Sweet Ride (9 page)

“Yeah, this time, but
I swear to Christ, if you ever touch my car again, I’ll kick your
fucking ass.”

“I hear you. Your
car’s off-limits. Got it. Now do you want these croissants, or am I
going to eat them myself?” he asks. I snatch those from his hand,
too, and take one of the coffee cups. I sit on the chair with my feet
tucked up under my ass and pull the Mayhem shirt down covering my
legs.

Dag pulls out a chair
and moves it closer to me. “Where’d you get the shirt?” he
asks, tugging on the bottom hem of the t-shirt.

“I got it from a
friend,” I answer, moving my hands to his, stopping him from
touching Jack’s shirt.

“And would this
friend
be the reason you need me to pretend to be your
boyfriend?” he asks, his eyes roving down my body.

“Like I said, I got
it from a friend. Who that friend is, though, is none of your
business.”

“Now I know that
shirt belongs to a man. Not sure I want my woman wearing another
man’s clothes when I’m with her,” he says angrily.

“Good thing I’m not
your woman then,” I return.
Who the hell does he think he is?
I thought we had an understanding. He got laid, while I got a fake
boyfriend until Jack took the hint and left me alone—nothing more.
But it seems like Dag sees something more going on between us, which
is not going to happen. I’ll put up with him for a little longer,
but if he doesn’t knock it off, I’m seriously contemplating
taking him out. “This is just supposed to be pretend, remember?
We’re not in a real relationship,” I remind him.

“Chill, baby. Listen,
I’m sorry for doing whatever I did to royally piss you off. Let me
make it up to you. How about I take you out for dinner, as a peace
offering?” he asks, giving me a crooked grin.

“Sure, sounds good.
Thanks,” I say. I’m actually looking forward to going out and
doing something that doesn’t involve me spreading my legs.

“Awesome. I have a
few errands to run, but I’ll be back at seven to pick you up. Wear
something sexy,” he tells me, glancing at his Rolex. He then
stands, places a soft kiss on my lips, and heads out the front door.

I walk to my bedroom
and head straight to my closet, picking out the red off-the-shoulder
dress that I recently purchased at Victoria’s Secret. I love the
way it clings to my body and shows just the right amount of skin
without looking slutty. I’m actually looking forward to going out
tonight. No one’s ever taken me out for dinner before. I just hope
Dag will put his inner douchebag aside for the night, so I can enjoy
it without any drama. I hang my dress up in the bathroom for later
this evening and then head back into the living room. I eat the two
chocolate croissants Dag bought me and finish reading
Eclipse
.

Dag surprises me with
his choice of restaurant. He’s taking me to the Italian restaurant,
Vicenza, which of course reminds me of the freaking hot Italian
stallion, Jack De Luca. We walk through the doors of the dimly lit
restaurant and follow the hostess to our table. Dag orders a bottle
of the house wine as I glance over the menu. Holy shit! This place
costs a fortune, which makes me think of what Jack said to me.
What
do I actually know about Dag?
He seems to have a lot of money,
but I’m not exactly sure what he does for a living. Every time I
ask him, he avoids answering my questions.

We sit in awkward
silence waiting for the food we ordered and sipping on the wine the
waiter brought us earlier, when someone’s laughter catches my
attention. My eyes scan the restaurant and locate where the woman’s
sexy laugh is coming from—just behind and to the left of Dag at a
table in the far corner.

I try to control my
reaction when I notice Jack sitting at the table dressed in a dark
grey suit and white button up shirt without a tie. Sweet Mother of
God, I think I just had an orgasm. Then I notice the supermodel
sitting at the table with him. The woman’s wearing a taupe-colored
backless sweater dress that stops at mid-thigh with a pair of strappy
brown stiletto sandals that make her tanned legs look a mile long.
Jealousy rips through me like a mother. He’s looking at her with a
twinkle in his eyes and a huge grin on his face. He leans across the
table and grips her hand for a second, saying something to make her
laugh again. If I know Jack, he’s probably telling her he wants to
fuck her in the bathroom or something.

