Mirage (8 page)

Girls wearing next to nothing and guys have pants sagging off their asses. Oh hell, what did we get ourselves in to?

After all the sports fans leave the bar, the DJ sets up fairly quickly. He puts on a catchy song. Rhianna was singing about birthday cake and it seems that all the college girls like this song. I’m only twenty-four but it seems that I’m going to join the dance floor with a bunch of young immature girls that only want to grind their asses on the closest crotch they can find.

“Mira, come on, let’s dance. I love this song,” Kylee gleefully says as she grabs my hand and pulls me towards the dance floor.

I grab my drink and carry it with me on the dance floor I am not getting roofied tonight, boys, I think to myself.

We’re dancing and laughing. One song bleeds into the next. I easily kept rhythm during the changes of the songs along with Kylee. The little girls didn’t do so well. It looks like the younger they are the less they can tolerate their booze. Thankfully Kylee and I perfected our ratio of dancing to drinking, giving us the perfect buzz and enough courage to break it down on the dance floor.

I’m seductively swaying my hips to another hip hop song with my drink in my right hand that’s in the air when I see him.

Skylar was sitting at a table with a group of what appeared to be bikers. There were three other guys at the table, all looking just as scary as Skylar. He has totally changed. In college, Skylar always wore fitted jeans and fitted shirts. I know all too well what that boy is packing under all of those clothes. Now, Sawyer is wearing a pair of looser faded jeans, white sneakers and a plain white tee shirt. He’s also wearing a black leather vest, the same as the other guys.

I try to get a little closer without being totally obvious and having Kylee question what I’m doing. When I move around to the other side of the dance floor, I see his vest has a patch on back. “What the hell is Hooliganz,” I say aloud to myself.

“What did you say?” Kylee asks.

“Um, oh, nothing. Just talking to myself,” I say back to her and try to move her to the other side of the dance floor.

Kylee squints Skylar’s direction and the other guys at the table. Her eyes go big and I know she recognizes him.

“Skylar McBride? Holy shit, it that you?” Kylee asks as she leaves me on the dance floor and runs over to the table.

“Well if it isn’t Kylee fucking Anderson, in the flesh,” Skylar says has he picks her up in a giant hug. He spins her around once before setting her back on the ground.

“Mira, get your ass over here. It’s Sky,” Kylee yells.

Skylar looks at me and his eyes go from excited to angry so quickly I was scared to go over to the table. Knowing I couldn’t back down, I place my empty glass on a nearby table and walk over towards them.

“Hey Sky, how are you?”

“I’m good, Mira, how are you?”

“I’m doing good. Working a lot, but I can’t complain,” I say.

I really wasn’t in the mood to re-hash all that went wrong with Skylar and me, so I decide to take drink orders and head towards the bar. That was a thankful reprieve from what could go terribly wrong. But the more I thought about it, I begin to panic. I left an intoxicated nosey Kylee alone with Skylar. There is no way she’s not going to get the dirt on me now. Shit.

As I make my way back from the bar, drinks in tow, I recognize another familiar face.

“Jacoby, is that you?” I say walking towards a guy that looked almost identical to my boss from his side profile.

“Hey Mira, how are you? Are you and your friend out for a night on the town?” Jacoby asks with a little bit of a slur in his voice. Someone has had a couple drinks, I think to myself as I get closer and can smell the whiskey on his breath.

“Yeah, my girlfriend Kylee and I, who’s around here somewhere, decided to come down for dinner and drinks,” I say as I turn back to get the drink orders.

“Why don’t you and your friend come and have a drink or a shot with me and my friend?”

“Um, are you sure we wouldn’t be imposing?” I ask, a little unsure of the situation. In a professional social setting, it’s okay to have a drink or two with a co-worker or a boss, but this is not professional. I am dressed a little too sexy for this to be professional.

“Really Mira? Get your friend and come on back. We never pass up an opportunity to have drinks with beautiful women such as yourselves.”

Well, hell. This night out just took another unexpected turn.

“Yeah sure, let me run and find Kylee and drop these drinks off. I’ll be right back,” I say before my brain can process that I just agreed to have casual, non professional drinks with my boss who just inadvertently called me beautiful.

