My Chance (Chance #2) (12 page)

“I’m so glad you came up to me at that dumb speed dating event, and I’m even more grateful you came to Paris to be with me.”

He rolled onto his back, and my head rested on his shoulder. After about a minute, he said, “An elephant.”

“Uh… are you hallucinating?” I snickered. “What are you talking about?”

He pointed at the sky. “That cloud. See it? It looks like it has a trunk like an elephant.”

I looked and couldn’t help but smile as I remembered him describing clouds to me in Paris. “Yeah, I see it. You know what else I see?” I turned to look at him.

“No, what’s that?”

“The man I’m going to make love to for the rest of my life. The man I’m going to do things to that he’ll never forget.” I ran my index finger from his temple to his chin.

He sounded sexy as hell when he replied, “I never forget anything you do to me, and I look forward to doing you for the rest of my life.”

We laughed and carried on with our picnic.

My parents were leaving that afternoon, so we had breakfast together. My parents were a little sad to leave. Well, my dad was. I think my mom was happy to be going back because compared to New York, living in Paris was an everyday vacation.

We dropped my parents off at the airport and headed over to the club. I was excited to see Julie, Brett, Mark, and Val. I couldn’t wait to hang out together like normal people. It was Friday, so happy hour would be busy. Normally that would make me anxious, but I just had to look at my left hand to see that I belonged to Alex. I still wore the stunning bracelet he’d given me too. I felt as though I should get Alex something, but I didn’t know what. I’d have to think about that. He didn’t seem like the jewelry type. He wore a nice watch, but that was about it.

We pulled into the back lot, and I remembered what we’d almost done the last time we were there. The thought started a pulsing between my legs. I smiled and opened my door. Even the cool air didn’t tame my thoughts. Alex came over and looked at my chest.

I followed his eyes and noticed my nipples were erect. “What? It’s cold out here.”

“Whatever you say, baby.” Alex chuckled, grabbed my hand, and led me into the club.

We said hi to Tyler, and he told us that everyone was upstairs. We walked up, and I stopped at the top of the stairs to appreciate what I was seeing. Brett’s arm was on the back of Julie’s chair. She looked gorgeous as always, and they both looked happy. Mark held Val’s hand on the table top. Everyone looked content. I had awesome friends. I smiled at the thought of them all.

“You okay?” Alex asked.

I’d totally forgotten he was next to me. “Yeah, I’m fantastic. Let’s go sit with our friends.”

We walked up to the table, and everyone stopped talking and looked at me. They were probably trying to figure out if I could see them. It had to be weird for them too.

I smiled. “You all can stop staring at me now.”

Julie jumped up. “You know what this means? We’re going to dance until we drop tonight! I’m so excited for you!” She grabbed me for one of her bone-crushing hugs.

I laughed. “I wore my dancing shoes, so damn right we’re going to dance.”

Alex chimed in, “First we drink and toast to my beautiful fiancée.”

Brett coughed into his fist, “Pussy whipped.”

We all laughed, except for Alex. “Fuck you, man. You have it worse than I do. If Julie told you to wear a thong, you would.”

“Only if it’s her pink lace one. That one’s the most comfortable.”

Alex just stared at him with a dumbfounded expression. We were dying of laughter. The waitress brought us our drinks, and we could hardly thank her because of our hysteria.

Alex grabbed his glass and raised it. “To Aubrey getting better, to great friends, and to never, ever seeing Brett in Julie’s thong.”

Our hysteria came back, and I could hardly drink. I thought I’d either choke or the drink would come out of my nose. I looked at Mark joking around with Alex and Brett. I was about to ask Val how things were when Mark stopped laughing. His face dropped as he looked past me. I turned around to see a beautiful woman strolling toward us. Jessica.

Mark threw his arm around Val, who looked as though she was going to be sick. She had seen pictures of Jessica and knew who she was. I could relate to what she was feeling. Val looked into my eyes and silently pleaded with me to do something. I had no clue what that should be, so I did the only thing I could think of.

I stood up and intercepted Jessica. “Did you need something? This is a private party.” I couldn’t help but sound annoyed. I needed to protect my friend.

