Underground Secrets (The Underground #1) (3 page)

After what feels like forever, he pulls away, leaving me completely breathless and dizzy. “I’ll see you later, Doll.” And with that he walks away.

I am on cloud nine with lust completely filling my chest and… other regions. I am not sure, but I think I officially have my first boyfriend and I am ecstatic.

ONE

“
W
HOOOOHOOOO!”
T
HAT IS THE SOUND OF
someone having a good time. Fortunately, for me, that sound is coming from my best friend of twelve years, celebrating her twenty-fifth birthday tonight. We’re in our let’s-get-shit-face-because-we-can mode. Yeah, Gemma Mathews is my girl.

“Come on Marlie, let’s do another shot!”

Well, shit. I can already see us now - each of us taking turns holding each other’s hair, while our faces are making love to our porcelain throne for twenty minutes in our Denver apartment.
Fuck it
. “No, Gem,” I begin to say… Ha! The look she just gave me is priceless!

“But…” she begins, but I throw up my hand and cut her off.

“No! Let’s do two more shots!”

I wave the cute bartender over with alcohol induced excitement. “Four more shots of Patron please!” I shout over the bar counter. I look over at Gemma and see nothing but a look of pure evil beaming from her eyes. Or maybe it’s because she already has an hour head start on me and her eyes just naturally give off that kind of look when she is clearly buzzing.

“Marlie Edwards! I like your way of thinking! Go big or go home! Right?”

“That’s right, chick,” I tell her practically screaming over the clank of glasses and rumble of conversation around us, and the deafening music. “It’s your birthday and we are going to do this right!”

The beats are right, and my body suddenly feels like it’s on fire, the signal I am ready to hit the dance floor and move until my body gives out - or at least until last call and I’m forced to leave. Our shots come and we down them like it’s nothing. The sweet burning feeling of liquor has me even more amped up to burn off these extra calories I’m definitely consuming tonight. Actually, the shots arrived rather quickly given how busy the club’s bar is right now. I have a feeling it’s because one of the bartenders has been staring at Gemma all night, and has been lingering longer than someone should just to collect money and tips for drinks. He isn’t the only one giving steamy looks. Gemma is definitely feeling him too. Eddie, I think his name is. He must be new because I have not seen him in here before. Then again, I don’t really think anyone lasts long here besides maybe a few bartenders and wait staff that have worked here for a year or two.

Practically jumping out of my barstool, I grab Gemma’s hand and shout, “Let’s go dance!” and we all but sprint towards the dance floor.

“Hell yeah, let’s do this!” she shoots right back at me while squeezing my hand in affirmation.

So, with my best Gem right there on the floor with me, we begin to sway our hips and dance to the music.

Club Evo is one of the hottest clubs in Denver, not too big and not too small either, and definitely a place for single people. I think it’s just perfect with its lights, private booths, and a silver and cream theme. There are two floors; top floor for V.I.P’s and the main level for the general public. It is our go-to place when we go out together or with a group of friends.

After dancing for what feels like three hours, but was really six songs, I have to pee. Plain and simple. A girl’s got to break that seal sometime. “Gem! I’m going to go use the bathroom!” shouting at her and her new dance partner who tried to sandwich his cheesy, cornball-self between us three songs ago.

“Alright, me too!” Peeling herself away from the guy, she grabs my hand while I take the lead towards the ladies room.

“Woo! I’m sweating buckets woman!” she says rubbing the back of her hand across her forehead.

“Yeah, me too chick. It feels
so
good though!” It has been a couple of months since I have been out. I really needed it tonight.

Bumping shoulder to shoulder with other dancers to fight my way to the restroom, and... Oh! Lookie there. A. Freaking. Line. My goodness, I have to pee.
Hmmm… that plant over there is looking really nice right about now
. Why in the hell there aren’t two different women’s restrooms in this decently-sized club is beyond me. Well, on the main floor at least.
There should be one on each side of this place
, I think while looking around. Seriously, is every woman in this city using this specific bathroom tonight? Sure the hell looks like it.
Conversation, distraction, anything
! That’s what I need to get my mind off the dam that is about to burst in my bladder any second now. I look over at Gemma who seems just as desperate to take a pee as I.

“So, did you see the new cute-as-sin bartender checking you out?”
Shit. Am I swaying
?

“Oh hell yeah I did, and he’s blonde and beefy. You know how I like my men extra built.” Which is true, she does. She likes them to look like they lift semis with their bare hands for a living.

“Then why were you dancing with gold chains over there?” I ask, mentioning the guy who was dancing with her before I took her away to come to the restroom with me. He is most definitely
not
her type. He looks like he came straight out of a bad eighties mob movie. He had three buttons undone from the top of his silk shirt, gorilla-like chest hair trying to escape from every which way, and at least four gold chains dangling from his neck. Then there was his hair; all slicked back and greasy. I am at least seventy-five percent sure he used actual grease. He smelled like motor oil, that’s for sure.

“Just having a little fun, Miss Bob Marlie,” she says sweetly to me.

Yep, she has got to be drunk if she’s calling me that. “I think I’m going to give Eddie my number and see what happens. He’s so amazingly good looking, it’s ridiculous.” She says this with awe in her eyes as she looks over at the bar and smiles. I look with her and he is staring at her too with dreamy chocolate eyes. Good for her.

“That’s good, Gem. You should go for it. Even after what happened with the last guy. I am positive he’ll be a better match this time.” I giggle at remembering her last take home. Apparently instead of bringing the guy back to our place, which is usually her M.O, she choose to go back to his place because I was sick that night with a nasty stomach bug.

That guy had nine cats.

Nine!

