What the hell is wrong men today? As if I don't have enough shit to deal with I have this creepy...attractive but still creepy guy calling and texting me. And why the hell was he shirtless?
Those tattoos though...
Stop it Mia! He's just another distraction!
And I don't have time to lose focus. My business is going way too well to let some buff tattooed guy to come and ruin my plans.
"Who was that?" I heard my best friend Aubrie ask.
"I don't actually know. Wrong number I guess..."
That wasn't necessarily a lie. He did in fact call me originally because he had the wrong number. And he did they to apologize for bothering me. I kind of feel bad for being such a bitch to him.
I decided to text him apologizing for hanging up again but also said to leave me alone.
"So what are we doing now?"
"I need to go by my boutique to grab my sketchbook and then head home. I'm taking the next two days off to spend it with Bry so I want to get some work done before we go out tonight." I said staring at my phone.
Why hadn't he replied yet? I apologized so the least he could do was accept it. What an asshole!
Aubrie dropped me back off at home and I spent the rest of the day working on sketches for my clients. By the time I was done it was dark out.
"Shit. It's already 7:45. I need to get ready" I thought said to myself.
I put my things away and take a shower. I quickly did my hair and make up and by the time I'd gotten dressed I heard
"Mia! Get you're ass up!" I heard Aubrie screaming at me from the other side of my bedroom door before she opens it.
"I'm in the closet!" I yell back.
She walks in and watches me finish getting dressed.
"Damn...you look fine as hell babe" she says while spaying some of my perfume on herself.
"Thanks boo! You look fine as fuck too.
"Is PB ready?" I ask her.
"It's his 21st birthday and you're taking him to one of the hottest clubs in Miami. Of course he's ready" she says while laughing at me like I'd asked something stupid.
PB is my baby brother and he was finally 21. Since he was 15 he's wanted me to take him to a really nice club and get him a VIP section. Well he's always been a good kid and never giving me problems so he will get just what he wants. Once I finished getting dressed we all caught a Uber to the club and since I'd already gotten a VIP section I'd made sure to have my name ready at the door so we would be waiting in line. Once we were at our section we sat down and a server came over. She asked for our drink orders. Aubri gets a martini, PB a shot of patron, and a whiskey neat for myself.
After we get our drinks Aubri and PB left to go dance. I've never been into the club scene but I would never disappoint my baby brother. I'll just relax here, drink, and check work emails on my phone. When I pull out my phone I think back to earlier in the day when that hot creep kept calling me. Don't get me wrong his voice did something to me and then seeing him on FaceTime...GIRL. I was shook. Those eyes pierced into my soul and those tattoos I could see on his neck drove me crazy but I couldn't let him know that. I was actually surprised he didn't text after my apology. But oh well. He was probably some crazy, serial killer who wanted to wear my skin or some shit.
My phone vibrates pulling me out of my thought and well I'm slightly scared at what I read
Text
Him: "You look incredible in all black by the way" it was the guy from earlier.
Me: "how do you know what I'm wearing?"
Him: "well I wouldn't be a very good stalker if I didn't, now would I?"
Me: "Okay. I'm officially creeped out. Calling the police"
Him: "😂 don't do that. I'm just messing with you. Turn to your left"
I look up and see the guy from the FaceTime call looking back at me smirking. I look back down at my phone.
Me: "You're taking that stalking thing seriously huh"
Him: "No. Seems you might be stalking me. I was here before you but saw you when you sat down. So are you stalking me now?"
Me: "You wish."
Just then PB comes back and sits next to me.
"Thanks for this, sis. This is fucking incredible" he says and hugs me tightly. I look up and see the Elijah guy still watching me.
"No problem, Bry. Now go have fun. Drink as much as you want! It's all on me." He kisses my cheek and goes back to the dance floor since I'm sure he's friends are here by now.
I look at Elijah and there's a girl now draped over him but he's still looking at me. I see him pull out his phone and type while the girl is trying her best to kiss on his neck.