Jessica looked over my shoulder at Mark and Val. “I’m not here for you, whoever you are. I need to talk to Mark.” She waved as if she was dismissing me and went to step around me.

I moved as she did. “I’m Aubrey, and my fiancé owns this club. It is my business because Mark is one of my best friends, and you aren’t invited to this party.”

I looked at everyone. Mark was looking down and Julie was ready to pounce.

Alex stood and came over to us. He stood behind me with his hands on my shoulders. “Like Aubrey said, this is a private party. If you need something, say so. If not, please go back down stairs. I have security in the club, and I would prefer not to call them. If you keep this up, I will. Why don’t you head to the bar? Your drinks are on me.”

“Who the hell are you? I’m not here for a drink. I’m here to talk to Mark.” She was getting aggravated.

“I’m Alex Logan, and this is my club. As has been stated, this is a private party.”

Mark said, “It’s fine, man. I’ll talk to her. Thanks for trying.” Mark walked away, and Jessica followed.

My heart broke for Valerie, who guzzled her drink. I couldn’t believe Mark went with her. I was disgusted, and apparently it showed. Alex and I watched Mark and Jessica go downstairs. Alex looked as if he wanted to kick Mark’s ass.

I tried to calm his impending blow up. “Hon, he probably didn’t want to make a scene, that’s all. Don’t be mad at Mark.”

“Yeah, I know. But it’s not fair to Val.”

We looked at her, and she stared at us. We sat and tried to act as normal as possible.

Julie was the first one to break the silence. “What the hell was that? I get that they were in a relationship, but Mark should have told her to go to hell. He’s being a douche right now.”

I was a little surprised. “Jules, he loved her. Cut him some slack.”
Where did that come from?

Val spit, “Would you cut Alex some slack if that was Leah?”

“Val, don’t,” Alex warned.

“Really, Val? You want to go there?” I tried not to sound bitchy, but it didn’t work. “No, if that was Leah, I wouldn’t cut Alex slack because he didn’t love Leah. He had sex with her.” That thought made my stomach turn. “Mark loved Jessica. There’s a difference.”

“Baby, don’t get upset. It’s not good for you.” Alex sounded protective, and I loved it, but it wasn’t helping.

“Oh, I’m not getting upset. I’m already upset. I can’t believe you would throw Leah into the mix. I’m sorry, Val, but one has nothing to do with the other. You don’t even know what they’re talking about. Take it from me, overreacting isn’t the answer. Nor is throwing Leah in my face. I was trying to help you.” My voice accelerated.

Brett chimed in, “Who wants a drink?”

“I do.” I grabbed my purse and jacket and headed toward the stairs.

Alex was a few steps behind me. “Aubrey, slow down.”

I kept walking.

“Babe, stop for a second.”

I stopped and turned toward him. “What!”

He put his hands up. “Look, Val’s just upset. I’m sure she didn’t mean anything. You know it’s just you for me.”

I relaxed my shoulders which were up to my ears. I exhaled. “Yeah, I know. When Val gets like that, I’m reminded of the first time I met her and she was mean to me because she wanted you. I don’t know, maybe she still does and Mark is her consolation guy.”

“I’m whose consolation guy?”

Shit.
I hadn’t seen Mark walking toward us. “No one’s. Where’s Jessica?”

“She left.” Mark sounded relieved and sad.

“What did she want?” I asked.

“She wanted money. Apparently, the guy she left me for cleaned her out. So she can’t pay her rent and wanted me to help her or let her crash at my place.” He shook his head in disbelief.

Alex asked, “She moved back to the city?”

Mark shrugged. “Apparently. Great way to find out, right?”

“What did you tell her?” I asked.

“I told her no. That’s not my problem. I’m happy with Val, and I don’t want or need her anymore. I reminded her that she was no longer mine by her own choice. She’s not my problem.” He shrugged, but it obviously bothered him. Mark was a nice guy, and he probably felt badly for her, no matter how she had treated him.

“I’m glad to hear that because Val is pretty upset,” Alex said.

Mark looked at me. “What happened? What’s going on?”

