Page 26

Bailey

The garden party was fun, but a bachelorette party in New Orleans is even better. Thankfully, when I had told Lionel what my plan was for Andi’s big night, he had helped me piece it together, down to finding the perfect places for us to go.

I opt for a black silk corset and a black skirt that zips up the front. I pair it with black strappy heels, knowing my feet will be killing me by the time I make it home, but also hoping the alcohol will make me forget about it.

“Ya’ll about to make me turn straight,” Lionel jokes, eyeing the women around him. He’s got on the longest, most glorious lashes that I’ve ever seen and bright purple lipstick. I’m glad to see the durag is back, mostly because he doesn’t look like Lionel without it.

This is only my second time meeting all the bridesmaids, but everything seems to have come off without a hitch, so far. Lionel is the only man in attendance, but as Andi said yesterday, he’s basically one of the girls.

“That guy was hot!” Andi groans when I shake my head no at another prospective man in her match-making game she’s been playing all night.

“He was short.” I polish off the last of my vodka and lemonade. It’s my third of the night and the effects are starting to take hold, making me feel warm and fuzzy. Euphoria, our third and final stop of the night, is full of eligible bachelors here for a few days of fun. It would be easy to hook up with one while I’m here and never have to see him again, but all I can think of is Charlie.

“God, you’re impossible,” she groans, taking a shot of tequila. Her face is flushed, her skin damp with perspiration from dancing along to the thumping beat of the heavy music playing through the club and the liquor coursing through her veins.

“That man is gay,” Lionel says, sitting his cup down hard enough to jostle the table.

“How do you know?” I ask, squinting to see the man. Honestly, he’s not bad. Dark hair, dimples. But he’s not Charlie. After last night, I didn’t see him today before he went to work. It’s good to give each other space. I just don’t like it.

I’m ashamed to say I miss the deep growl of his voice and the roughness of his hands. Even his eyes, searing into me from across Lafayette’s.

“ Cheré , don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to.” With that he stands, checking out his makeup in a compact he pulls from his pocket. “Don’t wait up,” he calls as he walks away, the sway of his hips making the rhinestones on the back of his jeans glitter under the deep red and blue lights of Euphoria .

“God, I want his confidence,” Gianna, Andi’s cousin, says before she throws back a shot of Patron. Where Gianna would lack confidence is beyond me. She’s beautiful, but she’s wild. Andi told me she once got arrested for setting her ex-boyfriend’s car on fire.

My hero.

“I want his ass,” Naomi, another of Andi’s cousins grumbles, sucking at a cube of Cosmopolitan-soaked ice.

“Oh, shut up, you two. You’re hot.”

It’s true. I don’t think there’s a mediocre person in Andi’s family.

“Come on,” Andi says, hopping down from our tall boy table and tugging down the tight hot pink mini dress she’s wearing, as it desperately fights to ride indecently up her legs. “Break’s over. Let’s dance.”

We move to the dance floor, being swallowed into the throng of writhing, sweaty bodies, moving to a mashup of a couple rap songs I don’t know. Back home, the clubs are fun, but there’s still an air of coldness. In New Orleans, everything is sex. Hot, sweaty sex.

I start dancing with Andi, moving to the beat of the music as men quickly press in around us. A man slides his hands around my front to grab my hips and sway with me. I don’t stop him, giving myself over to the grinding beat of the music and the seductive atmosphere of the club.

I smile, grinding into him with the beat of the music. It’s indecent. Naughty. If my mother saw me right now, she would ship me off to a nunnery in the middle Antarctica.

One song moves into another and we dance to the beat shamelessly. I try to imagine Charlie’s hands being the ones gripping my hips hard enough to bruise, but it’s a mistake. My body aches for him.

“What’s your name?” my partner asks, bumping his groin into me.

I smile back at him over my shoulder. He’s cute, with bright blonde curls and pretty blue eyes.

