“Give me a shot,” I said and nodded at the flask Bryce had smuggled in. Bryce raised his eyebrows and shook his head.
“Give it to him,” James said. “If he cock blocks us tonight because he ran into some chick that has him all wound up then I’m going to punch him in the dick.”
“Some chick? Who? Wait, never mind…it doesn’t matter,” Bryce said. “And calm down, dude, no need to dick punch.”
Bryce had his arm around Bonnie who was loudly talking to her friends over the music. I could hear snatches of Trixie bitching about me. I needed to slam back some hard booze and get my head into the game.
If I fucked this up for my friends, being punched in the dick would be the least of my concerns.
He reluctantly handed me the flask, I nodded at him in thanks. I took off the lid, tilted it up and drained the whiskey down the back of my throat.
It burned, but I needed that fire to scorch the feeling of Bay out of my head. I needed to leave blackened earth in her wake, make it so nothing else could ever grow.
I handed the empty flask back to Bryce and felt the warmth ease through my body.
After shots at dinner, several beers at the concert, and the whiskey just now, it was finally hitting me.
I would fuck Trixie to drive the thoughts of Bay from my mind.
And go home with her scent on my fingers and her taste on my tongue so Bay didn’t hold domain over my emotions any longer.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I said and reached out to take Trixie by the wrist. “Come here.”
“Ah, there you are,” Trixie said with a knowing grin.
I pulled her into my arms and began to dance with her. The song was fast, but I held her close and followed the pounding of my heart instead of the throb of drums from Blackthorn.
It sort of worked.
I kissed Trixie, our tongues entwined and our bodies pressed hard against each other and finally I began to concentrate on the woman in front of me.
But even as I kissed her and she slid her hand along the ridge of my cock through my pants, I only heard one thing in my ears.
Along with the beating of my heart was a rhythm like a drum that flowed through my body like blood.
And all it said, over and over, was, “Bay, Bay, Bay, Bay.”
7
Bay
“That was amazing!” Jen shrieked as Blackthorn left the stage.
“Incredible!” Sarah agreed, jumping up and down, clutching her VIP pass to her chest.
“It was pretty cool,” I added, but my enthusiasm was lacking.
And it wasn’t lost on my two friends. They glared at me.
“Don’t fuck this up. We met three guys and if you don’t take one of them, then we’ll lose all of them,” Sarah hissed at me.
The three guys had been outside of the VIP area, but we’d managed to talk to them a couple times during the concert.
They were university students in Dublin and had invited us back to their place after the concert.
I normally would have jumped at the chance to sleep with one of them…they were all gorgeous and had that incredible Irish accent that basically melted the panties off my body.
But Marcus had ruined my mood.
Jen nudged me in the ribs with her elbow and nodded towards the three guys walking back towards us holding a couple bottles of wine.
“I don’t know how much I should drink,” I replied. “I’ve already had so much.”
“Don’t fuck this up,” Sarah said and frowned at me. “This is our chance to be sexy and have the cool accents for once. You have no problem picking up one night stands back home, but it’s harder for us.”
I sighed and blew a thick, limp strand of hair off my forehead.
“Okay, let’s do this,” I said. “Which one is mine?”
Sarah watched them walking and said, “You take Patrick. He looks a lot like Marcus so you can rage fuck him and get over some of your anger.”
Jen laughed and said, “Sounds perfect, I want the blonde one. He’s from France so can practice my…lingual skills.”
She giggled and wagged her tongue around.
I had to laugh, my friend’s excitement was pretty catchy.
“So that leaves me with hot nerd boy who looks like one of the Black brothers,” Sarah said. “Perfect.”
The guys approached us, cracked open the wine and we kept drinking and chatting as we slowly made our way out of the arena.
The crowd was still massive, people pushing and shoving and trying to find rides home or line up for transit.
We hadn’t planned this part of things that well, we didn’t know how we were going to get back to their place.
“It’s not far,” Patrick said. “I’ll message one of our friends and get a ride.”
In no time a little red car pulled up to the curb and honked.
Sarah and Jen climbed in the back with the nerd boy, and the French student sat in the passenger seat.
“I’ll be right back,” Patrick’s friend said and Patrick gave him a thumb’s up.
Their car raced off away from the arena and I was suddenly, awkwardly alone with a man I didn’t know and in a foreign country.
“So that was a good concert, hey?” I said. My ears were still ringing and I felt drunk.
“Are we doing this, or what?” Patrick asked without responding.
“What?”
“You know. Are we shagging tonight? I need to know. If you’re not into a good fuck, I’ll find somebody who is.”
“Well when you’re that romantic about it,” I replied with ice clinging to my words. My buzz and my interest in Patrick disappeared the moment his inner douche monster reared its ugly head.
“All right then. You can find a ride back to the castle, I’m off to find a girl who wants to shag. Good luck to ye,” he said and turned to dash off through the throngs of people before I had a chance to respond.
