Adjournment (The Fate Series) (14 page)

“Or is it that you’re holding out for the big prize?” Lexi snickers.

“Prize? What prize?” Molly leans across the counter staring at me.

“I don’t have one. She’s being annoying.” I shake my head.

Molly leans further over the counter. Dipping the long fork into the water she picks out a noodle to make sure it’s done, which is code for throwing it against the ceiling. It’s not so it falls and lands on my shoulder.

Picking it off, I press my lips into a firm line as I toss it into the trash.

“He spotted her across the room one night, but made sure to keep his distance since she’s like a wild deer and would run if he approached her,” Lexi begins.

“Nice hunting reference.” Morgan high fives her.

“Lexi, shut it,” I growl through my teeth.

“He was smitten with her from the moment he saw her. Which, hearing the stories, was a lifetime ago. But he will wait for his chance.” She winks at me.

Making a raspberry noise at her, I dump out the now finished pasta.

“And this mystery man… does he have a name?” Molly wiggles her brows.

“Oh yes, he does… Mr. Simon McAllister,” Lexi boasts in a fit of laughter.

I suddenly dislike her.

“Oh no… not this again,” Morgan huffs getting up.

“Wait again? You never told me you two actually dated!” Lexi shrieks.

“We didn’t—I wouldn’t…” I wave my hands in front of me.

“She would have,” Morgan gives a humored whisper.

I hear my phone ringing and in an eager rush to get away from them, I hop over the breakfast bar knocking Molly out of the way to dig though my purse for my phone.

“Morgan, drop it.” I point at her. “Be right back!” I say running to my room to answer it.

Of course I’m out of breath so it doesn’t sound like I was running… Great.

“Hello???” I breathe out in a phone sex raspy voice.

“Umm… Hey, so I was thinking tonight we should go out!” Jacob yells into the phone.

Why does he always have to yell?

“You know—it’s their first night in and they are really tired… I think we are just going to hang low.” I give my best aww shucks voice.

“HEY, WE’RE GOING TO THE CLUB TONIGHT!” Molly yells from behind me.

That sneaky bitch.

“Uh huh. I will see you girls in a little bit then,” he laughs.

And just like that he hangs up.

Two hours—A LOT of primer to cover up my branding and some gorgeous dresses brought to us by my sisters—later, we are ready. My sisters and Lexi of course are ready in no time. I think they wake up looking ready to go dancing.

“I don’t think we should shadow your boobies tonight since you have so much primer on. It will just end up sweating off,” Lexi frowns, biting on the end of her brush.      

“What if we just lift them… maybe tape them up?” Jacob says, pushing them where he thinks they should be.

Once again it’s a good thing I’m not embarrassed easily, or shy for that matter.

“Please remove your hands from my boobies. It’s dark, no one will appreciate it anyways,” I huff putting my hands on my hips.

Ignoring me, Jacob continues to try to work his magic but it isn’t happening.

Figures, I finally have a man grabbing at my boobs, and he’s gay. That’s my luck.

“Well someone noticed the other night since he couldn’t wait to sign them,” Jacob says causing everyone to laugh.

Giving him a cold stare, he stops laughing and clears his throat. After a few more attempts at lifting them he finally gives up. Wearing the shortest of short dresses and our highest of high heels we are ready to go.

My sisters usually design wedding and formal gowns, but these are amazing. We stop quickly by the mirror next to the front door to give ourselves one last look.

“You Chandlers all look alike.” Jacob looks at us.

He isn’t wrong. That’s how people know who we are, the blond hair and green eyes—signature Chandler trademarks.

“Okay, so, I will meet you ladies there later. No fire right?” Jacob is pointing between Molly and Morgan.

He’s so cute when he is nervous.

Crossing their hearts, they hold up their hands.

I won’t tell Jacob that they were never scouts.

When we arrive at the scene of my uninvited chest assault, we shimmy out of the car to a long line of people waiting to get in and do our best to hold our heads up high while dragging our feet to the end of the line. Someone whistling catches our attention, and I look over to see the bouncer waving us in. 

“You guys are that famous around here?” Molly says in shock as she skips to the entrance.

“I think it might be you two they recognize,” I mumble, mirroring her shocked tone.

“Unless he is a gay wedding coordinator, he has no idea who we are. This is definitely you two,” Morgan pitches in.

“Hey, ladies, what’s up? Go on in,” the man says, moving the red rope out of the way so we can walk through.

Seriously!

“What did you guys do to get right in? Did you sleep with him?” Molly giggles, tugging on my arm.

I flash her a coy smile as we walk through the dark entrance into the dim club. It takes my eyes a moment to adjust to the lighting, and as we walk further in, the bass takes over my heart beat again, and I find myself instantly in the mood to have fun. 

“First round is on me!” Molly shouts as she shimmies past bodies to get to the bar.

“When’s the last time she went out?” I yell to Morgan over the music.

“Well… let’s just say it should be an interesting night!” she yells back.

Fun!

When we have our drinks I point to the small section that isn’t guarded like it was the other night. We make our way up the steps to a small booth against the back wall to scope the place out while we enjoy our first round and wait for Jacob. There are bodies moving everywhere, blending into one big blur. Even if I knew them, right now I wouldn’t be able to tell. Molly suddenly jumps up, grabbing my arm and pulling me out of the booth. 