“Bailey,” I answer, having to raise my voice over the roar of the crowd. “You?”

“Pierson. How long are you in town for?”

“Until tomorrow,” I lie indifferently. I don’t want to give him any reason to try and see me another time. “You?”

“Wednesday.” He pauses when the music gets louder. “You’re beautiful.”

“Thank you,” I reply, even though I know he’s lying. My hair is all over the place, my skin moist from dancing in the hot club. My makeup is probably melting down my face and my lipstick is undoubtedly gone.

When the song changes again, I disentangle myself from the man with a smile and mouth “bathroom” to Andi, who’s dancing between a couple, the girl at the back and the man in front.

“I want another drink,” she calls over a mashup of Katy Perry’s I Kissed a Girl and some dubstep song I’ve never heard before. I don’t care for it, but with the alcohol in my system, I don’t have to.

I nod, stepping through the throng of people and slinking back toward the line for the bathroom. Once inside, I clean up and allow myself a second to breathe. When I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror over the sinks, I’m surprised I don’t look like a drowned sewer rat. My makeup has spread from the heat, but after a quick wipe with a wet paper towel, it’s not bad.

Back out in the club, I lean into the bar to order a gin and tonic for Andi and a water for myself. I spot Lionel at the other end, fully locked in and making out with the guy from earlier. It reminds me of the pulsating heat between my thighs.

So, I pull out my phone.

“Miss me, already?”

My body hums from the deep timbre of Charlie’s voice. I smile, despite myself.

“Possibly.”

He pauses for a moment. “Are you horny, princess?”

I bite my lip, holding back when the bartender slides the drinks to me without a word.

“What if I told you I am? What if I told you I’ve been dancing on guys all night?” I know I’m being pretty daring, taunting him, but the alcohol is making me ballsy.

He chuckles darkly, the sound going straight to my core. “Then I’ll spank your ass.” I can hear rustling on the other end of the line. “What club are you at?”

“Euphoria,” I answer, sucking down half my water. “It’s full of hot guys, grinding on me, touching me.”

His answering silence is enough to make me shiver in eagerness.

“So, you call me. Do you know why?”

“Because I want you.”

He groans in response, his voice growing raspier. “Does it make you wet when I threaten to punish you? ”

“Yes,” I murmur, pulling my bottom lip between my teeth.

“Be ready.” With that, the line cuts and so does my pulse. I can’t stop the grin from spreading across my face. I finish the rest of my water and head back out onto the dance floor, handing Andi her drink and slipping back into the easy sway of the music.

A man is instantly on me, grinding into me. I move with him, anticipation building in my chest as the thought of Charlie coming to find me spurs me to act out.

I place my hands over club guy’s, pinning them to my hips and grinding against him. He chuckles in my ear and aligns himself against me.

“What’s your name, beautiful?” the guy asks after the third song ends.

“Get lost.”

I don’t have to turn around to know who’s standing there. Awareness tingles through me at the rough sound of Charlie’s voice. Club guy’s hands release me and big strong ones take their place, pulling me back into a hard chest.

“You’ve been a bad fucking girl,” he purrs in my ear, making me shiver. Like he’s angry with me, he nips at the flesh over my shoulder, causing me to surge back against him.

His scent is all I need for warmth to rush through my blood. The beat changes and goes low, seductive. My hands slide down my body to rest over Charlie’s and he moves me to the music.

He’s hard and I can feel it pressing into my back. My mouth waters to taste him, my body yearning for him.

He brushes my damp hair away from my face and nips at the lobe of my ear. “Who are you dancing for?”

I grin, tingles rolling up my spine at the feel of his breath on my neck.

You. Only you.

“I was really hoping Peter was here,” I whisper and his fingertips bite into my hips hard enough to bruise. A familiar ache forms between my legs, my body slick with need.

“Keep it up, princess,” Charlie warns, his voice deadly. “I’ll fuck you so hard you won’t remember your own name, let alone his.”

