Struck By You: Players (9 page)

She turned to look at me again, seeming a little shocked. “I don’t have anything to wear,” she replied.

“You don’t need anything. I have a spare toothbrush and you can wear my t-shirts, but I’d much rather you walk around naked.”

She smiled. “Since you put it that way, how can I say no?” she said, taking my suit jacket off. She unbuttoned my shirt and turned around so I could unzip her dress. She removed her bra and put her arms around me “You keep ripping my underwear off, I’m going to have to start billing you,” she whispered.

“Stop wearing them around me,” I teased.

She laughed and buried her head on my chest.

“Let’s go to the bedroom,” I whispered.

She shook her head. “No, go get us some comfy blankets and some pillows,” she said.

When I came back from the linen closet, she had put her hair down, her long blonde hair draping over her like liquid gold. She had moved the coffee table closer to the couch and took the blankets and made a bed for us in front of the fire. Another first, and I wondered why I never pulled that move on anyone else. She came back to me and helped me take the rest of my clothes off.

“Does it hurt?” she asked gently touching the bruised area on my stomach I got from Tanner earlier.

“No”

She kissed the area and worked her way up my chest and to my lips. We made love for several hours in front of the fire and eventually drifted off to sleep.

     The rest of the weekend went pretty much the same as it had been weeks ago: we spent the entire time with each other, stopping only to eat.

     Monday morning, I went back to the spa and signed up again. By ten a.m. I was back in her class.

She smiled when she saw me. I didn’t want to tell her that was my plan, but for some reason I needed to see her, and often.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, she taught classes and I was there for every single one. Each time, we met in her special shower room and we fucked for hours. No one could hear us or see us, and it was perfect.

I hadn’t heard from Tanner since the incident on Friday and I was still angry over the whole thing. I don’t care how drunk he was; he was still an asshole and way out of line. Plus the shit he pulled with Riley wasn’t sitting well with me at all, but I couldn’t come back on him for that.

On my way to an interview Thursday morning, he called.

     “What is it Tanner?”

“I’m pissed, that motherfucker Paul banned me from The Palace.”

     “I’m sorry to hear that but you deserved it. You were way out of line, and you should know better than to embarrass Carl like that. You’re lucky he’s not pressing charges or suing you for that matter.”

“Shut the fuck up, he got in my face and you should have minded your own business.”

“I don’t have time for this shit Tanner, I have an interview in ten.”

“Oh hey, you never told me you hooked up with that yoga hottie,” he said and caught me completely off guard.

“What are you talking about?”

“She told me in so many words you two hooked up, you dog. She has a nice ass.”

“I’m hanging up now”

“Don’t hold out on me bro, I did suggest we’d tag team her. I think she’d be game for that.”

I hung up and felt sick to my stomach. She said nothing about any of that when she told me my brother was groping her. I needed to talk to her but I had five minutes to my interview. I turned my phone off and decided I would pay her a visit after.

I got to her condo a couple of hours later. I woke her up, as she’d had a late night at the bar.

“Hey,” she said as she opened the door. She was wearing a white cropped tank and matching thongs which made me forget why I was there in the first place.

“You always open the door dressed like that?” I asked as I closed the door behind me.

“No, why?” she asked a bit confused. Truth was, I was trying to find a way to get mad at her so my erection would go away and I could address the issue.

“Tell me Riley, what exactly did you say to my brother?”

“I told you
–”

     “No, apparently you didn’t because see I just found out he knows we hooked up, from you.”

“And?”

     “What do you mean ‘and’? We’re keeping this on the down low. Why would you tell him of all people?” I found myself raising my voice.

“Oh my god Mason,” she began. “He told me you couldn’t close the deal with me, that you failed miserably. All I said was what makes him think you failed, then he said something about keeping it in the family and something about the three of us. It was disgusting and I didn’t feel the need to share that shit with you, that’s all. Can I go back to sleep now?” she said and sat on her couch.

“I’m sorry, I thought, fuck, I don’t know what I thought,” I said sitting next to her.

“How did your interview go?”

“Promising. Small firm, but I have to start somewhere.”

She lay back and closed her eyes.

“I’m sorry I woke you up over this bullshit,” I said and I was.

     I picked her up and took her back to bed, and she didn’t wake up at all. I stayed and watched her sleep for a bit. I made her some lunch and left.

Chapter 11

    
T
he bar was very busy tonight. Not normal for a Thursday night, but as Paul informed me, there was some financial convention going on until Sunday and to expect it to be this way all weekend long. Luckily I was only working tonight and tomorrow and then I was off till next week.

            I usually spent my meal breaks in Paul’s office. It was quiet and it was usually empty as Paul was a workaholic and never took breaks.

Tonight, he was sitting at his desk, going through surveillance feed.

“Oh you’re here, sorry, I’ll find somewhere else to hang,” I said and walked out.

“Riley, come back. Have a seat sweetheart, you know you can come in here whenever you want,” he said offering me a chair.

     “Okay,” I exhaled.

“So how are you?” he asked.

“I’m good, making some great tips. I think I’m close to five hundred and it’s only 11:00.”

“Yeah, I keep hearing similar stories from the dancers,” he began. “By the way, I’ve banned that prick Tanner, he won’t be coming back.”

“I know, I heard,” I said and realized I shouldn’t have. Mason had called me before I left for work and told me about it.

