by Tammi Lynn
Felicia looks at me like I’m already gonna try running “Hell no! We finally got you to say yes, so you’re going.”
The rest of work went by real quick between the heavy workload we had since it was getting closer to the end of the month, and then, of course, rerunning and repeating in my head everything that went on between Roman, Jesse, and I. I was a little sore still but not complaining. The girls and I all left at the same time, me in my truck and them in Cassie’s Honda. They were following a little close like I was going to speed off and evade them or something.
Parking in my driveway, I see the guys playing basketball again but this time with Jayson as well. They are so into their game they don’t notice me pull in, and I run into the house to drop my purse on the counter. I fish out my ID, debit card, phone, and my house key before putting them into a pocket on the inside of my boot. No one likes carrying around a purse when you’re out drinking and dancing. After running into the bathroom real quick as well to fix my makeup a little and add some eyeshadow and mascara, I walk out the door and across the driveway to Cassie’s car.
“Woot, woot!”
“Damn, Mia!”
“Hey, sexy!”
My cheeks get super red, and I have to slow down to make sure I stay upright in my three-inch heels. The guys have stopped playing and are watching me walk to get in the car. They knew their catcalls would embarrass me, the fuckers, and you can tell by the smiles on their faces that they’re enjoying my torment. Just as I open the door to get in, I find a morsel of bravery and blow them all a kiss before getting in.
“Oh, hell, girl! You live next door to that and never even say anything to us about them?” Felicia says as she turns in her seat to stare at me with wide eyes. “I mean here me and Cassie are always dishing out the gossip and there you are keeping some really juicy stuff to yourself.”
I couldn’t help but start busting out laughing. If they only knew about the really juicy stuff, I could say about those guys. “Hmmm, maybe I just don’t wanna share?” I tell them with a mischievous smile after I’m able to stop laughing. The smile quickly drops from my face as I hear Dre’s ringtone coming from my boot.
Closing my eyes, I answer, Baby Daddy displaying on the screen of my phone. “Hey, Dre, what’s up? Miklo okay?”
I barely get all of the words out of my mouth before he starts in. “So what’s this about you having four guy neighbors your always flirting with?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Yeah Miklo was telling me all about it says they are always over there talking to you, or you're over at their house being all over them.” I know Miklo did not tell him that, at least not all those words. Probably had only mentioned that we had four guy neighbors and true to Andreas’ nature he twisted it around in his head.
“Miklo did not say that. Yes, we have four guy neighbors, not that it’s any of your business, but so what. What’s the big deal? I can’t help who we live by”
“Yeah, Ma, but you can help who you fuck. I bet you're over there with them now, huh? Baby boy isn’t gone but a couple of days and you're over there getting busy.”
“Shut the fuck up Dre, that’d be a no, and I don’t need this…..”
“So which one you fucking?”
“I’m…..”
“Or are you fucking all of them?”
“Dre quit I……”
“I fucking knew it!” Motherfucker! He never lets me talk. Who the hell asks questions and doesn’t even let the person answer?! Someone who doesn’t care about the answer.
“You know what, Dre? Stop right now, I’m not going to put up with this shit. You’re creating all kinds of shit in your head to accuse me of. Even if I was, it isn’t any of your business, you didn’t want me enough to keep me. I left, I’m gone, and I will do whatever the hell I want. Now If you don’t mind I’m going to hang up, I’m going out with the girls from work.” The whole time I was talking, I could hear him talking shit.
“Yeah, right, you……”
I hung up on him, not wanting him to ruin my night already and put my phone beside me. I feel a silent satisfaction, he hates to be hung up on. Felicia was looking back at me from her seat, and Cassie was from the rearview mirror. I could tell they wanted to say something when Felicia blurted out, “What the fuck?”
“You're telling me, now who’s buying me a shot when we get to the bar?”
Just as we pulled up to a bar called the Joker Pub, which is just outside Sammamish in Issaquah, I heard a few texts come in on my phone. Picking it up, I almost didn’t want to look, knowing who they would be from.
