Chapter Four: Lacey
“So anyway, that’s how my day was,” Carl said, signaling the waiter for a refill on his scotch. “Difficult, but worth it, you know?”
“Right.” I reached for my ice water to take another sip, forcing a smile for him. The little restaurant he’d chosen to have our date at was small, fancy, and expensive—the opposite of what I would have picked. But he hadn’t asked me. This was our fourth date, and he had yet to ask me anything that didn’t have to do with Ezra or the club. Most of the time, I kept my mouth shut and tried to enjoy dinner, but tonight my nerves were on edge, and I wasn’t sure why. I’d skipped having any alcohol, mainly because there was something about Carl that I didn’t entirely trust …
Yeah, the little voice in my head said. He’s not Ezra.
“How was everything?” the server asked, dropping the check on the table as she came by to check on us. Carl flashed her some phony, wanna-be-rich-guy grin, and the woman practically swooned.
“It was great,” I said, ignoring the fact that I might as well have not existed in her mind at that moment, let alone his. “Thanks.” When Carl didn’t move to grab the check, as he was too busy checking out Mrs. Big-Boobs, I grabbed the receipt, quickly added up my total, and pulled some cash from my purse.
“Lacey, what are you doing?” Carl asked, finally tearing his gaze away from the server.
“Sorry to interrupt you two,” I said with a smile, standing up to gather my coat. “But I need to be going. I still have work to get done.” Without waiting for a response, I shrugged on my jacket and walked out, leaving Carl and the server staring after me. He didn’t bother to chase me, which was fine and well with me.
I could feel a headache coming on as I got to my car and started the engine, grateful that I’d insisted on driving myself instead of being picked up. I’d tried, I really had, but I couldn’t do it. Not with Carl. I wasn’t even sure that I liked him enough just for the sex. I could find sex elsewhere, preferably with a better man.
Preferably with Ezra.
Yeah, right.
Although I’d lied to Carl about having work to do still, I couldn’t bring myself to drive to my apartment, so I could drink half a bottle of wine and stare at the wall as Netflix played in the background. So instead, I made a U-turn and headed back to the club instead, where the noise, the drinks, and the laughter of people somehow kept me sane. It was more difficult to feel lonely surrounded by hundreds of people enjoying themselves. Mostly. If worse came to worse, I’d probably end up crashing on my office couch until morning.
Ignoring the ringing cell phone in my pocket, knowing it was probably Carl, I parked the car and went inside, giving my favorite bouncer Phil a quick kiss on the cheek as I expertly maneuvered my way through the crowd of clubbers. All the staff working for the night and many of our regulars called a friendly hello and wave, making my night much better in comparison. This was home. This is where I loved to be.
“Hey, pretty girl!” Tilly yelled at me from where she was shaking up drinks behind the bar counter. “How was your date with the handsome one?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, briefly sliding into an empty barstool to talk to her. “You’ll have to ask him; I think he’s still there flirting with the waitress!”
Tilly scowled, going to work to make my favorite drink. “I always knew that guy was a douche,” she said, and I laughed.
“Weren’t you the one who told me to give him a chance?”
“No, that doesn’t sound familiar.” She handed me a martini and briefly rested her hand on the top of mine, getting down to eye level so I could hear her better. “Seriously, love, I’m sorry. Forget about that jackass.”
“I promise, I already have.”
“Atta girl.” She winked and went back to work, apparently in the middle of training the new male bartender I’d made Ezra call earlier that day to come in for a test run. Ezra had a reputation for having relations with the female staff. It was becoming more and more apparent to me that I couldn’t just hire females if I had a choice—at least, not moderately attractive ones. Honestly, I was surprised every day that more lawsuits hadn’t been filed on account of him.
“I’m headed upstairs to get some paperwork done,” I told Tilly, grasping my drink as I stood from the stool. I'd just depress myself more if I sat around too long musing about Ezra’s sexual appetite.
Always them and never you, I thought bitterly.
“Oh, hey, Ezra was looking for you,” Tilly said as I started to turn away. “I told him you were on that date, though, and then he got all huffy and walked away. I think he’s upstairs.”
“Good for him,” I muttered but shot Tilly a grateful look. “Thanks, sis. See you later.”
Making my way through the crowd without spilling my drink had become somewhat of an art form, but I was still relieved when I made it to the top of the staircase with my martini practically unscathed. I turned left to go to my office, but before I could take a step in that direction, Ezra’s apartment door opened on the right, and he poked his head out, catching sight of me immediately.
“Lacey!” he hissed. “Come here.”
“I have work to do, Ezra, and I’m not interested in kicking more whores out of your bed.”
“Nobody is here but me. Can you please just come here? I need to talk to you.”
I turned right instead with a groan, knowing that I would probably regret whatever happened next. Ezra held the door open for me as I passed through it, then closed it behind him, peering out once more to make sure that no one was peeping in or watching us.
