Lust (The Stripped Bare Series Book 1) (17 page)

I quickly change out of my ‘uniform’ and grab my bag and coat. It’s getting chilly outside at night now so I wrap it around myself before heading out of the door. Hopefully Dexter has already left, I don’t need him to walk me to my car tonight. I look around me trying to see if I can see Max anywhere but he’s nowhere to be seen.

The group of stags are all singing loudly in front of me and I laugh to myself as one of them falls over in the middle of the road. I actually can’t remember the last time that I was that drunk. I walk past the shops and cafés on my way to the car, peering down every alley as I go. I’m still very nervous and fretful that someone may be watching me, but as the weeks go on I’m more confident that no one is out to get me.

Finally, I make it to the car park. I grab my keys from my bag and press the little fob. Just as I’m about to open the door, I hear a motorbike engine roar in the distance, it’s getting louder, coming closer. I smile to myself; my stomach flips and dances at the thought of seeing him. He stops just in front of me and removes his helmet. My heart melts when I see his beautiful smile.

“I didn’t know if I was meant to wait for you in the club or not,” I confess.

“Jake is still in the office so it’s a good thing you didn’t come looking for me. We have a problem.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I need to induct the new girl on Thursday which has really messed up my plans for the day. I still want to take you out during the day, but I have to go into work in the evening. I’m sorry.” He looks upset, I don’t know exactly what he had planned but I was looking forward to spending the whole day with him.

“Oh, well, we have lots of other times.” I shrug. He kicks the stand out on his bike and climbs off it. I unconsciously lick my lips as I watch his tight trousers bulge when he cocks his leg over. Placing his helmet on the back of the bike, he strides towards me, slowly.

“Yes, we do. So, when do you move into this new flat? I need you all to myself.” He brushes a piece of hair away from my face and kisses me quickly.

“I get the keys next Tuesday. I’ve asked Jake for the day off to move in.”

“Does that mean I won’t get to see you on Tuesday?” He pouts. “When can we christen the new bed? Hell, when can we christen the kitchen, living room, shower?” I can feel his smirk as he breathes on my neck.

“The weekend after I move in? My parents will have Austen on the Saturday and I’m only down to work until eleven. Maybe you can get off early and come join me?” His kisses move closer down my neck and I’m struggling to get my words out. My whole body shivers at his touch.

“It’s a date.” His words make me realise that we haven’t really had a proper date yet. What a slut I am! Thursday should rectify that. He pushes me up against the car and captures my mouth, pushing his tongue inside. Before I can deepen the kiss, he pulls away. “I’ll see you on Wednesday.” He winks, turns and heads back towards his bike.

“Aren’t you gonna finish what you started earlier?” I beg, hopeful.

“It will wait. Don’t make yourself come, I’ll know.” Oh my God, he’s really going to leave me hanging!

“Max, please,” I cry.

“Shh, it will make you want me more. Then, on Thursday, you’ll be begging for it.” I already am begging for it. He puts his helmet on and climbs onto the bike, removing the kickstand and starting it up. I stand motionless, with my mouth open. I’m shocked at his denial to let me come. As I watch him ride away down the street a car pulls out from one of the side streets. I watch as it slowly crawls past me. I try to peer into the window to see if I recognise them, but the windows are tinted black. Feeling uneasy, I climb into the car and lock my doors. Glancing in my mirror, I see the car speed away down the road and out of sight.

Max

“You’re late home?” Dex questions as I walk through the door, throwing my helmet onto the chair.

“Yeah, Jake had me re-doing the roster. We have a new dancer starting on Thursday.” I yawn. I’m exhausted; I’ve barely slept lately.

“Cool, does that mean Jazz isn’t dancing anymore?”

“She’s still gonna train with Scotty but she’s not performing at the moment.” He pouts at my reply and it pisses me off.

“Ahh, man. I liked watching her sexy arse swinging round that pole.” I take a deep breath before I say something I might regret. I go to head into my bedroom but he stops me before I get chance. “I didn’t know Jazz had a kid?” How the hell does he know that?

“Yeah, she mentioned something,” I reply, not wanting to delve into the details about how I know.

“We were having a good chat earlier, she told me all about him.” Really? Well, that’s news to me. What else has she been telling him? I’m seriously pissed off now. I hate that she’s talking to him. I don’t know why because I trust her. This feeling inside me is so foreign, I don’t like that I get knots in my stomach at the thought of her speaking to other blokes. 

