by Parker, Ali
We spent way too long trying to decide on the perfect outfits. As Amber said, there were too many choices. I finally settled on a slinky dark-blue dress with a dangerously high hem and low-cut bodice. I felt a little naughty wearing so little.
“Are you sure?” I asked for the tenth time staring in the mirror, turning left and right, checking to make sure my ass wasn’t hanging out.
Amber giggled, her face close to the mirror as she expertly applied eyeliner. “Yes. You keep asking and I keep saying the same thing. You bought that dress for a reason, it’s about time you wear it. You look hot. I didn’t know you owned anything so risqué. I’m proud of you.”
I laughed. “I can be wild—sometimes.”
“Good. Now, hurry up and finish getting ready. I’m going to order a car,” she said, stepping away from the mirror and fluffing her hair before plumping her breasts in the little black dress she had borrowed from my closet.
I stepped closer to the mirror, feeling a little weird to be wearing so much makeup, but in a way, it was comforting. It was a lot like wearing a mask. No one would know who I was. It was a free pass to let my hair down and get a little wild and crazy. The normal, slightly straitlaced Hannah was taking a break tonight.
With a few more brushstrokes, I perfected my smoky eye look, added a smear of clear lip gloss, and declared myself ready. The heels I had put on weren’t exactly the best for dancing, but they looked too damn good with the dress not to wear.
Amber brought me another glass of wine. “The car will be here in ten minutes. Let’s do this!”
“I can’t believe I’m actually going out. I feel like a kid in college.”
“You should feel like that. The past five years you have been working your ass off. Now it’s time to have some fun and enjoy the fruits of your labor.”
I laughed. It was a little ironic that now was the time to have fun—after I lost my job. I quickly pushed the thought out of my head. I wasn’t going to think about any of that. It was time to shed the past and look forward to the future. The alcohol pumping through my veins was definitely giving me a rosier outlook on life.
Thirty minutes later, Amber and I were walking into one of the upscale clubs in the city. Normally, I would have felt out of place and worried I wouldn’t fit in. I didn’t feel like that right then. I felt like one of the many twentysomethings, with a few thirtysomethings, living a privileged life. I was hanging with the beautiful people.
“Let’s get a drink!” Amber shouted over the loud music.
I smiled, giving her a thumbs-up before she grabbed my hand and led me through the crowd toward the bar. She ordered two rum and Cokes.
“Good evening, ladies,” a guy who didn’t look old enough to be in a club said, standing directly in front of me, smiling.
He was handsome, but oh so young. “Good evening.” I smiled back.
Amber practically purred under the man’s gaze. I stepped around her, having no interest in the kid and grabbed our drinks, prepared to pay, but was informed they had already been paid for.
“Thank you,” I told the young man who was making eyes at Amber.
“I always buy drinks for the prettiest girls in the place,” he said in a smooth voice.
I smiled and managed to avoid rolling my eyes. “I’m going to look for a table,” I said loud enough for Amber to hear.
We snaked our way through the crowd, Amber stopping every few feet to smile and flirt with a guy while I waited.
“Got one!” I shouted, grabbing her hand and dragging her toward a small table that had just been vacated.
“This is so fun!” she squealed.
I laughed. I wasn’t quite feeling the fun. I had been hit on more in the fifteen minutes I had been at the club than I had in the last five years. It was the dress. I felt like I should write a review letting women know the dress was a man magnet. Wear this dress for offers of meaningless sex, I envisioned the title.
A couple guys approached, they were a little older, but I still felt like I was at a college frat party. Amber was absolutely glowing with all the attention being showered on us.
“Can we ask you ladies to dance?” the first guy asked.
I looked at him, then Amber. “Absolutely!” Amber said with excitement.
I shrugged. “Sure.”
We quickly finished our drinks. We had no intention of leaving them unattended while we danced. We hit the dance floor, filled with a lot of hot bodies, competing perfume and cologne smells, and the smell of sweet alcohol. I danced, doing my best to be as carefree as Amber, but I wasn’t feeling it. The guy who’d asked me to dance was getting a little too close for comfort. I backed away, but he kept coming. As soon as the song ended, I headed back for the table. He followed.
“Can I buy you a drink?” he asked.
I looked at the empty glass still on the table and figured what the hell. “Sure, thank you.”
He waved the waitress over and ordered us another round. I turned my attention to Amber on the dance floor, watching her bump and grind with a completely different guy than who she’d gone out there with.
“What’s your story?” the guy asked.
“My story?” I said, having to speak loudly to be heard over the music.
“You don’t seem into this scene,” he said.
I smiled. “Very perceptive. This isn’t my thing. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be a drag.”
He shrugged. “Not a problem. I see a friend I’m going to go say hi to. Try and have some fun,” he said before abandoning me at the table.
I couldn’t blame him. There was no chance he was getting laid by me. I looked around the room and realized it really wasn’t my scene. Everyone looked so young and immature. In the back of my mind, I thought about Grayson. He was a man. Mature, dominating, and so much more than the guys I watched grinding against anything that moved on the dance floor. I was a little embarrassed for them.
