Brutal Discoveries (10 page)

Just over an hour later, we had found a parking lot not far from Marsden’s Bar.  Aden’s hand was wrapped securely around my back, his hand possessively on my hip, as we made our way through the entrance and toward the bar.

Once we had our drinks, I scanned the room and saw Ella sitting at a booth, waving her hand at us.  We made our way through the crowd and finally made it to Ella, who was nursing a colorful cocktail and watching the people who were beginning to fill the decent sized dance floor.

“I’m so glad you came!  I know nobody here,” she griped.

“Well, you’re not going to make friends sitting here in the corner by yourself,” I said.  “Have you seen Freddie yet?”

“Yeah, I spoke to him a bit ago.  He’s busy doing some interviews and mingling.”

“He should be so proud of himself.  It’s hardly dark out, and this place is almost full to capacity.” 

“So, Aden, how’s things?” Ella asked, bringing Aden into the conversation.  They chatted for a few moments and then I spotted Will coming toward our table.

“Hey, there’s Will!” I shouted over the music to Aden.  The DJ had not long turned it up, and it was so loud I could feel the bass pumping through my veins. 

“Hey,” Will said with a nod as he stopped by us.  He had a drink in one hand and his cell in the other, which he was tucking back into his pocket.

“Is there somewhere we can go outside?” I shouted.  “I can’t hear anything.”  Thankfully, Ella understood me, because she stood and mouthed for us to follow her.  She gave Will a sideways glance as she passed by him, and when he turned his confused gaze to me, I simply shrugged.  Aden chuckled and bent down to kiss the back of my neck, before he took my hand and we followed Ella through the thick crowd toward the exit sign.

Outside, the cool night air smacked me in the face and I took a refreshing breath.  It was packed in the bar so the humidity from everyone’s body temperatures, plus the smoke machine from the DJ, was overwhelming. 

“Will, you remember Ella, Scarlett’s employee at the bakery?  Ella, this is my buddy and work colleague, Will,” Aden introduced the two formally, but I didn’t miss the arrogant smirk he directed at Will.

“Nice to properly meet you, Ella,” Will said politely.

Watching the two interact, I swore I saw Ella visibly swoon.  She could deny it all she wanted, but that girl was
gone
in a huge way for Hashtag Dreamy.

We stood there chatting until we had finished our drinks, then the boys disappeared inside the bar to get us all refreshes.  Once they were out of earshot, Ella immediately hissed, “That man is infuriating.”

“Will?  I thought he was really polite to you,” I replied, confused.  Will had been nothing but friendly during their few exchanges.

“It’s like he gets off on having girls chase him,” she continued to rant as if I hadn’t spoken.  “He’s all nice and charming, and his pheromones send off all those enticing signals to my hormones, but when I try to engage him in any kind of flirting, he completely shuts down.  It leaves me wondering if I’m imagining it all,” she huffed.  “Maybe I need to see a hypnotist.  Or have acupuncture or something to make sure my SMS is functioning properly.”  Her eyes narrowed and her lips twisted as she thought deeply about the situation.

“SMS?” I asked, not being able to help the grin that tugged on my lips.

“
Suitable Man Signal
,” she said with an eye roll, as if
I
were the crazy one.

“Ooookay…”

“We’ve all got one, Scarlett,” she informed me haughtily.  “It lives way down deep in our stomach.  It’s that gut feeling we get when we see a man, or the way your stomach drops when a man you’ve never seen before approaches you.  You can’t explain it, but you just
know
he makes you feel something.  Something
different
.  It’s the way your heart races when you spot
him
across the room, yet it beats regularly when your eyes find every other male in the room.  It’s the way you forget something as automatic and natural as breathing when
he
comes near,” she explained wistfully.  “It’s our inner
Suitable Man Signal
.”

“I always wondered if there was a name for it,” I responded as I tried to rein in the giggle that threatened to burst free.

“Laugh all you want, but you know I’m right.  Mine must be out of whack, though, because it’s giving me all the signals for Will, yet he’s clearly not interested.”  I didn’t agree with her.  I thought Will was very interested, but something was holding him back. 

