Misjudged (3 page)

“Oh, just come on!” Alyssa grabs a hold of my arm as she tries to drag me across the street, and towards a new little bar that’s just opposite to us. “A couple of drinks aren’t going to hurt you!”

“Alyssa, it was supposed to be dinner, and there is no way on e
arth they’re going to let me in,” I wave my hand around and point over to the building she’s so adamantly trying to get me to go with her. “I mean look at the place!”

“Seth started wo
rking here over Christmas break,” she rolls her eyes while raising her eyebrows mischievously at me, and I can already tell I’m losing this argument. “It’ll be fun!”

“One drink and then I’m heading home,” I tell her as I
slump my shoulders in defeat. She always wins, and I don’t think I have the energy to fight with her over this one.

This
place does look pretty cool and stylish. The outside windows are slightly tinted, which makes the lighting from the inside appear dimmer than what I assume it actually is. There are black tables and chairs situated along the front, and the sign above is a neon red with a black background displaying the words, ‘The District Lounge.’

Alyssa is slightly ahead of me, and she’s still clutching my arm as we walk through the door. Maybe I was wr
ong. The lighting is dimmer than I thought it would be, and it feels very relaxed in here, considering it’s a Saturday night.

“Ladies, I’ll need to see some I.D. Please.
” I hear a low and rough voice bellow from my left side as a hand appears in front of us both. I knew this would happen. I warned her.

“No, they’re cool man!” I hear a familiar voice, and when I
turn to my right, I see Seth smiling at us both. The security guy lowers his hand while mumbling something unintelligible, and lets us through.

“Neil a
nd Ryan are over there,” he gestures over to the bar, before making his way out the back with a tray full of empty glasses. “I’ll be finished in a couple of hours.”

Alyssa smiles back at me as we
make our way over to the bar, before she orders us a couple of shots of tequila and a bottle of beer each.

“My ladies are here!” Neil beams brightly as he and Ryan both
jump up from the bar stools they were sitting on, and greet us both with a kiss on the cheek. “I didn’t know you guys were planning on coming here.”

“Neither did I,
” I roll my eyes, but laugh lightly when I see Alyssa returning her eye roll my way. “This place is nice,” I admit as I sit myself down before thanking the barman when he passes our drinks over.

“It’s pretty cool, huh?” Neil muses
, while tapping Ryan on the shoulder as he tries to gain his attention away from the tall blonde that just walked by him. “You wanna play?” He motions over to the pool table, and after Ryan finally manages to stop drooling over the woman, they make their way over to the table.

Alyssa seems far too pre
occupied with her cell phone to strike up any conversation, so I glance around and take in the place.

With the
music blaring out from the surround speakers, and the silver disco balls hanging down from the ceiling, it makes for a great party atmosphere. I hadn’t realized just how quiet it is in here, especially considering it’s ten o’clock on a Saturday night.

“You
wanna dance?” Alyssa asks as she places her cell phone on the bar. “I’ve never had a go on one of those things before.”

I
turn my gaze over to where she’s looking, and see a stripper pole right in the middle of the dance floor that I hadn’t noticed before.

“You’re not thinking of going up on that, are you?” I
feel my eyes widen in astonishment at the thought.

There’s nothing wrong with pole dancing, don’t get me wrong, but I hardly
think Seth would appreciate Alyssa getting up there and having guys ogling at her. He’s not possessive or anything, but he certainly lacks some self-esteem when it comes to Alyssa.

She closes her eyes
and laughs, and this is when I realize she was kidding.

There’s
only around ten or so other customers in the room now, not including us. I love how there are red candles flickering on each of the tables, which are spaced out around the sides of the room. There’s a menu set out on each of the tables, and I think it would be a terrific place for all of us to come and have dinner some night.

“Ladies!” Seth walks over and places a kiss on Alyssa’s cheek as he
stands beside her. “The boss let me finish early, so I’m done for the night.”

“Let’s go join Neil and Ryan for a drink!” Alyssa jumps up from her stool and wraps her arm around Seth as she leads us over to the corner.

We sit around the wooden table, and that’s when I hear a couple of wolf whistles from behind me. Upon turning around, I see a girl heading over to the dancing pole before she begins wrapping her body around it.

“Well, tonight just got a whole lot better!” I hear Ryan
say enthusiastically, and notice him sitting straighter in his seat as his eyes stay fixed on the woman.

She’s probably a little older than I am, and she clearly oozes confidence. Even the staff members behind the bar are watching her
, and I see a couple of her friends encouraging her off to the side.

“You don’t care he works in a place like this?” I
lean over and whisper to Alyssa. She turns around and greets me with a disconcerting look.

“
Alex, why would it bother me?” She poses while throwing me a quizzical look. “Why opt for a burger when you have a steak waiting for you at home?” She laughs before turning back around to watch the show.

“Are you done for the night, too,
bro?” I hear Neil call over to a guy who’s walking towards our table.

“Yeah, it’s pretty dead,
” I recognize the voice, so I take a closer look. “You guys want another drink before I knock off?” Everyone else seems far too transfixed with the dancer to answer him.

Ryan waves his bottle of beer in the ai
r as a way of an introduction. “Alex, Alyssa, this is Brandon.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Alyssa beams as she
takes his hand. “Seth just told me you’re the new guy in town.”

“Kinda,” he answers as he pulls up a
seat opposite to us. “It’s nice to meet you…” He stretches his hand out in my direction but I notice him hesitate, and when I look at him, I see a pair of bright blue sparking eyes staring directly back into mine. The same eyes I remember from last night.

