chapter 8
Z
“Uh.” F*ck, my head was pounding. Again. I really needed to stop doing this. I slowly opened my eyes and three pairs were staring back at me. All with some goofy smirk. What the f*ck? Where am I? Ugh. I must have passed out on the chaise? “How much did I drink?” I was really asking anyone who would answer me.
Flynn piped up, “a shit load and then some – of Jack.” Well thank you; that explains it all. A*shole. It would take too much effort to say that so I just nodded my head…slightly because it hurt like hell to move anything. “What time is it?” And why did my mouth taste like shit?
“It’s almost five. You’ve been asleep for a very long time, my friend,” Flynn added.
Oh shit. I’d have to get to the club soon. I tried to move, but my head was still throbbing. I managed to stand up and get some water from the kitchen. Everyone was so quiet. They must be hung over too. I grabbed some Advil from the cabinet and took a couple.
“Did everyone drink just as much? Why are you guys all sitting around quietly?” It was just so odd; I had to know why.
Flynn chuckled. “Nope, we were just waiting for you to wake up and see how you’re feeling.”
Clark chimed in, “Yeah, we wanted to see how you made out last night!” They all busted out laughing. What was that supposed to mean? I remember throwing up. Aw, shit. I vaguely remember Izzy on the couch. Is Izzy pissed because she had to babysit me last night?
“Is Izzy mad?” I asked, trying to keep my head from pounding when I spoke.
They all turned around to watch me. “Why would Izzy be pissed, Z?” Mel asked with a weird smirk.
“I don’t know. ‘Cause she had to babysit me last night? I think I remember her sitting with me while I puked my guts out at some point during the night.”
“That’s what you remember?” Flynn asked with his brows pulled together as if he were confused.
“Well, yeah….why? Something else happen?” I was trying to remember anything, but I couldn’t.
Just then Izzy called from the top of the stairs, “hey Mel, can I use your laptop?”
Mel yelled back, which hurt the f*ck out of my brain, “Yeah, it’s on my bed.”
“Thanks,” Izzy called back down.
Clark started in while laughing, “That’s all you remember? Puking?” What was that supposed to mean?
F*ck, what did I do? “Come on you guys….what else did I do?” There’s obviously something else that happened. They just started laughing again and started to stand up.
“Nothing. Nothing else happened besides you being totally drunk last night,” Mel said smirking. “I’m gonna go get ready.”
Flynn looked at her quizzically and asked, “ready for what?”
Clark snickered. “Her date, dude. Guy at the bar last night was hitting on her while you and Z were becoming friends with Jack.”
Mel looked uncomfortable, but still kind of happy. “He called me today and wanted to take me out to dinner. He seems like a nice guy.” She said slowly while looking at the floor.
Flynn didn’t look happy at all. Shit, his nose was flaring like a bull. I was waiting for him to charge. He surprised me, and I think Mel too, by saying, “good, have a great time.” His voice was tight as he said that.
Mel looked away and whispered, “thanks.”
Clark just shook his head as he stood up. “I’m going to get ready for work.”
Mel started running up the stairs, screeching out, “I called the bathroom first!” Clark ran too, trying to beat her to the staircase. They were like brother and sister fighting over the bathroom racing up the stairs. I think Mel won because I heard her giggling after a door slammed.
Clark banged on the door yelling, “Hey, I gotta get to work! You’re just getting ready to tease some dick!”
Izzy came down dressed and ready for work. Her hair was down again, all wavy and shit. She looked like she was wearing more makeup than she usually wore. She looked smokin’. Just…perfect. She was laughing about the whole Clark/Mel competition for the bathroom. God, she has a beautiful smile. Her lips…something about them. I kept staring and couldn’t stop. I didn’t know why. I think I remember staring at them last night and then, just like that, the memory slipped away.
Flynn moaned from the couch, “F*ck. What the f*ck?” He was putting his hands over his face as if he were exhausted.
“What’s wrong?” Izzy asked as she applied lip gloss to her gorgeous plump lips. I think I was staring too long because she caught my stare, smiled and winked. “How ya feeling, Z?”
I gulped, “fine, thanks” and turned to Flynn, who started answering Izzy.
“Mel’s got a date tonight.” I turned back to watch Izzy get excited, her eyes lit up and she did that bounce thing that made her tits jiggle. I felt my cock twitch just watching her jump.
