Chapter 14
Nick
“Nick.”
“Cat.” My eyes still closed, I roll over on my back with my cell to my ear. “Is that you? What time is it?”
“I have no idea.”
“Where the hell are you?”
“I’m in the bathroom. I had to pee so bad! Who knew drinking could make you want to go to the bathroom so much?”
I rub my hand over my eyes and sit up. “Where’s Ava?”
“She’s busting a move on the dance floor with Matt and another hotty.
” She’s slurring every other word. She’s gone way over her drinking limit.
“Oh my God…this is the best pee I ever had, it’s almost orgasmic.
It sorta feels like sex! Maybe I should drink more often if going to the bathroom is going to feel like this. ”
“Don’t drink anything else, I’m coming to get you. If you’re talking about orgasmic peeing, then I have no doubt in my mind Ava is smashed the fuck out of her mind.”
“Yesssss! Nick, this is my motherfucking song! ‘Thrift Shop!’” she yells in my ear.
“God.” I grit my teeth and grab a pen and paper. “Cat, where the hell are you? Give me the address.”
“Whoop! Whoop! I’m in the motherfucking Bronx BK for life!”
“You’ve lost your fucking mind. Address, Cat, address! Focus!” She stops singing and yelling long enough to try to give me the name of the club, after a lot of mumbling and singing along with the song.
“All right, don’t drink anything else, do you hear me? And for God’s sake, stay with Ava.” I don’t know how much help she’s going to be, but two is better than one.
“No problem.”
I hang up and put my jeans on, throwing a hooded sweater over my head. I’m going to kill those two, and Ava first; in the Bronx, drunk out of their minds? What the hell!
I walk into a packed club—music loud as hell, people everywhere, elbow to elbow.
Adam Levine is singing, girls are on poles in nothing but floss between their asses and pasties, gyrating and swinging their hips in time to the music, bodies slamming against each other, hot and sweaty.
The air is stale, drinks are flowing every which way, and God knows what else.
I start pushing my way through the crowd to find Cat and Ava before they get into more trouble.
A well-endowed in all the right places petite blonde stops me, throwing her arms around my neck.
“Where did you come from?” I hold her up with my arm around her waist.
“From outside.” She laughs, grazing her nails on the back of my neck. I smile, putting my hands on her arms and trying to pull them off as gently as possible.
“Your eyes are out of this world amazing.” She leans her head back to get a better look.
“So I’ve been told.”
“Can I come home with you?”
“Not tonight. You’re a couple of weeks too late for that to happen. I’m here to take someone else home.” She drops her arms and pats me on the chest.
“Oh, too bad. You don’t know what you’re missing.”
“I can imagine you’re able to do things with that body I’ve never seen before.”
“You got that right. Oh well, looks like all the sexy ones are taken tonight, maybe next time.” She gives me a once-over with her eyes and gives me a big smile. “Bye, sexy.”
“Bye.” She dances away, attaching herself to another guy who seems willing to participate with her.
There won’t be a next time. I sure as hell won’t be coming back here and neither will Cat—she better not even think about it.
I make my way to the back of the club, where I finally see Cat and Ava dancing on a table with a pole running through the middle.
The two of them are swaying their hips to Carlos Santana’s “Maria Maria.” Ava jumps off the table and leaves Cat, where she and two other guys cheer her on.
She tosses her hair back, takes one hand, grabs on to the top of the pole, puts one bare foot in front of the other, and seductively walks around the pole in a slow circle while they watch.
Simultaneously, she takes her other hand, and with her feet hooked around the pole she swings around like a pro before sliding down with her head thrown back and lips slightly parted.
Where the hell did she learn to do that shit?
She better not be moonlighting as a pole dancer.
I stalk over to the table. When she sees me, she screams out my name with a high-pitched squeal from where she’s sitting on top of the table, legs dangling.
“Nick! You came! How did you get here?”
I walk up to her, ignoring the two lowlifes sitting at the table who look like The Sopranos rejects. She throws her hands up in the air and smiles, her hair tumbling over her shoulders and falling down her back.
“I’m so glad you were able to make it, did I wake you? I hope I didn’t. I missed you.”
I stand between her legs and put my hand on her cheek. “I missed you too, are you okay?”
“I feel wonderful. I’ve never felt this free in my entire life. I’m as light as a feather.”
“I can see.” I stroke her cheek with my thumb while she smiles up at me. “How many drinks did you have?”
