Catching Avery

by M. E. Clayton

  No wonder we hadn’t been invited.

  I was so caught up in how we were going to sneak back out of here, I didn’t grasp that Quinn and Isabella were done until I heard all the clapping. However, instead of them getting off stage, Avery joined them.

  As soon as the first bars of Bruno Mars’ 24 Karat Magic started playing, the girls went into a routine that they have, no doubt, done thousands of times before. They couldn’t sing worth a lick, but their enjoyment was so infectious I found myself smiling.

  The bartender finally delivered our drinks, but instead of starting a tab, I pulled out my wallet to pay in cash. We couldn’t stay here. As much fun as we were guaranteed to have with these three wildly, perfect women, the fact that they were sitting with their co-workers made our being here more inappropriate than we were already being.

  If that were even possible.

  I chugged half my beer before breaking the news to Julez and Chase. “Come on, guys. We can’t stay here. They’re partying with other co-workers.”

  Shocked to shit, Chase agreed with me. “You’re right. We don’t need the entire building to know our business come Monday morning.”

  And then, like the selfish asshole that he was, Julian rubbed a vigorous amount of salt in our unprofessional wounds. “You guys don’t need anyone knowing your business. Luckily, Isabella doesn’t work for us, so I don’t have to go anywhere.”

  Chase wasn’t having any of it. “You wouldn’t, dude!”

  Julian just laughed. “Oh, I would. You guys had an entire bar full of women to choose from last week. It’s not my fault you chose those two.”

  Chase shook his head. “You’re an asshole, Julian.”

  “No doubt, but I’m an asshole who’s going to go home with the woman he wants tonight.” Julian finished off his beer. “You and Sav can go home and have game night. It’ll be fun.”

  The girls had finished singing and gave up the mic to the next set of karaoke starlets and because I was paying more attention to the girls than to Julian and Chase’s bickering, I was the only one to notice how Quinn sat all cozy like next to one of the guys.

  I had to get Chase out of here. Fast.

  I polished off my beer and gave Julian my best something-is-not-right look. He gave me a puzzled look, and it wasn’t until I tilted my head towards the table did he notice what I was noticing. “You know, on second thought, I’ll just head out with you guys. Isabella’s having a fun girls’ night out with Quinn and Avery. I’ll just hit her up tomorrow,” he said as he went to stand in front of Chase. Chase and I were the same height, so only Julian could effectively block his view.

  Chase regarded Julian with all the suspicion Julian deserved. “What happened to letting me and Nick suffer alone.”

  “My love for you guys kicked in and it always wins,” he replied absently as he started to herd Chase in the direction of the exit. “I’m a great friend like that.”

  “Fine, Fuckface, just let me finish my beer.” Somehow, Chase found his way around Julian and the second Chase’s arm came to a dead stop, with his beer halfway tilted towards his mouth, I knew shit was going to go south.

  Fuck. This wasn’t good.

  Chase rarely lost his shit. So when he did, it was in spectacular fashion. “What in the fuck does she think she’s doing?”

  Julian grabbed him by his shirt and dragged him back into the shadowed corner of the bar, while I followed behind, caging Chase in between us. Still holding on to Chase, Julian tried to get him to see reason. “Chase, dude, you gotta think this through. If you go over there, everyone at that table is going to think Quinn is sleeping with the boss.”

  We had to get through to him. “He’s right, Chase. You can’t do it.”

  He rounded on me. “And if it was Avery?”

  “That’s different, Chase, and you know it.”

  Chase looked ready to do battle and I couldn’t blame him. I’d be reacting the same way if they were trying to keep me from Avery under the same circumstances. “Have you fucked Avery yet?”

  I reared my head back. “What the fuck, man?”

  “Just answer the question, Nick. If you’ve slept with her, then I’ll concede that the situations are different, but if you haven’t slept with her yet, you’re in the same boat I am. Don’t be a hypocrite.”

  “Maybe, but I’m not the one about to storm over to her table and announce to everyone she works with that I’m fucking her or want to fuck her,” I barked, trying to make him see reason.

