Breathless - Jesse Book 1 (3 page)

Jesse

“You’re gonna fucking die, dude,” The Hairy Beast barked, as his horrid looking face moved away from where he had knocked down the girl.

“Hey man, wait. You don’t want to do this. I had no fucking idea she was your girlfriend. We were just partying. Saturday night and all. We’ve all done that once or twice, right?”

The two gorillas at my sides didn't find much interest in my remark and tightened their grip on my arms.

In one swift move, the Beast stepped towards me and punched me hard in my abdomen. Luckily, I had anticipated his move and tightened my six-pack just hard enough to withstand the majority of the blow. I leaned forward faking severe pain. Hairy Beast gloated in my face. I hammered him with a direct kick to his groin. The silence of the night air shattered with screams of pain, as he tumbled to the ground.

I stomped my right heel hard on the top of a boot worn by one of the gorillas in anticipation of him releasing my arm…but nothing happened. He didn’t let go. What the fuck…

He must be wearing work boots with steel toed protection
.

The two henchmen slammed me into my truck and kneed me hard in my stomach, this time knocking the wind out of me.

Bent over and gasping for air, I noticed Hairy Beast coming back to life. He lurched to his feet and my eye caught the glint of polished steel in his hand. The blade of a knife reflected red, then white, then red, then white in the lights of a car...the lights of a car?

I figured I was about to become the Pillsbury Dough boy, poked with a carving knife, when the headlights of a car shone onto the scene of all five of us. The red flashing light on top of a patrol car never looked so sweet. The Beast Master and his flunkies paused like animals frozen in fear for one split second. Car tires ground to a stop, crunching the loose gravel, and the car door flew open.

“Drop the knife and get down on the ground. Now…” someone yelled from the patrol car.

The goons let loose of my arms and scattered in every direction, into the cover of the trees and bushes behind the bar. The officer slammed his cruiser into park and jumped out intent on pursuit, but halted when he noticed the girl cringing and crying, hovering near the truck. He had to let the fuckers run.

Oh my god, I was still alive. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief and stepped over to see if Carrie was alright. The officer stood next to me. “Is she okay?” he asked.

“Not sure. She was hit pretty hard.”

“Don’t worry, Miss, they’re gone. Are you hurt? Do you need assistance?” Do you need medical help?” The officer spoke slowly to make sure she understood his words.

“I’m okay,” she said in a small voice, as she got up on her feet. Carrie sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She had a large red bruise under her left eye. That would be one hell of a shiner tomorrow.

“I saw this girl in trouble, so I tried to help, but the fuckers grabbed me. Thank god you arrived when you did.” The officer threw me a cold hard glance that said he would deal with me later. I swallowed hard. I knew what that stare meant.

“He didn’t do anything to me.” She pointed in my direction. “We were just having some fun, you know...”

I gave her a wide eyed hint, hoping she wouldn’t tell what we were doing in the truck. The officer glanced at me, like “shut up,” though I hadn't said a word and turned his attention back to the girl.

“Thank you, Miss. I need your statement. I assume you want to press charges on the guys who did this. Do you know who they are?”

“No. No, it’s okay, I don’t want to press charges. I’m fine.”

“Are you sure, Miss. You seem pretty beat up. You shouldn’t let them get away with something like this.”

“It’s okay, really. It was my own fault. I just fell and hit my head on that rock there. I’m so clumsy.” She pointed to a rock far away from where she had landed.

“Well, suit yourself,” the officer said with a groan. “I’ll need to see some identification on both of you, just routine.”

The officer ran his usual procedure, checked our ID’s, per regulations. Carrie calmed down to his satisfaction and I feared his wrath would be turned on me next.

“Do you need a ride home, Miss? I can take you to your residence.” He was interrupted by a scratchy voice from his police receiver attached to his shoulder. He reported his location in code to dispatch and then turn his attention back to Carrie.

She toddled towards the patrol car. “Yes, please officer, I could use a ride home.”

“Alright, take a seat in the back of the car,” he said and guided her by the elbow while opening the rear passenger door. “You can wait in the car while I talk with your friend.” He shut the door and turned his attention on me. With the red lights still flashing and the headlights of his cruiser shining on me, I lean against my pickup truck. In a few purposeful strides, he closed the distance between us.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Jesse? Are you trying to get killed? Who is the girl?”