The wine started to catch up to me and my head was swimming a little. I reached for my phone but realized I’d put it in Sarah’s handbag. I had no money, no phone, and no way to get back to the castle.
Even if I did get back, I had no way of getting inside.
And knowing my friends, they’d be more than busy for the rest of the night.
“Fuck,” I muttered and stomped my foot. “Fuck, fuck, fucking fuck.”
A few people nearby shot me dirty looks and I quickly reined in the feeling that I was about to have a melt down. I needed to pull myself together and get through this.
I started to walk along the packed sidewalk, pushing my way past people, not even knowing what I thought I was doing.
I didn’t even know what direction the castle was in.
I tapped somebody on the shoulder to ask directions, but she turned, glared at me and walked away with her friends.
I felt tears prickling the back of my eyes, blurring my vision, until I saw a familiar face.
I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was seeing who I thought I was…and I was saved.
Kind of.
Marcus was off to the side under a copse of trees next to the arena.
And he was kissing somebody deeply, his arms wrapped around her and his tongue sliding into her mouth.
Jealousy flared hot and angry in my mind and I almost turned around and stormed away.
But I had no other choice. I was that desperate.
I walked up to the two lovebirds and said, “Marcus. I need your help.”
The girl flinched and reached up to put her hands around the back of his head, not letting him go.
“Please, Marcus,” I said and my voice broke. Tears came flooding from my eyes and I began to sniffle.
The girl clung to him and wouldn’t let him break free until he had to push at her arms to loosen her grip. He looked at me, glared down at her and said, “Back the fuck off, Trixie. I need to talk to her.”
“Are you kidding me?” the girl blurted and stomped her foot in anger. I thought for a moment that Marcus would cho
ose her over me and that made my heart clench in jealousy. “You’ve been a distracted dick all night, and now that my friends are gone you’re going to talk to her?”
“I’m sorry,” I said, “I can go…”
“No,” Marcus said, stepping away from his angry date. “She can go. You need me.”
I started to cry and nodded in my misery. “I do. I’m sorry.”
“Never apologize, Bay. You know I’m here whenever you want.”
“Fuck this shite,” the girl spat and I did feel bad for her but was too worried about being lost to let that get in the way.
The girl stormed away and my tears began to slow down a little as I realized I’d won his attention.
Everything came spilling out of me, about being abandoned and lost without a phone or a purse in a city that was new to me.
“Where is the fucker?” he said when I got to the part about Patrick. He started scanning the crowd around us, his fists clenched. “I’ll fucking kill him for leaving you like that.”
“He didn’t know,” I said in the jerk’s defence. “He went off to find somebody to spend the night with. Maybe he’ll hook up with your date.”
Marcus glowered and then his face softened and he laughed.
He reached out and touched my hair, brushed it back from my face and said, “It’s okay. I’ll make sure you’re safe.”
“You can just call me a taxi,” I replied, sniffling. “You can go find your girl…unless she ran off with my guy.”
He shook his head and leaned down to kiss my forehead. “She means nothing to me, Bay, and you mean everything.”
And that’s all I wanted to hear, after seven years, that’s all I wanted.
To have Marcus take care of me.
To have him love me.
8
Marcus
When I saw her face, tears streaming down her cheeks and sobs coming from her clenched throat…I thought I was going to lose my fucking mind.
I felt bad for Trixie, she had been really into me. But the moment I saw Bay, everybody else ceased to exist.
Trixie stormed off and I touched Bay’s face and I was lost again.
I wanted her so bad, but I wanted to make sure she wanted me too.
I wanted her but she'd iced me out before and I didn't want to cause her stress or pain if I did what I wanted to do in that moment.
Which was to take her in my arms, tilt her face up to me and kiss her until the past seven years disappeared.
She was so miserable but was trying so hard to maintain her composure.
Until I told her how much I wanted to care for her. And then it felt as if a wave of desire threatened to sweep me under. I bent to kiss her forehead and everything washed away.
"Marcus," she whispered and I reached up to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "It feels like fate to see you here."
"It is," I replied. "Something brought us back together. Even after you cut me off, I always wondered what it would be like to find you again, Bay."
She stood straighter and sucked in her breath. She looked up at me and scanned my face with confusion in her eyes. "What do you mean cut you off?"
"After we moved out, I tried to call or text you but you shut me down," I told her. "But it's okay, that was in the past. It's all over now."
"But you left me," she lamented. "I wanted to see you again but you left and never came back."
"Bay, I tried so many times to get up to the house. Your phone number was disconnected and private security kept me away from your school," I said.
"What? You came to the house?"
"One time I thought you saw me. You looked at me when I was on the fence. You were at the pool with your mother and I called your name. You looked right at me..."
"Oh my god, I think I know what day that was. I thought I heard you calling for me, but my mother told me I was just tired and should go inside. What happened after that?"
