Chapter Twelve
I ’d gone to a bar with Beck in an attempt to kill time before I picked up Marissa and although she claims she isn’t ready, her texts have slowly gotten more obscene as the night goes on. I’m lining my cue stick up to shoot my turn at our game of pool when I feel another vibration in my back pocket. I don’t even care that I fucked up my shot when I see what she’s written.
Marissa: I want your dick so bad.
Me: Is that so?
Marissa: Yes! You have a really fabulous dick, you know.
Me: So I’ve been told.
Marissa: By who?!?
Me: By you.
Marissa: Uh huh. I better be the only person getting to see your fabulous dick, Christopher Ethan.
Me: Don’t middle name me over that. You know you are. Are you ready for me to come get you?
“You’ve been grinning like a fool at your phone all night. Who are you talking to?” Beck asks as he looks up at me from where he’s about to take his shot. He shoots, knocking two striped balls into a corner pocket and I groan, knowing that if he beats me, I’ll never hear the end of it.
“No one serious.” The fewer people I involve in this the better and if I tell him I’m still talking to the woman from Owen’s wedding he’ll want to know more details and potentially meet her and I’m not ready for Beck to know that I’m not only sleeping with someone from work but in the process of leaving my wife for her. I haven’t given him details from the weekend when we were in New York and he hasn’t probed much. He probably assumes I got her out of my system and am over her.
“That smile certainly looks serious. A random girl doesn’t make you light up like that.”
“No, random girls don’t make you light up because you’re a hopeless romantic that has an aversion to one-night stands.”
“I don’t necessarily have an aversion to them.” He pushes his glasses up. “I just…think they’re oftentimes messy or disappointing and I’d rather sleep with someone I have a connection with.” He misses his next shot and swears under his breath before pulling his beer to his lips. There’s a group of women in the corner who I’ve caught staring at us on more than one occasion since we started playing and when one of them meets my gaze, I pan my gaze to Beck. I’m most definitely not on the market, but maybe Beck could be interested.
The eye contact must have been all the confidence she needed because two of them are standing next to our table within a minute. A blonde and a brunette, blue eyes and green eyes and neither one of them Marissa Collins.
“Care for a friendly game,” one of them asks and then they are both pulling sticks off the wall like we already agreed.
Beck looks at me and then at them from over his glasses and gives them a polite smile. “Hello ladies, we are actually about to wrap this up for the night.” He points at me. “He’s also married.” Rarely does he play that card so he must know I’m not interested.
Right on time, my phone vibrates and the reason I’m not interested flashes across my screen with an incoming call and I can’t even stop the smile from crossing my face.
“Just a second,” I say and Beck glares at me for leaving him alone with the women that are still hanging around. I hear one of them ask about his relationship situation and I shake my head at Beck’s inability to ever be dishonest because he surely should have told them we were both married.
“Hi beautiful.”
“Hi,” she says and I can tell she’s been drinking but I’m not sure how much.
“How much have you had to drink?”
“Not much!”
“What’s not much?”
“Hmmm.”
“Didn’t I tell you to behave yourself?”
“I am! I only had a few shots.”
“Shots?”
“Remember when we did shots at Lex and Owen’s wedding?”
“I do remember.” I lean against a wall. I look over my shoulder to make sure Beck hasn’t snuck up behind me to be nosy and I see he’s on his phone and the women have retreated to their table. “Should I be expecting a repeat of that night?”
“Yes,” she murmurs. “Plus, your dick in my mouth.” My cock throbs. “And maybe somewhere else if you’re nice.” Fuck. My mind is already coming up with a way to blow Beck off and the fastest way to get her into bed.
“I’m always nice. Especially to you,” I tell her.
“Elise is waving me over, I should go.”
I look at my watch, noticing the time inching closer to midnight. It’s not necessarily late, but I want as much time with her as possible. “I can’t wait to see you.”
“Come in an hour.”
“You got it, beautiful.” I hang up and make my way over to Wes who’s staring down at his phone.
