Prologue #2
“Business,” he replies, and his eyes drag over my body again as he shakes his head.
“Damn, Maizie. It’s really good to see you.
And happy fucking birthday. Here I thought I was going to be bored out of my mind coming to a college bar.
” Nolan looks around and his gaze is filled with judgmental disinterest as he takes in the crowd.
“Not your scene?” I ask.
Nolan barks out a laugh. “Not at all, but a few of my buddies thought it would be fun to get under some college girls’ skirts. I’m just here for the cold beer and to play wingman for the night.”
I look over and see the group wearing the same cuts as him, talking to a couple of drunk girls who don’t look a day over twenty-one, like most of the girls in here.
“You’re not doing a great job with your wingman duties. They’re over there, and you’re here talking to me.”
His gaze stays locked on mine, not bothering to spare his friends a glance. “You’re much more interesting and a hell of a lot better looking than those assholes.” He smiles again and takes a pull from the bottle in front of him. “So, how long have you been in Boston?”
“Couple years. Finally got out of Shine and started school here,” I reply, sipping my own beer. This time it goes down a little easier, but it still wouldn’t be my drink of choice. “So you’re in Arizona now? That’s where Mia is, right?”
“Yup. You still talk to my sister?”
“Not really.” Through the years, Mia and I lost touch. I was working as much as I could and saving money to go away for school and she was busy with work and school herself. “She must like having family there with her, especially being so far from home.”
Nolan scoffs. “She’s as uptight as my parents. Always trying to control me even though I moved out there to help her out. She got pissed over some stupid shit, and we haven’t talked since.”
That doesn’t sound like the Mia I knew, but it’s been years, and it’s not as though she and Nolan were particularly close growing up. They always seemed to be on different wavelengths, and it certainly isn’t my place to judge their relationship after all this time.
“The last thing I want to do is talk about my sister.”
“What do you want to do?” I ask, perfectly willing to drop the subject if it means having a good time with the guy I used to imagine being my first kiss.
“It’s your birthday, sweetheart.” Nolan nods toward something behind me. “I think your friends found someone else to celebrate with.”
Turning around, I see Taylor and Emily chatting with a group of guys across the bar.
Taylor has a coy smile on her face as she talks to a guy who looks about our age, and Emily is already draped across the lap of another guy.
It’s pretty much a typical night for those two once they have a few shots in them.
I shrug and turn back toward Nolan. “They like to have fun. Can’t exactly blame them.” Considering how hard we worked this semester, I’d never begrudge them a night of letting their hair down—or their pants. It’s not as though I haven’t thought of doing the same.
“What about you? You feel like having some fun tonight?” Nolan asks, and my cheeks feel like they’re catching fire. I may not have much experience—okay, none—but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what he’s saying, especially when he looks like a wolf ready to devour his prey.
“Depends on what you have in mind,” I reply.
Nolan tsks and shakes his head, but the mischief never leaves his eyes. I remember him always wearing the same sort of devil-may-care look on his face in high school. It makes me feel just as enamored with him now as it did back then. But unlike back then, his smirk is turned toward me.
“Well, I think you should let me buy you a few more drinks. We can see where the night takes us.”
Is this really happening? To me, of all people?
“Sounds good to me,” I reply and turn to flag the bartender down.
When he comes over, I order two shots of tequila. Nolan doesn’t exactly seem like a lemon drop kind of man. The bartender returns with the shots, and we hold up the small glasses.
“To unforeseen reunions,” I say.
“And unforgettable nights,” he says, and we clink glasses.
Holy shit, if I thought the beer was bad, the alcohol burning its way down my throat is ten times worse. I’m not much of a drinker, and when I do imbibe, it's usually some froufrou drink that the girls order.
Nolan laughs at the face I make when I bite into the lime. “That’ll put hair on your chest,” he says, and signals for two more.
“I don’t usually drink tequila,” I say, a little embarrassed by my reaction. This is not the cool, confident woman I want to appear to be.
Nolan shakes his head and holds up two fingers. Less than a minute later, the bartender comes back with more tequila. With the next round of shots in his hand, he hands me the glass. “After a couple more, you’ll be a pro,” he says, lifting his glass and pouring the liquid down his throat.
Blowing out a breath, I do the same. It burns a little less, but it’s still far from being a pleasurable experience.
One of the guys wearing the same cut as Nolan comes over and slaps a meaty palm on his back. “We’re heading out. Gonna party at the motel,” he says, looking at the rest of the group who are heading toward the front door.
“I’ll meet you there later,” Nolan replies, and the other man looks at me with a knowing smirk.
“Yeah, okay, brother,” he says before heading back to the group.
“If you have to go, I understand,” I say, attempting to smile. I’m starting to feel a little wobbly on my feet from all the alcohol I’ve had tonight.
“Nah, I see those fuckers all the time. I’d rather stay and hang out with you.”
“Hey, we need to steal Maizie for a second,” Emily says behind me, looping her arm through mine.
Nolan chuckles and dips his head. “Don’t steal her for too long.” He winks and I fucking melt. Or it may be the tequila. I don’t know and I don’t particularly care at this point.
Emily and Taylor steer me toward the bathroom, and when we step inside, both girls squeal in excitement.