“Ohhh! Did that guy actually call her? Wow, he’s quick! He was very sweet…” and she trailed off probably realizing who she was speaking to. She stopped smiling immediately. “Uhh, sorry,” she added, as if that would help out.
He let out a breath and asked, “Does he seem like a good guy or was he just a drunk idiot?”
She glanced at me as if she was wondering how to respond. “Umm, he seemed like a nice guy. He didn’t seem like he was just out for a lay, if that’s what you mean? I’m sorry…I shouldn’t have said anything.” She felt bad, you could tell. “Look, I’m going to head over to the club and start getting things ready.” Then she looked at me, “I’ll see you over there? Or are you gonna to flake out tonight?” She chuckled at her last question. Smart ass.
“Nah, I’ll be over there later. You go on ahead.” She smiled and grabbed her stuff. “I’ll see you guys!” She called as she walked out the door.
“What is she so f*cking happy about?” I asked Flynn, who was still holding his head in his hands.
“You don’t remember anything at all about last night?” He grumbled as he stood up and walked to the kitchen. He grabbed a beer from the fridge, opened it and took a swig.
“Not much. Am I supposed to? Why do you guys keep asking that? What did I do?” I was serious and getting pissed that no one was answering me.
“Nothing. Don’t worry about it, man. You got your bike or truck over at the bar?” He took another long drink from his beer.
“Truck, I had to pick up some stuff yesterday morning,” I replied, watching him down the rest of the beer. Shit. Guess he’s hurting pretty bad.
“Come on, I’ll walk over with you and hang out at your house while you get ready. I can’t be here when the douche picks her up. I might beat the shit out of him.” Flynn growled and looked pretty pissed. I laughed at the picture in my head. Poor guy comes to pick up a hot date and gets punched in the jaw.
We started walking back towards the bar and I kept having flashes of last night’s walk home. “Was I hanging all over Iz?” I asked.
“Yeah, pretty much. You were talking about her tits a lot too.” It was coming back to me after Flynn said that.
“Uhh.” I put my hands over my face as I started to remember more. “I was talking to her tits all night, wasn’t I? Didn’t I yell at some guy about her tits too? Remind me to stop drinking around her.” Then I thought about it some more. “Why wasn’t she pissed at me just now?” She looked so happy bounding down the steps and smiling, even winking at me. I stopped and glared at Flynn. “Did I f*ck her last night?” I honestly couldn’t remember.
Flynn busted out laughing, “I don’t think so dude, but Clark said you guys were making out when he walked in. She told us not to tell you. But, it’s too funny watching you try to remember!”
“I kissed her? Shit and I don’t even remember that. That sucks. What is wrong with me?” I stopped again and asked, “Wait. Did I kiss her before or after I puked?” I seriously hope it wasn’t after. That’s just wrong.
“Before, man, before. Look, I wouldn’t worry about it. She doesn’t seem pissed about it and didn’t want us to say anything. Not sure if she’s embarrassed or what. Or she wasn’t sure if you wouldn’t remember, so just don’t tell her I told you.” Flynn pleaded.
“Yeah. Okay, I won’t mention it. Especially since I can’t remember and she doesn’t want me to. It must have really sucked.” I really felt bad now. Poor girl has a psycho ex and her boss kisses her when he’s trashed. Nice Z, really nice.
We got to my truck, jumped in and headed to my house. Flynn grabbed a beer out of the fridge and I went up to shower and change.
I came back down and Flynn was sitting on the couch watching TV, drinking another beer.
“You just gonna get drunk again tonight? You coming to the club or hanging out here?” I didn’t care either way. I got it that he didn’t want to be near the townhouse when Mel got back from her date. Just hope she was smart enough not to come into the club if he was there.
“Nah, I’ll come to the bar with you. I can at least walk home from there.” He stood up and we left in my truck, heading back to the bar.
“Hey, you know you missed her cooking again. She cooked us all breakfast, including Bloody Marys. She’s really good in the kitchen.” Flynn said as we got out of the truck and headed into the bar.
“Crap. I missed another meal,” I said laughing. “I should probably stop drinking so I’d actually be sober enough to be there for once.”