  Chase leveled me with a look only someone who knows me like he does could. “So, if she was sitting on some fucking prick’s lap, you’d remain calm enough to handle this at a more appropriate time?”

  I was about to lie to my best friend. But in my defense, I was doing it to keep him from ruining things with Quinn. “Quinn is not sitting on anyone’s lap, but yes, because I wouldn’t want to fuck it up before it even began.”

  The second Chase’s face morphed into a smirk, I knew I was fucked. “Kudos, Nick, that’s very mature of you. So, I guess you can handle Avery innocently dancing with some guy, too.”

  Julian let out a ‘fuck’ as I turned around to see what the hell Chase was talking about. Avery was on the dance floor dancing with some fucking tool…who was not one of her co-workers.

  Julian moved to stand in front of the both of us. “Think about this, guys. Once you two fools go over there, there will be no turning back. None. Pandora’s Box and all that.”

  I didn’t care. I wasn’t the caveman Julian was and I may not be the bulldozer Chase was, but I’d be goddamned if Avery was going to be dancing with another guy hours after my face was buried in her pussy. The fact that she thought she could was a problem for me.

  I started making my way through the crowd with Chase hot on my heels, and I didn’t doubt for a second that Julian was right behind him. Right or wrong, Julian always had our backs. Always.

  The song had ended, and Avery had already made her way back to her seat, but because she and Quinn were seated with their backs to us, the only one who could see us coming was Isabella. We probably looked like avenging angels descending on the table if the expression on her face was any indication.

  She tried to warn the girls. Bless her little naïve heart. “Q, Ace…” Isabella started, but the girls were too busy having fun to take note of the seriousness in her voice. I recognized the moment everyone else at the table took note of who we were, because the table noise came to a definite silence.

  “Jul-” Julian passed by us and made his way over to the other side of the table to get to Isabella, leaving me and Chase to stand behind, a still clueless, Avery and Quinn.

  Then the ever articulate Quinn uttered a, ‘what the fuck,’ when Julian lifted Isabella out of her seat, sat down in said seat, and locked her onto his lap. Isabella was undeniably off the market. She just didn’t know it yet. But every man at this table now did.

  “Ladies.” Who knew one little, two syllable word out of Chase’s mouth could knock around drinks and chairs all over the place.

  Avery and Quinn whipped around so fast, I’m surprised neither of them got whiplash. “Wh...what…who…what?” I’d laugh at Avery’s stunned expression if we didn’t have such a rapt audience.

  Quinn looked furious. “Mr. Savage, Mr. Alexander,” she ignored Julian, “what a coincidence seeing you gentlemen here tonight.”

  And then Chase did something none of us could come back from. “We know you ladies wanted a boyfriend-free night, but Julian decided Isabella wasn’t going to be boyfriend-free tonight after all, so here we are.”

  I could hear a couple of people at the table choking on their drinks, but Quinn was on point, as always. “Oh, well thanks for dropping him off. We’ll make sure he and Iz get home safely.” The condescending smile she gave us was beautiful. Quinn’s smile was so stunning, she could probably stop a world war with it.

  I decided to intervene before she and Chase came to blows in front of everyone. “You guys do
n’t mind if we join you, do you?” I wasn’t stupid. I knew there’s no way they were going to object to us joining them. Especially Julian, since he was their direct boss.

  You could hear a bunch of mumbles of ‘sure’, ‘of course not’, ‘yeah’, ‘cool’. The only people not eagerly agreeing were the girls. I knew Isabella was going to cast her vote based on what Avery and Quinn wanted to do. She and Julian weren’t caught up in the same fucked up unprofessional trap the rest of us were in.

  The assholes.

  Avery tried to protest. “There aren’t any extra chairs or else we’d be happy for you to join us.”

  And because jealousy and lust were a lethal combination, Chase solved that predicament without thinking it through. “No problem, sweetheart.” And he proceeded to follow in Julian’s footsteps. He yanked Quinn out of her seat, commandeered her chair, and then plopped her back onto his lap.

  I didn’t think Quinn would murder him in front of so many witnesses, but I had no doubt that she would eventually murder him.

