Just One Drink (85 page)

“How about we start over in D.C?”

THE END

“Hey Ariana, wait up.” Jake called from behind me, putting a little cantor into his step to catch up.

I cursed the heels I had chosen to wear tonight as he began walking in step with me. Jake wrapped his arm around my waist in what I was supposed to believe was a chummy act. We crossed the street and for not the first time tonight I felt Jake’s hand slip down from its position at my lower back to my much lower back. And for not the first time I delivered Jake a jab to the ribs, causing his hand to glide back to the designated appropriate zone. Not like him touching me in any way was terribly appropriate, as his extremely pregnant sister and my idiot brother walked in front of us.

I toyed with the idea of jabbing Chris in the ribs too for coercing me into coming along tonight. Chris and Bree’s baby was due any day now and Bree was going crazy waiting. So my brother had a brilliant plan to take Bree out to cheer her up, and somehow that involved me. I loved my sister in law, probably more than my own brother, but some things just weren’t worth suffering for. Being stuck with Jake all night was absolutely not worth it. I replayed the conversation I had with Chris yesterday, wondering where I had gone so terribly wrong.

“
Bree loves you! You always make her laugh.” He said. “It’ll be lots of fun.”

“Doesn’t she have any other friends that can go?”

“She wanted you to come. Please Ri, you gotta help me out here. She cries every time she sees a fabric softener commercial. I don’t think I can handle her reaction if you say no. Plus, her brother is coming.”

“Well then I’m definitely not going. Crying and Jake? Deal breakers.”

“Come on, Ri, he’s not that bad.” Chris said with a shrug of his shoulder.

“He tried to make out with me at your wedding.” The memory of which still causes bile to rise.

“He was drunk.”

“What was his excuse every time after that?”

“He’s harmless.” He said, but the responding roll of my eyes told him I didn’t believe him. “Listen Ri, Jake won’t come unless you come. Bree will be devastated if we have to call it off. We already called Nick and told him we were coming and to reserve me a table of 4. His new pub opened 3 months ago but I’ve been so busy with work and getting ready for the baby that I haven’t been able to get there. He moved back almost a year ago and we’ve only hung out a couple of times. I can’t bail on him again.”

Right there. That was my downfall. Nick. He and my brother had been friends since they played hockey together as kids. All through school and into their twenties I had used my privilege of being the little sister to tag along with Chris and Nick. Up until they let the dream of making it big die, I harbored a crush on Nick. Even still, apparently, as I stood in line outside the pub defending myself from Jake’s grabby hands.

Stepping forward to get a small reprieve I leaned over to Chris, “What kind of pub has a line up to get in?”

“It’s not just a pub, it’s a live music venue too. And I think they even have a small recording studio in the back. You know Nick, he doesn’t do anything simple. The lineup is to pay cover to see the band playing tonight.”

Bree turned back to look at me, a wide smile on her face. She was a huge music buff and I could see why Chris was really trying to make this work tonight. She looked happier than I’d seen her in weeks. I returned her a big smile, not wanting to let on that I would rather eat a pail of nails than be here with Jake. As the line inched closer to the doors, Jake’s hand once again found its way to my back. I cut him a sideways glance and he feigned an innocent look. I heaved a sigh.

Soon enough we would be inside and my ass would be safely hidden against my chair and hopefully the music would be loud enough that I wouldn’t have to listen to him go on about his exciting life as a business analyst. I would just have to be patient. And I tried. I was very patient when his hand slid further down my back. I was extremely patient when Jake faked a sneeze and jettisoned his hand down to my ass. But when instead of moving it back up, he squeezed, it was all I could do to keep from gagging. I only had so much patience.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I asked, probably louder than I needed, stepping away from Jake and drawing the attention of Chris and Bree.

Jake’s hand shot back and his eyes went wide. “Well, nothing I guess.”

“That’s not what my ass says. If you keep it up we’re going to have a problem.”

Jake came towards me, cheeks red and hands out in front of him in a placating manner. He may have been embarrassed, but I wasn’t concerned about making a scene so long as I made my point clear.

“Whoa, listen Ariana, I didn’t mean anything by it. Honest. I thought you liked it.”

“Liked it?” I said as I took a step back from him. “Elbowing you in the ribs is a sign that I liked it?”

Jake took another step towards me, but I wasn’t in the mood to pretend to be nice to him today. A girl doesn’t survive having 3 older brothers and come out with nothing to show for it. I stepped back again, readying myself to pop him in the face if he made the poor choice of coming closer. This time, though, I bumped into the hard wall of someone’s chest. Big hands gripped my elbows, stopping me from getting off a punch. Or moving at all. I turned to look up at the tall man, all muscles and hostility, looking back down at me.

His stare was intense and it didn’t take me long to realize he was a bouncer. He cut his eyes away from me to look at Jake. His glare was intimidating and Jake shirked back, edging himself closer to Chris and Bree.

“Everything okay here?” He asked, the deep rumble in his voice just as intimidating as his stare.

“Yes. Yes, everything’s fine.” Jake said, sounding every bit the pip squeak that he was.

“My sister has a bit of a temper. I’m sure she’s fine.” Chris said, smirking at me. I’m sure he was loving this.

The man looked back down at me, and I nodded, relenting. Jake was annoying but I didn’t want him to get kicked out of the pub before we even had a chance to go in. The man released my arms and moved away, back up to the front of the line to stand beside the doorman collecting the cover charge.