We strolled into Allure. Flynn kept walking to the bar and I went to my office. I noticed my desk was clean and orderly. Funny, I didn’t think I would have cleaned up while I was drunk last night. I shrugged and went to go check on my staff and to see how the bar was doing tonight. You know, try to be responsible, considering this past week I had flaked out almost every night.
Clark came running in, almost out of breath. “Sorry man! Mel was in the bathroom forever. Pissed me off.”
“No worries,” I said as I chuckled.
The bar started getting busy and I was talking to several patrons, mostly hot chicks that Clark was kind enough to make sure there were plenty of. One in particular kept putting her hand on my chest, smiling and flirting brazenly. She had a friend, so I thought I would bring them over to the bar near Flynn, since he looked like he could use a pick me up.
We were chatting, but I kept eyeing Izzy. She seemed to be in a really good mood. Her, Sandy and Mark were having a great time behind the bar bantering with customers, but I noticed she kept lingering at the other end of the bar. Her eyes were shining really bright and wow, her smile was just incredible. They were all dancing to the music behind the bar in between serving customers. Well, good. Glad my staff could enjoy their jobs so much.
I decided to glance down to where Izzy seemed to be hovering and noticed two guys were really chatty with her. Nothing out of the norm, I guess, except that she was smiling more than usual to a customer. Her and Sandy kept whispering to each other each time they went to the register and giggling like school girls. What the…?
“Did you hear what I said?” asked the chick as she fondled the lapel on my jacket.
“I’m sorry…what did you say?” I tore my gaze from Izzy back to the hot chick flirting with me.
“I said this is my favorite bar. You really out did yourself with the décor.” She bit her lip, smiling and then ran her tongue along her lip.
Normally that would turn me on, but I kept thinking about Izzy. “Ohh yeah, thanks.” I gave her a half smile then looked back to Izzy behind the bar.
Flynn elbowed me at that point and yelled above the music, “Z, Roxanne here just said that we should all hit the dance floor. You wanna go?”
“What?” I asked glancing briefly back at him. I was trying to figure out what he was saying because I really wasn’t listening. I wanted to see what was going behind the bar with Izzy.
“Dance, silly!” the chick said, pulling on my arm and leading me out onto the dance area. I reluctantly followed her and started dancing, but maneuvered myself to where I could see what was going on at the bar.
I watched Izzy leaning over the bar looking “dreamy” at one of the guys. Why did this bother me so much? She was patting the guy’s hand and then flipping her hair. She made sure to continue tending bar though. She made drinks in between talking to the guys. She was flirting. Like really flirting. Who was this guy? I mean, I’ve watched her talk to customers, but this one, she was making sure he was very well attended to and flirting blatantly with him. She kept licking her lips and a couple times bit her full, luscious bottom lip. F*ck. Who was this f*cking guy? This wasn’t her ex, was it? We agreed she’d come tell me.
Flynn leaned in and yelled into my ear so that the girls couldn’t hear. “What’s up with you, man?”
“I think Izzy is flirting with those two guys!” I exclaimed to him.
He smirked knowingly and chided, “Welcome to my f*cking world, buddy, Welcome to my world!”
I looked back at him and gave him a look. “Nah, man, it’s not the same with Izzy and me.” Is it? Shit, was he right? Was I really that into her and didn’t realize it. Man, I can be such a dumbass.
I watched one of the guys take out his phone from his pocket and leaned forward listening to what she was saying, grinning eagerly. Was she giving out her number? Why? What the f*ck was she giving him her number for?
At that point I stopped dancing, put my hand over my face and started rubbing my chin, annoyed as hell at Izzy for flirting – and more annoyed at myself for caring about it.
Flynn noticed my expression and yelled in my ear over the music, “Ya gotta let it go, man. This is what was happening to me last night with Mel. And now the f*cker is on a date with her.”
F*ck that, I wasn’t going to let that happen. I’m always pissed at him for not manning up. I won’t let that be me.
I stalked over to the bar – long strides. I was trying to contain my anger, but it was getting tough. I stood beside the guy and Izzy looked up, still smiling brightly. F*ck, why does she have to be so gorgeous? And happy? She was so happy and I’m about to screw that up. I swallowed hard and tried to calm down. The douche noticed Izzy’s gaze and turned towards me.
