TANGLED WITH THE CARVERS

CHAPTER 2: MY BOYFRIEND’s BROTHER

||*NADIA*||

The bass sound of the music drumming through the walls of the club is so strong that I can feel it in my chest. Sitting in one of the VIP lounges does nothing to stop the sound from penetrating the walls; it is f*cking loud in here, and I don’t even want to remember how deafening it was when I walked into the club about an hour ago or so. Though the perk of sitting two floors up in the club, in the VIP lounge, is the fact that we can have a normal conversation without having to yell over the loud music, maybe raising our voices a little louder than we would if we were outside, at least not yelling in each other’s ear is a good thing.

looking over to my friends occupying the seats around me. Evelyn is saying something to her girlfriend Scarlett in a hushed voice. She's not sure what they’re talking about, but judging from the frown on Scarlett's face, I can tell she doesn’t like the subject. Chris is busy telling Devin about the two girls he saw earlier when he walked into the club, and he’s been keeping an eye on them from up here. For some reason, Chris seems to believe they’ve been looking up to check if he’s still here, and he’s very convinced he will be f*cking them tonight.

I shake my head as I look away from them, and I let my gaze wander to the dance floor. The DJ is playing some trashy music I can’t be bothered to remember at the moment, but the people on the dance floor don’t seem to mind the trashy music or the strobe lights hitting their faces. Either they’re too drunk to care, or they’re too carried away in whatever fantasy has them grinding on each other. Not that people really care that much about songs played in a club. Well, as long as it is loud enough to drown out the mess in their heads and the beat is good enough to jump to or dance to, no one really gives two f*cks.

I can never understand why anyone would want to be on the dance floor of a club, though. If you want to have fun and dance, you can still do that without being cramped up in a sea of sweaty, smelly bodies. Not that I think people smell; I bet some of them probably used cologne, perfumes, hair sprays, or deodorants before leaving their houses, to smell good, of course. But having all that scent mixed up with the sweat Nah, it definitely stinks down there, but they probably don’t care anyway.

The sound of laughter reaches my ear, shifting my attention from the dance floor. I look to my side to see Ify and her long-time best friend Toby laughing at something. They’re both Nigerians, and I think they’re the funniest out of the group; they always have something interesting to say or joke about. It is always fun being around them, and sometimes I envy their friendship. They might be our friends, but it is no news that they put each other before any of us in the friendship group.

“Hey.” I turn at the sound of Zara’s voice. She has this scowl on her face while peering at me; it’s the usual scowl she gives me when she’s concerned about something that mostly has to do with me.

“Hey you too.” I offer a smile along with my response, despite knowing it won’t stop her from raising her concerns. Either way, I’ll have to hear whatever she has to say. There’s no escaping it now, not with that infamous scowl still etched on her face.

“Why aren’t you drinking?” She points at the glass still full of alcohol on the table in front of me.

Shrugging, “I drank plenty before you came in with Ify and Toby. Just trying to stay sober."

She doesn’t seem to buy my response; the obvious stretch of her lips tells me enough: “Ehn-ehn, I know you, Dia; you are like a bottomless pit of alcohol reserve; you don’t easily get drunk, especially not from beer. You were drinking beer before we got here; you told me, remember?” She raised one eyebrow at me, and I shrugged again.

"I'm not in the mood for alcohol, I guess; I'd rather just watch you all get sh*t faced."

"Not a good enough answer, Dia. Wanna tell me what this is about?"

I open my mouth to answer her, but she stops me, raising her hand as she speaks.

"Don't tell me it’s because of those pictures in the blogs earlier." My silence seems like a good enough answer for her, because Zara scoffs, rolling her eyes.

"You're not about to let that as$hole get to you, are you? You know Deion is a bastard; he does this every time you break up, flaunting the next top model and any hungry chick he can find. We both know he only does that to rile you up for a few weeks before dragging his pretty ass back to you again.” She scoffs, throwing her head back as she swallows down another shot of Vodka.

"Yeah, sure, I know why he is being an ass, but haven’t you noticed? Unlike before, where he swaps these girls like he’s changing his boxers, he’s been spotted with the same girl over and over again. And I looked her up alright; she’s not a model; she’s one of those rich people's daughters in his circle, and she’s an upcoming actress."

“So? He’ll drop her as soon as he gets bored of her. It’s Deion; come on, we both know he’ll come begging pretty soon.” Zara tries to assure me, slapping my shoulder lightly before picking up my drink and practically shoving it against my mouth.

