Pierce

Chapter Thirty

Natalie~

Natalie took a seat at one of the private bars in the tower suites of Luxe that overlooked the main bar and dance floor below. It was a relatively slow night and there were only a few clients in the private suites, but they kept to themselves, leaving only Natalie at the bar with a couple of waitresses that came and went periodically. She was grateful for the solitude and sipped slowly at her drink, trying to wrap her mind around the events of the night and wishing that she and Pierce had just stayed home after all.

She picked apart Sara's words trying to separate the truth from the lies. Her eyes were glued to her glass as she swirled the liquid around, lost in her own thoughts when a voice brought her back to reality.

"Rough night?" One of the clients had emerged from his private suite and taken a seat next to her at the bar.

I'm not in the mood for this.

"Like you wouldn't believe." she replied trying to humor him and hoping he would take the hint and leave.

"Wanna talk about it?" he asked as he leaned forward onto his tattooed forearms against the bar in an attempt to pull her gaze from her glass to his face.

"Not really." she said honestly.

Her phone buzzed once more as it had for the past hour with text messages from Pierce, Lexi, Claire. She hadn't opened a single one and felt a hint of guilt, but not enough to read them.

She rolled her eyes and silenced the phone before taking another sip of her drink.

"Boyfriend problems?" he asked with a chuckle.

"You could say that."

"Well a woman of your caliber shouldn't have any boyfriend problems if you ask me." he said.

Great. He's hitting on me. I'm really not in the mood for this. But he's a client so just smile and nod Natalie, smile and nod.

"Well I appreciate that." she said with a fake smile as she finally turned to face him. He was tall and muscular, covered in tattoos with a look in his eyes that was intense...too intense.

"So what happened? He cheat?"

Her eyes shot back down to her drink at the word which was confirmation enough for the stranger sitting next to her.

"Something like that." she muttered.

"Well he's a damn fool, then."

"Yeah, well I'm just hiding up here waiting for that fool to show up, trying to figure out what I'm going to say when he does."

The man shifted uncomfortably on the bar stool and looked around the bar for a second.

"He around?"

"I told him not to follow me, but I get the feeling from the number of text messages that I'm getting that he won't keep his word for long."

"Yeah well I'm sure Pierce will come to his senses soon enough and realized he fucked up. How could anyone cheat on you?"

Her blood ran cold and her eyes widened as she stared at her glass.

I never told him Pierce's name...

"I um...I never told you my boyfriend's name was Pierce..." she said in a shaky voice.

"Oh I uh, I saw the name flash across your phone a couple times. So I just assumed. Sorry I didn't mean to freak you out."

"No it's fine. I'm sorry. My nerves are just a little shot." she said, feeling like an idiot and pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Ah it's okay. Truth is I've been waiting for you to come around. I asked one of the waitresses who I needed to talk to about throwing a private event here and they gave me your card, but said you weren't working tonight, so imagine my surprise to see you sitting here."