I am all for cats and all, but nine? Nope. I’m good. They all needed to approve of her before he could take it any further. So safe to say, she ran as fast she could away from the crazy cat guy, “Oh ha-ha, Marlie.”

“What?” clearly trying to pull off the innocent look. She isn’t buying it.

“You know what! I didn’t know he was some psycho cat lover!”

I just smile sweetly at her beautiful freckled face while she glares at mine.

“Finally, bathroom freedom!” I sing, as we enter the ladies room ignoring her continuous glare towards me.

Getting into the stall, I struggle to pull down my jeans to relieve myself of the three shots, and four mixed drinks, so far. But I am able to get them down eventually.
God, it feels so good
. After I finally relieve myself, I meet Gem at the sinks to wash my hands and fix up my makeup and hair.

“You’re looking hot tonight by the way, Marlie.”

“Thanks, Gem.” She’s right. I did put in an extra effort in tonight to look good. Not because I’m wanting the attention from any male, but because it has been forever since I have been out, and I just wanted to feel good on the outside. I’m not insecure, I know I am pretty. Well, just above average in my opinion. I have long, dark brown, curly hair, and blue eyes. I am 5’7, and have a favoring figure that brings plenty of men’s attention. I’m just not interested right now.

A
FTER GOING THROUGH MY
massive closet earlier, I had decided on my extra tight, red skinny jeans, a cream sleeveless blouse with a see-through lace back and pearl buttons trailing down the middle of it, and my favorite black leather jacket, because it’s April and still cold out. I paired this all with four-inch tall, black pumps. Since my shirt is see-through, I had decided that my hair up in a ponytail was a must while teasing my bangs back into a bump and adding my self-made dangly pearl earrings, silver bangles on my wrist, and more makeup than necessary.

“I mean it. You look divine. Maybe you’ll find a new man tonight looking like that.”

I roll my eyes at her ridiculous statement while putting more lipstick on and fixing my bump. “Really doubtful there Gem and you know it.”

“Okay, okay, I just think it might be time to venture back out into the dating scene.”

“No!” I snap placing both my hands on the counter. She knows damn well I’m not ready and maybe never will be.

She just stands there ignoring my little outburst. I know I was wrong to snap. I know the alcohol plays a part in why she is bringing it up, but still. With a sigh, I start to apologize, but she beats me to it.

“Look, I’m sorry, Mar. You’ve just been so damn busy with our business. I won’t bring it up again.”

“No, I’m sorry, Gem. I shouldn’t have snapped like that. I know you’re just looking out for me. I am just not ready yet. Okay?”

“Alright. Anyway, I love, love,
love
, my new handbag!” She holds it up as she examines it again. I got her a new, not-even-on-the-market designer, black, leather handbag for her birthday. I am glad I did; it pairs well with the skin-tight, olive-green, halter dress and beige faux-fur jacket she’s wearing tonight.

I smile at her. She so easily drops a subject. We have never really fought except about who gets the last bowl of Special K cereal in the morning and who gets to go buy the next family-sized box.

“So, when are you going to go and talk to that Eddie guy?”

“Probably when we go get another drink.” Looking all dreamy eyed through the mirror she fluffs her thick red waves and adds more mascara.

“Okay, ready then? I’m getting parched,” I say as I walk off with her following behind me.

We get to the bar and sit on two empty stools while I dig in my purse for my phone to check the time and look for missed calls or messages. It’s already eleven-thirty and I have only one text from my friend Kelli, saying she made it back home safely from her trip to Cancun, where she had gone with her boyfriend, Tom. I shoot her a quick text back and stuff my phone into my purse, then grab my wallet to pay for our next round. But as I look up to order, I notice our drinks are already in front of us.
Hmm
…

“They are already paid for.”

I look up and see Gemma smiling at me, winking, and hinting over towards Eddie.

“Sweet.” I sip on my now free drink and chat it up with Gemma, talking about fond memories of us getting into trouble at our old high school hangout spot or how many boyfriends Gemma has gone through, and every one of them was the future “Mr. Mathews.” It really is nice to be out of our office for once.

Gemma and I decided to start a business together. She is the college grad with a Master’s in business. I, on the other hand, was not a school genius and more of the creative type. Ever since I was little, I have been making jewelry out of anything and everything. My first necklaces, bracelets, and headbands were made out of woven grass, weeds, flowers, and mud to hold them together. Now Gemma and I run our own jewelry business we cleverly named ‘GemMar Makings’. She pretty much runs and manages the whole thing, and I of course, make all the jewelry we sell. We make a very decent profit from our site and store.

At first, it started out with us just selling from our apartment while we both worked full time jobs as hotel clerks. Eventually, though, we were making enough, and saved enough, to quit our jobs and buy our own office space. After six months of slowly putting everything together in our office building and doing a lot of remodeling, we were ready to move in and start our lives as entrepreneurs. We also hired two more people to join our team; Henry, who is our tech guy and coded the website for us, and Alex who is our assistant. Honestly, she is our ‘everything’ girl. She answers the phones, does inventory, shops for our lunches, and has pitched us some really fantastic ideas for the site’s designs. She also does all of the in-store selling.

There was also an apartment available above the office, so we decided it was a lot easier to live there and have the convenience of living right upstairs from the office. Safe to say it was a complete dump until we got creative with that place too.

That was almost a year ago, and sales for us have quadrupled since. We have been so consumed with the business in this last year that we rarely take breaks to enjoy ourselves like we are tonight. I’m very proud of what Gem and I have accomplished in only the two and a half years of really delving into what was only supposed to be a side project/hobby of mine, but it turned into something greater once Gem got closer to graduating. It was her idea actually, to turn my pieces into a real profit instead of selling them during vendor days or at county and state fairs. So then began our partnership.