The Lustful Summer with my Bad Boy

Chapter Four- Pit of Vipers

Countless. That is how many times I had sat at this linen lain table awaiting lavish dishes I couldn’t pronounce as Cliff, my mother, and I sat in the center of this country club. The details were always the same with my mother leaving directly after her meal was finished and my stepfather lingering just long enough to cop a feel of my thigh unprotected by a high skirt of a dress he chose for me, until I would be able to relish in the comfort of my peers.

Only now, I was attending without that eventual comfort of those I experienced academic hell with as they had all managed to side with Chip, who looked across the room at me with immature whispers and obvious comments spoken at my dismay. I did my best to ignore it as I was eagerly awaiting Easton to make his grand entrance; but as the sky relinquished its sun for the moon in its expected dusk, his face was nowhere in sight. Unable to take the judgemental gazes of those I had apparently wronged, I retired to a section of the club between the kitchen and the main lobby where a sheet of lattice allowed me a moment of privacy.

“Looking for someone?” A voice called from behind me as I turned to witness Easton, standing in all black with the exception of a dress shirt held beneath a thrifted suit left white. However, it wasn’t just his attire that had changed. The soft scruff that would have made his cheeks rough was now shaven clean to reveal a set of hidden dimples as his hair was more styled than in the three interactions in which I had stood before him; still appearing wild but with a delicate touch of product that made it reveal temporarily tamed. Yet, the most enticing change had been the smile forced across his face as he managed to illuminate the usual troubled eyes made of up mahogany irises.

“Good, that’s exactly the response I was hoping for. Speechless.” Although his words could have been deemed cruel or as a part of our usual banter, I ignored the response pleading to leave my lips and focused on the task at hand as he would speak to break my thoughts.

“So here’s how this works...You and I can’t be seen together after this...But I need to observe him.” I nodded, feeling distracted by the strong scent of his cologne that seemed to fit him perfectly as having been abrasive at first but eventually soothing when at the crux of its intended effect leveling around you.

“I need to learn things that can help with the opportune time to make this happen...So just go about as normal.” My eyes suddenly flashed in the direction of Chip, who eyed me talking to this figure left nameless to him as he saw only a back tailored lavishly in a sable suit.

“What about Chip? My ex? He saw us together…”

“A bridge to cross if we come to it. Just point me into the direction of your stepdad and I’ll get to work…”

“Second row, third table form the right, the one wearing a thousand dollar watch-”

“And you’re sure about this?”

“More than I’ve ever been about anything else…”

“I don’t know...that dress seemed to be a good idea to me.” He flirted shamelessly before turning away from me and disappearing into the crowd until I was forced to return to the table. But as Cliff spoke to the other guests at our table with the recent success of his most recent legal case, I became distracted at the humorous adventures Easton was forced to endure without me. I was deeply entertained by the intrigue he had for caviar on crackers and the way he would attempt to dispose of it with poise, but unable to hide the look of disgust worn over his face. He would meet my eyes for just a second as he caught me mid-chuckle, flipping me off at his side, before striking up a conversation with an elderly couple nearby.

Throughout the night, our gazes would meet and we would tease one another with the way the better halves lived until I was suddenly in the need of using the restroom. Standing before my reflection, I would tend to the flyaways before letting out a sigh as my mind drifted to how Easton was managing among those discussing hedge funds and properties worth well beyond any he would come to fathom. I feared he would have managed to slip the ‘f’ bomb from his lips at least a handful of times or be in need of a cigarette and therefore I rushed out into the corridor, where I found him scrubbing a stain mercilessly on his top.

“F*cking marinara…” He grunted to himself until clenching his jaw upon seeing me. For just a moment, I watched in humor as he noticed how he had been observing his frustration.

“Here…” I spoke as I brought him behind the kitchen counters and into a section of the pantry where we would be unseen by any prying eyes and any that would fall to us would be too focused on getting orders out on time to care who I was with or why we were present as the staff had a single rule; no eye contact. It actually played to my favor in this instance.

“Who won?” I asked as his eyes suddenly shot down to me as I mixed salt, baking soda, and water into a paste to place on the stain.

