Live, Laugh, Loathe

Chapter 1: Damon

I spot her first.

She's across the club, looking absolutely delectable in a short tight plum colored dress. Her hair is in a high pony, showing off her graceful neck. She throws her head back when she laughs, and I'm oddly drawn to how free she looks.

She's with a group of other women, equally as attractive. As a result, they're swarmed by men, and while I don't mind a little competition, I'm here for my buddy's bachelor party, not to hit on a stranger.

That is until she looks across the club and locks eyes with me. I watch as the flicker of awareness between us turns into desire on her face. Her lips part and I imagine I can hear the quiet woosh of air that escapes. I'm too far to see her eyes, but I'd bet my Tesla stock that her pupils are blown. She tips her head towards the bar, raising her drink a bit so I can see it's almost empty. Without thinking, I dip my chin back to her and start heading toward the bar.

We haven't even exchanged any words, and I'm sporting a semi.

But when I reach the bar, there's already some guy next to her, and she's smiling at him and laughing. And for some irrational reason, it makes my blood boil.

Now, I'm not typically hot-headed. In fact, people usually use terms like 'cold-blooded' and 'lifeless' to describe me. So, when I say the next few minutes are out of character for me, I'm not kidding.

I sidle up behind her, just barely reining in the urge to put my hand on her hip. She may have invited me to the bar, and I may be acting a bit unusually, but she didn't give me permission to touch her, so I won't. Even if it feels like my hands are on fire and the only thing that can cool them is her body.

She feels my presence, though, even without touch, and turns, her gaze traveling slowly up my body.

"You finally made it." She says once her eyes meet mine. It's hard to tell their color in the dim lighting, blue maybe? Her voice is exactly how I imagined, smooth like honey and deeper than the average woman's. I feel it all the way to my toes.

"It seems I have." Disdain that I can't seem to wipe from my face also drips from my voice, "not that it would have mattered. You clearly moved on quickly."

She flinches, and I instantly wish my mouth had stayed shut. She stands up a little straighter, and pure fire comes pouring from her eyes. I am so fucked.

"Excuse me?" she sets her empty glass on the bar top so hard I almost think it breaks. "Who the fuck told you, you could police some random woman who happened to share a glance with from across a nightclub?"

"Well, I don't appreciate being strung along by a hussy from across a room." Again, I have no idea why these things are coming out of my mouth right now. I'd give anything to stop.

The bartender has just set her new drink in front of her, which she grabs and, without hesitation, tosses directly into my face. I definitely deserved that.

Without another word, she grabs the hand of the man she was talking to and drags him away ending our conversation. If you can even call it that.

I royally screwed that up.

I don't bother looking at anyone as I mop my face with napkins and then rejoin my friends, who, of course, all just watched me get eviscerated.

"Dude! What the hell was that about?" Collin, my best friend about to get married, looks at me in horror. We've known each other our whole lives, so I know he's wondering what the hell I could have done to deserve that. While I can be cold-hearted sometimes, I don't typically make women so angry that they toss drinks in my face.

"She absolutely annihilated you, man!" Danny, our friend from college, is laughing his ass off. He's been married for three years to Richard, our other friend. The two of them, plus Collin, make up the core of our friend group. The other five men with us are friends or relatives. None of whom are people I wanted to witness the episode at the bar.

"Fuck I don't know. I saw her from across the club. We shared a look, and I knew she wanted me. But I got to the bar, and she was already talking to some guy, and I don't know. I lost my cool. It was not good; I wish I could erase everything I said from her memory. I deserved the drink in the face and more." I flop down onto the couch we're occupying, scrubbing my face with my hands. I should have just stayed here.

Collin leans over to get a look at her. She and the guy are now against a wall, making out. I groan, wishing I could go back in time so that it was me she was lip locked with and not him.

"I'll let you wallow in your pain in peace tonight, man, but don't worry, I will never let you live this down." Collin will absolutely live up to that promise.

"Great."