Dissonance (5 page)

I nodded. “An rud is annamh is ίontach.”

At Logan’s puzzled expression, Eli translated, “’What is seldom is wonderful.’ Our mom always liked to say it.”

Alex reentered the room. “Speaking of seldom and wonderful, your outfit awaits,” she said, indicating my room with a flourish.

“Oh lord.” I could tell by her comment that what she’d chosen came from the depths of my closet. The clothes back there, most of which she had insisted I purchase over the years, hardly ever made an appearance.

She winked playfully at me as I left to change. It was as if it was April Fool’s Day and she was waiting for me walk right into her prank.

Emerging for the second time from getting ready in her room, Charlotte literally knocked the wind out of me. Luckily, Alex wolf-whistled next to me, which managed to shake me back to reality before I started drooling. Charlotte stood at the mouth of the hallway, all flowing brown hair, long legs, and perfect curves in a short red dress. Her hair was pulled to the same side as the one strap, leaving her neck completely exposed on the opposite side. I tried to ignore the fact that the exposed shoulder was also the one that had her new tattoo on it. Something about the dark lines of ink forming the treble clef on her skin was unnaturally appealing. Visions of running my tongue down her neck, of those skyscraper heals wrapped around me, left my heart pounding.

Charlotte tugged gently at the hem of her dress, and Alex chastised her, “Knock it off! You look so sexy! Your legs are to die for.” The unwelcome surge of blood below my belt agreed with her.

A slight blush caught Charlotte’s cheeks again.
Damn, this girl is shy.
I’ve seen a lot of women fish for compliments to stroke their ego, but that wasn’t Charlotte. She really was just modest to the point of self-consciousness. As a general rule, I dislike attractive women that don’t own up to their looks, but something about Charlotte’s quiet shyness made me want to convince her of how gorgeous she was, to allow her to see herself through my eyes.

Turning to Eli, she tried another argument. “Shouldn’t you object to me dressing like this?”

“Hey, you’re 24. Remember?” he replied. “Though, admittedly, I’m going to have to keep an eye on the drunken assholes out tonight.”

I couldn’t help but think that Eli’s comment was aimed – at least partially – at me, but I was more focused on the thought of other guys being all over Charlotte. Suddenly, I was not sure I wanted to go out with her dressed like that anymore.

“Let’s just go. I’ll feel better after a drink,” Charlotte sighed, resigning to her fate of wearing Alex’s sexier outfit.

“That’s the spirit!” Alex chimed enthusiastically, wrapping an arm around her friend’s shoulders.

As the ladies led the way out of the door, Eli grabbed me by the bicep. “Keep an eye on her, okay? Don’t let her drink too much.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Sensing my confusion, he explained, “Alex can be so… distracting to me.”

Yeah, no shit,
I thought. But he had not answered my question – why did Charlotte, who seemed perfectly mature and rational, need to be looked after?

“Eclipse is great. It is a bit pricey, but I think it’s worth it –ʼʼ

I cut Alex off immediately, “We’re going to Eclipse?”

Eli met my eyes in the rearview mirror, looking apologetic.

“Yeah, I thought it was a good choice for Char’s first night,” Alex replied. It was like she had completely forgotten why we had ever gone there in the first place.

I fished out my phone to text Allison.

Me: Working tonight?

Aly: No. Why? Want to come over?

All I could think was
Thank God
. The last thing I needed was Allison all over me with Charlotte around. That thought forced me to remind myself, again, that it didn’t matter if Charlotte was with me, she was off limits.

Despite my better judgment, I glanced over at her. She seemed weirdly removed, pensive. There was a distinct melancholy about her face as she looked out of the window at the passing city night life. Alex was telling some story about her salon while Eli listened dutifully to every word. Neither could notice that Charlotte was not with us at all. I reached out and touched her hand lightly. She jumped, and I wondered if it was just from surprise, or if she also felt the charge that flew through me when our skin made contact.

“You okay?” I whispered.

“Yeah, just a bit tired from today,” she smiled.

Despite how unbelievably sexy she looked, when she smiled there was an innate innocence to her. Even in that short dress, my desire to protect her overwhelmed my desire for her. It was so strikingly different than Allison, or Kayla, or any of the other women I’d taken to fucking without thinking twice. It was clear in that moment that I really did need to keep my hands off of her.

