Forever & More: The Friend Zone series (6 page)

She raises an eyebrow in a bitchy fashion and nods, before facing the doors. The small-enclosed space is filled with unease. How the hell am I going to make it through the night with a bunch of strangers if I can’t stand next to one in a damn elevator?

The doors open and we all exit, the only noise is Sara’s wheels squeaking against the cheap tile in the lobby of my building. The stranger holds the door for us, Sara thanks her, but I just give her a tight-lipped smile. We exit the building, I turn right to walk toward BAR instead of going to the Jeep. Sara notices and says, “We not drivin’?”

“Wow, Captain Obvious. I’m surprised you figured that out all on your own.”

“You’re such a bitch.” She spits back. Someone behind us snickers, when I turn around I spot the brunette from the elevator. With just a quick glance, I take in the dark brown hair, and ink covering her ivory skin. When I say ink, I mean tons of it. I’m no expert, but I know that one arm is a sleeve and the other almost matches it.

The cigarette dangling from her mouth taunts me, making my mouth water. For the first time in months, the craving hits me like a ton of bricks. The earthy smell causes every one of my nerve endings to become tense. My heart races and the little voice in the back of my mind begs me to pick back up the habit.

My knuckles become white from gripping Sara’s chair tighter than necessary. I speed up my steps trying to outrun the temptation.

“Hey, I’m digging those boots. You get them from ‘round here?” The tattooed chick behind me asks. Her feet pump rapidly catching up to Sara and I. I don’t answer her.

“She always this stuck up?” The girl asks Sara. I’ve never thought of Sara as a traitor before but when she snickers at the stranger’s question, that’s exactly how I feel. The Perk I took earlier must be mixing with that shot I downed with Sara because my body starts to relax despite the anxiety of being around the bold girl.

“Only on days that end in Y.” Sara responds. Both of them laugh and I grit my teeth in annoyance.

“Maybe I should try again. I’m Jay. Apparently I live on your floor, I just started working at BAR this week.” My feet stop at her statement. Who the hell hired her? Why didn’t anyone ask me? When did this happen? Is that who Skye has been ignoring? My mind worries itself deeper and deeper into a black hole of despair and fear.

“Fuck, you must have hit your head pretty hard. Earth to Chloe.” Sara shifts so she can look back at me.

“Huh?” is my unintelligible response. “What did you say?”

“Jay, wants to know where you got your boots? I told her you were part owner of BAR and she was thanking you for the job. You seriously missed all of that?” She looks at me like I’m psycho.

“Sorry,” I mutter. There’s something about this girl that makes me feel uneasy, I just can’t put my finger on it.

“No worries.” She shrugs me off. We’re now standing at the front door of BAR. Jay moves to the door and opens it, allowing me and Sara to enter the room. Everything looks the same as the last time I was in here. Same dim lighting, same hardwood floors, even the same patrons sitting around the bar.

“Chloree, Sahara,” Darrell slurs from his usual stool at the bar. This grabs the attention of everyone else. I ignore the heat in my cheeks and push Sara across the room.

Crystal pours two shots of Jack immediately. I give her a grateful smile and toss mine back without hesitation. I’m not as nervous about being here as I thought I would be.

Everyone seems to be in high spirits tonight. Brady is on stage with Harley, setting up their instruments. Erin and Jay are stocking the bar. The only people that seem to be missing are Tanner and Anna; maybe they have the night off.

“How’s my girl?” Darrell bellows as he slides up to me, wrapping an arm around me to pull me in for a hug. If he noticed me cringe, he doesn’t show it.

“I’m good,” I whisper.

“Sahara,” he slurs.

“Yo, Darrell. How’s ya love life these days,” Sara jokes.

“Better than yours,” he gives back.

“Hey, don’t let the chair fool ya. It’s the legs that are on temporary shutdown, not the cat. The cat can still purr just fine,” she teases suggestively.

“Good to know.” He smiles and moves in to kiss her on the cheek. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t beyond grossed out from the sharp turn this conversation just took.