"Your new security tackled me and dragged me off the property," I said. "They left me pretty roughed up but I managed to land a few punches myself. After that I was slapped with a restraining order and I had to stay away or get kicked out of college. I thought that’s what you wanted…“
"My mother was so adamant that you had abandoned us. She had no idea that I was...in love with you...but she told me that both of you left and never came back. That you and your father wanted nothing to do with us."
"My father said as much. He suspected I was a little obsessed with you, but he told me you wanted nothing to do with me. Every time your name showed up in one of the society pages, he made sure to point out that you were dating other men."
"I only wanted other men because I couldn't have you...the one I really wanted," she moaned. "Oh man, our parents are evil. They destroyed their own love and went after ours."
"Seven years is a long time to be apart, but we're together now. Let's make this night count," I replied and with that I realized all the feelings I'd been hiding were going to spill out.
Before I told her how much I still loved her and scared her away with the intensity of my burning passion, I took her face in my hands and I kissed her.
Her mouth was ready and her lips were beautiful and soft.
She was so delicious, she tasted like champagne and strawberries and even though our lives had gone in different directions...she still smelled like the wind on a beach. Fresh and natural.
She moaned and put her hands around my neck, pulling at me to kiss her harder.
And I did, our tongues entwined and I moved my hand down her back to grasp her juicy, firm ass. She lifted her leg and straddled my thigh. The heat from her body drove me fucking mad with lust, and my cock swelled until it was rock hard and ached in the confines of my jeans.
She pulled back and looked at me again in wonder. "How is this even possible? How are you here?“
"I don't know, but it's real. It's happening," I replied.
"Get a room, ye fekking horn dogs!" somebody yelled at us from across the street.
I noticed the crowd was growing thinner and we were standing out, kissing like love struck teenagers under the streetlight.
"He's got a point," I chuckled and raised my eyebrow. "Where are you staying?"
"At the castle, but I'm sharing the bed with my friends," Bay replied.
"I've got a suite downtown," I said. "We should get you back to your room perhaps...you've had a lot to drink."
I was attempting to be a gentleman, but the wolf inside of me was protesting against my chivalrous offer.
"I could go back I guess," she said, her mouth dropping into a frown. She looked sad and I worried that I'd upset her.
"But I want to see you the moment you wake up. When are you flying back? When can I see you again?"
She smiled wanly and said, "Tomorrow. I have to get back to school."
"Me too. But for work. You're back east still?"
"I am," she said and watched me as I stepped out and waved down a passing taxi.
It felt anticlimactic, but I didn't want her to think I was taking advantage of her helplessness.
But fuck, I wanted to.
I wanted to take advantage of her vulnerability because I'd spent seven years wanting her so badly that I'd ached with need but hadn't realized it.
I'd never been able to give voice to the emptiness inside without her in my life, but now that she was in front of me, I could.
It was longing, absolute and utter longing.
I helped her into the car after it stopped and slid in beside her. I told the driver where to go and we headed off through the streets of Dublin.
I looked at her there, her lower lip quivering and her lashes pressed against her cheek as she looked down during our drive and I realized her vulnerability went deeper than just being drunk.
I looked at it from her side, her point of view.
From where she was at, I had abandoned her. I had walked out on her after taking her virginity.
I had used her and left her
, just like my father had done to her mother.
And our parents’ toxic relationship had leached their poison down to us and it had destroyed our fragile, budding love.
I couldn't leave her like that, thinking I was abandoning her again.
I reached out, took her hand and lifted it to my lips.
She looked startled, our eyes met and a ghost of a smile played across her lips.
"I mean it, I want to see you now as much as possible, Bay," I told her.
I pulled her in for another kiss, and we fell back into it.
Our hands were everywhere at once, our mouths and tongues crushing against each other, and our breath flowing back and forth until we became as one again.
My senses were filled with her. Everything Bay filled my world and flooded my head and nothing else mattered.
We kissed until I heard the driver clear his throat.
"We're here," he said simply and we broke apart, looked at him and laughed.
"I'm sorry," I said and slipped him money to cover the fare. "Can you stick around until I walk her inside?"
"Sure thing, mate," he replied.
We got out and headed into the castle, but the front desk was empty.
"Hello?" Bay called out and banged on the little bell at the desk.
There was no answer.
She called a couple more times and I put my arm around her waist. "Looks like you're locked out."
Her lip quivered again and her eyes brightened with tears. "Shit. What am I going to do?"
"You're going to come to my suite for a sleep over," I said and pulled her against me. "No pressure, just to sleep if that's what you need."
She looked up at me, a devilish glint sparkled in her eye and she reached down. She ran her hand along my throbbing shaft and pressed herself against me and said, "What if I want more?"
"Then that's what you'll get, Bay," I exhaled and felt as if our future was unfolding out in front of us from that moment on. "You know I could never say no to you."
9
Forever Dublin (An Ireland Forever Short Story) Page 3