The guys returned with our drinks not long after.  Once Ella and I had finished ours, I agreed to hit the dance floor with her before I had to leave.  We stood facing each other, shaking our hips and flipping our hair to the intoxicating beat of the music that was pumping loudly from the speakers set up throughout the room. I was mid-way through my little shimmy, booty pop move when I felt a pair of strong hands grip my hips.  My heart faltered for a moment, then Aden’s cologne surrounded me. 

“You look so sexy out here.” His gravelly voice filled my ears.  I leaned back into him, resting my head on his shoulder as he began to move in a slow, seductive rhythm with me. “You make me so hard,” he said as he pushed his hips against me and I felt the solid length of his cock at my ass.  I closed my eyes and then I rotated my hips, brushing against him, teasing him.  His arms wrapped firmly around my waist, his fingers splayed, his thumbs grazing the undersides of my breasts in a way that had my body humming.  My chest was rising and falling rapidly, my body completely under his spell.  I wound my hands up and around his neck, holding him even closer to me.  I could feel his heart beating against my back and the soft puffs of air he blew out as they skated across my ears.  Having him hold me close, feeling how turned on he was,
knowing
how turned on I was, the beat of the music, the people dancing around us… it was an intoxicating, sexy combination, and I couldn’t get enough. 

The music segued into an RnB song with a sensual pulse, so we slowed our moves down until it was almost like we were making love without actually having intercourse.  I slowly opened my eyes to look at the people around us, and I was shocked to see Will holding Ella in his arms, one of his knees between her legs, her arms around his neck.  He had one hand up her back, cradling her neck, while the other was gripping her ass.  They. Were.
Grinding
.  Their moves were reminiscent of the dancers in the ‘watermelon’ scene in
Dirty Dancing
.  Holy crap!  It looked hotter than hell. 

I turned in Aden’s arms and pulled his mouth down to mine.  My tongue slipped past his lips, but he was soon forcing it out with his and sweeping through my mouth.  We stayed like that, dancing and kissing, doing both passionately, until the music morphed into a popular pop song.  Then Aden led us off the dance floor. 

“You ready?” he asked me, his eyes held the promise of what was to come.  The dancing was the foreplay; that much was clear.  I couldn’t wait to have him inside me.

“Yeah, let’s say goodbye to Ella and Will and get out of here.”  I was as anxious to leave as he was.  He smirked, knowing exactly what I was thinking. 
Get home.  Get naked. Get fucked.  Get orgasms.

We found Ella a few minutes later.  She was up against a wall in the corner with Will pressing into her.  His mouth was on hers and they were really making out.  I turned and looked up at Aden.  “I’ll just text her,” I muttered. 

He grinned lasciviously.  “Good idea.”  Then he took my hand and led me through the crowd and out the doors into the cool night air.  He bleeped the locks on his Camaro and we climbed inside.  The sexual tension was thick in the air as the soft rumble of the motor filled my ears when Aden turned the key.  I shifted in my seat but the leather seats did nothing to relieve the throb between my legs.  The drive from Marsden’s Bar to my townhouse was roughly twenty minutes, yet it felt like hours as I watched Aden’s strong hands gripping the steering wheel, his indigo eyes sharp on the road, his beautiful strong jaw clenched.  The second he turned the vehicle off at the curb, I couldn’t hold back any longer.  In fact, I should have won an award for holding back as long as I did.  I reached over and grabbed his still-hard length through his jeans, massaging it, reveling in the way he drew in quick, sharp breaths simply from my touch.

Given the long length of his legs, the steering wheel was quite a ways from his body.  There was enough room for me to fit comfortably on his lap, so I unzipped his jeans and tugged his cock free.  Then I shimmied out of my panties and pulled my dress up over my hips.  I climbed over him, straddling his hips, feeling the blunt head of his erection probing me.  As his fingers twisted the tight buds of my nipples through the fabric of my dress, I gripped his shaft and sunk down on him in one swift, breath-stealing motion.  I rode him right there in the front seat of his Camaro, in the street outside my house.  The sweet scent of sex filled the car as our heavy breathing fogged the windows, shrouding us in a cloak of temporary privacy as we both succumbed to the intense pleasure our bodies craved.

