2. Dax
DAX
“Dax!” I heard Harper yell up the stairs. “I’m coming up, you better at least have a path to your bedroom for me!”
Rolling my eyes I set down my paint brush and turned down my music.
“In the art room!” I called back, waiting for my best friend to make her way to me.
I’ll admit that I wasn’t the cleanest person but she always made it sound so much worse than it was.
So I hated to put my laundry away and I had clean piles of it all over my bedroom floor.
I knew what was clean and what was dirty isn’t that what really mattered?
Not every part of my floor in our LA townhouse was messy.
I kept my front living area clean, mostly because I didn’t really spend much time there, but hey it counts.
I collected the brushes I was using and wrapped them in seran wrap not wanting them to dry out when I came back to finish. Grabbing a rag I attempted to get the paint off my hands that wasn’t dry already.
“Holy shit Dax,” Harper gasped when she walked into the room.
Smiling, I backed up and took a look at the piece before me. Even though it was unfinished you could still see it was a man and woman wrapped in the throws of passion. Unable to tell where one started and the other began.
“Girl you are way too sexually frustrated if you are painting this shit. Good thing that I can help you fix that,” Harper said, smacking me with her hip.
How Harper and I became friends was beyond me.
If I wasn’t forced to be her roommate freshman year I don’t think we ever would have crossed paths.
She was a fellow art student but she was into fashion and everything feminine.
Her long blonde hair was curled into soft waves, with one side tucked behind her ear showing off dangly earrings.
Personally I always told her she should have been the model for all the clothes she made instead of putting them on everyone else.
Being a whole foot taller than me with the perfect size two body it would have been a done deal.
“Please tell me you're not going to drag me to another model infested club for one of your designer friends.” I groaned.
Harper linked arms with me and dragged me to my bedroom. “Not quite, this is a newer friend of mine that is hosting a house party. She has an amazing beach house in Malibu right off the PCH.”
I looked at Harper really wanting to say no and just spend the night in and working on my painting. I hadn’t had inspiration in weeks, but after the meeting and argument with Wes I was full of emotions. Seeing that I wasn’t sold on the idea Harper pouted her glossy bottom lip, her eyes pleading.
“Ugg, fine I’ll go, but if it sucks I’m going to leave your ass there,” I said, causing her to squeal and clap her hands.
“Okay so knowing you as well as I do I brought you something to wear,” Harper announced, pointing to the garment bag on my bed. “Now go shower and see if you can manage to find yourself under all that paint.”
“Fine, but don’t go organizing my room, you know I hate that shit,” I grumbled and stomped off to the bathroom.
Scrubbing every inch of myself until I knew Harper would deem me clean I towelled off and set to work on my hair and makeup.
Being an artist doing makeup came naturally to me.
I might not do it often but I came up with some kick ass looks when I wanted.
That and the fact I knew if I didn’t match up to Harper’s standards that I would be forced to wash it off and start over.
I learned a long time ago to just do it right the first time if I didn’t want to be strapped down to a chair.
Don’t get me wrong in the right circumstance I wouldn’t mind being tied up— just not for makeup.
“How are things coming along?” Harper asked, poking her head into the bathroom.
“Almost done just finishing up with some mascara.” I answered, looking over my smoky eye that made my almond eyes look more dramatic.
“Here use this lip color, it will compliment the dress,” She offered, handing me a dark burgundy color.
I hardly wore lipstick since my lips were already on the fuller side.
It made me look like a Kim Kardashian wanna be.
Harper kept telling me that it wasn’t the same because mine were real.
Giving myself one final check I headed to the bedroom to see what contraption Harper designed for me to wear tonight.
She loved all of my tattoos and tried to show them off as much as she could.
I held up the dress and didn’t hate it as much as some others.
Slipping into the dress I had her help me hook the clasp for the halter top.
It was a deep plum color that set off my pale skin that wasn’t covered in ink.
The skirt went to mid thigh and molded around my ass making it look like I have more than I did.
The back was completely open and the front criss crossed leaving a triangle of skin showing under my boobs to my waist. Not having to worry about having large boobs made outfits like this possible and worry free.
A handful was all I had and they were going to like it if they wanted to get lucky.
Finishing off with some wax to style out my hair, I was ready.
Harper came to stand next to me in my full length mirror taking us in. Her silky emerald green dress clung to her in all the right places to make it look more obseine then it was. Gold chains held it to her body around her neck and low back.
“Girl we are going to break some hearts tonight!” Harper crowed.
Shaking my head I slipped on the only pair of black studded heels I owned. “Come on let's get going before I regret this and change my mind.”
“You want me to drive?” She offered.
“Hell no, I know better than that. You always seem to find someone to go home with. I want a ride out of there if I need it. I’ll drive.”
“I don’t always find someone to go home with,” Harper mumbled.
