Chapter 4

~Daniel~

 

I wave my hand dismissively at the red head making her way off the dance floor towards me. She screws up her face and flips me off, before sauntering off to try her luck elsewhere. Classy.

“What the fuck is wrong with you tonight?” J yells at me over the thunderous pulse of the techno music blasting through the club.

I glance at him sitting opposite me on one of the white leather couches, some brunette nestled against him, who is clearly already drunk off her ass. It’s dark and my vision isn’t the best right now on account of me being nicely fucking drunk, but I’m pretty sure she has her hand down his dress pants, jerking him off. The bastard is just sitting there, his arms hanging over the back of the couch and talking to me as though nothing is happening and the chick isn’t even there. He’s even more of an asshole than I am when it comes to women. They’re just a means to an end to him. An end that I don’t want to witness right in front of me.

“Come on, man. Take that shit to the bathroom.”

He laughs. “You wouldn’t be saying that if you were getting the same treatment. Do you want me to remind you of the shit I’ve witnessed from you over the years?”

He’s got me there. “Fine,” I mutter, chugging the rest of the bottle of Jack and resting it unsteadily down on the table beside the couch. Between us, we’ve polished off an entire bottle in a couple of hours. But I’m not done yet.

I’m not numb enough. I’m still too cognizant.

I know that, because she’s still on my mind.

What the hell is wrong with me? It’s been a week since I walked out of Emma’s place. She asked me to leave for fuck’s sake. But it’s been nagging at me ever since, clawing at me, trying to bore a hole into a place that is locked up tight. It’s been relentless, persistent and I can’t seem to escape it. I shouldn’t have left. I should have stayed and made sure she was all right.

No. No fucking way.

I made the right decision. Yeah, she was crying and shit, but it’s not my problem. I barely know her. She was just a potential fuck. Nothing more. I’m just obsessed right now, because I didn’t seal the deal. That’s all. Yeah, of course. I’ve never met a challenge that I haven’t been able to overcome until Emma. It’s just unfinished business. Yeah, that’s it. That’s all this is about.

But if that’s true, why has every woman I’ve come into contact with tonight, done nothing for me?

We’ve been club-hopping for hours now and I’ve felt nothing. Nothing. And there have been some hot pieces of ass flashing me their come-fuck-me looks. That thrill that I usually get when I spot a potential conquest has been non-existent tonight.

It’s her. The unattainable woman who’s somehow wormed her way into my fucking head. Not just my head, my entire being. I can still feel her. Still taste her. Those eyes of hers, sexy as fuck in their half-closed aroused state. The promise in them of so much more.

But how was I supposed to claim that promise when she has so many walls up? She’d let them down when we’d fooled around in the kitchen, but then they went right back up, keeping me at a distance, forcing me back. Denying me. That woman is so hot and cold, but fuck if it doesn’t turn me on. I’m hard just thinking about her. I swear, I can hear those soft moans of hers. They gave her away. They let me know just how much she’d wanted me too, how affected she was by the slightest touch from me. Christ, she has no idea how sexy she is when she’s on the edge like that. Sensational.

“Dan?”

It takes me a moment to register that J is calling my name. Shit. How long have I been zoning out? “Yeah?”

“Who is she?”

“Who?”

“The girl who’s had you turning down pussy all night?”

I adjust my weight on the couch. “Are you high?”

“Are you whipped?” he shoots right back. Fucker always has a response for everything.

Whipped? Hell, no. Obsessed? Maybe.

I shoot him a warning glance. And then I blow out a breath, psyching myself up for what I’m about to admit to him. He’s gonna have a field day with this one. “You know that newcomer who moved into the old house on Brook Road?”

“Yeah. Emma.”

I’m surprised as hell that he knows her name. For some reason, that doesn’t sit well with me. “You know her?”

