pet ownership.

  “Oh, yeah. Of course. Maybe a change of subject then? What are you doing tonight?” He looks hopeful and I secretly press my hands together in my lap, in prayer that he’s going to ask me out.

  “Nothing as of yet. Why? What did you have in mind?”

  “I don’t imagine that by the time I take you back home I would have had my fill of you, so, do you fancy coming to Lexis and meeting up for a drink?”

  I send up a silent prayer of thanks and try not to sound too eager. “I’d love to, thanks.”

  He looks relieved and leans over the table to lay a light kiss on my cheek. “No, thank you, Alannah.”

  We make our first stop at HMV where we browse, talking about films we love and our favourite comedians. He loves Russell Howard and I love Peter Kay. He is just taking the latest Celebrity Juice DVD to the checkout when he is stopped again. This time by a couple who asks him the same question as the girls at Starbucks.

  “How are you? Are you playing tonight?” Dayton gives them the practiced answers distractedly whilst paying for his DVD. We make a quick exit and when we get out of the shop he puts his arm around me.

  “You know, there’s a reason I don’t introduce you to the people who speak to me?”

  “Really. Why is that?” I’m genuinely curious but honestly hadn’t given it a thought.

  “It’s because it would go something like this…” He clears his throat like he is about to make a public speech. “Hi there. Yes, I’m fine, thanks. Yes, I am playing tonight, I’ll see you there if you’re out. Oh, by the way, this gorgeous lady is Alannah, my date for tonight. Alannah, I haven’t got a fucking clue who this is but say hello.”

  I burst out laughing, poking him in the ribs to which he fakes immense pain, holding his side. His brutal honesty really surprises me though. How strange must it be to be approached so often by people and not have a clue who they are but they obviously think they know you?

  “Don’t worry, I’m not upset you didn’t introduce me. I like that I’m your date though.” I giggle, holding his hand and walking beside him. I catch our reflection in a shop window and I want to stop and admire the view but I don’t.

  We stop in a few more shops looking for inspiration for Chloe’s birthday present, Dayton being stopped twice more. We come up blank on gift ideas, bu
t we both buy a new top in French Connection and decide to have lunch. We grab a sub whilst discussing our best and worst gifts, given and received. I’m just laughing at his story about giving his crush a bottle of his mum’s perfume in primary school while we find a table.

  “So, what gifts have you been given and not admitted you disliked to save hurting people’s feelings?” he asks before tucking into his sub.

  “I get chocolates a lot but I rarely eat them, I usually give them to my parents.”

  “If you were given free run to do a trolley dash in any shop here where would it be? Mine would be the Apple Store.”

  I mull this over for a minute before answering honestly. “The Disney Store.”

  Dayton stops chewing and raises an eyebrow like I’m pulling his leg. “Seriously? Why?”

  I swallow my food and giggle. “I love Disney. Who doesn’t love Disney cartoons? Come on, you’ve got to have a favourite Disney character.”

  “Yeah, I have. I love the genie out of Aladdin and Mater out of Cars, but I wouldn’t choose Disney for a trolley dash.” He chuckles.

  We finish our subs before we get up and wander out of the food court. “Where are we going to try now?” Shopping for Chloe has been harder than I thought.

  “The Disney Store. I want to see what’s so fascinating about the place.”

  “You mean you have never been in?” I ask in surprise.

  “Nope, never. Until now.”

  We step into the shop and I can’t resist being lured amongst the shelves, always taken with the cutest stuffed toys. I pick up a cuddly Dumbo toy. “Aww, look how cute he is.” I pout playfully and Dayton picks up a stuffed toy of Dopey the dwarf from Snow White.

  “I prefer this little guy.” He replaces the toy and turns to me. “So who is your favourite Disney character then?”

  “Ariel out of The Little Mermaid,” I admit, turning to the rotating shelves of china teacups with every character you could name on them. I spot the Ariel one immediately.

  “Okay, let me buy you something. An Ariel cup or something.”

  “You don’t have to do that, Dayton.” He comes to stand right behind me, his chin resting on my shoulder and his kissable mouth so close to mine. I turn my face to him.

  “Your inner child really comes out in here, doesn’t it? You said you could do a trolley dash in here so it shouldn’t be hard to pick something. Let me buy you a gift, just because I can and I want to.” His eyes roam over my face before stopping on my mouth and I can’t resist him any longer. I run my hand up over my shoulder into his hair and lay a soft kiss on his lips. He doesn’t hesitate in returning the favour, our kiss soon filling with need and want.

  When his tongue brushes over my top lip before plunging back into my mouth I remind myself we are in public and what most people would say is a children’s store. I begrudgingly break off the kiss and as my eyes flicker open Dayton presents me with a boxed Ariel china cup. He winks before heading to the checkout.

  I’m left in a daze and feeling very grateful, I want to repay the favour but I can hardly afford to pop into the Apple Store and buy him a new phone. I quickly sneak back to the aisle of stuffed toys and swipe up a Dopey dwarf before joining him at the checkout. He gives me a knowing grin whilst I pay for the cuddly toy and we exchange bags and thanks before heading out of the store, stupid happy grins slapped over our faces.

  Outside Dayton wraps his arm around my waist, holding me close and kissing me on the forehead. He stops dead when he hears someone call his name. I turn and come face to face with Miss Perfection from the pictures on Facebook. She is more stunning in the flesh, her hair shining and glossy. Her skin is smooth and flawless and her smile almost floors you with sparkling, straight pearls. I note she has bigger breasts than me, too.

