Seductive Chaos (Bad Rep #3) (27 page)

“I love it,” I responded as though it was something I ate all the time.

“Wow, you’re hardcore, Viv,” he said and I wondered what the hell I had just ordered.

We sipped on our wine and smiled at each other with a strained stretching of lips.

“So, tell me about yourself,” Theo said.

“That’s a pretty general question, Theo,” I teased, drinking my wine a little faster.

Why was I feeling so lightheaded all of a sudden? I was by no means a cheap drunk. And I should definitely not be feeling the effects of wine after one glass.

But I stupidly decided to pour myself another glass.

“Well, how about your family? Tell me what growing up as Vivian Baily was like,” Theo prompted, eating some of the hors d’oeuvres he had ordered. Something called Assiette de Fruits et Fondue de Brie, which was only fruit and baked cheese with crackers. Sounded a lot fancier than it actually was.

“Not much to tell, really. I had a very stereotypical childhood. My parents are great. My mom is a veterinarian and my dad is a lawyer. I have an older sister, Sarah, who is physical therapist and an older brother who is a counselor. I get along really well with my siblings and my parents love me. Not much else to say,” I answered blandly. I was bored. Really, really bored. And my head was becoming cloudier by the minute.

Which made keeping my eyes open really difficult. Particularly with all of this riveting conversation.

I drank the rest of my glass of wine and began to pour myself another but my hand knocked over the bottle. Wine spilled all over the crisp, white table linens and dripped onto Theo’s lap.

He jumped to his feet and started to pat the wet spot on his crotch. I snickered and pointed at his pants.

“It looks like you pissed yourself,” I slurred.

Oh shit, what was wrong with me?

“Are you okay? How much have you had to drink?” Theo asked, frowning.

I held up two fingers. “Two glasshes,” I slurred, propping my head on my hand and poking at the Brie on my plate as our waitress came rushing over to mop up the spilled wine.

“That’s it?” Theo asked, as if he didn’t believe me.

I nodded, my head slumping.

“Did you take anything before you left the apartment?” Theo asked, shaking my arm to keep me awake.

I opened my mouth but no words came out. My tongue felt thick. Had I taken anything before I left the house?

Oh yeah. I had taken the antihistamine. And then I’d had wine. Probably not a good combination.

“I took an antihista. . .an antihistamer. . . .an antihissic. . .” I couldn’t get the word out correctly.

“An antihistamine?” Theo prompted and I tried to put a finger on my nose.

“That’s it! You get ten points!” I said loudly.

“Shit. You need to eat something and drink some water. And you definitely need to stop drinking this.” Theo swapped my wine for a glass of water.

“Hey! I wanted that!” I pouted.

Theo scooped some fruit onto my plate. “Eat. You’ll feel better once you have something on your stomach,” he suggested.

And I did as I was told. “Mmm, this is so good,” I moaned, closing my eyes as I swallowed the melon and cheese.

Theo cleared his throat and moved around in his seat.

“I wasn’t sure I wanted to go out with you,” I said, proving that antihistamines and alcohol took away all of my filter.

Theo cocked his head to the side and smiled, clearly amused by me. “Oh really?” he asked.

I licked some cheese from my fingers before grabbing some more. This shit was good!

“Yeah. Because there’s this guy I’ve been fucking for a while. The sex is unbelievable. And he’s gorgeous too. The things he does with his tongue, oh god. And his cock,” I held up my hands, indicating the size of Cole’s well-endowed penis.

“He’s hung like a horse. I’m not even kidding,” I informed my date, who seemed less and less amused by my dinner talk.

I took a drink of water to wash down the crackers. “And I think I love him. Like a lot. But he’s an asshole. And he’s with other girls way too much. And I just couldn’t put up with that anymore. But you’re nothing like him. You’re sweet. And even though I haven’t seen your Mr. Winky, I’m sure it’s nice enough.”

