For the Love of Ash (17 page)

Me:
What's your favorite food?

Maggie:
I'm thinking there's an ulterior motive to that question.

Me:
Answer and I'll tell you :)

Maggie:
Chinese food. Are you going to use that against me somehow?

Me:
No. Now I just know where to take you for our date.

Maggie:
:P And that's a mad smiley not happy. Since our date is imaginary

Maggie:
I seriously have to go!
 

Me:
I'm going to find you tonight…

Maggie:
Good luck.
 

June refused to answer my text message about where they were going tonight. It was frustrating me beyond belief. I threw my phone down on my bed and walked into my bathroom. I needed to shower, and it was getting closer and closer to eight, when I had to hang out with my sisters.

I turned on the water and stepped in while it was still cool. I stood with my back to the water and let it run over me. I had to stop thinking about Maggie and all this relationship shit. This wasn't me. I had other plans after I could leave this town, and they didn't include a relationship.

The only real thing I knew about her was that she liked Chinese food, and yet I was contemplating going bar to bar to find her. I pictured her in the center of the dance floor, letting loose and dancing with guys. God, I imagined her being beautiful, her hair in a ponytail like she wore it at Prime Time.
 

Immediately, I got hard. With the water and all my frustrations building, I let myself fantasize. I pictured her dancing up against me instead of other guys. Her perfectly round ass pressed into my hips and grinding against me. She fit perfectly with me, our bodies made for each other. I would tug on her hair-tie to let it loose. Her hair fell across my chest, and I pulled in the scent of vanilla and lavender.
 

I stroked myself harder and faster as I pictured Maggie turning to face me and kissing me. Her fucking lips were soft and thick, and I devoured them, running my hands through her silky hair. She moaned into my mouth, soft yet passionate.

I grabbed onto her hips hard and dragged her through the crowd. Our lips never left each other as I carried her to the back of some bar and tore my way into a supply closet. People were muttereing, the music thumping, but it was quiet around us, her breath the only thing I focused on.

I placed her onto a wooden box and pulled her shirt over her head. She was a fucking porcelain doll, with the most perfectly shaped breasts. They were hidden behind a small black bra, the tops of her breasts bulging. I couldn't stand not kissing them.
 

I pulled down her bra and sucked her nipple into my mouth, and she moaned again. It was the most erotic noise I think I'd ever heard in my life. I sucked again just to hear the noise. Her pleasure was mine and making her feel amazing was my only priority.
 

"Luke," she whispered into my ear as the tip of her tongue trailed the length of my neck. I thrust against her about to come from just kissing her.
 

"Luke," she said again. "Come." I obeyed her every command and came onto the floor while she licked and teased my neck, her fingers raking up and down my stomach, her nails digging into my muscles.
 

I leaned my head down against the shower wall, panting from my fantasy. It was too real. This was too much to handle. She was already invading my life before I even got a single date with her.

"Luke!" someone yelled as they banged on my bathroom door. "Come on!"
 

"I'm getting out," I muttered to one of my sisters.

"It's almost eight," Lindsay whined, banging against the wood again.
 

"I'm fucking coming. Relax." I turned to face the water and let it run over me. I washed fast with the bar of Dove and squirted the Head and Shoulders shampoo/conditioner combo into my hand. I lathered it and rinsed under the water and jumped out into the warm bathroom.
 

I wasn't dressing fancy. Linds said it was just a new bar in town so I pulled on a pair of jeans and a button up shirt with a white tee underneath. I brushed some gel into my hair since it was starting to get long. I didn't want it to get in my face and deal with the strands tickling my forehead all night.
 

"I'm ready," I said as I walked back into my room. Like I had guessed, Lindsay and Lauren were sitting on my bed, looking drastically different yet the same at the same time. It was so weird how uour similarities took precedent.

Linds was wearing a black halter top with knee-high boots. Lauren's dress was pink with a frayed bottom that made her look like a flapper. Her hair was pinned to the top of her head, and she had on high heels that made her almost as tall as me.
 

"Finally," Lauren groaned as she tapped away on her phone. I reached into my duffel bag and pulled out a pair of black shoes, slipping on socks, too.
 

"Let's go, family!" Lindsay hopped up, and despite her outlandish heels, she wrapped her skinny arms around Lauren and I and dragged us towards my pickup truck.
 

The truck unlocked with a beep. Lauren climbed into the back with Lindsay's helping hand. Lauren was a princess. I chuckled as I jumped into the driver's seat and started it up.
 

Cellar was more than just a bar. I looked around me at the men dressed in nice button-ups and slacks and then looked down at myself. I rushed to the bar, rolling my sleeves down and buttoning the shirt at my wrists.
 

