Consumed (4 page)

“You can say that again.”

She pulls a small wine from her bag and hands it to me. To prevent the inevitable speech that comes with denying alcohol from her, I take it.

“I’m sorry girls.” A middle-aged waitress says as she approaches us, pulling a pencil from behind her ear. “You can’t bring your own. You have to buy alcohol here.”

Selena takes my wine back and shoves it into her bag, all while smiling sweetly at the woman. “That’s okay, more for me later.”

I giggle at her as she orders a jug of beer and cheesy fries. I, on the other hand, order a chicken burger and a side of beer battered chips. My stomach grumbles while we wait for our food. I didn’t eat before I left the house this morning—not the smartest thing considering I was going to work out. My mouth waters as I watch waiters and waitresses bring food to other customers. Just to have something in my stomach I sip at my beer. I cringe and make a strange sound in the base of my throat as I swallow the gross liquid. I hate beer and as a result, I suddenly feel nauseous.

“So,” Selena begins, ignoring my reaction to the beer. “What made you decide you’ve
finally
had enough of Blade’s shit?”

Honestly, I have no idea where to begin. “Well, he left me at Salsa’s again to go hang out with ‘his boys’ and when I called him another girl answered his phone.” Selena rolls her eyes, unsurprised. “I realized it’s probably going to be like that for the rest of my life and that’s the complete opposite of what I want and what I deserve.”

“Damn straight. If I was a guy, I’d treat you right!”

I smile. “Thanks, Sel.”

Seconds later, the waitress brings our food and Selena dives greedily into her cheesy fries. For a girl so slender and fit, she sure eats and drinks like shit. I’m quite fit and on most days I eat right, but that still didn’t slim the curves of my body. No matter how hard I try, the hips wanted to stay. Sadly, there’s no exercise to slim your bones.

Selena perks up, like she just had an awesome idea. “Do you want to go out tonight?”

“No.” I reply instantly.

I hate clubs. I hate clubs
more
than I hate cheaters. Clubs make me anxious. Being grinded on by a bunch of random, sleazy dudes and having them breathe their alcohol/cigarette breath all over you is disgusting.

“Oh come on, O. You never come out with me. You don’t have Blade anymore, live a little.”

I throw a few chips into my mouth and speak to her through mashed potato. “It’s not about that. I hate clubs and you know it.”

She pouts her lips at me and I notice a spattering of salt across them. “Don’t make me go by myself.”

“Selena, you’ve already started drinking and it’s barely eleven a.m. You and I both know you’ll be out cold by four this afternoon”

“Okay, I’ll make a deal with you.” She pauses, grabs her beer and slams back the rest of it before setting the empty glass back down on the table. “If I stop drinking now, you’ll come out with me tonight. Think of my liver. If you say no, I’m going to have to pound it with the rest of that jug of beer, but if you say yes I won’t touch another drop until tonight.”

Sighing, I put a piece of lettuce into my mouth. “Fine, I’ll come out with you, but I don’t want to go to Heaven’s. Blade always goes there.”

Heaven’s is our city’s biggest nightclub and I hate it.

The jingle of the bell attached to the front door rings, pulling me from my train of thought and I glance up as a bunch of rowdy boys step in. Selena straightens her back and twists in her seat so she can check out the group. Selena loves boys almost as much as she loves booze, although they usually came hand in hand.

“Yum, look how tall they all are.” I can practically hear her mouth pooling with drool.

While she’s not looking I take a cheesy fry from her plate and pop it into my mouth. “Yeah.” I agree, not looking in their direction. I’m disappointed. It’s not really a cheesy fry... It’s just a thick cut chip with some weird cheese salt.

Selena turns back to me. “Are you even looking?”

“Nope.”

She leans closer. “O, stop being a lesbian and perve at the boys that just walked in. You’re starting to worry me.”

Quickly, I glance up at them and then back down to my plate just to keep her happy.