  “Hey, babe. What drags you out here?” Her eyes rack over him greedily and her smile falters when she sees his hand on my hip. Her gaze slides over me and even with the semi-smile on her face I feel her judgement and disapproval.

  “I’m shopping for Chloe. This is Alannah Matthews by the way, she has been nice enough to help me shop and is joining me at Lexis tonight. Alannah, this is Regina Escarra, she is the bar manager at Lexis.” Dayton’s smile hasn’t moved at all and I look from him to Regina.

  “Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” I lie and she offers me a smile that doesn’t meet her eyes.

  “Hey.” Her eyes leave me to look at Dayton. “So, what did you buy from The Disney Store? I didn’t know there were kids in your family to buy for?”

  “There isn’t, we just had a mini trolley dash to kill curiosity.” He smirks, exchanging a knowing smile with me before kissing me on the temple. “I think I’m just going to give Chloe money to spend on books or something.”

  Inspiration hits me like lightning and I’m surprised I didn’t think of it before. “Does Chloe have an eReader? How about buying her a Kindle?”

  “She would love that. Alannah, you’re an angel. We’ll pick one up then head back, I’ve got to sort my set out for tonight.” He looks very impressed and I blush under his approval.

  “I’ll see you tonight then?” Regina asks, her fake smile plastered back in place when she looks at him.

  “Sure, see you later, Regina,” Dayton says before pulling me away and heading off without as much as a backwards glance. I, however, can feel the burning in my back as Regina watches us walk away. I already know she has taken a dislike to me which I feel is unwarranted as she knows nothing about me. I can’t justify why I feel like I’ve just met my arch rival either. Somehow I just know I have.

  Chapter 6

  I arrange to meet Corrine, Dina and Macy in a wine bar at 8pm then we are hitting Lexis later. When I arrive I see Ross, Luke and a guy in his early twenties sat at the table with the girls. I greet Ross and the girls first before taking a seat next to Corrine.

  “Hey, Alannah, I’m Luke. I hear you and Dayton got a thang going on?” He sticks his hand out to me and I recognise him as the lad with spikey hair who was leering at me on the threshold of the front door at the house party last weekend.

  I offer him a weak smile and shake his hand. “Nice to meet you, Luke.”

  “You’ll have to excuse Luke’s lack of tact, he has no brain to mouth filter.” The young blond with green eyes smiles offering me his hand. “I’m Brent. I’ve got an audition at Lexis tonight, thanks to Dayton.”

  I nod. “Do you mix hard trance, too?”

  “I will be tonight but I much prefer hard house, unfortunately Barros Escarra doesn’t appreciate the genre.”

  I nod, the name Escarra ringing a bell somewhere in the pit of my memory but I can’t place it. Ross gets everyone a round of drinks and we sit having a lively debate about the difference between men watching porn and women reading erotica.

  “As far as I’m concerned women reading sex and imagining it is the same as a guy watching sex,” Luke declares.

  “Hardly.” Dina rolls her eyes at him. “Who was degraded and paid to act out the fantasies in books?”

  Brent shrugs. “It’s still sexual exploitation of the opposite sex, the men in your books are made out to be gods and make us normal men look bad. It raises expectations for all men to be like the fantasy blokes in your mucky books.”

  “Scared you can’t live up to Christian Grey, Brent?” Dina giggles.

  “Pfft, please. I could show that guy a trick or two,” Luke sniggers.

  The jibes are playful though, and we are all laughing when I excuse myself to go to the ladies’ room. Macy follows me. “Corrine tells me you’re meeting Dayton later? Sounds like you’ve been getting really close, dinner at his place.” She wriggles her eyebrows teasingly.

  “I’m really enjoying getting to know him, he’s amazing. I can’t believe he’s been single for so long.”

  “Totally out of choice. He just turns them all down. The ones totally obsessed with him hang around trying to get into his inner circle of friends. Either that or Regina scares them off.”


  “What do you mean?” Just the mention of her name grabs my attention.

  “Oh, you haven’t met Regina yet?” Macy flicks the water off her hands into the basin.

  “I did, briefly, today when I was shopping with Dayton.”

  “And did you get the feeling she didn’t like you or the fact you were within a five mile radius of Dayton?” she sniggers and I nod that I did. “Welcome to the club, sweetie. Regina has it so bad for Dayton that she feels she has to warn off all admirers. She’s scared one of them will get under his skin before she can. I’m sure you’ve got her head spinning a 360. You’ve been her biggest threat so far.”

  “Really?” I’m trying to take all this in and process it.

  “Don’t you worry your pretty brown locks, sweetie, we’ve got your back and there is no love lost between Corrine and Regina. I thought she would have already warned you after their spat.”

  I frown, wondering what she means. Corrine never mentioned a spat with Regina. In fact, she never mentioned Regina at all.

  “Why would Regina and Cor have an argument? Corrine said she’s never been involved with Dayton.” I know Corrine would never lie to me, we’ve never kept secrets, she is like a sister to me.

  “Oh, no, they haven’t, but he did walk her home one night. Seems that’s all the evidence Regina needs to start a hate campaign. She called Dayton and started on about how Corrine is a tart and he deserves better. Regina claims she is just trying to be a good friend looking out for him. She didn’t realise Dayton was still with Corrine and she could hear every slanderous word Regina had said.” Macy finishes reapplying her eyeliner and looks at me through the mirror.

  “The cheeky cow! Corrine is not a tart.” I fume on my best friend’s behalf just as she enters the room.