“I’m going to bed, I’m tired,” I state, walking out of the room and closing my bedroom door loudly behind me. I don’t even bother taking my clothes off; I just throw myself on the bed, pull the pillow over my head and fall asleep.

I’ve been running around since Dex went out trying to tidy the flat up a bit. Jasmine is due in the next half an hour and I don’t want her to think I’m a slob, which technically I am. Dexter is the clean one of the two of us. I still haven’t had chance to talk to her about Dexter because we were both run off our feet in work last night. However, I have calmed down. Why shouldn’t she be talking to him? Plus, if she stopped speaking to him he would realise something is amiss. Dex is my best friend, I shouldn’t be jealous of him talking to her. I just wish I could pluck up the courage to tell him about us. I know that he would back off, but I’m scared. Yes, me. Scared. Fucking terrified.

I’m just about to throw a dirty sock in the washing machine when there’s a knock at the door. Shoving the sock down the side of the sofa instead, I go to answer it.

“Hey, you’re a bit early.”

“Sorry, do you want me to go back and sit in the car?” I stick my head out of the door to make sure that Mrs Vickers next door isn’t being her usual nosy self, and then invite her in.

“Don’t be daft, come on in.” She slips off her denim jacket as she enters the room. She’s wearing black jeans and a light pink t-shirt. She looks as sexy as fuck. The jeans tightly shaping her perfect arse, and the t-shirt hugging her out-of-this-world, superb, plump tits. I stop admiring her unequalled figure and take her jacket from her, slinging it over the sofa.

“Would you like a drink before we go?” We have at least an hour before we need to get there so we have time to kill.

“Yeah, I’d kill for a cuppa. I didn’t have time to grab one this morning.” Shit! I never make tea. My ma once told me that when I try it tastes like gnat’s piss, it’s been years since I last made one. Entering the kitchen, I flick on the kettle and root around in the cupboards for some teabags. I know we have some because I’ve seen Dexter make one before.

“D’ya have sugar?” I ask, remembering that my mum has sugar in her tea.

“No thanks,” she says with a smile.

“Sweet enough?” I wink at her. Oh fuck, what was that? How corny can I get? She laughs, sitting down at the table.

“So, are you going to tell me what the big surprise is? Where are we going?”

“You’ll find out when we get there.” I pour the water over the teabag and then pour the milk over it. It looks like crap. Shit, what do I do with it? I hear the scrape of the chair on the tiled floor, before feeling her heat behind me. I panic over the state of the cup of crap I’ve just made. I don’t want her to see it.

“Here, let me make it,” she whispers. My cock jumps at the sound of her husky voice and I will it to stay down. We don’t have time to do all the things I’d like to do to her. I watch as she stirs the teabag in the cup, then squeezes it on the side a couple of times before lifting it out and throwing in the bin. She’s going to think I’m a right twat. I can’t even make a proper cup of tea. Lifting the cup to her mouth, she blows on the steaming hot mug.

“D’ya wanna sit down?” I direct her into the living room and she sits down on the sofa, placing her mug on the table.

“How’s things been with Dex?”

“Yeah, it’s been a bit weird. I hate keeping things from him but I’ll tell him when the time is right.” Which is hopefully soon. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. “He told me that you’d been talking.” It slips out, I wasn’t going to ask but it’s been eating away at me no matter how much I try to push it back.

“He came over to me at the bar the other night, got rid of a rowdy customer for me. He asked me out again.” She picks up her mug from the table and looks down at it.

“What did you say?” I’ve got this horrible feeling inside my stomach, I feel sick. What the hell is up with me?

“I told him no. I told him about Austen and that he came first. He seemed fine with that excuse.” She looks up at me guiltily. A sense of relief washes over me; it’s an unfamiliar feeling.

“Does it bother you, using Austen as an excuse?” I can sense that she’s uneasy about it.

“When I told him, it just slipped out. I didn’t mean to say it but it worked. I can’t really feel guilty about it because it is true. Austen will always be my first priority.” She gives me a small smile and I realise that it doesn’t even bother me that I’m not her number one. She has a son, I have to get used to the fact that he’s always going to be put first. If anything, I admire her more for that fact.