“Watch our stuff, we are going downstairs,” she yells, finishing off her drink.

Quickly grabbing my glass, tipping it back before following her down the steps toward the bar for another round.

“Excited to be out?” I yell to her when we step up to the bar.

Grinning back at me she nods.

I turn around to watch the people dancing, and I can feel eyes on me. My skin begins to prickle with the sense that I’m someone’s main focus. But I don’t see anyone. Molly leans over the bar to yell our drink order, and I continue to search for the source of my sudden nervousness.

When our drinks are ready, she hands me mine, and I watch as she takes her down in a few mouthfuls.

So it’s been a really long time since she’s gone out.

“You didn’t by any chance inform a certain three brothers where you guys would be tonight did you?” I take another quick glance around.

Her head jerks back before she begins shaking her it back and forth. She puts her glass back on the bar and dances her way out into the crowd without saying anything else.

Liar…

Figuring there’s safety in numbers, I drink mine, placing the empty glass on the bar and follow the path she just took. Soon we are dancing to the music and completely forget about everyone else we came with. The heat of everyone dancing has my hair sticking to the side of my face after two or three songs. When she’s finally had enough, we walk over to the bar to order another round of drinks. She leans over shouting out the order, and I try to ignore the creepy feeling climbing up my skin. When she turns around she has a drink and a shot in her hand, pushing them at me, and I realize that I’m her designated drunk sister.

What did I do to deserve this?

I watch as she quickly downs the drink, followed by the shot. Putting the newly empty glasses on the bar, she runs back to the dance floor for a few more songs.

Crap.

Following her lead, which is never a good idea, I drink both of mine and put the glasses down.

“I would love to buy you girls a drink.” I turn my head to smile at a man I don’t know.

At a quick glance, he is extremely good looking… extremely tall but wow is he good looking. I can just about make out his brown-colored hair and eyes that almost seem to match in color. A whisper of a smile plays along his lips as he talks to me.

“I wish I could take you up on that but as you can see she has run off on me.” I give a slight shrug. “I’m sure we will be back around though.”

“Well I already have these.” He lifts up a martini that looks like the one I just drank.

“You’re very smooth.” I step closer to him. “I guess since you went to all the trouble of ordering this I could have one with you. She has to come back some time.” I take the drink.

“It’s the dimples isn’t it? They’re my secret weapon.” He raises his glass to toast mine.

I let out a flirty laugh. “I honestly can’t see them in this light, you had me with your charm. What are we toasting to?” I lift my glass to him.

As he’s about to answer someone shoves into the back of me knocking me forward and spilling my drink.

“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry. Are you okay?” I look around for napkin.

“It’s fine.” He glances at the person behind me. No doubt the person who pushed me.

Turning around to say something to the jerk, I look up to see Simon. His eyes are filled with rage, and I can tell he’s grinding his teeth from the way his jaw is clenched.

I have the worse luck in the world.

“Did you just do that on purpose?” I shout at him. 

“Of course not, I didn’t even see you there.” He glances over my shoulder.

Stepping closer to him, I wave my finger in front of him. “My ass you didn’t see me here,” I start.

His eyes widen, his lips curl. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me! Out of everyone in this club you just so happen to bump into me, spilling my drink all over the guy I was talking to?” I shout.

“Maybe it’s Fate,” he muses.

Fate wouldn’t hate me this much.

“Maybe you’re just a child.” I go to take a drink and remember my glass is empty.

Snatching it from my hands he places it on the bar. “Maybe you should wear shorter heels… or drink less.” He looks down at me. “Looks like your date left… that’s too bad,” he says glancing over my shoulder again.

Turning around I see the hot guy is gone, and I’m stuck with my nemesis. “I am not a drunk nor am I clumsy, and he wasn’t my date. He was being a gentlemen by buying me a drink. A drink that you spilled all over him,” I say, closing my eyes, shaking my head at him.

Looking around I try to find someone to save me. 

“Did I spill it on you?” he asks, bringing my attention back to him.

Watching his eyes roam over me I can feel heat raising through my body. I still can’t tell if it’s anger or desire though.

Anger… I’m going to stick with anger.

I try to clear my thoughts. “No,” I grit my teeth. “Can you please look at my eyes?”

“Of course, it’s my favorite place to look. Although you said something about your ass earlier.” He steps closer, throwing me off balance.

“I don’t know why you’re so upset, he didn’t seem like your type.” He shrugs, sending me a wink.

What is it with people and my type? I don’t have a type!

“Oh, I see, you’re scoping out men for me. How thoughtful of you. Well, in the future, I don’t have a type, so you can send them all my way,” I yell over the music.

A man standing not too far away turns his head and smiles at me.

Smart one, Sidney. That is how woman get trafficked for the sex trade.

Simon looks down at me shaking his head. “Perhaps the drinking less is what we can start with?” he laughs, raising his hand to the bartender.

“Please forgive me, I’m being rude. I forgot to tell you how lovely you look tonight.” He takes my hand, lifting it high in the air to signal that I’m supposed to spin for him.

Don’t you dare fall for this.

Staring blankly at him, his slight amusement turns into outright laughter. His deep laugh is contagious, but I try not to let him know that. Pressing my lips together I try to conceal the smile that’s struggling to break free.

He wiggles my hand that’s in the air, and I know he’s waiting for it.