“What is it?” I asked, finally able to take a sip of my martini. “I don’t really have time for your shenanigans.”
“Will you just chill out?” said Ezra, nodding at the couch for me to sit. I set my glass down and took a seat with a heavy sigh, feeling that headache worsen.
“What’s up, Ezra?”
“First off, how was your date?” he asked, running a hand through his shaggy, dark blonde hair. A slight tingling appeared between my legs when he did this, and I had to look away and focus on something else for a moment. Damn him.
“The date was great,” I lied. “Carl seems like a very nice man.”
I knew he didn’t believe this, not even a little, and a slight smirk that I wanted to smack right off his pretty face appeared on his lips. “Yeah?” he said. “Sounds pretty magical.”
“Shut up, Ezra.”
He shrugged, making his way across the floor to prepare a cocktail from his liquor cabinet. “If it truly was nice, Lacey, I’m happy for you.”
“No, you’re not.”
He shook his head. “No, I’m not.”
“Is that the reason you called me in here? To give me shit about another guy?”
He laughed, which only irritated me more. I started to get up to leave, but he stopped me, bringing over another mixed drink instead. I took it from him because I didn’t know what else to do and took a sip of it.
“Tell me what this is about,” I said steadily. “I can tell you want to say something, so say it.”
“Fine.” Ezra sighed and turned to look at me, leaning against the bar counter for support. “I talked to Elijah this morning.”
“Your brother? How is he?”
“He’s getting married, I guess.”
“Really?” I took a sip of my drink without thinking about it, hating myself for how freaking good it was. The man in front of me could do no wrong, it seemed. “That’s wonderful. I bet he’s so happy.”
“Yeah, well, whatever.” Ezra shrugged, huffing a little, the small tantrum he displayed every once in a while. Ezra loathed the thought of marriage. Anything that involved any kind of commitment scared the shit out of him.
“Tell him congrats the next time you hear from him,” I said, making a second attempt to get to my feet. However, I was only halfway there when Ezra spoke again, stopping me in my tracks.
“Come to the wedding with me,” he said. “It’s in one month. I need a date.”
I laughed, thinking he must have been kidding, but he didn’t crack a smile.
“What’s funny?” he asked instead.
“I’m not going to a wedding with you,” I told him, settling down on the couch. “You have an abundance of women to choose from here, Ezra, and I have no interest nor desire to spend time with you in Hawaii watching you chase ass.”
“Lacey, please.” Ezra’s shoulders slumped a bit, his puppy-dog eyes begging me, so familiar and pathetic that I almost cringed. “Don’t make me go alone, stuck in Hawaii for a week with my divorcee parents. I’ll go crazy.”
“A week?” I repeated. “I can’t go away for a week, Ezra. Who will take care of business here?”
“I’ll find a temp,” he said. “Trust me, it will be fine.”
“It will not be fine,” I insisted. “I am the temp for everything around here.”
“We’ll put Tilly in charge,” he said. “She’s been here the longest.”
I groaned and shook my head, taking a long swing from my drink. “I just can’t,” I told him. “You know I love your family, but this is your drama, Ezra, not mine. I don’t want to be stuck with your parents while you’re off fucking random women.”
“One week in Hawaii,” he said, dropping to one knee in front of me as if to propose. My heart fluttered unnaturally in my chest, and I had to look away from him before I blushed. “All paid. It will be like a vacation, I promise. You’ll just be my plus one.”
I opened my mouth to deny him again, then closed it. Suddenly, I had an idea.
“How badly do you want me to go to this thing?” I asked.
“Very badly,” he insisted. “I need my best friend there. Otherwise, I won’t survive the week.”
“Fine.” I set my glass down on the coffee table and folded my arms, leaning back to stare at him. “I’ll make you a deal.”
“Anything.”
“I’ll go to this wedding with you,” I started, and Ezra’s face lit up. I put my finger up to keep him quiet before continuing. “I’ll go to this wedding with you if you can abstain from sex for the next month.”
For a moment, I was sure he would flat out deny me. He got to his feet, eyebrows arched like he tended to do when he was mulling something over. He walked back over to the liquor bar, filled his glass, leaned against it, and turned around to watch me. I hated how good he looked, leaned up against that bar dressed in slacks and a button-up shirt, sleeves rolled up to reveal the muscles straining in his arms, hair that looked disheveled but somehow still fell flawlessly against his head.
God, how could one person be so freaking perfect?
“You drive a hard bargain, Lace,” he said finally, sipping his scotch. The amber specks in his eyes seemed to glint mischievously. He was actually considering this.
“You can’t do it,” I said confidently, getting to my feet to cross the room and refill my own glass. I joined Ezra at the bar, elbowing him playfully as we sipped our drinks. “I don’t believe you’re physically capable of abstaining from sex for an entire month.”
“That’s quite an assumption,” he said softly. “It’s like you don’t know me at all.”
“Or maybe it’s that I know you too well.”
