“Why are you meeting him here?” She leaned into me, her perfume making my temperature rise.
She was dressed in tight-fitting black trousers that had a sheen to them, and a strappy top that showed off her stomach. She’d changed into heels when we’d parked up, and her make-up was heavier than normal, not that she wore much. If I was around Nate’s during the daytime, she was always bare faced.
Tonight, she looked fucking gorgeous. It was a side to her I hadn’t seen before, and I’d already clocked at least four other guys eyeing her up.
Not that they’d approach. There wasn’t much chance that they wouldn’t recognise me, and it definitely looked like she was with me, and not in just a friendly way. My arm was around her waist, keeping her close as we headed into the VIP area where Lyle was.
“Jesse!” He saw me before I saw him. “You’re fucking here! Nice one!”
I let go of Jerrica to be enveloped in a huge embrace. He smelled of expensive cologne, but too much of it.
My chest hurt for him. Lyle had tried so hard to be someone. To have something. He just always went that one step too far to try and get it.
“Good to see you, Cuz.” I slapped his back and pulled away carefully. “This is Jerrica.
Lyle smiled, leaning in to give her a peck on the cheek. “Really good to meet you. Jesse is one of the best people I know.”
Jerrica smiled, glancing at me with a slightly querying look. “He’s a good guy.”
Lyle nodded. “I’m so glad you came, man! I really want to see what you think of this place. I’m seriously thinking of investing. You might want to join me on that.”
“It’s cool so far.” It was. Nowhere near the dive I’d been worried about. “But my agent wouldn’t advise it. Clubs and shit like that won’t work with the endorsements I’ve got.” Which was the absolute truth. I also didn’t want to invest in a nightclub, most of which had short lifespans, and the drug association would not work for any part of my image or the club's.
“Shit! Really?” Lyle looked put out. “Fuck. I was really hoping this was something we could do together.”
I put my hand on his back again. “Look, it seems class so far, but the club would be down on anything like this. Most clubs would be. They don’t want us associated with alcohol and shit like that. All about the clean-living lifestyle, man.”
He looked crestfallen. “Shit, man. I didn’t think. Let’s have a good night anyway. We’ve got champagne coming over.” He looked over at where a bartender was, ice bucket in hand, followed by another woman who was carrying glasses.
It was popped and poured. I accepted a glass, making sure Jerrica had one, and ordered a water, sharing a moan with Lyle about how strict it was even off-season. It wasn’t, not at this point, but he didn’t need to know that, and I didn’t want much to drink.
Something was making me feel on edge, although so far, the atmosphere in the club was good, lively. Lyle was chatting to Jerrica, telling her about our shared childhoods and shit about how close we’d been, trying to win her over.
His current set of friends were around us, all dressed in designer gear, their girlfriends made-up so they only needed a filter and they’d be Instagram ready. They seemed like an okay crew, although at least two of them were being too open about the blow they were heading to the toilets to take.
This wasn’t my scene.
“You okay?” I pressed my mouth close to Jerrica’s ear, my arm back around her waist. She’d been talking to a couple of the girls, her genuine friendliness sparkling.
She nodded, leaning a little more into me. “I’m getting the feeling this isn’t your scene?”
I nodded. “I’m here just to see Lyle. He wanted to show it off.”
“And get you to invest.”
“That was always going to be the case. If I shot him down straight away, he’d end up blowing my phone up with how I’m not giving him a chance.”
She was moving with the music, which was pretty decent.
“He’s very different from you.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Do you want to dance?” I knew if she said yes, I’d be torturing myself.
“I was hoping you’d ask.”
“A couple of tracks and then we’ll head to a bar that’s a bit more chilled.” This week she’d driven me around a lot, with a couple of late nights because of dinners with my sponsors and a club thing that Genny had managed to rope me into.
I took her hand as I led her through the crowd to the dance floor, which was packed with people already.