His eyes glared cold with anger. His voice strained as he yelled through clenched teeth, struggling to keep his voice low so the girl wouldn’t hear.

“Hey Jimmy,” I said trying to play it off. “How about a hug for your ol’ brother?” I swayed forward like I was gonna give him a bear hug. He shoved me off angrily.

“Get the fuck off of me. I’m so sick of you always pulling this crap. You need to get your shit together, man.”

“But hey, I was just here minding my own business and—”

“You’re fucking drunk, Jesse. You fucked up again and I’m sick and tired of saving your sorry ass. You need to get your shit in one bag, dude. Seriously, I can’t always be there for you. You’re lucky that Manny called me earlier and told me you were in trouble. Otherwise, I would have picked you up in pieces from that ditch over there tomorrow. You’re a fucking embarrassment to me and my job.”

Jimmy paced in front of me in his sharp uniform, wearing his gun and the radio squawking at his shoulder. I leaned back against the cold hard metal of the truck. “Deputy sheriff bails out his drunken ass brother. There’s one for the local newspaper,” he ranted. The humiliation on his face would have been devastating to me if I hadn’t been too high and too drunk to realize it. But I didn’t give a rat’s ass right now. All I wanted was another Jack Daniels to burn in my throat, to burn away any semblance of a feeling I might have left in my cold, dead heart.

He reached into the cab of my pickup and snatched the keys from the cup holder, then slammed the door shut. “Get in the patrol car.” He fumed. “You are too drunk to drive. I’m taking you home after I bring the girl back to her place. Don’t think this is over either. We’ll talk later.”

Niki

Inside the O’Hara club in Vegas, the music was loud, pumping and thumping. The DJ was making his own mixes of the latest house and trance music. We were dressed in typical club style dresses, short, sassy and tall shoes, a vice of mine. I was addicted to shoes and I secretly believed the real reason Kat was my friend was because we wore the same size shoe. And one of the things I loved about Vegas was the parade of hot shoes. Every time I turned around there was another bachelorette party of girls with their magnificently hot, “fuck me” shoes. Black, red, zebra stripe, glitter, you name it and nothing was too over the top for Vegas heels.

Kat made a beeline to the bar and picked up her free
 
Jell-o shots. Balancing a beer and four little plastic cups, each filled with cherry flavored gelatinous blobs, she pushed her way through the crowd to where I had perched my rear end on a red velvet covered bench seat. Not surprisingly, Kat had flirted her way into a couple of extra shots. She made that move girls with long hair always make when their hands are full, flinging her head so her long blonde hair flipped to her back. She set the shots down on the chrome and glass coffee table. Low tables were situated in between the seating that jutted out into the room, which was bathed in dark, red lighting. The bar itself was opposite the velvet bench seats and the dance floor was partitioned off from the bar area with reserved tables, available for bottle service customers only.

“Here’s your shots. Bottoms up.” Kat handed me two and picked up one for her. She squeezed the bottom and sucked hard to get the gelatinous formation to release from the cup.

“Thanks, hun. I can see you sure know how to suck them down.” I laughed.

Everyone had their own technique for removing the wiggly concoction from the tiny container. The only way I knew, was to run my finger around the edge first, to loosen it before sucking. Kat downed her shots while standing, too flighty to sit in a place like this. She was stoked from the concert and ready to dance.

“I’m gonna shake some ass out there,” she yelled laughing, as a sharply dressed young guy wearing a black fedora towed her by the wrist to the dance floor. I waved her away.

“No problem. Knock yourself out, girl.”

 
As I licked the sticky off my index finger, I noticed someone’s eyes watching me. I removed my finger from my mouth.
Oh shit.
I dropped my gaze to my lap, feeling self-conscious. I pursed my lips and tried to act casual while I wiped the moisture from my finger on the corner of the white cocktail napkin under my drink. From the expression on his face, it was now clear to me why bars gave free Jell-o shots. Guys enjoyed watching all the sucking and licking action.

“You do that very well,” A smooth deep voice drew my attention to those watchful eyes. It was him. Holy shit, it was the guy from the concert. I didn’t know how to answer that. Was he talking about my finger in my mouth or the way I took the shot? Either way, I was blushing.

“Do you mind if I sit down?” He stood with one hand in the pocket of his dark dress pants, holding a drink glass in the other, as he tilted his head. He had on a black dress shirt, tie and a vest. And he wore it very well.