Baby Daddy: Out with the girls? I know you're with those guys.
Baby Daddy: Go ahead, be a fucking slut.
And then one more came in just as I was about to shut my phone off. He was always doing this to me, and I couldn’t handle it and was willing myself not to cry.
Baby Daddy: Are You Crazy by Connor Maynard.
Before turning off the phone and shoving it back into my boot, I text him a youtube video back.
Me: Bebe Rexha, I'm Gonna Show You.
∞∞∞
The bar that they take me too is actually kind of big, it has pool tables, tables to order a meal as well as the bar. There isn’t an actual dance floor, but there are a few people already dancing in certain areas.
Cassie reaches the bar first and turns around to Felicia and me. “Alright, so what do you guys want?”
“A shot.” came out of me before she could fully finish asking. “How about Patron? And then followed with an AMF.”
“Damn girl! You want to start strong!” Felicia says, giggling at me. “Wait, what’s an AMF?”
“It’s an Adios Motherfucker, good but nice and strong.”
Turning back towards the bar, Cassie orders our drinks for us. The bartender first puts down three shot glasses and fills them with Patron, the girls, and me each reaching out for one. He then begins to make our drinks.
Felicia raises her glass. “Alright let’s toast to Mia finally coming out with us.” We clink our glasses and all down our shots. The burn going down my throat into my tummy is immediate, and I have to try and not cough. I didn’t plan on getting wasted tonight out with the girls, but after the call and texts from Andreas, I just wanna forget and numb myself into not thinking about it. If I don’t do that, I know I’m going to start crying, and that fucker doesn’t deserve any more of my tears. I won’t let him ruin my first night out since I moved away.
Grabbing my glass of AMF that the bartender finished mixing, I take a long sip from the straw tasting that the alcohol in the drink is extra strong. “Okay, ladies who wants to play pool?” I’m not the best at pool, but I’m already starting to feel the effects of my drinks, and I don’t want to stay idle. I’ve got to keep busy.
We head over to the pool table and start to play a game, I let them play on the same team, switching off, as I face them on my own. Turns out none of us can play very well, and playing while drinking turns out to be hilarious. Well, at least we think it is, and are having even more trouble shooting while laughing so hard at each other. After the first game, we head back to the bar, take two more shots, get another mixed drink, and head to the floor to dance. When the bar starts to get packed, we head back to the bar, falling onto the stools.
“Another round of shots!”
The bartender comes over and hands me a water bottle leaning over the bar to tell me, “The guy over there ordered this for you.” He jerks his thumb towards the end of the bar and then continues to pour us our shots. I look down the long length of the bar and my jaw just about drops. Holy Hell he’s hot! And unfortunately, very fucking familiar.
There, sitting at the very end, is Cade, looking panty drop worthy in black jeans, a white shirt, and a black leather jacket. His hair looks messy sexy, mussed up a little like it’s on purpose. He nods at me, how sweet, but fuck it. I’m having fun with my girls. I very maturely stick my tongue out at him, grab my shot, lift
it towards him and then down it. I see the side of his mouth twitching like he wants to smile. Come on, smile for me sexy. But he manages to keep his face impassive and turns to look at a tv with some sports game on while drinking a bottle of beer.
When I turn in my stool towards the bar, Cassie leans in and whispers in my ear, “Don’t look now but there are three guys on their way over to us, not too bad looking.” I turn to look. I mean, who doesn’t when told not to look now am I right? The three guys coming over to us aren’t bad looking I guess, although I think my neighbors have kinda set a high bar on that topic.
One is tall, dark hair, and wearing a blue shirt. The second one is tall as well, spiky blond hair who wears that style anymore? With a dark shirt and jeans. The third guy is a little shorter than the rest with brown hair and brown eyes, he’s dressed in khaki shorts and a polo. They reach us at the bar and introduce themselves, though I don’t catch their names. I’m too busy sneaking peeks at the brooding butthead. Come on, don’t laugh. A lot of my name calling arsenal comes from raising a pre-teen boy.
