by Harper Sloan
With a shrug, I lift the cool glass to my lips and take it down with one swallow. My eyes sting as the liquid burns down my throat and into my belly. I blink a few times to clear my vision as I slam the glass down and wave the same man over.
This time, he takes my money, and I wave him off when he goes to get change. I shoot the drink back before pointing at the glass again, silently demanding another.
He leans against the bar and just tips the bottle over the glass again.
Three more shots and no more cash, I'm finally able to handle the burn without wanting to gag.
Of course, that would be when I open my eyes expecting to see my new best friend the bartender's brown eyes, but instead, I see the emerald fury of Nate Reid.
Maybe it's the shots or maybe it's just the hold he's always had on me, but I don't move. Not even when I see him moving his arms as my old friend, brown-eyed bartender, hands him a cup and a few bottles. He does something with them, but I couldn't tell you what because my eyes never leave his face.
When a body collides with mine from behind, pushing me against the bar painfully, the trance he had me stuck in is broken, and I look away to watch some drunken man stumble after a group of girls. Before I look back at Nate, I peek over at the table our group of girls is occupying. Gazes locked on us, they all wear expressions with slack jaws.
Well, everyone except Nikki. She looks like she just discovered Santa was real and won the lotto in the same sweep.
I feel something cold hit the hand I have resting on the bar, and I turn back around, glancing down to where Nate is pushing a drink into my hand. I look at the colorful drink instead of the man pushing it toward me. He's swirling the drink around with a stick, mixing the colors inside the glass for a second before he pulls his hand up. I watch as the stick becomes a lollipop, then follow its path up until Nate's smirking lips open to suck the candy in his mouth once before popping it out and dropping it back down into my glass.
My gaze doesn't look at the drink this time, nope ... no sir, this time, I study his mouth as his tongue dips out and wets those thick lips that had me coming undone just minutes ago. I feel my breath pull in a choppy inhale and look up to meet his eyes. I'm not sure what to make of the expression on his face, and if I'm honest, fear and self-preservation are what keeps me from trying to figure it out.
At that moment, all rational thoughts die a shocked death.
Nate reaches forward, tags the lollipop from my drink again, and before I realize what's happening, he begins to paint my lips with the wet, sticky candy of the lollipop, and the music changes from some Justin Timberlake song to something I haven't ever heard before. His features morph into a sadistic grin and an equally wicked gleam shines in his eyes before pulling the candy away and dropping it back into the glass.
Call it intuition, but the second I see both his palms press against the bar's surface, I reach out and tag the glass in my hand, pulling it toward my chest just as he literally jumps from where he had been standing on the ground to a crouched position with his feet on the bar.
I hear the whole club go electric and notice just out of the corner of my eye that my brown-eyed friend is also standing on the bar as the song's lyrics hit my brain. Something about lollipops.
Holy shit.
Nate stands, his body moving with the music, and I back up to see him a little better. A small step, but that's all that is needed. He reaches up, his eyes never leaving mine, and grabs some handle thing that is hanging above him.
You know that scene in Magic Mike when Mike is spinning and all that on the stage ... well, that's the only way I can describe what Nate does next. One large fist around the handle holds his huge body up while spinning him in quick circles. I gasp when he lets go and slams his feet back down on the bar. He doesn't even look the slightest bit dizzy when he drops down to his hands and knees against the wooden surface.
He flips his loose hair from his face and turns his head to look directly into my eyes, pulling his thick bottom lip into his mouth as he starts to fuck the wood under his body. I have to squeeze my legs together with the vision before me because I know, I just know, if I were under him with my legs spread, his dick would be drilling into my body, deep and hard.
When he pushes up and spins on his knees to face me, his crotch eye level with my face, he slowly starts to move his shirt up. As he reveals each deliciously hard ab, I can hear the screams around us getting louder.