"I'll have a whiskey," I told the bartender, who flicked her eyes at me. She smiled and nodded as she reached behind her into the cabinet that was backed with a full-wall mirror.
 

As she bent down to grab the bottle, I noticed the way her black shorts rode up her ass, showing me just the bottom of her cheeks. It was fucking hot. Her dark black hair was long and pin straight, her eyes lined in black as well.
 

"It's on me," she said as she stood and turned. She placed the cup in front of me and winked, slipping a napkin across the bar. She scribbled what I guessed was her number on it and then slid it so it touched my hand—emphasizing that it was intended for me only. Score.
 

I decided to stay at the bar. I sat down on the stool and sipped my whiskey, watching my sisters flutter around the dance floor out of the corner of my eye. This wasn't my scene at all, but the bartender made me enjoy it, stopping by periodically to check in one me.

The entire club was shadowed in blue. Neon lights lined the ceiling and walls, flickering and pulsing to the electronic sounds from the DJ booth in the corner. I already felt a headache coming on.
 

I caught the eye of the bartender again, and I decided to check out the napkin she slipped me. Sure enough, her number was scrawled in chicken scratch with her name, Farah, underneath.
 

As I finished off my whiskey, I was left with two options. Lindsay was off with a guy in a suit, leaning against a high bar table and chatting. Lauren was sitting with a group of girlfriends in the VIP section that was cornered off by a blue velvet rope.

Instead of searching for Maggie when she made it blatantly clear she didn't want to be found, I decided to order another drink from Farah and stay until she could go home. I needed to get my mind straight.

"Another?" she asked as she slinked behind the bar. Her fingers trailed behind her, her pointer gliding along the wood bar. She was a temptress, and I had no doubt that she was going to be a good lay.
 

"Please." She smiled as she turned around again. This time, she sat in her hip as she bent down, wiggling from side to side just to play with me. Damn. Her ass was big but toned, perfectly round cheeks that begged me to grab ahold of them.
 

"Are you sticking around?" She placed the drink in front of me and leaned on her elbows. Her breasts were pushed together, perky, but clearly fake. I usually wasn't a guy who liked fake anything, but I couldn't ignore the effect they had.
 

"I think so," I told her with a grin.

"Good." She turned and went towards a man who was waving a twenty dollar bill in the air like a white flag surrendering. I sat back and faced the center of the floor again, checking for my sisters.

Lauren was in the same place; only a few guys had sidled up to their table. I smiled as I watched her even though I understood nothing about her. I didn't see Lindsay. I surveyed the club, trying to look in all the corners, but she appeared missing.
 

"Great." I downed the last of my whisky, finished drinking for the night, and stood up from the bar stool.

"Don't tell me you're leaving." Farah magically appeared behind the bar in front of me.
 

"I have to find my sister. I'll be back."

"I hope you will." She reached over the bar and took my hand in hers, holding it like she was trying to be sincere. But it only came across as desperate. I recoiled, instantly turned off.
 

I headed for the bathrooms first. I had experience with a drunk Lindsay from all the times we partied in college and then the times when she was in college. She'd call me to come get her from BC, claiming that she was in danger. But when I got there, she hadn't even remembered the call. This happened all of three times before I caught on.
 

Just as I was about to barge into the ladies' room, what did you have it, she came out. She was stumbling as she pulled at the hem of her dress so it covered her bare ass. She was a fucking mess, and we hadn't even been here long.

"Damn, Linds," I muttered as I grabbed onto her forearm and dragged her backwards. I didn't even look at the guy who came out behind her. I didn't want to see his face. I wasn't in the mood for a fist fight.

"I'm not even drunk, Luke. Get off of me." She pulled her arm out of my grasp and glared up at me. She didn't slur.
 

"Why did you just hookup in a bathroom then?"

"I wanted to. I knew he wouldn't fuck me unless I acted drunk."

"Don't need to hear this. You're fine?" I asked her, looking up and down to make sure she wasn't bruised or anything. She seemed fine. It still wasn't something I could get used to.
 

"I'm good. Promise." I wrapped my arm around her shoulder as we walked back towards the main room of the club. We stopped at the edge of the dance floor.
 

"There's no way."

"No way, what?" Lindsay asked as I turned right back around and hid behind the wall. I couldn't believe this was happening. I mean, I wanted it to happen, but shit, I didn't know what the hell to do. "Luke what is going on? Why are you pacing?"

"She's here."

"Who?"

"Maggie," I whispered in a near panic. "What do I say?"

"Go to her," Lindsay said as she pushed my back. I dug my heels into the wood floor like a child. "Luke, grow a pair. Go!" A last shove had me right at the edge of the dance floor. Maggie didn't see me, but I walked towards her, resolving to at least get her to talk to me.

Chapter Seventeen