Chapter 23
LOLA
The show had ended, and Willa decided to make an appearance once the guys left the stage. She walked over to me with a smirk on her face, and with strands of her hair sticking to her sweaty forehead.
“What did I miss?” she asked in a sarcastic tone.
I laughed and turned to her to brush her hair away from her face. “Quite a lot. But it looks like you had a fun time yourself.”
“I did. It was really, really fun.” She wiggled her brows at me, looking as silly as she sounded. “I also may have had too many drinks. It’s Elia’s fault though. I told him not to bring me more after the third one because I know you told him the same.”
“I brought you water after your third Moscow Mule, sweetheart,” Elia shot back with a raised brow. “Ask your man.”
“What? Not fair!” She sighed heavily and crossed her arms over her chest. “I will not pay for water. Water should be free.”
“I’m not going to charge you for water. Don’t worry,” Elia assured her.
“Do you want me to take you home?” I asked, placing my hands on both her arms to steady her. “I can call us an Uber.”
Willa shook her head and waved her hand at me. “No need. And you don’t want that anyway. You have to go home with your stripper guys. Morris will take me home.”
I studied her for a moment, and although I trusted her, I wasn’t so sure if I wanted to let her go home with Morris in this state. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I want to go home with him. Sex in a public bathroom is so dirty and I deserve to have sex on a bed, you know? He’ll take good care of me.”
Morris walked up behind Willa, and his worried look made me relax. He didn’t look so happy with the state Willa was in. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back against his body. “I won’t have sex with you when you’re this drunk, angel.”
I furrowed my brows. “I thought you already have.”
Morris raised a brow at me. He looked disheartened. “You think I’d take advantage of her like that?”
“No, of course not…I just thought because she’s so sweaty—”
“We didn’t have sex. Shit, she just danced around like crazy the past two hours. Wouldn’t stop. That’s why she’s so sweaty and tired.”
“I put on a real good show for him,” Willa told me, nodding her head up and down with way too much movement. “He loved it.”
Morris chuckled, unable to stay mad at her. “Yes, I loved watching you dance, but you need to get some rest now,” he told her, kissing the side of her face. “I’ll take you home.”
“ Your home.”
“No, angel.”
Even if I didn’t know Morris well enough, I liked him a lot. He wasn’t a man of many words, but he let his actions speak for themselves. He wanted Willa to be okay, and I hoped that her wild side wouldn’t become too much for him to handle.
Though…he seemed to handle it pretty well for now.
“Is it okay with you if I get her home? I’m sure you want to stay here a while longer,” Morris told me.
I smiled at him and nodded. “That’s fine. Thank you, Morris.”
“But I wanna dance!” Willa threw her hands up into the air, dancing along to the faint music coming from the speakers.
“You’ve danced enough for tonight. Come on, pretty girl. Let’s get you home. I have to come back here to help close up the place.”
Willa scrunched up her nose as she looked at me. “Can you believe this man? He wants to take me home and leave me there alone without even fucking me. Ha! What a loser.”
We couldn’t hold back a laugh, and I looked at Morris with apologetic eyes. “She doesn’t mean it.”
“I know, don’t worry.” He chuckled and looked at Willa, pulling her back to him when she tried to break free. He leaned in and kissed her neck, then he looked into her eyes, and she melted away instantly. “Will you let me take you home, angel?”
She had no other choice than to give in, and after she kissed him, she finally let him take her away.
I waved at her and smiled. I was happy for her, knowing that my best friend was falling in love with a man who she truly deserved.
“Do your love lives always correlate with each other?” Elia asked.
I laughed and turned back to him. “Seems that way. To be fair, Willa and I weren’t looking for anything serious. It just so happened that the right men work at the same place.”
“Fair enough. Speaking of men …” He tipped his chin toward the black door, and I turned around to see Kline walk my way.
He looked determined, stopping right in front of me. He didn’t say a word as he cupped my face with both hands and kissed me hard. As surprised as I was, I rested my left hand on the bar, and the other on his chest.
A moan escaped me when he deepened the kiss, and once he had gotten what he wanted, he pulled back with a relieved expression.
“Woah,” I breathed, needing a moment to recover from that kiss.
“Leo was right. It’s fucking hard dancing up there when you’re sitting here looking like a damn goddess,” Kline said, studying me closely. “Did you enjoy the show?”
“A lot. It was great,” I assured him, smiling up at him.
“Want a drink?” Elia asked him, but Kline shook his head.
“No, thank you. We’re leaving. Are you coming with us?” he then asked me.
“Yes. I promised Ben that I’d come by. I want to check on him.”
“Alright. Give us a moment.” He leaned in to kiss my forehead, then he left again to head backstage.
While I waited for the guys to come out, I watched the rest of the guests leave. Elia cleaned up the bar, and although I didn’t work in this place, I helped put up the chairs so the cleaning crew had it easier in the morning.
Morris was back before the guys were ready to leave, and he headed straight to the technical room to turn off the music and turning on the lights.
When he came out again, I asked him about Willa.
“I brought her to her room, put her to bed, and she was out immediately,” he told me with a chuckle. “I’ll go check on her in the morning.”
“Thanks again, Morris. I appreciate it.”
“No worries.” He smiled, then he looked around to see if there was anything else to be done before leaving. “I think that’s all. Whenever you’re ready, we’ll head out.”
The guys appeared just when he ended his sentence.
“Closing time,” Watson announced. He walked up to me and put his arm around my shoulders. “Heard you were coming home with us.”
“You heard right. You were great up there. You look good in just a tie and a pair of shorts,” I teased.
Watson grinned and pulled me closer to his side. “If you’re lucky, you’ll get to see it again once we’re home.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from grinning. “I’m a very lucky girl in general.”
“Are you now?”
I nodded, pursing my lips. “Yup.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to strip again later.”
I would like that.
A private strip show.
Just for me.
BENNETT
I had been sleeping all evening, and after making yet another tea and eating another bowl of soup, I waited patiently for the guys and Lola to come home.
Kline texted me just minutes ago, telling me that they were on their way back home, and if they needed to stop at the store to get me something.
I had enough of everything, and I was starting to feel a little better. I knew the flu didn’t last just a day, and I would be sitting at home for a day or two more. But for now, I felt fine, and sleep wasn’t coming to me anymore.
It might’ve been the fact that I wanted to see Lola. I couldn’t touch her or get too close to avoid getting her sick, but I could still admire her from afar.
They arrived just five minutes later, and I turned down the volume of the TV. “Hey,” I called out. My voice was still hoarse, but not at much as this morning.
Lola was the first to appear upstairs, and she smiled as she saw me. “Hey, you. Why aren’t you in bed?”
“I’ve been sleeping too much today. Just wanted to hang out with you guys for a while.”
She walked over to me, rubbing my shoulder and kissing the top of my head before she headed over to the kitchen. “Want another tea?”
“No, thank you, kitten. How was the show? Did it work out without me or was it boring?”
Lola’s laugh lit up everything inside of me. God, I could listen to her laugh for hours. “They put on a good show, but I missed seeing you up there.”
“I’ll be back on my feet in no time.”
“That’s good.”
I watched as she poured herself a glass of water. “Are you staying over tonight?”
She shrugged, looking at me through her lashes as she took a few sips. When she put the glass down, she said, “Maybe. Depends on how the rest of the evening goes.”
I could feel tension in the air, and the look on her face when the guys came upstairs said enough.
Things would get heated tonight.