Page 5 of Sensuous

“Here’s to BOB!” Sadie yells over the music. “He better be charged up because I’m going to be ready to go tonight!”

Yet another disappointed woman who believes in her vibrator over the males of the world is welcomed to the club. It’s okay. BOB never disappoints, assuming he’s got fresh batteries. Sadie’s just going to have to work out her daddy issues that way.

CHAPTER THREE

Alex

By the timeI get to the club, it’s after one and I’m just about the only sober person in the building, excluding the Club X staff and my uncle who never seems to drink lately. I see Cade upstairs at the second-floor bar and make my way up through the crowd of people who’ve chosen to use the stairs as their personal resting place.

Actually, most of them seem to be halfway to fucking, so it’s not truly resting what they’re doing. I step over one couple practically blocking the entire step right before I reach the second floor and laugh when the beautiful woman looks up at me with pure lust in her glassy eyes.

Not tonight, honey. I’m here to get a buzz on and forget how hard I fucking worked tonight, not steal some guy’s drunk date from him.

“There he is! The man of the hour,” Cade calls out to me as I look back at the couple from the stairs and see the woman smiling at me.

“It seems I am. What are you putting in the drinks tonight? She looks like she’s about to bail on the guy working so hard to get in her pants for me.”

He laughs and pushes a glass of whiskey neat toward me across the bar. “I’ve got one even better than that. Some girl I’m guessing in her mid-twenties, sober too, was asking questions about none other than Stefan March himself earlier tonight. Seems she’s into his look since when she heard he was happily married she wanted to know if I was available. I had to disappoint her, but I put in a good word for you.”

Just then, the owner of Club X appears next to me at the bar and slaps me on the back. “How are you, Alex? We don’t see you around here enough these days. What’s been keeping you away?”

I take a quick gulp of my drink and shrug. “Your son is busy being committed to Hailey, so I’m on my own now.”

“Don’t blame me because you choose to not have a social life these past few months. I’m here like I’ve been for over a year. You’re just a workaholic lately,” Cade says as he fulfills the drink order for a nice-looking brunette in a short skirt that shows off her great legs.

My gaze lingers on her for a few moments before she walks away, and I start to tell Cade and Stefan about what happened with those reality show producers tonight. “Get a load of this. Three people come into the restaurant for a late dinner, and they ask to see me.”

Before I can go any further, Cade jokes, “Busy burning dinner again, dear? You know that upsets customers.”

“Fuck off and listen, okay?”

That makes both of my relatives stop laughing, and Stefan slaps me on the back again. “Cade’s in rare form tonight. Better watch it.”

“I’m not the one with women half my age checking me out, so who’s in rare form tonight?” Cade says with a chuckle, and for a second, I have a sense that my uncle might be a little embarrassed by his comment.

“Half your age would barely be a teenager, so I should hope not,” Stefan says with a chuckle.

This father-son thing they have going makes telling my story next to impossible until they get this out of their system, so I settle in with my drink and look down at the action happening on the first floor while they bust each other’s balls for the next few minutes. There are a few interesting prospects, but by this time of the night, they’re likely way too drunk to be anything but a sloppy lay. I’m not in the mood for that tonight.

Stefan leans in next to me and wraps his arm around my shoulders. “Sorry, Alex. I guess we’re both in rare form tonight.”

I shake my head and smile. In all honesty, it’s good to see Cade and his father getting along like this. For far too long, they were more like enemies than family, so I don’t mind listening to their ball-busting.

“It’s okay. It gave me time to check out the women here tonight. So are you two ready to hear my story? I promise it’s a good one.”

“As long as it has nothing to do with Kane,” Stefan says, rolling his eyes.

Unsure what he means, I look across the bar at Cade for some explanation. “What’s that about?”

“They’re in a fight to the death about something that happened at Grandma’s last time we were all out there. Remember Kane saying something about the whole Christmas thing and how this year it would be at his and Abbi’s house and he’d be playing Santa Claus?”

“For who? Ava’s the youngest, and she’s already old enough to drink.”

Stefan jumps back into the conversation, way more heated than he was just a few minutes ago. “It’s not the point. It’s the principal of the thing. I’m always Santa Claus, and now he’s acting like just because Christmas will be at their house this year that he’s suddenly going to be the star of the show. I swear he does this shit to get under my skin. I’m the King of Christmas. Period. Full stop. Kane can be one of my goddamned elves.”

As I work to stifle my chuckle, he storms away, throwing his arms up in the air. When he’s far enough from the bar, Cade and I burst into laughter. Our family really is fucked up.

“He’s been like that for weeks,” Cade says, shaking his head. “Maybe they should fight it out. That might put an end to all of this nonsense.”

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