“Nothing. I just needed to leave. I’m feeling a little burnt out from the travel, then all the makeup work I have when I got into town.” While it sounded like a good reason, it was a total lie.

“So it had nothing to do with your last client, what’s her name?”

“Alexa? No. Why would you even ask such a question?” Why did I think I could lie to my best friend?

“Well, first of all, you acted the same way after her first appointment. Plus, Jessica mentioned she was gorgeous and super nice.” Danny turned around and walked backwards so he could read my face.

“I don’t want to talk about it. I’m sorting it all out in my head right now.” Just thinking about it gave me a headache. “I just want to eat and drown out my thoughts with a few drinks. Maybe take a girl home and bang the shit out of her. You feel me?” I shot him a look to end the Alexa conversation. “Now turn around before I kick your ass.”

“Who are you foolin’? You don’t bang random chicks. That’s what I do. But I feel you,” Danny said as we walked into the restaurant.

Chapter Six

Alexa

There weren’t a lot of places in Boston for late twenty-some-things to go to drink and dance. After all, it was a college town with over twenty universities within the city limits. Tons of clubs were geared toward girls barely dressed and slutting it up on the dance floor for the horny guys. It killed me to see them walking around town with no coats on in the middle of winter so their hot outfits weren’t covered. When I got drunk, I wanted to yell at them about hypothermia, and scream that no one liked a cold whore. But I kept my mouth shut.

The Library, however, was the perfect place to get our groove on. Since it was nestled in the North End, nowhere near where we were in the South End, after our dinner, Addison and I grabbed a cab across town. After passing the big, burly bouncer whose arms were bigger than my waist, we headed straight to the coat check, and then the bar. I drank tons of water at dinner, alongside the bottle of wine Addison ordered, so I was ready to keep going. We were feeling good, but not quite at the level I was aiming for. The bar wasn’t packed yet, so we walked right up to order our drinks.

An incredibly sexy bartender came over to take our order. “Hello, gorgeous ladies. What can I get for you?” He stared at Addison’s chest as he spoke. Her assets were on display in her borrowed top. When we went out, she worked those girls, and I reaped the benefits since I was not as well-endowed as she was.

“Do you have Sweet Tea Vodka behind there, big boy?”

Ugh! She laid it on thick while batting her eyelashes. They had the vodka so Addison ordered us two Sweetinis. We got hooked on this drink last summer when we went on a girls’ weekend in Savannah. I couldn’t even taste the alcohol, so they went down nice and smooth and fast.

“Can you get us two lemon drop shots, as well, please?” Addison whipped her head around when I made my request.

“Damn girl, you’re on a mission. Aren’t you running tomorrow? Because I don’t think you’re going anywhere if we keep this up.” The smile on Addison’s face was priceless. As much as she supported me running the marathon, she rode me hard about being a stick in the mud, and going to bed early so I could train the next day.

“No, Jeff texted and canceled while we were getting ready. I’m running on Sunday now. So let’s have fun!” I grabbed the shot the bartender put in front of me. “Bottoms up, baby!”

We threw down our shots, accepted our free drinks courtesy of Addison’s breasts, and headed to claim a table. The deep red and black décor in The Library felt warm and exuded sexiness. Instead of hard, stale tables and chairs, they had what could only be described as living room furniture. Big high back, leather black chairs and red velvet couches spread out around the room. Slick black, high-top tables mixed in to provide great feng shui. We grabbed a small table with the high-back chairs close to the dance floor. I felt like a queen on her throne. And after my drinks, I reigned over the dance floor.

The Library’s music was great. I was itching to dance, but I knew Addison needed to at least finish one more drink before she would join me. As we settled into our seats, the disc jockey played a popular song that I loved.

“I still can’t get over my massage today.” Her eyes fluttered, and she sighed. “My body feels like a million bucks. I’m jealous you get to go a few times a week until after the marathon. I think I need to add it to my regular beauty regimen,” Addison said before lifting her full martini glass to her mouth.

“Not all my massages will be rainbows and butterflies. Luke has to work my muscles hard. He barely even touched my back or shoulders today. It was all legs.” I wouldn’t admit this to her, but Luke’s touch anywhere on my body felt amazing. Just thinking of how close his fingers came to brushing my panties made me blush.

“Please explain to me why you are blushing right now?” She raised her brows and narrowed her eyes at me. “Yes, I can see it, even in this dim lighting.”

“Addie, really? Come on. Drop it, please.” I didn’t want to discuss this. My crush on Luke was surely very one-sided, and was part of the reason I wanted to drink away my thoughts.

“Oh, come on. You haven’t shown interest in a man in like forever. Shit, you haven’t been on a date in three months.” While she, on the other hand, went on at least two dates with different guys every week. “I’ll drop it for now, but I reserve the right to bring Luke up at another time,” Addison answered with a wink, as if it made her teasing all better.

“Thank you, and now, drink up, bitch! I need to shake my fine ass.” I needed to get out on the dance floor, move my body to the music, and block out thoughts of Luke.

*****

Luke

The guys from the spa texted around nine, letting us know they were heading to The Alley, a place where all the college kids hung out since there were a few different clubs clustered together. One bar had a mechanical bull, while another hosted weekly wet t-shirt contests. The guys from The Rub Down were younger than I was, and probably wanted to check out the barely clothed co-eds. That was the last place I wanted to spend my night because it just wasn’t my scene anymore. I was thirty-two years old, and college girls were too young for me. Even though it wouldn’t have been my first choice, I went anyway. Maybe I would find a gem in the rough.

They picked a club where we knew one of the bartenders. Mark asked him to reserve us a table, which was hard to come by on a Friday night. Since we were required to have bottle service, a bottle of Ketel One and Patron waited for us. Our waitress for the night wore the smallest, black leather, pleated skirt. Every time she bent over to pour a drink, we got an eye full of her ass. She had a banging body, but man she wasn’t the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. The younger guys from the spa had their tongues hanging out of their mouths whenever she came over. They didn’t care about her IQ, just her cup size.

Jeff arrived soon after we settled in. “What’s up, guys? What do we have here?”

“We have a whole lot of debauchery about to get started. You ready?” Danny yelled over the loud club music.

“I was born ready. I even cancelled my run with Alexa tomorrow so we can party hard tonight,” Jeff replied.

I wasn’t happy he brushed Alexa aside for drinking, but it was his business to run, and I shouldn’t care.

“Speaking of Alexa, she’s fucking hot shit, isn’t she, Luke?” Jeff asked.

Crap, I needed to not think of her, and there he was throwing her in my face.

“Yeah, she’s a hot ticket all right.” I stood and walked off. I needed to use the bathroom and get away from Jeff and his Alexa talk.