I watched him pour the foamy, bubbly liquid in two glasses and he handed one to me. I smiled, watching as he held up his own glass in a toast.
He said something about a building and the future but that’s all I could make out before he clinked my glass and downed his champagne in one shot. I sipped mine slowly, knowing it would hit me quickly.
Champagne only affected me in one of two ways—it either made me very happy and giggly or it made me puke. The fact that I’d already consumed wine made me pretty sure where things were headed if I drank too much now.
Instead, I watched as Bear got drunk. I couldn’t say anything, because he was so happy, but why would I anyway? It wasn’t my place to say anything. He wasn’t driving. And, he was celebrating. He seemed so happy.
So, I sat there, doing what I thought I should be doing. We couldn’t talk to each other because of the music and he wasn’t making any move to dance, so I sat there, pretending to drink my champagne and smiling at him occasionally. Despite the fact that he hadn’t answered my question, it was obvious this was definitely not his first time here. At least six different women and three men came up to greet him. Each one leaned down, whispering in his ear and patting him on the back. I tried to ignore the gushing cheek kisses pressed to his face and the side glances that were thrown my way once they saw me sitting next to him and nobody tried to talk to me.
Finally, I got up to go to the ladies room, leaving him in the booth alone with his champagne and his endless stream of friends.
The line for the ladies room was out the door. I groaned and got in line behind a statuesque blonde with a skimpy red dress on. When she turned around, I realized it was the same girl from the steakhouse—Zoe Rothchild.
She recognized me immediately.
“Oh, it’s you!” she said. “I’m surprised to see you again.”
“Hello,” I said, my voice cold as ice. I’d already decided I hated her the first time.
“So, did it happen?” she asked.
“Did what happen?”
“Bear, of course. I warned you about him. Did he break your heart yet?”
“No,” I said. “We’re just friends.”
“Oh, please!” she laughed. “Bear isn’t just friends with any woman. Don’t forget what I said, little one,” she winked, “Bear Dalton will eat you alive!”
“I’m looking forward to it,” I replied, lifting my chin.
Fuck her, I thought. Who does she think she is? I don’t even know her and she thinks she can say these things to me?
She laughed again and then raked her eyes up and down my body.
“You aren’t his usual type,” she said, wrinkling her perfect little button nose. I suppressed a sudden urge to punch it. “Maybe you’ll stick around a little longer than the others.”
“But others, do you mean you, Zoe?” I asked.
“Oh, you’re a little firecracker, aren’t you?” she said, raising an eyebrow.
“Maybe I’m just not intimidated by women like you.”
“No?” she asked, putting a perfectly manicured finger up to her lips mockingly. “Well, good for you. Bear needs a woman who can take a lot of punishment.”
She turned away and walked into the stall, leaving me stand there, my heart racing, my face flushed. Another stall opened up and I walked in, locking the door behind me and falling into it. I didn’t care how long it took, I planned on staying in there until I was sure Zoe was gone. She was so creepy and her words sliced right through me.
How many people knew about Bear’s tendencies for rough sex? Did everyone know? Was I just one more notch on the wall of his dungeon?
I waited a good ten minutes, looking under the stalls for Zoe’s sky high red pumps. I didn’t see them, so I left the bathroom, slowly making my way back to Bear and keeping an eye out for Zoe at the same time. I was done talking to that bitch.
My heart sank when I saw her sitting in my seat next to Bear, the two of them laughing together. I started to turn away and leave them alone when I heard Bear call my name. I froze and turned back to see the two of them smiling at me and Bear gesturing for me to come back.
Deep breath, I reminded myself as I put one foot in front of the other. I plastered a fake smile on my face and nodded to them as I approached.
“Chloe, I want you to meet a dear friend of mine, Zoe Rothchild. Zoe, this is Chloe, she’s going to be designing my new hotel.”
She smiled and held out her hand. I reached out, shaking it, my stomach flipping in disgust.
“Chloe, that’s a big job,” she said.Don’t remind me, I thought.
“Yes, I’m looking forward to it,” I lied. In fact, I was lying so hard that I was surprised my pants hadn’t caught on fire. Oh, right, I wasn’t wearing any. In fact, I wasn’t wearing panties either. But still, if I was, there would have been flames. That’s how much I wasn’t looking forward to this job.
“I’m sure you’ll do a tremendous job,” she said. She reached over and put her hand over Bear’s and squeezed, flashing the fakest, whitest, widest smile I’d ever seen. I could have sown I saw a little sparkle flash from her teeth. “Working with Bear is a delight!”
“Yes, it is,” I replied, meeting her gaze daringly, shooting daggers into her with my eyes. “Have you had the pleasure?”
“Me?” she asked, throwing a teasing glance at Bear. “Well, yes, we’ve done a little business together.”
“Zoe is a designer herself, Chloe. She led the design team that worked on my first hotel ten years ago. We go way back. We met back in Yale.”
“Oh,” I said, my heart sinking as I watched the two of them stare admiringly at one another. “I see.”
“So, what are you?” she asked, looking back at me. “ Pratt? Parsons? Cornell?”
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“Where did you get your degree, Chloe?”
“Oh. Portland State,” I replied.
“Oh,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “That’s so cute! How quaint!”
My eyes landed on her perfect little beak once more. It was now raised so high up in the air I could see up it. I clenched my fists at my sides and realized that I’d never felt the need to actually punch someone before. Instead, I smiled at her silently, not bothering with a response to her thinly veiled insult.
“I should be going, Bear,” she said, kissing him again on the cheek. “I’m redesigning The Mark Hotel, did you hear?”
“I did not! Congratulations, dear,” he said, standing up as she did.
“Talk to you soon,” she said, turning to me and winking. “Nice to meet you, Chloe.”
I nodded, speechless.
The balls on that woman, I thought as I sat back down. I grabbed my glass of champagne and downed it. Bear looked at me curiously and smiled as he poured more in my glass.
“Want to dance?” he asked. I looked down at the crowded dance floor and shook my head.
“Not really,” I said. “Actually, can we get out of here? It’s a little too crowded. I could use some air.”
He reached over and squeezed my thigh, his warm hand sliding up under my skirt. He brushed his fingers against my bare pussy and nodded approvingly.
“That’s sounds like a good idea,” he said, “as soon as we finish this bottle!”
He turned and poured more champagne, drinking it quickly. I looked at the bottle and was equally delighted and dismayed that it was almost all gone. He’d drank a lot. And by the pulsing in my temples, I’d had a little too much myself.
But all I could think about was getting out of there, so I grabbed the bottle and poured the rest in my glass, downing it quickly.
“Now?” I asked.
“Wow, you weren’t kidding,” he laughed, grabbing his coat.
We trailed out of the club, which took twice as long as it normally would, because he stopped every few minutes to say goodbye to someone. To my relief, Zoe wasn’t anywhere in sight.
By the time we got back in the car, my head was throbbing
.
“Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?” he asked, reaching for another drink from the bar.
“Sure,” I said, clutching my temples.
“You don’t seem like your normal self,” he remarked.
My normal self? I thought. What did that even look like? All of this was so far out of my usual self that I’d forgotten what normal actually looked like.
“I guess I’m just a little tired,” I said, trying to muster a smile. The truth was that seeing Zoe again had shaken me. Now that I’d seen Bear at his darkest, seen his secret dungeon, for lack of a better word, seen the side of him that I thought he didn’t show most people, I thought we had something special.
Zoe had managed to rip that all away in just a few words.