I hear the music increase in tempo as he leans forward, dropping his shirt and covering his beautiful body. I stand there in shock as he pulls the lollipop back up from my drink and presses the cold, wet candy against my lips. They part without conscious thought to take the lollipop inside my mouth.
The song ends and he gives me a wink as he pulls the candy from my mouth and into his own before he jumps from the bar to the space in front of me. I feel lightheaded when he leans down and runs his nose against the shell of my ear, making me gasp.
"You.Are.Mine," he growls before taking my earlobe between his lips and biting my flesh roughly between his teeth. A moan rumbles from deep in his chest and his breath echoes in my ear.
And what do I do?
I stand there and come, again, from just the simplest of touches.
Well, fuck me.
"STOP MOVING," I GROAN AND pull my covers over my head as I pray for my stomach to stop swirling.
"I'm not moving, the world is," Nikki rasps from behind me and rips the covers from my face to cocoon herself in some weird blanket burrito.
She wiggles some more and the movement makes my stomach instantly revolt. I jump from the bed, almost tripping over where Bam is laying on the floor. I'm sure if I could see the weird dance I make to keep from stumbling to the ground, I would laugh, but instead, my eyes start to water as I run through my dark bedroom and into to the bathroom. My knees slam on the ground so hard it feels like my teeth rattle in my mouth. Ignoring the pain, I lift the lid and vomit violently.
"Oh, God!" I hear Nikki scream and the sounds of her rushing from the bedroom. I can hear her own sounds of being sick echo through my house and hope she, at least, made it to the guest bathroom before losing the contents of her stomach.
Long, agonizing minutes later, I finally feel like I can move my head from the toilet. I drop to my butt and lean against the wall as I test my ability to move without getting sick again.
Slowly, I crawl on my hands and knees until I reach the bed. Bam gives me a sniff before ignoring me to go back to sleep. Lifting my arm, I glance at the clock next to my bed and see that it's just past four in the morning. With a groan, I reach up and pull my comforter down from the bed before curling up next to Bam's furry body as the world continues to spin.
I fall back to sleep just as I hear Nikki stumble back to the bed. She mumbles about having no covers, but then her snores fill the air, and I join her a beat later.
I hear my phone vibrating against my nightstand. Peeling open my eyes, I see that the sunlight is now shining through the slats in my blinds. Feeling marginally better, I reach up and grab my phone without moving much of my body.
"'Lo?" I utter into the phone.
"Be quiet," Nikki grumbles.
"Well, don't you two sound pleasant this morning," my sister practically sings in my ear.
"Do you have to be so loud?" I question.
She laughs and I pull the phone from my ear. "Get up and drink tons of water, brat. Take some Advil and trust me when I tell you that you'll feel better with something bland in your stomach."
"There is no way in hell I'm putting anything in my stomach," I force out when just the thought makes my stomach revolt.
"I'm on the way." She sighs and hangs up.
I drop the phone and curl back up with Bam.
This time, instead of getting a little peaceful sleep, my visions are full of Nate. That kiss. That dance. And his words.
By the time my sister is poking me with her foot, I was so worked up I was seconds away from shovin
g my hand down my sleep shorts and taking care of my arousal.
He's put some voodoo curse on me.
My body seems to be stuck in some sort of Nate-induced provocation of lust and need.
"Time to get up, Em!"
I jump at Maddi's outburst and glare up at her.
"Here," she says and thrusts a huge bottle of water in my face.
I take it with greed-fueled need, as the dryness in my mouth seems to intensify at the sight of water.
"Slow down," she says when I take huge pulls and gulps of water, the excess running from the sides of my mouth and onto the top of my shirt. "You're going to get sick if you drink that fast. Slow down and take these," she stresses, pulling the bottle away from me and pushing two pills into my mouth before pressing the water back to my lips.
She continues to stand over me until I've drunk almost half of the bottle before giving me a piece of toast. I give her a look of disbelief--doubting I'll be able to actually keep that down--but I take it and slowly nibble. By the time I had finished the second piece, I was feeling less zombie-like and closer to a lukewarm human.
