5 weeks ago
"Wake up, birthday girl!" My brother yells right in my ear. After I am jolted awake I throw my pillow over my head in an attempt to ignore his existence. It's been about five days since our pool party. Marc and Thomas have officially moved in and this weekend I will be starting my new job. Xavi lifts the edge of my pillow and I peek up at him, my eyes barely open. "Time to wake up." I groan and roll over. "Oh bloody hell." Xavier sighs, sounding frustrated. "Watch out bro, I got this." I hear Ethan say but I'm so tired the words don't really register. "It's after 11 a.m. KitKat, get your lazy ass up." He snatches my covers off of me and delivers one hard whack across my ass. I immediately fly up and crouch near the headboard. My eyes are wide and I have one hand on my butt cheek. "Jesus Ethan. What the fuck?!?!" He just stands at the foot of my bed for a moment smirking. "One down, 18 to go." With those words, he walks to the door. "You wouldn't fucking dare!" All I hear are his chuckles fading down the hall.
I look up at Xavier who is still standing over me. He offers me a smile of pride as he presents me a plate of blueberry pancakes. "I made your favorite." There on the plate is a short stack of pancakes with a single lit candle in the center. "Just like old times" my brother smiles. This is how he used to wake me up on my birthdays when he lived at home. "Thank you Xavi." I blow out the candle and take a bite. Before I knew it I cleaned the plate. "Well, it's your day Lil'bit. Get dressed and decide how you want to spend it. We share one last smile before he slips out the door.
I jump in the shower and get cleaned up. Once I'm done, I throw on a pair of cut-off jean shorts and a spaghetti strap crop-top. I pull my hair up into a messy bun and I am ready to go downstairs. As I hit the floor at the bottom of the stairs I turn to the kitchen with one goal in mind. David calls out to me from the bar stool at the kitchen counter, "Good afternoon birthday girl!" I walk past him, a cigarette hanging from my lips. I glanced up and flashed him a middle finger before stepping into the kitchen. "Charming as always before your coffee I see." I glare at David as I am making my mug of java. If he understands the issue, why does he keep talking?? "Hey, has anyone seen my wallet?" Marc blows quickly through the room. He's patting himself down while twirling like a tornado scanning the room. Everyone exchanged looks but no one had seen it. This guy lays shit everywhere and can never find it. He's looking behind the throw pillows, sifting through junk mail, even picking up a shoe and shaking it. The sad thing is we are so used to it we simply carry on as if nothing is going on.
"So Xavi, question, what's the plan today?" I take my coffee and plop down in a chair in the living room. Before he can answer, Thomas strolls through. "I have a double shift so I'm out but enjoy your day Kit." I toss him a wave over my shoulder. "Thanks man" As he's walking out the door my girls walk in. Torie throws her arms up and shouts "What up bitch!" Tash, a little less flamboyant, gives me a hug. "Happy Birthday babe! We came to snatch you for a few hours." Torie pipes up, "Unless you have other plans already.." We all turn to Xavi who just shrugs his shoulders. "Nothing set in stone. Go if you want, it's all good." I study his face and determine he is sincere. "Alright, let's go get into some trouble." I chuckle. "And Katya.... Keep it legal. I ain't bailing your ass outta jail." We all shared a laugh at the thought. "Relax bruh. What could possibly go wrong?"
*** *** ***
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be laughing." From the passenger seat I look over at Ethan who is still suppressing a snicker. "No you shouldn't because this shit is not funny Ethan." I cross my arms over my chest and return to staring out the window. "Well maybe not right now. However, in the future this story will be great for you to pull out at various social gatherings." He laughed at the end of that statement. Didn't speak the words, laughed them. How does someone even do that? "When exactly did you become a full-on hellion?" I glared at him with narrowed eyes. "I hate you." He looks at me with a dejected look on his face. "Is that any way to talk to someone who just picked your ass up from prison?"
So, yeah, irony is a bitch. I went out with Tash and Torie. I let my temper get the best of me and ended up doing the one thing Xavier told me not to do. So I called Ethan from jail and he came to get me out. I knew he would, he's just like that. He picks on me a lot but in the end he has always had my back. "Did you get an orange jumpsuit?" I roll my eyes and groan. "Oh Jesus, it was NOT all that." He hasn't stopped laughing at me since he picked me up. "You're going to hold this over my head for years aren't you." He looks at me, bites his lower lip in the middle and wiggles his eyebrows up and down. That's 'Ethanese' for hell yeah I am. Silence falls between us as I stare out the windshield. My arms are still crossed and a deep scowl lines my face. "Awe now Lil'bit, I'm just fucking with you. I told you I wouldn't tell Xavi and I won't stop pouting." I relax slightly but I'm still on edge. "So how in the hell did you end up in a fist fight in a tattoo shop anyway?"
