Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1
ROZEN
The red and pink lights flashed and splattered all over the hundreds of people packed into Buckle around me, making my snow-white skin look like it had blurry confetti stuck all over it.
“Yeah, Roze!” my bestie Greg shouted as I dropped low, one arm up high.
I bounced on my heels, popping my ass at the cute nerd who’d been grinding up on me for the last few songs. I grinned and worked my way back up, rocking and popping while the nerd laughed and smacked my ass, almost bowling me over and making me laugh my ass off too.
The uncoordinated bear Greg had been dancing with all night reappeared with his hands full of red shots, and Greg snatched them up with a squeal, passing me two while he kept one. I knocked mine back one after the other, shivering at the sour flavor in delight. The bear swayed into Greg while he took his shot, sending Greg tripping into me, and he flung his arms around me, whisper-shouting, “Okay, time to take this show on the road! You good, boo?”
Winking at the bear, who had obviously heard Greg’s shout and was flushing adorably, I shouted back, “Always!” I swung around, taking Greg with me, knocking into the nerd again, and looked around for our other besties. I found them at the nearest bar, heads knocked together as they ate nachos like it was their last meal on earth. “Tommy and TK are still here, so go, go!”
“Get you some too! You deserve some V Day dick and birthday eve dick!” Greg shouted, pointing at the nerd and giving him the thumbs up like a dork, and then hauled the bear off.
I turned back to the nerd, grinning, and got back to grinding and dancing with him.
After a few songs, a tall, ripped dude with a backwards hat swooped in and pulled the nerd into his arms, and the nerd swooned, kissing the dude with sloppy enthusiasm. Squinting one eye, I watched in appreciation, not caring at all that a potential prospect was being seduced right in front of me. Who cared? Not me! I’d had too many drinks to feel butt-hurt, not that I would have anyway because there were always other prospects at Buckle. There were a ton of other men in here who were doing the same thing, hunting for the perfect fuck on this Valentine’s Day.
I grooved alone, because that was great too, and fantasized about my idea of a perfect fuck. Some of my favorite porn stars and celebrities flashed in my mind, but they were quickly replaced with some reachable prospects… and then one unreachable one… Scowling, I shoved the straight guy from work who had great hair and great forearms and pretty lips out of my mind. Get out of my fantasies, straight coworker who stole my favorite client!
Time to move up to the three men dancing closest to me to get my mind right. Slipping into their group, I loved how they let me in with tipsy grins. They sandwiched me, licked my neck and felt up my chest, shouting that I was sexy, and I humped someone’s leg and giggled.
Men came and went, shots came and went. Tommy left with his on-again, off-again joyfriend, I made out with a matching pair of thick blonds who huffed off when I asked if they were twins—seriously, I was almost convinced I was just seeing double. More men came and went and I went to the restroom and pissed for like a solid minute . TK texted me that he was tapping out and made me share my location. My twin called me from the straight club he was at across town to babble about the goddess who was about to make him her bitch.
Whooping, I congratulated him in advance of his happy ending. We were peas in a pod, two happy sluts who both thought the boring, low-key love our parents had had for like forty years was absolutely not for us. Why would I ever want to settle down and depend on anyone else? I had a great job—even if straight, pretty lips Henry Saunders had stolen Mrs. Green from me his first fucking week—and the best friends and took badass vacations with my twin twice a year.
I stumbled up to the bar, waited a while, and got a lemon drop, which a suit-and-tie silver fox at the bar bought. I talked to him about how the god Eros probably loved all of us horny people out to get laid on Valentine’s Day, instead of romancing our soulmate over candlelit, super-expensive meals at fancy restaurants. When I offered myself up as a meal, he said he was waiting for his man and they didn’t share, so I wished him well and ordered another drink.
“Are you okay to have another?” the silver fox, Deston, asked.
“Aww, sweetie, yes ,” I said, flipping my hair over to the right side of my face to cool off the left side of my face. “I’m alive, free, almost officially in my thirties, and not tired at all!”
Chuckling, he said, “Congratulations.” He flagged down the nearest bartender like it was nothing, making me so jealous of his magical powers, and got a glass of water. “Drink that.”
“Oh, no thank you,” I declined cheerfully, “I still have the rest of my… Hey, where did it go?”
“Can I call someone for you?” Deston asked.
Finishing my lemon drop, which suddenly tasted like nothing , ugh, I thought really hard about that. I looked around at the crowd and realized it had thinned out. Lucky bastards must have all found their picks for the night and run off to bang like happy people. With a big fat pout, I looked up at Deston with big puppy eyes and said, “I don’t want to fuck anyone here.”