“Sure, have a seat.” I pressed my knees together and moved over to give him room. I became acutely aware of his close proximity. The heat from his body mixed with the musk of his cologne and the scent wafted in my direction each time a person brushed through the crowd. It affected me like a secret pass code on my hormones and I rotated my upper torso towards him in an open stance.
Damn, my body went into auto-pilot, rapid-firing come-on signals. And if body language could talk, mine would have been screaming.
Why is it so hot in here?
I reached for my drink.

“I think I saw you at the Lenny Kravitz concert earlier. Did you enjoy it?” He looked awkward perched on the edge of the small red velvet seat. He was tall, at least six feet, had dark black hair, cut short on the sides and held in place on top with gel, a very professional business look but with a younger style.

“Yes, I loved it,” I said. “It was such a blast. Lenny really knows how to rock the crowd.”

“Yeah, he’s awesome. My name is Trevor by the way.” He smiled and my heart skipped a beat, my restless soul rearing its head again.

 
“Niki,” I returned. “Did you come to Vegas just for the concert?”

“No, actually my buddies and I are here for a conference, insurance conference, but we knew about it way in advance and checked out the concerts. When I saw the date for Lenny Kravitz...I had to book it.”

“Cool. I’m here on spring break.” I bobbed my head up and down. Did he suspect we had pictures of him on Kat’s phone?
Shit, we’re hopeless stalkers.

“You should join us at our table. My friends and I have a reserved bottle service table by the dance floor. Your friend can come too.”

I scanned all the girls sitting down the length of the bench and realized this area was filled with single girls. The single guys were standing near the bar and the perimeter of the dance floor, while the few nice tables had couples.

“Sure, why not.”

I peered around the mash of bodies on the edge of the dance floor checking for Kat to signal her to the table. The club wasn’t very big, so it was easy to find her. I gestured with a wave of my hand, to join us at the table nearest to the DJ booth.

As Trevor and I approached the table, his friends gallantly made room for us to have a seat in the booth and Trevor slid in next to me.

“Where’re you from?” I asked.

“San Francisco is where my casa’s at,” he said sipping his Gin and Tonic, “but I’m almost never there. My job constantly takes me on the road these days. Haven’t been home for the last three weeks. How about you?”

“Los Angeles. Finishing up my last year of college. So…insurance business, you said?”

“Yep. My grandpa was in insurance, my dad and several of my cousins are in insurance, so it was in the cards for me to do the same.”

“That’s really nice. My dad is a lawyer. All he talks about is how he wants me to go to law school and eventually work at his company. Honestly, I loathe the thought of working for my dad. Besides, I’m more of the creative type, you know?”

“Sure, but being a lawyer is not the worst—“

“Hey, who’s gonna buy a thirsty girl a drink?” It was Kat with the perfect interruption. I could use a break from the conversation.

“There you are. Come sit next to me,” I called out. Kat fell into the circular booth, breathless from dancing as I introduced her to Trevor and his friends.

We all scooted in to fit and Kat elbowed me under the table. Dipping her head towards mine, she whispered into my ear, “Remember, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”

 
“Right,” I thought, glancing in Trevor’s direction, but I had no intention of doing anything crazy and wild tonight. As exciting as a Vegas night in bed with a hot guy like Trevor sounded, I was not that kind of girl. Besides, I was sort of spoken for already. It was a little complicated. Jason was his name, the new guy in my dad’s law firm.

“Honey, I have found the perfect guy for you.”
That was the announcement my dad had surprised me with a while ago over breakfast.
“Just let him take you out on one date. I promise you that you will like him. He is a very nice guy.”

My dad was right. Jason was a nice guy, but that was also the problem. He was nice…well, nice and boring. Most girls would have considered themselves lucky to date a guy like him. He was good looking, smart, educated with a great job and a bright future but...to me, he was about as exciting as doing the laundry. I wanted more out of life than just being a lawyer’s wife. I had big dreams and hopes for my future, and sadly for Jason…and my dad, Jason wasn’t included. I had to find a way to tell them both, which would not an easy task. Lawyers like to get their way. But moving out of my father’s house and getting a place with my best friend, would be the first step in the right direction.

I glanced over at Kat sitting on a guy’s lap, downing tequila shots with her hands behind her back. I shook my head and smiled. She caught my gaze and smiled back with a wink. I knew it would be one hell of a summer.