I looked from Alex to Mark. “Val is really upset. We had some words, but don’t worry about it. Everything will be fine.” The last thing Mark needed to worry about was Val and me being at odds.

Mark hugged me. “Thank you both for trying to get rid of Jessica. Let’s go back upstairs. We’re celebrating tonight.”

I looked to Alex for some sign of what he wanted to do.

“Mark, you head up. Aubrey and I will be there in a minute.”

Mark nodded and walked away.

Alex turned to me. “You can’t possibly think I’d take anyone’s side over yours. Val is a good friend of mine, like Mark is to you. She shouldn’t she have said what she did, but you can’t really be mad at her for it.”

“What?” Was he kidding me? I was getting pissed, not at Val, but at Alex. I glared at him.

Alex held my face. “Look at me, Aubrey. I mean really look at me.”

I crossed my arms, cocked my hip, and glared into his eyes.

“You and me, forever. It’s just you. Let’s go back to our friends and continue our celebration. I’ve had enough of exes lately.” He kissed my lips. “When we get home, I’m going to make love to you all night.” He kissed me again, owning my mouth. He brought his hands to the small of my back and down to my ass.

I uncrossed my arms as he pulled me in tight. Our kiss ended, and I felt winded.

“That’s just a prelude of what’s to come,” he promised.

I smiled. “Then let’s not make this a long evening.”

He grabbed my hand, and we went back to the table to sit with our friends.

Val spoke first. “Aubrey, I’m sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean it. I really didn’t.” The sadness in Val’s tone and look in her glassed-over eyes proved to me that she wasn’t lying.

“It’s okay. I understand, I guess. Let’s just make a pact not to bring up exes, okay?” I hated being in situations like that. I just wanted it all forgotten. I liked Val, and the fact that she made Mark happy was enough for me to try to forgive her. Plus I knew Alex would want her in the wedding party.

Brett asked Alex, “Hey, what did your old man say about your wedding plans?”

He took a sip of his drink. “I haven’t told him yet.”

I lowered my head. We’d had too much going on. “Are you going to tell him? Don’t you want him to know we’re getting married?”

“Yeah, I’ll tell him. Actually, we can go see him on Monday and tell him together.”

That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I didn’t really want to be included. I liked Jack, but his relationship with his only son made me sad. I’d never understand how a parent could just turn away from his son. Not that Alex had helped the situation. It was just an odd dynamic.

“Oh my God, this party is going stale! Let’s dance. Come on, girls!” Julie motioned for Val and me to get up. She looked back at the table. “If our guys don’t want us grabbing other partners, they’d better get their asses on the floor too.”

We all laughed and followed a bouncy Julie to the dance floor. Her hands were waving above her head to the beat of the music before we even got to the dance floor. A few women tried to approach Alex, but he didn’t pay attention to them. I thought about getting him a shirt that said TAKEN, but that probably wouldn’t do anything.

Alex grabbed me around the waist and pulled me into him when “Ain’t No Other Man” by Christina Aguilera came on. Julie pulled me and Val away from the guys, huddled us together, and told us she had an idea. I was nervous about it, but Val loved it. Before I knew it, Julie had turned us into a girl group. We danced and sang for our men who just stood there looking at us. They all had shit-eating grins.

The dancers on the floor moved out of our way, and we gave something like a private performance that they’d see in a different type of club. Shockingly, I totally got into it. I didn’t know if it was the events of the past few days or if I was just a woman in love dancing for her man. We all had our own way to get our man’s attention. Julie grinded her ass on Brett, Val teased Mark with her boobs, and I had no choice to do anything other than grind against Alex. He’d pulled me in close and put his leg between mine.

Alex’s hands supported my back as he dipped me. His head went to my chest, and he kissed me between my breasts. My hands went into his hair. He grabbed the back of my head and smashed his lips on mine. His tongue shot in my mouth like a dart. My hands went from his abs to his shoulders and back down. I was about to rip off his shirt when I realized where we were. I pulled away, and he looked at me. I smiled and licked my lips as my eyes trailed the length of his body. He grabbed my hand and pulled me off the dance floor. We didn’t care about the people staring at us. We needed to be together.