Him: "He seems pretty young for you, beautiful"
Me: "Says who? I can hang out with anyone I want. You should probably stop texting me while you have some bitch on you. She might not like it."
I see him smirk and look up at me.
Him: "you sound jealous. I'll gladly tell her to fuck off if you want to replace her"
Me: "why don't you fuck off. 😒I'm good. I'm not coming over there. I'm perfectly happy where I am."
He looks at me again and I make sure he watches me as I put my phone back into my purse. He narrows his eyes at me and then laughs. The guy next to him says something to him and then Elijah says something back and then they both look at me.
The fuck...?
I turn my head to people watch and then noticed someone is sitting near me. I don't turn my head to because I know it's that guy.
"Jeez beautiful. You're not even gonna look at me? I'm hurt" he says making me glance at him. He's sat there with his hand over his chest faking pain.
"What do you want, Mr. James?" I say and see him squinting at me. He looks down, smiles, and looks back up at me.
"Holy fuck! Did you really just give me "the look" Watching too many TikToks huh?" I said and laugh at the shocked face he's giving me.
"Okay. Okay. You got me. Let's start over. Let's pretend we meet here and not by me calling you by mistake. I'm Elijah, it's so nice to meet you." He says and extends his hand for me to shake.
I look at him for a minute before finally shaking it.
"...It's nice to meet you too Elijah. I mean I suppose it is. I'm Mia." He smiles and god is he gorgeous.
"So Mia. I've never seen you here before. What brings you here tonight?" He asks while staring at me with those gorgeous green eyes.
"Celebrating, and I don't like to go out really. But since you seem to noticed I don't come here I take it as you are big into partying?" I ask taking a slow sip of my whiskey finishing the glass.
"I guess you could say that. I'm only ever here because of work. Would you like another drink?" He asked pointing to my glass.
"Yeah...I'll g..." I try to say but he cuts me off
"No, don't get up." He snaps his fingers in the direction of a server. She quickly comes over. "Another drink Mr. James?" She asked. Almost like she was scared of him.
"Yes. Also can you get my friend here another ....?" He says waiting for me.
"Oh shit...uh whiskey neat please." I say and she goes off to get it.
"Whiskey? My kind of girl. So who was the boy toy kissing and hugging you earlier? Should I be jealous?" He ask and I decided to fuck with him a bit.
"Who Bry? Oh well yeah. He's the #1 man in my life. Been that way for years. He's annoying but I can't seem to stop loving the kid....oh and here he is now. I'll introduce you."
Bry sits next to me and I hug him.
"Hey who's this Mia?" Bryson ask about Elijah
"Oh I'm just her stalker. The names Elijah James. It's nice to meet you kid." He says to Bry.
Bryson has a confused look then a shocked look on his face.
"No fucking way!?! You're Elijah James? THE Elijah James?"
Elijah laughs and nods his head.
"Yeah I guess I am. Mia said you guys were celebrating but hasn't told me what the occasion was."
"Oh it's my 21st birthday. And my big sis here promised to take me out. I'm Bryson by the way." Bryson said and the look on Elijahs face when he realized I was Bry's sister was priceless.
"Well happy birthday. 21 is a big deal. A few shots just won't do. Can't have you come to my club and not turn up now can I?"
Wait...did he say his club?
He gets up and whispers something to the server girl again and she runs off. Next thing I know there's women walking through the crowd of people dancing with bottles with sparklers on them. Then the DJ turns the music down.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen. Let's give it up to the boss man himself. Elijah motherfucking James!" A spotlight shines down on us and Elijah just smiles and waves. "Also boss man wants y'all to give a big shoutout to Bryson! Happy 21st Birthday my guy!!!"
The crowd yells happy birthday to PB and he's smiling from ear to ear. He looks so happy and that makes me happy. I look at Elijah who's smiling at me. I mouth "thank you" to him and he just winks at me.
"Wow thanks for that Mr James!" Bry says to Elijah.
"No problem. Call me Elijah. And Well your sister has been bugging me all day so it was my way to get her off my back" he chuckles and looks at me
"Wow thank you sis. Your are literally the greatest. And again thank you Elijah. You can call me Bry."
