Operation One Night Stand (17 page)

M
elody left the bathroom before me, giving me an extra minute to make sure I was composed.
Stepping out, I made my way to the bar first.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”
Brian pulled three beers, obviously busy with the nighttime crowd that had begun to trickle in.

“For my earlier display of idiocy.
I shouldn’t have done that and I’m sorry.”

Brian stopped for a minute and placed his hands on the bar.
“You have nothing to be sorry about.
I mean, it probably wouldn’t be good for business if you made dumping perfectly good drinks, which I made by the way, on the heads of my customers.
Everyone has something that sets them off.
I get it.”

“Thank you.”
I placed my hand on his and he looked down at it before pulling his away.

“Yeah, well.
Like I said.
Don’t make it a habit.
I have to go get these drinks out before there’s a riot.”
He laughed easily and walked away to serve the customers.

Looking around, I saw Betsy and Steven had decided to leave.
I didn’t feel remorse toward Betsy.
I didn’t feel anything toward either of them.
I knew it would take time for it all to go away but the least I could do was take Mel’s advice.
React and move on.

I looked over at the table: my two friends and a group of guys we pretty much just met were sitting around, chatting, laughing, and having the good time I deserved.
Smiling, I joined them.

Sitting next to Ryan, I looked over to find him smiling at me.
He leaned in to whisper, “Everything okay?”

“Perfect,” I whispered back and kissed him on the cheek.

I wasn’t sure where this
whatever
was going with Ryan but I was more than happy to find out.
So maybe he wasn’t going to be my forever.
I was content to have him as a right now.
Besides, a little voice inside my head told me relationships were off limits until I was used to functioning without one.

I leaned back and took everything in.
It looked as though Melody and Dan were at it again.

“You sound reasonable.
I think it might be time to up my medication.”
Melody rifled through her purse as the rest of the table laughed.

“I’m just saying.
When it comes to people in your life, you need to share certain things.
For example, if ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’ comes on and the person you’re with doesn’t join you in the sing along, you need to remove them from your life.
Everyone knows that song.
And if the person you’re with isn’t down you have to wonder if you need that kind of negativity in your life?
Am I right?”

Melody laughed easily.
“You’re right.
Hard to argue with that kind of rationality.”

“Speaking of music.”
Drew stood up and walked over to the jukebox, popped in a five-dollar bill, and started pressing buttons.
I jumped up to join him.

“What’s your poison?”
Drew scanned the list of available songs.

“This one.”
I typed in the corresponding code.

“Awesome!
I haven’t heard that one in years!”

“Mel, Sarah, and I used to sing this all the time.”

“College?”

“Yeah.”

“So”—Drew turned to face me after he inputted all the song requests—“what’s the deal with Sarah?”

“The deal?”

“Yeah.”
He leaned closer.
“Is she, like, seeing anyone?”

“Oh!”
I glanced over at Sarah, who was laughing at the conversation at the table.
“No, she isn’t actually.”

“Cool.
Thanks.
So, uh, what’s up with you and Ryan?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know.
It’s not really my place to say anything.”

What did they always say?
Curiosity killed the cat?

“What isn’t your place to say?”

“Oh nothing.
It’s just odd that both Brian and Ryan talk about you so much.
Didn’t you just meet them?”

“Yeah and?”

“Well, look.
You seem like a nice girl but Ryan and Brian are my friends.
I just don’t want them to get hurt if you can’t make up your mind.”

I had to shake my head and clear it of everything just to make sense of what he was saying.

“I’m not sure what you heard, but Brian and I don’t have anything going on other than meeting him a couple weeks ago and a brief run in at the gym.
As for Ryan and me, well, that isn’t really your business.”

Drew held up his hands.
“I’m sorry.
I didn’t mean to assume.
I just thought—”

“Never assume.
It just makes an ass out of you.”

“And me,” he replied.

“That’s what I said.
Look, not that
this
is any of my business but Sarah’s my friend and if you fuck with her, I will hunt you down and crush your balls with the heel of my stiletto.
M’kay?”

“Ha!
Understood.
I think you and I just might get along after all.”
He put up his hand and I slapped him a high five.

Berk walked by with a tray of shots.
“I couldn’t wait for the waitress anymore.
I took it upon myself to get these.”

“What is it?”
Sarah asked as she sniffed the drink.

“It’s called an Erection.”

“What?”
Dan held up the glass between his two fingers and inspected it.

“Like you’ve never had one!”
Melody piped up.

“I’ve just never had one in my mouth,” Dan replied.

“Don’t knock it till you try it!”
Berk shouted over the din of the bar.
He downed the shot and ran his tongue across his lips.
“Oh, Danny boy!
You don’t know what you’re missing!”

“Get the fuck out of here!
Go find yourself a fuck buddy!”

Berk laughed and walked over to a group of guys standing by the bar.

I leaned forward.
“Is he gay?”

“You can’t tell?”
Sarah asked.

“No, I mean, it didn’t even cross my mind.”