Eli parked a few blocks away from the club, and we walked over. I paid everyone’s cover at the door, despite the protests I received in return. It was worth it to see Charlotte’s grateful smile shine up at me. At our table, Eli and I offered to wait around to order drinks while the girls started dancing.

“What do you want?” Eli asked them.

“Cosmo,” Alex replied without missing a beat.

“Of course,” Charlotte laughed. “I’ll just take a beer. Something decent.”

“And shots!” Alex cried.

I cocked an eyebrow and Eli rolled his eyes. “What are we shooting?” I asked. “Patrόn?”

It was impossible to ignore the immediate and palpable response of our party. Eli looked over at his sister, whose eyes had dropped to the floor. Alex looked nervously between the two of them.
What did I just miss?

Eli broke through first. “How about Captain Morgan?”

Charlotte peered up at him and then nodded. “Captain’s good.”

Alex pulled Charlotte off to dance until the drinks came. After placing our order with the waitress, I turned to Eli. “Want to explain what the hell just happened?”

“It is a long story,” he responded evasively, “but the moral is that Patrόn is probably going to be off of the menu for a while.”

The waitress arrived a few minutes later and set our platter of shots and our drinks on the table. Alex was already heading back towards us, hand-in-hand with Charlotte. Both were already glistening with a thin layer of sweat, laughing. It was obvious they were glad to be reunited.

Everyone grabbed a shot glass and Alex led us in a toast. “To Charlotte! The team is back together – plus one!” She said, looking over at me. “Welcome to Seattle, baby!”

We all threw back our shots. Charlotte immediately chased her shot with a swig of beer. Alex turned to her, “Hey! Slow down, bitch! More shots first.”

With a roll of her eyes, Charlotte accepted another shot. Alex lifted hers in a toast again, “To being the sexiest bitches in the club!” Charlotte’s exasperated expression was lost on Alex as she placed the shot glass on her up-turned mouth, swallowed the contents, and let the glass roll down her cheek into her empty hand. Charlotte, with a smirk and cocked eyebrow, took her own glass in the same position, drank down the rum, then used her tongue to flip the glass forward into her waiting hand. My dick lurched in my pants again.

My initial thought that Eli wanted me to keep an eye on Charlotte because she was an inexperienced drinker disappeared. Obviously, she and Alex had not only spent a lot of time drinking in the past, but they had done so together.

Alex attempted to lead Charlotte back onto the dance floor, but she responded that she wanted to sit out for a bit. With her classic pout, Alex settled on Eli, who was only too willing to go dance with her.

“Sometimes I wonder if I was right to unleash her on Eli,” Charlotte said wistfully. Her love for both of them was wholly apparent.

“Were you guys close before you set them up?” I asked.

“Yeah. We came into each other’s lives when I needed an escape and she needed someone to keep an eye on her. She gave me my first hangover. I made sure she got home safe at night. When she met my brother, she was sold immediately. Eli thought she was hot – everyone thinks that – but he took some convincing that she was more than just a hot mess.” She watched the two dancing for a moment before she said, “I think he saved her. He’s good at that.”

I noted, with interest, that I had gotten her to say more when we talked about someone else than I had gotten her to say about herself. The only other topic she’d talked about as much was music.

“How did you guys meet?”

“Honestly?” She looked up at me and sort of sighed with discomfort before continuing. “We met at a support group. When I went several times and never said a thing, she approached me.” She looked down at the beer in her hands. “Eli didn’t know, of course. I doubt that would have been a good first impression.”

Charlotte looked sort of sad again. Without thinking, I stood and asked her to dance, once again ignoring my instructions to stay away.

She looked hesitant. “What about the drinks?”

I handed her one of the two remaining shots, which we each sank. “Forget the rest, we can get more,” I said, extending my hand to her.

“Dance with me,” he repeated.

I nearly dropped when he asked. Even following him through the crowd, I was unsure if it was a good idea to dance with someone who turned my heart into a jackhammer. But, with my hand secured in his and determination radiating off of him, there was no going back.