I can’t take it
anymore! I stomp over to the table and grab two fistfuls of her sandy
blonde hair and yank her backward out of her chair. “Keep your
hands off my man, bitch! I scream, pulling her across the floor of
the restaurant toward the entrance, ignoring her shouts for help. I
toss her out the door and give myself a mental pat on the back.
Job
well done on taking the trash out, Payton.

Jack comes up behind
me, wrapping his steely arms around my waist, leaning into my body
and whispering in my ear, “I was just waiting for you to make your
move, and it was so fucking hot. I want to …” A loud crashing
sound coming from the kitchen startles me out of my daydream.

Shit!
What am I
doing?
This is what I wanted when I started this whole fake
relationship with Dag—for Jack to leave me alone, isn’t it? The
gorgeous blonde with the sensually curvy body lets out another sexy
laugh at whatever Jack says to her, and I mentally cringe. I want to
be that woman so bad right now it hurts. I can’t be here in the
same room with them. I make the decision to leave before he notices
me. “Dag, I’m not feeling well all of a sudden. We need to leave,
now,” I inform him.

“Yeah, you don’t
look so good. You look a little green,” he says. Yeah, green with
envy. “Let’s go the fuck home.” He calls the waiter over, pays
the bill, and we leave, but not before I take one last look at the
gorgeous couple in the corner. Tears threaten to spill from my eyes,
but I force them back. I will not cry over this.
This is what I
wanted,
I remind myself.

Five days have passed
since my dinner date with Dag, and I’ve been trying to slowly wean
him off me. He doesn’t seem to want to take the hint, though. I’m
driving home from the mall when I hear my favorite, and most
frequently played, ringtone coming from my cell. I know it’s Ella,
so I pull over to the side of the road to answer. “What up, bitch?”
I ask.

“Payton, you’re one
of a kind,” she laughs.

“Someone has to be
the life of the party, might as well be me, just like in high school,
right”? I ask, knowing full well that I hated every minute of it
then, just as much as I do now. I was bad before I met Jack, but
after him it got worse because I experienced something that I never
had before with a man. When he touched me, it was like my body came
alive for the first time, since those assholes in high school ruined
everything. I’ll never let anyone know how weak I was to allow that
to happen or the effect it had on me. I hated myself for letting it
happen and not doing something about it, but I couldn’t and
wouldn’t let anything
ever
happen to my beautiful baby
sister and Ella.

“No, you don’t have
to always be the life of the party, Payton, but it makes my day
better when I know you’re happy.” If she only knew how unhappy I
actually am, she’d be shocked.

“Well what can I say,
happy me!” I say in a sarcastic tone.

“Payton, what’s
going on with you? Is it Jack? Do you want me to get Ryder to tell
him to back off?” she asks, clearly not buying my act this time.

“I’m fine. I just …
I don’t know. I’m fine. I just need to get out and do something,
I think.”

“Well lucky for you,
Abbi called today and wants to take Harley and Hendrix for the night
to give Ryder and me some alone time, but to tell you the truth, I
want to go out and act my age for a night. Let’s go dancing. Why
don’t you and Dag come out with us, and Ryder can try to get to
know him better? Maybe he’ll even like him once he spends some time
with him,” she says.

Fat chance there. I
know Ryder will never like Dag. I mean I hardly do. Over the past
week he’s been acting more possessive over me, and I don’t like
it one bit. I think it’s time to call this whole thing off soon
because I haven’t seen Jack since the night at the restaurant, so I
think my plan worked.
Do not cry, Payton,
I think to myself.

“Fuck yeah. That
sounds awesome. I so want to go dancing with you. We can start at
Climax and then head over to Pulse.”

“Check with Dag and
call me back.”

“Okay, babes,” I
reply and hang up. I can’t tell Ella that this thing between Dag
and me is a lie, so I dial the number that I’m starting to hate see
come up on my display.

“How’s it going,
sexy?” Dag asks.

Ugh. “Hey, Ella
called and wants to know if we’d be interested in going out with
her and Ryder tonight? You don’t have to, if you don’t want to,”
I say, hoping he’ll say no and that he has other plans. “We’re
going to go to Climax first for a few drinks and then heading over to
Pulse to go dancing.”

“Works for me,” he
answers. Well shit.

“Okay, we’ll meet
you at Climax around eight,” I tell him.

“Oh no, querida.
We’re going to have a bit of fun before we meet up with your
friends.”