“Ha!
Well, ladies, Berk is as handsome as they come but unfortunately for you, you aren’t his type.”
Drew raised his shot before pouring it into his mouth.

“Well, that’s too bad,” Melody purred.
“Looks like I won’t be having any fun tonight.”
She looked at Dan with hooded eyes and he took the bait.

“Oh, darlin’.
We wouldn’t want that now, would we?”

“You know anyone who’s interested in having some fun?”
Melody ran her fingers along his hand.
I loved watching her in action.
I don’t think she’s ever been turned down.

“They don’t call me the kamikaze king for nothing.”

“Kamikaze king?”
I had to ask.

Ryan, Dan, and Drew laughed as Dan explained, “Sixty-nine is the kamikaze of sex.
If I’m goin’ down, she’s comin’ with me.”

I was laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe.
Sarah’s wine actually shot out of her nose.
We did that a lot.
Melody smiled as if she’d won the lottery.

We were drunk.
After countless bottles of wine, numerous pitchers of beer, and shots with names like Stumble Fuck and Dirty Whore’s Bath Water, it was a wonder any of us could stand.
And then it happened.

The song I’d plugged into the jukebox started playing.
I watched with glee as my friend’s eyes widened and piercing screams of remembrance echoed against the walls.

Melody was the first to jump up and start dancing.
Sarah grabbed Drew’s beer and drained it.

“I love this song!”

“I have no idea what he’s saying!”

“I Believe in a Thing Called Love” by the Darkness played loudly throughout the bar.
Patrons actually stopped and stared as the three of us jumped around and tried to keep up with the high-pitched, fast-paced lyrics of the song that reminded us of freshman year of college.

I grabbed Ryan’s hands and pulled him out of his chair.
Melody took the opportunity to bump and grind on Dan like it was her job.
Sarah climbed on top of the table and crawled over to Drew while singing the song at the top of her lungs.

Berk ran back to the group screaming, “I love this song!”

He got in on the action by climbing on top of the table with Sarah.

Brian stopped what he was doing and looked on from behind the bar with a smile on his face.

By the time the song was half done, most of the bar was singing and dancing along.

Ryan twirled me around until I was dizzy.
It didn’t take much; I was half in the bag to begin with.

Drew ran over to the jukebox and added more money.

“Time to test Dan’s theory.”

As soon as our song ended, “Don’t Stop Believin’” pounded through the speakers.
The entire bar let out a huge cheer and sang along.

“See?
Was I right?
That’s how you know Brian’s bar is the place to hang.”

“You were right!”
I shouted.

Ryan wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me in closer.
“You wanna get out of here?”

I looked around at my friends.
Sarah was singing along with Drew.
Melody and Dan were lip-locked as he pinned her up against the wall.
Even Berk had found himself a hottie.

I kissed Ryan quickly on the lips.
“Let’s go.”

I reached to grab my coat and purse.

“Leave them.”
His voice was forceful and the hunger in his eyes was apparent.

We raced through the bar, through a door at the back.
He pulled his keys out of his pocket as we made our way through the stockroom space.

“Your place?”

He nodded as he pulled the door open and shoved me through.
He pushed me up against the wall at the base of the stairs, his lips on my neck.

“I want you.”

I grabbed his face.
“I want you, too.”

“Let’s go.”

We raced up the stairs to his apartment above the bar.
I figured my friends would be okay without me for a while.

By the time we hit the top of the stairs, his shirt was off and my pants were unbuttoned.
Clumsily I kicked my shoes off and pulled my shirt over my head.
Ryan pulled his shoes off before reaching for me again.

I slid my tongue down his jawline as his hands reached for and cupped my breasts, his thumbs tracing circles around my hard nipples.
He pinched them between his fingers and I moaned.

I fumbled the zipper and edged his jeans to the floor.
I pushed him onto his leather couch before dropping to my knees.
I pulled down his boxers and he breathed out.
I hadn’t realized we were both holding our breath.

Never in my life had I been forward enough to take the lead.
Never in my life had I felt more comfortable than I did in that moment.

He moaned quietly as my tongue licked his tip.
He slowly brought his hands to my hair and his fingers knotted themselves in my curls as I took him in my mouth, slowly at first.

My hand stroked him as my mouth slid up and down his length.
His moans grew louder as I increased the friction and scraped my teeth gently along his engorged cock.
When I took him all, my hand moved to his balls and I massaged them lightly.

“Oh shit, Caroline.”
Ryan’s head fell back and he squeezed his eyes tight.
His fingers tightened their grip on my hair and for a moment I was afraid he’d rip it out by the roots.
But the harder he pulled, the more I responded.
As his eyes glazed over, I shifted to the balls of my feet.

I knew he was almost ready and pushed him closer to the edge by squeezing my hand along him as I stroked.
In a frenzy, I couldn’t get enough of him and I took him in and out of my mouth, sucking hard.
He tried to push my head away but I held on, taking him deeper as he exploded at the back of my throat.
Swallowing every last drop, I felt good in knowing I satisfied him.