Page 22 of Darkness

“Well, we know he likes you. Why else would he kiss you? We both know you get all excited around him. I say make a move.” She pours me some wine and my eyes widen when she doesn’t stop pouring when it hits the normal amount a person would have. “You deserve this.” She hands me the glass, which is almost full to the rim.

“Are you trying to get me drunk?” I joke, taking one long sip.

“No, trying to get you tipsy enough to build the courage to go over and make a move, so-” She stops when I burst out laughing. I have no idea who she thinks I am, but that’s not me. I can’t even talk to him without rambling on about things I’m sure he doesn’t care about. “You can laugh all you want, but tonight, Miss. Autumn-Rose, you will go over there, even if I have to push you through the door, so you make the move.” I have no idea why she thinks I’m going to do this, but the crazy thing is, I kind of want to jump out of my comfort zone with him, but also scared because I’ve only ever had the most boring vanilla sex the world could have.

“Okay, this is a girlfriend chat, right?” I ask her, knowing she won’t say anything, but I still want to make sure she won’t say anything in front of anyone else. She gives me a nod as she takes a mouthful of food. “Craziest sex you’ve had? I mean, mine was on a guy’s couch, and it was blah.” There is something else I should be telling her, but I can’t risk anyone finding out I’m here.

“When Fifty Shades of Gray came out, I tried a few things. Not the worst sex in the world.” My mouth stays open, my fork stopping midway to my mouth. Now I’ve never done anything close to that, yet when Mr. Cain had his hand wrapped around the side of my neck, that alone did things to me. “What?”

“Nothing, just didn’t think I’d meet someone who liked that stuff.” I finally eat the food on my fork.

“I wouldn’t say like, as such. Maybe it was because of the person I was with. I don’t know. But it was okay.” She drinks her wine, and I think to myself.

I’ve heard people say if you have sex with the right person, it can be mind blowing, something like an out-of-body experience, but the chance of finding that right person is like one in a million.

We continue to talk about sex and dating, and I try to keep to the truth, but I lie about the names as I don’t want her looking into my dating life. I’m sure she will look it up if nothing comes out of hooking up with Mr. Cain.

“Get up. Come on.” Katy grabs my hands to get me to stand up. I had two bottles of wine. I have no idea where she got the third one from. Now all I want to do is sit in front of the window and wait for my sexy neighbor from over the road to show his sexy face.

“I don’t want to.” I fight her on the case, because I know what she’s doing, but if I go to the club, I know I'll make an idiot of myself.

“We are.” She finally stands me up, and looks at me in my dress, straightening it out, then pulls me out the door, but I stop and put my alarm on first. I might be tipsy, but not tipsy enough to forget what I do as I leave the apartment. “You are hot, you are sexy, you have a figure which is smoking, your eyes are so big and gorgeous. Mr. Cain would be crazy not to give you a good time.” I look at the mirror on the wall as we stand in the elevator. My heart pounds in my chest. What am I about to do? This is not me. “Doesn’t it make me appear desperate if -”

“Don’t even bother finishing that sentence. We live in a world where women can make the first move, and if a man can’t handle that, then he is a weak ass pussy.” Katy’s drunk as much as Ihave, so she’s rambling on and on about this. So I knew fighting with her wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

Who knows, he might not even be there.

Walking to the entrance of the club, which still has a line outside of it, the bouncer looks between the two of us and points to the line.

“We don’t want to come in. We would like Mr. Upgrade to come out for a second.” Katy tells the bouncer who could probably pick both of us up with one hand and throw us back to my place.

“Lincoln,” I tell the bouncer.

“Yes, Lincoln, and we’re not leaving until we speak to him.” God, she’s bossy when she’s had a few drinks.

The bouncer talks into the little mic on his jacket, and then gets back to the people in the line, and I smile when Lincoln comes out and he’s smiling too. Well, at least he seems happy to see both of us.

“Mr. Upgrade, he’s here,” Katy says, smiling at him.

Lincoln locks eyes with me for a moment. I have no idea what he is thinking about, but I feel like he’s hearing the thoughts going on in my head.

“He is.” Is all he says.

“Right, you go in, I’ll see you at work-”

“Wait, you were drinking.” I grab her hand to stop her walking away from me.

“I’ll get her a cab.” I turn to the bouncer as he pulls the rope to the side for me to walk up the stairs. I stop and turn, looking at the bouncer and I ask, “Promise she’ll get home safe.”

He nods his head. “I will.”

It’s now or never, fuck am I really doing this?

As I reach Lincoln, he whispers to me. “He’s in his office.”

Walking into the club, the music is blaring so loud the vibration is pounding through my body. Not getting distracted,I walk towards the stairs. Each step is taking me longer than it needs to, but I continue moving up them until I get to his office.

Come on, you got this.I open the door. Mr. Cain stops pacing the room and turns to face me. I wait for him to ask what I’m doing here, but all he does is sit on the edge of his desk and cross his arms over his chest.

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