“What’s his name?”
“K—”
“Eden Rivers, we have a bar full of drinks, and I am ready to celebrate your birthday in style so put your Kellie Carter hat on and get the fuck out there!” Tori strutted through the bathroom, her hands on her hips and a look of pure determination cemented on her face; she completely missed that we weren’t in the bathroom alone.
“Jesus, don’t get your panties in a knot.” I laughed, rolling my eyes at my excitable friend. I turned back toward Ashlyn to find her slipping her lip gloss in her clutch and her gaze met mine. Shit! Tori had mentioned Kellie Carter. “I, uh, use a pretend name when I’m out. It’s like a thing I do.”
I held my breath as I awaited her response. It sounded so pathetic. I was a grown woman who pretended I was someone else when I went out. God, she was going to think I was a complete idiot.
“Who am I to judge? Kellie it is.” Ashlyn’s smile was infectious, and I found myself smiling back at her.
“How about you just be Eden tonight?” Tori suggested as she looked anxiously at Ashlyn, a look I didn’t miss. “How about you try it? I’ll be right by your side.”
Was she serious? Where the hell was this coming from?
“Tori, I can’t,” I whispered and instantly my defenses shot to life.
“Babe, you can but you won’t.”
“Tory, this isn’t the place to discuss this. I am Kellie tonight and that’s the only way I will be staying here. Your choice. Am I staying or leaving?”
“Just trust me Eden. This isn’t the nig__”
“Am I staying or leaving?” I repeated and the look of defeat that flooded her face gave me my answer.
Tori shifted her eyes away from mine and they landed on Ashlyn.
“Ashlyn, Tori…. Tori, Ashlyn. I went to college with Ashlyn,” I announced and looked between the girls. I couldn’t ignore the look in Ashlyn’s eye as she watched me. I didn’t even want to think about the rumors, the comments, and the snickers about me after I fled college four years ago.
I shook the thought from my head and moved toward the door. I stopped when I grabbed hold of the handle and turned back to look at Ashlyn.
“How would you feel about coming and having a drink with us for my birthday? As you heard, drinks have arrived, and there are women just waiting to strip for my birthday.”
“How could I possibly refuse an offer like that?”
“Ready?” I asked with a fake smile as I looked between Tori and Ashlyn while my insides were jittery with nerves.
“Sure,” Tori mumbled and her energetic need to get me back out into the club seemed to have disappeared quicker than I could say boo.
“Babe, please just let me do this. I promise that next time we are out back home I’ll just be known as Eden.”
Tori crossed the room until she stood beside me and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me in close. “What happens if there is someone out there, what if there is a guy out there that may make you believe in guys again?”
“That’s very unlikely babe,” I huffed.
“But what if there is?” she continued pestering. “Will you at least give the guys out there a chance?” Tori’s voice dripped with a motherly tone. Seriously, was she really going to act like I was thirteen?
Frustration raged like a wild bull within me. My fists clamped and my fingernails dug into my palms, like a sharpened blade. Tori was the one person who knew my inability to say a word as simple as no, but here she was blatantly rubbing it in my face and pushing me until I was balancing precariously on the edge of completely losing it. Suddenly the feeling of rebellion roared to life, and I lifted my eyes from the floor to meet hers.
“Yes.”
I plastered the biggest smile I could muster on my lips and shifted my gaze back toward the mirror to give myself the once-over while silently wishing for confidence to burst to life within me. My gaze fixated squarely on the girl who reflected back at me. My blue eyes were wide and swimming with reluctance, and my red painted lips were drawn tight together in instilled stubbornness. I was very aware of whom this girl was, and I knew there was no way in the world that she could be around tonight. I swallowed hard and it only took a couple of frantic blinks to witness the girl I knew as Eden Rivers disappear right before my eyes as my gaze turned resilient. I was the girl in the red jacket, I was Kellie Carter, and I’d be fucked if I wasn’t going to play the part. I had been pretending for four years, what damage could another few hours of soul destroying lies do?
“Let’s go.” I shot.
I didn’t wait on their response. I pushed the heavy door open and instantly my body was intoxicated by the music coming from the stage. My lingerie envy resurfaced as I focused on a vivacious blonde strutting around in a lacy black number. Note to self: put a Victoria’s Secret visit in my planner. My heels vibrated against the wooden floorboards as I walked with fake confidence toward the bar. I slid onto the bar stool I had left abandoned and slammed down the first shot I saw.
The stool beside me scraped against the floor and Ashlyn slid in and joined me at the bar. We sat in a comfortable silence yet I couldn’t help but notice her eyes falling to me on more than one occasion or the subtle smile constantly gracing her lips. Ashlyn and Tori soon began flirting up a storm with the very handsome bartender who seemed to be glued to the space in front of us while I continued to swirl the cosmopolitan around in front of me.
My eyes were drawn across the bar as the feeling of being watched swept through me like a torrent. It wasn’t lost on me that Ashlyn not so subtly looked over the shoulder of the bartender as he flirted with her, and she seemed to be distracted by something or someone. My eyes locked onto the culprit whose eyes were fixated on me. I felt my stomach flip-flop at the sight of the man across the bar. He looked to be a few years older than me and was dressed in a black button-down shirt that clung to his broad chest; the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows showing strong arms. My curious eyes took him in; thick brown hair, a strong jaw covered in stubble, and intense eyes. And the moment his lips twitched into a smile when he realized he was caught, a dimple appeared.
Oh god.
His eyes bounced quickly from mine, and he turned his body away from the bar and leaned effortlessly with his back toward me. A woman with bleach-blond hair, heavy makeup, and a scrap of red lace covering her surgically enhanced body sidled up to him and proceeded to put her hands all over him. He stiffened under her touch and his head shook from side to side as she leaned in to say something to him.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him.
My instinct to ogle a handsome man took over and I couldn't tear my eyes away from him. No matter what lock I had placed on my body and heart, I was still a woman and there was a beautiful man and my eyes didn't listen as my head told me to look away.
Suddenly without warning, he cocked his head to the side and flashed his gaze back to me and now I was the one caught staring. A hint of a smile flashed over his lips, giving me the opportunity to relish in the perfectly placed dimple in his right cheek yet again.
I felt myself nervously return his smile, something that I never did. How strong were these drinks? The smile that hung on his lips suddenly fell and his eyes narrowed in on something happening behind me.
“I’m going to take you home tonight.”
A hot thick breath battered my bare neck as unwanted fingers ran down the length of my back. My throat immediately tightened, squeezing out every last bit of air I could muster and my eyes shot wide with fear at the sound of those words. Fuck. Slowly, on its own accord, my body twisted on the bar stool to come face to face with the intruder. The moment I looked at him, I felt the cockiness he was portraying smack me hard. The smug look on his face as his beady, imposing eyes roamed over my face and then focused solely on my chest, caused bile to rise from the depths of my stomach. Where the hell was Tori? Ashlyn? When did they disappear? My eyes finally latched onto Ashlyn walking toward the other side of the bar, and Tori was nowhere to be found.