“I’m not sure, I dun know. Ava and I… Ava and I were doing taqwilla bots. Bots, did I say bots? I meant bots.”
I shake my head at her and try to keep her focused. “How many bots did you do?”
“I dun know?” She looks at Ava, who’s now slumped over in a chair next to one of the slicked back-haired rejects. “Ava!”
“Yessssss,” Ava says trying to sit up straight.
“How many taqwillas did we have?”
“Many, many, many.” She wipes the back of her hand over her forehead and looks over, startled to see me. “Nick, when did you get here?”
She’s lucky I don’t strangle her and leave her ass right here in this godforsaken club. “Get your ass up and get your shit together, we’re leaving.”
“Why? We were having so much fun. Ooh look, Cat knows how to work the pole now. I taught her that. Hot, right?”
“Yeah, I saw, let’s go.”
“We can’t leave without Matt,” she whines.
“Oh yeah, where the hell is good old Matt?” If I didn’t have to deal with these two…
Cat puts her head on my shoulder, and I feel her warm breath on my neck. She’s drunk and still turning me on. She always makes me feel things I shouldn’t be.
“He went to do business,” Cat says, the tip of her nose brushing against my neck.
“Did he? And left you two out here alone in this condition?”
“He didn’t leave us alone. These two hentlemens here were looking after us until he gets back.”
“I bet they were. Gentlemen, when the guy who was with these two gets back, would you be so kind as to tell him golden boy was here. He took what was his home, and when I see him, I’m going to beat his ass like the bitch he is. Thanks.”
The beefier one out of the two sleazy-looking rejects with a crooked smile says, “Sure we can do that, no problem.” His eyes roam over Ava and Cat leisurely. “It was sure nice spending time with you ladies.”
I’m sure it was. I stand Cat up and hand her her shoes, hoping she can walk by on her own because Ava is tore up.
I help her stand up, and she leans on me.
I tell Cat to walk in front and not to put those heels back on.
Although under different circumstances, I would definitely tell her to leave them on.
I pull up to Ava’s building and help her out. “Make sure you lock the door behind you and call me when you get into your apartment.”
“Why don’t you walk me to the door like a gentleman?” She wobbles on her bare feet and I send up a prayer that she can make it on her own.
“Because Thelma here might decide to drive my car off a cliff.”
Cat sticks her head out the window, resting her chin on her arm. “Ooh I love that movie, what does that make you? Brad Pitt? I love Brad Pitt. He never ages; he’s like a bottle of fine wine, just gets better and better.”
“I’m sure he does,” I say dryly. “Sit back and try not to throw up in my car if a sudden wave of nausea hits you.” I watch Ava go in and wait for her to call me. After ten long minutes, I call her. She picks up immediately and says, “Oh, my bad. I forgot.” Ah, Ava.
I take Cat back to my place, and one we’re inside, I try to help her take off her coat, but she swats my hand away. I stand back and watch her do it herself. After the third try, she throws it to the floor in triumph with a smile plastered on her face.
“See, I did it.”
“Sometimes perseverance is everything.” I guide her into my bedroom and ease her down on the bed.
The call light flashes on my phone, which is sitting on the nightstand.
“Who’s Donna?” The light stops flashing, and she looks my way, the smile on her face gone. It flashes again, and she picks it up, holding up the screen for me to see. “She must want to talk to you real bad. I wonder what she could possibly want at this time of night.”
“She’s a friend.”
“What kind of friend calls at three in the morning, Nick?”
“An old friend.” The phone flashes again, and now I’m praying Donna gives the fuck up and stops calling.
“Donna sure is persistent. You want me to answer it for you? I can do that.” She holds her finger over the screen.
“No.” I snatch the phone out of her hands and put it in my pocket out of her reach, stepping back a good distance away from her.
“I don’t have old friends that call me in the middle of the night. Maybe I should get some friends like that.”
“No, you shouldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“I’m going to call Donna first thing tomorrow and let her know I won’t be accepting any more late-night calls. I won’t have friends like that anymore.”
“Why’s that?” she asks with the edge of my mattress curled tight in her hands.
“Because I don’t need them, and I don’t want them.”
“Since when?”
“Since the night the most beautiful girl I know opened the door and walked back into my life. She should be dripping with priceless diamonds, rubies, and jewels of every kind, but she might have to settle for my love wrapped around her like fine china, handled with infinite care.”
The grip she has on my mattress loosens and she blinks, opening her mouth then closing it back again. “She is so rare and special she deserves nothing less.”