He looks up at me and a smile pulls at his lips. “Since when can’t you take a call from a woman in front of me? Quite frankly I’ve heard more than I care to know about you in the past.”
I rub my hands together. “Okay, if I tell you something, can you not ask a bunch of questions?”
He narrows his eyes at me. “Is it legal?”
“What? Yes, of course it is. I’m talking about the woman, Beck.”
“Okay, shoot.”
“I had divorce papers drawn up. I’m serving Holly on Monday.” All the air leaves my lungs in a rush because Beck is the first person I’ve told. I haven’t even told Marissa this yet, or my mother or my sisters. All of whom I know will be thrilled, but I know this is just the first step. I was planning to tell Marissa this weekend and I didn’t want to tell my family until Holly had at the very least been served.
“I’ve been with you for the past two hours and you’re just now telling me this? Why aren’t we celebrating?” He clinks his glass to mine. “I’m so fucking happy for you.”
“Because this is only the first step. You and I both know this is not going to be easy. She’s probably going to want me to make about a hundred addendums.” I rub my forehead. “She’s already getting a fuck ton more than I had hoped but I want out. It’s time.”
“Is this all because of the new woman?” He nods at my phone. “The ‘not serious one,’ which I knew is bullshit by the way.”
“Yes and no,” I tell him as I think about what Marissa said on our first date about wanting to get out of my marriage for me and not just to have a shot with her. “I like her a lot.” I slide my hand into my pocket and drag my finger over her hair pin. It reminds me that she doesn’t even know I’ve been carrying it around. “She’s not crazy about the fact that I’m married, obviously.”
“You tell her you’re working on that?”
“Not yet. You’re the first person I’ve told.”
He puts a hand over his heart. “I’m honored.”
“Shut up, dick.” I chuckle as I pinch the bridge of my nose thinking about the chaos I’m preparing to bring into my life. “Holly is going to lose her shit.”
“Probably.” He drops to a seat in the corner. “But what is she going to do, force you to stay married?”
I sit in the adjacent chair and take a sip of my beer. “Bring up every time I’ve ever been unfaithful in attempts to get more money, I’m sure.”
“Maybe if you just talk to her calmly and explain to her that you know she’s not happy also and you’re trying to do the right thing by you both. We know how she is but maybe there’s someone else better suited for her.”
“You mean like Satan himself?” I put my hands over my face. “I feel like I’m about to go to war.” I shoot him a glare. “Why did you let me marry her?”
Beck chuckles and shakes his head. “Oh no, you’re not putting that on me. I believe I tried to talk you out of it more than once. Even before she turned into…” He trails off, because there really wasn’t one way to describe the person Holly became after we got married. “I still didn’t think she was right for you.”
Wes rarely likes to be out past midnight, so he’s ready to go before it’s even time for me to pick up Marissa. I know where they are so I decide to go early and wait for her. I had planned to wait in the car, but my curiosity gets the best of me and I wonder if there are any men in the office who may be interested. I’m not worried she’d do anything, but some of these casual outings become breeding grounds for interoffice hookups, and I’m curious if anyone in the office is trying to shoot their shot with my girl. I find street parking relatively close and make my way into the club, not even glancing at the line down the block before giving the guy at the door a hundred dollar bill. I hate doing that but hate the idea of anything standing in the way of seeing Marissa even more.
I make my way into the club and it is loud and hot and I’ve already stepped in something sticky reminding me that most, if not all of them are in their early twenties. The music is EDM and there are clustered groups of people everywhere dancing. There’s no way I’ll be able to find her.
I am not that far removed from the party scene, but even this is a bit too much for me. I haven’t been to any bar or club in at least three years where there wasn’t at least an option to sit down. I don’t even see a space for reserved tables which most clubs have nowadays. I chuckle and shake my head as the DJ says something and everyone cheers.
A group of girls stumble by me and one stops in her tracks causing one to bump into the back of her. The first girl, clearly drunk, blinks her eyes several times and takes a few steps towards me. “Are you a model?”
I look around me. “Not that I know of?”
“You are hot. You should be a model,” she says as she drags her eyes over me.