She finishes her drink and she asks to use the bathroom before we go. It’s the perfect opportunity for me to present her with her new helmet. I grab the box from under my bed and wait for her to come back into the living room.

“Max, you need to buy some more toilet… What’s that?” She pauses, looking stunned as she enters the room.

“Here, you’re gonna need this.” She curiously takes the box from out of my hands and lifts the flaps at the top. She looks up at me, then back down at the helmet as she pulls it out.

“I’m not going on that bike!” she screams.

“Why not? How’d ya think I was gonna take ya out? I haven’t got a car.”

“I thought we would go in my car?” I laugh slightly at her suggestion.

“I bought this especially for you,” I plead. Her face softens and she walks slowly towards me. I put on my best pouty face and she falls for it. Man, I’m good. Leaning in, she hugs me and kisses me on the side of the cheek.

“Thank you for the gift, you really shouldn’t have. But I’m still not getting on that bike.” Grrr, this woman is driving me fucking insane. Fine, she can have it her way today, but I’m getting her on that bike if it’s the last thing I ever do.

After some quarrelling, and me demanding to drive and her refusing, we pull up outside the nursing home half an hour later. I’ve never met such a stubborn woman in all my life. Well, maybe that’s not accurate, my mum is as stubborn as they come, she always has been. Sometimes I think my dad wasn’t the crazy one for leaving us, he was crazy for staying as long as he did. I love my mum to death, she’s my entire world and, like Austen is Jasmine’s number one, my mum will always be my number one. But holy shit was she an arsehole to my dad; she was stubborn as hell and never backed down in an argument. The problem was, my dad was stubborn too, so they clashed all the damn time. They were better off apart, even if at the time I didn’t think so.

“Why’re we here?” Jasmine asks, as she pulls into the nearest empty space.

“I want you to meet somebody.” Her face looks like a deer caught in the headlights. I suppose I should tell her what to expect instead of sending her into the lion’s den unprepared. Mum has deteriorated over the last week and I really want her to meet Jasmine just in case anything does happen to her. She has always wanted me to find a nice girl to share my life with, I’m hoping this will delight her and give her something to cling to. She’s been having lots of mini strokes in her sleep. She has an MRI booked for next week to see if there’s anything the doctor can do to help. He told me a load of doctor jargon last week when she was taken into the hospital but I can’t remember what the hell he said. “I want you to meet the other woman in my life, my world, my number one.” She looks even more taken-aback now; it’s actually rather cute.

“Who?
”
The word barely leaves her mouth; I should put her out of her misery before she thinks I have a secret wife or something.

“My mum.” The light bulb switches on and she lets out a breath before panic washes over her again.

“I can’t meet your mum dressed like this,” she screeches. “I wish you’d told me I would have dressed up more.”

“Jasmine, you look beautiful. She wouldn’t care if you were wearing a bin bag. She’ll just be so overjoyed that I have a girlfriend.” I realise what I’ve just said when the shock on her face startles me. Crap, I just called her my girlfriend. We haven’t even been on a proper date yet and I’m calling her my girlfriend.

“So, we are officially boyfriend and girlfriend now?” she says, turning in her seat to face me. It sounds weird, a grown man and woman being boyfriend and girlfriend, but I actually like her being my girlfriend.

“If you want to be?” She smiles, leaning over to kiss me. Taking her head in my hands I deepen the kiss. Her soft lips press hard against me. Pulling back, I adjust myself in my pants. “Shit, you’re gonna have me going in there with a hard on,” I pant.

We exit the car and she grabs my hand to hold it. I stroke the back of it as we walk towards the entrance. I’m really nervous. I hope Ma likes her.              

“Hey, Ma,” I whisper into her ear. She’s sitting in her chair, facing the window, which has a lovely view of the pristine gardens outside. She loves looking outside, even if she doesn’t get to go out much, she likes the wildlife. I bought her some binoculars so she could see them better and she spends hours looking at her surroundings. I think it brings her a sense of peace. Her eyes open and she smiles when she sees me.

“Hey, Son. How’s my boy?” Her voice is croaky from sleep. She tries to push herself up on the chair but her arms aren’t strong enough. Grabbing her under her armpit, I gently lift her into an upright position. She adjusts her glasses and takes a good look at me.