“So what do you think, Mia? Want to?” Felicia says looking at me expectantly while glancing at Brown Eyes, yup I didn’t catch their names, so they have now earned the designations Blue Shirt, Spiky Hair, and Brown eyes in my head.
“Want to what?”
She giggles. “They asked us if we wanted to play pool with them.”
I think about it for a second. Hmm, I wonder if I can make Cade jealous? I know, mature. Maybe it wasn’t as much jealous as wanting a reaction from him. I mean, he doesn’t really seem to like me much, but he did care enough to think I was drinking too much and get me a water. My water still sitting on the bar unopened See! I do what I want Cade. I totally wanted a reaction from him, and I was just hoping it was jealousy if I was honest with myself.
“Yeah let’s go, let’s grab another AMF first though.”
So after grabbing another drink we head to the pool tables and split into teams. First, we play girls against guys, the guys kicking our asses. Then we divided into teams with the guys, Cassie with Spiky Hair, Felicia with Brown Eyes, and me with Blue shirt.
My team gets stripes after Blue Shirt broke and managed to get in two stripes. It’s my turn, and I lean over the table trying to line up a shot to get the number twelve ball in the pocket.
“Here, let me help you.” Blue Shirt says while coming up behind me, placing a hand on my thigh and running it up to my waist, while putting the other one on the table, effectively boxing me in from behind. I don’t like it, and I get goosebumps, just not the right kind. My drinks are starting to hit me, I’m definitely drunk but decide to go with it for the moment.
“Show me how it’s done, big boy.” Alright, Mia! That sounded good. You sounded sexy. You’ve got this, girl! He gives me a big grin moving his right hand that was at my waist to cover my right, then reaches around me with his left to the pool stick to steady it.
“I’ve got you, babe.”
We pull the stick back and then push it to hit the white ball, it hits the edge of the twelve, and it goes into the corner pocket. I jump up and down and turn to give the guy a quick hug. He grips around me, making the hug last longer than I intended. Not removing his arms around me, I turn in them towards the table to watch the others, his hands now resting on my stomach. I grab my drink and take a sip looking down to see it looks almost full when I remember I had nearly finished it. Did someone dump theirs into mine? Or order me a new one? Fuck this drink is strong!
We end up losing our game by one ball. It was actually Cassie that hit in the eight ball which made me just as happy as if we had won. Now they are playing against Felicia and Brown Eyes. I watch them, I’m having such a good time, and I’ve actually forgotten about trying to make Cade jealous for the moment.
Slowly swaying back and forth in Blue Shirts arms that had found their way around me from behind again. My vision has started to get a little blurry, and I grab my drink again, noticing once again it seems fuller than I had left it. I drink it to the bottom and set it down. I know I’m way past my limit and should probably stop if my leaning into the stranger to help me stay standing says anything.
After a while of watching the others and losing myself in a drunken bliss, the guy behind me trails his hand across my back and then down to my arm. He grabbed my hand and linked our fingers together.
“Come on, babe, follow me.” He pulls me behind him, my feet and legs blindly following as he takes me to a side door of the bar and outside. It’s dark out with just a single bulb on the side of the building barely illuminating the alley we stepped into. The sky is rolling with clouds, lightning in the distance giving off extra light in the moments it cracks across the sky. I feel sprinkles of raindrops against my hot inebriated skin, and lift my face to the sky to feel it against my face as well. I’m actually really enjoying it until I feel myself being pushed up against the brick wall of the bar, my head hitting back with a slight amount of pain.
“What the fuck?”
“Come on, baby, I know you want me.” He pushes in close, his knee between my legs making my skirt lift a little to allow it space, he has each of my wrists in one hand placed against my chest and the other skimming over my arm.
“Get the fuck off me!” I try to push him back with my hands still enclosed in his too-tight grip that makes my wrists burn. He’s pressed so tight against me, and my body is already weak from drinking, so I’m not able to push him back I go to lift my knee to hit his balls and let him know how much I don’t want him, but he’s quick and places his free hand over it to keep it down.
