Not Quite Juliet: A Club Imperial Novel (Silver Soul Book 1) (13 page)

TheDoctorDee
:
What? How do you know?

MorganaLeFey
:
He appears to be the Rabid Fans’ contact.

MorganaLeFey
:
I’m not even going to guess what they do to get the information out of him.

TheDoctorDee
:
Uh, is one them named Tina?

I really and truly laughed out loud at that.

MorganaLeFey
:
It is indeed.

TheDoctorDee
:
There is no mystery how they got the info out of him.

TheDoctorDee
:
Through his dick.

I laughed again. This time, Tina and Dana turned and looked at me. I smiled at them, and pointed to the phone. Where were they getting off giving me dirty looks? At least my bj was legit, and returned in kind.

TheDoctorDee
:
I’m coming to pick you up. Don’t forget.

How could I forget? I had a lot of dirty things in mind, and a box full of condoms at the hotel. There was no forgetting this one.

The lecture was just as drab but important as I thought it was going to be. Tina and Dana were passing notes back and forth. I was starting to wonder if they’d actually studied to get where they were, or if they’d slept their way there. I didn’t think they could have done that; the academics at the school were way more academic than an ‘A for an eff.’ I hoped.

But they bounced their note back and forth the whole time, and I was glad I recorded the lecture. I would have to listen again because they were so distracting with the notes. It was like they’d never learned the fine art in high school. Or, just text. Idiots.

TheDoctorDee
:
Lecture over?

MorganaLeFey
:
Running long.

TheDoctorDee
:
Good. I’m a little late. Traffic.

Uh. What? What traffic was he talking about? It was seven-thirty in the evening, just about everyone had gone home. The professor finally wrapped up her lecture, and I frowned. My notes were terrible, and I really was going to have to listen to the damn thing again. Two hours of boring but important information. Ugh. And there was a paper due on Thursday, which meant I had to listen soon.

I wrapped up my books and slid everything into the bag. I walked out of the room ahead of the two idiots –note to self: don’t bother with vapid fangirls who were plotting to get arrested for trespassing at some point in the near future–and walked to the front of the building, pulling out my phone to text Nick.

“Hey, kitten.”

I whirled to the right, knocking right into Dana who was on my heels as we walked out of the building. I nearly knocked her down, but managed to recover and save her from going ass-down.

Not without slamming my ankle into the stair.

“Ouch,” I yelped, and leaned against the railing.

“You okay, kitten?”

I looked up.

Nick D was back. Gone was Doctor Dovadsky and his perfect suit, and instead there stood the denim and leather clad god I wanted to peel out of the jacket and lick all over in front of these two twits screaming, “Mine, mine! He’s mine!”

Rule number 1: If you lick it, it’s yours.

“Just smashed the ankle.” He slipped his arm around my waist and helped me to stand. I looked over at Dana. “Are you okay? Why were you so close behind me?” She was staring at Nick, and Tina had her mouth wide open. “Dana?”

“That’s...”

“Are you okay?” I repeated the question.

She swallowed hard and finally looked at me. “That’s Nick D.”

“Are you all right?” Nick asked her. “You look a little pale.”

“You’re...” She fish-mouthed a few times.

I glanced at Nick. “Should we call the paramedics? I think she’s going to faint.”

“No! I’m fine!” It was like she forgot how to regulate the volume of her voice. She was gripping the rail.

I turned to Tina. “Can you get her home?”

“I... I... Uh. Yeah. I mean, yes. I’ll get her home.”

“You really shouldn’t walk so close to someone,” Nick advised. He turned to me. “Okay to walk?”

The ankle was actually throbbing a bit, but I knew from my previous adventures it would start to feel better shortly. I nodded and smiled, and we walked down a few steps before he stopped me again. “Oh, this is for you.”

He held out a bag I hadn’t noticed earlier. It was red and white vertical strips and the gold letter emblazoned across it said ‘Lady Elegance’. My eyes bugged a little bit, but I took the bag anyway. He pulled me closer and the next thing I knew—he was kissing me, hard. I slipped my hand behind his head and enjoyed the kiss. We both had to pull away from each other before it turned into a total PDA and a public dry humping.

