Page 4 of His Obsession
“Dale said ‘hi.’ I guess he didn’t see enough of you before his shift!” I said, my words laced with sarcasm.
I know Dale and Jason had a thing for Lucy. I didn’t blame them; she was a stunning woman. She was one of those girls whose beauty came effortlessly; I envied her. As if Jason could tell we were talking about him, he showed up at our table, giving me a hug, and sat.
“Ladies, I’m here. What are your other two wishes?”
Lucy rolled her eyes, and I looked away, blushing. “It’s disturbing how much you and your brother are alike,” Lucy said.
Putting his hand to his chest, he feigned being wounded. “Ouch, Lucy. I thought women loved twins?” I looked back at him, confused.
“You aren’t a twin, Jason,” she snipped. “Besides, that twin thing is only for guys. Women don’t desire to have two pricks to put up with.”
Jason bit back with a laugh. My phone lit up, announcing a voicemail from that unknown number. I put the phone to my ear and listened in disbelief. Lucy stopped her playful banter with Jason to study my face. I put my phone down and picked my jaw up off the floor.
“Oh my God, Liz, what’s wrong? What happened?” Her face was full of concern.
“I got the job,” I said, not believing the words coming out of my mouth.
“What? I can’t hear you!” she yelled.
“I got the job, Lucy! That was Rebecca, she said I start on Monday,” I said over the music.
Squealing and kicking her legs, Lucy got up from the table and pulled me from my seat. “That’s so awesome, Liz. Let’s go get a drink! Now we have something to celebrate.”
Not able to wipe the smile off my face, Jason said congratulations before taking his position at the stairs leading to the private second floor. My eyes wandered up to the mystery man to find him in the same place he was before. This time, Iknewhe was staring at me. The hairs on my neck electrified and stood on end. Lucy tugged me towards the bar, “Party till We Die” by Makj, Timmy Trumpet, started playing as we shot back tequila with lemon. It was one of my favorite songs.
Biting my last lemon, we made our way to the dance floor and raved with the rest of the drunk fools. I danced for hours with the crowd, sweat-dampened my hair, lights flashing, and the fog machine on full blast. Lucy left me to get back to work a while ago, coming and checking on me with a shot. I had danced with so many people, being felt up by some, but I didn’t care tonight. During the night, two bouncers had to break up a fight with guys throwing punches at each other over what appeared to be because of the caged dancers.
Everyone stopped to gawk as I just continued to dance, a rush of euphoria racing through my body. Occasionally, I’d get this eerie feeling like I was being watched, but I brushed it off, I’m sure there are plenty of people watching this drunk blonde dance, I continued dancing and have Lucy deliver more shots.
Lucy told me to meet her at her car in ten minutes, and she would be out there after she wiped down the bar. Stumbling down the alley towards the car, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I felt the alcohol hit me all at once, and it was difficult to read the blurry words on my phone.
Lucy: I’m almost done.
Squinting to find the letters to respond, I felt a firm hand on my arm jerk me backward as I heard the screeching of car tires. My face either collided with a rock-hard chest, or the ground behind the club smelled fantastic. I’m betting on the former. I’ve seen what goes down out here, and it’s enough to make you want to hurl your top-shelf liquor.
“You need to pay more attention,” A deep, rough voice whispered in my ear.
His hand gripped my arm hard until I flinched. He must have noticed because he lightened his grip, allowing the blood to rush back to my fingers in tingling waves.
“Sorry,” I slurred, “I had a text, and I couldn’t see the words.” My eyes finally landed on the shadows of his face, and like typical drunk girl fashion, my mouth forgot to filter. “Oh, shit, you’re sexy. I mean, you look… fuckable… goddammit, what is wrong with me?” I sighed, utterly embarrassed. My face was already burning from the copious amounts of alcohol, but now it was on fire. I felt the rumble from a chuckle in his chest.
“This is no laughing matter; I’m going to die when I walk away from this.” As if something I said sobered him, he rubbed his smoking skull tattooed hand down his face and across his jaw.
“You wouldn’t have walked away if I wasn’t here,” he growled, pissed off.
I jerked my arm out of his hand and stumbled away. “Well, I thank you for your chivalry, kind sir.” Don’t ask why I went old fashion, but it happened. “I’m just going to find my friend’s car and wait for her.” I stepped back further to look at this mysterious man when I heard Lucy’s voice calling my name. I turned and caught her walking towards the car. “That’s my friend—” I said, turning to him, finding nothing but a void in front of me.
I thought I was going crazy had it not been for the smell of his cologne still lingering in the air.
One year later
Ipiled my desk high with papers that needed scanning and then filed them away to their proper folder. I still needed lunch. I had a meeting in fifteen minutes that required my attendance for note taking, one of the dreadful duties Mr. Donovan asked me to do. Yes, I was the assistant for Mr. Randall, but since he was never in the office, Mr. Donovan used me as his secretary even though he had Becca. I’d been working for Mr. Randall for a year, and our only communications were through email, phone, or Mr. Donovan. You wouldn’t catch me complaining, though. Today wasn’t a great example of the simple job I typically had.
I put the first stack on the scanner, pushed some buttons, and took my seat. I would have met Lucy and Dale for lunch, but I had to cancel and take a rain check.
“Liz!” Mr. Donovan shouted from his doorway. I dropped all the papers I had in my hand on the floor, startled by his loud voice.
“Yes, Mr. Donovan?” I said through clenched teeth. I bent down and picked up the papers, not wanting him to see my irritation.