"Okay. Hey I have huge private VIP lounge area that I'm not using tonight. You and your friends are more than welcome to use it. Drinks on the house. As long as they're all legal" he says to Bry
"Holy Shit! Yeah we're all legal sir! Thank you. And thank you sis!" He kisses me on the cheek again.
"Hey Trae...." Elijah motions on of the security guys over to us. "This is my boy Bryson. Take him and his guest up to my private lounge. Tell the servers. Everything is on the house. Look out for him okay! Only let in people he approves." He looks at Bry "don't fuck up my lounge, please"
We watch as he goes down to where Aubri is dancing on some guy and a bunch of his friends are. He points up to us and they all seem to lose their shit. Then they walk to a staircase and up to what I assume is the lounge. I look back at Elijah and smile.
"Thank you for that. You don't know how much that means to him. And to me...to see him that happy. Thank you, Elijah"
"No problem, Beautiful. I get the feeling he's a good kid. So it was my pleasure. And please...call me Eli...no one else calls me that but you can if you'd like." He said to me and the look on his face made me realize how sincere he was being.
"Okay...Eli. Thank you" I say and smile.
"You are so fucking welcome, Beautiful. Will you let me keep you company while you're alone? Or would you prefer to go join them" he asked again being serious.
"Actually I'm fine here. Like I said. I don't care for partying. And big crowds bother me. And you can definitely stay if you'd like. I'm not gonna turn you away after what you did for PB."
"What does PB stand for anyways?" He said smiling at me.
I point to the lounge where Bry has girls all around him.
"You see that...it's been like that since he was 5. Girls just love him. And more so when they realize he's a good, respectful guy. I gave him the nickname as a way to fuck with him but leave it to my brother to turn it into something that makes more girls want him." I say laughing at the memory.
"Okay but still doesn't explain the name..." he says
"When he was little my mom wouldn't cut his hair. Then as he got older he didn't want to because girls always told him how pretty his hair was. So I started calling him Pretty Boy...so did my friends. And after a bunch of little girls started hearing a bunch of older girls calling him that...so did they. Then it was just shortened to PB." I admit shaking my head
"That's...dope as fuck actually. May I ask you something else?" He ask looking at me so serious it wiped the smile off my face.
"Uh yeah...what's up?" I asked
"Would you go out with me?" He asked and waited for my answer.
"Er um...like a date?" I croaked
"Yes. Like a date. With me. And you. Alone. Eating dinner...together...but alone." Again waiting for my answer. Before I could the guy he was talking to earlier at his VIP table came up and whispered something in his ear. Eli looked at me and I could tell he was clenching his jaw. "So beautiful, what's your answer?"
"Uh yeah fuck it. Why not?" I finally got out.
"Good. I'll text you with details. I have to go but please call or text me anytime. I'll always answer, Beautiful. Have a great rest of your night" he said to me before kissing my cheek and walking away
What am I getting myself into
Eli's POV
I didn't want to leave her alone. I was having a genuinely good time talking to her but Taz told me there was a problem and I needed to go to my office. When I made it there Ari was there looking at the security cameras on the back wall of my office.
"Someone wanna tell me what the fuck is going on?" I asked extremely annoyed that I'm not still with Mia
"You need to see this, E" She says pointing to one of the monitors that shows the hallway leading to the back alley way. She hit play and it shows one of my employees handing someone money and the guy giving him a small bag before he walks away.
"First find the fucker dealing in my club. Then bring the employee up here...NOW!" I roared making them jump and leave my office quickly
To say I'm furious is an understatement.
Everyone who works for me knows how I feel about drugs. And to have the audacity to buy it on the clock. Clearly I need to make an example out of him.
A few minutes later Taz and a bouncer return with the employee from the security camera. They sit him in a chair in front of me. He looks around and when his eyes land on himself buying drugs he goes pale.
"You know my rules on that shit right?" I ask calmly as possible.
"Ye-yes sir...it's not wha-"
I raise my hand stopping him from finishing.
