Once again John managed to successfully shut her up. He was completely right and there is no way Elsie can argue with him. She stood there blinking at him, stunned.
John turns back to Damien, “Nice to meet you, be careful out there and maybe I’ll see you on set.” He looks back to Elsie, “Finish up and don’t disappear, I won’t be happy,” John says giving Elsie a final no nonsense look.
Still stunned, all she’s able to mutter is, “Ok.”
John turns and walks over to Brian. They stand and talk observing the thinning crowd, both of them looking like warriors, each one distinct and proud in his own way.
“And who the fuck is that?” Damien asks Elsie a little dumbstruck at the massive man that just left.
“John Wolfe,” she mumbles.
“Ok, and?”
“Oh,” she pulls her head out of her ass and tries to banish the images from her mind of that sexy beast taking her and doing incredible things to her. “He’s a marine, an MMA fighter and an instructor at Evolutions gym. And apparently he’s going to be a pain in my ass.”
“Damn, Elsie, I would do him. Are you kidding me? That guy is a one of a kind right there, and he obviously has it bad for you,” Damien’s obviously impressed with the Mountain Man. He is fan-girling and man-crushing on John all at the same time.
“Well, knock yourself out, Damien. I’ll put in a good word for you, because there is no way I’m getting anywhere near that.”
If I keep telling myself that maybe I’ll believe it, Elsie tries to convince herself. He has ‘Danger’ written all over him and I learned to read those signs a long time ago. One lesson learned the hard way was more than enough. There is no way I’m going to step foot in that minefield. Please have the strength to stay away, girl. You don’t know if you can handle the mess afterwards.
“Why, Elsie? Give me one good reason why,” Damien asks turning his beer up to take a long swallow.
Elsie sighs deeply.
Why? she asks herself.
“Self-preservation,” she states flatly before chugging her full bottle of beer. She puts the bottle down on the bar and squares her shoulders as in preparation. “Might as well get this over with,” she mumbles to herself. Then Elsie turns to Damien, “Call me Damien, we’ll hang out sometime,” and she gives him a small hug.
Just as Elsie moves to walk away, Elizabeth comes up behind her.
“They just called last call, are you guys leaving?”
“Hhmmpph, John insisted on giving me a ride home, the over-bearing barbarian,” Elsie huffs.
“Really?” Elizabeth asks her friend, unable to hide the surprised satisfaction on her face.
Elsie gives her a you’d better not say anything else look, squinting at her through her mask.
“I’m probably gonna meet a couple of friends over at the Liquid Room. You wanna come, Elizabeth?” Damien asks hopefully.
“I’ve got to go too, Damien.” She gives him a quick hug, “It was really good seeing you again, you look great, as always. Take care of yourself, ok?”
Damien looks at her longingly, his feelings apparent, “You too, girl, you’re just as beautiful as ever.”
“Are you ladies ready to go?” John’s voice breaks in on the friends saying goodnight. Marco arrives as well at that moment to take his woman home.
“Might as well,” Elsie glares at him.
“Ready, baby?” Marco asks Elizabeth. It is obvious he adores her. Elsie can’t stop herself from looking longingly between Elizabeth and Marco wishing she had that.
“Yes, Marco,” Elizabeth smiles up at him before giving Elsie a big hug. “Goodnight, and thank you so much for asking me to be your date. Let’s have lunch on Monday, ok?”
“Aw, you’re the best date ever. Sure, lunch sounds good and we have a class at the gym on Monday night.” Elsie returns the sincere affection the two friends share.
“See you at class Monday night, Elizabeth, and I guess I’ll see you then as well, Bro,” John does the whole cool hand-shaking, back-pounding male thing with Marco and gives Elizabeth a friendly hug. Then he turns to Elsie, “Have you finished your beer?”
“Yes, you big oaf, let’s go,” and turning one more time to Damien she catches him ogling the huge man, “Geez, Damien, bye!”
“Bye, Damien,” John tells him as he places a hand on Elsie’s back to lead her out of the banquet room.
The music is still playing but the lights are coming back on as they make their way to the lobby and out through the front doors of the hotel. The valet takes John’s ticket and disappears to retrieve his car. Around them, partygoers are laughing and talking, but John and Elsie don’t notice anyone else as they’re standing there, glaring at each other. The inferno building between the two of them is scorching, threatening to burn them both.
CHAPTER 2 “Nice to meet you, where you been? I could show you incredible things. Magic, madness, heaven, sin. Saw you there and I thought, ‘Oh, my God, look at the face. You look like my next mistake.” Lyrics, “Blank Space”, by Taylor Swift
“Thanks for letting me take you home without a fight, Elsie.”
“It seems I didn’t have much of a choice,” she wants to sound annoyed, but deep down she can’t believe that she’s going to be alone with him, at least in his car.
“I guess I didn’t really give you one, huh, sue me then,” he smirks at her.
“Hhrrmpph,” is all Elsie can manage. How can she argue with him when this is exactly where she wants to be, whether she is willing to admit it or not?
The valet pulls up with John’s overgrown big boy toy. It’s a black Ford F350 pickup, with darkly tinted windows, and huge tires that lift the vehicle high off the ground, with a push bar across the front grill, fog lights, and racks on top and in the bed,