“So sorry,” he said with a rude amount of sarcasm, making me gasp in outrage. “Is there anyone you want to fuck who you could call? Or someone who can come pick you?—”
“I take back what I said about you being rude!” I cried, shaking his arm, as the name Henry popped into my mind in big neon letters. No, not that Henry… I totally was thinking about… about… that hookup I’d had a few months ago with a Henry. The right Henry, not… not that totally wrong Henry whose desk was near mine and made the air smell like cinnamon, which was totally disgusting and not the most mouth-watering thing I’d ever smelled.
“What?” he asked in affront.
“Lemon drop,” the bartender said.
“Finally!” I said, shoving my phone at Deston and scooping up the drink. Batting my eyelashes at him, I said, “My hands are full, can you help a boy out and call Henry Sexy Ass?” Deston gave me a flat look that made me laugh and explain, “I’m thirsty and need this drink. And I’m thirsty and his sexy ass was a good booty call. On call! Fuck, I’m hilarious.”
Sighing, he tapped around my phone and then held it up to my ear.
“Tell your man you deserve the king of blow?—”
“Hello?” Henry Sexy Ass answered.
I could barely hear him. I’d turned down the volume when I was talking to my twin forever ago because his default volume setting was loud as fuck , and it was of course loud in here.
“Hello!” I shouted back.
“Is this a butt dial?”
“Yeah, I’m calling for your ass,” I said, grinning in pride at my cleverness. It was juicy and I thought it had those dents in it from when he leaned over Marian’s desk— fuck , no, that was the wrong Henry’s ass. I didn’t care if his ass was sexy because I didn’t like him. At all. He never smelled good like cinnamon, he wasn’t nice or patient or supportive of everyone but me.
“ What? ”
“Don’t act so surprised,” I purred, getting my drunk brain back on the right track, the track where I was nailing scheduling this hookup. “I’m at Buckle. Come pick me up. I need to be in your ass like yesterday .” I slurped up the rest of my drink, moaning at its delicious, sour-sweetness, and took my phone from Deston before he got sick of my antics and hung up on Henry Sexy Ass.
“Are you sure about that?” Henry Sexy Ass asked.
I rolled my eyes because I was way too horny to play games. Had he fished for compliments before we hooked up the other time? I squinted one eye, trying to remember. I tried not to hook up with needy people, but maybe he wanted to feel special on Valentine’s Day? A booty call wasn’t a romantic seduction, but I wasn’t an asshole or an inconsiderate sexual partner, so I replied with a huff, “Of course I’m sure about that. I called you, didn’t I? Do you want to play hard to get or do you want to pick me up? I promise I’ll blow your back out again.”
He laughed, and it was deeper and smoother than I remembered, but the acoustics in Buckle were so good it must be making him sound sexy. I groaned and rubbed my half-hard cock.
“I’ll pick you up,” he said, amusement thick in his voice, “but you’re going to wish I wasn’t.”
Now it was my turn to ask, “What?”
“Where are you again?”
“Buckle,” I repeated, rolling my eyes because it was the only queer club in town, and disconnected. I grinned happily at Deston, who was sipping on a bellini, the dork. “Thanks for all the help. I would have wound up alone tonight and how sad would that be?”
“It’s not the end of the world to be alone on Valentine’s Day,” he pointed out gently.
Crooking an imperious finger at him, I waited until he leaned in begrudgingly. Then I put my lips close to his ear and confessed, “No, but it would be a shitty thirtieth birthday.”
“It’s your birthday?” he asked in surprise.
“Now that it’s after midnight, yeah,” I said happily, throwing up my hands in celebration and almost braining him in his butt chin. “I don’t know why I told you that as if it’s a secret. I’m not the kind of person who’s scared of turning thirty or anything. I’m having a really big party next weekend with my twin. But I like to start my birthdays off with a bang , you know?”
“Sure,” he said doubtfully. “Mind if I stay with you until your birthday bang gets here?”
“That’s so sweet,” I declared, slumping sideways against the bar. “Tell me about your man while we wait. Is he the love of your life? Does he have abs ?” I asked, screwing up my face.
“You don’t like abs?” he asked in surprise. “And yeah, he’s the love of my life.”
“I don’t have time for abs,” I scoffed, waving them away. “Now tell me your love story.”
“Only if you drink this,” he said, nudging a glass of water at me.
“Oh my God, you daddy,” I laughed.
But I drank the water anyway while I listened to his love story. It was actually pretty damn sweet if you were into that sort of thing. It kind of made my dick hard and my heart twinge listening to him wax poetic about how his partner made him happy… not that I’d ever admit it.