Nova 05 Ruin Me (15 page)

“I’ll tell you what.” My voice is still a little unsteady, but for an entirely different reason. “You can spend my next birthday with me catching magic in the waves if I can spend your next birthday with you, baking you an absurdly awesome cake.”

His brow crooks. “You can bake?”

“Kind of. My Aunt Nelli’s really good at it, so I can get some pointers from her.” I playfully bump my shoulder into his. “Don’t worry. I promise you’ll have an amazing day.”

“I believe you.”

“Good. So is it a deal?”

“It’s a deal.” His tongue slides out and wets his lips. “I want to kiss you right now.” He doesn’t lean in and take the kiss. He waits for me to offer it.

I nod my head once and the movement is easier than I thought it would be.

He frees a breath then moves in and touches his lips to mine. The kiss is quick, just a soft caress of lips, a teasing taste, just enough to leave me craving more.

More kisses.

More touches.

More of him.

Jax

After we leave the restaurant, we return to the motel and spend the next hour kissing until we fall asleep in bed. In the early hours of daybreak, we wake up, get dressed, and hit the streets to ask around for my mother. But everyone seems about as hesitant as Melinda to divulge anything.

The day is exhausting, but Clara is a trooper. With each passing hour, I become more grateful she’s here with me, not just because she’s opening up to me more but because she’s been really good at keeping me together. Every time I grow frustrated, she calms me down and forces me to take a break. I think I might be falling in love with her and wish I could get the courage to tell her how I feel, but the time doesn’t seem right.

Still, now that I know more about her, maybe our relationship can move forward now—that the whole friends with benefits deal can come to an end.  While she did make the promise to spend our next birthdays together, she still hasn’t verbally revoked her friends-with-benefits rules, so all I can do is wait until she decides if she trusts me—if she wants me as more than a fuck buddy.

Around eight o’clock at night, I peel out of the gas station and cruise toward Neon Madness to see if by chance Marcus has shown up. I’m a little nervous about going straight to the source, but at this point I don’t see another option.

On our way there, Clara and I stop at a fast food place to grab a quick bite to eat. The inside of the car stinks like grease and fries, and our shakes are melting in the cup holders.

“What do you think the odds are that Lester told the truth about Marcus being at this place?” Clara asks as she pops a fry into her mouth.

“He’s about as reliable as everyone else we’ve talked to, so the odds seem kind of low.” I slow at a stop sign and steal a fry from the bag on Clara’s lap. “But, at this point, I have to try any lead I can get.”

I crank up the heater. With the clouds rolling in, the air is even breezier than it normally is in May. That’s the thing about Wyoming—summer, fall, winter, spring, the nights are always cold.

“So, this club that we’re going to, is it like the Dirty Tiger?” Clara picks up a cup of Coke and takes a sip from the straw.

“I honestly don’t know. I’ve never heard of it until yesterday.” I flip on the headlights as the sun descends below the mountains, and night progressively shadows the land.

“I hope not.” She dunks a fry into a cup of ranch. “That place was so gross. And I don’t care if that makes me sound sheltered. I’m starting to realize being sheltered might not be a bad thing.”

“No, it’s definitely not,” I agree, making a right at the next intersection.

We drive up the main street bordered by bars, diners, and knickknack stores until Neon Madness comes into view. Every square foot of the building has been spray-painted with florescent hues of green, pink, yellow, and orange. Lights of similar colors flash vibrantly from through the windows and along the trim of the room.

“Well, the name is fitting,” I remark as I flip on my blinker to turn into the gravelly parking lot.

“It doesn’t look as bad as the Dirty Tiger.” Clara sits forward in the seat as she examines the place.

“We still should be careful.” I silence the engine and slide the keys out of the ignition. “If my mom hangs out here, I’m betting this place is a lot sketchier than it looks.”

Clara nods anxiously as she unbuckles her seatbelt. “Got it.” 

We open our doors to get out, and I stuff my keys into my pocket as I move up beside her. When I swing my arm over her shoulders protectively, she doesn’t inch away like she would have a few days ago. After opening up to me, she’s been way more affectionate.

“What are you thinking about?” Clara asks.

I shrug. “Just how beautiful you are.”

Completely true. With the short red dress, strappy sandals that wrap up her long, lean legs, and her hair pulled up, she’s going to turn heads the moment we step into the club. 

“You’ve been so serious today,” she muses as we approach the front door where a hefty guy I assume is the bouncer is eyeballing us. “Are you okay?”

“What do you mean by serious?”

Her sandals scuff against the gravel. “I don’t know. You just haven’t cracked a lot of jokes or made any dirty remarks about how short my dress is yet.”

“Is someone missing my perviness?” I tease and she doesn’t deny it. “I was just giving you some space while you thought about stuff, but since you brought it up...” I reach up the back of her dress and pinch her ass, eliciting a squeal from her.

She fights back a grin as she skitters out from under my arm. “I didn’t mean for you to start right back up.”

“You know what, I think you did want me to start up.” I charm her with a grin. “I think that, deep down, you really, really like my dirty mouth.”

She crosses her arms and raises her brows. “So what if I do?”

“So, you’re admitting you like me?” I try not to grin but fail epically.

“Well, I think it’s pretty obvious I like you.” Her eyes roam to my dick.

I bite my lip to keep from laughing at her. Then I snatch hold of her hips and reel her against me. “But you like me, like me.”

With a quivering breath, she bobs her head up and down. “I do.”

I close my eyes and breathe in the cool air. Despite where we are and why we’re here, I want to enjoy this moment. “Do you want to skip going to this place and go back to the motel for a little bit?”

