Evie heads off to use the restroom and as I wait for her, I do a double take as a woman walks straight toward me. Are you f**king kidding me? A huge surge of adrenaline releases in my body. Lauren. She followed me here? I glance quickly toward the restrooms and walk straight to Lauren, grabbing her arm and turning her around so that she’s forced to walk with me toward the front of the bar. She leans into me, hugging me as I practically drag her forward. I shake her off. "I’m done. I swear to f**king God, Lauren."
"Jake – stop! Wait, I’m in town to meet with the board tomorrow. You wouldn’t let me talk to you in San Diego! I went to your building to see you and your doorman told me you were headed here. I didn’t think you’d mind–"
"Yeah, I f**king mind. What about any of my words or actions in the past five f**king years gave you the idea that I wouldn’t mind? And what the f**k are you meeting with the board about?" I’m gritting my teeth so hard that I’m barely moving my jaw as I’m spitting out each word to this crazed lunatic. She’s gotta be living in a fantasy world in her own head. It’s the only explanation.
I glance back toward the restroom, my heart hammering in my chest. Evie’s going to be coming out any second. There is no way in hell that I can let Lauren know I’m here with a woman. She will attempt to cause a major scene – I’m all too familiar with the way she treated girls I brought around her when I was still living at her house. Ugly. If I saw her try some of that shit with Evie, I might have to kill her. And just having gotten Evie back in my life, prison doesn’t sound all too appealing.
"I’ll tell you, Jake. Please, I–"
"Fine, call me this weekend and we’ll talk. If you leave now, I’ll answer your call and we’ll talk, alright? I’m with some friends here tonight and this is not the time or the place."
She furrows her brow and looks at me suspiciously for a minute, but then looks around and when she looks back at me, she says, "Fine. I want to meet in person though – I’ll call you after my meeting. Make sure you answer, Jake."
And with that she turns and walks out the door of the club. I let out a breath and turn to look toward the restroom again, but still no sign of Evie.
I walk over to the bouncer and ask him if there’s a line outside. He says yes which makes me feel better. If Lauren tries to come back in before we leave, she’ll have to wait.
When I look up, Evie has almost made it all the way to where I’m standing. Shit, I didn’t see her come out. I smile, hoping it doesn’t look forced and take her hand.
"Ready?" I ask.
"Who were you talking to?" she asks, frowning.
Damn, she saw me with Lauren. More lies. I f**king hate this. I feel a depression sweep over me.
"Just some woman who was drunk, making a scene. The bouncers called her a cab and I just lead her to the door. Hold on, let me get a glass of water for you at the bar before we leave," I say, trying to distract her.
"I'm okay," she says. "You looked mad."
"Not really. She was just being kind of belligerent. She tried to make a pass. I said no. That was that." I don’t know what she saw so I’m covering all the bases.
I tell her to trust me on the water and lead her over to the bar. I watch her drink it, trying to calm my frayed nerves. This night just went to shit.
She puts the glass down on the bar, smiling at me flirtily and saying, "Take me home. Before I have to beat more women off of you."
I laugh, hoping it doesn’t look forced. Inwardly, I cringe.
We pull into my garage fifteen minutes later. In those few short minutes, Evie has managed to relax me a little as she chats and reminisces about our night and just seems so enthusiastic and happy.
I don’t know what I’m feeling right now. I feel all keyed up, an intensity running through my body that I don’t know is good or bad, or maybe both. I’m on a high from making Evie happy tonight, from the intense feelings of holding her body against mine for hours, from the music, but I’m also ready to burst out of my own skin at the rage I feel that Lauren won’t leave me the f**k alone, at the guilt for lying to Evie. The lies are building up and it’s getting worse and worse. It’s all swirling inside of me and I don’t know what to do with it. In the past, it was all negative and I would seek to numb it with a substance, but now there’s that river of joy running through it all, muddling up my mind. I feel gentle and aggressive and so f**king confused.
I turn off the car and pull Evie to me, and take her face in my hands, pouring all my emotions into kissing her. We kiss fervently in the car for a few minutes before she climbs on top of me and f**k! This show needs to head upstairs now so I can f**k her properly.
I’m about to suggest just this when the sound of fabric tearing fills the car. What the hell? She leans off of me and the seam at my crotch is torn straight down the middle. Well, that’s interesting.
"Oh my God," she breathes, "your boy part is like the Incredible Hulk."
Boy part? "Boy part?"
She nods, her eyes wide. "Is he angry?"
I’m trying really hard not to laugh. "Not yet. But if you keep referring to him as a 'boy part,' he could get there. He's all man. You don't want to see him get angry."
"Oh, I definitely want to see him get angry."
I can’t help it then. I laugh out loud. "Come on, let's get you upstairs."