Izzy excitedly spoke up to introduce me, “Z, this is Mark and his buddy Dex. I met him on my run this morning. He’s training for IronMan.” Great. A f*cking athlete. I’m sure he’s great compared to the drunk she attended to last night who puked after making a pass at her.
He was holding out his hand to shake mine. I glanced at Izzy smiling so brightly; I knew if I didn’t shake his hand that smile would fade. I couldn’t have that. I shook his hand making sure to try to break it. It’s a guy thing. He didn’t miss it because he was trying to squeeze harder. Izzy broke in the weird testosterone display we were having and sweetly trilled, “Z is the owner of this bar, Mark.” Just then she was called away to take an order.
We finally ended our handshake just as Flynn came over with the two girls. Why the hell did he bring them over? I didn’t feel like talking to them; much less give Izzy the idea I wanted to. I was glaring at Flynn, who just smirked at me while shaking his head.
I tried to be polite and introduce them, but didn’t know the girls’ names. Flynn positioned himself to try to move the girls closer to Mark and Dex. I still didn’t get why he brought them over.
One of the girls turned to Mark and asked, “Wanna dance?” He tried to protest, but she grabbed his arm, pulling him out to the dance floor. He glared at me and I had a smirk on my face when it finally dawned on me what my best friend just did for me. Nice move Flynn. I f*cking owe him big time. Shortly thereafter, Dex was being pulled out there by the other girl.
I smirked at Flynn. “Nice move buddy. Thanks.”
“No problem, amigo. Anytime.” Flynn grinned as we both turned back to the bar just in time to see Izzy’s face as she watched Mark walk out to the dance floor with a smoking hot brunette. Her smile left her eyes and her mouth pressed together. It looked like tears were forming in her eyes. Great. I really am a huge dick now. F*ck.
She stood in front of us, “What’d you do? Did you do that on purpose?” She was glaring at me.
“No,” Flynn protested. “No, the girls just pulled them out there. Z had nothing to do with that.” She looked at him as if she didn’t believe him, but was trying to reason it out in her head. She turned around and poured us some beers then tended to the other customers.
I turned my back to watch them dance and under my breath said to Flynn, “Damn, I feel like shit. Did you see how disappointed she was?”
“No more than you were when you saw her flirting and giving out her number.” Flynn replied.
“Now what? They’re going to come back soon.”
He took a deep breath and said, “Well, it’s almost closing time. You can send her to the back and have her take inventory or something stupid.”
Wow. Now I’m really going to be a dick. I took a long drink of my beer, looked at gorgeous Izzy and decided being a dick was definitely the way to go. I took a look around. The bar was packed. There was no way she’d believe that I really needed her to do that, but it was worth a shot. I leaned over the bar. “Izzy, I need to see you in my office for a sec.”
She looked around at how busy it was and asked, “Now? Can’t that wait? We’re slammed!”
Bartender Mark looked at me and smirked. “I’ve got it covered Iz, go on back.” Yeah. He got it. He’s also totally getting a raise too. She huffed and threw her towel on the back counter and started walking. She was glancing over at the dance floor with a really sad face. I’m such a dick.
We both got to the office and she stood there seething at me. I closed the door.
“What was that?” She spoke loudly. I was surprised she wasn’t yelling, but thought maybe she didn’t want anyone to hear. She seemed like she was trying to contain her anger.
“What? What do you mean?” I tried to sound nonchalant while I tried to think of a good enough reason why I actually called her in here. Nothing was coming to mind.
“You and Flynn were totally cock blocking Mark,” she wailed. I burst out laughing. It just sounded funny coming from a chick. I couldn’t stop laughing, but looking at how pissed she was, I started feeling bad and tried to rein in my laughter.
“Come on. You know you didn’t want to go out with him. He’s probably training or something. He shouldn’t be out late anyway. I’m doing him a favor!” That’s it Z, stand your ground. You were looking out for the guy she liked. Who am I kidding? I didn’t say any of that with a straight face so she knows that’s not even remotely true.
“Why did you do that?” She was pissed, but still not yelling. God she looks really hot when she’s angry. She had this spark in her eyes and her chest was rising up and down. Wow. Instant chub. I glanced again down at her chest. Shit her nipples were hard too. Was that because she was pissed at me or because she was thinking about Mark?
“I…we kissed last night!” I blurted out.
She looked at me cautiously, “You remember kissing me last night?”
