Daire and Aspen

Chapter 3: Aspen

The day I'd been dreading had come with a swiftness that approached Mach 2. Despite all my warnings and reminders to myself, I'd fallen for Daire, knowing it was pointless, knowing to him this month was about nothing but sex. To me, it was about him and the new dimensions he brought into my life. His pillow talk was surprisingly excellent and we laughed, talked about our lives, our ambitions, places we wanted to travel, things we wanted to do and see. And last night had been the last night together, but even that had been interrupted by a call that caused Daire to leave suddenly, right before midnight when our whatever turned into a pumpkin. Thirty days were up. I wondered if it had been prearranged so he could avoid an awkward good-bye. After he walked out, at exactly midnight, I blocked his number and deleted his contact, as per his orders. It was a great rule, because I was so tempted to keep it. Even though he hadn't mentioned it, I deleted our text string as well, not wanting to become that girl who repeatedly read and re-read all of the texts from old boyfriends.

My phone rang early that morning, and of course it was Molly because she knew the best month of my life was over.

"You OK?"

"Not really, no. But I will be," I promised both her and myself, pretty certain I was lying. I'd never be OK. "I have no one to blame but myself. But honestly, how could any woman not succumb?"

"I think they all do," Molly said quietly. "But he's been pretty brutal if he's had to rebuff any clingers, so I think they learn to rein it in."

"And I'll be good, too."

"But, Aspen, maybe...with all you've told me, he's broken just about every single one of his rules with you. Maybe –"

"Don't," I cut her off. "Don't try to give me hope when there isn't any. I've already deleted and blocked his contact, as he ordered at the beginning of the month. And I'm about to make plans with you to go out tonight to a bar, not one owned by the MC, and just have a few drinks and dance and forget. That way, I don't have to worry about seeing him pick out Miss July, since my reign as Miss June has ended."

Good friend that she was, she immediately agreed to a chick night, and I let her, knowing she'd probably already made plans with Tac for tonight and would be cancelling them so she could support me. "I'll get some of the other girls together. Girls night out!"

"Sounds good," I said with an enthusiasm I was definitely not feeling. We made plans for me to come to Molly's at six, where we'd get ready, enjoy a few drinks, then we'd Uber to meet the rest of the girls at Bad Decisions at nine.

"You look hot," Molly declared later that night. Not sure if I agreed, I could admit that I looked like I was ready to have a good time. I was in a short, tight black skirt, just this side of legal, tall strappy black wedges, and a tight red shirt with a low V. My hair was curled in loose waves that reached my lower back, and my makeup was flawless, the crowning touch my smoky eyes.

We Ubered to the bar and met up with Keely, Suze and Roxy. We were sitting at a tall table, having had our third round of margaritas when we decided it was time to hit the dance floor. Molly had been having an odd text exchange with Tacoma where she was not giving him any information and he kept hammering her with texts that she was showing us.

Tacoma: Where are you?

Molly: Out

Tacoma: Tell me where you are

Molly: Not where I'd normally be! And as of 25 minutes ago, it's none of your beeswax.

Tacoma: Seriously where are you?

Molly: Not telling you

Tacoma: Who are you with?

Molly: Not you