Part 21 (1/2)
”There you are!” Sean's voice filled my ears seconds before his arm came swooping around my shoulder. ”You ready to hit the club?” he asked as the others filed out of the bar.
”That woman is such a b.i.t.c.h,” I muttered as I watched her walk arm in arm down the street with both Ciarn and Liam.
”Now, now, Babe,” Sean chuckled, tucking me into his side and protecting me from the cold. ”Jealousy is an ugly trait.”
”I'm not jealous of her, Sean,” I shot back, disgusted he would even think that. ”She's welcome to Liam, since he apparently likes to talk about his bedtime antics.” Knowing Liam had told her about us made me sick to my stomach. Memories of how he had treated me when we were teenagers flooded me. He was the same rat b.a.s.t.a.r.d who had dumped me during my very first b.l.o.w.j.o.b, then jumped into a relations.h.i.+p with another girl from school before the bed was cold. I was far from pristine but Liam was no knight in s.h.i.+ning armor either.
”Then what's the problem?” Sean asked when our friends were well out of earshot.
”I'm mad because she had the cheek to corner me outside the bar,” I grumbled. ”And start spurting all this c.r.a.p about how I should have thought about Liam's feelings before my dirty laundry was splashed on the papers.” Shaking my head, I leaned closer into him. ”That woman is warped.”
”Ahh...about that,” Sean chuckled nervously when we reached the entrance of Krash Bar. ”You kind of made the front page of today's papers with Noah.”
”What?” I shrieked, twisting around to gape at him. ”And you didn't think to tell me?”
”I thought you already knew,” he replied, grinning shamelessly as he paid us into the club. ”And that's why you were holed up in the apartment.”
I removed my jacket and took Sean's one out of his hands before handing them into the cloakroom attendant, along with my bag.
”No,” I hissed following after him as he stepped into the club and made a beeline for the bar. ”I didn't f.u.c.king know. If I knew I wouldn't be here.” I gestured around and then back to myself. ”And especially not dressed like this!”
”Well we're here now,” he said cheerfully. ”And you look fierce. So let's just enjoy the night.”
”Fine,” I muttered, ordering a round of tequila and paying for it with the emergency twenty I had stuffed into the cup of my dress. ”But I'm getting drunk,” I told him as I sprinkled a dash of salt on the back of my hand and then his before quickly licking it off and tossing my shot back. Grabbing a slice lemon, I shoved it in my mouth and sucked, cringing when the salty tang was overpowered by the bitterness of the lemon juice.
”Guys, are you coming?” Imogen called out, waving us over to a security guarded door. ”Stephanie just talked us into the VIP section upstairs.”
”We're coming,” I called out before s.n.a.t.c.hing Sean's shot and tossing it back. ”Consider it compensation for your omission of the truth,” I slurred, patting his chest with my hand.
Sean raised his brow and smiled. ”Come on you little firecracker,” he chuckled, taking my hand and helping me over to the door. ”Let's get you away from the bar for a while.”
Surprisingly, security did let us up the staircase to the VIP section and I snickered when we reached the top of the stairs. ”I wonder which one Steph the Cougar slept with to get a free pa.s.s in here.”
”Never mind which one of them she slept with,” Sean muttered, pointing towards the far corner of the room.
My gaze trailed over to where Sean was pointing and my heart sank into my a.s.s. ”Oh c.r.a.p,” I whispered, coming to an abrupt stop the second my eyes landed on Noah. He was in one of the leather booths on the other side of the dance floor, surrounded by staff, fans and our f.u.c.king friends.
Disgust and envy flooded me as I watched Stephanie squeeze past the other men who were sitting in the booth. When she reached Noah, I watched like a hawk as she leaned into his ear. I couldn't hear what she was saying to him, the music was drowning everything out, but when Noah nodded once and Stephanie pulled out her phone, gesturing for the others to follow her, I quickly figured it out.
I was fairly certain that my mouth was hanging open as I watched our friends all squeeze into the booth to get their picture taken with Noah. ”Did she just...”
”Sit on his lap? Yep.” Sean filled in for me, watching the same spectacle unfold, as Stephanie sank down on Noah's lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, flaunting her big b.r.e.a.s.t.s in his face like a weapon of male destruction.
”Come on, Babe,” Sean said in a determined tone of voice, reaching for my hand. ”Let's squash this.”
I shook my head when he took my hand to lead me over. ”I'm not going over there,” I told him as panic clawed its way out of my stomach and into my throat. Tonight, I was determined to be on my best behavior. No outbursts and no slapping, but Stephanie was pus.h.i.+ng me. Seriously, that woman was number one on my throat punch list. I watched Noah as he smiled and placated his admirers. Envy swirled inside of me. It was a natural emotion for me and when it came to Noah Messina, jealousy was my middle name. Tugging on his hand, I dug my heels into the plush carpet. ”I mean it, Sean. I...I need to go.”
