5. Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Maisie
It had been two weeks since I met that beautiful man at Afterglow and I still hadn't stopped thinking about him. He was so tall, like hit his head on the sprinkler system tall. He had muscles upon muscles, God what I'd have done to have those big beefy arms wrapped around me. It wasn't so much the physical aspect of him that I couldn't get out of my mind though. Yes, he was unbelievably handsome but he had such a kind face to go along with it. I could tell in an instant that he wasn't one of those huge, muscled meat heads that were so self absorbed they couldn't see which way was up. No, he had such a gentleness to him, a kindness that shone from his eyes.
He was shy and sweet, softly spoken and gentle. My very own gentle giant. I'd never met a man like him before, especially someone who looked like him. It was in total contrast of what I'd expected him to be. They say you should never judge a book by it's cover and I had a feeling that Mack was the truest example of that.
I'd been back at the club again last Friday night, secretly hoping that he might be there. He wasn't, I tried not to be disappointed. After all, I'd only spoken to him for a few minutes, it seemed foolish to be attached. I'd danced the night away like usual, feeling alone and empty inside. I hadn't even been in the mood to hook up with anybody, I just felt a bit bummed to be honest.
Never mind, life goes on. Onwards and upwards as they say, or sideways as my life seemed to go. Nothing ever changed, nothing went down thankfully. But nothing ever seemed to go up either. God, look at me being such a Debbie Downer.
Anyway, I'd completed another week at vet school. This week we'd learnt about the signs and symptoms of cancer in dogs, it had been pretty depressing. It made me go home and hug Milo a little bit tighter than usual. He was my only friend, I don't know what I'd ever do without him.
Now I was in the supermarket grabbing a bit of shopping to last me the following week. It was Friday, usually I'd be at home getting ready to hit the club but I just couldn't be bothered. I felt like I was changing, I didn't want a meaningless fumble in the bathroom which left me feeling even worse than before. What was the point, I might as well just stay home with Milo. So here I was on a total junk food binge, piling snacks upon snacks into my trolley. Not a fruit or vegetable in sight, unless you count fruit roll ups. But I'm pretty sure they're more sugar than fruit.
I was in need of comfort food, a movie or maybe a date with a book boyfriend. I was minding my own business, in my own little world trying to decide between giant wotsits or cheesy doritos when I gave up and threw both bags in, seconds before slamming my trolley into something hard.
"Oh shit, I'm so sorry!" I told the man, who was now stood staring at me with a curious expression.
"Not a problem at all Cherry," he muttered back with all the charm in the world.
He was tall, much taller than me. Chocolatey brown hair, matching eyes, a messy stubbled chin and was currently grinning at me like the Cheshire cat from Alice In Wonderland. Most people would be pissed off having a trolley rammed into their shins but not this guy.
"Cherry?" I asked him with a brow cocked, seriously not another red head joke, I'd heard them all at this point.
"Yep … cherry. See …" he pointed into my trolley.
"Cherry cola, cherry gummies, cherry bon bons, cherry fruit roll ups …."
"Oh," maybe I'd judged this guy too soon.
"I'm guessing you like cherries?" he laughed, "I wonder if you like cherry gin?" he held up a huge bottle of … cherry gin. It was my favourite, what is it with this guy. I couldn't tell if he was coming onto me or not.
"Erm … yeah I do. It's my favourite actually."
"Mmm hmm … fancy coming over to my place this evening and having a drink with myself and some friends?." Blimey he was forward.
"Ah, I don't know you …." I paused. Waiting for him to give me his name.
"Ace," the grin was back as he leaned across my trolley with his hand outstretched . I shook it politely and told him my own name. He gave me a fast nod before going back to his original question.
"So, you want to come over for a drink?" He reached into his pocket, thumbed out a quick text with a smirk on his face before turning his attention back to me.