  Pity. I sucked at making new friends.

  Avery was looking up at me to see if I was going to follow suit, but I just jerked my head to the side giving her the choice to peacefully vacate her seat or follow in the wake of her friends. She looked over at Isabella and Quinn and quietly gave into defeat. She stood up and waited until I was seated before she made her way onto my lap. As she sat down, she whispered in my ear, “We’re going to torture you three until your souls leave your body and it’s going to last for days. I suggest you guys make an announcement that you’ll be out of the office for a week or so.”

  Okay, maybe not so quietly.

  I just wrapped my arms around her and took her threat of violence like a man.

  I mean, to be fair, we sort of did deserve it.

  Chapter 12

  Lust: Because who in the hell has silver fucking eyes???

  Nicholas~

  Julian did his best to smooth things over with everyone and assure them that they could continue drinking and having a good time, but it still felt strained. I knew our fuck up was serious when Quinn was called up by the DJ and she declined her song. After that, everyone else declined their turns as well.

  This was so not good.

  “So, looks like it’s getting late,” Steve stated-unconvincingly; it was barely ten. “I’m thinking I might head over to that new place, Xavier’s. I hear it’s the place to be these days.”

  Maria reached for the metaphorical baton. “I heard the same thing. If we head over now, we might still be able to get in.” She gave Jill, Tony and Joe a not so subtle look.

  “Xavier’s sounds great, we-”

  Chase cut Quinn off. “Make sure you guys get there safely. We’re just going to kick back here.”

  Jill didn’t know what was going on exactly, but she knew enough not to argue. “Sounds good,” she replied,grabbing her purse.“Thanks for inviting us out Quinn. This was fun. We should do it again sometime.” The ‘without the bosses’ was strongly implied.

  Quinn just smiled at her. “Sure thing, Jill.”

  As soon as they were out the door, Avery and Quinn jumped up off our laps and sat next to us in the newly empty seats. “Are you out of your fucking minds?”

  I had to admit, I didn’t see that coming. I expected Quinn to be the one to lose her shit and give us the what for, not Avery. “It’s not like we planned-”

  Avery held up an empty beer bottle and pointed the ass end of it at me. “I will crack this bottle in half and stab you with it if you dare to finish that sentence,” her mercury gaze freezing me in place.

  I opened my mouth to speak, but then closed it again. I needed to evaluate just how serious she was. I wasn’t up for being stabbed tonight. Or any other night.

  “Look, Imp…”

  “Don’t ‘look, Imp’ me, Nicholas Savage.” She still held out the beer bottle. “If you guys really didn’t plan to fuck up our night, then what the hell are you three doing here at a hole-in-the-wall bar instead of at Xavier’s?”

  “Yeah, isn’t that your scouting spot,” Quinn added, snidely.

  I took offense. Julian and I had not been ‘scouting’ last Friday night. I turned my attention from Avery to Quinn. “We don’t scout. And even if we did, we’ve already found what we want, no need to continue.”

  “Quit acting stupid, Nicholas.” Avery was genuinely upset. “Everyone at work is going to be thinking Quinn and I are fucking our bosses. Can you even fathom how humiliating that is?”

  I gritted my teeth at her declaration. First of all, it made it sound like what we were doing was sleazy, when it wasn’t. Secondly, she might not have technically fucked her boss yet, but she was going to be fucking her boss really soon, so…

  However, I couldn’t argue her point. That’s exactly what everyone they worked with would be thinking. And while, it didn’t bother me, per say…nobody needed to know our business.

  Fucking Chase and his jealousy.

  “We’ll fix it,” Chase promised the impossible.

  Quinn looked ready to strangle him. “Oh really, Father Time? Because going back in time is the only thing that is going to fix this!”

  I shrugged my shoulder as I gave them the best solution I could come up with. “It’s simple. We date out in the open instead of fucking in secret.”

  “Are you high?!” Avery accused.

  “I’m not even fucking Chase!” Quinn pointed out.

  “Just hear me out, ladies,” I implored, palms up. “The damage is already done. The only thing we can do now to minimize the rumor mill is to make our relationships respectable.”