I missed Grayson. He was a big, fat jerk, but I missed him. I knew there was more to him than the tough exterior he presented to the world. I had caught glimpses of it and knew with a little time and energy, I could get to that part of him.
“You look lonely. Do you want to dance?” A male voice cut through my Grayson thoughts.
I looked up to see a guy, I couldn’t bring myself to call them men. “I’m not lonely. I’m waiting for someone,” I said with a friendly smile as I lied through my teeth.
“You sure about that? That dress is begging for attention. I’d like to see it on the floor of my hotel room,” he said with a practiced smile.
I inwardly groaned. “Well, my fiancé prefers I leave my dresses on his bedroom floor,” I replied without missing a beat.
He purposely looked at my hand where Grayson’s ring was still on. I hadn’t been able to bring myself to take it off, even though I knew I should have given it back. “Sure.” He sneered before walking away.
I shouldn’t have come out. I wasn’t sure why I thought I could go out to the club, drink, dance and forget all about Grayson. He wasn’t the kind of guy you just forgot about. It was going to take some time, but I would get him out of my head. I needed to steel myself for when the time came to see him again. I would have to see him. I needed to be officially fired. I would make him do it in person. No matter what he said, I wasn’t going to let him get close again.
I had to be strong. I couldn’t let him apologize, then have me turn all gooey in the middle when he looked at me with those sexy bedroom eyes. I was definitely not going to let him put his hand between my legs like he was so apt to do. He had walls up. I was going to put some of my own up. I decided in that moment, I was going to be the coldhearted bitch he thought I was. I could do it. I would not let him walk all over me and control my life.
“No way, buddy,” I mumbled, taking a drink to give myself a little more liquid courage to be strong. I only hoped it would carry over into next week. I would be strong. He’d crossed a line and I was going to make sure he knew it.
Grayson
I scanned the dance floor and noticed a woman in a blue dress that immediately conjured up some wild fantasies. The way her hips moved, her arms stretching to the ceiling and her head rolling back and forth looked familiar. It reminded me of Hannah. Hell, now I was really losing my mind. I was seeing her in other women.
I sucked down the scotch, doing my best not to stare at the woman in the blue dress, but something kept drawing me back to her.
“She’s hot,” Jason said from beside me.
I turned to look at him. “Indeed.”
When I looked back, she was gone. I immediately scanned the crowd, trying to find her. She had left the dance floor. I hoped she hadn’t left the club. I wanted to watch her some more. It was then I saw her standing next to a small table. I could only see her profile, but I would know that face anywhere. It was Hannah. She was chatting with a guy, smiling, her perfect lips sucking on a little red straw as she flirted.
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to take care of something,” I grumbled to Jason.
He grinned. “Good luck. She may be a little too much for you.”
He had no idea how true that was. I felt like a tiger stalking its prey as I went around the edge of the dance floor, my gaze focused on her.
“Where’s your boyfriend?” I asked.
Her eyes popped up from where she had been staring into her glass. “Grayson?” she said, shock on her face.
I sneered. “I’m sorry. Did I interrupt another date with Jack?”
Her mouth dropped open. I stared at her face. She was wearing a lot of makeup, giving her a sultry appearance that had me thinking of all kinds of things I’d like to do to her body.
“Jack isn’t here,” she replied.
I reached out and grabbed her hand. “Bullshit.”
She shook her head, pulling her hand out from under mine. “You’re an idiot. You have no idea what you’re talking about,” she shot back.
I raised one eyebrow. “I saw you.”
“You saw me having lunch with an old friend from college. You didn’t see anything else!”
I shook my head. “You’re a liar. I saw the way you two looked at each other. You were flirting and smiling. I saw you reach out and touch his hand. I bet he made you wet. You fucked me thinking of him.”
Her eyes went wide before narrowing to small slits. “Okay, first of all, it’s really kind of weird that you stood out there and watched us for that long. Second of all, you’re so wrong. I think you have a very vivid imagination and saw something that wasn’t there. And for the record, he didn’t make me wet and when I was fucking you, he was definitely not the man I was thinking about.”
Hearing her talk so bluntly was turning me on. I couldn’t let that happen. I needed to stay pissed. If I let my dick do the thinking, I’d be fucking her up against the bathroom wall. That dress she was wearing was killing me.
“Why?” I said the single word.
“Why what?” she snapped.
“Why were you having lunch with him? You lied to me. You knew it was wrong! Were you plotting how to get him the company?”
“No! I told you, we were friends. He wanted to get lunch and I agreed. I had no idea you guys had some weird competition going on. I didn’t know having lunch in a public, well-lit restaurant would violate our contract.” She glowered at me. Her anger was making me more pissed than I had been.
“Don’t get righteous with me. You’re pissed because you got caught,” I hissed.
She shook her head. “I didn’t get caught. I wish you could be a reasonable human being, but you are so stuck on whatever it is you think happened, you can’t see the truth.”
“Why Jack? Why would you hook up with him? Were you purposely trying to piss me off?” I asked.