“Well no, Flynn told me but…” as soon as I f*cking said it; I knew it was the wrong thing to say. Dumbass.
“So, you heard that we kissed and now you think you can chase away any guy that likes me? You don’t even remember kissing me last night!” She was beyond pissed now, but still doing an amazing job trying to contain her anger. Wow. That’s so hot.
At that point, my dick took over any thinking possible. I grabbed her by the back of her neck and pulled her to me forcefully, pressing my lips to hers. She willingly opened her mouth with a small moan escaping her lips. Our tongues started searching for each other and she threw her arms around my neck, pulling me even closer. As our kiss became more fervent, we both moaned into each other. I swear if I died right now, I’d die as the most satisfied man on earth just from her kiss.
I pushed myself against her, letting her feel how hard I was for her. I had a flash memory from last night come to mind. I remembered a sweet, sensual, passionate kiss. F*ck it was so hot. This was just as hot, but this one was needy, as if we had to have our mouths melded to each other or we’d die.
My hands were thrusting through her hair, pulling her toward me hard; I just wanted to devour her. She slowly lifted one of her gorgeous smooth legs and began to wrap it around me. I put my hand on her thigh, digging my fingers into her smooth flesh wanting to pull her as close to me as possible. I moved my hand up to roughly cup her incredible ass. She moaned again into my mouth, pushing her body harder against me. She started grinding against my hard cock as I started to slide my fingers under the lace edging of her panties.
Just then the door burst open and Sandy came in yelling, “Flynn’s in a fight and we can’t break it up!” Her eyes grew even larger as she looked at us as we tried to disentangle ourselves while still panting heavy. It took me a minute to register what she said. “F*ck!” I muttered as I ran out to the bar, making sure to adjust my hard on.
A huge crowd was gathered. Mark and Flynn were throwing blows at each other. Bartender Mark and Clark were trying their best to break them apart.
I stepped in and pushed douche Mark away towards Clark. Clark caught him and pulled him out the door. His buddy, Dex, was pushing on Clark yelling, “That’s f*cking bullshit and you know it a*shole!”
Flynn was laughing and holding his jaw. I wanted to laugh too, but knew customers were watching.
“Nothing to see people. Move on!” I yelled. The music was still going so a couple of people started dancing again.
I grabbed Flynn by the shoulders and asked, “What the f*ck happened?”
He was laughing when he said, “He called me out on cock blocking him. I said ‘yeah and?’ he pushed me and f*ck if I was going to let the a*shole push me, so I punched him in the face and it went from there. Gotta give it to him though, he’s got a great right hook!” He must be drunk because he was still laughing.
Izzy came running out. “What happened? Are you okay Flynn?” She obviously had no idea who Flynn was in a fight with. Her hair was still mussed from me thrusting my hands through it. She was running her hands over it trying to fix it, which just added to how sexy she was.
Flynn glanced at me and wiped some blood from his mouth. “Yeah Izzy, I’m doing fine.” Smirking, he walked back to the bar.
Izzy looked at me curiously, “Who’d he get into a fight with?” I put my arm around her shoulder and started walking her back to the bar.
“Doesn’t matter. It’s almost closing time. Let’s start wrapping things up.” She went back behind the bar and started cleaning.
By then Clark was coming back in talking loud about how great a fight it was. I slung my arm around his shoulder and leaned in to him, “Shut the hell up about the fight, okay? Izzy doesn’t know it was with the dude she was trying to get with.”
He had a disgusted look on his face as he asked, “She was trying to hook up with that dude after she was with you last night?”
“It’s not what you think. Just...just shut up for now, okay. I’ll explain it all later. Start closing up the bar.” Two hot chicks came up to Clark saying something about how hot it was that he had to break up a fight and how well he did. How the hell does he get them so fast?
After the last customer was gone from the bar, I started to help clean up. I glanced over at Izzy and she glared at me. Shit. I think she found out that Flynn fought Mark, since I didn’t tell Sandy or Mark not to say anything. Well, that was dumb of me. But then again, I’m sure the rest of the wait staff would have told her. I wasn’t sure what to say to her just yet. I looked up again and she was on the phone. Must be that douche Mark. She looked like she was apologizing and then she was smiling and hung up. She looked over at me and glared. Again. Well, that’s not good.