"Better?" she asks knowingly.
"Don't be a bragger."
She just laughs at me and helps pull me up from the floor. I look over at Nikki with a smile when I see her finishing some toast of her own.
"Don't worry, she got to me too. She's like the hangover Nazi."
"Go clean yourself up, then meet me in the living room so we can chat," Maddi says before leaving the room.
"Well," Nikki says with a mouth full of toast. "You heard the tyrant. Get your ass in gear before she comes back in here with more demands."
"I heard that," my sister calls from further in the house.
"I meant for you to!" Nikki yells back.
Rolling my eyes, I drag myself into the bathroom and go about 'cleaning myself up.'
"So ..."
I groan, pulling the brush through my hair, and ignore my sister.
"Yeah, I second that so," Nikki adds when I don't make a move to speak.
I finish brushing my hair before dropping the brush down on the coffee table. I curl my legs up and wrap my arms around them before looking at the two of them sitting on the loveseat together, waiting none too patiently for me to give them what they want.
"So he just danced a little. What more do you want?"
"Uh ... no. I want you to start with when he pulled you over his shoulder like Tarzan and you disappeared up those stairs. Then you can end with what happened when he 'just danced a little,' which in turn caused you to put so much alcohol into your body that you had to be carried out to the car and put to bed without so much as moving a muscle."
I gasp at my sister in shock. "I had to be carried out? I don't remember that."
She laughs. "Well, I would think not since you were basically comatose when Cohen helped you in the back of his truck. You didn't even move once. Which, bravo on taking your twenty-first down like a beast."
"I'm never drinking again," I vow.
"Sure ... that's what everyone says." She laughs.
"Would you two shut up and get to the good stuff."
I roll my eyes at Nikki, look down at my toes, and make a mental note to repaint them later.
"I'm not even sure I understand what happened," I tell them honestly.
"How about you start at the beginning, and we can help you figure that out," Maddi says compassionately.
With a sigh, I do just that and start from the beginning. Well, more like the middle since both of them know what started all of this--that being my humiliating graduation night.
I gloss over the night of Dani and Cohen's wedding. I'm not sure why, but deep down, I know that moment should be left between Nate and me. "We had a run-in almost two years ago. It wasn't pretty, and no, I'm not going to give you more than that. It's been ... hard, you could say, for me to be around him since."
"I knew it," Maddi exclaims. "I knew there was a lot more to why you weren't coming around when the family was all together."
I narrow my eyes. "Are you going to let me finish?"
She holds up her hands. "Sorry, proceed."
"Anyway, I reminded him earlier this week why things had been strained and he's been trying to get a hold of me since. I ignored him because I really wasn't ready to face that stuff yet. Hell, I'm not sure I am now. Then ... well, then last night happened."
"I'm not really sure where to go with that, Em. That's pretty vague."
I drop my head to my knees at my sister's words and try to organize my thoughts.
"He threw my love for him in my face years ago, Maddi. Then hurt me even worse a few years later. Then, without memory of even doing that, he hurt me again a few days ago. Until last night, he's never even hinted at feeling anything more than a friendship type bond toward me. Now, my mind is running wild because last night he dragged me to his office, kissed me to the point of death, and then ended it with that dance. Then he left me standing there stunned stupid as he said to me, and I quote, 'you are mine.' So ... where you might not be sure where to go with that, I can assure you that I most definitely feel even more lost than you do right now."
Looking up, I stop avoiding them and take in two very stunned faces.
"He did what?" Maddi gasps.
"Well, way to go Nate-Dog!" Nikki yells.
"What about Levi?" my sister continues with a bitter look on her face, ignoring Nikki's outburst completely.
"I know it doesn't make it better, I mean I did kiss another man last night. Well, he kissed me, but I didn't push him away immediately, so I'm at just as much fault, but for what it's worth, I was breaking up with him tomorrow. It's been a long time coming, but I've just been putting it off to avoid the confrontation."
