Two
Nick
I wasn’t really sure what I was getting myself into. I hadn’t planned on talking to anyone tonight. I came here to quiet the noise in my head, the ones that always crawl back in when things get too still. The reminders of how badly I screwed up. The shit I put my family through. The fact that it took my brother nearly dying for me to finally pull myself together. But then she bumped into me. Wide-eyed, clutching her drink like it was her saving grace, completely out of place in the best kind of way. I should’ve just helped her find her friends and gone back to minding my own business. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. There was something about her… something that made the noise fade for the first time in days.
They had begged me foryearsto get clean. But it took my brother having cancer for me to finally do it and stick to it. Back then, if you had asked me where I would be in five years, I would have said dead. And honestly, that’s what I felt like I deserved. My family didn’t deserve everything I was doing to them. They didn’t need to spend every day wondering if I was alive or outcausing shit. At least if I were dead, they’d know where I was. No more worrying. No more waiting for the next call. But instead… here I was. At a damn sex club I used to drown out the past, walking out with a woman I probably had no business touching.
She was nice, but innocent… and I was everything but that. Given the chance, I could andwouldruin her. Yet, I said yes. Because, what’s one night? In the grand scheme of things, I’d never see her again, and maybe, just maybe, I can get out of my head long enough to forget why I hate myself in the first place.
I placed a hand on the small of her back, guiding her out of the club and toward the lobby. Why any of her friends thought bringing her here was a good idea, knowing how out of place she would be, was beyond me. She fumbled with the band around her wrist, tugging at it like the thing personally offended her. Her brow furrowed in frustration, and when her bottom lip jutted out, it took everything in me not to lean in and taste it. That pout practically begged to be kissed. But I was a gentleman, and doing that, sex club or not, with Mya was wrong.
I stepped in closer. “Here,” I murmured.
I caught her wrist gently, brought it to my mouth, and bit down just hard enough to tear through the flimsy band. Her breath hitched, and I heard the little hum of surprise in her throat. She cleared it quickly, like she didn’t mean to let it out, then flashed me a shy smile. But all I could think about was how good her skin tasted against my tongue and how much I wanted more.
She was beautiful. Jet black hair, brown eyes, and a little makeup on her eyes, but nothing flashy. She was natural… in a way that I wasn’t used to. Fuck, she didn’t even have a tattoo in sight. She was too good for me. That was for damn sure. I placed her band in my pocket and walked toward the desk to get my phone. Mya followed behind, politely asking for hers back.She sent a text and then looked at me with another one of those smiles that screamed she wasn’t sure if she wanted to do this.
“Um, okay, so the rules are that we aren’t Mya, the scared teacher, and you aren’t Nick, the recovering alcoholic. You’re… Larry the plumber, and I’m Sally the dancer.”
“Larry?” I raised my eyebrow. “That is a terrible name.”
“Oh hush it, Larry.”
“Alright,Sally. But remember, tonight is about chances and not being who we are.”
“I know.”
“Great,” I smiled, leading her outside toward the motorcycle. The one I already knew was going to be a problem for her.
“Oh, no.” She whispered behind me, a gasp leaving her mouth with a sharp intake of air.
“Thought Sally was a badass dancer that wasn’t scared of anything?” I laughed.
Her face paled a little. The thought of riding wasn’t sitting well with her, but fuck, if I didn’t want to corrupt her just a little. I grabbed the extra helmet and handed it to her, but she looked at me like I was crazy. Brushing her hair out of her face, I gently placed it on her head and made sure it was tight.
She was wearing a tight little dress with heels. Not thebestthing to wear on a bike. Sighing to myself, I removed my leather jacket and placed it on her. “To our night of adventure, as you called it.”
“Okay…” She nodded.
“You need to hold on to me here.” I pulled her arms and showed her where, another small gasp leaving her lips. She felt my stomach a little more than I had expected. Moving around and feeling me up like this was a normal thing. “Okay, I said hold, not feel.” I winked.
Her cheeks instantly turned red, her hands flying away as she looked away. Avoiding my eyes. “Oh no, you don’t.” I laughed.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean—”
“Listen, if the worst thing you do to me is cop a feel of my abs, then it was a pretty damn good night. If I were a creep, I’d say a lot more. But I’m not. So let’s go back to teaching you how to be a good backpack, huh?”
“A backpack?” She turned her head slightly.
“Yeah, you’ll basically be like that while you ride on the back. It’s what people call it.”
“Okay,” she nodded again. Almost like she was studying and taking what I do know about her already, she probably was. “What about after that?”
“When I turn, your body needs to follow mine. Not crazy, but just naturally move with me.”
She nodded again. I swear she was making a mental list right now, and it had me smiling, wondering just who in the hell this girl really was. I explained to her where her feet should go, what to do if I was going too fast or she needed me to stop, and a couple of other basic things she needed to know before getting on a bike.
I promised her I was a good rider, and then she was sitting behind me, her arms tight around my waist, her small hands on the flat of my stomach. Her body pressed against me in all the ways that would make a man go wild. But I was determined to be good tonight. She didn’t need me hitting on her, let alone trying anything with her. She can pretend she was a dancer or whatever, but at the end of the day, she was still shy little Mya, and I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable at all.