“She emailed me asking about a quote for a roof a couple of days ago. Said it’d been leaking from the crappy weather we’ve been having recently. I went there to check it out and it’s bad. I wanted to take a look at the inside. You know, to assess the internal damage? But she wouldn’t answer the door. I figured she was out. I went back to the office and emailed her, asking for her phone number so we could discuss it. Wouldn’t give it to me. I told her I need to check the damage inside the house. Never heard back after that.”

“Is Harlson Construction gonna take the job?”

He shrugs his shoulders. “If she gets back to me, yeah.”

“Do you really need to access the house, or are you just being a prick?” Where did that come from?

He’s so surprised that he pushes the brunette away and tells her, “Enough, sweetheart. We’re done here.”

Her face twists with anger, a few choice curse words fall from her lips, before she stalks off to the dance floor. J doesn’t seem to care in the slightest. He leans forward and scrutinizes me, his eyes narrowing with obvious suspicion.

“So?” he presses when I make no move to say another word. Clearly, I can’t trust my mouth right now. It’s like it’s not connected to my goddamn brain.

“What?”

He scoffs. “Come on. Do you forget how well I know you, brother? This Emma chick is under your skin. You almost staked a claim there. What? Has she got a real sweet pussy, or some shit?”

“No fucking idea,” I snap, before I can stop myself.

He bursts out laughing, rocking back into the couch, his hands raised above his head in typical over-dramatic J fashion. He calls out to the sky above—or the ceiling—in a sarcastic prayer, “Lord, please spare me from the apocalypse I know is coming, because hell has definitely just frozen over.”

I roll my eyes. “Fuck you, asshole.”

He continues laughing his ass off at my expense. Bastard. I climb to my feet unsteadily.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Call your driver. I’m gonna take care of this shit, right the hell now,” I say, swaying on my feet as I throw out my right arm too quickly, pointing towards the club exit.

“We’re not done here. Call your own driver.”

I scowl at him. He knows I don’t have my own driver.

Like J, I have enough money to hire one, but that’s just not my scene. I might be loaded, but I don’t enjoy throwing it around like he does.

He owns Harlson Construction, a prominent business that is known far beyond the borders of our hometown. It’s financed by his family money. His dad is a big time media baron and an elitist prick, just like my mom. He wanted J to be a lawyer, but J rebelled and dropped out of college in his third year to set up Harlson Construction. And he’s done well for himself.

But like me, he has a notorious reputation as a society playboy. Our names have graced the papers and the entertainment news far too often for our parents’ liking. Even coming here tonight, there’d been a ton of paparazzi fuckers waiting for us. We’d had to sneak in the back door. Sometimes that shit has its advantages though. We’re never short of women. Ever. They know who we are and they gravitate towards us, no matter where we are.

“So, you’re okay being driven around if it’s my driver, but you can’t get one of your own?”

“That’s right.”

He gets to his feet, somehow much more able to do so than I am. He’s had as much to drink as I have, but he never seems to feel it. Sometimes, I could swear he’s superhuman. Who can stomach that much alcohol and not be affected by it?

He slaps my shoulder. “You can barely stand. I don’t think heading up to her place is a good idea right now.”

“We’re going.”

“It’s two in the morning, Dan. By the time we hit Harlson, it’ll be pushing three.”

“I don’t give a fuck.”

He sighs with exasperation. He knows how stubborn I can be as soon as I get an idea in my head, especially when I’m drunk off my ass.

I barely register his warnings, though. All I can think about is Emma. Her moist lips wrapped around my cock. My hands sliding into her silky, long hair and guiding her up and down my cock as I fuck her mouth. Her whimpering with pleasure as she takes all of me. Me pulling her away at the last second, so I can sink into her pussy. Oh fuck, yeah. That’s exactly what I need. She’ll be out of my head then. This obsession will be over. And I’ll walk away like I always do. Mission fucking accomplished.

“Fine,” J gives in, pulling out his cell. “You crazy bastard. I’m telling you now, you’re gonna regret this. You think she’s even gonna let you in?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

He shakes his head and turns away to make the call to his driver, Tommy.

Fucking right. It’s on.