He offered me his arm and walked me to the curb where a car—distinctly not his—was waiting. He opened the door and helped me in, then slid in on the driver’s side, smiling at me. He started the car, and pulled us smoothly away from the curb.

“You...” I said, trying not to laugh.

“I thought you might get a kick out of that.” Nick turned the corner. “As soon as you said it was Tina, I needed to show her where she stood with me.”

“You know her?”

“Not really,” he admitted. “But I know
of
her through the bar. Apparently she thinks sexual favors are going to get her ass backstage.”

“Doctor, she wanted to more than meet you. She wants to schtup you.”

“Ew.” He twisted his lip in disgust, then glanced at me. “Do you think she got my message?”

“Which one? The one where Nick D was waiting for me, the one where Nick D handed me a bag of expensive lingerie or the one where Nick D helped me into his rented car?”

“It’s not rented.” He sounded mock-offended. “I borrowed it from Jose.”

“Who?”

“Jose.” He paused and looked at me. “Oh. That’s right. You only know the guys by their stage names, don’t you? I... I keep forgetting we’ve only known each other just two days.”

I stared straight ahead. “I’m so glad I’m not the only who feels that way.”

Without looking, he grabbed my hand and it was quiet in the car for a minute. I was overwhelmed. How had we known each other less than two whole days and I felt like this? He felt the same way—as though we had known each other for months. We didn’t know each other,
at all
, except that he was a semi-famous rock star who spent his days as a not-so-mild mannered chemist and I was a second-year law student who doubled as a bartender at an exclusive kink club.

“Jose Riposte. Ript.”

I looked at him and realized he had just given me another nugget of information. “What the hell does he do that he has a Jaguar?” I asked, the smirk crawling back to my face.

“Distribution manager at Walsh Distribution.”

“Walsh-Tyndale,” I corrected. “The Walsh family would take exception to you not knowing the name of their company.”

He jerked his head towards me, then back to the road. “You know Nathaniel Walsh?”

“And Victor.”

“Shit!” His swear word was full of humor.

“Your ruse was clever, doctor.” I tapped the dashboard. “If those two ninny-headed morons put it together, they won’t be able to find your car.”

“It gets even better,” he smiled. “Jose changed the plate out for one of the work trucks in the yard. I have to get this back to him so we can put the plates back. You don’t mind a stop, do you?”

I was laughing too hard to do anything but nod.

––––––––

R
ipt was no slouch.

He walked toward us from the gate, and his stride suggested that he was packing—and not lunch or a gun. All of the guys in the band were ridiculously hot, so I didn’t know why I was so surprised the guitarist was also drop-dead perfection.

He walked up to my side of the car and pulled the door open. “Hi.”

I smiled and fangirl squealed. I punched her; this was going to be a common occurrence so she needed to shut up. “Hi.” I climbed out. “Great car.”

“Even better when it’s legal.” He laughed, pulling the plate out from behind his back. He looked at Nick. “How’d you do? Get Nina off your back?”

“Tina, and yeah, for now.” Nick walked around and dropped the keys in his hand. “Thanks. Jose, this is Morgan. Morgan, Jose.”

I took the hand he offered. “Nice to meet you.”

“Same.” He leaned in, and took a hearty sniff at my ear, then looked at Nick. “You’re right. Jasmine and lemon, with a faint hint of oatmeal cookie.”

“What?” I laughed.

“This jackass has been staring at you in the audience for months, sweetie,” Jose said. I could see Nick was trying to shut him up. “He’s been pining for you so long he started imagining what you might smell like. He said it would be jasmine and lemon. And he was right. You do.” I looked at Nick, who was bright red and looked as though he wanted to absolutely murder Jose. This hot creature had been eyeing
me
up? Jose laughed when he saw my expression. “Didn’t tell her that, eh?”

“No, I didn’t, ass,” Nick said. “Thanks.”

“I think it’s cute.” Jose made little kissy noises. I burst out laughing and Nick really looked like he wanted to throttle his band mate.

Whoa
. Band mate. I was standing here with two of the members of Silver Soul, making small talk. This was pretty freakin’ amazing. Fan girl started to surface, but I quickly kicked her down again.