“Oh my God, Maizie. That man is fucking hot. I swear, if you don’t go home with him, I’m signing you up for the monastery,” Emily says, her eyes bright with excitement.
“I think you mean nunnery,” I tell her.
“What the fuck ever.” Emily waves her hand, and Taylor laughs.
“I know you probably didn’t think ahead, so here,” Emily says, reaching into her purse and pulling out a couple of condoms before handing me the foil packets.
“Do you really think I’m going to need those?” I ask, and Emily waves them in front of me before shoving them in the front pocket of my jeans.
“Maizie, I could practically feel the fuck-me vibes he’s been sending you all night, and I was twenty feet away. Yes, you are going to need them. You can’t always rely on the guy to be prepared.”
Taylor nods in agreement as she touches up her lip gloss in the mirror. “You better get back out there before another girl swoops in on him. That is one ride you don’t want to miss out on.”
“Jesus Christ,” I laugh out. “You guys are weirdly invested in this.”
“We just want you to have a good time. You work and go to school. That’s it.
Neither of us has ever seen you with a guy, and if anyone is due to let down her hair and have some fucking fun, it’s you.
Besides, it’s your birthday. He looks like the kind of guy who could give you presents in the form of orgasms. Several orgasms,” Emily says, wiggling her eyebrows.
I have no idea how she would be able to tell that just by looking at Nolan, but then again, it’s not like I would know what the hell that looks like.
“Come on,” Taylor says, opening the door. “I need another drink, and your man is waiting for you.”
“Not my man,” I say, walking out of the bathroom.
“Tonight he is,” Emily says with a laugh. “And that’s good enough.”
The girls head back over to the group of guys they were hanging out with while I was talking to Nolan, and I walk back over to the bar. Nolan is leaning against the bar with one elbow propped against the wood as I weave my way through the crowd. His lips curl in a half smile as I approach.
“Hope they don’t need you for the rest of the night.” His hand slides around my hip and he squeezes. “I don’t particularly enjoy sharing your attention.”
“All yours,” I say, and he bites his lip.
“Then let’s get this night started.”
My smile widens, and Nolan orders more shots. “Happy birthday, Maizie,” he says, and we both down the alcohol.
Happy birthday to me.
In the morning, I wake in a motel I barely remember coming back to.
Nolan isn’t lying in bed beside me, but the shower is running in the bathroom.
My stomach roils as I sit up and taste the remnants of the tequila from last night.
Memories come rushing back. Saying goodbye to the girls after several shots, heading back to Nolan’s motel, the party next door in his friend’s room, then coming back to his room.
Oh fuck.
I look down and see that I’m completely naked.
Oh fuck.
The shower turns off, and Nolan strides out of the bathroom with a towel slung around his trim waist, heading straight to the bag sitting on the old wooden dresser.
“Hey,” I croak out.
He spins and faces me. The smile from the night before is no longer teasing the corner of his mouth. In fact, he looks downright annoyed that I’m here.
“Hey,” he replies, then turns back around and continues rummaging through his bag. He pulls out a dark-orange medication bottle, taps a couple of pills into his palm, tosses them into his mouth, then washes them down with a swig from a beer bottle.
I shift on the bed and look around for my clothes, feeling none of the excitement from last night.
Nolan was charming and funny, and when we got back to his room, he was passionate—almost desperate—to have me, especially after I told him that I’d never had sex before.
Gone is that man, though. This one can barely look at me.
He turns and offers the bottle of pills to me. “Need something for the hangover?”
“No, I think I’m going to get some breakfast. That usually takes care of it for me.”
He shrugs. “Suit yourself.”
“Um, are my clothes over there by chance?” The only thing I see from my place on the bed is my bra and shirt.
Nolan looks at the ground and grabs my jeans and panties from the floor, tossing them at me. I pull them under the sheet covering me and slip them up my legs.
“You don’t have to hide from me now. Not like I didn’t see it all last night,” he says, dropping his towel and standing completely naked in front of me. I turn my head, and he chuckles, then turns back around and sniffs a pair of jeans before putting them on.
“God, you really were a virgin, huh?”
“Yeah,” I breathe out.
There’s a loud knock at the door, and a man yells, “Let’s go!”
Nolan curses under his breath and pulls on a wrinkled shirt, then his cut, before zipping up his bag. He looks at me for a moment, then grabs a sheet of hotel paper and a pen, scribbling something on it.
“I gotta go, but if you’re ever in Phoenix, give me a call. You were a good time last night. Wouldn’t mind doing it again.” He tosses the paper on the bed as I watch on in confusion and mild disgust. “Gotta go. Checkout’s at eleven, so you should probably get going, too.”
I nod and wrap the sheet around the upper half of my body that’s still naked.
Nolan grabs his bag from the dresser and steps toward the door. “See ya around,” he says, then opens the door and slams it behind him.
That’s it. That’s all I get. A half-assed goodbye and a hangover. I look at the paper with his phone number and shove it in my purse. I’m not really sure why. I seriously doubt I’ll ever make it out to Phoenix, and after that little display this morning, I wouldn’t call him even if I did.
Little did I know that about six weeks later, I’d have a reason to talk to him.