"Please don't insult my intelligence. You were caught so take the punishment like a man. Now I could just fire you but that won't stop anyone else stupid enough to do that. So unfortunately for you, you're gonna have to me made an example of." The guy starts pleading with me but I don't give a fuck "take him out the back so no one sees him."
They leave and I lock up my office before walking back out. I look around and see Mia still sitting alone. I decide to stop by my lounge and check on it since it's filled with a shit ton of kids. When Bryson sees me he and his friends all thank me again.
"Thank you so much for this, Sir!" he says definitely a little tipsy.
I chuckle at him before speaking
"Hey, I told you call me Elijah. And it's my pleasure. You guys have fun just remember what I said..."
"Don't fuck up your lounge! I know! I promise we won't sir...sorry...Elijah. And by the way if you want a chance with her you may wanna get back over there" he points past me and I look and see a guy now sitting with Mia. "My sister is beautiful. It doesn't take long for her to catch the eye of someone. Granted she ignores 9 out of 10 guys...Wonder who that 1 out of 10 guy could be though" he smirks and I nod before walking back over to her
•
"Look my boyfriend will be back any minute and I'd prefer for him not to think something was going on here" I heard her say as I sat down next to her.
"Too late for that, Beautiful. Who's this?" I look at the guy and as I expected he clearly knew who I was by the way he ran off.
"Thank you for that. Really." She says while smiling.
Fuck she's even more beautiful when she smiles.
"It's no problem. You looked uncomfortable so I thought I should help. Plus I'm already your stalker. I can't have some other guy fucking with you." She laughed and just like earlier my cock twitched.
"Well if I get to pick who stalks me I think I pick you" she takes a sip of her drink and I can't help but think there's nothing sexier than a woman who can handle a good whiskey. Makes me wonder what else she can handle.
We actually talked the majority of the night and by the time we walk over to where her brother and his friends where. Most were passed out on the couches. Surprisingly her brother looked sober. He walked up to us and hugged her.
"Tonight has been so much fun sis. Again thank you and thank you again Elijah." I smile but I'm trying to figure out why he's not blacked out drunk yet. I can't even remember my 21st birthday.
"It was my pleasure. And thank you for keeping everything in one piece. I have to ask though how are you the only one not drunk?" He laughs and looks around.
"I stopped drinking hours ago. I had fun but I realized where my limit was and started drinking water the rest of the night. Plus I wanted to make sure nothing bad happened up here. Now I just gotta figure out how to get everyone home." Wow he must be a saint because I wouldn't have stopped drinking for anything at his age.
"I have a party bus that I use for when my friends would get drunk. You guys are welcome to it. My driver can get everyone home. If any of them are conscience enough to tell him where they live."
"I can actually help with that. The majority of them live on campus so it's really one stop." Mia stated as she text me. I send it to one of my driver and tells him to be out front. I help Bryson and her get everyone outside and onto the bus before turning back to them.
"I can give you two a left if you'd like. My truck is waiting right out front" I say not wanting to let her leave me just yet.
"I'm actually going back to campus so I'll see you later sis. I hope to see you around Elijah." He says before getting on the bus and leaving.
"Well I can give you a ride. It's late and I wouldn't feel right about you getting in a car with a stranger" she laughs and shakes her head at me
"You realize you're a stranger as well. I came with my vest friend but she left with a guy so yeah sure. I'll take you up on that ride." We walk to my truck and I open the door before helping her inside. The ride to her house was nice. We talked a bit, listened to music, then talked a little bit more before I pulled into their drive way.
"Well thank you. You're still a weirdo but thank you for the ride." She smiles again and I know she saw me looking at her lips.
"Goodnight Mia. I'll text you about our date in the morning...we'll afternoon since it's 2 am."
"Okay. You have my permission to text me" she laughs before getting out and walking to her door. I watch her go inside before I drive off. On the way back home I think of somethings her brother said.
"She ignores 9 out of 10 guys...I wonder who that 1 out of 10 guy will be"
Hopefully me...