She looked murderous. “You have no clue. Absolutely clueless.”
I scoffed. “Good defense, Hannah.”
“I’ve told you the truth. I agreed to have lunch with him. I didn’t know what he was doing. Maybe he did set it up for you to catch us together. Obviously, he knows you well enough to predict how you would react. I didn’t. I’m glad I found out now, though.”
I smirked. “You didn’t think I would be upset to find out my fake fiancée was screwing around with my brother? I mean, even in the strangest, most forward-thinking worlds that has to be some kind of violation.”
She shrugged. “Aren’t you the one who said you felt nothing for me?” she shot back.
“We were sleeping together,” I hissed, hating that I felt jealous at all.
“Sleeping together? Is that what you call it? Good to know,” she said, a look of disgust on her face.
She looked away, pretending interest in the people behind me, moving their bodies in time with the slow beat of drums booming through the speakers all around us.
“So?” I asked.
“So, what?”
I wanted to know. I had to know. “Are you sleeping with him as well? Do you have some twisted fantasy about a threesome? You want two Bancroft brothers banging you at the same time? I assure you it has probably been done in the past. However, I’m not the kind of man who shares—anything,” I growled.
“I never—why? You have issues. Serious issues. Issues you should probably seek counseling for, along with your brother,” she said dryly.
I shrugged a shoulder. “So, is that a no?”
She rolled her eyes. “Grayson, if you feel nothing for me and we were nothing more than a couple one-night stands, what’s your problem? Why do you care who I’m sleeping with?”
My nostrils flared, and I felt a surge of rage race through my body. “It is true! I knew it! Did you jump from my bed straight into his? Did you take turns between us? Please tell me you showered before you came to my bed after being with him.”
“You’re vile. I can’t believe you would ever think of me like that. Unlike you, I take sex a little more serious than that. Clearly, you’re speaking from experience. Experience I don’t have.”
I shook my head. “I thought you were different. I was a fool to think you were anything more than every other woman I’ve been with,” I said, meaning every word.
Her eyes flashed with anger. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you are exactly who I thought you were. I was the one fooled by your smooth moves and practiced touches. I was fooled into thinking you really were a decent man. I was wrong. Your reputation is spot-on. I knew there was a reason I wanted nothing to do with you.”
“Ah, but my money changed your way of thinking. You were drawn to the power and the wealth, just like all the others. When you realized I couldn’t be controlled by what was between your legs, you decided I was a jerk.”
She shook her head. “Nope. I decided you were a jerk when I walked into your office. What you’re doing and saying now, further confirms my suspicions.”
I stared into her blue eyes, deciding in that moment I hated all the dark shadow and liner she was wearing. It made her eyes look dark. I liked her clear, bright-blue eyes that always looked so full of life and spunk. This sultry look wasn’t her.
“Money has a funny way of making people do things they wouldn’t normally do, like sleeping with a man they don’t really like. You were able to forget all about my reputation when you thought you could marry my wealth and make me your slave,” I said in a voice so low I wasn’t sure she would hear.
“I have money. I don’t need your money. I don’t want it—or you—for that matter. This whole thing was a mistake. I never should have agreed to your stupid proposal. I wish I could take it all back,” she said, her eyes sparkling with tears.
I stared at her. I wanted to believe her. She sounded genuine, but my mind kept telling me not to fall for her tricks. She was setting me up. She was using her femininity and her body to control me. I was not a fool. I wouldn’t let her do that to me.
“I guess you’d be willing to say just about anything, wouldn’t you? You were wil
ling to sleep with me to keep your company, so lying to me about your relationship with Jack comes naturally to you,” I told her, watching her face fall as I said the words.
“I didn’t sleep with you to keep my company. I agreed to marry you, but the sleeping together thing … that was something entirely different. I don’t use my body to get ahead.”
I chuckled. “Are you sure about that? It seems like I remember fucking you, several times after I promised to let you stay on as the CEO. I think that is enough proof that you do fuck men to get what you want.”
“What is wrong with you? Who hurt you so badly to turn you into a monster?” she whispered.
I laughed. “Nothing is wrong with me. I see people for what they are.”
She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before reaching for her hand and pulling the ring off. She looked at it held between her two fingers. Then, she tossed it at me, hitting me in the chest. The ring bounced off and hit the floor. I didn’t move, my eyes on hers. The unshed tears were glistening as she stared at me. I could see the hurt as she searched my eyes for something I didn’t have.
Then, she spun around on those sexy high heels and walked toward the door without looking back. I watched her friend Amber chase after her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Amber turned and glared at me, mouthed the word “asshole,” and they disappeared out the door.
I bent down to pick up the ring and stared at the sparkling diamond. I thought about the moment she had picked it out. I knew she liked the ring, even though it had been like pulling teeth to get her to choose one. I slid the ring into my pocket, looking around to see if anyone had noticed the dramatic scene. It didn’t appear as if anyone did. They were all too caught up in their own worlds to notice the guy being a total dick to the girl in the blue dress.