Maddi tries, but she does a crap job at hiding the happiness in her expression.
"You didn't do anything wrong," Nikki says softly, her face a mask of understanding as she nods gently. Of course, she understands. She knows everything that's happened between Levi and me that has led up to that decision.
"When did you decide this?" Maddi asks hopefully.
"A few days ago, for sure. But I've been thinking about it for a few weeks. I would have already broken it off, but he's been working all weekend. He got off this morning and went right to bed. Hell, maybe the gym, but regardless, we don't have plans to see each other until later tonight or tomorrow."
She nods, looking over at a still nodding Nikki before her nod turns into a shake of her head at my weird friend's theatrics.
"Okay," she starts, and I hold my breath. I would hate it if she were disappointed in me for the way I'm handling the men in my life. Shit, men in my life? When did I become one of those girls? "I'm going to have to agree with Nikki, Em. You aren't exactly an angel in this situation, but you didn't instigate things between you and Nate. And if I'm being honest, if I were in your shoes, I'm not sure I would have been able to resist the kind of sexual tension you two have going on."
"But?"
Her face goes soft before she stands and walks over to the couch, sitting down next to me and pulling me into her arms. "No buts, little sister. You're in one hell of a complicated situation, and the only advice I can give you is to follow your heart."
"My heart needs to stop and ask for directions," I mumble against her chest.
I feel her laugh before she speaks. "Then you know what I think?"
Lifting my head with a sniffle to keep my emotions in check, I wait for her to continue.
"It's time to call Mom."
MY COCK IS GOING TO fall off.
I grab the shirt I had thrown off last night and wipe my come off my abs before tossing it in the general direction of my laundry hamper.
I look down at my still hard cock in disgust and wonder if this is one of those moments I should call my doctor because my erection has lasted longer than four hours.
Hell, it's lasted longer than twelve.
I frown when I watch it grow even harde
r at the memory of why I've been in this predicament for so long.
Ember.
My little firecracker.
She lit up like the Fourth of July just from my kiss.
She might think I didn't notice, but when her body got tight in my arms just seconds before those sweet fucking tremors took hold of her, I knew.
I reach out and grab my lube, again, and get ready to fuck my fist when I would give just about anything to have Ember here in my bed. Just when I'm wrapping my fist around my cock, my phone goes off and I sigh, looking sadly at my crotch.
"Dude, you're going to have to just stay hard," I moan before placing my cell to my ear.
"Son?"
"What's up?"
"Do I even want to know what you were just saying?"
"Probably not, but hey ... how long do I wait for my dick to go soft before I need to worry?"
Silence meets my question, and I pull the phone from my ear checking to see if the call was dropped.
"Uh," my dad starts, and I drop back on the bed, feeling my cock bounce against my stomach.
"Not something I'm exactly excited to have to ask, but I would rather ask you than call the doctor."
I hear my mom say something in the background. My dad's voice sounds muffled when he says something in return, then I hear him moving around the house before responding. "Nate, did you take something?"
I laugh without humor. "Fuck, no. I wish that were the problem."
"If you didn't take something, do you want to tell me why you're having this little issue?"
"It's not a little issue," I mumble looking down at my cock again to see just how far from little my issue really is.
"Smartass."
"Let's just say, I had a run-in with a woman who started this problem, and I haven't been able to get soft since."
"And you didn't take anything?"
"Jesus fucking Christ, I don't do drugs!"
He chuckles softly, and I try not to be annoyed that he thinks this is a time to be cracking jokes.
"I remember when I first met your mother," he starts, and I quickly shut that shit down.
"I'm going to need your advice to be void of anything that starts with a sentence like that," I boom into the phone.
His laughter rumbles louder.
"Not even that took care of your problem, huh?"
I look down, my cock still angry fucking red, the tip wet with pre-come when I shouldn't have anything left in me, and groan.