I woke with a nasty hangover. My head was pounding. The room was spinning. And there was a very good chance I was going to vomit all over myself if I didn’t hurry and get myself to the bathroom.
I nearly fell on my ass when I tried to get out of bed, but I somehow managed to run a wobbly path to my bathroom. Dropping to my knees, I emptied the contents of my stomach in a rapid and violent fashion. When I was finished, I was covered in a light sheen of sweat, but aside from the taste in my mouth, I felt marginally better.
I carefully rose to my feet and grabbed my toothbrush. After brushing my teeth twice, I hopped in the shower. While I was washing my hair, bits and pieces of the previous night started coming back to me in flashes.
Duke.
I gasped and my eyes flew open, shampoo promptly running directly into my eyes. After squealing and rinsing away the shampoo, I focused my attention on trying to remember what happened. Duke took me home from the party. We argued. I wanted to get drunk, because that’s what people do on prom night. Duke held up a bottle of tequila. After that, things got fuzzy. Obviously, I succeeded in my prom night quest of getting trashed, hence the wretched hangover, but my body felt sore, in a deliciously naughty way. I looked down and gasped when I saw the finger-shaped bruises on my hips. Twisting my body as far as I could, I saw a faint red handprint on my ass. Further inspection revealed a hickey on my inner thigh and what appeared to be beard burn on my breasts.
With each mark’s discovery, the memories came pouring in. Duke squeezing my hips while I rode him. Duke slapping my ass while he took me from behind. Duke teasing me by sucking on my inner thighs before finally putting his mouth where I wanted it. Duke lavishing my breasts with attention from his mouth while he finger fucked me to orgasm.
Holy.
Fuck.
How many times did we fuck last night? More importantly, where in the hell was he? I started to panic. I needed to talk to him. He couldn’t tell Carbon what happened. My brother would freak if he knew I fucked one of his club brothers in his house while he was out of town.
I quickly finished my shower and got dressed. There was no sign of him or his things in my room. I started to run down the stairs, but managed to get myself under control enough to walk down. If he was down there, I didn’t want him to think I was running after him. I scanned the living room and found nothing. A quick sweep of the kitchen revealed he wasn’t there. I opened up the front door and saw that his truck was gone.
I started to get angry and then realized I had nothing to be angry about. I got what I wanted and I had a good time doing it. I had no interest in being in a relationship with Duke. To be more accurate, I had no interest in being in a relationship with anyone. My last one had ended in the worst way and I wasn’t up for a repeat experience anytime soon, if ever. If he told Carbon, well, I would deal with that when the time came. I shrugged off all thoughts of Duke and went about my day.
CHAPTER TWO
Duke
I wasn’t worth a shit at work. I didn’t have a hangover, but I couldn’t think about anything other than Reese and everything we had done the night before. Never had I met a woman who was as compatible with me in the bedroom as she was. While some of the things we did were raw and dirty, it didn’t feel like empty sex. It felt like more, at least to me it did, and I hoped she felt the same way. I shook my head. I was starting to sound like I had grown a pussy.
I finished up at work, took a quick shower, and headed over to Carbon’s place. I knew he wasn’t back from the run yet, so I didn’t have to come up with a reason to be there. I rang the doorbell and waited. When no one answered the door, I knocked, then knocked a little harder a few minutes later. She didn’t answer the door and I didn’t have her cell phone number. With nothing else to do, I went back to the clubhouse.
I stopped by Carbon’s place the following day, but she didn’t answer the door then either. I wasn’t sure if she wasn’t home or if she was avoiding me. I hoped it wasn’t the latter. My mind got carried away and I started to wonder if she regretted that night. She was drunk, but she wasn’t incoherent. I know I asked her several times if she was sure she wanted to have sex with me. She repeatedly said yes. Normally, I wouldn’t take a girl that had been drinking to bed, but I was drunk, too, and all rational thoughts ceased to exist when she said yes. It’s not an excuse, just a fact.
It was a little over two weeks before I saw her again. I had been by Carbon’s place several times under the pretense of hanging out with him just to try to catch a glimpse of her. She was like a ghost. Every time I was at his place, she was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t ask Carbon about her without looking suspicious because, like the asshole I was, I had never asked about her before. I had just resigned myself to the fact that I would have to let it go, let her go, when she walked into the clubhouse in the middle of a shitstorm.
She was at the clubhouse for well over a day before I had the chance to really talk to her. I had stepped in between her and Carbon and asked her a few questions, but those pertained to the girl she brought to the clubhouse for help.
Finally, Dash and I caught Reese and her friend in the common room. Dash made it easy for me to talk to her by making a beeline for their table. I could tell he was interested in Reese’s friend. Deciding to play the role of wingman, I asked the girls if they wanted to play a game of pool with us, directing my attention to Ember instead of Reese. To my surprise, Reese answered in agreement and then, as luck would have it, her and I ended up on the same team.
When Dash had his attention focused on Ember, I leaned close to Reese and quietly asked, “Have you been avoiding me for the last few weeks?”
She leaned back and said, “Of course not. Why would you even think that?” She was lying and doing a very poor job of it.
“So that’s how you’re going to play this? Act like nothing happened between us?” I asked, getting more pissed by the second.
She scoffed and said in a low voice, “You’re the one who ran out while I was still sleeping. I figured you wanted to act like nothing happened, so that’s what I’ve been doing. Really, Duke, we fucked, it was fun, and that’s it.”
I didn’t care for the nonchalance in her tone, but there was something else in her statement that needed to be addressed first. “I didn’t run out while you were sleeping. I had to be at work early that morning and I didn’t want to wake you. I left you a note explaining all that and telling you that I would be back when I got off work.”
Her eyes widened in disbelief, then they flashed with anger. “Bullshit.”
“Not bullshit. I put it on your nightstand,” I insisted.
“Say whatever you want. I don’t believe you. I never saw a note. Now, I’m finished discussing this with you,” she snapped. Then, she took her friend by the arm and strolled off down the hall, leaving me sitting there like a fool.
Five days passed before I got a chance to talk to her again. She was a master at hiding from me. She either stayed in the room with Ember or she was holed up in Carbon’s room, neither of which I could enter freely. This time, I found her in the pool coaxing Ember to get in. When she finally did jump in, she came up with her tit hanging out of her top and ran off. Like a good friend, Reese ran after her.
Assuming I missed any small chance I had of talking to her, I dove into the pool and started swimming laps. I came to an abrupt stop when I felt a smooth hand glide from the top of my shoulder down to the small of my back. I shook the water from my hair and wiped the water from my eyes. I opened them to find Reese in her skimpy bikini standing in front of me. I didn’t say a word, just stared and waited.
She looked down and very quietly said, “I found the note under my bed. It must have fallen off the nightstand or something. So, uh, sorry for being bitchy about that.”