I gave him a sloppy grin and I barely registered the fact that Theo was most definitely not smiling anymore.

Our waitress showed up and put our dinners in front of us. I stared down at the pink blob of meat on my plate and started to feel faintly nauseous.

“You really should try to eat something,” Theo said shortly, digging into his own dinner and purposefully not looking at me.

I poked the meat with my fork. “What is it?” I asked, sort of scared by the pile of gross in front of me.

Theo raised his eyebrows. “It’s Steak Tartar. It’s what you ordered. I thought you had eaten it before.”

I shook my head. “I have no idea what this shit is.”

“Well, you’re in for a surprise then. Because it’s essentially raw hamburger,” he informed me as he turned back to his more appetizing meal.

“Raw hamburger?” I squeaked.

Theo’s face softened. “Just try it. Some people really like it,” he suggested.

I picked up my fork and jabbed it into the mess on my plate. I put a small piece in my mouth and my throat instantly seized in revolt. My body did not want me ingesting this vile thing served as food.

Oh no, I was going to be sick.

“I have to go to the bathroom!” I jumped to my feet and hurried as fast as I could to the women’s room, where I lost the contents of my stomach into the toilet.

I sagged to my knees and laid my forehead on the toilet bowl. Now that everything was out of my belly, including the alcohol, the fuzz in my head receded slightly. I was still shaky, but I wasn’t feeling so out of it.

I flushed the toilet and went to the sink to rinse my mouth. This was officially the worst date in the history of worst dates.

Christ! Had I really told Theo about the size of Cole’s penis?

What was wrong with me? Was I trying to make him hate me?

There was a knock on the door and Theo’s voice was heard on the other side.

“Are you all right, Vivian?” he asked, concerned.

“I’m okay,” I called back, feeling like the most horrible person ever.

“I had the waitress take the Steak Tartar back. She’s bringing you a grilled chicken dish instead.” He was so damn considerate. And I had developed an allergic reaction to his gorgeous flowers, gotten high off antihistamines, and told him all about my former fuck buddy’s package all before running to the bathroom to yak.

And on top of it all I looked like death warmed over.

My god, just shoot me now and put me out of my misery.

I rinsed my mouth again, trying to rid myself of the taste of puke and bile. I opened the door and found Theo waiting for me.

“I’m so sorry, Theo,” I said, bowing my head in embarrassment.

Theo put his arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze. “I get the feeling that nothing with you is ever boring,” he stated.

“No, I guess not,” I agreed.

If he only knew.

T
he grilled chicken was much more palatable and once I had solid food in my stomach, the last of the antihistamine-induced fog disappeared and I once again had control over my mouth. And more specifically what came out of it.

“So, what I said about my ex,” I started to say as we were leaving the restaurant.

Theo raised his hands. “I really don’t need to hear any more about it, if it’s all the same to you,” he joked, even though I saw a hint of seriousness in his eyes.

“Fair enough,” I commented as we waited to cross the street to the car park. I felt horrible for how badly the night had turned out and I was at a loss at how to salvage it.

And then I heard music. Loud, raw, and pretty damn awesome.

Down the road was a small bar I had been to several times. Generation Rejects had played there before and it was a really cool place to hang out. It sounded like a band was playing now.

I nodded toward the bar. “You want to grab a drink and listen to some music?” I asked.

Theo looked a little uncertain. “Isn’t that a biker bar?” he asked and I wanted to laugh.

“No, Theo. It is not a biker bar. Come on. Let me buy you a drink to make up for being such a crap date,” I pleaded.

I could have asked him to my apartment and made him a drink there. Given the look of irrational terror on his face at the prospect of heading over to Benny’s, I should have nixed the whole idea.

But I felt uncomfortable with the idea of hanging out with him, alone, in my apartment. Expectations would be made and I wasn’t sure I could deliver. I needed to keep things as public as possible.