"That's very kind of you Ace, but I don't know you. I think it would be pretty irresponsible of me to just go to a strangers house. That's no reflection on you of course, but a girl can't be too careful nowadays." I trailed off, thankfully I hadn't ever experienced any sort of brutality at the hands of a man but it was something you heard about all the time.
"No, I understand. Hmm … how about if there was someone there who you did know?" I had no idea where he was going with this but I was beginning to feel done with this conversation. I began to move my trolley around him to exit the aisle.
"Thank you Ace but …."
"Ace, I grabbed some pizzas, thought we could have them for …." A voice sounded from behind me, I closed my eyes and soaked it in, recognising it immediately. Deep, husky, gentle, soft. I was stood side by side with Ace at this point, facing opposite directions, shoulder to shoulder. He looked down at me with that smirk still firmly in place and bumped my shoulder with his. He gave me a soft nod and walked away, whispering to Mack as he went "You're welcome, I'll wait for you in the car."
I stood frozen, sweaty hands gripping the handle of my junk filled trolley. I'd never had such a visceral reaction to a man before but this mans voice was like melted butter, making me trickle into a puddle around my own feet.
Footsteps sounded behind me, almost silent. Before a massive hand landed on my shoulder and squeezed gently.
"Hi Maisie …" he said. I slowly turned around to face him, taking my time to rake my eyes from his pristine white trainers. Up his thick muscular thighs, he was wearing light grey joggers, every woman's kryptonite. I tried to avoid the crotch area, you know as that could come across a bit rude. But you couldn't miss that obvious thick bulge between his legs. This guy was packing and the thought sent a warm throb to my centre. My eyes continued up his rock solid abs and chest. He was wearing one of those loose vests that all the muscle men wear, thick arms protruding out of the side. He was so huge, it was a wonder how his skin stretched around all that muscle. He had random tattoos littered across his arms and chest. I could make out arrows and stars, quotes and birds. All random … but totally added to his gorgeousness.
"Hi Mack," I muttered back, barely above a whisper. All confidence long gone, last time I spoke to him I had a stomach full of gin, now I was stone cold sober.
"You remembered …" he muttered, eyebrows raised.
"Remembered what?" I asked him, head tilted to the side.
"My name … you remembered my name. Nobody ever remembers …." he trailed off, looking behind me seemingly deep in thought.
"How could I forget you? You're … beautiful." Those big blue eyes shone back at me in surprise. Had this beautiful man never received a compliment before ?
"Oh, erm, I … well thank you. You're beautiful too, simply stunning." I couldn't help but blush, I'd been called many things in my life. But nothing ever quite so amazing as stunning.
"So, erm .. Sorry about Ace there, he wasn't bothering you was he? He can be a bit like a dog with a bone. He's completely harmless, just a big excitable man child." He huffed a laugh, folding his huge arms across his equally huge chest.
"Oh, no he wasn't bothering me at all. Well … actually he was asking me if I wanted to come over to his house for drinks this evening."
"Ah I see. Well … you should totally come. Only if you want to of course, no pressure."
"You'll be there?" I asked him, his blue eyes still burning into mine, it was as if he could sense my vulnerability. He saw past the mask and saw the real me. Nobody had ever looked that far before, they usually saw the outside package and was quite happy to leave it at that.
"I'll be there … I'd love to get to know you better. I-I …. kind of. Well, I've not stopped thinking about you since Afterglow. I've been hoping to run into you again. So you're more than welcome to come along. Pizza, booze, just a few of us. Bring a friend if you like …"
"I don't have any …" I stopped myself way too late, the words had already left my mouth and I'd indulged far too much information. I looked down at the floor uncomfortably, kicking my shoes against the wheels of my trolley.
"You do now …." That big meaty hand was back on my shoulder, sincerity shone from his eyes. He rattled off Ace's address and we said our goodbyes. He was insistent that there was no pressure to turn up but that he really hoped I would.
And I just might … beats eating myself into a junk food cherry coma after all.