  This is where Julian and Isabella decided to finally chime in. Julian grunted. “My relationship is respectable.”

  Isabella let out an unladylike snort. “You have this all backwards. It’s perfectly okay for us to have sex in secret. I don’t work for you. They need the ‘relationship’ label, not us.”

  I thought Julian was going to lose all touch with reality and he didn’t disappoint. “Keep telling yourself that, Isabella. You’re mine and if I have to lock you in my goddamn basement and never let you out for you to grasp that point, I will.”

  I heard Avery exhale and I cursed her fucking fantasy for the millionth time. “Focus, Imp.”

  She looked affronted. “I’m trying, but how am I supposed to concentrate when he says shit like that?” She pointed her finger at Julian like she was identifying him in a police lineup. “Plus the fucker has dimples!” I didn’t know what Julian’s dimples had to do with anything, but I found out last Friday not to hurt my brain trying to make sense of anything Avery says when she’s been drinking.

  “Christ on a cracker! Can you people focus?” Quinn screeched.

  “Relax folks, I have the perfect solution.” Isabella proclaimed. “Just tell everyone that Julian’s my boyfriend and by default our relationship has forced you ladies to hang out socially with those two imbeciles and so what they witnessed was just fun off the clock friendship.” She gave us all a smug world-problem-solving smirk.

  I was highly offended when Avery threw herself across the table and kissed Isabella on the lips. “Iz, you are a GOD!” Avery whipped her head around, glancing at all of us. “It can totally work. No one did anything to suggest anything other than playful friendship.”

  Quinn let out a whistle and whoop worthy of a strip club. She pointed at Isabella. “That’s what makes you the marketing genius that you are, Iz!”

  I couldn’t take it anymore. “Stop! Just everyone stop.”

  To my surprised they did stop. “Look, I don’t pretend to know what’s going on over there,” and I waved my hand in the direction of Julian and Isabella, “and I sure as fuck haven’t a clue what this spectacle of insanity is over here,” I bobbed my head towards Chase and Quinn, “but what I do know is whatever bullshit Avery decides to spew at work Monday morning, it is not stopping me from fucking her unconscious tonight.”

  That little announcement was m
et with a gasp by Avery, a choking sound by Isabella, a laugh by Quinn, a wink by Chase and a ‘my man’ by Julian.

  I stood up and snatched Avery up by her arm. “We are leaving. You four can do whatever the hell it is you want to do, but I’m taking Avery home and if anyone of you calls us before Monday morning, I’m going to fucking kill the whole lot of you.”

  “Wait,” Isabella objected. “Why kill all of us if only one of us calls you? That seems a might bit unfair, don’t you think?”

  I leveled her with a look. “Maybe, but I suggest if you don’t want to die, you make sure no one calls.”

  Avery barely had time to grab her purse before I was marching us out of the bar. It wasn’t until we got outside that I realized that Chase drove. “How’d you get here?”

  “We split a cab.”

  I looked up and down the street, and because God was on my side tonight, I saw a yellow vision of magnificence heading in our direction. I almost got myself run over as I jumped out into the street to flag the cab down.

  Once we got into the cab, I gave the driver my address.

  I know, I know….I’ve never taken a woman home before, but Avery wasn’t just any woman, and complete honesty here, if we went to her place, she’d be able to kick me out and if we went to a hotel, I couldn’t stop her from leaving without the cops being called; so my place it was.

  I wanted this woman something fierce, and after what happened in the conference room earlier, one night was not going to be enough. Plus, because only Chase and Julian ever came over, there wouldn’t be any interruptions. I wanted all the hours I could get with Avery without any interruptions whatsoever. None.

  Doing the math in my head, it was going to take a good twenty minutes to get from The Shack to my place and I didn’t have any doubt the cock blocking cab driver was going obey all traffic laws and stop at all the red lights.

  The fucking bastard.

  I lasted two minutes. “Come here, Imp.”

  She looked over at me. “What?”

  Giving her a look that make it clear I was at my wit’s end, I repeated my demand, “I said come here.”