“Nah, that can’t be it.”
With a shrug, I pushed myself off the bar and went to sit back down on the plush couch, crossing my legs in front of me as I sipped my drink. “That’s my condition,” I told him. “Take it or leave it.”
Ezra sighed, taking another sip from his glass. There was no way he would take this bet. He couldn’t physically do it. And when he said no, it would let me off the hook.
“Okay, Lacey,” he said suddenly, still eying me. “I will take this bet. If I stay abstinent for this entire month, you will go to Elijah’s wedding with me in Hawaii. For the whole week. And you can’t back out.”
I giggled, knowing that even if he took this bet, he wouldn’t be able to stick to it. I knew him better than that. He was my best friend, after all.
“Deal,” I said, getting to my feet to shake his hand. “Have fun at the wedding by yourself.”
“I won’t be by myself,” he shouted at my departing back. “I’ll be right there with you, Lace, enjoying the Hawaiian sun, boozy drinks, and a plethora of beautiful women.”
Shaking my head, I shut the door behind me and went to my office, feeling rather smug about the prospect of watching Ezra struggle for the next month. He was so arrogant sometimes, so full of himself that sometimes I just wanted to see if it was even possible for a man like Ezra Trevino to struggle.
I sat down in front of my computer to check the numbers, and a few minutes later, Tilly came in to see me. She was chugging a water bottle as she shut the door behind her and plopped down into the empty chair across from the desk.
“How’s training?” I asked, and she groaned.
“Male bartenders are shockingly more difficult to train than females,” she said with a snort. “Is it because females are just, in general, more intelligent?”
“Yes,” I said, and we both chuckled.
“Oh, hey, did you find Ezra?” she asked, and I nodded, reaching into the mini fridge behind my desk to hand her a second bottle of cold water in case she needed it.
“He wants to take me to his brother’s wedding,” I told her. “You remember Elijah, don’t you?”
“Cute dude, looks like Ezra but doesn’t have the personality of a whore?” Tilly asked, and I nodded.
“That’s the one.”
“So, what did you say?”
I giggled, which seemed to pique Tilly’s interest at once. She straightened up in the chair, eyes narrowing in my direction. “Don’t tease me.”
“I told him that I’d go with him if he could abstain from sex for the next month,” I said with a shrug, and this time she laughed.
“There’s no way he agreed to that.”
“I didn’t think he would either,” I admitted, reaching into the fridge again for my own water bottle. I popped the cap, took a swig, and then set it down. “But he did.”
“He did?”
“Yup.”
“No way.”
“I’m telling you, he agreed.”
Still grinning, Tilly leaned back in the chair again, shaking her head. “I can’t wait to see that not happen,” she mused. “Because there’s no way that Ezra Trevino can stick to that.”
“That’s what I said. I told him as much, too.” I shrugged again, checking my phone for any missed messages. I had three missed calls from Carl and two texts. Without reading them, I groaned at my phone and pushed it aside.
“Let me guess,” said Tilly. “He’s already broken his promise.”
“No, it’s Carl,” I grumbled. “I gave him that chance, but honestly, I just want him out of my life. I can’t stand the dude. You should have seen him at dinner tonight, the eyes he kept making at the waitress.”
“Oh, come on, he can’t be worse than Ezra is,” said Tilly. “He has being a womanizer nailed down pat.”
“Yeah, well, there’s a reason I’m not dating Ezra either,” I reminded her. “I’m not necessarily a fan of womanizers, if you haven’t figured that out.”
“Fine, but that’s not why you’re not dating Ezra,” said Tilly, calling me out like she always did. “You’re not dating Ezra because you refuse to tell him your true feelings.”
I shut my mouth, wishing not for the first time that I wasn’t having this conversation with my friend. Tilly was blunt. She knew the truth, and she was right. She always was, dammit.
“It wouldn’t matter,” I told her. “I’m not Ezra’s type.”
“No? What’s his type?”
“Slutty and blonde,” I said, and we both laughed. “I am neither.”
“Who knows.” She shrugged, opening the second bottle of water to take a long swallow. “Maybe he won’t know what he truly wants until he has it.”
“It’s never gonna happen, Til.” I shook my head and leaned back, crossing my hands over my stomach. “Ezra is my best friend, and that’s all he will see me as. Ever. Even if God forbid he manages to make it through this month without fucking everything he sees, nothing will change. Hawaii will just be an even greater chance for him to hook up with every pair of legs on the island. Only this time, I’ll get to be around to witness it because I’m the idiot that agreed to it.”
“Maybe,” said Tilly with a slight shrug. “Or maybe it will be you he’s hooking up with in Hawaii and not some random pair of breasts. Maybe you should take advantage of the offer.”
“Doubtful,” I said with a chuckle. “But we’ll see how it goes. I’m still trying to take your advice, remember? Forget about Ezra and enjoy my life while I’m young. I need a distraction. Maybe that distraction will be in Hawaii.”