“Hey, boss lady, you wanna beer?” Jay walks over and asks.

I raise my eyebrow and smirk. “Yeah.”

She slides a Bud Light across the counter. I stare at the beer, wondering how she knew what kind to get. She must be a mind reader because she shifted to the side and points at Skye. My eyes crash into his, causing my knees to tremble. When he pulls those divine lips into a lopsided grin and looks at me from under his eyelashes, they give out.

My mind is already foggy from the Percocet and two shots. But that’s what I want, to be free from all the heavy melancholy for just one night, a night to set myself free, to be my old self. Skye slowly saunters around the bar, coming up right behind me.

“Hey, gorgeous, you here all alone?” he asks in a low voice.

“Nope, I came with her.” I point to Sara. He smiles and looks me up and down, lingering on my cleavage the longest. When he’s finished checking me out, he takes a step closer to me. His fingers brush my cheek, entangling themselves in my hair. My breath hitches; he has no idea how turned on I am from that single motion.

Those ocean blue eyes look at my shirt again. He leans into my ear and growls, “I’ve never wanted a shot of Jack so bad.” My panties were already wet when he started teasing me, but now they are soaked.

“Ahem.” Someone clears their throat behind us. When I look up and see everyone staring at us, my face burns with embarrassment.

“Everyone watching?” Skye asks.

I’m barely able to nod my head in response. He pulls back and turns around. He slowly takes in the crowd. The only people in the bar are Darrell, the staff, and the band. He looks at Jay and nods. She springs into motion and soon, shot glasses are lined up on the bar, all filled with amber liquid.

Everyone grabs one. Harley passes a glass to me, and arms raise in the air. This has been a tradition since BAR opened; before we open the doors, the entire staff does a shot together. I’m glad they have kept this going.

I look to the empty spot on the other side of BAR and see the stool Tom claimed as his. His absence leaves a gaping hole in my heart. I can feel my eyes watering, but I hold it back the same way I always do.

“When life gives you shit, make sure you give it back.” Everyone puts their glass to their lips, pouring the liquid down their throats. Skye gives everyone a moment to drink their shots, and when each glass is sitting side by side on the counter, he addresses everyone.

“All right, obviously everyone’s noticed Chloe is here. I want to make myself clear on something before we start the night. She isn’t here to work, so if you need something, please find Brady or me and we will help you. Now, with that being said, everyone come say your hellos and get your ass back to work. Doors open in fifteen.” He kisses my cheek and says, “I’ll be right back.”

Everyone begins to flock around me, offering their own renditions of welcome back. I’m offered hug after hug and finally, when everyone has their fill of me, the crowd begins to thin out.

Skye still hasn’t come back, so I stick with Harley and Sara. I watch my friends and how they interact with each other. Sara hasn’t said it yet, but I honestly believe she’s in love with him. The thought warms my heart. If anyone deserves to be loved and cherished, it’s her.

Suddenly, I realize that with everything going on, I don’t know how they met up, because if memory serves me right, it wasn’t at the hospital.

I decide to ask since we have nothing but time. “How did y’all meet up? I remember before the accident you mentioning something about meeting the band but how did y’all end up together?”

Sara looks to Harley and his face goes wary, but that doesn’t stop Sara from dishing the details. “Well, I noticed Harley standing with Brady at the bar the moment I walked in the door, looking for you.” She looks at me accusingly before continuing, “BAR was already closed, but you know how the after party always got and the place was packed. I was talking to Sean for a long time and of course, he was trying to take me home, again.” She glances at Harley, who is scowling.

Satisfied that she was able to get under his skin, she starts up again. “The guys were hanging out with Crystal and I could tell she was tossed, so I knew she was more than likely trying to take home one of them. I kept trying to get closer to him, but Sean kept following me and trying to corner me,” she states smugly.

Sean was a guy we’ve hung out with since school. His tall, muscular build was always a hit with the ladies, but to Sara and me, he was just Sean. For some reason, we were immune to his charm and remained close friends over the years.