Bree reached out and slapped Jake. “I warned you not to be a nuisance. Leave Ariana alone, got it?”

Jake nodded his head at his sister and for once I was thankful for all those raging hormones of hers. That would probably keep Jake at bay, at least until we were seated.

Chris shook his head at me. “You were always too feisty for your own good. Try not to get us kicked out this time, okay sis?”

I took a deep breath and tried to summon my patience once again before falling in line beside Jake. This time he was keeping a nice buffer of space between us. I studied him for a minute, and decided that although he looked normal, maybe even a little good looking, Jake was the perfect definition of a creep. That was the exact reason I held firm to my belief that men weren’t worth the hassle. I didn’t have the patience to weed out all cretins and losers. Living alone sure as hell beat living with someone I couldn’t stand.

I turned away from Jake and scanned the crowd ahead of us. Waiting in line was making me restless. I wanted to get this night over with. And maybe catch a glimpse of Nick. We seemed to be moving at a snail’s pace and I glanced up to the front of the line only to find myself drawn to the bouncer, still at his post beside the entrance. But just as my eyes kept being drawn to his direction, his eyes kept scanning their way back to me. Probably making sure I wasn’t going to make another scene.

He was intimidating in a lot of ways; he was tall, well built, intense, and I found it hard to pull my eyes away from him. Behind his stoic exterior I could see him thinking, calculating, and I couldn’t help but wonder what a man like that was thinking. We maintained that eye contact until the force of it made me look away. If his thoughts ran as carnal as mine I probably didn’t want to know what he was thinking. Instead I pulled out my phone and tried to distract myself.

Finally we reached the front of the line and as Chris paid for our cover I tried my best to ignore the bouncer’s eyes boring down on me. Moving past him to the door with my head down I couldn’t help but steal a look in his direction from the corner of my eye, catching sight of his sinewy hands. Intuitively I could feel the spot on my arms where he gripped me, burning from his rough touch. I shook the feeling off and kept my eyes trained forward as we stepped into the dimly lit pub.

I followed Chris to a reserved table not too far from the stage. While Chris seated Bree I lingered, trying to decide if it would be worse having to look at Jake across from me the whole night, or to sit beside him and pretend he wasn’t pressing his leg against mine. I opted to sit beside Jake, figuring I could stab him in the leg with my fork if he started to irritate me too much, but there wouldn’t be a whole lot I could do about those dopey eyes staring at me.

Once the waitress had brought us our drinks and we had ordered I sat back in my chair and let Chris struggle to force a conversation out of us. Sipping on my beer I scanned the bar, looking for an excuse to leave. From behind Chris I caught a glimpse of someone crossing the pub, heading in our direction. Even from a half dozen tables away I could tell that it was Nick. I recognized his sexy smile, his confident stride, and the way that just the sight of him made my heart race.

He was all swagger and sex appeal. I felt like I was still 16 again. My eyes roamed his body freely, refreshing my mind of every defined muscle and unruly strand of golden hair. Nick closed in on our table, his eyes grazing over my body and my skin warming under his hot gaze. Coming up behind Chris, he clapped him on the back, drawing the attention of the rest of the table.

“You made it.” Nick said, his voice warm and rich.

Chris turned in his chair, “Hey Nick, I was hoping we’d see you tonight. This place is great.”

“Thanks, man. It’s been a long time coming. I’m happy that it’s finally a reality.” Nick grabbed a chair from a nearby table and pulled it over, sitting between Chris and I. “Everyone enjoying themselves?” He asked, looking around the table. His easy smiling gracing his face.

“Oh, yeah. We’re doing great. You remember Bree, and this is her brother Jake.” Chris said, going around the table.

“And Ariana.” Nick said, beating Chris to the introduction. “It’s been a long time.”

“It has.” I said, unable to restrain the smile on my lips. He met my eyes and it seemed like he held my stare for a long time, though only a beat had passed when he turned back to the rest of the table.

“You guys picked a good night to come down. The band we have going on tonight is killer. We’re almost at capacity. It’s going to be a great show.”

As Chris and Nick talked about the band and the pub, I let myself take Nick in. He sat back in his chair, his long legs stretching out in front of him. He had a wonderful comfort about him, always at ease, confident. I remembered that from when we were kids. Even in the midst of all the crazy stunts my brothers pulled, Nick was the level headed and even tempered one, keeping everyone on track.

My trance was broken by the approach of another large figure making his way through the growing crowd to our table. I recognized him as the bouncer from earlier. His eyes flickered between Nick and our table. And me. If I thought he looked stern before I was wrong. He looked ready to pop someone’s head off. Not a bad trait for a bouncer, I guess. Nick saw him too, and he watched him approach.

“Give me a second, guys.” Nick said as he hopped out of his chair and leaned in to the bouncer. A moment later he turned back to us. “Hey guys, this is Nash. He heads up my security here. He just gave me the good news that we packed the house. First time since we opened.”

“We met.” Chris said, kicking me under the table and smirking. Apparently the daggers I was sending him weren’t getting through. “Ri decided to get a little feisty waiting in line.”

“That sounds about right.” Nick said, grinning. “I remember you were always trying to cause trouble. Like the time when you were 17 and you convinced us to sneak you into that club.”

“Which we did.” Chris cut in.

“Right, only to have you get us all kicked out when you almost broke some guy’s nose. Or like the time you challenged your brothers and me to a shot for shot show down.”