I shiver, my hand sliding up to rest at the back of his neck. He bends down, kissing a line up my jaw to the pulse point behind my ear.

“You’re all talk,” I whisper, swaying so my ass brushes his hard length.

There’s a pause while we move together, the rest of the club completely oblivious to us. I don’t know what I would do if Andi saw me practically humping her brother in the middle of the dance floor, but I think I’m beyond that at this point. I’m not even ashamed to admit that I need Charlie Coulter’s hands on me.

“Go to the bathroom on the second floor, back hall.”

He releases me and when I turn around, he’s gone. I let out a deep breath, my heart hammering in my chest. I find Lionel at a table with the guy from the bar, locking in a heated embrace. Andi is dancing with her cousins and all eyes are on them. They sway with the music, completely lost.

No one would notice if I slipped away for a couple minutes.

I find the stairs to the second story and manage to sneak up them without the bouncer noticing me. I look for the room Charlie disappeared to, following the dark hall. It’s deserted, save for a couple making out at the very back. I stop at the unisex bathroom and tap on the door. It unlocks and I slip inside, hurriedly locking it behind me.

Before I can turn around, a warm body presses up against my back. I let out a deep sigh, the breath I had been holding while I snuck in.

Charlie takes my hands in his, lifting them above me and sliding them up the door until I have to raise up on the tips of my toes.

“What was that you were saying about Peter?” he murmurs, low in my ear. A shiver ghosts through me and I wriggle in his touch, my ass brushing over him.

“I thought you didn’t care about another man’s hands on me,” I taunt.

Charlie takes both my wrists in one of his hands, freeing his other to slide down my back to cup my ass under my skirt.

“If I catch another man touching you like this, I’ll break his fucking hands.” His tone is deadly, threatening me to argue, but his possessiveness only spurs me on. I roll my hips back into his and he lets out a sharp hiss through his teeth, making me smile.

His hand slides around my front, pulling up the bottom zipper on my skirt, His fingers dance over the tingling flesh at the apex of my thighs and I jerk in his hands.

“Is this why you called me?” he asks, his lips at the swell of my shoulder. He nips at my skin and a soft moan leaves me. “You wanted my hands on you.”

Shamelessly, I nod, unable to speak as his fingers trace the line of my panties.

“Keep your hands on the door,” he orders, his voice deeper than before. I do as I’m told, my heart swelling with anticipation. His free hand reaches up, cupping my breast through my top. “All these men and yet you need me to get off. Tell me, princess, what happened to you hating my guts?”

“I still do,” I pant, straining to keep my hands on the door.

He brushes my hair out of my face, moving my panties to the side. “But you know I’m the only one who will do it for you. Is that it?”

I nod, gasping when his finger finds me, entering me.

“You’re soaked. Is this from me or dancing with that other man?”

I sputter as he slowly moves his finger in and out of me, unable to form a single thought.

“Tell me, Bailey, or you’re not going to get what you want.”

“You,” I gasp as he pulls back and adds another finger.

He lets out a sharp breath, almost painful, and his thumb swirls my clit.

“Who gets you this wet?” he asks, again.

“You do,” I answer, like I’m trained.

“Good girl,” he mutters, his breath leaving in a growl. He flips his ball cap backwards. “Keep your hands on the door, baby,” he reminds.

He spins me until his back is against the wall and sinks to his knees on the tile floor. I press my palms flat against the door above his head, unable to look away when he pushes my skirt up and nips at my inner thigh.

I whimper at the pain and squirm, but Charlie’s hands reach up to grip my ass, pulling me to him. “Eyes on me,” he orders. “If you look away, I’ll stop.”

With one long, lazy stroke, he licks me from my entrance to my clit. I gasp, my nails scraping at the wood of the door, but I don’t care. Charlie makes a rough sound of pleasure, reaching around and rolling my clit with his thumb.