***

“Sweet Treats Bakery, this is Scarlett.”

“Hi, Scarlett, Daisy here from O’Leary, Spencer and McGain Accounting.  Can I make a rather large to-go order, please?”

“Absolutely, Daisy.  Fire away,” I told her while plucking a pen from the canister near the phone and readying it on the pad of paper I slid toward me.

“Okay,” she said, drawing in a deep breath.  “Six cappuccinos, two hazelnut lattes, one with an extra shot of hazelnut, four hot chocolates, four vanilla lattes, two of those skinny, and one Chai tea.  We’d also like you to package up a selection of twenty treats as well.”

I quickly jotted her order down then read it back for her to confirm.  She informed me she would be sending two interns down to collect the drinks and treats in thirty minutes.  After I ended the call, I asked Macy to help me start on the coffees.  Ella was busy serving a group of customers who had decided to hold their weekly mothers’ meeting at the bakery. Thankfully, all of the children were adorable and so far I wouldn’t have too many smudgy handprints to wipe off my glass display case at the end of the day.  Not that it bothered me, anyhow.  Seeing their gorgeous eyes light up and their chubby cheeks pull into toothy grins when I handed them a cupcake or cookie was worth all the smudgy handprints in the world.

When the interns arrived, I slid them across the cardboard carry trays containing all of the hot drinks before I handed them the boxes containing cupcakes and cookies.  They paid and left, with Macy helping hold the door open for them, and then I wiped down the froth from the coffee machine. I then decided to get some payroll done while we were having a semi-quiet moment in the bakery. 

I was halfway through the banking when I heard the light tap on my almost-closed door.

“Come in,” I murmured without looking up from my computer screen.

“Hey, you got a minute?” Ella asked.

I nodded and hit the confirm button to send the girls’ pay through before I gave Ella my full attention.

“Hey, what’s up?  Everything okay?”  She looked a little diffident, though I couldn’t think why.  Taking the seat across from me, she clamped her hands in her lap and finally met my eyes.

“I slept with Will,” she blurted.

“Against the wall at Marsden’s, or did he take you to a bed?” I asked, not shocked in the least about her revelation.  I was surprised it took her two days to confide in me, but I suspected she would do so when she was ready, and I was right.

She gave me a raised brow before answering dryly,  “In a bed.”

“Was it good?  Did he treat you right?” I probed, trying to discern what the problem was.  She
liked
Will.  She got offended when he ignored her.  He might have resisted in the beginning, but she’d surely had her way with him now, so I didn’t understand her issue.

“
Ahhhmazing
,” she sighed wistfully.  “And
so
right.”

“I’m confused then.  Why are you acting so weirdly?  Did you think I’d be upset with you?  Because you know I wouldn’t be, Els,” I told her gently.

“No, no, nothing like that.  It’s just… I really like him, Scar.  Really,
really
, like him,” she stressed.

“It would appear he has some feelings for you, too,” I muttered wryly.

“Except he left before the sun rose the next morning, and hasn’t contacted me since.”  Her dejected tone had my heart sinking for her.  “I thought,” she paused to swallow, “I thought I’d wake up in his arms,” she admitted on a whisper.

“Oh, honey,” I said softly.  “He’s probably just working.  I know Aden’s been taking on extra shifts lately because the prison is understaffed.  Maybe Will’s doing that as well,” I suggested.  “Don’t be upset.”

“I’m not.  I promise.  I’ll be fine.  You’re right, he’s probably working.”  She stood and dragged in a choppy breath.  “I better get back to it.”  She walked away and I stared after her as she walked through the kitchen and back out to the front counter before I lost sight of her.  I knew she was hurting, so I decided today, I would take off work early, stop by the liquor store to purchase some wine, and go back to my house to get things ready.  I would make a delicious lasagna and invite Ella over for an impromptu girls’ night, complete with mani and pedis, and a comedy movie.