“But it’s not Friday.”

My eyes shoot open. “Seriously? After what you did to me last night you’re going to go back to that?”

“I’m just kidding.” She laughs maliciously. “Besides, it is Friday, silly.”

“Oh, yeah.” Through all the stress, I’d somehow forgotten. An artful smirk curves at my lips. “Guess tonight is bow-chicka-bow-wow night, huh?”

“I guess so.” She suddenly grows serious as she warily looks over at the club. “I do think we should finish up with this, though. Maybe we’ll luck out and find your mom and then we can enjoy the rest of the night.” She gives my hand a squeeze.

“Yeah, maybe.” I’m more skeptical of the outcome, though. Even if by some miracle Marcus is here and he easily tells us my mother is alive and where she is, actually seeing her will more than likely ruin my night.

But knowing I’ll only have peace of mind when I know she’s not dead, I hold onto Clara’s hand and we walk up to the bouncer. He asks to check our ID’s. Since I don’t have a fake one, I give him my real one, hoping he’ll glance over it and let me through. Surprisingly, he does just that. The moment we enter the club, I quickly discover the reason for his carelessness. Half the people packed inside the small room are my age, if not younger.

“It’s dark in here,” Clara shouts over the bass of the music, the neon green lighting reflecting in her eyes.

I nod, intensifying my hold on her hand. I squeeze by people dancing and grinding on one another to the sultry rhythm of a song, leading Clara with me. When we reach an area where the crowd thins, I take a good look around and realize there isn’t a bar anywhere.

Odd
.

Most of the crowd has paint on their skin that matches the shades on the exterior of the building. The paint glows against the black lights on the steel ceiling beams, and glitter is falling from somewhere. Almost every single person looks possessed by sheer lust, dry humping and fondling one another.

“It’s like an orgy!” Clara says with wide eyes as she watches the scene in front of us.

“Yeah, I think you got your rave wish!’ I holler over the electric music as we get jostled and groped by people.

“What do you mean?” She squints at the sweaty mob swarming us. “Wait, are they…”

I nod then offer her an apologetic look. “Leave it to my mother to be in a place filled with people rolling.”

“Are we going to be okay here?” She gapes at two people in the corner who are one step away from peeling each other’s clothes off and fucking right in front of us.

I cover her eyes and inch her toward a quieter spot in the room where people seem a little less handsy.

She tugs my hand away from her eyes. “Jax, I’ve seen people have sex before.”

My brow shoots up. “When?”

She raises a shoulder and gives a laidback shrug. “In porn movies.”

My jaw just about smacks the floor. “You watch porn?”

“I have a couple of times when I was hanging out with Mack and his friends...” She floats away in a memory then promptly shakes her head. “Where do you think I get all those dirty ideas from?”

I pull her toward me until our hips flush. “Clara McKiney, you’ve been holding out an important details about you.”

“Give me time.” Her eyes blue look teal vibrant neon green lights. “You’ll get to know all my little quirks.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” I roll my hips into hers, totally turned on by what she divulged.

“I’m learning stuff about you, too.”

She doesn’t object when I reach around and sneak my hand up the bottom of her dress. “And what’s that?”

“That you’re horny all the time.”

“I think you already knew that…” My grin falters when I notice a taller man wearing a suit enter the club. A hush falls over the crowd as everyone gawks at him.

“Who is that?” I ask a guy dancing pretty close to us.

“That’s Marcus Dalemaring.” The guy turns to me, he scans me over, and then a grin curls his painted lips. “You looking for a good time, sexy?”

“Um…” I look to Clara for help, but she only giggles, enjoying my discomfort.

“A shy one, huh?” He prowls toward me and jives his hips in my direction.

I dodge around Clara, snag her arm, and tow her to the edge of the crowd.

“That was freaking hilarious.” Clara laughs harder, gasping for air. “I’ve never seen you so uncomfortable before.”

“The dude dry humped me.”

She catches her breath as her laughter dwindles. “Hey, I thought it was kind of hot.”

I blink at her. “What?”

“Oh, this is going to be fun.” She rubs her hands together with a wicked glint in her eyes.

“What’s going to be fun?” My gaze is trained on Marcus as he saunters through the crowd with two very large and bulky guys at his side. Well, more like the crowd parts for all three of them.

“Paying you back for all those times you teased me.” She pinches my ass, and I flinch, but keep my eyes on Marcus.

“Who is that?” Clara wonders as she tracks my gaze

“The guy back there said it’s Marcus.” I rush toward him as Marcus strides toward a door located along the back wall of the club. “Wait here,” I call over my shoulder to Clara.

“Jax!” she protests, but when I shoot her a warning look over my shoulder, she nods and stays put.

Good. The last thing I need is for her to get further into this mess.

I square my shoulders and march my way up to the man who may have killed my mother. The only calming factor in the situation is that we’re in a room full of people, so he can’t do anything to me if he has some vengeance plan against my mother.

“Hey, Marcus,” I holler as I approach him, elbowing a guy out of my way.

The two big guys who walked in with Marcus immediately step together and block him from my view.

“Back off, kid,” one of them warns, shoving me back.

My back slams into a girl who instantly starts griping about my clumsiness. I brush her off though, my attention fixed on Marcus.

“Relax, I just need to ask him a question.” I lean to the side but the guy just sidesteps. “Seriously, I just need to know if he’s seen my mother.”

Marcus appears at the big dude’s side, looking very interested in my question. “I thought you looked familiar. You must be Jax Hensley.”

What the fuck?