I carefully carry the drinks back to where Kylee and Skylar are standing. Placing the drinks on the table, I turn to Kylee who gives me a puzzled look. I really don’t like when Kylee gives these looks. And even more than the looks, I hate that I know what the looks mean. That look means ‘yeah bitch you’re busted’.

“Kylee, I have some friends on the other end of the bar who want to have a drink or two with us. Do you want to go or do you want to stay here?” I ask her, not making eye contact with Skylar.

“What friends? Like from college?” Kylee asks.

“No, friends from work. Jacoby is here with one of his buddies,” I tell her.

“Which ones are they?” she asks while peaking around me to get a better look.

“Jacoby is wearing the blue button down dress shirt and has the dark hair,” I tell her, pointing towards Jacoby’s table.

“Um, hell yes. That man is so fucking sexy. I’ll have a drink or two with him and his pal. Shit, let’s do some body shots,” Kylee says.

I guess it might be time to cut Kylee off. Kylee always had a habit of becoming rather slutty when drinking. Okay, I lied. Kylee is always kind of slutty; it just comes off less subtle when she’s drinking.

Kylee says her goodbyes to Skylar, who looks like he’s gritting his teeth together and continues to stare at me, but I refuse to make eye contact. This was the first time I have seen him since I moved out of the apartment and I didn’t want to get into anything with him, especially since I have been drinking. I have little filter as it is and with booze involved, my filter is virtually nonexistent.

We walk over to where Jacoby is sitting. Upon our approach, Jacoby stands up and pulls out a stool for me and helps me on so I don’t fall backwards. Maybe I have had a little too much to drink as well.

Jacoby introduces his friend Marcus, who also pulls out a stool and helps Kylee get settled. And one thought that chivalry was dead. Not with these two guys. Jacoby signals a waitress to come over and take our drink orders.

“Two cotton candy and sprites with a lime on the side,” Kylee says.

“Ky, I think I’m done for the night. I have to drive us back and need to sober up,” I say to her and try to cancel my drink order from the waitress, who was already walking back towards the bar.

“Mira, Marcus and I are staying at the casino hotel tonight. We played some poker earlierand won a fair amount. The casino comped us a suite with an extra bedroom. You and your friend are more than welcome to stay with us there so you can continue your night out with Kylee,” Jacoby offers.

I felt like his eyes were burning holes through my skin. Everywhere he looked, I felt immediate heat. This is not good. My boss is the tri-fecta, sexy, smart and rich. I cannot go there with him.

“Thanks Jacoby. We probably should get back to Ann Arbor tonight, but I appreciate the offer,” I say.

I look over at Kylee who is giving me yet another look. I think this look is a cross between ‘are you fucking kidding me’ and ‘this guy is totally mount-able, you better do it or I will’. Neither one I really appreciate so I give her my best ‘not the time, we’ll talk later’ look, but it fails miserably.

“Jacoby, don’t listen to Mira. We would love to stay downtown. I’m only in town for a few weeks and the more time we can spend together having good old-fashioned fun, the better. Right Mira?” Kylee say almost growling the last part at me.

Jacoby looks to me for an answer. As I look up to meet his eyes that are still burning through me, I see Skylar, who is still staring at me. I think for a quick second about the Heather fiasco and decide to stop being so cautious and take a leap.

“I guess that would be okay since you have an extra room and all,” I say, trying to convince myself.

“Great, then we’ll get another round and get this party started right,” Jacoby says. “Waitress, a round of shots, please. Cuervo Black if you have it.”

Tequila and I are still not on good terms. I am still either a bitch or a slut. The last time I drank tequila for an entire weekend, I ended up with my dead fiancé’s best friend. Kylee gives me her signature ‘you’re going to get laid’ tonight look and I can’y help but laugh out loud.

“What’s so funny?” Jacoby asks.

“Nothing, just thought of the last time I drank tequila. Things didn’t end so well,” I respond trying to make it a joking matter leaving him to believe that maybe I got sick or did something crazy rather than the disaster that took place.

“Let’s see if we can give you a happy tequila memory, huh?” Jacoby asks as he leans over to whisper in my ear and puts his hand on my thigh.

Tequila and I are already getting along better. Let’s keep this momentum up.