“That doesn’t count.” She snaps under her breath. “Do it again. And actually look like you appreciate it this time.”

I exhale and look at the group of boys who sit a few booths down from us. Two of them had their backs to me so I couldn’t comment on their faces. One is wearing a blue hoodie and he has broad, wide shoulders. The other is a little smaller, wearing a tight black shirt and a red cap. Looking past them I see the two guys facing my direction. They aren’t anything special and one has an annoying moustache.

“Aren’t they hot?” She gasps, kicking my shin a little too hard and making me flinch.

“Sure.” I groan through clenched teeth. When the pain subsides, I continue. “I mean they’re not ugly.”

Selena laughs a bit too loudly and two pairs of eyes fall onto me. My cheeks instantly turn pink.

“Are they looking?” She asks, whispering.

Not wanting to provoke her, I lie. “Nope.”

I drop my gaze back to my burger and pick it up to take a bite. All the flavors from the chicken and sauce flood into my mouth—tomato, aioli, pickle relish—I almost moan out loud. It’s
that
amazing.

“I’m going over there.” She turns to slide out of the booth and I drop my burger onto its plate as I reach for her arm. I manage to snag it, forcing her to stay put.

I swallow my mouthful of food. “Don’t be an idiot. There are four of them.”

She winks at me. “The more the merrier.”

Selena shrugs out of my grasp and straightens her short grey dress. She fluffs her long hair and turns to me. “How do I look?”

I roll my eyes, knowing very well that I’ve already lost. “Go get em’.”

There’s no reason for them not to be interested in Selena. She’s perfect. She struts over to them and I pull
Atonement 
by Ian McEwan from my handbag. When Selena ‘chats’ to boys, it’s never a five minute thing She drags it out as long as she can and thankfully I’ve come prepared. I’m not very far in, but if it’s anything like the movie, I should love it. Giggles pull my gaze back onto the group. They’ve made room for her to sit down with them, she glances at me and I wrinkle my nose up at her. She’s definitely in her element. Her beautiful, pink-lipped smile is in place and to my own shock, she points a slender index finger my way. I shake my head at her while my stomach churns painfully. The guy with his back to me—the one in the hoodie—slings his arm over the back of the chair and sets his dark eyes on me. I gasp inwardly as the blood drains from my face. I stare at the over-confident smile and the familiar pair of chocolate irises.

Seth-fucking-Marc.

Chapter Four

I open my book and pull it up to cover my burning face. My cheeks are bright red, I can feel it. Seth is intimidating with his wide frame, perfect physique and annoyingly gorgeous face.
Please, for the love of God, don’t let him remember me.

No such luck.

Two long, calloused fingers curl around the top of my book and pull it from my hands.

The first thing I notice is a baggy pair of dark navy jeans and a blue hoodie that’s pulled up over his black hair. It’s unzipped, resting against his hard torso and exposing a strip of his bare, delicious midsection. I clear my throat nervously as my eyes lock onto his and I try my absolute hardest to keep my eyes on his and not on the incredibly hard, incredibly tempting strip of flesh.

“Is there room for one more?”

I open my mouth to tell him it’s taken, but he drops into the seat across from me anyway, placing my book on the table. A toothpick hangs from his tantalizing mouth and I’ve never wanted to be an intimate object so badly in my life. Seth pushes Selena’s fries out of the way and I lean slightly to look past him. I meet Selena’s green eyes. She smiles, giving me the thumbs up. I fight the urge to scowl and I turn my attention back to Seth who’s watching me, intently. He has the same gleam in his eyes that undid me in the gym this morning. His index finger taps the table and my warm centre pulsates every time his finger thumps against the wood. He doesn’t say anything, but I can feel his eyes penetrating my clothes and licking me everywhere. I drag in a deep inhale through my nose in an attempt to control myself.

“I’m Seth, by the way.” He says, pulling the toothpick from his mouth.