”No,” he countered, dragging me across the dance floor to the booth where our friends were fan-girling all over my ex. Shoving me forward, Sean kept a death grip on my hand. ”You need to step up,” he argued. ”That is your man, Teagan Connolly. So get off your high horse and go claim him.”
”What if he doesn't want to be claimed?” I asked, admitting my deepest fears. ”What if we go over there and he ignores me?” Or worse, walks away again...
”Well, it looks to me like you have two choices,” Sean grumbled. ”You can either go over there and face him like a woman, or be a coward and let Stephanie sink her claws into him. Pick your poison, Teagan.”
”Okay,” I whispered, steeling myself for rejection and giving up the fight of trying to breakaway from Sean. I was going to have to face Noah sometime. I knew I didn't deserve him, but I wanted him badly enough to make a fool of myself trying. Noah was worth swallowing my pride and, as Sean had so sweetly pointed out, getting off my high horse for. I wanted to be the woman who went home with him tonight. Pathetic or not, there it was. I wanted Noah Messina more now than when I was seventeen and I was, once again, willing to bend my morals in order to be with him.
I was in serious s.h.i.+t.
NICK AND HIS MEN DIDN'T STAY LONG, just long enough to sign and raise a toast to my extended contract, before leaving to catch his flight.
He'd put a tab on the bar for us for the rest of the night, with strict instructions for me to let loose and enjoy myself before the grueling training started up next week.
Letting loose and enjoying myself was a f.u.c.king impossible thing for me to do after the information I had received tonight, but I was trying.
It was like Lucky had said; if they knew where she was, they would have got to her by now. Teagan was safer here than anywhere else, and I needed to calm my a.s.s down.
Quincy was celebrating the good news by drinking himself into a stupor and mauling every woman that looked sideways at him. For a man in his forties, Q had the stamina of a horned up teenager.
Lucky was being his normal self; cool, calm, collected and completely unfazed by the multi-million dollar contract I had just signed or the women who were throwing themselves at us.
I watched in amus.e.m.e.nt as he continued to drink it up, all the while fending off overly friendly female admirers, grinning and politely declining every offer, like I knew he would.
I had met the kind of women he messed around with and I knew full well that none of the women that had approached us tonight would work out for him.
The guy had two rules he lived and f.u.c.ked by never bring them home, and never go back for seconds and none of these women fit that bill. The women here tonight were good women, h.o.r.n.y and up for a good time, but no way in h.e.l.l would they be up for the kinds of things he was.
To be fair to Lucky, it was a good f.u.c.king rule, guaranteed to keep feelings and emotions out of it, but sometimes it bothered me that nothing seemed to faze him. It was like that part of Lucky had checked out years ago when his girl was killed and he was just...blank inside.
Sitting back with a beer in my hand, I felt on edge as I studied everything that was going on around us. As much as I tried, I couldn't f.u.c.king relax. I was coiled tight with tension, waiting for that p.r.i.c.k to make his next move...
”You're Noah Messina, right?” a smoking hot redhead asked, stepping into my line of vision and distracting me from my thoughts.
”The last time I checked,” I replied dryly. Never mind the fighting; I deserved that huge a.s.s pay rise for putting up with this constant f.u.c.king interruption into my life.
Stifling back a growl, I put on my professional face and asked, ”what can I do for you, Red?” even though I already knew what she wanted. They only ever wanted two things; my d.i.c.k and a photograph. Well, one of those was out of bounds, so I gave her the nod for the picture.
Squealing, she flagged down her gang of friends and waved them over before squeezing past Quincy and Lucky and landing her a.s.s down on my lap.
”I watch all your fights,” she purred as she wrapped her arms around my neck and posed while her friend snapped away with her phone. ”You are so much bigger in real life.”
”I bet,” I grumbled, resisting the urge to toss her on the floor. ”Are you done?”
”Just one more,” she promised before calling out, ”Guys, come here. I want a photo of all of us with The Machine.”
”Jesus Christ,” I muttered under my breath. ”Fine.”
”Excuse me,” the brunette who was taking the photos said to Lucky. ”Would you mind taking a photo of all of us with Noah?”
”Sure thing,” Lucky chuckled standing up and taking her phone, highly amused at my discomfort. ”That's what I'm here for.”
I glared at Lucky who was laughing his a.s.s off at my expense. He knew I hated this s.h.i.+t. Within seconds of calling her friends over I was surrounded by three guys and the brunette, who had settled down beside Red. I tolerated the photographs, I even did the small talk and pretended I was interested, but when Red dropped her hand, I'd had more than enough.