“I’ll take care of you,” I teased and finally Theo relaxed.

“Come on, buy me a beer,” he said, letting me pull him across the road and into the loud, smoke filled bar. I wasn’t sure how the place got away with allowing people to smoke in the building, but no one seemed bothered by the thick haze hanging in the air.

A band was playing hard rock on the stage and the place was filled with your less than savory types. I wasn’t sure what possessed me to want to come. Even with my rock show past, this was a bit more hardcore than I was usually comfortable with.

And I had just dragged my preppy date into a den of wasted toughs.
Way to make great decisions, Vivian.

“Let’s get a drink,” I yelled over the din. Theo darted an anxious look around and nodded. At least he had taken off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves. Though the pair of us still stood out like sore thumbs. I noticed the strange looks we received as we pushed through the crowd on our way to the bar.

“Yeah, this is not really my scene, Viv,” Theo remarked, leaning in close so I could hear him over the commotion.

I nodded, feeling foolish for suggesting it in the first place. “Let’s just have a drink and then bounce.”

I waited for the bartender to see us when I felt eyes burning a hole into my back.

I turned toward the far end of the bar and saw a pair of hooded, dark eyes regarding me.

Of all the bars in all of the world. . .

Cole had four empty shot glasses turned over in front of him. His eyes bored into mine and slowly he lifted the full shot glass in his hand and tossed back the contents.

Theo put his hand on the small of my back, breaking my staring contest with Cole.

“What do you want, Vivian?” he asked, dipping his mouth in close to my ear. I looked back at Cole and was startled by the furious expression he wore. His mouth was set into a firm line and his eyes sparked across the distance separating us.

I turned to Theo slightly, though I kept my eyes on the caged lion on the other end of the bar. I could feel his angry aggression from here.

“I’ll have a Lemon Drop,” I said.

A woman dressed head to toe in black leather sat down beside Cole and leaned in to speak to him. He inclined his head in her direction but his gaze never wavered. Her arm curled around his shoulders, her fingers playing with the longer strands of his hair.

She was speaking to him but he wasn’t responding. He was too busy hurling nasty eye daggers my way.

Why was he so pissed to see me?

What the hell had I ever done to him?

“It’s so loud in here,” Theo yelled. I tried to smile but I felt like it was more effort than I was suddenly capable of.

Theo tucked my hair behind my ear, his fingers trailing down the side of my neck. “Can we go back to your place for a while? I can barely hear myself think,” he asked, his eyes heated.

I sipped on my drink and my eyes, of their own volition, crawled back to Cole.

Only he wasn’t there anymore. And neither was the slut who had been talking to him.

My stomach knotted up and plummeted to the floor. I knew exactly where he had gone.

I finished my drink, feeling the alcohol burn my throat and gave Theo a blinding smile. “Sure. Let’s get out of here,” I said.

Theo waved down the bartender so we could pay our tab and I looked around the crowd, my head bobbing in time to the beat of the music.

Someone wrapped their hand my waist, fingers clutching the silky material of my dress. And then I was being yanked around.

“What the hell?” I retorted angrily, only to stare up into the furious eyes of none other than Cole fucking Brandt.

“Cole,” I breathed out. His arm was tight around my middle, my chest pressed against his, our faces dangerously close. I could smell the liquor on his breath. And from the flush of his cheeks and the wild glint in his eyes, I knew he was loaded.

“Who is that?” demanded, inclining his head towards Theo, who had his back to us.

My irritation sparked and I pulled out of Cole’s retraining grip.

“None of your damn business!” I bit out.

I started to back up and knocked into Theo who turned around to give me a kind smile. His expression turned curious when he saw a very angry Cole breathing fire in his direction.

“Who the fuck are you?” Cole asked him. Theo looked over his shoulder, as though Cole were talking to someone else.

“Excuse me?” Theo asked, glancing at me.

“Why are you with my girl?” Cole demanded and my eyes widened.