“B!!” The second girl that almost tripped over her smacks her arm. “Leave him alone.”
B or drunk girl number one, cocks her head to the side. “Do you have a girlfriend?”
“I do.” I nod at her, wishing like hell she’d somehow manifest.
“And she let you out without her? Looking like that?” She blinks up at me and I definitely do not remember girls being this bold in my early twenties even after multiple shots. “Is she here?”
I’m about to respond when my eyes move away from her and I see Marissa staring at me with her arms across her chest and a look on her face that I can’t quite decipher. She’s wearing a black strapless jumpsuit and her hair is pulled up into a messy ponytail on the top of her head, like it had been down earlier but she’d gotten hot. She looked fucking sexy and maybe a little jealous over what looks like me entertaining another woman. I hope she knows better.
I look at the woman, who hasn’t moved, but is now talking to her friend. I turn my eyes back to Marissa and raise an eyebrow at her and I hope she sees it as a dare to come over here and stake her claim despite the half dozen people running around this club that also work for me. The music shifts to something sexier and I watch as she takes a long sip of her drink before setting it on a high-top table on her way towards me.
Her eyes don’t leave me the entire time and the second she’s within arm’s reach, I hold my hand out for her. She glances at it briefly before turning her head over her shoulder and doing a brief scan of who’s behind her. She shakes her head slowly but when I drop my hand, hers brushes against mine and I feel her pinky link with mine. I turn to look at her before the two girls in front of me follow suit. “Hi,” she says.
“Hello.” I look her up and down salaciously, not sure how she’s planning to play this and wanting to play along however she wants.
“You here with them?” she asks and the two girls look at her.
“Nope,” I tell her, my eyes never leaving her.
“He said he has a girlfriend,” drunk girl number two says.
“Did he now?” She narrows her eyes at me. “Well, I won’t bother you then.”
“You are definitely not.”I tell her as I shake my head slowly.
“Marissa,” she says as if introducing herself.
“Chris.”
One of the drunk girls, don’t know or care who, asks, “Do you two know each other?”
“Nope,” we say in unison, grins pulling at both of our lips.
“Can I come home with you?” she asks as she makes an obvious show that she’s looking at my dick.
“I’m already in the car waiting.”
“I think that’s his girlfriend,” I hear one of them say and then I sense movement in my periphery and while I am enjoying our little show, I am more than ready to take her home.
“You ready?”
She nods and then she’s moving towards the door and I’m following no more than an inch behind her. “Is anyone from the office still in there?” I nod behind us as we step outside and guide her to my car.
“A few, but the majority went home. They’re pretty drunk though.”
“You tell them you were leaving?” I know Irish exits are popular, but I’d like to think we’ve cultivated an environment where people would look out for each other while they’re out drinking.
I nod. “I sent a message to the group chat once I saw you. I wasn’t expecting you to come in.”
“Was just curious if there was anyone in the office I had to worry about.”
She turns her head towards me confused as we turn the corner. “Like…another guy?”
“I didn’t think you’d be interested but…this is the time where a man shoots his shot with women he works with.”
We make it to my car and I reach for the door but she leans against it, preventing me from opening it, and pulls me gently by the t-shirt I’m wearing under my leather jacket. “I would say I have a boyfriend.”
I was not expecting that. “Oh?”
“Well, don’t I? You said you have a girlfriend.”
I take a step closer to her, resting my forearms on the top of my car and pressing myself against her. “I think this is the first time you’ve called me that.”
She shrugs. “I just didn’t want anyone hitting on me. I always say that when I don’t feel like warding off men’s advances even when I don’t have one.” She licks her lips. “I told another one of the groomsmen at Lex and Owen’s wedding I had a boyfriend.”
Annoyance flares through me that one of Owen’s friends tried to make a pass at her, but I also want to beat my chest with pride that she didn’t tell me the same thing. “What happened to him?” I ask her. “The mystery boyfriend.”
“I broke up with him when you approached me.”
“You’re really stroking my ego, right now.”
“I’d rather be stroking something else.” She says just before she leans forward and presses a kiss to my lips.