Making it down the two flights of stairs we reached the main level and found Wes in the kitchen cooking.
My stomach grumbled at the smell of whatever masterful meal he was making himself.
I wandered over to scope out what he was cooking and my mouth watered at the shrimp scampi.
Reaching out a hand I made to steal a shrimp but my hand was smacked with a wooden spoon.
“Fuck, what was that for asshole?” I yelped.
“The shrimp isn’t fully cooked yet,” Wes smirked, and added some lemon to the dish.
“Maybe next time we could use our words instead of lethal force ya dick,” I grumbled.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be sticking your fingers in someone else's dinner,” Setting down the spoon he leaned back on the counter and took me in. “You're going out?”
“You don’t mind if I steal her do you?” Harper asked, batting her lashes at him. “I’m dragging Dax to a party at a friends place tonight.”
She always flirts with Wes even after all these years he’s rejected her.
I knew she didn’t really mean it, but who could resist a walking sex on a stick like Weston.
When I bought this house and Wes moved in with me we both had a deal that we wouldn’t allow sleepover guests here.
It was our safe place and neither of us wanted to fear intruding on the other.
It could also be that I got insanely jealous when Wes was with a girl.
I chalked it up to being overly protective of him.
Other than being his best friend I didn’t have any claim on him.
Never once had we brought up being anything more than friends.
“Dax is free to do what she wants, I’ve given up trying to stop her,” Wes said, turning his gaze to me. “Call me if you need me to come get you.”
Aww Wes was just as protective of me as I was of him.
“Sure thing, we’re taking the Camaro,” I grinned, waving my goodbye as we headed out.
Not needing two cars with both Wes and I having bikes we shared the matte black Camaro SS. Loving speed and danger I of course had it tricked out, it looked lethal.
“You two act like an old married couple,” Harper laughed, as we slid into the car.
I glared at her, I hated it when she kept telling me I just needed to fuck him and end the tourtured need between us.
Weston was my family, he was the most important person in my life growing up besides my twin.
After all these years if it was meant to happen then it would.
Since it hasn’t then I was going to leave it alone.
He was too important to lose over something as shallow as sex.
Harper connected her phone to the stereo and started blasting tunes getting us in the mood to party.
The drive was about an hour but that was life in the LA area, traffic was a bitch and people were assholes.
It would have been so much faster on my bike, one of the main reasons I owned it.
Harper wasn’t a fan of motorcycles and refused to let me take her anywhere on it.
“We have two missions tonight. One is to get mama laid! It’s been two weeks since this cat got a good scratch and she is feeling all kinds of frisky,” Harper announced as the GPS told us we were almost there.
“The second is to see if you can have fun without pissing everyone off or starting a fight.”
“Do I get points if I can do both?” I teased.
“I'm being serious here!” Harper said, punching me in the arm. “This new friend has lots of high end friends and she could be a huge help in drumming up new business for my boutique. I don’t need my angry midget best friend fucking this up for me.”
“Then why did you bring me?!”
“Like I would ever go to a strange person’s house without you. Bitch please, you're my bodyguard tonight.” She laughed at my threatening glare unfazed. “Kidding, you know I hate to go to these things with people I can’t rely on, and the fashion world isn’t filled with the most trustworthy people.”
I took a deep breath as we pulled into the large circle driveway and up to the valet parking stand.
Leaving the car running I took the ticket from the attendant and slipped it into my wristlet and took in the house.
The front of the house didn’t make it look anything special or even worthy of being in Malibu, home of billion dollar homes.
For houses off the PCH the street view wasn’t the front, no the beach front was where they made their money.
Walking up to the Spanish villa style wooden front doors we let ourselves in after checking in with the security.
Walking down a long stone tiled hallway we entered the living area.
The Spanish style continued through the house with a modern touch.
The walls were white and so was all the furniture with splashes of color in cream and soft coral.
It was nothing I would ever live in, there was no life to it.
Instead it gave off the feeling of it being sterile, cold, almost too perfect.
The living room was filled with beautiful women in slinky dresses and men styled to perfection in the latest trend.
I still didn’t understand why their pants couldn’t go all the way to their shoes. Their socks were not that interesting.
“Oh I found her, come on let's go say hello to the hostess.” Harper said dragging me after her.
As we stepped out onto one of the patios I gasped at the view we had of the beach and ocean in front of us. The infinity pool on the edge of the patio made it look like you could swim right out into the moonlit waters.
“Harper I’m so glad you could make it!” a woman, the hostess I was guessing said.
Unable to take my eyes off the view I let Harper deal with the niceties.
“Thank you so much for the invite. It was so generous of you to think of me,” Harper babbled putting on her business voice. “Please let me introduce my best friend Dax Blackmore.”
Knowing I wasn’t going to be able to brush off this introduction I turned and was shocked to see Gabriella Rossi of all women in front of me.