“I was finally able to get close enough to him to hear Crystal explaining the rules to Never Have I Ever. I knew I was in love when Harley told her that the game rules were the dumbest shit he’d ever heard. Brady was going on and on about how he wanted to keep playing.”

I looked over at Harley and noticed his face was red, but I couldn’t decide if it was from Sean’s name coming up in our conversation or if it was from embarrassment. I wonder if Sara has told Harley that Sean has always just been one of the gang.

“I almost died when Brady said he never had a real girlfriend and Crystal drank her shot. Did you know she was into girls?” I nod my head yes and sneak a quick glance to make sure she doesn’t hear us talking about her.

“You bitch, why didn’t you tell me?” Sara raises her voice.

“Wasn’t my business to tell; it’s not like she’s hit on me. I don’t give a shit what she does,” I tell her.

“Okay, now where was I? Oh, okay, so I notice Harley looking at me, so I lean into Sean a little and laugh at absolutely nothing, just to make it seem like he said something funny. I knew he was watching; I remember feeling the heat from his stare and I wanted to play with my soon-to-be new toy a bit before I claimed him. I was rocking my favorite black, peep-toe pumps, my skintight skinny jeans, and the corset top I picked up when you got your Jack Daniels shirt.

“We finally made eye contact and I couldn’t help but feel like I was naked and exposed. He turned his attention back to your bartender and I can remember thinking,
ah hell na
.”

Harley and I bust out into full hysterics when Sara starts weaving her head back and forth while mimicking the motions with her pointer finger. He finally composes himself and says, “Crystal was telling me and Brady that she had never had sex in a car.”

“Lying ass bitch,” Sara spits. There’s never been any love lost between the two of them. I’m not sure why, but I think it had a lot to do with Sean.

“Can I tell the damn story or would you like to continue discussing the cock eater’s sex life?” Sara looks at Harley with a
choose wisely
expression. Like the smart man he is, he remains silent.

“
Anyway
, when Harley turned his attention elsewhere, I took that as a challenge, so I started his way. I, unfortunately, heard her comment, but instead of calling her out on her lie, I called her a prude. She snapped at me, telling me to shut up, but I just smiled at her. See, little did she know, my master plan was to steal the copper top hottie she was talking to.” Sara turns to Harley and winks, causing him to blush.

“Babe, I told you she was trying to hook up with Brady—” Harley starts to speak.

“
Babe
,” she says with a sweet, sarcastic tone. “Stand there and look pretty, okay? That’s what I keep you around for.” My eyes widen at her comment. It may have been a smart-ass comment and anyone on the outside looking in wouldn’t have been able to tell, but Harley and I know she was kidding. The show he made at flexing his muscles at her comment proved he took no offense to her harsh comment.

“Now, back to my story. I played the sweet girl card, made conversation, and asked questions about him, but he kept staring at my boobs. No matter what I said or talked about, his eyes would wander from my eyes to my lips, then to my boobs. So I stood up and cupped both of them, asked him if he liked them and told him they were new. Chloe, you should have seen his fucking face!”

Crystal comes over to us with another round of Jack and a beer. We down our shots. And in true Sara fashion, she picks up the conversation right where she left off.

“I swear I could see drool starting to drip down his chin. Apparently, Brady decided that was a perfect moment to head out and he tried to talk Harley into leaving, so I had to sweet talk him a little bit to get him to stick around. I remember seeing them exchange a look and Harley’s was a cross between constipation and
Mom, can we stay five more minutes
.” She laughs and glances at a blushing Harley.

“I remember wanting to feel his skin on mine so bad, but he wouldn’t. So, I reached out and grabbed his hands. I made up some bullshit about him having a long lifeline.” She and Harley start laughing again, and I’m not talking about a little chuckle, I’m talking tears in their eyes.

“I remember noticing Brady eavesdropping on our conversation, but I didn’t care, I had what I wanted in the palm of my hands until Brady came up and shoved his giant banana fingers in my face and asked what his said.” They start up again.