“Fine, stop by my
place at six, but make it quick,” I say, cringing. He thinks he’s
a gift from God in bed, but let me tell you “Little Dag” really
is little, and he sure as fuck can’t use it.

“Oh no, babe. I’m
gonna take my time,” he says before disconnecting.

FUCK. MY. LIFE.

Yeah, I’m going to
have to end this and soon, but first I want to go out and have a good
time tonight. Tomorrow I’ll get right on that.

* * *

After we have our
little
bit of fun at my house, Dag and I pull up outside of
Climax, and I notice there aren’t many cars in the parking lot. I
think most of them belong to the staff since it’s so early. Good.
We can have the place to ourselves and have a few drinks. We make our
way inside and head for the bar.

“Hey stud, can I get
a Corona, gin and tonic, and a few tequila shots?” I ask the
bartender, Marcus. I know pretty much everyone that works here either
through Molly and Amber, but also because I come here frequently for
drinks.

“Okay, I’ll send
someone over with them, gorgeous,” he replies.

“Thanks, babe,” I
say and wink at him. I turned around to head over and get a table,
which won’t be hard considering nobody’s here yet, and I freeze
because Jack’s sitting at a table in the corner taking a swig of a
beer.
What the hell’s he doing here, and where’s his sexy
supermodel?
I grab Dag’s hand and lead him over to one of the
seating areas with the sexy black leather chairs and the classic
wooden tables. The lighting’s a bit brighter now because it’s
early and no one’s around, but when it comes time for the boys to
come out and play, they turn off the normal lighting and go with
something a little sexier to match the mood of the place.

Ella and Ryder finally
show up and we spend a while drinking and shooting the shit while
Ryder glares at Dag the whole time.
Awkward much?
“Hey Ella,
come with me,” I tell her, getting an awesome idea in my head. She
jumps from the table just as excited to get away from the guys as I
am. Talk about tension.

“What’re you up to,
Payton?” she asks, looking around at the back of the club were the
girls usually get ready. “Why are we back here?”

“We’re going to
have a bit of fun. Fuck them. They’re ruining our night.”

“Okay. Let’s do
this shit,” she hiccups. Yep, Ella’s pretty well hammered. I love
drunk Ella. She’s so much fun, and she rarely comes out to play.

I set the iPod in the
docking station to the song, “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def
Leppard, grab her hand, and drag her out on stage. I start bumping
and grinding into Ella waiting to see if she’s drunk enough to
actually do this with me. I can see Ryder sitting at the table with a
sexy smirk on his face. If I know Ryder, he knows perfectly well what
I’m trying to do.

Finally, she starts to
move and is giving it her all, which is pretty fucking hot, if you
ask me. For a schoolteacher that girl sure can move. Taking her hips
in my hands from behind, I pull her closer and bend over, wiggling my
ass at her. She grinds into me and smacks my ass, which makes us bust
out laughing. Then I do the exact same thing to her. I love seeing
this side of her. Since she’s had the twins, she doesn’t very
often just let go and have wild, abandoned fun. When our little
laughing fit is over, we start bumping and grinding each other again.

Out of the corner of my
eye, I notice Jack’s moved over closer to the stage and is watching
me. So I decide to put on more of a show for him, letting him see
what he can’t have. I begin rubbing my hands all over my body and
swaying my hips to the music. I slowly get to the pole and start
sliding up and down, twirling, and straddling it. What can I say? I
learned a few things when I came here for drinks with my roommates
and watched the stripper’s routines.

After the song’s
over, we strut back to the table and sit. Ryder pulls Ella onto his
lap, his mouth lands on hers, devouring her with an intensity that
I’ve only ever felt with Jack.
Why does everything revolve
around him?
The next thing I know I am being pulled from the
table and pushed back into the dark hallway leading to the washrooms.

“Fucking Christ. That
was hot, Payton. I know you can move in bed, but I’ve never seen
you move like that on the dance floor. I wanna take you against the
wall, like we did our first time. God, you’ve got me so hard,”
Dag says hoarsely into my ear. Oh, I forgot to mention, he’s the
guy I had sex with while I was working at Pulse. He’s also
not
the guy I want saying this to me; I’d prefer it to be coming from
Jack.