"Fucking Torie thought it would be cool so we ended up there. Some bitch started fucking with Natasha. She started running her mouth and I said some shit back to her. That's when she shoved me from behind and I fell into the counter. I guess I just snapped after that. Next thing I know she's on the ground and I'm punching the fuck out of her." Ethan listened attentively while trying not to smile. "You're lucky she decided not to press charges," Ethan scolds. "Only because Torie threatened her." Ethan cut his eyes my way at that last comment. I reach over and punch him in the shoulder when he starts to laugh again. "Hey, watch it. Those fists have done enough damage today." We pull into the driveway and Ethan turns to me after turning off the car.
"Are you going to let me see it?" I furrow my brow. "See what?" I ask. "The whole reason you're in this mess. The tattoo," he smiles. "Oh, that..yeah, sure." I pull up my shirt and turn so he can see the lower right side of my back above my hip. It's a long, sleek, cartoon-style black cat. "Awe, how cute!" I can tell by his tone he is teasing me. "Fuck off Ethan." I round on him as we approach the front door. "Not a word Ethan. Please." He holds up his hand as if swearing an oath. "I know, I know, to the grave I swear it." I finally relaxed with a genuine smile. "Thanks man."
*** *** ***
Torie is on her way to pick me up. She called several times until I finally relented and agreed to go out to a club with her tonight. I called and talked Natasha into meeting us there. I'm still a little irritated about how our last outing turned out a few days ago. However, Ethan did keep his word so at least Xavi hasn't found out. Unfortunately, I did have to sit through a short warning session with Ethan. He refuses to be my lifeline again and advised me to keep my ass in line tonight. Whatever, I know he will always come if I need him. That's just how Ethan is. But I promised I would behave and I plan to do just that.
"What up woman? Dang, you still ain't dressed?" Torie barges in my room unannounced as usual. "Could you close the door please?" I'm standing in the closet doorway in my underwear. She pushes the door shut before slumping on the edge of my bed. "Damn Torie! That dress is hot!" Smiling, she stands and twirls around. "I know right?!" She's wearing a flowing knee length red dress. The material is thin and the front and back are extremely low cut. It has spaghetti straps and slits on both sides that go all the way up to the top of her hips. There is no way she has on underwear with that. Torie knows she's rockin' a hot body and she loves showing it off. I finally decided on a skin tight knee length black dress. It is shiny and has a corset style lace up in the front that goes down to the waist. "Nice! Edgy and hot!" Torie nods in approval. "Yeah, we ain't all Barbie princesses babe." She scoffs "Thank god." We chuckled as I finished the buckle on my shoe's ankle strap.
Xavier and David are both working tonight. Walking by the kitchen, Ethan looks up and winks with a smile. "Have fun Kit, I'm broke so no damsel in distress calls tonight." I give him a death stare along with the middle finger. He just roars with laughter. He immediately goes quiet and rolls his eyes at the sight of Torie. Turning his back, he returns to the stove. "A'ight guys, we out!" We walk behind the couch where Thomas and Marc are rooted playing video games. "Fuck me...." Marc is the first one to speak. "Holy shit!" Thomas drops his controller. Their eyes followed us lustfully as we approached the foyer. "Where are y'all going again?" Marc's voice comes out with a mild touch of a squeak. "Club 707, why ...... you wanna come?" Torie smiles at her obvious double entendre. "I wouldn't mind honestly," Marc admits. "Well that's where we'll be. Come find us if you want." She grabbed her keys and motioned me out the door. " 'Night boys" I say in a sugary sweet tone. I blew a kiss in their direction along with a wink.
*** *** ***
We make our way through the packed club to the bar. Natasha is already there grinning and waving at us. Even from a distance I can see she is dressed to kill. She was decked out in a red sequin dress that barely came down to her mid thigh. It's sleeveless with a swoop neck collar edged with red fringe. It hugged her every curve and just screamed straight up sex. " 'Sup babe?" I pull her in for a hug and eye the two guys smiling widely behind her. Of course she already has two guys fawning over her. "So how does it feel to be a hardened criminal?" She speaks into my ear so I can hear over the music. "Pretty damn sweet. Thanks for asking smartass." Laughing, she passes me a beer, undoubtedly supplied by her new admirers. "I'll be right back guys..." Torie disappears into the crowd. "......and there she goes." Tash and I say simultaneously. We clink our beers together as we watch her back vanish into the crowd. Torie can zone in on a single guy in less than 30 seconds of stepping into any club.
"Let's go dance!" I grabbed Tash by the arm. "Abso-fuckin-lutely!" She leans over and murmurs something to her new buddy. He nods before raising his beer to me with a nod. What was that? Permission? What the fuck ever. We made our way to the dance floor. We aren't out there very long when I see someone come up behind Natasha. I realize it's Thomas and he holds his finger to his lips signaling me not to say anything. He covers her eyes and whispers in her ear. Suddenly frozen, she slowly turns to look at him before laughing and playfully slapping his chest. "Surprise gorgeous" he wraps his arms around her waist. "Hey babe!" She throws her arms around his neck with a huge smile "Dance with me." Well that escalated quickly, pretty soon they were grinding all over the dance floor.