“You were all over me in there, don’t play like you don’t want this now.” All over him? Man, I must be better at flirting than I thought, I do not want this man, that was very clear to me now. He leans in closer and presses his lips to mine. I wanna gag, and tears start to leak out of my eyes, I feel powerless to escape, and it brings back a time long ago something similar happened.
It’s one of the reasons I fell for Dre, He never placed rough hands on me unless it was in a way I asked him too, and he never would. Emotional abuse is another story.
The bastard runs his tongue over my lower lip and then pushes against the crease trying to gain access. Please stop, please stop, please stop. The hand he had on my knee starts to slide up my inner thigh under my skirt, and I close my eyes, trying to will it all away. The tears coming down my face have matched the rain that has decided to pour down freely in thick drops, soaking us. Just as I’m about to slacken myself and go dead weight hoping it’ll make it harder for him to hold me up, he is all of a sudden pulled away. My hands and arms pulled out as he loses his grip on my burning wrists. I hear a thwap and the sound of bones crunching before I can even open my eyes fully.
Standing in front of me all I can see is the back of Cade, his leather jacket over his broad shoulders. I grab onto his arms to steady myself and peer around him. Blue Shirt is standing with his hands over his nose, and it’s leaking blood freely down his face.
“What the fuck, asshole?!” Blue shirt says as he then tries to grab my arm to pull me from behind Cade.
Cade’s quick and lands another blow to the man's eye, knocking him to the ground.
“Touch her again, and we’re really going to have a problem. I suggest you stay there on your ass until we’re gone.” His voice sounds a little scary. His already deep voice sounding out with almost a growl behind it.
Turning around, Cade gently grabs my upper arm and starts leading me down the alley to the street. I go with him willingly too stunned to say anything. When we reach the road, he stands me in front of his motorcycle.
“Stay here, I’ll be right back.” He then leaves into the bar only to come back what feels like seconds later, as I stand there and try to come to terms with what just happened. “Come on I’m taking you home.”
Finally finding my voice, “What? Wait, I can’t just leave my friends!”
“It’s already been taken care of.”
>
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Max has their keys and is already calling them an Uber, he also has instructions to not let them go anywhere with those guys. Not that he would anyway. He’s had a crush on your friend Felicia in there for a few years now, they're safe.” Ooh, I’m definitely telling her at work on Monday, wait who’s Max?
“Max? Who’s Max? That’s a nice name.”
Cade lets out a small growl and shakes himself before answering. “The bartender, I’ve known him a long time, he’s a good guy and will make sure they get home safely.”
“Oh, okay, then.” I can’t help but keep looking into this gorgeous man’s face, his jade-green eyes are bright, and his lips so full. Shaking my head a little, I turn and look at the bike. “Wait, wait. I am not getting on that thing! It’s raining! And you’ve been drinking too!”
“Yes, well, I had plans to drink. When I got here and saw that you were already three sheets to the wind and barely staying upright in those death traps of shoes you have on, I decided to stop. When you, so graciously I might add, turned down my bottle of water to drink more, I didn’t drink past my one beer. That was almost two hours ago. You’ve got nothing to worry about Mia.” Why would he do that? Stop drinking because of me? And oh man, this is the most I’ve heard this man speak and I just loved his voice, can we say swoon?!
Taking off his jacket, he steps closer to me and starts to put one of my arms in and then the other. I snuggle into it, enjoying the heat in it that lingers from being on his body. I hadn’t even realized how cold I had become from the rain that has me completely drenched, my silk shirt and pencil skirt sticking to my skin. The chill of the storm has me shivering, but it’s the shock of all that just happened that has my whole body shaking, threatening it to go into shock.
Placing one leg over the bike and sitting down, Cade beckons me over with a curled finger. “Come on, let’s get you home and out of those wet clothes.” My legs wobble, and I almost lose my balance. Out of my wet clothes? Will he take them off me?