“I know who you are.” I cringe inwardly. I didn’t mean for my voice to come out so rudely.

His head angles to the side as if he’s carefully studying me and one corner of his mouth twitches into a smile. “Is this where you work?”

“No, I, uh, I work as a receptionist for a psychologist.” Under the table, I fiddle with my fingers. I’m so nervous and I have absolutely no idea how to handle this situation. “I’m here for lunch with my friend.” I nod my head towards Selena with his friends in the booth, but he doesn’t turn around to look.

His leg brushes against mine, sending a tidal wave of electricity through my body and I pull away. If it were anyone else, I’d have left already, but with Seth... I can’t seem to muster up the courage to get away. Pleasure flares in the dark depths of his eyes and I wonder if I’m going about this the wrong way. He seems to be drawn to the way I regard him. Problem is, I don’t know how else to treat him. He’s sexy as hell and on one hand I want nothing more than for him to tear my clothes off, but on the other, I refuse to be that kind of girl and not to mention the fact he has a
girlfriend
.

“If I didn’t know better, Olivia, I’d say you’re repulsed by me.”

I feel my lips purse into a thin line and I think carefully about my reply. “I’m not repulsed. I’m just not that kind of girl.”

Seth pushes the hoodie from his head, exposing his sexy, dark hair and leans forward on the table with his elbows. His hair is short, but messy and my fingers twitch at the urge to run my hands through it.

“And what kind of girl is that?” He asks me in a voice that is so rough it vibrates all my sensitive parts.

I shrug. “The kind to flirt with a guy who has a girlfriend...”

Surprisingly, shock doesn’t register on his face. Instead, he smiles a full smile that exposes his perfect, white teeth and I can feel myself scowling. He leans back against the booth and the arms of his hoodie tighten as he folds his thick, strong forearms over each other. “Who?”

“The pretty brunette with the big fake boobs...”

He glances at my chest before looking back at my face, grinning unapologetically. My scowl deepens because he doesn’t seem to care that I saw him do it. “I don’t do girlfriends.”

His words deflate a balloon in my chest I didn’t even know existed and I glance out the window toward the car park.

“I have girls that I sleep with, but that’s the extent of it.”

I drag my gaze back to Seth’s face, my brows pulled together. “So you’re single?”

He shrugs. “I prefer the term
free.
”

Free
. I like that. As of last night, I’m free too and my God is it refreshing. I stick a chip in my mouth and glance awkwardly around the steakhouse. I feel so out of place having this big, sexy man talking to me.

“Now that we’ve cleared the girlfriend issue up,” His leg leans against mine and he sticks the toothpick back in his mouth. He flicks it subtly across his moist bottom lip a few times, his tongue barely seen behind his supple lips. “What do we do now?”

His tone implies so many things, but I have no idea what he
actually
means. I watch him as he sits before me with his broad shoulders and a snippet of his chest tattoo sticking out from underneath his jacket. His eyes drop from mine and lock intently on my lips. The playful glimmer that had been in them just moments ago disappeared, and they seem to be burning—smoldering darkly at me from across the table. I open my mouth ready to comply with whatever he wants to do, until Selena clears her throat, bringing me back to my senses. Even if he is ‘free’ I’m still not the kind of girl that has sex with someone I barely know... or at least I don’t think I am. Seth licks his lips in frustration before turning his attention to Selena. I see her chest rise and fall rapidly under his gaze. At least I’m not the only one affected by his presence.

“O,” She says, turning her eyes on me. “We have to go.”

She’s agitated. I can tell by the way she rubs her fingers together at her sides and purses her pink lips. I wonder what those boys said to her.

“Sorry,” I say to him for the second time to day. “I have to go.”

I reach across and grab my book before sliding it back into my handbag. I glance at my plate. I only managed to take one bite out of my burger and I’m still hungry. I shuffle out of the booth, keeping my eyes on the table. When I turn away from the booth I still feel his eyes on me—analyzing me.