I take the glass from her, moving it away from my lips. “It’s just... What if he doesn’t come begging this time? Zara, it’s been three months since our breakup; Deion doesn’t take this long; three f*****g months, Zara; what if I am losing him?” I can’t hide the fear in my voice because, truth be told, I don’t want to completely lose my boyfriend.

“Three months?” Zara’s surprise is evident in her voice, and I nod. “I didn’t know it'd been that long; have you tried texting or calling him?"

“Yeah, he’s not responding. I’ve been thinking.” I swallow a lump down my throat, knowing Zara will probably smack my head once I say what’s on my mind.

“Hmm hmm, go ahead.”

"I think I have to be the one to beg him this time around.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Zara practically yells, hitting my shoulder so hard that I bite back a wince.

“What’s going on?” Her dramatic ass succeeds in grabbing the attention of all our friends, and now they’re all turning her way, heads tilting with curious eyes.

"You guys won’t believe this; this fish head wants to get on her knees to beg a man.” Zara all but yells.

"I never said anything about getting on my knees.” I mumble, rolling my eyes at her, but that doesn’t seem to help with the look of absolute disbelief and horror I am now getting from my friends.

“There is no way in hell.” Ify mutters,

"Nah, she’s definitely joking.” Chris chimes in,

"Of course, Dia jokes a lot, doesn’t she?” Toby starts looking around the group.

"Now, Dia, care to explain to us why a goddess likes you—literally, an absolute beauty like you would even joke about getting on your knees to beg a man? Because we don’t beg men, we don’t ever, and I am saying this as a man who loves men—well, not them but the d***s attached to their bodies—we never beg men. They do the begging. Please tell me, sweetie, did someone cast an evil spell on you?” Devin and his overly dramatic ass supplies while moving from his seat to perch on the arm of my seat.

“I kid you not. She’s not joking.” Zara’s scowl didn’t wear off as she went on to fill the group in about Deion. By the end of it all, my friends were shaking their heads and rolling their eyes.

"Let me tell you something, darling: Deion and his cheating as$ can rot in hell."

“Yes.” The rest of the group murmurs after Ify’s sentence, and I sigh.

"I mean, we can’t call it cheating, can we? If we’re both not together when he has those girls lining his side, I try to reason, but they aren’t having any of it.

"We don’t care; see, you’ve both always done this on-and-off thing right from when you started dating him in your final year at university. You always take a break from each other, but like we’ve always known, it doesn’t technically mean that you’re breaking up, and it doesn’t give him the right to use the break as an excuse to cheat.” Chris grumbles, and everyone agrees with him, but I give him a blank stare.

Because if anyone should be talking about doing things the right way, it definitely shouldn't be Chris. I am not sure the guy even has a moral compass, but I guess I can’t say I’ve ever seen him cheat. Well, he doesn’t exactly do relationships anyway.

"Well, it’s just..." They don’t let me finish.

"It's just nothing, and it’s definitely not something you need to beg him for. Come on, loosen up, girl; you can get any man you want. F*ck Deion and his cheating, egocentric ass.” Toby says, and everyone hums in agreement.

"Anyway, I think the best thing to do to take your mind off him is to take your sexy ass to the bar downstairs and find yourself a sexy as hell man to drown in.” Devin pats my shoulder, pointing towards the bar.

"I don’t do cheap hook-ups; that’s no news to any of you.” I scowl at them.

"There's always a first time for everything; come on, up you go.” They all but hauled me out of my seat, practically shoving me out the entryway of the VIP lounge.

I ignore their hooting and what they might interpret as words of encouragement, and I make my way down the flight of stairs, knowing quite well that going back to them would be pointless anyway. I just need to hang around the bar for a few minutes and then go back up there and act like all the men weren’t up to my standards.

But as my ill luck will have it, a few minutes after taking shots at the bar, Xander settles in the seat beside me, and I can already feel the incoming headache just from having him so close.

“Boyfriend trouble?” He doesn’t wait for my reply as he orders a cocktail.

"Not that my business is any of your business, Alex.” The frown I expected on his face after calling him Alex came fast and without delay. He hates it when I call him Alex, and I always do it because what are friends for? Right?

"Your business is my business, darling; you’re dating my younger brother, remember?” He schools his frown, giving me his infamous flirty smile, and I roll my eyes.

"Oh, wait, I forgot; he’s now your ex. Is that why you’re trying to drink yourself to death?” Xander asks, and I level him with a glare.

