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It felt like the floor fell out from beneath my feet when Baker said Ari would be there. “Hell, yeah, I’d give anything to see him again. Anything.”
“I don’t think you were supposed to tell that, Baker,” Seth grumbled.
“Punish me later,” Baker quipped. “Go do something with your hair and put on some leather, Eli. You look like a hot mess.”
“Leather?” I asked in disbelief. “There’s no way Ari’s really going if it’s one of the kink clubs.”
“Ari’s going for a few minutes, Eli. Unlike the two of you, I don’t lie or dance all around it. If I say he’s going to be there, he’ll be there. Now, hurry the hell up.” He looked at his watch. “I should have been drinking twenty minutes ago.”
I wanted to believe. I needed to believe.
“Give me a few minutes,” I answered, hoping against hope they couldn’t hear the way my heart thundered with excitement. One more time. One more look. One more opportunity to memorize his beauty. I knew it wasn’t much, but I’d take it.*****We’d been at the club for over thirty minutes and I hadn’t seen the first sign of Ari. Nothing. Not a hint, scent, or sighting. My anxiety level rose with each passing minute—taking an extra nudge every time somebody laughed about something. Laughing? Damn, my heart was breaking and these people, who called themselves my friends and my freakin’ sister, were laughing? What. The. Fuck?
I looked around the club, making sure he wasn’t there and just hiding from me, and noticed that the activity for the night was action-packed with the exception of the center stage. People usually vied for the stage of honor, but tonight it was curtained off and nobody seemed to bother with it. Probably, with my rotten luck, something that Seth and Baker had planned just to rub it into my face. As I sat and pondered it, I convinced myself that was exactly what tonight was all about. Their devotion to Ari had caused them to strike back at me…to punish me for hurting their friend.
Fuck. Enough was enough. I was leaving. Contrary to what my ‘friends’ thought, this wasn’t a good idea. Seeing him one last time would have been a dream come true, but I would hold the cruise memories near my heart for the rest of my life. Sitting my soda down, I said, “I’m out. Thanks for coming. Great to work with all of you. Come visit me, sis.”
Nope—none of my words sounded believable but I didn’t care.
As I stood up, I looked toward Baker and Seth and noticed a smirk on both their faces. I’d always suspected Seth wasn’t my biggest fan but had considered Baker to be a friend—looked like that was yet another mistake in judgement I’d made.
Sam grabbed my arm. “No, Eli, stay a bit longer. It’ll be months before I’m able to get away from the office to see you again. A few more minutes…just for me?”
Baker said, “Nah, Sam, he’s good. Let him go if that’s what he wants to do. My guess is that it’s time anyway.” He pointed to his watch.
“Love you, brother. I always have and I always will. Both of us living side by side in the building has been a dream of mine for years. I enjoyed the time we had.” She leaned in a kissed my cheek. “Forget the past and focus only on the future,” she whispered in my ear.
Walking away was tough. Walking away like this, with so many questions, was tougher. I wished I wasn’t such a fucking coward—that I wasn’t too afraid of taking what belonged to me, the way I’d promised in this very club all those weeks ago. I’d come here for one thing and one thing only—to claim my man. Disgusted with myself, I spun around and ran directly into a warm body.
Ari stood in front of me, wearing nothing short of the sexiest, motherfucking leather outfit I’d ever seen in my life. His silky hair was blond again—no hint of the brunette he’d sported on the cruise. A leather harness criss-crossed his chest, accentuating every fine line, dip, and muscled curve. Thick leather cuffs were wrapped around his wrists and also around the muscle right above his elbow. His abs were completely bare and looked good enough to make my mouth water with desire. If I wasn’t careful, drool would be dripping down my chin. The lower portion of his body was covered in a barely-there pair of leather shorts and chunky black boots that came up to his calves. I know my mouth dropped open for a few seconds before I stammered, “What…what…are you doing here?”
That sounded incredibly stupid and I quickly opened my mouth to say something else, but he stopped me before I could make a squeak.