After three shots of tequila and another round of drinks, we all get up to leave the bar. We didn’t wear our jackets into the bar and it was is chilly outside. Jacoby takes his jacket that he wore with his suit and places it over my shoulders. I look up at him and smile, acknowledging his chivalry. He places his hand on the small of my back and guides me out of the bar.

When we get outside, I notice that the guys with the motorcycles, Skylar included, were getting ready to leave as well. He walks towards me and the group I’m with and I don’t have a good feeling about this.

“Mira, are you okay to drive tonight? You had quite a bit to drink. I can give you a ride if need be.” Skylar asks, looking between Jacoby and me.

“Thanks pal, she’s staying with me tonight, but I appreciate you looking out for her,” Jacoby answers for me.

“You’re staying with him?” Skylar asks looking confused.

“Yeah, we’re going back to the hotel with Jacoby and what is your name again, oh yeah, Marcus,” Kylee chimes in.

“Thanks though Skylar, it was nice of you to offer,” I say.

“Whatever. Have a good time Mira. Take care Ky, call me some time, why don’t ya,” Skylar says as he walks back to his bike.

He gets on the bike and rides away. He glances over his shoulder once he was at a red light and shakes his head in my direction, almost saying, “Wow Mira, really.”

“Alright ladies, let’s get you back to the room. It’s too cold out here and I don’t need Mira getting sick,” Jacoby says.

Marcus and Kylee walk in front of us laughing and talking. When we get a little further from the bar, Jacoby casually puts his arm around my shoulder and pulls me into his side. It was warm and my stomach does a little flip. I haven’t had these kinds of feelings in quite some time, probably since Skylar.

He is my boss and I can’t let my hormones get the best of me, I mentally repeat to myself.

“Thanks again for the jacket and letting us stay with you tonight. It’s been a long time since we were able to just have fun without having to worry about driving home,” I say.

“Mira, when I saw you tonight, all I could think of was getting to spend time with you. Not the time we usually spend. The kind where you don’t work for me and I get to see you carefree and happy. I really liked hanging out with you tonight and I hope we get to spend some more non-work time together, if that’s okay with you. I know me being your boss is kind of weird, but I feel like I really want to get to know Mira the person as opposed to Mira the office manager,” Jacoby says.

The butterflies in my stomach are back again. How do I answer this? I really enjoy spending time with him. He’s amazing and it doesn’t hurt that he’s a real life, less rich version of certain BDSM book boyfriend we all love, but I don’t want to jeopardize my job. ‘There you go over thinking again Mira. Live a little’ my brain tells me. Maybe it isn’t my brain but the cluster of nerves between my thighs.

“You know Jacoby, I really liked spending time with you too. I would like to get to know you better,” I say to him. I look up at him and he has a grin on his face.

“Then say you’ll spend the night in my room and not the guest room tonight. I promise I won’t touch you unless you ask me too,” he says with a hint of seduction in his voice.

GULP! Well, this is moving quicker than I had anticipated, but I have to say, I kind of like the fact that he wants to be with me more tonight and I sense some alpha in his tone. I think this just turned me on a more than I already was.

“I’ll think about it,” I say back to him, trying to disguise my stomach flipping and nerves wracking my body.

He hugs me a little tighter to his side and I place my hand around his waist while we continue the walk to back to the hotel. Go big or go home, right?

Chapter Nine

We finally get back to the hotel and I’m thanking everything holy right now that I chose to wear flats. I don’t know how Kylee’s feet are holding up, but I’m in pain. We walk into Jacoby and Marcus’ suite and it’s magnificent. Floor to ceiling windows that look out onto the city and have a great view of the bridge and the Detroit River, plush sofas and an oversized bar are in the corner of the room.

I walk over to sit on one of the sofas. As soon as I’m about to sit, I hear Jacoby speak, “Mira, Kylee, can I make you a drink?” Knowing that I walked off the great buzz I had earlier, I figure I could handle another drink.

Kylee leans into me and whispers, “Mi, I’m going to go and check out the bedrooms in this suite with Marcus. Are you going to be okay out here with Jacoby alone?”

Well shit, I wasn’t counting on this. The whole being alone with someone isn’t something I’m okay with, but I can’t ‘twat block’ on my girl. That wouldn’t be very nice and she’s been so helpful to me.