"Piss the f*ck off, Xander; I am not in the mood.” I slapped my empty glass on the table, standing up on my feet.

"The bills are on him, and also the bills for everything they have in Lounge 5.” I pointed upstairs, towards the VIP lounge, and my friends all waved at me, yelling some words. The bartender nods without questioning me; we are regulars here. Without waiting to see Xander’s reaction, I stepped away from the bar, making my way out of the club.

"Why do I put up with your wicked ass?” I can hear Xander’s voice as he jogs up to me, just a few minutes after reaching outside of the club.

"I wouldn’t know; you should ask yourself.”

"You're lucky I am in love with you.”

Glaring at him, “Xander, please cut the bullsh*t. Did you come with your car? I need a ride home. I left my phone at home, and Devin was supposed to give me a ride back home, but your annoying ass had to make me leave the club early."

"I should say no, but I can’t ever say no to you. Come on.”

Ignoring his words, I followed him to the parking lot, tuning out whatever he had to say on the ride home. I don’t want to deal with his annoying ass right now. He’s my oldest friend, has been my buddy right from the first year of university, and has stuck around ever since. He’s also the one who introduced me to Deion, his younger brother. Xander can be annoying sometimes, but he’s one hell of a good friend, and I am mostly not bothered by his flirting because it's nothing new. He does it so often that I've learned to tune him out over the years.

“Won’t you give me a reply?” I snapped out of my thoughts, pulling my head from the window to see that we were outside my apartment.

“What did you say?” He frowns.

"About us, don’t you think it’s time you gave me a chance?”

"Xander, I am your younger brother’s girlfriend; you seriously need to stop this. It’s not funny anymore."

"Who said I was trying to be funny? I understand that I flirt jokingly most of the time, but Nadia, this isn’t the first time I have told you how serious I am about you. I want you. I can treat you better than Deion. At least give me a chance."

I shake my head as I reach over to undo the seat belt. “No, that’s not happening."

"You aren’t even dating Deion anymore. Why can’t you just consider my heart? Nadia, I love you; I always have.” I step out of the car, choosing to tune out his nonsense once more as I march to my door.

“Nadia.” He grabs my hand before I can push my door open, and he turns me around to face him.

"I am still your brother’s girlfriend; we are only taking a break at the moment. And you know this is not my first rodeo with Deion; we get back together; we always get back together.” I snap at him, and he only scoffs in response.

"But this is the first time he’s taken this long, and this time around, he’s been with the same girl for the past three months. You really think Deion is coming back to you?” He definitely knows how insecure I am feeling about the topic of Deion really breaking up with me for good, and he’s trying to use that to get to me.

"He will; I know him, and even if he doesn't, I still won’t change my mind about you. I do not have any interest in dating two brothers. No, it's not happening, so let it go.” Can he even hear himself? Why will I end it with one brother and then date the next brother? Who the hell does that?

"Stop being so stubborn, Dia; I can make you happy; I’ll treat you better; I'll worship you the way you deserve; none of those childish antics with Deion. You know me, Nadia. You know that when I love, I love for real. You know, ever since I told you my feelings, I haven’t been in a serious relationship with anyone, and it’s because of you. We don’t have to tell anyone; just give me a chance to show you. Let’s just test it out and see if we are good for each other. You can call it off if you think I’m bad for you, but don’t keep pushing me away without so much as a chance to prove myself."

I find myself getting lost in his icy grey eyes for a moment, unable to utter a response, as I let myself wonder about the possibility of this. Xander is a good-looking man with his sandy blonde hair, which he often packs in a messy bun. I remember the first time I saw him in that coffee shop—the strong features of his face and his sculpted jawline. It had me so struck that I had almost walked into the glass door of the shop. He had seen me looking and came forward, wearing his infamous flirty smile on his face as he introduced himself. I nearly died of embarrassment that day, but we quickly became friends.

Not even a month later, I told him about my crush on him, and he replied that he wanted us to simply remain friends because he only does hookups and he doesn’t see me as the type that is into hookups. He was right about that. I don’t do hookups, but that didn’t negate how it had hurt to be turned down by him. He was a good friend, and that was okay for me.

“Nadia…” The soft sound of his voice breaks me out of the spell his eyes cast on me. “Please, I can love you better than him.” I don’t quite remember how his hands ended up on my face.

Before I can form a response, his lips collide with mine, and I am melting into the kiss without thinking.