It's not too long before an arm suddenly slips around my waist. Pulled roughly and fast my back rams into a hard, broad chest. Hot breath emits from the lips that unexpectedly brush my ear. "Hey sexy lady, let's get out of here." Pushing against him with both of my elbows I whirl around to find Marc, clearly amused by his actions. My expression immediately changes his demeanor. "Joke! It was only a joke. Simmer down Kit." Still smiling but looking mildly nervous he backs out of my personal space sheepishly. "Very funny casanova, you do realize at this height I am in the optimum position to inflict maximum pain on your family jewels" Looking down he notices that if I indeed wanted to throw a punch that area was well within my strike zone. "Tempting....." He stares down, his eyes traveling between my fist and his crotch briefly "...but I think I'll pass this time." He smiles at me as he offers me a beer.
We dance for a while, minus any grinding of course. Marc may be hot but I'm not looking to shit where I eat as the saying goes. As Tash and Thomas get more and more risque with their abundant PDA, Marc and I decide to take a break from the dance floor. We find another empty table and collapse in the chairs. I scanned the crowd for Torie and finally saw she was over near the pool tables. I hadn't seen her in awhile and just wanted to lay eyes on her.
"So you just got up and got a tattoo today?" Marc asks me, pulling me from my thoughts about Torie's welfare. "What?" I look at him questioningly. It's so hard to have conversations in bars. You basically have to scream in each other's faces to even be heard. "The tattoo." he repeats. I scoot closer so we can talk. "What about it?" He leans over to my ear. "So you just said what the hell, why not get a little body graffiti after lunch?" I scoffed. "Something like that, yeah." He leans back, taking a long slow drink of his bottle neck beer. He leans back up with an impish grin. "You have serious impulse control issues KitKat." Then, as though it were an afterthought he adds quietly. "Let's see it then."
"Dude, I'm not taking my clothes off in a club. There's no way to show it to you. You'll have to wait and see it at home." Then he mumbled under his breath "Pussy." I lean my head to the side. "What was that?" He clears his throat, grinning from ear to ear. "I called you a pussy." My own laughter invades my ears. "You are not going to bait me into hiking up my dress dumbass. I ain't had that much beer." He wiggles his eyebrows up and down. "Can't blame a man for trying right?" He takes another drink with a cocky smile. "You're a pervert." He tips his beer as he tilts his head as if acknowledging the truth in my statement.
I find myself becoming aware of how close together our bodies are. We aren't touching, I can just feel body heat pulsing within the space between us. I'm staring at the small space of table visible between his arm and mine. My eyes glide up to find he is staring there too. I take a deep breath and as if he heard me inhale, his eyes find mine. I feel tingly and queasy at the same time. His goofy playful smile slips and is replaced with an expression he's never shown me before. Before I can ponder on what this is or what it means something slams into me from behind.
" 'Sup bitches!!!" Torie throws her arms around each of us as she leans her chest against my back. "Hey Torie, where's your man candy?" She looked at me with a deep pouty face. "He got boring." Almost immediately she looked excited and childlike. "So I decided to hang out with you guys. I looooove you guys!!" She hugs us both tightly, basically suffocating us with her tits. "Nice! Someone's feeling their alcohol." I mumble. When Marc pulls back he chuckles nervously and appears to be blushing. I settled Torie down in the chair next to me just in time for Thomas to slide her a bottle of water. He and Natasha just came to the table with more drinks and water for everyone.
"I'll be right back guys." I made my way to the other side of the club. Of course I have to pee and there is a line. There are 6 bathrooms in the club, 3 mens and 3 women. However all of them are single toilets so there is always a line no matter which one you choose to try. "You'd think a club this big would have more bathrooms." Turning I notice Marc leaning on the wall waiting for the men's room. "I know right? Who thought single stalls in a bar was a great idea?" About that time the door opens and I finally get to pee. After washing my hands I opened the door to find the tiny hallway twice as crowded as when I went in. Making apologies I weave my way through the bodies when suddenly the men's room door flies open. At the same time someone was walking next to me so I had no way to really move quickly. Next thing I know, I fall sideways. Arm's reach out and grab me before I hit the floor and spin me around. I find myself tightly pinned to the wall.
"Oh shit, are you okay?" Marc has his arm around my waist, his other hand by my head against the wall. Before I can answer, someone else squeezes by pushing his body even closer to mine. "Ummm yeah, I'm good thanks." My breasts are pressed tightly to his chest, my cleavage noticeably heaving up and down with every rapid breath I take. His eyes darken with .....desire? Lust? He licks his bottom lip as he watches me softly bite mine. I hear him release a discreet moan before his lips crash roughly with my own. Without conscious thought, only raw animalistic desire I part my lips and encourage his tongue to dance with mine. I savagely threw my arms around his shoulders, pushing my body closer to his. Grabbing a handful of hair I tug it firmly causing him to growl. His hands slipped down, grabbed my ass and yanked me forward, grinding me against his growing erection.
All at once we both seem to realize what we are doing and let go. He jumps back as I press even closer to the wall. We both stand there panting, trying to catch our breath. As we stare into each other's eyes we watch the shared fire slowly extinguish. Perhaps it was a momentary lapse in judgment. A fleeting attraction that we both know has to be ignored. Maybe it was simply the beer, which in my case I'm inclined to believe is the most likely scenario.