Jose walked to the back of the car and unfastened the license plate, putting the original on its place. Nick took the one on the Jag and walked it over to the plate-less car and put it back. Nick grabbed my hand and escorted me over his car, which was waiting just inside the gate of the yard.

“Practice tomorrow night?” Jose asked.

“Yeah,” Nick nodded. “You wanna try out that new song, see if we can make it work?”

“Of course,” Jose said. “I’m always up for the challenge of spinning shit into gold.”

“Be nice,” Nick cautioned.

“Dude, you know it sucks.” Jose raised an eyebrow.

Nick sighed. “We have to try. Just to keep the peace.”

“How much longer are we going to try and keep the peace?” Jose was slightly irate.

“I don’t know man. Are Van and Sal down with it?”

Jose looked at me standing there. “Look, why don’t we meet at Downbound before the show on Friday night, before a certain person arrives and let’s talk it out. You good with that?”

“I’m good with that.” Nick nodded. “I’ll text Sal and you get Van.”

“Done.” Jose smiled at me. “Morgan, I hope I get to see you around.”

“Same here,” I said.

Jose leaned in and kissed my cheek. He leaned around and kissed the other one and was going back for the original when Nick pushed him away good naturedly. “Quit it, dick, this is my chick.” Jose laughed and walked away as Nick helped me into the car. He loved helping me into the car. I loved being helped into the car.

He pulled the car out of the yard, and we cruised down the street.

“So, my perception of Dave isn’t limited to me and you?” I asked.

“Jose and I have been a little tired of him for a while,” Nick said. “But we can’t really do anything about until we get Sal and Van onboard. Sal and I formed the band, and we each brought the other member in. We auditioned Dave.”

I had the feeling he wasn’t really down with talking about the situation, so I changed the subject. “What’s for dinner?”

“You didn’t look in the bag.”

“What kind of answer is that?” I was baffled. “Is there dinner in a lingerie bag?”

“I’m not telling you what’s for dinner until you look in the bag.”

I glanced down at the Lady Elegance bag. “You really bought something there?”

“Well, I didn’t go there to just buy the bag.” He glanced at me. “Ladies lingerie stores are intimidating. You have all these clasps and straps and ties and ribbons. You could hang yourself in there if you’re not careful.”

“I don’t know. You seem to have no problem navigating me out of it.”

He relaxed. I didn’t even realize how tense he’d been to that point. “That I don’t.” He looked at me again. “Well, go on.”

I peered in beyond the pale blue paper. There was something satiny and shimmery inside. My eyes grew wide, but I reached in. The satin was slippery and soft. I pulled the material up so I could see it and it was a pale blue with little white polka dots sprinkled sparsely across it. “What is this?” My words slid out quietly on a breath.

“A gift.” He seemed almost shy about it. “I didn’t want to get you anything too risqué, because I don’t know what you’re comfortable in. It’s a, and I quote, flirty chemise that will make you feel sexy without making you look like you’re trolling for tail, end quote. Thank you, sales lady, for that description.”

I stared at it in my hand. I knew I had to do it. I found the neckline and trailed it along my fingers until I hit the tag. I took a deep breath and looked at the size: 18W.

I froze. He’d guessed exactly right.

“How did you know?”

“Know what?” His turn to be confused.

“My size?”

“Oh, well. You screamed it at me, remember? Then I described you to the sales clerk and she took me right over to these and said the way I described you meant you were probably an eighteen women’s.” He was quiet a moment. “She’s right, right?”

“Yes.” The word was quiet. He’d done everything right. He’d bought me a gorgeous piece of satin negligee in my size. He didn’t get it bigger to insult me, he didn’t get it smaller to assuage my feeling that I was too fat. He bought exactly what I needed.

“Kitten? You ok?”

“No one has ever bought me anything like this.” I held the fabric between my hands. “And they never would’ve guessed the right size. And you did both.” Something fell on the fabric. I realized: I was crying.

He pulled the car over and jumped out, appearing at my side of the car. He pulled me out, shoving the bag on the floor. He wrapped me in his arms and I just started sobbing uncontrollably. No guy had ever, ever taken me as I was. How was it this guy, now just about twenty-two hours into a possible relationship, had accepted me as a girl who was never going to be thin?