My breathing becomes irregular
, and my pulse begins to quicken when I start having flashbacks from the night before. The mask certainly didn’t do this guy any favors because accompanying those spectacular blue eyes, are well defined high cheekbones. I hadn’t actually paid much attention to his raven black and messy spiked hair last night either, it seems. Shit, he’s hotter than I originally thought.

He’s eyeing me with a gua
rded expression, and I see his jaw beginning to tense. I realize I’m staring and quickly avert my eyes, before returning the gesture and shaking his hand lightly.

“Likewise,” I say, but my
voice doesn’t help the situation at all. It’s quiet and scratchy. “Alexis or Alex is fine.”
Way to go, Alex. You seem really in control of yourself!
I inwardly curse myself as he takes his hand away, and I watch as he glances briefly at everyone sitting with us.

He has a
dumbfounded expression over his face, but luckily, nobody caught on to our interaction just now.

“We were thinking of hitting a club,” Neil announces before taking a sip of his beer, and I see ever
yone nodding their heads in approval at the suggestion.

“You gonna try and get in?” Alyssa asks as she turns back around to face me. “Maybe you’ll bump into
‘Mr. Operation Orgasm’!”

Sh
it! Of all the things she could have said, she chose the most embarrassing one. I risk a peek over at him and see his eyes widening, but when he catches me, he looks away almost immediately.

“I don’t think so,
” I let out a deep breath and hope to God she doesn’t comment on anything else I’ve told her. It was supposed to be in the strictest of confidence. I never discuss her sex life with anybody, and God only knows, she has an exceptionally busy one.

“She’s only eighteen,” Alyssa mouths over to Brandon as she looks around to check that nobody else who works here will overhear. “She’s the baby of the group.”

“Right, eighteen huh?” His eyebrows furrow, his lips form into a frown, and I notice he’s keeping his focus on anything but me. “You seem older ...”

I smile
as I take another sip of my drink. Since when did I become all shy? I’m usually so confident, and I guess I have to be, what with the college course I’ve chosen to study.

“You want me to you call a taxi back?” Neil asks as he grabs hold of his cell phone. “Or,
I don’t need to go with them. We can head back together.”

“No, I can
walk. It’s only a couple of blocks away,” I shrug and smile warmly at him. “You go have fun,” Neil is such a likeable guy and he always thinks of others first, but I don’t want him to call it an early night just because of me.

“Holy fucking shit!” Ryan all but shouts while jumping up from his seat,
which causes my head to snap up. “Did you see what she just did?”

Everyone around our
table snicker, and I dread to think what he’s talking about now.

“Oh man, she’s coming over!” He’s
practically dancing in his seat as his grin widens. When I look to the side, I see the girl that was gyrating on the pole has almost reached our table. “Damn, she’s one fine piece of …”

“Well, hi again,” she purrs, and yes, I did just
see right. She’s standing there without a shirt, and her bra doesn’t leave very much to the imagination, either. What the hell! “I can’t stop thinking about last week, and I swear I can still taste you.”

She leans over and
practically sticks her cleavage in Brandon’s face. I notice his discomfort and his eyes glance over to me for a split second, before his mouth turns into a deeper frown. Then her words hit me. I feel as though I’ve just been punched in the stomach a couple times, seriously freaking hard.

“You want me to do it again?” She’s almost sitting on his
lap now, and his whole body tenses when he realizes she’s attempting to climb onto him.

“You know,
I was just leaving, actually,” he shakes his head and gives a fake smile as she backs away a couple of steps. “I have my friend here to walk home,” he motions over to me, and that’s when I feel my mouth drop open at what he just said. He’s walking me home?

She winks and leers at him, and I swear she just shook her ass in his direction as she headed back over to
join her friends. “Maybe some other time!” I hear her call over her shoulder, while Brandon appears to wince.

“Are you kidding me?” Ryan slam
s his hand against his forehead, “You always get the fucking women!” He looks defeated as he sits back down with his tail firmly back in between his legs. “Shit! It was even the same in high school! Every fucking woman wanted a piece of you!”

“You guys went to high school together?” Alyssa glances around at the three of them and sounds surpris
ed. I haven’t ever heard them mention him before, either.

“Yeah, we pretty much grew up together. We lost
touch when—” Ryan begins, but Brandon immediately cuts him off.

“We lost
touch when they went traveling,” I sense anxiety in Brandon’s voice as he interrupts Ryan trail of conversation.

“You’re not coming to the club?” Neil’s eyebro
ws furrow with confusion as he glances over at Brandon. “I thought we were gonna go and check out that new place?”

“No, I
’ve got a few things I need to sort out,” he answers as he stands. “You ready?” He directs his question over to me, and I nod, although I’m honestly not sure if I want him to walk me back.

It’s pretty clear to me
that what had transpired between us last night, is an everyday occurrence for him.

“I’ll just head to the bathroom and we’ll get going,” he states
with a smile, but I notice the smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes. I watch as he walks down the hallway and out of view, and then focus my attention on the rest of the group.

How did I
become so naive as to think last night was special? Thank God, I didn’t sleep with him. I close my eyes and decide to head out without him.

“I’ll see you guys in the morning,” I tell them as I
throw on my jacket and grab my purse from the table.

“Wait, I thought Brandon was gonna walk you back?” Alyssa s
tands and eyes me speculatively, “Are you okay?”

“I’ll speak with you tomorrow,” I mumble quietly. I
notice her face screw up slightly before she hugs me goodbye, and then I make my way out and onto the sidewalk.