“What?”

“Between you and the pasta...I mean I saw how you were with the caviar-”

“Is that what that was? Ugh! I don’t know how you do it…”

“You kind of just learn to swallow, not spit.” His face widened with pride in managing to get me to utter such dirty words unintended to be presented that way as I flushed immediately at the realization that I had even stated them to begin with.

“Good to know.” He teased as I now applied the paste onto his shirt. Pressing it into his chest, we stood in silence for a moment as I could feel his eyes follow my touch with every motion. It drove me nearly insane as I could feel the heat from his gaze force my eyes up to him with annoyance built on repressed desire.

“Thank you.” He would speak when the stain was now faded enough so he could bring a button up further to hide the crimson splotch that would be noted if not for the impromptu laundering. “Good as secondhand.” He joked, verifying the fact it was a thrifty purchase. But his humor would fade as his eyes came to focus at something at my back.

“What if I were to tell you that your ex boyfriend is absolutely enraged right now?” As I went to turn, I suddenly felt his hands on my waist as he brought me closer to him.

“Don’t react and don’t look at him…” His voice was focused and sensual as I could feel his breath course through my veins and quicken my pulse as he now took his hand to my cheek.

“I heard the things they said about you...Addison.” My skin heightened to a chill as I hadn’t given him my name, but he had deduced it from his eavesdropping of my former allies. And somehow of the thousand times I had been addressed with it, I favored it from his lips above any others.

“And I don’t think anybody deserves that...even if you annoy the hell out of me…You seem nice enough, and besides, I love that look of having something he doesn’t...” I rolled my eyes to the side as I watched his lips widen with pride.

“But a guy like that doesn’t deserve a girl like you in a dress like this…” His hands now made an entire grip along the lines of my dress until his palms rested on the edge of my tailbone, careful to not cross a line without permission, but teasing that line in the way only he knew how.

“Don’t worry...I’m not going to kiss you…” he explained as he set his forehead to mine for just a second as my eyes now came to Cliff in search of me at the very lattice wall I had first met Easton at, wearing those eyes of a punishment due for me once I would be found.

“You wouldn’t be able to handle it.” He taunted me as I pulled back away from him just enough to gain the focus on his face.

“I heard that you were a prude...Wouldn’t it drive him crazy to think you were with someone else?” he asked, my eyes coming to a close as his breath was now on my neck, teasing my skin with a kiss that could be placed so effortlessly and without hesitation.

“He should know how it feels to have to see you in this dress and not be able to touch you from across the room...pained with the thoughts that someone else can…” He now brought me to his expression enough so I could see the sincere want as his eyes fell to my garment and chest rising and falling from his words making me pant. But as he meant these words in regards to Chip, my gaze fell to Cliff, who was now matching the jealousy worn on my ex’s face. Because of this reason alone; for the chance to have power for once, I brought my hands over Easton’s shoulders until they fell loosely behind his neck.

“You won’t do anything unless I say?” I asked for clarification as he nodded, seemingly lost in surprise at my agreement.

“There’s only one condition.” He reminded me as I looked at his lips and then back to his eyes as he spoke.

“Of course…”

“You can’t fall in love with me.” Twenty four hours, I would have been able to deny this whole-heartedly. But as I looked at his eyes staring at me with such focus that I felt as if nobody else had even existed, I was not so sure that this would be an easy task. But with both men looking at us with intrigue and both needing to understand the pain they caused, I lifted to my toes to speak, leaving him behind me with a wide smile and a tease for what could be on the horizon as I brushed my lips close enough so he could taste my lipgloss if he willed it. But instead, he just kept his eyes locked and his body tense as I moved away from him and into the new set of circumstances made on my terms.

I managed to make it into the direction of my car before a sudden force brought me deeper into the shadows of nightfall as I was left facing an angered Cliff, reeking of alcohol and portraying jealousy as he kept me from moving; making me fearful for what he intended to do with me as I had yet to see this look behind his eyes; one that was crazed and ravenous for something I wasn’t going to give him without one hell of a fight...