Paul sat back in his chair and stared at me.
Goddammit Riley, you’re a fucking idiot.
“Mason, right?”

I didn’t say anything, I just looked at my food.

He sighed and went back to watching the monitor. I packed up my salad and got up to leave.

“Am I just too old for you? Is that it Riley?”

“No Paul, that’s not it at all.”

He got up and closed his office door. He stood close behind me. “What then?”

“I can’t give you what you want Paul. I don’t want to hurt your feelings, and I know how you feel about me,” I replied.

“Do you?”  he whispered.

I turned around to face him. “I can’t give you commitment. I don’t do relationships.”

“I know how much he hurt you, Jason I mean,” he said. “I can fix it Riley, I can make you happy.”

“I’m not ready. I’m just having fun right now.”

“With a guy that’s slept with half the city, and then some,” he said despondently.

“It’s not like that, we’re not exclusive.”

His eyes went dark. “If you knew half the things I know about those two, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“I have to head back, my break is over,” I said trying to get past him so I could open the door, but he put his hand on the door to keep it closed.

“Paul, let me out.”

He looked into my eyes and slowly took his hand away from the door. I tried again but this time he grabbed my waist and pulled me toward him, gazed into my eyes and kissed me.

     I kissed him back and wrapped my arms around him. He kissed me deeply and held me close. After a while, he stopped and put his forehead on mine, holding my face. “You’re so beautiful and such a catch,” he whispered. “I want to be with you even if I have to share you. I won’t like it, but I know eventually you’ll change your mind.”

     “You won’t be able to handle it,” I whispered.

“Try me.”

I kissed him again and undid his belt buckle. He kissed me harder, lifted my miniskirt, picked me up and sat me on his desk. I unzipped his pants and took his cock in my hand. He moaned as soon as I touched him.

“How long has it been?” I asked. I knew his life was the bar and he spent every waking moment there.

“I don’t know, at least six months?” he exhaled. Paul was adamant about never sleeping with the women at the club so it was hard for him to meet women.

“Okay, let’s take it slow,” I said and kissed him again. He took my panties off and touched me gently, slowly rubbing my clit, making me impossibly wet for him. I pulled him closer to me and he entered me slowly, letting out a whimper that turned into moans. He grabbed my ass tightly, pulling me closer to him as he thrust deep inside me. I’d lost all track of time by this point; the place could have been on fire and we wouldn’t have known.

Suddenly he pulled out, picked me up again and put me against the wall where he had a two-way mirror with a total view of the bar below. We could see them but they could not see us. He placed me beside it, facing the wall and entered me from behind. I had my face facing the window and he reached around and kissed me as he was thrusting. It was incredibly hot and I was above and beyond impressed with him. He turned me around again, lifting me up and wrapping my legs around him and entered me again and this time, hard and fast. We climaxed together. I felt the warmth of him as he released even through the condom. He came hard and it was intense not only for him, because for the first time in three years, the sex I was having with these two men was no longer meaningless.

Friday night was just as busy, and like clockwork I was at Paul’s office at 11:00 p.m. having my meal break, and just like the night before, he was there. He closed and locked the door as soon as I stepped in his office and when I finally went back to the bar, it was nearly 12:30.

     As soon as I clocked in, I saw Mason sitting there having whiskey. I served a few clients and went to talk to him. “Can I get you anything?” I asked.

“Where were you?” he asked. “I’ve been sitting here since 11:30 and no one seems to know where you are.”

“I was having my dinner break. Took a little longer than expected I guess,” I said and smiled. I walked away to serve more clients and felt him watching me intently. I went back to him and asked him if he wanted another drink. He gestured me to come closer to him.

     “I’m coming over tonight,” he whispered in my ear. I nodded and walked away again to serve more clients. I was on my way to see him again when Paul appeared behind the bar, talking to some patrons just a few feet away from Mason. Paul looked over at me smiled and winked; I smiled back and then I looked at Mason, who had just witnessed the exchange. I served a couple more people and turned to talk to Mason, but he was gone and didn’t come back.

     By the time two a.m. rolled around, I was done. Normally I would have stayed to help clean but after three straight shifts, I had to go home. I had no texts or calls from Mason, so I figured he’d be waiting for me in the lobby of my building. But he wasn’t there, so I went upstairs and called his cell. When he picked up, he sounded winded.

“Mason?”

“Yeah,” he answered.

     “I’m home now, are you coming over?”

“Nah, I’m good for tonight,” he said in a cocky voice I’ve never heard from him before.

“You okay?” I asked him.

“I’m perfect.”

I heard a woman’s voice in the background, calling his name.

“I see, okay good night.”

“Yup,” and he hung up.

Suddenly I was no longer tired. I sat in the darkness of my apartment with my phone in my hand and in shock. But I had set the rules; we didn’t talk about it, we didn’t ask questions. I had to live with this.

Chapter 12
Mason

    
A
fter Friday night and our short phone conversation, I was still not in the right mind to call or see her. Instead I had a small party at my place on Saturday with some friends, my brother, lots of alcohol and a dozen or so beautiful women. It felt good to get back to my element.

     After much overthinking and fighting with myself, I decided to go to yoga that Monday morning.

She was late. She walked in the studio about ten minutes after class started and the old woman at the front of the class gave her shit for it. Didn’t seem to bother her though, she looked happy and rested. She didn’t as much as looked my way during class.