I keep my eyes trained on his and the combination of his presence and what he’s doing to me makes me feel like I’m floating. I’ve never had such an intimate, raw, sexual experience. Never in a million years had I thought I would be half naked, spread open for this man that I despised so much.

His tongue spears into me and the growl of satisfaction reverberates through my core. I fight the desperate need to touch him, forcing myself to keep my hands on the door in front of me. Beyond these four walls, the party in the club rages on, the dancers completely oblivious to what we were doing upstairs.

“God, you taste fucking perfect,” Charlie grits, his fingers on my ass, gripping me to him like he’s starved for me.

“Charlie,” I moan, trying to catch my breath. My chest is tight, my legs shaking like I’m in danger of exploding at any moment. “I want you to fuck me.”

He pulls back, looking into my eyes.

“Not here. I want you spread out on my bed so I can fuck you for hours.” My legs threaten to give out and I drop a hand to his shoulder, digging my fingernails in through the thin fabric to hold myself up.

My body clenches and my orgasm takes me by surprise. Charlie holds me up when my legs give out .

“Fuck, that’s it, baby,” he rasps before diving back between my legs to lick me through my orgasm. When it becomes too much, too sensitive, I push at him with a gasp. God, does this man ever stop?

Finally, he releases me, standing up between my legs. With a groan that has to be the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard, he presses kisses along my jaw, hissing through his teeth when I palm him through his jeans.

I want him so bad my body aches to touch him. If it wasn’t Andi’s bachelorette party, I would beg him to take me home, just to get rid of these feelings.

“You need to get back. Your friends are going to come looking for you.”

“But, you’re still hard.” I reach between us and cup him through his jeans, moving my fingers along the hard ridge of his cock.

His eyes darken and he captures my hand. “Make no mistake, princess. I’m still punishing you when you get home.”

He grabs a paper towel and wets it in the sink. Pushing my legs apart, he cleans me gently. It’s sweet, even if it’s in a dirty club bathroom in the heart of New Orleans. His eyes meet mine, his lips parting slightly and I realize I’m desperate to kiss him. It’s a dangerous thing, wanting to feel so consumed by someone that you’re debating on giving up your morals just to have them.

Charlie steps forward, lifting my face up with a finger under my chin. He leans in, my breath hitches and my stomach tightens when I think he’s going to kiss me, but he kisses my forehead, instead, bypassing my lips, altogether .

“Oh, and princess, drink some water. I’m going to make you sweat tonight.”

He winks, before disappearing out of the bathroom, leaving me staring after him. I’m just making my way back downstairs when I get a text on my phone.

Charlie: Remember what I said about another man’s hands on you.

My hands tremble as I stare down at the text, but I don’t respond. My legs ache as I make my way back to the table, completely spent. On my way, I order a shot of tequila and a bottle of water, almost finishing both on my way back.

Lionel is tongue-deep in the guy from earlier, practically dry humping on the dance floor and Andi and her cousins are taking shots at our table.

“Bailey!” Andi squeals, a lot drunker than I am. She reaches out and snatches my hand, almost tumbling off of her stool.

“What did I miss?” I ask, sliding into a seat, next to her. “Sorry, had to find the bathroom.”

Andi eyes me deviously, taking her shot with her cousins and cheering loudly.

“Oh, just a couple guys hitting on me. Nothing spectacular,” she slurs, leaning in and dropping her voice. “Hey, by the way, how’s my brother?”

When I choke on my drink, Andi laughs and slaps my back as I cough. Every nerve in my body freezes, like it’s just been thrown in cold water, but Andi doesn’t seem to care.

I look at her with what I’m sure is a deer-in-the-headlights expression, to which she wrinkles her nose, raises her next shot to me and throws it back. When she slams it on the table in front of herself, she wraps her arm around my shoulders, squeezes me and places a kiss to my cheek.

“At least he finally found a good girl.”